The Next Best Thing Is Coming; Evolve First Impressions at PAX East 2014

Over my gaming years, I've learned to tame my excitement and anticipation for upcoming games. The latest game developed by Turtle Rock studios, Evolve, was one of these curbed when it was announced earlier this year. There are only so many modern shooters, sequels and heavily marketed games one can consciously be aware of [and play for that matter]. Evolve entered my radar in January of 2014 by making it as the cover story on the newest Game Informer issue. At the time, it seemed like different take on the Left 4 Dead formula (also conceived and developed by Turtle Rock studios), where four “survivors” take on a giant monster. But it wasn’t until I got to play Evolve at PAX East where it became obvious this was NOT just a different take on Left 4 Dead, it was something entirely different … and awesome.

                It is true; Evolve is heavily developed around cooperative play very similar to the four player format in the Left 4 Dead games. The tagline is even 4V1, representing four versus one. Four players, or hunters, are teamed up against a player controller monster called “Goliath”. The hunter’s goal is to kill the monster and the monster’s goal is to kill all four hunters OR a generator in the center of the map after evolving to level 3. (more on that later)

Being the Monster:  Waiting in line at 2K Studios, we were asked which character we wanted to play during the demo and I volunteered to be the monster/ Goliath. You can tell Goliath is heavily inspired by Tank from Left 4 Dead. In fact, one of its special attacks is borrowed- the Rock throw. When we were setting up our characters, we were allowed to assign 3 XP points to four special abilities; each ability allowed 3 slots for XP points. The Monster’s four abilities are: Rock Throw, Fire Breath, Jump Attack and a Charge Attack. I assigned 2 points to the fire breath and one to the rock throw, although I could have maxed out one ability. The Goliath can then level up (evolve) 2 more times during the match and assign up to 6 more XP points to the remainder of the slots available. To level up, the Goliath must kill and eat different wildlife in the map. It seems simple enough, but with four hunters on your trail and hostile creatures to kill, players need to strategize when to evolve or when to attack the hunters. To make matters worse for the Goliath, the hunters can track the monster’s footprints through the jungle while he is hunting prey and evolving. The Goliath can then hide its footprints by walking through water or entering stealth mode.

What Turtle Rock did right: Gave Goliath a bigger purpose- Playing directly across from the four PAX attendees playing the hunters, I could hear their frustration in trying to track me, which only encouraged me to use the stealth mode more, jump incredibly long distances (which makes you feel like you’re the Incredible Hulk) and climb tall cliffs. All of these things make it increasingly difficult for the hunters to find you. When you’re playing as the monster, it shouldn’t just be a single minded “Go Kill the Hunters” mentality. But Turtle Rock knew they had to make playing the monster more dynamic or being the monster would be a chore. Using the stealth tactics bought me more time to eat more wildlife and evolve to the level 3 Goliath which was my goal from the beginning. Knowing the hunters are frustrated while tracking made evolving to level three even more enjoyable. But once I reached the max level, I felt unstoppable. My Fire breath, rock throws and leap attacks were maxed out and the hunted became the hunter.

Taking out all four hunters was a lot harder than I thought. Griffin/Trapper, Hank/Support, Markov/Assault and Val/Medic working together will be a challenge, especially if the players know what they’re doing. The Trapper’s unique role is equipped with a harpoon gun, restricting movement of the Goliath. The only way for me to breakout of the restriction is to use a physical attack against the Trapper. And you are typically engaged with one of the other three hunters when the harpoon gun is deployed, so breaking out of the trap is frustrating. The Support’s role is using the shield gun which produces a shield around another player, much like the Medic’s role using the medic gun for healing, which functions similarly to the medic gun used in Team Fortress 2. And finally, the Assault’s role is to inflict as much damage as possible against the Goliath.

The Goliath doesn’t just have a health bar as you would expect, but also a shield bar, which can be refilled by eating wildlife and evolving. Once the Goliath evolves to level 3, the Goliath can now choose to destroy a generator in the center of the map instead of killing the hunters. This also changes the strategy of the hunters; do the hunters now continue tracking the Goliath through the jungle? Or do they retreat and defend the generator? It’s this kind of gameplay shift that is a formula for an incredibly successful game- player don’t want the same thing over and over again, they want variety and they want surprise and Evolve appears to have added this dynamic.

