One of my final stops at E3 was saved for Activision-Blizzard. I didn’t know what to expect from the largest third-party publisher, mainly because many of the highly publicized games were either only in video form or were inaccessible (I’m talking to you, DJ Hero). I did manage to sneak a peek at a few things, though. From music games, to hoverboards, to superheroes, Activision had a LOT to offer in their huge booth.
I began with a booth tour, then spent the rest of my time scouting. Stop #1 was Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
Ultimate Alliance 2 is set during the recent Civil War storyline in which lines were drawn in the Marvel universe pitting hero versus hero and villain versus villain, and everything in between. We saw the above trailer first then witnessed a demo. There are 24 playable characters, with up to 4-player co-op off- and on-line. Like the previous Ultimate Alliance this is an RPG-lite, allowing characters to upgrade and enhance powers and weapons as the game progresses.
What I saw seemed a little chaotic at times. The amount of characters on the screen at one time plus the explosions (the game now includes environmental damage) seemed like a cluster-bleep, but from what I’ve been told by fans of the original this is where the fun lies. The enemies aren’t designed to be difficult, just plentiful, forcing the player to unleash special attacks and not just button-mash their way through. I did like seeing the characters retain their comic-book attitudes. Deadpool was sassy, Hulk was at times mindless, and the character animations and attacks reflected their own styles: for instance, Deadpool launches grenades over his shoulder at his enemies. I also liked the new fusion system which links the abilities of two of the heroes/villains into over 250 new attacks. The Hulk can launch Wolverine into a wall of enemies and, faithful to the comic, Wolvie’s adamantium skeleton can take it and obliterate the foes.
While normally I’m turned off by these types of games, it did genuinely seem fun and true to the Marvel universe. When it is released this fall it might be a fun game to grab friends with and play.
Wolfenstein
I remember Wolfenstein. I remember playing it on a Windows 3.1 box and thinking, “Wow. This is the greatest game ever made! Look at those visuals! Look at the Nazis! It’s in 3D!”
Cut to almost 20 years later and Wolfenstein isn’t really relevant anymore. In fact it, like Doom, is the “Hello, World” of the gaming community. It’s literally been on every platform known to man, from consoles to handhelds, to digital cameras. This latest incarnation tries to change that, focusing on spiritual powers and high-res graphics while maintaining the traditional Wolfenstein game mechanic. I loved the throw-back look of the game. FPS with floating, bobbing disembodied arms always pointed forward.
The hook this time has BJ Blaskowicz utilizing a mystical, magical amulet’s special powers to take down the Nazis (like seeing through walls). The game’s focus on the amulet is huge, and reminds me a lot of the plasmids in BioShock. The Nazi army utilizes special inhibitors that keep the amulet’s power (called the “Veil”) at bay. This created a natural “complete this level by destroying all of the inhibitors” scenario for each area. Very old school, not that it is a bad thing. Amidst all of the big games coming out in the latter half of this year, I fear that Wolfenstein may fall victim to bad timing more than anything else.
Singularity
From the outset of the Singularity demo I witnessed, I immediately saw the Bioshock influence. The RPG-lite FPS genre is blossoming with each game iteration. In Singularity the shtick is time-manipulation. Russia has discovered “Element 99”, a powerful material that bends time and has caused a collapse between modern day and the 1950s.
The demo showcased a Russian lab filled with both soldiers and odd-looking creatures. With time-manipulation powers, the player was able to age objects and people forward or backward in time. In one example he showed us how to age a broken crate back in time to when it was full of ammunition. In another he showed us how to age a wall forward in time to the point that it collapses and becomes a doorway. This worked on enemies as well, as the humans could be time-shifted to become the out-of-sync beings that can be killed. But the one example that blew my mind was the ability to restore entire collapsed buildings in a structural dance of epic proportions. OMFG indeed!
The game will be hands-on at Comic Con in July, and has recently had its release date pushed back to March 2010. This is one to watch.
DJ Hero
Being a weekend deejay, my ears instantly perked up when I heard about DJ Hero. Also being a Guitar Hero fan, a DJ game in the genre seemed like a day 1 purchase for me. Upon seeing the live demo of DJ Hero at the booth… I was even more in love. Now, it wasn’t hands on but I did manage to sneak up to the stage and watch up close as the DJ worked the strange little peripheral. The ability to mix between two songs, even the odd throw-in of a Gwen Stefani tune, was seamless. The visuals were, well, pure to the “Hero” range. I didn’t see the inclusion of a guitar on stage, but imagine that it’ll add some sort of odd play. Now, will the tracks be compatible with Guitar Hero and vice versa? Hmm.
That was it for the time I had at Activision. I passed by Tony Hawk and Modern Warfare 2, but didn’t spend too much time dwelling on things I’d already seen during press conferences. All-in-all, it was a visual smorgasbord of games.
Note to self: next time give myself at least two hours to hang out at the booth.
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