Willco gives impressions for all games coming out

[The Fake Shemp]

Must Buys:

Gears of War 2 - Looked great, played great and some of the new effects were incredible. Loved it.

Dead Space: Holy crap - I loved it. Extremely fun, very intuitive, slick visuals and pretty polished. Just wish you could run. Atmosphere was incredible.

Prince of Persia: Also a strong contender. Great visual style and great action/platforming. Dialogue was pretty bad tho.

Little Big Planet: The only area of Sony's booth that wasn't empty and for good reason. Creating levels was pretty damn fun.

Street Fighter 4: I'm not a super diehard fighter guy but this looked and played great. I got my butt whooped.

Not Sold On:

FarCry 2: Pretty boring. With so many shooters on the market, its hard ti figure out why you'd pay $60 for this one.

Quantum of Solace: Plays like Gears of Duty w/ QTEs for CQC. Fun in spurts but got repetitively quickly.

Fable II: Town stuff was fun and the options seem expanse but the combat did not really feel satisfying.

Total Surprises:

Guitar Hero: World Tour: Considering I got a free copy of Rock Band 2 this week and my love for Harmonix, this series was an afterthought for me. A demonstration of the editing tools along with band play has given me doubts about picking uo my RB2 kit (GHWT equipment is compatible with RB too).

Call of Duty: Was expecting it to suck but found the coop campaign immensely enjoyable. It was difficult at times trying to figure out who was who.

Total Stinkers:

Mortal Kombat vs DC: Moves are not mapped out well, slow response time, matches last forever and certain moves are unblockable. Really dumb button masher.

Socom: Boring and ugly. Played it for five minutes and northing happened.

[The Sceneman]

none of this information is new

games we knew were going to be good are good, shit looking games suck

spoiler (click to show/hide)

with the exception of LBP, wow promising hands on impressions guys, I might have to splash out on a PS3

[close]

[JustinP]

with the exception of LBP, wow promising hands on impressions guys, I might have to splash out on a PS3

what, you didn't believe everybody else who basically said the same thing? 

[MrAngryFace]

Comments in-line

Must Buys:

Gears of War 2 - Looked great, played great and some of the new effects were incredible. Loved it.
Destructable Environs?

Dead Space: Holy crap - I loved it. Extremely fun, very intuitive, slick visuals and pretty polished. Just wish you could run. Atmosphere was incredible.
The REAL Doom 3, for sure.

Prince of Persia: Also a strong contender. Great visual style and great action/platforming. Dialogue was pretty bad tho.
PoP games have stupid stories and stupid dialogue. Uncharted has worse dialogue, so LOL PS3 fans shut up.

Little Big Planet: The only area of Sony's booth that wasn't empty and for good reason. Creating levels was pretty damn fun.
I'll get it.

Street Fighter 4: I'm not a super diehard fighter guy but this looked and played great. I got my butt whooped.
I'm eating crow when this comes out. I thought it would blow but they turned it around from the looks of it.

Not Sold On:

FarCry 2: Pretty boring. With so many shooters on the market, its hard ti figure out why you'd pay $60 for this one.
IM GONNA SHOOT U IN THE FACE. Gonna take A LOT to sell me on a sequel to the first awful tech demo.

Quantum of Solace: Plays like Gears of Duty w/ QTEs for CQC. Fun in spurts but got repetitively quickly.
Never head o it.

Fable II: Town stuff was fun and the options seem expanse but the combat did not really feel satisfying.
Combat sucked in the first one too, even Pete's old games had some pretty basic, but funny combat.

Total Surprises:

Guitar Hero: World Tour: Considering I got a free copy of Rock Band 2 this week and my love for Harmonix, this series was an afterthought for me. A demonstration of the editing tools along with band play has given me doubts about picking uo my RB2 kit (GHWT equipment is compatible with RB too).
Don't have the patience to edit fucking songs. Create your own bullshit always makes me think the devs are too lazy to keep the track list fresh through the games life-cycle.

Call of Duty: Was expecting it to suck but found the coop campaign immensely enjoyable. It was difficult at times trying to figure out who was who.
More Call of Duty, GOIN THROUGH THOSE EA MOTIONS

Total Stinkers:

Mortal Kombat vs DC: Moves are not mapped out well, slow response time, matches last forever and certain moves are unblockable. Really dumb button masher.
Ill grab it when it hits 30.

