Michael’s Eurogamer Diary

3 Oct, 2010

I wouldn’t get up at 6:30 in the morning for many things, but Eurogamer Expo is one of those rare occasions when you just have to face that early start. Over Friday and Saturday, several members of the GGS team were able to get to the event, including Vikki, Jen, Sarah J, Andy, Steve and myself. You may have seen us there, I believe we were all wearing GGS shirts of some description. It is the perfect opportunity to get your hands on some upcoming titles, some of which are a way off being released, and some which will soon be available which gives you the chance to try before you buy. It also lets you meet other likeminded gamers, and sometimes thrash some of them on the multiplayer titles. Its ok, someone has to come last.

After a long and somewhat tenuous trip to London, nearly getting on the wrong tube, and then struggling to get out of the tube station I was finally able to join the queue outside Earls Court. Of course, I had to make sure to get into the Eurogamer queue and not that of the wedding show, otherwise I probably would have had a very different experience! It took about 50 minutes to get through the queue, and then I was finally able to get in and geek out! First of all I headed to the 18+ section to check out the games there.

Saw II:

I never played the original Saw game, but I have seen the films and had a basic idea of what the first game consisted of. What I wasn’t prepared for was how good this game would be! The queues were not too long, so I plonked myself behind some guy and watched him have to cut into the bottom of his characters eye out to get a key to release his head from a timed trap. At this point, I’m thinking “AWESOME!”. The guy seemed to struggle with the game and moved along, so I was able to get onto it pretty quickly. Let’s just say my first attempt ended with a headless character. On my second go, I released that you had to control the blade more gently and smoothly, so I was able to get out of that trap. However, I soon reached another puzzle where I had to match up the lock on the door to the emblem engraved into my chest.

If you are thinking the game sound’s grim, then yes, it is. Horror fans, and gamers with strong stomachs, will be able to put up with this but it certainly will not be for everyone. The game also has a large amount of button mashing quicktime events. One example is that a door is booby-trapped so when you open the door, you have to mash a button to move out the way before a giant sword head helps you meet your untimely end. This is my main issue with the parts of the game I played, later in the game these sort of puzzles could soon turn both frustrating and repetitive. It may just be my low tolerance for quicktime events talking here, but I hope the game does not become too reliant on them to provide challenge. The graphics also seemed a bit substandard on a larger screen, but these may be polished more before the games release. However, it is unlikely to win any awards for its graphics, but they do a good job of creating a bleak atmosphere. In the end, this is one game which I am very excited for without even hearing about it before the event.

Dead Space 2:

I really loved the first Dead Space, it always managed to keep me on edge and scared of what may possibly spring out and try and eat my face. That’s why Dead Space 2 was the first game I aimed for when I got into the centre. After a bit of queuing, I had a PS3 controller firmly in my hands and was ready to kill some necromorphs. Yet, the first thing which came ploughing towards me were hoards of monster which looked like children. I feel sorry for Isaac Clark, who is the main character like the first game. I’m sure that by now he is in serious need of a hug. While my imminent doom approached, I got stuck in a corner trying to work out how the controls worked while completely starting to freak out. It’s probably best to mention here that I played the first game on Xbox 360, so to suddenly play it on a different console was a huge shock. After I died within 15 seconds, I had another go and was able to take out the child monsters, despite them causing me a mild heart attack when they surrounded me yet again. Then another new monster suddenly appeared. He was very tall and reminded me a lot of Jason from the Friday the 13th series. Of course, with my trusty plasma cutter I took of his legs to make short work of him.

After some more monsters, I got entered an area where a huge spider thing grabbed my legs and felt like having majorettes practice with me as its baton. If you played the first Dead Space, what you had to do in this section was rather obvious, and after shooting its glowing areas on his limbs I was able to get free and I started running away up a corridor with the spider thing coming towards me. Irritatingly I couldn’t figure out how to kill it or avoid him so I had to give up at this stage.

The game has the same great atmosphere of the first game, and still had my heart racing as I killed the aliens in panic. The demo didn’t really show off many of the games new features, the main new thing I saw where the new monsters themselves, but it still seems very promising and they seem to have kept the parts of the first game which I loved so much. A must for me to pick up on its release.

Dragon Age 2:

Dragon Age is another game I haven’t played. I did mean to, I promise! Yet, after playing this demo I wonder whether I should just wait for this top marks sequel. I remember reading that the console versions of the game are going to be more refined for Dragon Age 2, as the first game was criticised for having a complex weapon system which was too slow to operate will on a console. Of course I cannot comment on how true this was for the first title, but Dragon Age 2, which I played on the 360, seems to be very nicely laid out for a console title. The controllable characters have a variety of abilities mapped to certain buttons to allow fast and fun gameplay. This makes hacking your way through the enemies feel pretty painless, as I found when my character had to take on a mountain of skeletons spawning at my location. The production values seem pretty high here as well, as the dialogue selections you choose are now voiced in the same style as Mass Effect, and graphics look very attractive and characters and environments are well designed. The dialogue choices also appear on a wheel, again like Mass Effect.

In some respects, I wonder if these changes are to make the game appeal to Mass Effect fans, but I wonder if this risks alienating fans of the original game. However, the story still seems to be solid, and there is still character customisation which should help the immersion in the game. There are also different classes of player you can choose for your player, such as being a Mage and Warrior. I personally played as a warrior as I prefer to attack with a weapon rather than magic, but the option is there for different play styles.

I certainly look forward to the games release in 2011, I’m glad it’s not too far off now!

Even though these were my highlights for the show, did get to play some other games at the expo, including the very impressive Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, which I came in 3rd on a multiplayer match, as well as Haunted: The Demon Forge and Fallout: New Vegas, and some DS titles. Plus, watching people make fools of themselves on Dance Central will never get old, even though Funkytown has already outstayed its welcome with me.

As someone who attended last year’s expo as well, I would like to say kudos to Eurogamer for making some adjustments, like proper queues for more popular titles, and a much bigger, lighter venue which all helped make the day a lot nicer.

Shame about the food though. What an awful chicken sandwich.