Using the fire breath is great for when the hunters are bunched together- the attack releases a powerful stream that does heavy damage to players. The jump attack works similarly to how the hunter worked in Left 4 Dead. When you press slightly on the jump attack, a target area appears on the ground for where the Goliath will land. If any enemies are in the area when the Goliath touches down, he performs an earthquake shattering move that will knock players down. The rock throw also works this way and is good for players that are just out of reach of the jump attack and fire breath. There are cooldowns for all of these attacks so switching between the different attacks as well as making sure you are attacking the correct enemy class will be a strategic and fun way to keep players keen to their HUD.

My overall experience was extremely positive. I was only able to incapacitate 2 of the 4 hunters before I was killed; but it was a good 20 minutes of exploring the jungle, evolving and learning the Goliath’s special abilities. I was playing on an Xbox controller which I did not enjoy and prefer mouse and keyboard, so getting used to the controls was tricky. The option of destroying the generator never crossed my mind; I was confident that once I evolved to my full form, I could take out all of the hunters, but I underestimated their abilities. I also misevaluated my plan for taking out the medic first, thinking that role was the backbone of the hunters, but the trapper and support roles were just as important. Attacking the hunters needs to be carefully evaluated during the battle and the Goliath even has opportunities to escape, replenish health return to battle if needed.

What Remains to be Seen: It is unclear whether Evolve will have a single player campaign (probably not), but I don’t think one is needed. The big question mark I have is replayability. What is Evolve going to do to make the game continue to be fun after 100 hours of gameplay- Will it have some kind of “Director” that changes the environments in the map that forces the Goliath or players to change their strategies? This could easily be done by adding/subtracting different power ups and wildlife etc, but will Maps be different every time they are played? Will some maps have less terrain to make playing as the monster more challenging? Or less that allows the hunters to track the monster easier?

It is also hinted that more monsters will be revealed- will these monsters have different abilities? Will there be more hunters introduced? Will this formula be supported in the form of future DLC or free PC updates like the Left 4 Dead campaigns saw? Will the game be released on steam? (hopefully).

We also don’t yet have a release date; hopefully the planned Q3 2014 release is accurate and we’ll see the game later this year, but I won’t be surprised if it gets pushed into 2015.

Bottom Line: My prediction is Evolve will be the new hotness; the buzz surrounding the Evolve booth on Day 1 of PAX was heavily positive and after waiting in line for 2.5 hours the playable demo did not disappoint. Evolve will also fill the void that Left 4 Dead 3 should have filled these past couple of years and will most likely even knock Titanfall down a peg on the hot FPS multiplayer GOTY. This game will have legs if launched correctly, and given Turtle Rock’s history, we have no reason not to believe this. 

PAX East 2013 Day 3 - Last of Us Impressions

Last of Us Impressions – This may have been the hardest game to find time to play over the weekend. The Elder Scrolls Online line was LONGER, but since Sony set up shop in the middle of the showroom, the Enforcers were obligated to cap the line so it didn’t spill into the showroom lanes. 30 minutes of gameplay was a nice surprise. Everyone who plays gets a shirt (see swag photo - bottom left) and if you complete the demo, you get a "special prize" (a stress ball in the shape of a brick).

The beginning of the demo opens in a rundown city. Vegetation has taken over and buildings are crumbling. Right away players will get the sense of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, the first time Drake jogs through the jungle in search of El Dorado. The Last of Us also incorporates the same little treasure sound effect when the game wants you to look at something. As you play as Joel, a rugged Mad Max type, you are accompanied by the unplayable 14 year old Ellie and an unnamed older woman.  It is clear right away you and your group are heading for the State Capital (which in the distance resembles a lot like the Boston State Capital). There are rumors a lot of the game takes place in Boston as well as other cities on the eastern seaboard.

