Eurogamer Expo 2010...finally

So been a couple of weeks since I returned from the Expo in London, the Expo itself was pretty big, much bigger set up than last years event and so many games to play, unfortunately it was very busy and the queues for some of the titles wasn't worth the wait. Here's some thoughts from the games I got my hands on.

Motorstorm : Apocalypse (3D)

Particularly enjoyed this game, having owned both MS1 & 2 on the PS3 this was one I had to try. The gameplay's pretty much identical to the previous games which is fine because its solid and fun, the real twist is in the dynamically altering tracks, think Spilt Second but even more over the top. Buildings coming down to creating alternate routes, floors collapsing as you drive over them, quite exciting. So while this is all going on the game was also running in full 3D, I wasnt sure wat to make of the 3D stuff before actually playing them, sure i'd seen 3D movies and they were pertty cool, but i had my reservations. It works well and does help immerse you into the game more but there's a significant downgrading it the gfx's, jaggy edges, low res textures etc. Its a tough call really, for motorstorm specifically i didn't feel the benefits of 3D outweighed the loss in gfx quality, saying that it's still very early in development so we'll see on that one. From a gameplay point of view tho, really enjoyed it, most likely pick this one up.

Killzone 3 (3D)

In short, it's Killzone 2 but with much tighter controls and levels that felt quite exciting instead of your typical fps get from point A to point B. There were 3 levels on offer. One of which was with your character equipped with a jetpack (which sh!t on halo reach's jet packs btw). Anyone that's played KZ2 will immediately recognise the game's look and feel. The gfx are on par with the best out there if not the best for an fps. As mentioned before the controls have been tightened up, not too much to make it a twitchy shooter like COD but enough to make it feel a little more responsive. Besides the jetpacks, there's wasn't alot new to the actual gameplay side of things, you can now preform some pretty sweet CQC kills, knife to the eye was my favourite...The game was running in 3D, however it didn't suffer from the same significant gfx downgrade as motorstorm did and I actually thought it looked pretty slick. I found myself totally immersed and not sure if it was because ppl were watching as you play or credit due to the game itself but I found it quite exhilarating. This will be a day one purchase for me and 3D gaming becomes that little bit more appealing for me.

Dead Space 2

To put it simply...loved it! The demo on show was the same one from E3 lasted about 15-20mins and gave a taste of the various elements, shooting, puzzle solving, boss battle and the all new awesome zero gravity movement mechanic. It's essentially Dead Space 1 in terms of gameplay and controls, make your way thru corridors etc, taking out enemies, pretty much same old but there's nothing wrong with that imo. One of the new enemies included those little baby type things which cling onto you and hunt in packs, quite a nice edition. New weapons include a type of spear gun, unless i'm mistaken and it was in DS1 too. The level ended in an awesome boss battle chase sequence and if that's anything to go by it's gonna be a quality game.

Crysis 2 - Mulitplayer

4 vs 4 mulitplayer demo. Tbh i didn't give this one enough time, picked up the pad, got killed a bunch of times by other players on the show floor and other beta test participants playing online who seemed to know exactly what to do. It played a solid enough game and looks like it copies the standard perk system that most games seem to inherent these days, the nano suit being the "perk" selector if you like. You could choose, sprint, extra health/damage the usual suspects really. I'm hoping to get into the beta test that's coming out on 360 soon so i'll reserve judgement on this one till i've given it a good run out.

Medal of Honour

24 player MP match was on. Pretty awesome seeing that many 40" screens lined up side by side along and entire wall. I didnt bother queuing for this one either as the game was coming out so shortly but purely from a spectacle point of view it was pretty cool. (attached pic)

Brink

This game looks very very promising, to me looks like a hybrid of Borderlands, Team Fortress and Battlefield. Unfortunately the queue was massive, 2 hr wait for a shot on a 16 player match but I watched a bit and have watched all the vids as most of us have and I've high hopes for this one. It's no surprise infact that it won game of the show.

Bulletstorm

Great fun fps, totally over the top. Gameplay is super fast paced, there's a great melee system which can be used to set up kills by kicking and grappling enemies which create score kills which seems to be the point of the game. kill someone in the most creative manner and we'll reward you with points to unlock stuff and level up etc. The graphics very nice, expected from a game made with the Unreal 3 engine these days i guess. Controls were slick and arcadey. Essentially it was alot of fun and very popular at the show too. One to watch for sure...my money's on them bundling the game with a Gears 3 beta so boost sales, tho I dont think it's gonna need much help to sell.

Gears of War 3

Beast mode was available, which for those who dont know is like Horde mode but you play as the Locus. I played a few rounds, mainly as a wrech and ticker as the booth i sat at hadnt levelled up high enough yet to use the better characters. Was quite a bit of fun but near impossible to make much progress as the booths didnt seem to be linked so you were trying to co ordinate with the guy playing next to you but he was in a different server all together. Can see this mode being quite a bit of fun tho. Graphically the games taken a step up again, for me Gears is all about the Campaign and competitve MP which werent on show so hard to pass anymore judgement at this time.

Need for Speed : Hot Pursuit

4v4 MP chase mode...i think it was called.

Basically cops vs robbers, I chose to be a cop. Really enjoyed this, it plays an awful lot like Burnout which is no surprise considering it's coming from that team. Both the cops and robbers have ability type things to help get away or pursue one another cops for example had EMP bombs, helicopter support, spike tracks etc. It was fun tracking down each robber and trying to wreak their car before they got to the end. Graphically very good, controls easy enough. And having watched more vids on it since the show i can see this one being alot of fun with a party of friends. Definitely one to watch.

Kinect

Didnt get a chance on any of the booths, there was the dancing one which was very amusing to watch others and 3 other of the party game type ones. Really it's not for me...well the gaming side of things for Kinect, i'm quite interested in the navigational aspects of it tho, facial and voice recognition if works...could be quite a step up.

Playstation Move

Didnt bother with this as i've no real interest...yet, they had a closed off booth so didnt really get to see wat was on offer. KZ3 is going to implement the controls and by the sounds of things it plays very sweet with it so i'm keeping my tabs on that one. Personally tho i'm just not overly sold on motion controlled gaming yet. Hence my lack of enthusiasm to get into either the Kinect or Move booths.

Other worth mentioning

GT5 looks impressive as per, but whether its for me i'm not so sure, didnt bother trying it as i kinda know wat to expect already.

Assassins Creed - MP was on offer, having watched alot of vids on this one already i didnt feel the need to try it, it's a certain buy for me anyways just for the SP.

Fable 3 - looks interesting but it's not really my type of game.

Rapstar..watever it's called. Silly raping music type game that actually got quite a lot of interest, tho think it was just ppl standing around to watch others make tits of themselves trying to rap.

Check out http://expo.eurogamer.net/ for vids and pictures if interested. looking forward to next years again, you guys should all come across for it!