PAX Impressions Rodeo: Our Opinions Are All Right

[mightbe]

Are you incredibly sad that you missed PAX? Or perhaps you're grateful that we took the brunt of the Piggy Icky for you? Well overcoming a challenge is not to go without being rewarded with loot so here you are. Colony of Gamers PAX attendees impressions from every game we got our hands on at the show.

Aion (Official Site, NCSoft)

mightbe - Oh look I get wings in this grindy korean MMO. You can staple bacon to a turd and I'm still not going to want to eat the turd.

MotWakorb - Junk. Another Korean-style MMO from NCSoft that doesn't deliver on any promises it makes.

Ghostbear - An abysmal take on the MMORPG, its only redeeming feature being the graphics engine, which is gorgeous.

UWCrash - The only time I was near Aion was to look at Brink.

Borderlands (CoG Coverage, Official Site, Gearbox Software)

mightbe - While buying me pizza is usually a sure-fire way to get kind words, Borderlands had me from the moment I unloaded with an acid spraying shotgun on a Badass Skarg and a handful of glowing numbers popped up indicating the damage I'd dealt. You got RPG in my shooter and it tastes DELICIOUS!

Ravenlock - My 15 minutes with the PC version of this was one of my favorite things of the show. The shooting feels good, the RPG overlays work just the way they should, and the style is great. Very excited to pick this up when it releases.

xoanon - I may be alone here but the 10 minutes or so I had with the 360 version didn't really excite me. You would think that a grenade launcher that shot lightning would be empowering, but the damage wasn't really proportional to how cool it looked. I'll have to play more before I decide.

TrackZero - Played this on the PC. Played exactly as I'd hoped. Open world co-op RPG fun is confirmed.

Ghostbear - This game looks phenomenal and plays like a dream, Cannot wait to play this with some friends.

Goronmon - After quickly realizing that my shotgun would occasionally electrocute my target, I knew right away that Borderlands was a different from most shooters. Add in a very visceral gameplay experience and co-op and you end up with a game that will be hard for me to resist picking up.

Mot Wakorb - Played on 360. The art style, like XIII before it, follows the Cel-shaded option. What I'm truly looking forward to isn't a first-person experience, it's the possibility of leveling my character in a squad with friends on Xbox Live. That's really the most delicious thing that I saw about this game.

UWCrash - For a title that I hadn't heard of until two days before PAX, I now can't wait for the release of this game. If Gearbox can come up with a solid implementation for loot distribution and quest mechanics as players drop-in, drop-out, this is going to be a hit. The only disappointment is that PC matchmaking will use Gamespy, not GFWL or Steam, which almost certainly means I'll be getting this on 360.

Brink (CoG Coverage, Official Site, Bethesda Softworks)

mightbe - While it wasn't playable at the show, I think we can look forward to a TF2 style game with a bunch more RPG influence and a way to fluidly interact with your environment that looks like Mirror's Edge but playable.

xoanon - I was as intrigued as I could be by something not playable. They seem to have integrated a rich strategic objective system into a frenetic shooter. I am eager to see more. Just to echo Mightbe here, this has elements of free running without being lame, really intrigued by this title.

Brutal Legend (Official Site, Double Fine)

mightbe - Oozing style from every pore, Brutal Legend seems to have a ridiculous amount of polish that may finally bring Double Fine up to the top of the sales charts.

TrackZero - Just pure fun and humour from what I played. October can't come soon enough.

AniAko - Driving around was ho-hum. Killing baddies with killer riffs and an axe is pretty damn fun though. The script was as entertaining as any other Jack Black acts.

Ghostbear- A fairly mediocre action adventure game. Its not bad, but not great either. I will pick this up on a steam sale or in a bargain bin.

Dante's Inferno (Official Site, Visceral Games)

AniAko - The game play IS a God of War clone, but the artistic direction is much more macabre. I fought a giant demonic boss that wore a necklace of blood-dripping bodies, and I was happy to be doing so. Clone or not, it was fun and entertaining.

Mot Wakorb - Just like AniAko says, it's a God of War clone - it was definitely dark and it had a lot of moments that became very tense. I was told by the developer that was there that they only had the PS3 version at the demo due to the fact that the 360 version had just been brought up to being on par graphically with the PS3 version. Pretty fun game - at the very least a rental.