The first 5 minutes of the demo gets players in tune with the controls and exploring the map which consists of condemned building and a run down city. Players need to scour the area for supplies such as bandages, ammo, guns, and melee weapons such as pipes and wooden bats. The group stumbles across a dead “clicker” which is a person who has been infected by an outbreak of fungus that has apparently spread across the United States. The fungus turns people into flesh eating zombies; splits open a person’s head, disabling their vision and forces the monsters to make noises with their mouth... The enemies emit a “clicking” sound to use a sonar type navigation for hunting. Clickers are the most dangerous enemy in the game and kill players in 1 hit. The object is to avoid them at all costs. There are a second type of enemy in the demo which act the same way as clickers do, only they are in the early stages of the infection, can still see, and will not kill players in 1 hit.

This is Naughty Dog’s first M rated game and it appears they are pulling out all the stops when it comes to the gore. Watching my friends play the game when a Clicker gets a hold of you, it immediately bites your neck, pulling back strands of flesh off your body. (PS- I didn’t die during the demo :) )

The demo showcases two large areas of the game where players must strategically decide how to take out the enemies. Aggroing them all at the same time is a recipe for disaster. The first area contains 1 clicker and 4 infected enemies. Taking out the first infected was easy. Naughty Dog incorporated a sneaking tactic which allows you suffocate and/or break the neck of enemies to stay silent. Players must then must turn to their backpack and use a combination of supplies they have been collecting and create distractions by throwing objects such as bricks and bottles to lure enemies away and take out stragglers. There are options such as bashing infected enemies skulls in with bricks, shooting them in the head with a pistol/magnum (which will most likely gain the attention of the other enemies) or taking them out silently one by one. When things get rough for Joel, he will go into an all-out fist fight (much like Nathan does in Uncharted) to beat enemies to death. If you are close to walls and other obstacles in the room, Joel will use that to his advantage and throw enemies into walls/objects.

The second area Joel must pass through is what looks to be a subway station. There are quite a few enemies in this area but the game introduces you to molotov cocktails, which if you have not been gathering supplies as you advance through the demo, you might not have enough material to make them. Molotov cocktails are good ways to take out multiple enemies; throw a brick at the corner of an area, watch the enemies stagger over to the noise, throw a cocktail and watch them burn. This area also gives you a shotgun with 3 or 4 shells. Ammo is very scarce cross the game which resembles a lot like the Condemned series. (Speaking of which, why have we not seen a Condemned 3??)

You finally make it back outside which felt like an eternity after exploring the abandoned building and subway station, and there’s a nice little cut scene that will hold players over until the game’s release.

Fans of Naught Dog and new players will love the tone, art direction and action compressed in the tight little package of Last of Us. I don’t think there’s any doubt this game will be a hit. It’s a thrilling breath of fresh air in the zombie craze (if that makes any sense). It’s not going to be an all-out shooter, although it’s possible some stages may incorporate that, the real fun is giving players the option on how to approach situation. Do I attack or do I avoid? Ammo and health kits are scarce. Choose wisely. I for one will definitely be support this game on launch. 

Last of Us is due out June 14, 2013 only on PS3. 

PAX East 2013 Day 2 - Elder Scrolls Online Impressions

Elder Scrolls Online Impressions (AKA Skyrim Online) - I waited in line the longest to play this when I could have gone home and played Skyrim to get the same impressions. That’s essentially when this game is. It was nice to have 30 PCs setup for us to play, but the real WOW factor was playing outside of the booth; A five minute cinematic showing off three of the playable classes that was released back in January.

One thing that looks different from Skyrim is the flexibility in the upgrade trees. Weapons and armor are not tied down to classes. For example I could give a warrior (or dragon knight as ESO calls it) some leather armor and a bow if I want, or I can give my wizard heavy gear and have him walk around like Bugs Bunny in a suit of armor. The choice is yours.

The only big question that has not been released yet is the pricing model. Will Elder Scrolls Online go free to play? Or will there be a subscription involved? We saw what happened to The Old Republic with their subscription model… but I bet Betheda will bet the farm that the Skyrim name will help them gain subscribers and try their hand at $19.99/month. Below is the cinematic playing at the booth.

