This Week's Releases: The Prince is Back Edition

Well, first, sorry I haven't been updating recently. I've been having some computer troubles I've been dealing with. I'm going to try and get a post up tonight while I have the chance. So, for the last big release week of 2008, here are my picks for games to get this week.

My Game of the Week

Prince of Persia (PS3, 360)-12/2

Was there really any doubt what I would be picking this week? Not only is this a down week for releases when compared to the last month or so, but my most anticipated game of 2008 is finally coming out. Prince of Persia hits the PS3 and Xbox 360 this week. This is a bit of a new beginning for the series with a new main character, a slew of new platforming moves like the gripfall and roofrun, and a reworked fighting system that has you taking on one enemy at a time. You also have a new partner Elika who uses magic to aid you in combat as well as help you perform amazing acrobatic maneuvers. This all occurs in a more open-ended game world and presented in the beautiful new illustrative artstyle. I'll finally get to see if the game lives up to the hype I've been giving it.

This is the part of the article where I tell you what other games are coming out, but I really think you should just get PoP for PS3 or 360 (or maybe pick up something you missed last month). If you're a PC gamer who hasn't gotten in on GTA's latest installment, GTA IV comes out for PC this week. There are also a pair of Mushroom Men games for Wii and DS. You can also pick up the Prince of Persia: The Fallen King for the DS, but I have to be honest, having played the demo I wasn't too keen on the stylus controls for the game and I'm not sure how it will turn out. Well, that's all for this week. I'll be sure to be back when I can with some more posts and hopefully some reviews.

Hands-on: Tomb Raider: Underworld

It will soon be time to get reacquainted with everyone’s favorite sexy spelunker, Lara Croft. With Lara’s new adventure Tomb Raider: Underworld releasing soon, Eidos and Crystal Dynamics decided to let loose a demo for 360 and PC late last month. Now that I’ve been able to play through the 360 demo a few times, I’m here to give my impressions of how the new TR is shaping up.

The demo opens with Lara on a boat off the coast of Thailand. After a cutscene that talks a bit about why you’re there, you’re put in control of Miss Croft. From here, you’ll take a quick swim to the shore fighting off a few sharks on the way and make your way up the cliffside through some caves. Next you’ll make your way into the jungle and to an ancient temple that you’ll work through for the remainder of the demo. The gameplay’s focus is mainly on finding a route through the environment and making the appropriate moves necessary to make it through the level. Lots of moves from the past two games are back, so, you can expect plenty of ledge shimmying, swinging on poles, hopping on top of columns, and swinging with your grappling hook. But they’ve augmented the platforming with plenty of new moves, too. For instance, by simply moving the left stick you can climb around on different outcroppings (sort of like those rock-climbing walls or how climbing was in Assassin’s Creed). You can also balance on beams and poles and bound between walls (think 3D Mario or Prince of Persia). The level design in the demo section was quite impressive. It was generally linear, but there were areas to explore and offshoots you could go off on to find treasures and health items. Some sections have alternate paths you can take to get places as well which is neat. The final section of the demo puts you in a large room and let’s you start what looks like it will be a large multi-faceted puzzle to get through that section, but cuts the demo off before you an really get into it.

Lara's new rock-climbing skills (plus the walljump shown in the image at the top of the article) add more depth to the platforming and exploration.

The game also has a bit of combat. In the demo, you’ll face off against a handful sharks underwater, a couple groups of tigers, and bunch of random spiders and bats. The combat feels a lot like the last couple games which is to say it isn’t very good. Basically, you lock on with the left trigger and shoot with the right. You’ll run around jumping and rolling to avoid the enemies and shoot them. There’s a new trick to getting headshots which is pretty good, but not all that much better than it was in Anniversary. You can also melee enemies and the addition of shooting while hanging on a ledge or on a balance beam is nice, but overall the combat just feels sub-par compared to similar games on the market.

There were a few other new features present in the demo. For one, the game allows you to adjust different things to help tailor the experience to your likings. Basically, you can make combat or platforming harder or easier or access hints or a map from your PDA for those that get stuck. The game also added a sprint button which should come into play during the game’s time trial mode. It acts as a dolphin swim of sorts to speed you up underwater, too.

Lara shows her passion for tigers and other wildlife throughout the demo.

It must be said that Tomb Raider: Underworld is really nice to look at. Lara’s character model looks great and they’ve added some new animations like how she braces herself when running into a wall or pushes brush away from her face when moving through the jungle. The environments looks fantastic as well. There were some glitches like a strange effect around Lara’s shirt in the opening cutscene and some clipping here and there, but it’s a demo. If they can polish off some of the rough edges, this game should look really good when it comes out. The music and voice acting featured in the demo also seem to be on the right track.

Overall, I came away pretty happy with the demo. New moves and less linear level design look to make platforming and exploration more enjoyable while the new engine really improved the look of characters and environments. The combat certainly isn't good, but with only a few confrontations in the demo to base my opinion off of, I'll wait for full game to really judge it. I think based on what I've played and seen, this could be Crystal Dynamics' best Tomb Raider game yet. In just a few days, we'll get a chance to see how Lara's latest turns out, with Tomb Raider: Underworld releasing on Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii, PS2, and DS. I should be back with a full review later this year.

Hands-on: Mirror's Edge

It’s nice to see original concepts in gaming and new takes on familiar genres. That’s what we have with Mirror’s Edge. And after getting my hands on the PS3 demo, I’m here tell you how DICE’s latest is shaping up.