Darksiders (http://community.darksidersvideogame.com/, Vigil Games)

mightbe - Unbridled carnage where you get to be the biggest badass around. Until you get to the boss fight and get your face wrecked. The controls are solid and I'm looking forward to seeing how the gameplay develops over the course of the game.

TrackZero - Definitely polished after last years showing. The action plays great, the characters and story work well, definitely a good time.

Ghostbear - A good time great action mixed with platforming that I actually enjoyed, consider this a day one purchase.

Sazime - Third person action/RPGs always scare me a little, as it seems most are missing just a little something that keeps them from being great. Darksiders plays smooth and had that "fun" factor I wanted from it. Unfortunately, I don't know if I got enough from this demo to know how great it may be, but smashing zombies face first into the ground was awfully fun!

Goronmon - Promising action game with a similar feel to God of War with it's own QTEs for the bigger enemy fights. Definitely looking forward to what they produce for the finished product.

DeathSpank (Official Site, Hothead Games)

xoanon - I thought this game had the most impressive graphics and art of the show. Their scheme requires a rigidly-controlled camera to work, but it looks beautiful. All I have to say about Zelda-ish adventure gaming from Ron Gilbert is "yes, please."

Diablo III (Official Site, Blizzard)

mightbe - Yes it's Diablo. And the interface is wonderfully done. The much debated graphical style makes so much sense when you see the game in full motion. It makes all of the threats and beneficial spells stand out so you can make snap decisions on the fly of when and where to spend your spells. Kudos to Blizzard for taking on the design challenge to make each class have it's own unique resource system (mana, rage, combos, etc.).

Goronmon - As soon as you start playing the game, you can tell this is Diablo and not just one of the many imitations that have come around since the release of the second. Still a ways off, but you can already tell this is going to be up the usual standards of Blizzard.

Ravenlock - The interface refinements alone from previous Diablo games will make this worth picking up. Having your skills and spells bound to WoW-esque hotkeys rather than switching them out of the right mouse button is extremely nice. Also a fan of the change to the health system - there are still potions, but they have a recharge time so you can't spam them. More routine health regen is done with health orbs dropped by baddies you take down, potions are just for emergencies. Oh, and it's goddamned beautiful.

Ghostbear - While playing this I was so locked in that when Trackzero asked me for impressions I got annoyed and told him to go away. I am very excited for this game.

Sazime - I get the feeling that Blizzard likes to tease the holy living hell out of its fans before it puts something out. Considering the quality of the end product, I can't say I'm upset by this, just suffering from a Blizzard Games Jones.

Mot Wakorb - To me, it's everything Diablo should be. It has the look, feel, taste, and smell of Diablo - the unfortunate thing is getting a taste and not being able to taste again for more than likely two more years - a very large disappointment.

Dragon Age (Official Site, BioWare)

Ghostbear- I am so jazzed for this game! The spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate? I want it now.

mightbe - After playing this at GenCon I was excited for it. After getting my hands on an updated build and surviving the Greywarden initiation, I'm downright aching for it. Baldur's Gate is back and improved in every area with a shiny new IP.

TrackZero - What else needs to be said at this point? Baldur's Gate meets Mass Effect? Yes please.

Elemental: War of Magic (CoG Coverage, Official Site, Stardock)

mightbe - Is it a spiritual successor of Master of Magic or a Civilization game with spells and dragons? Who freakin' cares. It's a turn based strategy game that seems to be doing everything right. Low system requirements, the ability to play the game zoomed out at the cloth map level, and customization through modability.

Ravenlock - I absolutely love the cloth map look of the zoomed out world. Beyond that, though, I didn't feel like what they had running on the show floor gave me a good sense of how the game will actually play. Saw a lot of town and unit customization and guys walking around the map, that's about it.

UWCrash - My turn-based strategy experience is pretty limited
to the Master of Orion and Civilization series, and the influence of the latter is definitely there, especially when zoomed out in the "Cloth Map View". However, the combination of Essence and different harvestable magic types could lead to some very broad strategic decisions in casting spells and producing units.

Global Agenda (Official Site, Hi-Rez Studios)

Goronmon - Easiest way to describe Global Agenda would be to say it's a cross between Tribes and Team Fortress 2. Whether it lives up to it's excellent predecessors has yet to be seen, but from the multiplayer match I particpated in, they definitely have a good thing going. It's also supposed to be an MMO, but details on that side seem to be a bit lacking.

