Several #e3 Hands-On Previews

Yakuza 4

The demo available wasn’t much of a demo. Playing as different characters available in the full version, you are fighting with random thugs within a very limited closed off space, trying out how their attacks look, some weaponry and that’s about it. Being in the middle of Yakuza 3, I noticed how similar Yakuza 4 looks to it, which looked like Yakuza 2 with higher resolution graphics. Not necessarily a deterrent, as the elementary nature of the graphics allows for a more rock-steady frame rate and more minuscule details sprinkled around the game world. Look for Sega’s latest venture into the streets of Japan in 2011.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1

Well it seems like Sega is placing that final nail right in-between the eyes of Sonic and straight into his coffin. It’s been ten years since there’s been a halfway coherent Sonic title on the consoles, and it seems like it’s going to be even longer until we finally see any kind of functional Sonic title. The sense of speed is negated by the disturbingly slow acceleration speeds, the fundamentals of the 2D Sonic game have been abolished, and the demo its self seemed like a re-imagining of the first stage in the first Sonic game. Why there has to be an additional step to destroy an item box or defeat an enemy, I can’t tell you. Adding in an extra waggle or button press to send Sonic darting to a targeted item in order to have any interaction with it (defeating it, latching onto it) adds an unnecessary addition to the mechanics that just sours the experience. If Sega keeps with this idiotic mechanic and Sonic retains his extremely slow acceleration and overall run speeds, there more than likely will not be an Episode 2. These issues need to be fixed, or the project its self should go the way of Sonic Xtreme.

Two Worlds II

This is one beautiful mess. The visual presentation is quite stellar, boasting some intriguing lighting mechanics and highly detailed surroundings. Background items having their own physics components adds another lay in the immersion to Two Worlds II’s game world. The proclamation of one million spell combinations is simply mind boggling, and something I saw first-hand with what was available in the demo. Unfortunately, when you’re being given a tour of the game by a developer, and you notice out of the corner of your eye that at least eight people picked up a controller in the last four minutes and quickly placed it back down, you knew something went horribly wrong. The controls feel disjointed, with the camera feeling way too floaty. Worst of all, the battle mechanics are all wrong. Attacks often missing when you’re right in front of an enemy that’s providing themselves no adequate means of defense, dramatic camera views during an often missed special attack throws  your orientation off, and the general hack and slash mechanics don’t work well at all. It’s a shame that I went from a visually mesmerizing game, to a pretty broken down game when I took control of it. There’s still some time to right their wrong, and if the camera and battle mechanics are worked on some more, then Two Worlds II might have the potential to be something big.

Lucha Libre: Heroes del Ring

The live AAA Mexican wrestling match was pretty entertaining, even if it seemed like a “by the book” type match. After the fanfare, I jumped on Konami’s video game offering, which left me wondering why this came to be. Taking place in the six-sided ring of stupidity, AAA felt more like a disjointed fighter that didn’t know whether it should be a wrestling title or a full blown fighting game. Punches that send your opponent sailing over the top rope like they weigh ten pounds, limited grappling maneuvers and slow motion melee attacks left a bad taste in my  mouth, even with a rather strong graphics engine powering it. With two vastly superior wrestling games in the same hall as AAA (one I did not even get a chance to play, but on the outside looking in, it offers more than AAA), Konami’s efforts seemed dwarfed.

WWE All-Stars

Oddly enough the first game I played on the first day of my first E3 trip was THQ’s arcade style wrestling game, WWE All-Stars. Unlike the Smackdown vs Raw series, the focal point of All-Stars was to provide an easy to learn, but thoroughly gratifying gameplay structure, leaning more towards over-the-top shenanigans. In a totally shocking development, what was available of WWE All-Stars was a total blast. Once you get used to the controls, you’ll be pulling off some over-emphasized maneuvers, with a robust chain wrestling system that allows for you to link one grapple move to another. The zany presentation is augmented with some overly buff superstars, sporting double the muscle mass and definition than they have in real life, however it looked and moved in a spectacular form. If you’ve grown tired of the same old song and dance with the Smackdown vs Raw franchise, WWE All-Stars might be the next two-step towards captivating you in the world of wrestling video games once more.

Dead Rising 2

I can’t say that much about Dead Rising 2′s story, voice acting and such, since the Capcom booth had Marvel vs Capcom 3 blasting from nearly a dozen different directions. Gameplay wise, it’s Dead Rising, in a new setting and a bit of a better camera system. Capcom has made the new location look even snazzier than their previous mega mall location from the first Dead Rising. The weapons available for the demo were a bit underwhelming, although bashing a giant stuffed animal on top of an enemy and watching them stumble around wit nothing but their shins and down visible, was quite comical. The hand drill weapon was too slow and seemed pretty much useless. Throughout the demo, you can locate special cards that augment your versatility with certain items, such as making your baseball bat swings more potent. Not much else to say other than  the fact that the first Dead Rising was one of the best new IP’s in years, so I’m thoroughly looking forward to getting my hands on the final build.

http://www.twitter.com/Jas0nVelez