The demo opens with a cartoon cutscene that introduces you to the story. I’m not sure this game wouldn’t have been better served with a Half-Life-esque story telling that kept you in first-person throughout the game, but I’ll hold off judgment on that part of the game until the full release. Now, I really want to focus on the actual gameplay. Mirror’s Edge is a game that you play from the first-person perspective, but it isn’t focused on shooting like most FP games. You play as Faith a female runner who has to make her way through the environment using different parkour and platforming moves. After a tutorial that teaches you the basic moves, you’ll be thrown into what is presumably the first level. Just like your typical FPS, the left stick strafes and the right stick looks. After that the most important buttons are L1 and L2. L1 jumps and generally moves upward (climbs up ledges, vaults over obstacles) while L2 generally moves down (slides, rolls when landing). You’ll use these commands along with a quick turn button (R1) and an interact button (X) to move around the levels. Chaining these moves together, you’ll be jumping from building to building, sliding under objects, climbing over fences, shimmying along ledges, balancing on pipes, and running on walls. Keeping your momentum is the key as you make your way over rooftops and through buildings to give a bag to your fellow runner Celeste. The controls are a bit odd at first, but once you get used to them the game becomes pretty addictive. It’s really fun to try and get through the level without having to slow down. There are some enemies in the demo, but the best way to handle confrontations is again not the norm. You’re better off avoiding or quickly disarming enemies (with triangle) and then just dropping the gun and moving on rather than shooting foes. The game uses a couple of things to help you get through the level. One thing is what they call runner-vision. This highlights objects in the environment in red to show you which way to go. I’m not sure this game won’t be more interesting with this feature turned off though. You can also hit the square button to activate slow-motion to help you navigate the environment.

Mirror’s Edge really has a pretty original look to it. The world the game is set in is very sharp and bright with tons of white and some vibrant blue and red accents amongst the tall skyscrapers. Things in the demo did look a bit jaggy, but nothing too bad. With focus on platforming in first-person, the game features some interesting animations where you see Faith’s limbs as you move about which DICE has a done a good job on. And it’s worth noting you stay in first-person when you roll which is quite strange when you first see it. If you’ve seen trailers of this game then you know that soundtrack is pretty catchy too especially the main theme.

Mirror’s Edge really is a breath of fresh air. As a big fan of platformers and parkour, it’s really interesting to see this type of game in first-person. Once I got used to the controls and perspective, I had a lot of fun trying to string together moves and find new routes through the level. Because of this the time trials that the full game will have should be great. If they can give you plenty of interesting scenarios and levels to work through in the full game, DICE could have a winner on its hands. Mirror’s Edge hits store shelves in the US this week for PS3 and Xbox 360.

This Week's Releases: Shooter Face-Off Edition

The great time for gaming that is Fall 2008 just continues to roll along this week. The focus here is on two big shooter sequels. Here's what we have this week:

My Game of the Week

Resistance 2 (PS3)-11/4, Gears of War 2 (360)-11/7 (tie)

Resistance 2

Do you hear that sound? Yes, it is in fact the sound of me copping out this week. I can't really choose at the moment between these two games. While I will not be picking up either this week (still busy with LBP), I will almost certainly have both these games by year's end. They both look great. Personally, I would pick up Resistance 2 first (which may make it my pick of the week... I don't know). But this is partly due to the fact that Insomniac is one of my favorite developers and I like Resistance's story a bit more. I really enjoyed the first game, but I'm not too happy with the decisions to not have local competitive multiplayer and move to a two-weapon load-out. I'm not much of an online player, but I really enjoyed playing 4-player offline with friends (still do actually). Not being able to do that (unless of course I got a wrong answer about it's inclusion on the Playstation Blog) or choose from a number of crazy weapons at once is a bit disappointing. Having said that I'm sure I'll really like the single-player and co-op campaigns and for those that are into online, there's not much to complain about.

Gears of War 2

Then, there's Gears of War 2. I really got a kick out of the first Gears. I mean I really have only played the co-op campaign, but it was still a lot of fun. I did try the local multiplayer, but one-on-one is pretty lame. But with Gears 2, they're adding bot support so that local will be more fun and adding the sweet new Horde mode. Plus, the campaign should be longer, so, I'll definitely be getting more value from this game then the first.

Despite a bit of complaining (games getting rid of local multiplayer is a pet peeve of mine), I'll probably get Resistance 2 first, personally, but I really think both of these games are going to very good and I'd advise either. If you only have a PS3 or 360, your decision is probably made for you. But until I play both, I can't say which will be better, but I'm guessing you can't really go wrong with either.

Other games of note this week include Tom Clancy's End War and James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace appearing on multiple platforms and the PS3 exclusive Valkyria Chronicles. Anyway, enjoy killing some locust or chimera if you guys get the chance. I should be back soon with some hands-on impressions of Mirror's Edge and Tomb Raider: Underworld soon.

Review: Ninja Gaiden II

Back in 2004, Tecmo brought back the Ninja Gaiden series with a new Xbox version of the game named... wait for it... Ninja Gaiden. It became one of the premier action games on the market. Admittedly, I didn't get a chance to play it until the PS3 remake Sigma, but it was still quite impressive. Now, four years since the Xbox reboot, Team Ninja has finally crafted an NG sequel for the Xbox 360. But how did Ninja Gaiden II turn out? Read on to find out.