Socom: Boring and ugly. Played it for five minutes and northing happened.
Always hated SOCOM, and now that most games are online, the single thing that made it so DURNED special way back when is now irrelevant.

[demi]

Ask the Harmonix guys what songs are releasing with RB2 for FREE like they said

[Herr Mafflard]

damn, I thought fable 2 would be a must-buy.

[TVC15]

Borys just wants to play video games on his 11 inch 3:4 monitor.  Just remember, Borys, remember to press the Turbo button on the front of your 386 befor eyou try to play a game.  Fable 2 will take more than 16Mhz.

[demi]

MAF, Fable 1 (PC) combat was pretty good. It was challenging, rewarding and HARD (Arena or the Earth Giants or whatever they were called).

rofl, ok

click click click

[cool breeze]

Combat wasn't terrible in the first Fable 2, it was just really easy and exploitable.  I always had problems with the Fable 2 combat every since they were pimping the 'one button' shit, so this doesn't really help ease my worries.

[dark1x]

IM GONNA SHOOT U IN THE FACE. Gonna take A LOT to sell me on a sequel to the first awful tech demo.

It's for this reason that I believe the game should not have been named Far Cry 2.  The game is related to Far Cry in name only.  Far Cry was a product of CryTek (who proved themselves talented with Crysis).  I doubt FC2 will be anything like the original game.  Doesn't mean it will be good, of course, but its potential should not be judged by the original Far Cry.

[bork]

Street Fighter 4: I'm not a super diehard fighter guy but this looked and played great. I got my butt whooped.
I'm eating crow when this comes out. I thought it would blow but they turned it around from the looks of it.

It never blew though, MAF.  It got positive responses from the people who played it from day one.  Unless you mean the lol-tastic visuals...

[Draft]

Dead Space

[The Fake Shemp]

Yeah, I walked away from Dead Space really impressed. It felt like Event Horizon, no less!

I didn't spend a ton of time with PC games in general.

I did play End War, which was cool but all the voice commands didn't work all the time - keep in mind we were on a busy floor.

Oh, the Star Wars lightsaber game for the Wii sucked btw.

[demi]

Oh, the Star Wars lightsaber game for the Wii sucked btw.

Gazunta  :'(

[UnoIllNino]

Total Stinkers:
Socom: Boring and ugly. Played it for five minutes and northing happened.

I played the SOCOM beta for two hours on Sunday.  This was before they patched it and it was still two of the best hours of gaming I've had in a while.  Its the best parts of GRAW combined with the best parts of Rainbow Six.  I'm thinking this is the shooter everyone should be playing when they're not playing Gears or Resistance.  What's not to like?  Are you just not into tactical shooters?

[Mrbob]

Glad I'm sticking with the decision to rent Fable 2.

[MrAngryFace]

MAF, Fable 1 (PC) combat was pretty good. It was challenging, rewarding and HARD (Arena or the Earth Giants or whatever they were called).

no

[MrAngryFace]

Total Stinkers:
Socom: Boring and ugly. Played it for five minutes and northing happened.

I played the SOCOM beta for two hours on Sunday.  This was before they patched it and it was still two of the best hours of gaming I've had in a while.  Its the best parts of GRAW combined with the best parts of Rainbow Six.  I'm thinking this is the shooter everyone should be playing when they're not playing Gears or Resistance.  What's not to like?  Are you just not into tactical shooters?

Its generic boring bullshit.

[JustinP]

MAF, Fable 1 (PC) combat was pretty good. It was challenging, rewarding and HARD (Arena or the Earth Giants or whatever they were called).

borys, your opinion on games is so worthless. 

You can build Paris in Far Cry 2. That's why you spend $60.

you can do the same in just about every PC game with a map editor...

[UnoIllNino]

Its generic boring bullshit.

Dude, that's some great insight right there.  I gotta ask, do you enjoy GRAW, or Rainbow Six?  And also, did you even play the new SOCOM?  Cuz the other Socom games are just poor man's versions of stuff Ubisoft did better.  This is no longer the case. 