Elder Scrolls Online does not have a release date yet, but it's due sometime in 2013.

Metro: Last Light Impressions – Difficult! Well I played Metro 2033 on PC and of course, everyone knows that playing an FPS on PC is much easier than playing on console. So I was forced to use a crappy Xbox controller to figure out how get through the demo. It made things difficult and sucked a lot of the fun out of this game, but it does look like an equally immersive experience much like Metro 2033.

I was a little disappointed with the level they decided to showcase. It seemed like players needed to sneak around a lot to avoid enemies and the objective was not really clear. I wish they choose a better map. Graphically, the game looked surprisingly similar to Metro 2033. I didn't see too  many changes or jaw dropping sequences. Slight engine tweaks and a new game shouldn't have caused a three year dev cycle right?

Metro Last Light will be released on PS3, 360 and PC on May 14, 2013.

Dead Island Riptide Impressions - Ugh, I thought  maybe I would have fresh outlook on this franchise considering how much I hated the first release. It worked for Borderlands, why not Dead Island? Because Dead Island has not really changed much. It's still ridiculously hard to kill zombies which takes a lot of fun out of the whole point of game; killing zombies. I understand they are trying to incorporate a leveling system here but I think there would be easier ways to do this with certain melee weapons and areas of the island. This just isn't my cup of tea and it was not a pleasant experience.  

Dead Island Riptide is due out on PS3, 360 and PC April 23. 

PAX East 2013 Day 1

At this point, all of the PAX events in the past have molded together in my mind and I cannot remember which events featured which games without reading my blog to know which year they were showcased. But one thing is clear. This was the biggest turnout yet. In the posts following, if I don’t have “Impressions” behind the game title then I did not play that game. I merely watched a video of gameplay.

Watch Dogs – What a waste of time waiting to see the secret playing behind this booth. No developers or publishers to speak about the game. Just a few Frag Dolls playing two videos that told me no more than what has already been posted online. What’s with the secrecy here?

Watch Dogs is due out holiday 2013. 

Saints Row 4 – It was a surprise to see this here and we actually had someone from Deep Silver, which is the new development studio taking over after THQ went bankrupt, speaking to us about the game. Deep Silver talked about a lot of the new features but in actuality, SR4 is merely an huge expansion to SR3. Yes it’s an entirely new standalone game, but there really isn't anything to get excited for here.

As for the story goes, it looks like the Saint’s leader has been elected President of the United States and there’s an Alien invasion in Washington DC (those were the two “big” reveals about the game during our demo). So naturally the whole game will probably be about defeating the aliens using all the new weapons, cars and super powers that are featured in SR4. One of the features gives the Saints Leader Superman-like powers. Fly, freeze targets and throw cars at them. There’s also a Dubstep gun, yes a Dubstep gun, which is far as I can tell makes everyone in the area stop and dance to dubstep music and turns all vehicles into hydraulic rhythm toning beat boxes. Fans of the series will get a kick out of this stuff but will it really be worth $60 or is this something Deep Silver is throwing out there as a cash grab circled around THQ’s mistakes?

Saints Row 4 is due out sometime in 2013. 

Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag – Another waste of time. So let’s keep track, that’s 4 hours of lines on day 1 that I wish I could have back. Generally speaking, only diehard fans of this franchise are going to be interested in Assassins Creed 4. Yes the naval battles will be returning but who the fuck cares? There are way more interesting things to play in 2013 and 2014 than rehashing this beaten to death franchise for a 9^th time. The franchise is only 7 years old and there’s going to be nine titles. Think about that. How badly does Ubisoft want to be Call of Duty?

So yes the Naval Battles are back and yes they have improved them. How? Black Flag will allow you to upgrade your ship AND CUSTOMIZE IT! Raise your hand if you hear the sounds of a register closing in the form of micro-transactions. (I’m speculating there) But not only are the naval battles improved, the scope of this gameplay time is also expanded, which you can probably guess because the whole fucking game is about pirates and it would be pretty stupid if they didn’t expand this area from AC3. So now you can board ships and accomplish an array of missions and objectives achievements.