Ninja Gaiden II again puts you in control of ninja extrodinaire Ryu Hayabusa. It seems someone is trying to resurrect the archfiend and it's Ryu's job as a member of the Dragon Ninja Clan to stop him. The story is really just an excuse to have you hop-scotching around the world killing all types of rival ninjas and fiends. While the story isn't anything to write home about, the cutscenes can be pretty amusing. They'll usually have Ryu engaging in some ridiculous action sequence where he's gliding through the sky like a flying squirrel or telling some enemy he's going to kill them. But in a day when many action/adventure games' stories are quite good, NGII's is pretty dissappointing.

The new Eclipse Scythe is brilliant...

Luckily, the gameplay makes playing through this game worthwhile. The brilliant combat system from the original remains the focus of the gameplay and it’s just as deep and fast as ever and a bit bloodier too. What you’d expect is back: light, strong, and ranged attacks; charged Ultimate Techniques and aerial attacks; Ninpo magic; long combo strings; counterattacks; upgradeable weapons (which unlocks more combos and moves), ninpo and lifeline upgrades. All that works well and they added some new elements to the mix though to freshen things up. For one, they’ve added some new weapons like a giant scythe and a pair of claws with blades for your feet. These along with a few others join some old favorites like the Dragon Sword (which is as awesome as ever) and the lunar staff. Overall, the weapon set is much faster than the first game’s. One major addition to the combat is the Obliteration Technique which ties in with the new bloodier combat. Basically, while in combat you’ll lop off all kinds of limbs. These enemies will continue to try and hurt you though (even resorting to killing themselves in order to deal you a lot of damage). To finish these enemies off, you just tap Y next to them which will launch a cinematic finisher. The move will be dependant on the enemy, missing limb, and weapon. They’re pretty cool, add a new wrinkle of strategy to the frantic action, and can even be used against bosses. Another addition to the combat is the ability to charge up your ranged weapons like your bow and arrows. They’ve added enemies and even bosses designed to take advantage of this new skill.

... the Tonfas, not so much.

Some other changes have been made that affect the combat as well. Your life will now fill back up (at least partially) when no enemies are around and can be filled back up completely when you first use a save statue. On the Path of the Warrior difficulty (which is basically the original's normal, they also added an "easy" mode which I didn't play), this regenerating health meter makes normal encounters a bit easier than in the first game, though the bosses as a group are just as plentiful and about as difficult. Having said that, the bosses altogether aren't as strong in quality as the first game's and there were a few I could have done without (not because of difficulty, but because of design). There’s also a mix of new and familiar enemies. Just like before there are a good variety of enemies from ninjas to demons with all types of weapons like claws, magic, and rocket launchers. All the different enemies take different strategies and techniques. As a whole, the combat is about as good as before which means it’s still one of the best combat systems in gaming and the new elements are welcome.

There are also some platforming and puzzle elements to break up the action. The platforming will have you running on walls and swinging on poles. It's not all that compelling though some of the wall-running techniques are pretty cool. Running on water is also cool, but I think they missed some opportunities to flesh that out more. Controls while moving along and swinging on poles are kind of clunky as well. Puzzles are for the most part of the completely archaic “find a key to open some door” variety and even more simple than the first game's. These portions of the game are pretty meh, but the focus is on the action so it doesn’t really matter too much.

The level design has changed a bit in the sequel. The game has become much more linear, but has more diverse environments as you'll be going all around the world from a futuristic Tokyo to a rebuilt Hayabusa village to New York and many other cool places. I like the added variety of levels, but I actually preferred the original's capitol Tairon with it's outlying areas and it's less linear design. Overall, the level design is okay though some sections made me scatch my head in what the were thinking when the came up with them.

Slicing up fiends is great fun and the combat is still really sweet.

One of the big issues with the gameplay is the camera. For my money, it's maybe a bit worse than in Sigma, but not too much. Basically, it's gets caught in bad places sometimes and makes it possible to get hit by an off-screen enemy. And on the occasion that you must fight two bosses at once, it becomes a complete mess as neither the "focus on the boss" option or the free option is ideal. There is a set-behind button, but the camera is pretty bad (I got used to it, but that doesn‘t make it alright).

Ninja Gaiden on Xbox was probably the best looking console game when it came out and maybe the best looking game of last generation. Ninja Gaiden II doesn’t have the same impact as the original. It’s still quite the looker. The game hosts some nice animations with blood and limbs flying everywhere as Ryu swiftly takes out his foes. The art is kind of a mixed bag though. Ryu, some of the enemies, and most of the levels look really nice. On the other hand some of the character designs are pretty bad (Genshin I’m looking in your direction). The game runs fairly well, but there are some framerate drops and mid-level loads. When these happen during a fight, they can negatively affect your play which is annoying. Overall, the game is a good-looking game, but I expected more from Team Ninja and some art and performance issues drag down the look of the game.

The game has a pretty good soundtrack. It fits the action well switching between ambient pieces and more rock inspired ones for the fights. The English voiceovers have gotten beaten up pretty bad by players, but I don’t believe they are that bad. I mean average at best I suppose, but they wouldn’t sound so bad if the writing (particularly for the fiends) wasn’t so terrible. The sound effects are what you'd expect and well-done.

This is the first chapter's boss. After a while you'll just be fighting him as if he was a normal enemy. Awesome.

