gamescom 2010 - impressions

[Uli]

the absence of Capcom is regrettable though as i'd love to play Dead Rising 2. and their excuse ("no games for the season in store") is simply a lie, isn't it?

@ TheForce
if you are interested in meeting up with the other NTSC-Ukers in this thread at gamescom then PM me your phone and email for the contact list i want to prepare for us all.

[Number45]

I thought they'd clearly stated that they can't show Dead Rising 2 because of the ratings restrictions in Germany?

[Uli]

I thought they'd clearly stated that they can't show Dead Rising 2 because of the ratings restrictions in Germany?

nonsense, since there are age-restricted areas on the show floor to demo 18+games. the true reason is a marketing/sales issue because the game wont officially be released in Germany. but this is a show for gamers from all around Europe, so it's a somewhat unfair decision Capcom makes.

edit: i have to correct myself. if i remember correctly all material shown in the consumer area needs a rating. and since Capcom didn't submit the game to the USK this may be the problem.

[Uli]

just a quick reminder in case anyone else will be attending and missed to enlist here...

@ ezee,
looking forward to see you in Cologne!

[TheForce]

I'll be here on Friday with a few friends, really looking forward to it !

wanna play Child of Eden and looking forward to try out GT5 in 3D (that could gonna cost me a lot of money.....)

[112]

You guys should have an NTSC group shot with some 'promo' girls, for teh authenticity of it all

112

[FreelancePolice]

Was there yesterday for the trade day.

Highlights
Fifa 11 - Loved the changes from the first game. Played a really nice, measured game of football.

Rage - Only a gameplay demo but it looked fantastic. Really impressive tech. Whether the game will measure up is unknown at this stage. It didn't show me anything new gameplay wise but it looks great. Long time to go anyway.

Diablo 3 - Torchlight is wonderful but there's definitely an extra tub of polish on D3. You can tell they've taken a lot of design lessons learnt from WoW and SC2. Intuitive, fun and I'm really looking forward to seeing the final product. Looterific!

MvC3 - Surprised to see this tucked away in the 360 area. Looked brill in motion, as expected. I enjoy MvC2 but I'm no pro so I can't comment on tiny changes. It played very similar in my hands, launchers, tags etc.

Civ 5 - Need this now. I had to wait for ages as most of the PCs were not working (pc gaming yay!). Some kid was playing it as if he was at home (sat in for the long haul). Annoying as these demos are only meant for a quick look, not some 3 hours marathon. The 2d hex view was wonderful and the AI screens are fantastic. Was all in German so I couldn't really get too far though.

Disappointments
Move - Zzzzz. Played the fighting game and the dancing singstar one. The fighting game was accurate enough (still didn't feel 1:1 though) but it just wasn't much fun. Had more success when flailing about. The dancing singstar was fun but only in the same way howling karaoke drunk is. Can't comment on the accuracy with that as it didn't give much feedback.

Only saw people playing Kinect and that was also a mixed bag.

Castlevania Lords of Shadow
Terrible framerate coupled with generic God of War style combat made this a massive disappointment for me. Nothing about it seemed Castlevania, looked nice enough I suppose.

Honourable mentions

NFS: Hot Pursuit - Very polished, nice handling and good fun. Need to see more of it and would've loved to try Multiplayer. Could be ace.

Kirby's epic yarn - Adorable style and nice classic kirby platforming. Whether it'll introduce enough in the later levels, I'm not sure.

Goldeneye - Was surprised this was so fun. 4 of us playing had a pretty good time, nostalgia helps. Why wasn't Scaramanga in the original!?

[Uli]

2 days of gamescom...

my highlights:

Call of Duty Black Ops, live demo of a campaign level (360)
the infiltration of the russian mountain camp was demoed in on a gigantic theatre screen. very impressive stuff, can't wait! most of all this sounds so much better than MW2. still no details on co-op stuff, but i reckon the Zombies will be back

Crysis 2 - mulitplayer demo (360)
wow! i am not a bit multiplayer fan but if this gives any hint on the quality of the single player we are all in for a big treat! stealth and power mode offer a grade tactical freedom and the visuals are clearly the new benchmark: 720p, FSAA, super crisp textures, dynamic lighting and shadow, physics, stable framerate! controls are quick to learn and weapons feel and handle great.

Halo Reach, Firefight co-op demo
excellent visual overhaul, great maps and lots of fun! but as far as i remember there were only 4 players in the game, so most likely no 4+ players co-op. instead we get 3D... maybe...


nice surprises:

Marvel vs. Capcom 3, demo (360)
so much fun, even if you loose! oh and Morigan and Trish are so sexy!

Vanquish - playable single player demo (360)
it seems to me the mix of Gears of War, God of War and Lost Planet gameplay elements works pretty well. cutscenes looked worse than gameplay though

disappointments:

Killzone 3 (extensive single player demo, 2D and 3D) -
basically like Killzone 2 with new levels. not necessarily a bad thing but i was hoping for some improvements or fixings, but most of my major faults are still present: one (!) weapon of choice only, pistol is still mostly useless. enemies still suck lots of bullets before even responding to it, still too much use of motion blur. the aiming seems to have been improved though. i was able to play in 3D, which was nice but the screen was a little too small to feel totally immersed.