Black Flag will also step up the exploration scope allowing you to travel around the Caribbean Islands. Sit on the beach, explore the jungle, fuck you can even go snorkeling! Yes you can swim in the ocean and the second I saw this I wonder how many treasure chests Ubisoft is going to fuck your day up with when you need to find all 352 for that glories achievement you want to brag to no one about. I can hear them pitch this in the dev meetings. “Hey, we can put chests across the entire region and make them play extra hours for a dinky trophy!” “Great idea Bob. God we are brilliant at innovation.”

Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag is due out this November. 

Splinter Cell: Blacklist – I cursed this game as soon as I heard Michael Ironside wasn’t voicing the character Sam anymore. This would be like if Konami didn’t hire David Hayter for the voice of… oh shit. Well there’s two epicly terrible industry decisions. I don’t understand why they can’t hire some young guy to do the motion cap and just have Ironside dub over dialog in post-production? It’s not like they were doing hardcore mocapping for the PSX titles.

I went through a Splinter Cell bender once Conviction was released on steam. I played through all five of them (with the exception of the PSP version, Essentials) back to back x 3. Conviction went off the mark a little with the stealth aspect and it turned into a run and gun action game, but they’re still enjoyable. I’m hoping Blacklist returns to stealth as the major gameplay mechanic.

So what’s new? Not much. A bunch of mumbo jumbo that gamers don’t really care about. A bunch of “refinement” crap and new features like: An economy system! So if haven’t heard by now. EA is going to rape us with their in game micro-transaction bullshit and Ubisoft appears to be taking a page out of their book to create their own micro-bullshit. (all speculation but I’m an angry gamer with a blog so this is the result)

Splinter Cell: Blacklist is due out August 20th, on PS3, 360, Wii-U and PC. 

PAX East 2012 Far Cry 3 Impressions

Surprisingly, I spent most of my time at PAX East 2012 at the Far Cry 3 section. Every year, there’s one floor exhibit that “gets it right”. In 2011, it was THQ booth and Red Faction Armageddon. They had four or five stations setup, with exactly 60 seconds of play time with a goal of getting the highest score possible. The player with the highest score at the end of the day, won an iPad. The “60 seconds” aspect was key because it kept the line moving and gamers did not have to wait long to try the game. Plus it was addicting!  In 2010, the folks over at EA (look at that…something positive about EA!) and Skate 3 had a demo called “Wreck Yourself”; again, you have 60 seconds break as many bones in your body as possible, and if you get the highest score, you win some prize that I can’t remember.

                This year, Ubisoft had 16 stations setup where gamers could play a domination styled map, 8v8, for 10 minutes! The player with the highest score on the winning team, got to play in a tournament at the end of the day to play for a spot in an upcoming tournament and win some prizes. Getting 16 players in and out was seamless. The maximum amount of time you would be waiting is 20 minutes, which would put 32 people in front of you and the 10 minute play time was well worth the wait-to-play ratio. Compare this to the 2 hour wait to play Max Payne 3 or the 2 hour wait to watch an “exclusive trailer” to Assassins Creed 3 was a complete waste of time. At the Far Cry 3 booth they actually give you a place to sit down too; an extra bonus!

                Far Cry 3 multiplayer demo (which was a Pre Alpha Build) was fun. The domination mode separates players into two teams, the Pirates and Rebels, and they fight against controlling certain points on the map. The fact that you get to play against your fellow gamers was a treat and the fact that you are actually playing for a reward makes it competitive. There are seven classes to choose from, all having different advantages and disadvantages as well as different weapon config. Far Cry 3 was running on PC, but we were given Xbox 360 controller to play- so aiming wasn’t as accurate as it will be with a mouse and keyboard. The gamplay was pretty standard run and gun- like you would find in any Battlefield or Call of Duty multiplayer map. The map we played only had three capture points so it kept the play area small and action packed.  Like any multiplayer mode in today’s gaming market, there is also a leveling system built in for each class giving different bonuses the higher you climb.