One good thing about Ninja Gaiden II is that while most action games are lasting less than ten hours to complete these days, this game clocks in between 15 and 20 hours long. Sure, some of that is due to dying and restarting, but I was happy with game’s length. As far as reasons to come back, that really depends on how hardcore a player you are. Big NG fans will eat up the harder difficulties and tougher to get achievements. There are also leader boards and the ability to take videos of your play that add some replay to the game. One new addition I enjoyed was the ability to carry your weapons over to a second play through on the same difficulty. There are also some hidden skulls to find and a series of special fights within the game to beat if you haven’t in your first run-through. I’m a bit disappointed that Mission Mode wasn’t in the game (it was released as DLC), but the game has a pretty decent play value for a single-player game. There isn’t a ton of extras to unlock, but you do get some alternate costumes when you finish the game.

Summary

Story

Don't come here for the story. While some of Ryu's antics in cutscenes are amusing, the game's story is pretty bad.

Gameplay

This game is all about the combat which is deep, fast, fun, and challenging. New elements like the scythe, claws and obliteration techniques among others are good additions. The games platforming and puzzles are unsatisfying, the camera is pretty bad, and I think the more linear level design is a step backward, but if you are looking for great action and combat, it doesn't get too much better than this.

Graphics

I expect more from a Team Ninja game, but it's still a good looking game. Some art and performance issues do hold it back a bit.

Sound

The soundtrack is pretty good and the sound effects are well-done. The American voice-acting isn't too good, but the bad writing makes it seem worse than it is in my opinion.

Replay Value and Extras

The game is a pretty good length (15-20 hours on Path of the Warrior) and longer than your average single-player action games these days. Secrets within the game, achievements, and leaderboards also add some longevity to the game. The lack of Mission Mode on the disc is a bit dissappointing, but the game has some good value. Unlockable extras are minimal and in the form of some different costumes.

Overall

Ninja Gaiden II is a very good action game. It's not quite as great as the first game (even if just comparing the combat), but it's still a solid game. The combat is still awesome, but the other gameplay elements and story are kind of dissappointing. But if you're looking for good challenging combat with smart enemies and cool boss fights, Ninja Gaiden II is a good choice.

Score-8.5/10

E3 Awards-Part 2

I'm back with the second half of my E3 2008 awards which include the best handheld, downloadable, and overall games. Games were picked based on how good the actual game was (based on what I was able to see) as well as how well it showed at E3. These aren't to be cofused with my most anticipated games (which I may post later). These are what looked and showed the best at E3. Now let me hand out some awards:

Best Handheld Game

This goes to the best game that appeared on a handheld at the show. This award goes to:

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (Konami, Konami)

Of all the awards, this was the hardest one for me to pick. Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia and Resistance: Retribution were basically dead even. They both look spectacular on their respective systems. Ultimately, I gave the edge to Castlevania. The art feels more reminiscent of Symphony of the Night than the other DS games which is a good change in my opinion. They also added some other good additions to this entry like a new female protagonist, the new glyph system, a power-up that allows you to slingshot yourself around levels, and more environments outside the castle. It seems this could be the best Castlevania game in a while (and that's saying something with the quality of recent titles). Having said that Sony Bend seems to be doing a great job in bringing Resistance to the PSP and adapting the controls to Resistance's faster pace (compared to Syphon Filter). It also deserves a mention for how good it looks.

Runner-up: Resistance: Retribution

Best Downloadable Game

This goes to the best game at the show that will be available by downloading it through one of the three console's online stores. This award goes to:

Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty (Sony Computer Entertainment, Insomniac Games)

There were a ton of great downloadable games, but Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty rose above the crowd. This new Ratchet actually picks up where Tools of Destruction's cliffhanger ending left off and even though it's a downloadable game it has graphics and production values as good as most full games. It's basically a 3-4 hour mini-Ratchet adventure for $15. But it also looks to change things up with a bigger focus on platforming and puzzles along with a new wrench that allows you to manipulate things in the world. It looks like a great way to hold over fans until Ratchet's next big adventure while adding some new ideas to keep things fresh.

Runners-up: Fat Princess, Flower, Galaga: Legions, Mega Man 9

Overall Game of the Show

This award goes to the game at the show that impressed me the most. It had to both seem very promising and show well. My Game of the Show is:

Prince of Persia (Ubisoft, Ubisoft Montreal)

Of all the great games at E3, Prince of Persia impressed me the most. It started with the gameplay being shown in motion for the first time in a very well-made trailer. That was just the start though as the gameplay demonstrations that would occur over the course of E3 really showed off a lot more of what this game has in store. The Prince's moves have been overhauled as he has many new ways to move about the environment including cooperative moves with his new partner Elika. The game features what you'd expect from PoP with influences from games like Ico and Okami along with the new duel-type combat and more open level design which all look to make the game stand out among others in the genre. I'd heard about many of these features, but seeing them in action in the beautiful new artstyle was really impressive. It's tough to know how all these changes will ultimately work out, but the game looks extremely promising and fresh. It definitely earned my Game of the Show.

Runners-up: Far Cry 2, Gears of War 2, inFamous, LittleBigPlanet, Mirror's Edge, Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty, Resident Evil 5, Resistance 2

Well, that wraps up my E3 Awards. I may follow up this up with some eyes-on previews of some of the video demonstrations I saw from E3. I'm also going to now start to get to work on some reviews. So, keep an eye on Video Game Oasis for more new posts soon.

E3 Awards-Part 1

E3 is over and now that I've had a chance to see a ton of media and coverage of the show, I'm ready to hand out some awards. This portion is going to focus on some special and specific awards. Now, let me me hand out some honors (all runners-up are in alphabetical order not ranked).

