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The first thing I noticed about PAX this year was not the fan funk
that, surprisingly, is less than one might expect and only really hits
a little on day 2. At that point, the lines to play ODST and
Borderlands stretch most of the way across the main expo hall and
everyone was up until 1 A.M. the night before, waving their iPhones to
the rhythms of Metroid Metal.
The first thing I noticed was that the
Washington State Convention Center was packed to the gills; past the
gills, in fact, if it actually had gills to limit packing. Amy
(Mrs Feanor) and I (Feanor) went 2 years ago for one day, on Saturday,
and the place was mostly empty at 10 A.M. This year, we showed up at
10:30 A.M. on Friday and it appeared that about half of the +60,000
attendees were already rocking the house.
We had a couple of industry panels that we wanted to hear and so
we decided to make a foray into the expo hall to see what was around.
We should have lined up for ODST right then and there, but the queue
was already pretty long and we figured we could wait (foreshadowing!).
Our brief walk through revealed a veritable treasure trove of casual
games, hardcore games, hardcore casual games, games with marines, games
with zombies, games with marine zombies (not yet; that's coming in
2010!), and Hello Kitty! Online. It was a tremendous blow to realize
that mere mortals could never withstand the onslaught of so much
leisure fodder; we must choose carefully, and take a thorough and
careful report of the few gems we could collect back to the community.
To make matters worse, VictimVictor, who found us in the indie game
section, warned us that the panels had been packed last year and were
worse this year, and he recommended lining up as early as we possibly
could. Glancing at our watches, we realized fearfully that one of the
panels was coming up shortly and we would have to hurry.
Victim's warnings were accurate; 30 minutes before the start of
the "Breaking into the Industry" panel, the line had wrapped from the
theater entrance, through the hall, around the escalators, and was
beginning to wrap around the back wall. We hopped into line, hoping
against hope that the panel would have a couple seats left at the end
for us. Fortunately, the rooms in the convention center are pretty big
and we were only halfway back. After that experience, however, we
decided to line up earlier. The sweet spot ended up being 45 minutes,
which was still quite astounding. The line for ODST, sadly, looked
like it was wrapped around the entire expo hall. We didn't even bother
with the big events after that - our Geezerly stamina could not cope
with the strain. That said, we more than got our money's worth out of
an incredible event. Hopefully we can go next year.
One of the incredible things about PAX that I am always surprised
by is the lack of incident. This year, the only thing I saw was a guy
who was obviously an attendee chasing someone who had stolen his badge;
sadly, considering that the badges had been sold out, they were a
prized item. It's hard to imagine that it is possible to cram that
many people into a couple of buildings and have hardly anything happen,
but despite the culture at large's belief to the contrary, gamers are a
pretty decent lot. People line up in an orderly fashion (as orderly as
possible when you have that many bodies in a small space), generally
give each other a little room, and rarely shout out non-sequiters in
crowded areas. I think in part it's because the average age of
attendee at PAX probably skews a little older, closer to Geezerdom; in
addition, it probably brings out people who want to take part in a
community, thus making them less likely to go Timmy on each other.
Whatever the cause, I continue to be impressed every year by the way
the gaming community represents itself at this event. As long as the
rest of the world doesn't judge us just by the cosplayers we'll be fine.
But that's enough about our experience at the show. You want to
hear about the games. And we did get a few in, though some of the big
ones we just couldn't get to. Without further ado, here are the games
we got to rock:
Mass Effect 2Woo7!: The fantastic writing, voice acting, and
conversation scenes are back. There are several new characters who
make an appearance, including Grunt, another Krogan who sounds a lot
like Wrex, and Thane, a mysterious assassin. They look like they have
interesting back stories of their own, as usual, and finding out the
stories should be part of the fun.
The combat has been hyped elsewhere as considerably improved from
the first game. I have to admit I didn't notice much, and actually
found a couple of issues that I didn't have in the first game (more on
that later). However, it seemed fine overall, and the availability of
a heavy weapon helps with fighting off armored turrets, etc. There is
now a rocket launcher available; the change on that is that there is
limited ammo to that weapon. You can now send your 2 squad members in
separate directions, making it possible, for example, to send one to a
doorway so they can hold off enemies from there while keeping the
second teammate elsewhere. It was a handy feature that I used several
times in the short play period I had with the game. You can also melee
when enemies get close, which provides more options for defense.
Meh: Instead of your guns overheating, you now have to
reload. I'm not sure how they will explain away all the pseudoscience
behind the weaponry. (If you didn't read it, a CNC-type cutting system
inside the gun shears off a bullet from a block of metal based on
targeting information fed into the weapon computer, meaning that if you
need a bullet with less mass and more velocity it will give you one.