                Ubisoft also built a revive system into the multiplayer modes where if a player dies, they have the option of pro-longing their incapacitated state by button mashing. Keeping yourself alive may be beneficial if your teammates are close to revive you and you’re trying to lock down a capture point. But if you’re fighting alone, it may be a better idea to choose death and respawn somewhere different on the map. Ubisoft also took a page out of the Call of Duty franchise and built in a team point system- the more points you acquire like reviving a teammate or capturing an objective, the more you can spend on air strikes and perks for your teammates. Overall this appears to be a solid multiplayer effort built into the attractive new storyline in the Far Cry series.

                To further promote Far Cry 3, Ubisoft hired a tattoo artist and hair dressers that were giving out free tribal themed tattoos from the game and free Mohawks in exchange for a copy of Far Cry 3 (to the first 100 volunteers). Maybe if this was Half-Life 3 or Diablo III I’d have considered it… 

PAX East 2012 Max Payne 3 Impressions

               This year’s PAX East I took a much different approach to the last two years I attended. This was going to be a much more casual visit to PAX than my previous visits. For starters, I was not going to arrive on day 1, five hours before the exhibit doors open to wait in line with the obnoxious  videos, fellow gamers and no place to sit. The only advantage in doing this is to get close to the front of the line for some highly anticipated games and I just did not feel like doing that this year. I was content waiting.

                Secondly, I wanted to buy a few PAX East 2012 shirts. The previous two years I waited too long and they were sold out before I could get them in my size. I wasn’t going to make this mistake for a third year in a row so getting shirts was number 1 on my TO-DO list this year.

                And lastly, the PAX guys didn’t send me my badge that I purchased back in January, so I had to wait in line at Will Call anyway, at entrance to the Boston Convention Center. PAX people totally dropped the ball on the badges this year. Went I got home on Friday, my badge was in my mailbox.

Max Payne 3 (Meh!)

                Rockstar, which has been known for having fantastic floor displays and demos; Last year we saw a live demo of L.A. Noire, the year before we got a playable demo of Red Dead Redemption. This year we got a playable demo of Max Payne 3.

                After waiting in line for around 2 hours, players got the choice of playing Max Payne 3 on PC, 360 or PS3, which I thought was a fantastic way to give fans what they want. We didn’t have a choice back at PAX 2010; we could only play Red Dead on 360. I tried to wait around for a PC to play on, but my legs were in pain by the end of the line and I folded and opted for a 360.

                Unlike previous Max Payne games, the new Max Payne is stripped of the Noire feel; no comic book styled framed narration. Instead this is replaced by the voice actor of Max Payne speaking over actual video. But the gloomy violin music makes its return and gives Max Payne a nostalgia feel.

                The demo that we were allowed to play was extreeeeeemely difficult even with the standard Max Payne bullet time. I’m not sure which difficulty was set on this demo, but I ended up dying quite a few times. It might have because I have never played Max Payne game on a console before but it was tough finding a comfort zone. GTA and Red Dead work well on a console because of the slower styled pacing of the action. Max Payne 3 is mostly run and gun, which I found difficult to adapt to.

                They added a new feature to Max Payne 3 which players will either hate or love. If you die, the game will immediately enter a bullet time state in which you have a last chance to kill the guy that shot you. If you succeed, you will stay alive and continue the game. This feature is fun when combined with the newly added effects such as enemies with flashlights which will blind Max and their exact location. If you are killed by one of these enemies, the player will need to blindly shoot into the giant lens flare on the screen and hopefully hit the enemy that shot Max. This can be a very rewarding or frustrating gameplay element.

                Another new feature they added that never existed in a Max Payne game before is a cover mechanic. This is not a pop and gun mechanic that exists in Gears of War or Uncharted. It’s more of a cover mechanic that helps Max recover for a bit when there’s a ton of enemies on screen. Max Payne 3 is definitely an ‘always moving’ action game and I think that’s what Rockstar wanted to achieve. They didn’t want a player to hiding behind cover for 90% of the game. This keeps the players constantly on their feet.