Mot Wakorb - Unfortunately, there wasn't much about the MMO side of the game that was given to us at the demo. What was setup, however, was very much on par with a game like Team Fortress 2. In the game that I had played, we were playing an objective match - move the bomb (on rails) to the other team's base. It played very much like Team Fortress 2, with some changes - classes seemed more balanced (which is not a complaint about Team Fortress 2), and we had jetpacks. Other than that, the game was pretty much exactly what I would hope for - objective-based persistent world combat. We'll see if the MMO features they're including such as leveling, modifications, statistic and skill building, as well as auction-house features are worth the time. I've got high hopes for this one.

UWCrash - Tribes meets TF2 is a great way to describe the feel of this title. As it was setup on the show floor, everyone playing was joining a 16-person objective-based battlefield. The one game I played (along with Mot Wakorb) was a standard "Push" map similar to TF2, although I also caught a glimpse of a "Control Point" map while waiting in line. Playable characters were already somewhat advanced, having pre-assigned points in their various skill trees (the only MMO component visible). The developers are touting the game world as being persistant and evolving, so hopefully the PAX demo isn't an indication of in-game missions being heavily instanced. Definitely worth a look in my book.

Halo ODST (Official Site, Bungie)

mightbe - At first I didn't care much about ODST but I figured I'd give it a playthrough when it hit the bargain bin. Then Firefight Mode was announced and I got a chance to play it. You guys remember our GRAW 2 border patrol nights? Oh yeah, it's got that same hectic feel.

Mot Wakorb - Firefight seems like another Horde mode to me - and that's not a bad thing. It's even more fun when you're hamstrung due to different penalties being enabled as you get better and better. How long can you last?

Suave Peanut - At the Bungie panel for this game, they spent a good bit of time talking about the music for ODST. Subtle and jazzy and generally lacking the standard Halo theme, I expect the soundtrack to be exciting and quite befitting of the noir-style setting.

Jumpgate: Evolution (Official Site, NetDevil)

TrackZero - Graphically stunning, this space shooter MMO is definitely one to keep your eyes on. Sporting PvE squad boss fights and PvP objectives that affect the PvE side (think Wintergrasp in WoW), they're taking lessons from peers and making a skill based shooter that's going to turn heads.

Ghostbear - Exceptionally fun MMO, I am really looking forward to giving this a shot. Its like Eve, but you actually feel like you're doing something.

Sazime - Horray for space shooters! Games like X and Eve are great sims, but it's been too long since I was able to jump into a fight cockpit and just blow stuff up.

Left 4 Dead 2 (Official Site, Valve Software)

mightbe - What zombie game doesn't need more weapons, maps, and bad guy types? It plays extremely smoothly from the short amount of time I was able to get my hands on it.

xoanon - I really wanted to see the chainsaw, but it wasn't in the demo. What I did see and play was great, though. Even if you're tired of L4D somehow this is definitely worth your time.

Ghostbear - This game is fantastic and I am really looking forward to playing it for hours and hours, good times.

UWCrash - A Valve developer said that this time around the story between campaigns will be much more tightly knit. That might not be a huge deal for some people, but they'll probably be too busy slicing and dicing zombies with a katana to notice.

Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Official Site, Ignition Entertainment)

Ravenlock - I never played Odin Sphere because I didn't have a PS2, and that was one of the games that made me wish I did. This looks like a fantastic followup, though. Simply stunning 2D artwork and animation, and the hack & slash combo gameplay is a lot of fun. Didn't get a good sense from the floor demo how much variety there will be, but I'd be happy to just repeat what I did there for a few hours.

NEW Super Mario Bros. Wii (Official Site?, Nintendo)

AniAko - Reminds me of all the fun I had in the Gameboy Four Swords Adventures and the Gamecube iteration shortly afterwards. The levels don't prove to be difficult, but when you bump into 3 other players trying to squeeze on the same tiny ledge, the difficulty factor sky rockets.

Ravenlock - Mostly, this makes me want a Wii / DS version of Zelda Four Swords. But it was really fun, and I'll certainly be picking it up when it releases simply so there will be another Wii game my wife will play with me.

Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time (Official Site, Insomniac Games)

Sazime - Still a ton of fun, lot's of style and now with more puzzles. I played through Clank's "time travel" puzzles pretty intensively and it was more difficult than I expected it would be. Insomniac has just added new layers of goodness on an already entertaining series of games.

UWCrash - Everything you'd expect in the continuing evolution of Insomniac's long-lived platformer. The "core" Ratchet gameplay is of course there with more expansive, beautiful environments and a new array of weapons. As with most of the titles in the series, the Clank gameplay is again focused on puzzles. This time around there's even more of time manipulation seen in Tools of Destruction as Clank navigates "The Great Clock".

Rock Band Network (Official Site, Harmonix)

Source: Joystiq

mightbe - The breadth of music that should become available through this is absolutely mind blowing to think about. I could totally see some of the people affiliated with bands doing their entire catalog. And that's not a bad thing.

SuavePeanut - This is a huge deal. Not only is it a great way for players to gain access to more songs, it is a great way for musicians to gain exposure. Of great interest to me is how Harmonix is encouraging user-made DLC and distributing it through the XNA platform. I hope this sets precedent for other mods.

Scrap Metal (Official Site, Slick Entertainment)

mightbe - There seems to be a trend of bringing back arcadey fun to the racing genera and Scrap Metal is more than happy to dive in head first. Did I mention you can play it in 3D with a pair of colored glasses?

Scribblenauts (Official Site, 5TH Cell)

AniAko - I made a gorilla ride a whale in a lake and jammed with my doppelgänger to a stereo I made. Nothing that helped me solve the puzzle, but damn was that fun! You think it, scribblenauts does it.

Goronmon - I think just about everyone will have fun with this game. Being able to summon a huge number of objects, animals etc is fun enough, but you also have puzzles to solve.

Ravenlock - The best thing to do here is probably just list what stuff we tried. I spawned a ghost, and then spawned a proton pack. The proton pack killed the ghost. This game and I will have a good time together.

Mot Wakorb - What's to be said? It's a game that really lets you complete puzzles the way you want to. There's also something else to be said when you watch Cthlulu, God, and a tank be killed by a dragon. Great times, really looking forward to this one.

Suave Peanut - I tried to use an escalator to climb higher, and when that didn't work I bounced around on a narwhal for a while. Then I rode a hippo into a wall and depressed a button using a TV. Sold!

Shank (Official Site, Klei Entertainment)

Photo by AniAko

Ravenlock - Gorgeous visual style. The fluidity of the animation is very impressive, and the actions flows smoothly. Somewhat limited options for fighting - knives, chainsaw, gun - but they all combine nicely to make you feel like a badass when knifing a guy to the ground with one hand and shooting a 2nd guy with the other. I don't know if it'd hold up as a full retail release, but as a downloadable title on XBLA or Steam for a reasonable price, I'm there.

AniAko - I smiled from start to finish.

Split/Second (CoG Coverage, Official Site, Disney Interactive)

Goronmon - Definitely a surprise hit for me. There were the big things like destroyed buildings falling across the map as well as smaller things like the HUD tucked in just under the back of the car that made it stand out. A game to watch out for.

mightbe - Ever wish that you could be Michael Bay? Split/Second lets you fulfill that fantasy while driving at ridiculous speed through narrow raceways designed to encourage risky driving; which builds up your power play meter.

TrackZero - All the style of the Burnout series wrapped in with an even nicer UI and QTEs. Definitely a good time.

Ghostbear - This game is a blast. Great visuals, a fun take on the arcade racer. I really love dropping buildings on my opponents.

Mot Wakorb - It's Burnout, Michael Bay style. That's probably the best way I could put it. It was a fun ride, and for a game that isn't complete (according to the devs), I was blown away.

Sazime - I don't think I played that single track the same way twice during the 4-5 times I went to the booth. After you see so many explosions, you find yourself wanting to dive into them just to get the biggest smoke/fire/spark effect on the screen as possible, and the game doesn't even blink.

whunpo - When I played this title, it immediately hooked me in and I didn't want to stop. By eliminating regular weapons and power-ups from the game and replacing them with environmental destruction, Black Rock Studios has put a fun and interesting twist on the Arcade Racer Genre.