Most Original Game
This is awarded to a game that brings new things to the table. In a world of sequels and borrowed ideas, it's nice to see fresh concepts that help games separate themselves from the pack. This award goes to:

Mirror's Edge (EA, DICE)

This was a close one between Mirror's Edge and LittleBigPlanet. Both are really original games, but having seen LittleBigPlanet for over a year and Mirror's Edge really having it's coming out party at this E3, I went with Mirror's Edge. Mirror's Edge screams originality from it's unusually crisp and clean visuals to it's first-person perspective platforming. Instead of shooting everything in sight like you usually do from this view, you'll be running, jumping and climbing through environments with a unique control scheme. Even though you can use guns, combat is more about melee and disarming enemies. In fact, holding guns actually slows you down. Mirror's Edge is definately a breath of fresh air.

Runner-up: LittleBigPlanet

Best Graphics-Technical
This is given to the game that ticks off all the boxes you look for in the graphics area. It needs great textures, animations, character and object models, and so on. All this must combine for a visually stunning game from a technical perspective. This award goes to:

Killzone 2 (Sony Computer Entertainment, Guerilla Games)

While Killzone 2 doesn't quite look like the infamous E3 2005 target render, the game looks pretty close and it's still rather early with KZ2 set to release in February 2009. Watch some videos of the single-player campaign and you are in for some stunning visuals. The gun models look fantastic and the animations for Helghast hopping over rails look great. Add in plenty of incredible effects and details and Guerilla is creating one of the best looking games we've seen yet. There were plenty of great looking games at E3 and I've noted some of the best in my runners-up below.

Runners-up: Crysis Warhead, Gears of War 2, Prince of Persia, Resident Evil 5

Best Graphics-Artistic
A large part of a game's graphics come down to the artistic design. This award given to the game that excels in the artistic design side of graphics. Anything from the artstyle to the character designs to the type of environments falls into this category. This award goes to:

Prince of Persia (Ubisoft, Ubisoft Montreal)

The new Prince of Persia has a very unique artstyle. I actually can't think of any other games that look too much like it. The developers are calling this new style "illustrative." The characters have a cel-shaded type look to them, but it looks more three-dimensional. They also have these thin black outlines that look really good and let the characters stand out from their environments. The characters we've seen so far (The Prince, Elika, and The Hunter) have great designs and the environments seem more fantasy-themed than in previous entries in the series. It's a very attractive look when it all comes together.

Runners-up: LittleBigPlanet, Madworld, Mirror's Edge

Biggest Surprise

This award kind of explains itself. It goes to the thing that happened during the show that shocked people the most. The one that dropped jaws to the floor. This award goes to:

Final Fantasy XIII coming to the Xbox 360

E3 2008, as I've said before, was a bit light on surprises. But when Final Fantasy XIII was revealed to be coming to the 360, it was pretty shocking. I've thought for a while that of all the PS3 third-party exclusives FFXIII was the mostly likely to stay exclusive, but I was clearly wrong. While I don't think it's the end of the world like many PS3 fans do, it's definately a big deal and was certainly a huge surprise.

Runners-up: Fat Princess-the name and the game, Resistance: Retribution-Resistance getting an entry on PSP

That's just Part 1 of my E3 awards. In Part 2, I'll give out awards for best handheld, downloadable, and overall game. Keep an eye out for it soon.

E3 Impressions

Now that E3 is over, I want to give my impressions of the show including the Big Three's press conferences and some other thoughts. I'll start with Microsoft's presser. Generally, it was okay, though much of their content didn't appeal to me. They opened with demos of some big games which confirmed rumors of RE5's co-op in a pretty good demo and great look at Gears of War 2. I wasn't real impressed with Fallout 3's demo, but that's mostly because they made it look like a shooter and didn't really show off more of it's depth though the game seems quite promising. Fable 2 looked pretty good, but it doesn't really interest me. A large part of their conference was spent on the new Xbox Live interface, party system, and some casual oriented stuff. This included their new avatars, some movie games, Lips, and and their deal with Netflix. The Netflix deal seems big, but the rest felt kind of like copycats of Miis, Singstar, and Eyetoy games. If this helps expand their market then good for them, but I'm not sure it will and this portion of the conference was just not doing it for me. Microsoft did impress me with their upcoming line-up on XBLA though. New content like Geometry Wars 2, Galaga Legions, and Portal: Still Alive along with the fact that the original Banjo is coming to XBLA has me excited. I've never gotten to play the N64 Banjos and was hoping to before getting the upcoming 360 Banjo which also looked like a lot of fun at the show. They ended the presser by showing off their trio of Square Enix RPG's and announcing that Final Fantasy XIII would come out on 360 as well as PS3. I'm not a big RPG guy, but it's becoming apparent that the 360 is the system to have with the above RPG's on the system as well as games like Mass Effect, Fable 2, and even Too Human (though that one seems not quite as promising). This was accentuated by the fact that Sony hasn't had much in the RPG area on the PS3. I was a bit let down that Microsoft didn't announce any big new games or tease anything for 2009. I would have loved to know that Alan Wake still exists or have actually seen what Bungie was supposed to show, but Microsoft seems content to just talk about this year. They do have an upcoming line-up including Gears 2, Fable 2, Banjo, and some other great mutli-platform games coming this year, so, the 360 seems to be in good shape.

Gears of War 2 looks to be the 360's biggest game this fall.

