(Originally posted on Grimm Games on 29th September 2012)
So unfortunately my second and final day at Eurogamer Expo in London started pretty badly. There was a signal failure on the tube and so my friend and I were late to Earl’s Court. As we got there we noticed how much busier it was than yesterday and we even had to queue up to get inside today. Waiting patiently we decided the games we would visit first, two of the most visited titles of the convention, ZombiU and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.
Getting into the main hall we hurried to the ZombiU stall knowing just how packed it was yesterday and while the line seemed shorter today. Whilst waiting we had a chat with a couple of eager gamers in front of us about what they played yesterday, they had shining reviews of both Hitman and Tomb Raider while I advised them to go and play Dishonored. We eventually got down the line, had a fiddle with the panoramic view demo and watched some people play what looked to be a fantastic edition to the Rayman franchise in Rayman Legends. The two in front of us were handpicked by Nintendo representatives to be filmed playing ZombiU in a private location, as we missed out, feeling drained from the queue ZombiU was close…until we got ushered into another queue by the incredibly talkative, lovely, young promo girl handing out 3DS friend code information. Taking a look at ZombiU I didn’t want to spoil the demo and so I watched the nearby demo of Nintendo Land’s Zelda minigame. The minigame looked great fun and gave a hack and slash vibe to what looked like a 3D Four Swords but unable to see anything more we were allowed to play ZombiU, after 2 hours of standing in line.
Honestly, ZombiU had very good graphics as a first thought but I shall bring you through what little of the game I played. First I had to navigate a room, to get used to the controls and it was very smooth. I was automatically impressed with the sense of atmosphere, you can’t see more than a few blocks in front of you and the sides of the screen are pitch black, I would have been more impressed but there was no sound available. Exiting the dark room I came to a harbour that was clear to see around me, some zombies around that were automatically drawn to light and sound but the Wii U Pad was were the interesting moments came. Your pad is used as a constant inventory, you have your quick select icons in there but you can also open your backpack and sort your items and your quick select on the pad’s screen. The pad is also used to scan and analyse the environment, as I saw this in action I saw the way the Wii U pad’s potential could be met, inventory and a scanning screen that moves away from the pause function makes the game all the more exciting though using the pad as a scope I felt took away the atmosphere of the game and took away far more than it added. I however died quite early, not expecting to be teamed up on by a bunch of zombies and was told that my character would be wandering around as an infected in the place that I died, though I wasn’t allowed to see that and was pushed away from the demo. At 2 o’clock and only one game played, it was lunch time.
After eating we went to visit the Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance demo and after a short hour waiting patiently in line I was given a challenge by the promo girl. “Beat the demo in 15 minutes on normal and you will win this poster” she said. So I played the tutorial and everything was so easy to play with, the precision sword swings were excellent and while I found it difficult to get to grips with the camera the game was great fun. Ready to settle down to some Kojima style cutscenes I was told that the cutscenes would count towards my 15 minutes and so I felt the need to skip. I ran through the level to deal with what I could only have seen as a difficult boss fight. The level looked exactly like the first mission from Metal Gear Solid 4 only with slightly upscaled graphics. Focusing on stealthily running through the game I made sure guards didn’t see me and to sneak up on other guards and cut them in half using ZanDatsu. I got to a Gekko and had to defeat it and honestly, while the camera again started messing me around, I hadn’t had as much fun for quite a while. Getting to the boss was easy enough however defeating it was another thing. The woman notified me of my three minutes left to get the poster and I felt like I was gaining process in defeating the boss but three minutes later she informed me my time was up and at that moment the boss defeated me. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance was excellent but no time to sit around in amazement we had more games to play.
Seeking out Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale was no meagre task but we eventually found it and had three games with random people. My first experience was with Parappa and I was shocked at how clunky he felt in particular. I then chose Spike from Ape Escape and was thrilled with just how amazing he felt to play as, though I loved the little references to a game that was so big in my past just playing as him was fun. The last character I tried was Toro who was a fun and fast character but felt like he had no weight at all behind him. I won 2 out of 3 of the fights we had and while I had a lot of fun with the title, it just felt lacking in the quality Smash Bros. has and the controls just weren’t as smooth, not at all to speak ill of the title.
Speaking of beat-em-ups we visited the tournament area and witnessed the final of the Tekken Tag Tournament 2 tournament. The players were amazing, the audience were pumped and the pure skills on display were mesmerizing. I can say the game looked great but I wasn’t analysing, just staring in pure amazement. Close by was Halo 4 and the whole of Microsoft’s area which we had of yet neglected. The lines for Halo 4 were long but I joined and surprisingly got the chance to play very quickly. It was Team Deathmatch on what I assume was a new map but it felt like a mixture of two Halo maps I had played previously, though I couldn’t tell you which ones. As someone not particularly into the franchise I can tell you that the game played very well and anyone who was worried about the 4th instalment in this major exclusive franchise shouldn’t be, the new team has worked very well, even if to the casual observer it could be any other Halo game.
I journeyed around the outside and saw a small two screens for Fable: The Journey so I stood in the two man queue, witnessed two people dressed as the avatar from the game Journey and eventually managed to play Fable. After some really irritating failed attempts at recognising what my arm was I was ready to play. The spells work well, but I feel that the game sometimes found it difficult to recognise which spell I was trying to use, in addition strafing just didn’t work and when it did, it took a minute to remember I wanted to strafe.
Tired and unenthused I battled with the idea of buying this exquisite Final Fantasy XIII t-shirt or the practical yet also cool Zelda wallet, I went with the cheaper wallet and was rather disappointed at my lack of funds or I would have bought them both. The last game I went to look at was Assassin’s Creed 3, walking past Rocksmith I thought, if I was here tomorrow you would be the first game I look at. Reaching Assassin’s Creed 3 all the lines had died down as it was nearing closing time. I quickly jumped on a station and was thrown into an epic ship battle on the high seas. While the ship controls, animations and even voice acting were great, I just felt there was something lacking, maybe it was the length of the demo, maybe it was that I wanted to play Assassin’s Creed proper. Don’t get me wrong it was very good, maybe I was just tired or over gamed, it just felt like it had lost that special something.
Anyway, my first gaming convention was a huge success and I do believe I kept my journalistic integrity while playing games I was originally hyped for, games I never intended to play and games that surprised me. I am very much looking forward to what surprises are in store for next year’s Eurogamer Expo and indeed very excited for the next few months of gaming.
RabbitsAhoy! 