                Although I liked the previous Max Payne games, I don’t think I’m too attached to this franchise to be overly excited about even after having played the demo, especially since it is coming from a different developer. Rockstar is known for open world sandbox games and it’s interesting to see them take on new genre game but I don’t see many improvements, aside from technically, that will make me run out and buy Max Payne 3. It’s nice to see the franchise back, and I probably will be buying Max Payne 3 on steam eventually, the question is whether or not I will be buying it at launch. 

Pax East 2011 - Duke Nukem Forever Impressions

I’m not sure why I didn’t write about Duke Nukem Forever first, considering: A) I’ve been waiting 12 years for this game to be released, B) my handle for everything is “Dukefrukem” and C) I quote this game(and Army of Darkness) close to 37 times a day. But I was lucky enough to wait 2 hours in line to play the 20 minute demo of Duke Nukem Forever at Pax East on Sunday, the follow up of the 1996 critically acclaimed release Duke Nukem 3D. What did I think?

History

Well if you’re not familiar with DNF let me brush up on the history. It was announced back in 1997 that a new Duke Nukem game was in the works and a trailer was even released during E8 in 2008 (see below). The game used the “Quake II engine” and was even close to being completed. A few months later, Epic unveiled their new “Unreal engine” which was more realistic and could feature better open areas in game, so in late 1998 it was decided to scrap the game and start over using Epic’s “Unreal engine”.

Three years later another trailer was released during E3 2001 showcasing the changes that were made to the game’s gameplay and graphics. (see below) It was considered the most impressive showing at E3 at the time. In 2004, the website gamespot reported that the development team and switched the engine a 2^nd time, moving to the Doom 3 engine. By 2009, most of the funding at dried up at 3D Realms and the development team asked their publisher (Take-Two ) for an extra $6 million to finish the game. Take-Two countered with $2.5 million now and $2.5 million after the game was completed. The development team refused and all development on Duke Nukem Forever was put on hold.

Luckily, some fans of the Duke Nukem series at Gearbox (a large developer of the popular game Borderlands) offered to buy the Intellectual Property and finish the game. After the Gearbox acquisition, it was confirmed by a Gearbox developer DNF was using an heavily modified Unreal 3 engine and mentioned that 3D Realms had “rewrote, replaced, rewrote again, replaced again, iterated, modified, rewrote yet again”. Fast forward to present time and the game is completed and will be released on Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC on May 3^rd 3011. (Final Trailer is below)

It’s great finally getting to play it, but let me start off by saying Duke Nukem Forever is nowhere near worth the 15 year wait… and I don’t think people expect it to be. Don’t get me wrong, I’m buying it the day it’s released, but you can tell by the gameplay DNF tries to many things aside from being a first person shooter.

Impressions

The demo starts with Duke taking a leak in the bathroom. Yeh you literally need to hold the right trigger on the controller for the pee stream to be shown. (see trailer if you don’t believe me) Once Duke is done, he goes into a briefing room where soldiers are getting prepared for something. There’s a whiteboard setup with a drawing of a large alien. Duke can pick up pens and erasers and draw on the whiteboard and whatever you decide to draw, one of the soldiers will proclaim, “Oh man! Great plan Duke!”

When you’re done mapping out your strategy you find out you were actually in the locker-room of a football stadium. Outside on the field, there’s a 100 foot alien Duke needs to fight. (sound familiar Duke fans?) Duke grabs the nearest gun and the game throws you head to head with the 100 foot alien. After a long battle, the alien falls to the ground and Duke proceeds to kick the alien’s eyeball through the uprights. Immediately after this happens, the screen pans outward from a TV screen and you realize you have been playing Duke, playing Duke. Duke is holding a controller and there are two women (dressed in school girl outfits, as seen below) on their knees in front of Duke. One of them stands up, wipes her mouth and asks, “but what about the game Duke, was it any good?” Duke responds: “yeh but after 12 fuckin years it should be.”

The demo fast forwards to a driving level and you find yourself in a desert like environment, with all the guns from the first game; shotgun, chain gun, RPG, pipe bombs (which are detonated using Duke’s monster truck car remote) and of course, the shrink ray. Duke is fighting the enemies from the first game as well, Pig Cops and other mutants as he makes his way down a desert valley in his Monster Truck and makes his way into a mine shaft.