So do you enjoy GRAW or Rainbow, and have you played the new SOCOM?

[The Fake Shemp]

The Gears demo was co-op and pretty fantastic.

I will post more detailed impressions, along with impressions of Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, Madworld, Wii Music, H.A.W.X., Saints Row II and moar when I get home (I'm typing all of this on a Blackberry).

I'm attending the Harmonix Rock Band 2 presentation this morning, but there's no way in hell they will match the Activision Guitar Hero presentation in spectacle. Harmonix has to win the hearts and minds of DMs and SMs this morning, because after Activision last night, Guitar Hero won a lot of wallets.

[y2kev]

Its generic boring bullshit.

Dude, that's some great insight right there.  I gotta ask, do you enjoy GRAW, or Rainbow Six?  And also, did you even play the new SOCOM?  Cuz the other Socom games are just poor man's versions of stuff Ubisoft did better.  This is no longer the case. 

So do you enjoy GRAW or Rainbow, and have you played the new SOCOM?

The new SOCOM is definitely ugly, but I agree that it was very fun with what I played. It's very tactical and I really like how the guns feel.

[Sideshow Raheem]

Dead Space has a run button.

Must Buys:


Dead Space: Holy crap - I loved it. Extremely fun, very intuitive, slick visuals and pretty polished. Just wish you could run. Atmosphere was incredible.

[muckhole]

So Willco, are you pushing EB to try and get any any industry types posting here?

[demi]

Jewco ask about the free sooooongs

[MrAngryFace]

Its generic boring bullshit.

Dude, that's some great insight right there.  I gotta ask, do you enjoy GRAW, or Rainbow Six?  And also, did you even play the new SOCOM?  Cuz the other Socom games are just poor man's versions of stuff Ubisoft did better.  This is no longer the case. 

So do you enjoy GRAW or Rainbow, and have you played the new SOCOM?

SOCOM is crap. So is Uncharted. Why should I qualify my opinions when sony fucktards have proven time and time again that they'd rather live in the shit bubble theyve created.

[demi]

GRAW & Rainbow >>>>>>>>>>>>> Borecom

[bork]

So Willco, are you pushing EB to try and get any any industry types posting here?

Yeah, do some REAL work for a change whydontcha

[cool breeze]

SOCOM beta is pretty good outside of being incredibly rough.  The menus are worse than the Too Human menu.

[Mr. Gundam]

Its generic boring bullshit.

Dude, that's some great insight right there.  I gotta ask, do you enjoy GRAW, or Rainbow Six?  And also, did you even play the new SOCOM?  Cuz the other Socom games are just poor man's versions of stuff Ubisoft did better.  This is no longer the case. 

So do you enjoy GRAW or Rainbow, and have you played the new SOCOM?

SOCOM is crap. So is Uncharted. Why should I qualify my opinions when sony fucktards have proven time and time again that they'd rather live in the shit bubble theyve created.

SOCOM IS crap, it always baffled me that the PS2 games sold so well. But I liked Uncharted a lot. 

[cool breeze]

I never really played SOCOM on the PS2 (I did enjoy the demo of the first game a lot, I just didn't feel like buying it), but I never understood the rivalry between SOCOM and Counter-Strike back then.  I was a CS player and my friend would always make a point to insult me and tell me to play SOCOM. 

[MrAngryFace]

SOCOMs gimmick was ONLINE ON CONSOLES which allowed reviewers to completely overblow its actual worth. Its like how objectively Phantasy Star Online isnt that great of a game, but even the simple online component allowed GAMERS to make the experience better.

[BobFromPikeCreek]

SOCOM 1 rocked, SOCOM 2 and on not so much.

[MrAngryFace]

Same as PSO! Gimmicks only go so far.

[T234]

SOCOMs gimmick was ONLINE ON CONSOLES which allowed reviewers to completely overblow its actual worth. Its like how objectively Phantasy Star Online isnt that great of a game, but even the simple online component allowed GAMERS to make the experience better.

YOU BOUT TO CROSS SOME FUCKIN LINES, MAN

[duckman2000]

SOCOMs gimmick was ONLINE ON CONSOLES which allowed reviewers to completely overblow its actual worth. Its like how objectively Phantasy Star Online isnt that great of a game, but even the simple online component allowed GAMERS to make the experience better.