Nintendo's conference and general E3 performance was easily the worst of the Big Three. Their presser was focused on three big Wii games in Animal Crossing: City Folk, Wii Sports: Resort, and Wii Music. I'm a big Animal Crossing fan, but the new one isn't the jump I was expecting. It looks really similar to the previous games. I'll get it anyway, but I hope there is a lot more new stuff to do than it appeared. Wii Sports Resort looked fun and the Wii Motion Plus looks like a neat new add-on, but I'm kind of tired of the amount of peripherals I've bought for the Wii. I'm likely going to have buy three extra ones to go with the one I'm assuming comes with the game so me and my friends can play it together. While those games look pretty good, Wii Music did nothing for me. It looks like you just kind of randomly hit buttons and move the controllers to play music. It just doesn't appeal to me at all, but I guess it's not supposed to appeal to me. They also featured some third-party games like Shaun White's Snowboarding and Call of Duty, but they didn't interest me either. I was just hoping that Nintendo would give me some traditional games to look forward to, but all they basically did was tell us that the Zelda and Mario teams were working on new games and they were making a new Pikmin (which didn't even happen at the presser). A teaser for the new Zelda Wii or Pikmin and at least I'd have something to look forward to. Heck, at least show some of the new Fatal Frame or WarioLand at the conference. Nintendo failed to impress me with any new first-party DS games as well. The GTA announcement was surprising, but I'm not sure how it will turn out. At least, give me news on bringing the next Prof. Layton game over here. Overall, the Wii and DS software at the show didn't impress me much outside of a few standout titles like the Madworld for Wii, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia for DS, and a few others.

It seems while this guy was sleeping in the corner, three hooligans broke into his house to mess with his stuff.

I came away more impressed with Sony's presser than the other two. Mostly I liked that they showed off their PS3 line-up for this year as well as some for next year, they showed a bunch of promising new titles for PSN, and gave me some games to look forward to on the PSP. They had some demos of games like Resistance 2 and LittleBigPlanet (this one was neatly worked in to replace the typical boring powerpoint stuff). They also showed off games for 2009 like inFamous as well as teasing God of War III and Zipper's M.A.G. Killzone 2 and Motorstorm: Pacific Rift were also featured in a sizzle trailer that had some other multi-platform games coming to the system in it (though I thought that KZ2 and MS:PR would be more prominent in the conference though they had a bigger presence at the show itself). They also showed off a great line-up of new PSN games like Fat Princess, Flower, Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic, Pixeljunk Eden and some others. The star of this portion (in my opinion) was Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty. It's a small, $15 downloadable Ratchet adventure that will hold us over until the next full release. One of my biggest gaming worries recently has been what the PSP had coming up software-wise in the future, but I've got a few games to be excited about now. LocoRoco 2 and Patapon 2 were really announced last week, but both sound great. But they also surpised me with the announcement of Resistance: Retribution, a promising entry in the series by Sony Bend for PSP, and Super Stardust Portable. They announced a new video store that went up the night of the presser, too. The conference was a bit longwinded maybe and I'm not sure why they talked about the PS2 as much as they did, but I enjoyed it overall. They've given me games to be excited for on PS3, PSN, and PSP as well as some games to look forward to in 2009 which made for a good conference I think.

We'll finally be able to get LittleBigPlanet this fall.

E3 as a whole was pretty good. It was severely lacking in big announcements, but it had a bunch of really promising games that we either saw some more of or gameplay of for the first time. I'll talk about my games of the show later, but there were a lot of great third-party games to go along with the first-party stuff I mentioned above. EA had Mirror's Edge and Dead Space. Ubisoft had Prince of Persia and FarCry 2. Capcom had Resident Evil 5 and Street Fighter IV. And that's just to name a few. But I have to wonder what will become of E3 in the future. People generally seem unhappy about its current set-up. Moving it back to May may help to bring the big announcements back which would seem to be a good idea. Some have suggested that opening it to the public over the weekend might help, too. But I'm merely a guy who watches from home and I'm not sure what the best solution is, but it will be interesting to see what shape the show takes on next year.

I enjoyed watching all the media and news trickle in from E3 this year and think it was much better than last year. I'll be posting my Games of the Show and maybe some other awards soon, so, keep an eye out for them.

My Most Anticipated Games of E3

For my final post before E3 starts up tomorrow, I want to talk about the games I'm most looking forward to at the show. Since I've already talked about unannounced stuff I want to see in my wishlists, the focus here is stuff we already now about. Well, here's what I'm excited to see:

5. Resistance 2 (Sony Computer Entertainment, Insomniac Games)



I really enjoyed the first Resistance. It was really fun with friends and had a bunch of cool, unique weapons. Insomniac looks like its making the sequel a ton better and they haven't let me down before. I've actually seen quite a bit of Resistance 2 on GameTrailers TV otherwise it might be higher on the list. I'd love to hear about some new weapons, more on how the co-op campaign will work, and maybe see a new level. Either way I'm pretty much sold on Resistance 2 already, but I'm excited to see a bit more on it.

4. Beyond Good & Evil 2 (Ubisoft, Ubisoft)


They haven't actually announced the name to this game as far as I know, but Ubisoft released the first teaser trailer at their show in May. It told us basically nothing, but it told us that there would be a new BG&E. The original was a great game and I'm hoping we'll see something more on the game at E3. I'm guessing we'll just get a second teaser trailer maybe featuring Jade or another character, but seeing anything more would be great.