The game has no rhyme or reason for some of the environments Duke encounters. Why would Duke need to enter a mine shaft? Maybe this is explained in the full version of the game? And it does not look like much thought was put into an immersive story but rather someone listed a bunch of neat places Duke could be thrown into. In the game’s defense, it does feel like a Duke Nukem game, Crude, corky and plenty of T&A. Nothing innovative will be featured in Duke Nukem Forever but the real question is, will the game end up play like REAL sequel and a parody of itself? Or will it play like unfinished cash grab?

PAX East 2011 Reaction(s) & Japan

It was a bitter sweet weekend here in Boston. As I left my home early on Friday morning to drive to the Boston Convention Center for the 2^nd annual PAX East Gaming Convention, news of a major earthquake was sweeping over my radio, twitter feed and facebook. It makes it difficult to fully enjoy an entertainment event knowing that on the other side of the world people are suffering from one of the biggest natural disasters to ever strike. Think about this; what if you were one of the lucky ones to survive the 9.0 (upgraded) Earthquake, only to get hit moments later by a 30 foot tsunami, only to find out hours later that six nuclear reactors are on the brink of failing… The nuclear events are by far the most worrisome out of three nightmarish tragedies. No one wants to see another Chernobyl like event. Right now there seems to be conflicting news coming out of Japan where as some news agencies are reporting fears of a meltdown while others are saying the problems are contained. I wish Japan the best in these hard times.

PAX East however was a great success – 60,000 gamers were expected to show up at the Boston Convention Center, which was held for the first time in the new venue, after complaints last year of long lines causing little space for people to walk through the Hynes Convention Center in 2010. The bigger venue advantages were felt right away with four exhibit hall lines setup at 9am on Friday morning. The four lines were started at all four corners of the main exhibit hall giving people plenty of space to stand in line. In fact, if the PAX crew wanted to, they could have probably sold double the passes and still have plenty of room for the event. One thing they didn’t learn from last year was ordering more PAX East shirts as they were sold out by 2pm on the first day. Luckily I was able to grab one before then and did not have to resort to buying on for $50 off some random gamer like I did last year. (They cost $20 each)

Most avid gamers like to plan their day out ahead of time and I was no different. The first booth I wanted to hit up was Valve’s Portal 2 and boy did they not disappoint. I was close to the front of the line so I was able to get in on the 2^nd presentation of the day for Portal 2. The presentation included brand new footage of pre-recorded gameplay in the opening of the game. We were asked not to take any video, but it appears one disobedient gamer decided to take it upon himself to capture the whole presentation. It is now on youtube and I’ve added it below.

It appears you do not play as the protagonist Chell from the first game but another character. Your character is being kept isolate in what looks like a standard hotel room. Your character, (shown in First Person View) is asked to do a series of tasks which is designed to familiarize the player with the controls of the game. The screen fades to black and an unknown considerable amount of time goes by showing the same room in shambles, possibly years later. It is here when you start to feel the charm of Portal 2, when you are introduced to your robotic partner Cave Johnson, which has a British accent, and claims he is trying to rescue you. The room then begins to break apart as you finally realize the room is one of thousands, stacked in some giant futuristic warehouse used for experimenting on humans. The room looks to be on rails as you move to different sections of the warehouse as the walls, ceiling and floor being to crumble away, revealing the dark truth your character has been subject to over the long stretch of time.

Of course, after the Portal 2 presentation, we were all given pretty sweet Aperture Science shirts I'll continue to add more impressions of PAX East over the week.

Blogger PunchintheFace.GQ.NU

I'm brining sexy back with Punch In the Face 3.0. If you thought my twitter feed, facebook status, Buzz updates were annoying, then you shouldn't find this Blogger section very annoying. I'm going to fill with the content that I loved doing in college; extensive editorials, movie reviews and things that I currently love and hate. I miss those days and I started thinking why I don't write movie reviews anymore... and couldn't think of a good enough reason other than "I don't have time" because of work and school. F that. I'll make time for movies. First update should come after the weekend; After PAX East.