Sort of like Xbox LIVE 4 LYFE then, despite its sluggish operation, "It's Good to PAY togewah" policy and junior Shockwave design/UI look and navigation, making it fairly shit compared to PC "equivalents?"

[cool breeze]

PSO stopped being fun because they made it a card game.

[MrAngryFace]

What's the PC equivalent, and dont pretend that game-specific online functionality compares. Gamespy? More like Lamespy adspam. I think only Steam comes close, and even that is not an equivalent

[cool breeze]

Steam actually does a lot of things better than Xbox Live, but then there are a few features it doesn't have that the 360 XBL has (same the other way).

Nothing stop the original Xbox version of Live from being total bullshit.

[MrAngryFace]

Original version was crap

[T234]

PSO stopped being fun because they made it a card game.

There are only three episodes of PSO that ever existed.

[y2kev]

 

[The Fake Shemp]

Harmonix's presentation is so mundane, but I got your information. 20 free songs will be available via DLC and it will cost $5 to bring your songs from the first Rock Band to the next installment. World Tour mode is fully online.

[duckman2000]

What's the PC equivalent, and dont pretend that game-specific online functionality compares.

Oh that's right, the group factor. How remarkable, and it totally makes up for the sluggish, strict tier based, ad-ridden UI!

XBL, nickel and dime junior Shockwave oral groupwank service

[The Fake Shemp]

Band creation is incredibly deep, maybe deeper than Guitar Hero World Tour. You will be able to create a MySpace-like band page from their community site with dates, user created album art, logos, etc.  You will also be able to create and order t-shirts and other neat items of your user created band logo, instruments, etc.

[T234]

What's the PC equivalent, and dont pretend that game-specific online functionality compares.

Oh that's right, the group factor. How remarkable, and it totally makes up for the sluggish, strict tier based, ad-ridden UI!

XBL, nickel and dime junior Shockwave oral groupwank service

PSN free awful contentless groupwank service

[duckman2000]

GRAW and Vegas are INDEED awesome.

I had to eat some crow after playing Vegas. I still maintain that the design is inferior to the old PC games, but it wasn't an entirely bad little action game. Shame that UBI doesn't seem to give a shit about improving legacy issues though; pathfinding errors, in a team of 3? 

[The Fake Shemp]

Instruments are totally wireless with new calibration support for those with advanced AV systems. Metal reinforcement on the pedals.

Rock Band is aiming for functionality and playability, with the game being the leading music platform. They feel it separates them from Guitar Hero, which is focusing on quantity of options and not necessarily realistic functionality.

[The Fake Shemp]

Harmonix is doing private band online tourney for GameStop SMs lawl. Now they're going to do a live battle of the bands - Harmonix vs GameStop.

Oh, just a heads up, after doing a walkthrough of the new XBL - nobody can say shit!

[T234]

Fuck, lamestop sounds like a bigger employee cult than wal-mart.

[Vizzys]

so socom still sucks hmm

think they would have given up by now

[Mr. Gundam]

Fuck, lamestop sounds like a bigger employee cult than wal-mart.

It reminds me of Amway or something...

[T234]

Only I'm pretty sure Gamestop has an employee who is happy.

[Mrbob]

So the new Xbox experience isn't complete crap? 

I don't like the way it looks, but I haven't used it.

[demi]

Why do people hate the new Dash? Do you really prefer the blades? New Dash is a huge step forward. I'm stoked for it. I bet it will look sexy as hell on my TV. It just oozes sheen.

[cool breeze]

I am looking forward to the new dash if only because it is less crappy than the blades.  I still don't think it is good outside of the guide button mini blades that can pop up.

[WrikaWrek]

I'm pretty excited about Gears 2, Fable 2, and Dead Space. Hope they deliver.

[MrAngryFace]

The new dash is ugly PSN meets Wii crap online

[demi]

MS thought ahead for the schlubs who like blades and gave them the miniblade guide

[TakingBackSunday]

Rock Band sounds awesome

edit:  And I like the new dash just fine, I just hate avatars.