Flay

Headed out to the show floor again to get some hands-on time with the other PS3 titles I haven't mentioned yet.

Heavenly Sword 50% done

I don't care much for fighting games, but Heavenly Sword is surprisingly addictive. The Gladiator style of fighting is easy to pick up and master the various moves that will help you character succeed in the arena.

It's much nicer looking than the other samurai-esqe PS3 game on the floor, Gen Ji. The textures are sharp and the character animations flow smoothly. The game uses cinematic cut-scenes between battles to highlight advances in the single player story. The only drawback to the graphical qualities seems to be an enormous amount of HDR lighting that makes most of the backgrounds too bright and a bit faded.

The fighting system is broken up into 3 different stances: Power, Defensive, and Quick. These fighting styles can be changed on the fly if you need to adapt to a new group of enemies. Also, there is a style bar in the bottom left hand side of the screen that dictates how often you can use special moves. This bar can be built up by successfully dispatching the oncoming horde of soldiers.

Overall, the tight controls and slick interface is what will sell gamers on Heavenly Sword. The Devs didn't give me a solid release, but are hoping to make the PS3 launch.

Gen Ji 60% done

Gen Ji is a samurai fighting game that seems similar to the Dynasty Warriors series. Basically, you are up against a multitude of opponents at all times while progressing through each single player stage. While the game makes excellent usage of high res textures and fire effects, the cinematics leave much to be desired. The facial animation is particularly poor.

During my time with the game, I was controlling 2 different characters; a sword slashing young woman and a giant Thor-esqe dude wielding an enormous post. The controls are adequate for their purpose, but it seemed more like a button masher than anything else. I wasn't impressed with the title at all.

Formula 1 06 60% done

Graphically, this game is a mixed bag. The foliage surrounding the track is quite detailed and lifelike, but the ground textures are just plain ugly. The controls are easy to pick up, but control of the actual vehicle is another story. Perhaps the developer is shooting for realism, but I couldn't race without spinning out continuously. Nor could anyone else around me. Wait and see on this one.

Sonic the Hedgehog 40% done

Sonic blew me away. The cinematics are incredible detailed and impressive to watch in motion. Dr. Robotnic has never looked so evil. The reflective water effects are delightful which only mirrors the massive environments.

Controls haven't been completely tweaked yet. It's far too easy to loose control of Sonic and send him careening to his death. The speed is highly representative of Sonic's capabilities. Also, the combat system is finely tuned to knock those pesky enemies out of the way.

Sonic should make a great addition to Sony's lineup of PS3 games this fall.

Madden 07 30% done

Oh my god, why did EA even show this game. The build looked horrific. The textures are blurry and jagtastic. The close up animations are even worse. I'm shocked they let this demo out for the press to see. It looked like a PS2 game. They have a long way to go to spruce up the graphics.

The gameplay is the same standard Madden affair. It's almost identical to the gameplay on the 06 version. I did ask what modes will be included in the game and the dev wouldn't give me a straight answer. The only reason I was curious was due to the stripped down 360 version that was released last year.

Gundam Mobile Suit 20% done

This Mechwarrior-esqe title is coming along nicely, but far from complete. The robotic suit textures are highly detailed and flow well with the current set of animations. The suits are fully destructible and pieces of each can be hacked off.

The environments are fairly lifeless, but the dev attributed that to the lack of completion. At the moment, the environment looks like it could have been pulled off on the PS2.

The controls are a bit loose when attempt to combat another mech or rotate your own bot. The demo was fairly boring, just consisted of hunting around for 6 rogue mechs. The mechs are indicated on the Hud in the right hand corner of the screen.

This title really needs quite a bit of work before being released on the PS3.

PSP Games

I haven't looked at handhelds much yet, so I sat down to check out a few titles. Plus my feet were tired.

NCAA 07 90% done

This game really looks as good as its PS2 counterpart. While there are a few jaggies on the screen, it doesn't really take away from the quality of the title.

I really enjoyed the new catch cam. Basically, the camera will follow the ball and rotate around the hands of whoever is supposed to catch the ball. It really puts an end for the need to check out instant replay after a suspect missed catch. If I had a PSP, I'd certainly pick up this title for college football on the go.

Ratchet and Clank

Wasn't impressed with this title. The camera is next to unbearable and the game suffers because of it. It's very difficult to determine the direction I was supposed to be going. Also, the text is difficult to read.

Death Jr: Root of Evil

I really enjoyed this game. The art direction looks reminiscent of Nightmare before Christmas and the character design is particularly inventive. The controls are tight and the camera rotation on the L & R buttons makes fighting a breeze. But it's usually not even necessary, as the camera stays at excellent angles. The colorful cutscenes are part anime, part cel shaded. Also, there is 2 player Co-op available as well as battle multiplayer.

Bethesda Softworks

Best booth ever, because they freaking fed me. Seriously though, the makers of Oblivion are working on a couple new titles that will be released this year.

Star Trek Legacy PC & Xbox 360

This Star Trek game features all 3 eras in the Star Trek timeline. The 15 hour, single player storyline will take you though the most famous space battles in Star Trek history. It's strictly a space battle game, so no controlling Kirk or Picard running around the Enterprise. The demo I saw had ships from multiple eras taking on several Borg ships as a culmination of the storyline.

You can control a squad up to 4 ships. But once you lose a ship, you cannot get it back. The ships have destructible sections, so you can target certain sections of an enemy ship to take out their engines or destroy firing capabilities.

The game will support up to 8 players on Xbox Live and you can fight with ships from any era of the game. Also, there will be downloadable content available on the 360 soon after launch later this year.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow. PS2 & PC

This game is set between the first and second movies. It's an adventure game that allows you to control 2 characters, Jack Sparrow and Will Turner. There are light RPG elements to the game which will allow you to increase fighting moves and upgrade your weaponry.

It's really just a cinematic tale to link the 2 movies. They were able to get Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom to record the voice work for the game, so it sounds authentic.

This game doesn't look particularly good next to all these next-gen titles, but it's probably a fun game to play if you are a fan of the movies. Probably get destroyed in reviews though.


Oh, and strike out at Nintendo. I keep asking for some dev time with all the Wii games, but they keep turning me down. I'll try again later today perhaps. Off to the South Hall I go!

xmiyux

I'll be very interested to see how that Star Trek space battle game turns out. It intrigues me.

devilshalo

I didn't care for the camera work in PotC.

I spent most of my time playing SOCOM:FTB2. Lots of things I liked (and let's face it, not much in the game as far as looks has changed) and lots of things I didn't like. I especially hated the new way to toggle thru your weapons and cross talk commands. They are supposed to make the lock on feature react differently depending on the weapon. And instead of giving you the variety of weapons up front, you now have to purchase your add-ons. You want the grenade launcher, it costs you. RPG? Have to pay for it. I'm thinking that with each completed mission, you're given credits to purchase more add-ons.