3. Infamous (Sony Computer Entertainment, Sucker Punch)

Sucker Punch is stepping in a new direction with Infamous. They'll be leaving the cartoony platformers behind in favor of their new sandbox, superhero game. We've seen a trailer and a nice article in Game Informer on Infamous, but from what I understand there should be a gameplay demonstration at E3 which should really help us to see how this game is coming along and I'm excited to see how it looks and plays.

2. Tomb Raider: Underworld (Eidos, Crystal Dynamics)

The old TR games were pretty good, but they were getting stale and I thought Crystal Dynamics did a good job of reinvigorating the series. With Legend, they brought a more up to date control scheme and made a pretty good game. Anniversary was another solid title, but Underworld looks to improve on what the previous titles did with a new game engine, bigger levels, more elaborate puzzles, better combat, and new abilities for Lara. The only problem is I haven't seen any video of the game. So, I'm really loking forward to finally seeing how it looks in motion later this week.

1. Prince of Persia (Ubisoft, Ubisoft Montreal)

The new Prince of Persia sounds incredible. Ubisoft easily could have cranked out another sequel similar to the last few (and to be honest I would have been fine with that), but instead they've decided to really take some new directions with the franchise. The level-design has become more open giving players more choices and the game more replayability. The combat has been overhauled to focus on fighting one enemy at a time. The Prince (a new one) now has a new partner in Elika who helps you with combat, platforming, and puzzles. But it also keeps the focus on the series' great acrobatic platforming. All this sounds great, but finally seeing some gameplay footage will really help us to understand how it will all work out. Plus, Ubi has come up with a bold new artstyle that looks beautiful in the screens, but I can't wait to see in video. That's coming this week and it really can't come soon enough.

Those games plus all the potential surprises has me really excited for E3. I hope you guys liked my Pre-E3 coverage. I'm going to have some updates throughout E3 about what I think of what is going on. And then when the show is over, I'm going to give out some best of show awards by platform and for things like graphics, maybe best trailer, and other stuff like that. I hope you guys enjoy E3.

E3 Predictions Part 4: Third-Parties

To finish off my E3 predictions, I'm going to take a stab at guessing some of the new stuff third-parties are going to have at the show. Here's what I've come up with:

-Capcom will announce and show the first trailer for Dead Rising 2 for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. The game should be scheduled for a 2009 release.

Everyone is tired of Dead Rising 2 rumors, we just want to see the game already.

-Ubisoft will announce and show a trailer for Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 3 for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. They will also show off their new IP I Am Alive for the first time. Expect both to come out in 2009. Splinter Cell Conviction will be a no-show.

-EA will officially announce Skate 2 for Xbox 360 and PS3. This will be accompanied by a teaser trailer (one more substantial than the ones we've seen online already). Expect it to release sometime in 2009.

- Rockstar (or Take-Two) will announce a new game. I'm guessing it will be Max Payne 3. If it's not Max Payne 3, it will probably be their next-gen old west/spiritual successor to Red Dead Revolver. Either way I'd expect it to release sometime in 2009 for PS3 and Xbox 360 (though the old west game could be PS3-exclusive).

-I expect Sega and Platinum Games to show some gameplay of Bayonetta. It should be impressive.

-Ninja Theory will announce their next game and who is going to publish it. It will be a PS3 and Xbox 360 action game similar to Heavenly Sword based around melee combat, but with a more present-day or near future setting.

Heavenly Sword was a good start. I'd like to see what Ninja Theory is up to next.

-Fallout 3 will be the most popular pick among the gaming press for E3's Game of the Show. Resident Evil 5 will probably be the second most popular.

Well, that's it for my E3 predictions. Some of these I'm sort of guessing on, but I think these are all major possibilities. I hope you enjoyed them. If you want to share some of your predictions please do so in the comments. I'll be back later today with the games I'm most looking foward to seeing this week at E3.

My Microsoft E3 Wishlist

Just like I did for Sony. This is my wishlist for Microsoft and the Xbox 360. These are the kind of things that would be good for Microsoft if they did happen, even if they're not likely. Here's what I've got:

5. Itagaki starting a new studio with Microsoft

With Itagaki and some other Team Ninja members seemingly leaving Tecmo, I'm thinking that maybe they could start a new studio with Microsoft. This would make sense since Itagaki is such a "360 guy" and him and the other leaving members would have so much experience with the 360. While I'm all for Itagaki supporting multiple platforms, with Bungie and Bizzare leaving Microsoft and Bioware now with EA (which I believe will result in more multi-platform games from them), Microsoft could use a new internal developer to help first-party development. This seems like it would make sense.

4. Bungie to announce that rumored third-person action/adventure/shooter Halo prequel

Seeing a third-person Halo game at E3 would be interesting.

EGM's Quartermann started this rumor a while back. I've only just started playing through the Halo series, but this sounds cool. I've always liked third-person games better than first-person and it would be interesting to see what Bungie could do with something a bit different. It would still be familiar though and people love Halo, so, this would be good for Microsoft. I might have put it a bit higher on the list, but I already said Bungie would announce something at E3 which could be this.

3. Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame remake on XBLA from Ubisoft

This one may seem kind of strange, but I really liked Prince of Persia Classic. I've also never played through PoP2, so, this would be really cool for me. This would sort of falls to Ubisoft, but PoP: Classic is my favorite XBLA game that I've played and a similar remake for Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame would probably be just as good.