UWCrash - I was going to completely ignore this booth until it was recommended by a few other people, and I'm better off for having listened to them. Gameplay feels a lot like Burnout except instead of trying to ram opponents into guard rails you active "Power Plays" which cause some part of the terrain to deform (generally by exploding). The more advanced Power Plays can also change the shape of the track, forcing everyone down an alternate route as the previous path is destroyed or blocked off.

Starcraft 2 (Official Site, Blizzard)

AniAko - Plays JUST like the original, and that's not a bad thing.

mightbe - Any time now Blizzard. I played this game three years ago. And I know you're giving us the gift of Battle.net 2.0 with the SC2 release but enough is enough already. You're teasing an already weak man.

Ghostbear - Seriously, I like polish as much as the next guy, but lets go! I want to kill things with Dark Templar.

Star Trek Online (Official Site, Cryptic)

mightbe - All we had to play was an early pre-alpha "Work in Progress" build but right away this game's top notch art direction grabbed my attention. It looks, feels, and sounds like Trek. Space combat is gorgeous and has a distinctly strategic feel without being painfully slow.

xoanon - I was impressed that the space combat could feel exciting and still like it was between capital ships after being disappointed by Pirates of the Burning Sea. It seemed a little silly that everyone could take multiple phaser hits during the away mission combat, but I don't have a better solution. The visuals, even at this stage, are excellent.

Ghostbear- The game was a lot of fun and I was pleasantly surprised at how the space combat works, I am looking forward to getting this game.

Mot Wakorb - I couldn't believe the depth they had put into the space battles - the sheer tactical requirements in space were fantastic. Ground-based combat has something to be desired, but it's getting there.

AniAko - For me it looked like an action shooter... after pounding furiously on the keyboard keys to find out how to fire my weapons, I slowed down a bit and found it to have a bit more tactical taste. The space ship battles were much more appealing to me than the ground fights.

Torchlight (CoG Coverage, Official Site, Runic Games)

mightbe - I'm sure somewhere is a gamer that doesn't want this game but at $20 for 100 levels, three classes, and a full featured editor I can't imagine who that person might be. Perhaps they hate fun things.

Ravenlock - This was probably in my Top 3 for the show. Not because it's doing anything stunning, it isn't, but because it seems like a really solid game from folks I admire. Travis Baldree's Fate was my favorite Diablo clone for a long time, and the Mythos team had a great thing going before Hellgate: London brought Flagship down. Seeing them team up on this is awesome, and $20 for the single player version sounds great. It's pretty, it plays well, the price is right, I'm sold.

xoanon - This was my game of show. It's a solid concept for a game of course, but the execution is stellar and they've clearly worked very hard to cut out everything that isn't fun or supporting the primary experience. This game felt like a labor of love. I'd pay $50.

Ghostbear - The game was a fun and the Runic people really got me excited, looking forward to downloading this.

TrackZero - From some of the team of Diablo 1 and 2. Take Diablo, add a WoW art style and new changes to gameplay. $20 download and play on almost any spec machine? Solid buy.

Wet (Official Site, Bethesda)

Ghostbear - Wet didn't resonate with me very well, it seems to be a solid game, but its not a game that I will rush out to purchase day one.

MotWakorb - A game that takes the 70's action formula and applies some Max Payne bullet-time effects to it. While not necessarily the prettiest game I've played - I found it fun. Definitely a high-action popcorn game title.

WoW: Cataclysm (Official Site, Blizzard)

mightbe - Starting at level six may seem daunting to people who rolled out DKs at 55 recently. But from the time my goblin was jumper-cabled back to life I was zipping around the harbor rescuing little greenskins in the same dire condition as myself, I knew that at least the starting areas were going to be a huge departure from the norm.

TrackZero - Worgen transform! Further great times in WoW were had. With new visual effects and narrative techniques added to the already winning formula, this is a sure fire win.

UWCrash - It's World of Warcraft...what did you expect? Not a lot to say about it given ten minutes of play time on the show floor, but hopefully as "old world" Azeroth is going to be heavily overhauled (ie. transformed due to the Sundering), the grind to 60 won't be too daunting. Rolling a new Goblin or Worgen starts you at level 6, and that will likely to carry over to the older races (which have new class combinations available) as well.