The mass effect field then fires the bullet. This both increases
weapon effectiveness and removes the need for clips of ammunition.)
Apparently, humanity just forgot that technology and now we have to
reload. Budget cuts in the Alliance military? Dunno. I preferred the
overheating scheme, because if you fire carefully you never have to
worry about reloading or overheating.
Fail: Here was the frustrating thing. You now go into
cover and over low walls like Gears of War, with A to go into cover and
A again to storm if the wall is low enough. However, I had
considerable difficulty getting into and out of cover. It seemed to
work about half the time, and then I'd get stuck. Usually when I got
stuck someone would shoot me. Hopefully they fix this before the game
is out next year.
Darksiders
Woo7!: I'm not sure anyone has just been waiting with bated
breath for this one to come out, but it looks like a fun brawler. It's
sort of God of War-esque; you play as War, the first horseman of the
Apocalypse, on a mission to lay waste to the earth. Or something. I'm
not totally sure. But the combat was pretty enjoyable. It's pretty
easy to string together combos, you can punch your enemies with a giant
clawed hand or chop them with your giant sword, and juggling is
possible. You unlock combos as you go, making it possible to gain new
and more devastating ways to sow destruction.
Meh: It seems, to some extent, like a paint-by-numbers
game; take a little God of War, mix in a sort of Biblical eschatology,
and voila! There isn't anything particularly inspiring about it, and
as a single-player game it doesn't have much to build a community
around.
Fail: Nothing in particular; maybe the lack of inspiration?
And finally:
Halo: ODST
Woo7!: The last day of the con, we decided to just get in
line early and get it done. We were not disappointed. Bungie
successfully ratcheted up the level of urgency on this game quite
handily. You are now a plain ol' marine, and you feel like a plain ol'
marine. You are not the Chief. No longer can you toe-to-toe with a
rampaging Brute; the first time you try, you'll get to see ragdoll
physics in action. The only way to go up against a Brute is tactics;
if there are a few of them coming, drop a grenade and run, then fire
from a more secure position. You can tell by your point of view that
you are considerably shorter than the chief, making even Jackals look
imposing. Dual wielding is not possible now; the guns are just too big
(for example, the SMG, in the hands of a marine, is a two-handed
weapon). These little things contribute to the feeling that this game,
though still very much Halo, has a different focus.
I've read and heard some thoughts that the Firefight multiplayer
is very different from Horde mode in Gears. The main difference, from
what I could see, is that Gears is Gears and Halo is Halo; the gametype
itself is extremely similar. There are waves of enemies, starting with
a few Grunts and Jackals and soon progressing to groups of Brutes and
Brute Chieftains. Each wave, the enemies enter the area either by
dropship or doors, depending on the map (in the area I played there
were dropships only). You have 5 lives (respawns) per wave; if you
make it to the end of a wave you get another 5 lives and improved
weapons drop onto the map. The difficulty rachets up not only in the
number and type of enemies, but also the skulls that are enabled each
wave. Every few waves, another skull is enabled, making it that much
more difficult to take out the incoming enemies.
I suspect this will absorb many hours of our lives.
Meh: Other than the above, no real game-changers; it's
pretty much Halo with a twist. Doesn't mean it's bad, they just chose
not to mess with the formula.
Fail: I saw some asshats working on a reload glitch like
BXR and the game isn't even released. Wankers. I just hope Bungie was
recording it all so they know what to fix (no doubt they did).
Lastly, games I got to see but did not play (saaaaad panda):
Left 4 Dead 2: Too many numbers. Also, pretty much looks
like L4D, so if you liked that, you will like this. More maps, more
environments, and now you can club enemies with a guitar(?). Not sure
why this is a big deal, since you can punch with the gun and that does
damage. Maybe a guitar is more effective close up.
Beatles: Rock Band: The Beatles and Rock Band. You also
have 2 vocal tracks so twice as many people can impersonate their
favorite Beatle vocals. I choose Paul.
Brink: Bethesda is making another post-apocalyptic FPS;
this one looks really good too. Imagine Fallout, but with much better
graphics.
Wet: Bethesda is also making a game that looks an awful lot
like Kill Bill. Could be good? Probably too far off yet to know much.
Also they like one-word titles now.
Splinter Cell: Conviction: Sam Fisher abusing another inmate terribly. No, not like that; he just broke a sink with the man's face, that's all.
Splosion Man: Think Super
Mario Bros. in a science facility of some kind, where your character
uses his ability to explode to navigate the level. Where other, lesser heroes would simply jump, you literally blow yourself
up.
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