2. DOA5 or Code Cronos from Team Ninja

Seeing more of these ladies at E3 would be a good thing whether it be in DOA5 or Code Cronos.

Well with all that's going on with Team Ninja, this seems pretty unlikely at the moment. But I think Team Ninja will survive this whole thing and continue to make good games. DOA5 would be cool and I'm sure it's still coming, but I'd like to see what the heck Code Cronos is. It supposedly involves Ayane and Kasumi and being the Ninja Gaiden fan I am, I'm dreaming of some kind of action/adventure starring the two DOA ladies. That might be awesome. Well, whatever Code Cronos is or DOA5 would be good for 360 owners.

1. Alan Wake showing up again at E3

Alan...where have you been?

Alan Wake looked awesome when it debuted in 2005. It looked great again in 2006. Unfortunately we haven't seen it since. I don't think we'll see Alan Wake at E3, but I really want to. It's one of the main reasons I wanted to get a 360 having already owned a PS3. A total blowout on the game would be great. Or just a gameplay demonstration. Or even a new trailer. Let me see some more on the game and tell me it will be out sometime before 2009 ends and I'll be pretty happy.

Well, that's what I came up with for MS and the 360. This list was a bit harder than Sony or Nintendo's since Microsoft only has the one system and they don't have as many established franchises, but I think these things would be good for 360 owners. Keep an eye on Video Game Oasis for my Nintendo E3 predictions and wishlist soon.

My Impressions of the new Prince of Persia

As my first real post, I want talk about what I think of the new Prince of Persia. I'm going to talk a bit about what I've seen and heard about the game as well as what I think of the different elements of the game. First, for those not familiar with it, this new PoP is set to release this holiday season for PS3, 360, and PC as well as a complimentary DS game. This is a new start for the series with a new prince and new artstyle with no connection to either the original PoP series or Ubisoft's Sands of Time trilogy. This new tale follows an adventurer who has not yet become a Prince (though I'll refer to him as the Prince for the time being). The Prince gets caught in a sandstorm while traveling home and ends up in an oasis. When an evil god is released and begins to spread corruption throughout the oasis, the Prince must stop the corruption from spreading into the rest of the world.

A look at PoP's new main character (top) and his new friend Elika (bottom).

This brings us to the gameplay. The Prince will set out with his new partner Elika to rid the oasis of the corruption by going around and defeating guardians and bringing light back to the world. The level design has a new, more open approach. The game will allow you to choose which direction you want to go first, but the levels themselves will be more linear to keep the flowing platforming that the last few games had. The new Prince will still be an acrobatic swordsman like before and the gameplay will still focus platforming, combat, and puzzles, but all of these will have new twists.

Since the platforming is most important part of PoP to me, I'll start with that. Unfortunately, Ubisoft hasn't released any gameplay videos, but I still gathered a bit of info on the platforming. Things like wall-running, pole-swinging, ledge-shimmying, and bounding between walls will be back, but there are some new twists to make the platforming even deeper. The first is the new glove that the Prince wears on his left hand. This allows him to slide down vertical surfaces sort of like how you could slide down curtains with your sword in the last couple games, but with the glove you can do it on any vertical surface. Your new pal Elika will also be involved in the platforming. Ubisoft hasn't revealed too much yet, but they did say you would be able to cooperate with her to do things you couldn't on your own. I'm thinking things like boosting each other or swinging off one another to reach places you wouldn't normally be able to. These new ideas sound really neat and should add some more depth to this section of the game. I also hope they bring back stuff like balance beam walking and some of the other platforming tricks from the last few games.

It wouldn't be Prince of Persia these days without some wall-running.

While the platforming is just adding some new elements, combat is in for more of an overhaul. Combat will now have you fighting one enemy at a time instead of a bunch like in previous games. They say each fight will be more like a boss fight with one really tough enemy. You'll use a sword and your glove as well as your environment to fend off enemies. Elika will play a role in the fights, too. She will strafe around out of harm's way, but you can call her in to strike the enemy, use magic attacks, or to do cooperative attacks with you. While the new teaser trailer doesn't contain gameplay footage, it does give a better idea of how Elika's role in combat might play out. While these are drastic changes to the combat, I think that it could be really interesting. This could give the combat it's own feel as opposed to having to compete more directly with games like Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry, or God of War. I won't really know how the fighting will be though until I've either played it for myself or at least seen some gameplay videos of it.

The Prince vs. The Hunter...I'm taking the Prince.

The developers have also pointed out how integral Elika will be to other elements of the game like puzzles and the story and that they have spent a lot of time on her A.I., so, that she'll never get in the way. Hopefully, they can make her as cool and fun as they say she will be.

There are a couple other things worth noting about the new PoP. One thing that is pretty clear from the screens I've put in this post is that the game will feature a new artstyle. The devs call the style "illustrative." I really like the way it looks. It's a sort of cel-shaded look, but more realistic than the usual type. It includes this black outine around a lot of the colors that gives it a cool look. I think the two new character designs are really good as well as the one enemy we've seen called the Hunter. Another thing is that the game will have many more outdoor environments to go with the indoor environments that were more prevalent in the last few games which should be a nice addition.

Vast outdoor environments play a larger part in this new installment.

While I'm still not sure how all this will work out, overall the game looks to be coming along quite nicely so far. I'm really looking foward to seeing more on this game as well as the DS version which I'm hoping will be some kind of 2D platforming type game that combines elements of the new game with old-school PoP.