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| PAX08: From Game to Game |
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| Written by Bonnie Boglioli Randall |
| Saturday, 30 August 2008 13:03 |
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After an adequate java boost, I was alive again and ready to feel that invigorating, nearly sublime feeling obtained only after viewing the most advanced graphics and storylines available. As there's a lot to see at PAX, there's little room for the wannabe's. If you don't have what it takes to walk the walk, then you best not come altogether. I leafed through the glossy brochure while sipping my morning capuccino, ready for a full day's panels, eye candy and interviews. The big, fanciful booths always attract attention. I entered the fourth floor Expo Hall in anticipation of seeing the usual sights from Booth Babes to demonstrations of test phase games to extraordinary theatrics. I had a feeling of what might lay in store yet I neglected to remind myself of the surprise element that comes with pure awe. To say the Expo Hall was brimming with games would be a gross understatement. It was, indeed, chock full of the most amazing booths I've yet to set eyes on that included sports cars, reenacted dungeons and pits of fire engulfing monitors of joy. But more than that, the sheer diversity of the crowd awed me to no end. If the crowd's heterogeneity was any marker, the games themselves would prove to be diverse. They lived up to this expectation. From parents strolling around with their newborn babies tucked in tight, to young hipsters and old geeks alike, the swarm of people was remarkably difficult to gauge. I can only imagine how difficult they might make a game developer's life! Fallout 3 was clearly THE game to view at this year's PAX, and why shouldn't it be? While Buzzo briskly avoided the flytrap yesterday thanks to the hordes of lemmings circling around, I was drawn to it like a moth to a flame. Alright, so maybe I'm just another brick in the wall of people, but clearly this game has 'IT' and I could scarcely keep my eyes away. From the 1950s Airstream booth and its perfect post WWII family, white picket fence and all, to the brutality of nuclear holocaust that awaited me on the other side, Fallout 3 takes the cake for an entrancing arrangement and an even better game. For the Entropian veterans among us, imagine Zychion Citadel- only much, much better. From a world that has been to Hell and back comes new life with a fresh start. Unimagined beasts roam about the decaying ruins, and your job is to spot said enemies and kill the target. But it's the remarkable realism in both graphics and gameplay that is so compelling: you will need to utilize all of the fallen bricks and bridges to hide under, view your target and swiftly kick arse. This is not your typical hide and go seek- this is serious AI coupled with the intelligence demanded on you- the user. Oh what fun it is. I didn't spend long on Fallout 3 as the line was backing up. No worries, as this is a game I will gladly pay money for. I chugged down the rest of my coffee as any decent, self-respecting night owl would do at 10:00 on Saturday morning and carried on to the next booth that caught my eye: Electronic Arts. But not just any game from EA, mind you. While I do find the sporting games perfect over a Friday night pizza, I was really interested in seeing what they have in store that you can't get your hands on yet. Mirror's Edge satisfied my appetite. With a fresh and demure Japanese face on its poster, I still had little idea of what to expect from this yet to be released game but I found myself watching the monitor more closely. The gamer becomes Faith, a messenger carrying consequential information across perilous lines. Faith makes her way atop a city skyscraper, giving a quick look down prior to making a leap of- but what else- faith, and jumping onto the next building. Mind you, the gamer needs to become fairly adept at leaping from building top to building top and using their hands to grasp for the appropriate bricks at the right time. Faith continues on her quest, running from her captors while sliding from utility wires and down the poles across a beautiful, vertical city of highrises with an orange sunset. I was duly impressed at the difficulty of her manuevers though the graphics were not quite as immpressive as they were in Fallout 3. Then comes the CryEngine game: Crysis, another EA game that originated in Deutschland (a land that ironically cannot show all of its graphically gorey details). There's a reason for the pomp and circumstance surrounding the CryEngine. Quite simply put, it's magnificent. Crysis was one of the most critically acclaimed of all games last year, but this year it has added a new addition to the family- Crysis Warhead. Unlike its German counterpart, Warhead was delivered in the city of Budapest and their very own QA Manager, Oren Douek, gave me a first hand glimpse of the game that will be released in September. Becoming the venerable Sargeant 'Psycho' Sykes, users sink deep into the aggro Delta Force squad as they muster through tropical sand regions gone arctic ice in the newest reincarnation of the hovering tank, equipped with the latest weaponry gadgets. "We tried to answer as many complaints as we could with the CryEngine. We use a modified version so that it's accessible to more people," Douek tells me. "This has 30 frames per second, but can be played on a pc that costs about $650." Astonishing? I am rather skeptical myself until Douek begins showing me Crysis Warhead. The graphics, though not quite the same calliber as the original Crysis, is nonetheless pretty damned good. Snowflakes surround you as you seek out the enemy over ice covered beaches and under frosty palm trees. The light and shadow effects are quite detailed, new weaponry is surprisingly not impressive (only because better weaponry is always expected) and the storyline appears shockingly refreshing and well thought through. Definitely a game to give a try, if only because it's a complete reincarnation from an otherwise near-perfect game to begin with. True, it's tough to beat out excellence, but it takes gutts and that's worth something. I continue looking through game after game, anxious to see what attracts the gamers, whoever they may be. From old-school reincarnated arcade games to the Wii and World of Warcraft to Halo 3, there is clearly a demand for diversity in the gaming industry. I hope my brief write-up wets your appetite, as I have more to come. For now, it's so long and farewell. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
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