All photos were taken by myself or from the official website of the game unless otherwise noted. If you didn't get in on this please add further impressions below. This is also the place to ask specific questions of the people who are commenting on the games.

[AniAko]

Drew and Jeremy get that same zoned out expression when they're deep into a game.

I must have forgotten to give my impression of Aion... oh no wait, sometimes not having something to say says it all...

[Adam Blue]

Great round-up of PAX impressions. Best I've seen on the net. Great job, all of you!

[Ghostbear]

Great job Mightbe, really appreciate the work you put into this post.

[crazyD]

Ghostbear and AniAko are dead to me. mightbe and TrackZero, we cool.

[Ghostbear]

Originally Posted by crazyD

Ghostbear and AniAko are dead to me. mightbe and TrackZero, we cool.

Why is that?

[crazyD]

Originally Posted by Ghostbear

Why is that?

Ripping on the brightest ray of sunshine in the upcoming months? What will likely be the most clever, funny, and unique game to come out this year (to say the least)? Dismissing the genius of the greatest game designer alive as mediocre bargain bin material??! SAYING ANYTHING AT ALL NEGATIVE ABOUT A TIM MOTHER FUCKING SCHAFER GAME!

[xoanon]

A great idea well-executed. Thanks, mightbe.

[AniAko]

Originally Posted by crazyD

Ripping on the brightest ray of sunshine in the upcoming months? What will likely be the most clever, funny, and unique game to come out this year (to say the least)? Dismissing the genius of the greatest game designer alive as mediocre bargain bin material??! SAYING ANYTHING AT ALL NEGATIVE ABOUT A TIM MOTHER FUCKING SCHAFER GAME!

Ohhhhh, you're one of THOSE. It's ok, you'll feel better before you find out it won't be GotY...

I know how much work that was mightbe, and you knocked it out of the park, good job!

[Pale Ale]

Actually I think that an over view is really cool vs. randomly popping essays here or there.

Buuuuttttt..... Didn't Stardock release new Sins of a Solar Empire data in their '10 preview? They said they were!

[tacitus]

Nice overview - much more interested in Dante's, Borderlands, and Torchlight than before.

[ElektroDragon]

I was there, no one asked for my impressions... oh well. Next year when I can be there for longer than a day (thank you crummy Portland anime con my wife wanted to go to), maybe I will meet up with you guys and you can include me? I live 20 minutes away from PAX. That said, nice impressions! I got my hands on most of those.

[mightbe]

Originally Posted by ElektroDragon

I was there, no one asked for my impressions... oh well. Next year when I can be there for longer than a day (thank you crummy Portland anime con my wife wanted to go to), maybe I will meet up with you guys and you can include me? I live 20 minutes away from PAX. That said, nice impressions! I got my hands on most of those.

Actually there was an open call for submissions in the PAX roll call thread.

[bryan]

Thanks for the short and sweet impressions of each game guys!

[Sazime]

Originally Posted by AniAko

Ohhhhh, you're one of THOSE. It's ok, you'll feel better before you find out it won't be GotY...

I know how much work that was mightbe, and you knocked it out of the park, good job!

I'm one of those people who can't understand the "because it's Tim Schafer" attitude myself. For those of who wondering why, I direct you to Richard Garriot and Will Wright.

And all hail mightbe for organizing this bad boy, indeed. We have opinions, and they must be heard!!!

[Gerbs]

Great feature.

[crazyD]

Originally Posted by AniAko

Ohhhhh, you're one of THOSE. It's ok, you'll feel better before you find out it won't be GotY...

Oh, it will be... oh, it will be. What was the demo you played? The one at comic con was lacking, and didn't even touch on the strategy elements.

[pomeroy]

I think we better have the suicide hotline on speed dial in case Brutal Legend doesn't live up to d's expectations.

[Sazime]

Originally Posted by pomeroy

I think we better have the suicide hotline on speed dial in case Brutal Legend doesn't live up to d's expectations.

Are you kidding me? We'll need on for everyone working themselves up for this game. It's scary.

[crazyD]

Originally Posted by pomeroy

I think we better have the suicide hotline on speed dial in case Brutal Legend doesn't live up to d's expectations.

That's really not possible.

Just to note, I am exaggerating. Slightly. Oh, ever so slightly.

On another note, I will be dressing as Manny from Grim Fandango for Halloween. Be on the lookout for pics!