Update: It actually has 2x AA.
I want more Vanquish. That 711 MB PS3 demo wasn’t enough! I haven’t felt this bad ass since the original Max Payne. Vanquish is slick, stylish and a reminder that there’s more to shooters than an M16A2 burst to the head.
Platinum Games knows its audience and the options menu is a testament to that. An option for improving the visibility of text on standard definition TV’s? No problem. An option to use L1/R1 for shooting? Of course. It runs well on PlayStation 3 hardware? Absolutely.
It doesn’t looks like it features 2X anti-aliasing and it is a bit blurry (possibly running 1024×720 as well?), but it’s fine because I’m too busy sliding on my knees and unloading bullets into the the face of robots. The slow motion slide reminded me of the diving bullet time shooting of Max Payne. It’s a very uncommon perspective and sensation.
The voice acting is solid and — I want to say — deliberately cheesy. The techno ramble fits and it somehow helps sell that awesome high tech armor the main character, Gideon, is wearing. I love watching that suit transform and morph; it’s quite possibly the neatest looking suit of armor I’ve ever seen in a game.
I died once in the demo. It was during the boss battle. I don’t know why, but I feel that this game should have a jump function. It seems weird to see Gideon sliding with rocket propulsion and not be able to jump. I also felt sliding with L2 and holding L1 for the slow motion while pressing R1 to shoot was pushing the limits of controller comfort. I’m sure I’ll get used to both those quirks, but it’s still worth noting.
Nitpicks aside, I’m sold on Vanquish. It runs well, looks good and it’s a barrage of fun. Looking forward to October 19, 2010!
For more information on Vanquish, visit the official website.
My exposure to ModNation Racers can be summarized into these two items:
- The E3 2009 stage demo
- The Kevin Butler ad
And it looks like that’s all I really needed to know to get the gist of what ModNation Racers is all about.
People have described it as kart racing meets the “Play. Create. Share. genre” popularized by LittleBigPlanet and I think it’s a fairly accurate description. Today’s 900+ MB demo demonstrated two of the three pillars quite well.
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I’m a fan of arcade racers — Wipeout HD being the favorite of the lot. I’ve always wanted to get into four wheel arcade racing, even though I haven’t found much success with that breed of arcade racer. Burnout: Paradise could have fit the bill, but I wasn’t feeling it after the demo. (I realize the game has changed dramatically since then, but then I haven’t gotten around to trying the latest iteration.) Fortunately, there are more arcade racers coming this month via Bizarre Creation’s Blur and Blackrock Studio’s Split Second. I checked out the demo for the latter.
I dug the demo of Blackrock Studio’s previous work, Pure. It looked, played and ran superbly. It was also quite exhilarating for its vertigo. Split Second isn’t about vertigo or speed for that matter — it’s about explosions. Like a Michael Bay movie. I drifted and drafted my way around a simple track building up power charges in order to trigger predetermined explosions. These triggered on-track explosions can than be used to wreck my opponents or alter the layout of the track.
When I first learned of this mechanic, I thought it was going to be awesome the first time through, but would gradually become repetitive and predictable with each passing race. It turns out I was right. After trying the demo three times, I was already seeing past the explosions and into the simple racer.
Like the gameplay itself, I was initially wowed by Split Second‘s visuals. After spending a bit of time with the demo, I began to see the faults in the visuals. Aliasing was a bit distracting and so were the lower resolution textures on the track’s assets. To sum up: Split Second just didn’t hold up to closer scrutiny.
Now let’s see if a Blur demo will show up.
It’s Super Bowl Sunday 2010. This is the first NFL season which I’ve paid significant attention to, but it’s still superficial compared to the dedicated fans out there. Nevertheless, I do have a preference and want the Indianapolis Colts to achieve victory.
Yes, I’m going to against the impressive Madden NFL prediction.
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How many games can you think of these days that give you that old, nostalgic feeling of wonder? I’m not just talking about wondering what’s going to happen next. I’m talking about the feeling of wonderment you get when you are faced with many discrete options to choose from and you have to stop and analyze the consequences of your actions before proceeding. And you know you have to choose carefully because you can’t go back, you don’t even know if the decision you are about to make is a drastic, life changing decision, or simply an insignificant forgettable gesture.
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What do I know about Dark Void? Let’s see.
- It’s developed by a western studio and published by Capcom.
- The protagonist resembles The Rocketeer and is voiced by the incredibly prolific Nolan North.
- It’s a third person shooter.
And that’s about it. Needless to say, I don’t know very much about it. It was interesting enough to warrant a download of the 700MB demo and after going through it, I can see why Capcom isn’t too fond of the idea of having western studios develop new franchises for them.
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I was checking up on the last demo I shared impressions on and it turns out that it was another character action game. As you can see, worthwhile demos have become a rarity for the past several months.
So EA and Visceral Games (Dead Space) decided to give PS3 owners two week’s worth of alone time with the Dante’s Inferno demo. I don’t see why they would give the PlayStation 3 version such special treatment with Kratos looming in the shadows, but kudos to EA for showing the Sony camp some love I guess.
I had to give Dante’s Inferno a try based on the fact that it’s a God of War clone made from the guys who brought us the Resident Evil 4 influenced Dead Space. Most of the ideas may not be original, but you can still create a worthwhile experience based on established mechanics. Or so I thought. The results were all over the place.
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