[E3 09] Scott's Day 1 Report (SEGA)

[AgtFox]

Scott's Day 1 Report (Day 2 coming soon) continues on with his experiences at the Sega booth, his first good one for E3 2009 where he was actually taken into a quiet room.

He touches on Obsidian's Alpha Protocol (Due out in 2010), Rebellion's Aliens vs. Predator (Due out in 2010) and did not get to see Bayonetta because Sega misscheduled him (the game is not shown after 4:30pm for some reason, the others are).

Here is a piece of the report:

I gotta say - this game looks fantastic. The first thing I noticed in the demo was the lighting. As well I should since it plays an important part for the Aliens in the game. The darkness is where they're comfortable and, in fact, they react to the light. In one part of the gameplay he was defending a position. With his flashlight, he would shine it into the darker parts of the ship to see and when he positioned the light on an Alien, it would pause and then run for darkness.

To read the rest of the report, check out the next post.

[AgtFox]

From Scott (Psykoboy2):

While I do complain of how E3 is different from last year, I did get a chance to revisit the way things used to be in my trip to see Sega. All the games I would be seeing from them were behind closed doors. Yay! But not one-on-one and without permission to video or audio record the sessions. Boo!

The first game in the line up was Alpha Protocol (360, PS3, PC). It's a game described to us as a spy RPG. And, well, I guess it is. You earn XP and can level up a number (like 10, I think) of abilities to the main character. This is a game coming out in 2010, but the game doesn't look like it's going to win any awards or break any records. Not much info on the story of the game was given, just instructions on how to play. It didn't look all that great either, but it's still early. The main problem I kept having was how I was being told it was a spy RPG but this guy was clearly the worst spy in the world - at least in the demo shown to us. There was nothing "spy" about it. He went in, crouched behind cover and shot the bad guys. Absolutely NO stealth. It was more in the sense of just going in, shooting, getting what you need, and then you're done. The game comes out on PS3, 360, and PC (Steam too) in 2010.

The next game was Aliens Vs. Predator (360, PS3, PC). Again shown in the style of devs playing the game while we watched. Just as before in the last meeting, no storyline details were given. They just played a level and talked us through what they were doing.

I gotta say - this game looks fantastic. The first thing I noticed in the demo was the lighting. As well I should since it plays an important part for the Aliens in the game. The darkness is where they're comfortable and, in fact, they react to the light. In one part of the gameplay he was defending a position. With his flashlight, he would shine it into the darker parts of the ship to see and when he positioned the light on an Alien, it would pause and then run for darkness. The enemy AI detects light. Not just light predetermined in a level, but light you have control of, be it a flashlight or a flare. And by the way, the darkness in this game is very dark. DOOM 3 levels of darkness where you CANNOT see anything without light.

The Aliens themselves are formidable foes against the Space Marines. Best to stay clear of them. For one, they attack hard. The dev playing the demo died a few times while playing. Two to three good hits from an Alien and your gone. Also, keep at a distance when shooting them because once dead, a large spray of acid is released.

This game holds a lot of promise and a lot of gameplay. In fact, the story can be played through three times in total. As a Marine, again as a Predator, and again as an Alien. We were being shown a bit of the Marine side while the show floor has the Predator side. They weren't ready to show any of the Alien side yet. Then there's the multiplayer. Three different species playing at the same time. They couldn't go much further than that as they weren't ready to reveal any multiplayer details yet.

After that it was time to check out Bayonetta (360, PS3). But wait! I was scheduled wrong on the list. They had me down for 5pm to check out the game, but 4:30 (every day of E3) is when they stop showing it. The other two games continued to be shown, but Bayonetta was done after 5pm. Sad, but true.

I decided to go downstairs and went to the Eidos booth to grab an appointment with them for the next day to check out Just Cause 2 (360, PS3, PC) and, again, Batman (360, PS3, PC).

[DoctorFinger]

Man, I hope AvP pans out.

I was thinking the other day that while I've heard a lot about Alpha Protocol, I'd never really heard how it plays. Now we know why.

[Spigot]

I remember reading about Alpha Protocol about a year ago and thinking it was pretty interesting. It will be very disappointing if they do away with stealthy spy mechanics for yet another Gears wannabe. Sigh.

[Xerxes]

Wow... I hope there is more to Alpha Protocol than what you played. I expect better from Obsidian, than a plain shooter.

[mister slim]

I've seen videos that are more stealth-based, including cloaking power-ups. It does look like even stealthy players will have to deal with a fair amount of combat, though it appears you can use the stealth abilities fairly well even in mandated firefights.

Found the video:

[Xerxes]

So you have to choose the style(stealth or commando) before the mission starts? Thought it would be on the fly.

[mister slim]

In the sense of your primary skills being dependent on how you level and what equipment you have, I think yes. Though you'll notice in the video even with a stealthy set-up he does pretty well in combat.

[Xerxes]

Originally Posted by mister slim

In the sense of your primary skills being dependent on how you level and what equipment you have, I think yes. Though you'll notice in the video even with a stealthy set-up he does pretty well in combat.

That makes more sense. But like he set he had the demo machines setup in commando mode or something. Which by Scott's experience felt like a shooter. I doubt he got to get into the meat of the rpg aspect.