Move - Fight
control was bad, response was slow, the game was no fun at all!

other games i played briefly...

GT5 - one lap on the Nordschleife... so familiar but this time in 3D! nice cockpit view, but still lacking in speed or the feel of it.

Castlevania Lords of Shadow - plays ok, but too much just another God of War wanna-be.

Fable 3 - can't say much, but i'd say more of the same...

Medal of Honor multiplayer (PS3) - plays nice, looks nice - a nice game!

[TheForce]

been there yesterday, my patience isn't my strongest point so unfortunally I haven't played the new CoD also not Rage (and I was really looking forward to this one) and no Crysis 2 because of waiting lines from about 2 to 3 hours...
I really regret forgetting my photocamera in the car... The level of Cosplay at the show was amazing ! I bet I could fill 2 pages on the Saddest Cosplay thread with these people ! great stuff !

the good
Halo Reach : firefight was awesome

Need for Speed Hot Pursuit: it looked awesome and handling felt like Burnout, there was much more happening onscreen as the previous movies I've seen of the game. To bad you couldn't play it against other people on the show, I think online this game will shine !

Marvel vs Capcom 3: you have to see it to believe it, it looks fantastic, the fighting was fast and over the top as we're used from the series, really good stuff.

Vanquish: looked also very good, and when playing it the action felt very good as well, like said before, it's a bit of a mix from Gears and Lost Planet.

decent but expected more of it:
GT5 , the main reason for gooing to the show, Sony had some cheap logitec wheel setup for the game, and only one set up was fitted with 3D.... I did play it in 3D and it looked ok but nothing amazing, this comes I think more because of the bad set up on the show with a too small screen to give you any good impression of the 3D effect.
The game played good and looked very nice indeed, handling felt good as well, although I have to say playing it on pro and with all driving aids turned off even the slower cars felt like racing on ice sometimes, this also comes a bit because of not hearing any engine noices and a cheap wheel set up...

Formula 1 2010:
It looks amazing, but at the show I was only able to play in arcade mode (I think), graphics are really nice and smooth and the handling felt ok. This could be really interesting when played properly

Killzone 3: didn't feel like it was doing something amazing, it looked ok and it played ok, but with all the new shooters coming our way I think it will have to do better, and again 3D wasn't convicing because of the small tv set up....

the bad
Castlevania Lord of Shadows; my god, it's was really cheap, it looked ok, but the framerate was terrible, the fighting was cheap and the section on the horse was no fun at all. I had so high expections of this and it just felt cheap. It's just another God of War clone but not even a good one. This have some small hope the left the finished game will be better, but this hope is only very small after the dissapointing demo.

[FreelancePolice]

the bad
Castlevania Lord of Shadows; my god, it's was really cheap, it looked ok, but the framerate was terrible, the fighting was cheap and the section on the horse was no fun at all. I had so high expections of this and it just felt cheap. It's just another God of War clone but not even a good one. This have some small hope the left the finished game will be better, but this hope is only very small after the dissapointing demo.

Mmm glad to see I wasn't the only one. The worst part for me is that it just didn't feel like a castlevania game. I wouldn't hold your breath for much changing, I assumed it was a 2011 release but when I got back I saw it was early October. Not good.

[TheForce]

yes exactly like you say, it didn't feel like a Castlevania game at all, I was hoping the final game would have good mix of exploration and action, but the demo I played showed nothing of this. And yes, since it will be released this year I don't expect many changes in the gameplay, and I think in a show demo they put in some impressive stuff, if they think the horseback riding is impressive I fear the rest of the game...

[Uli]

decent but expected more of it:
GT5 , the main reason for gooing to the show, Sony had some cheap logitec wheel setup for the game, and only one set up was fitted with 3D.... I did play it in 3D and it looked ok but nothing amazing, this comes I think more because of the bad set up on the show with a too small screen to give you any good impression of the 3D effect.
The game played good and looked very nice indeed, handling felt good as well, although I have to say playing it on pro and with all driving aids turned off even the slower cars felt like racing on ice sometimes, this also comes a bit because of not hearing any engine noices and a cheap wheel set up...

and this was even in arcade mode!

but as you said, the setup and lack of any sound feedback hold this show experience back a little. why Sony doesn't include some decent headphones at least is to anyone's guess.

do you know if there will be weather or night-races?

[TheForce]

I didn't play arcade mode, I played free run and put the game on pro setting.

Weather and night racing were confirmed as far as I know it.... not really followed all info about the game to be honest, I was hoping to find all this out at the gameshow...

[abigsmurf]

What are the queues like at this show? From what I gather it's the most attended show in the world.

It's nice to see it's getting decent amounts of respect (from the companies attending, Grrr Capcom) now. Hopefully next year they'll schedule it away from the US and Japanese shows so there can be some megatons.

[Uli]

I didn't play arcade mode, I played free run and put the game on pro setting.

Weather and night racing were confirmed as far as I know it.... not really followed all info about the game to be honest, I was hoping to find all this out at the gameshow...

i was also driving with pro settings. but as from my understanding simulation settings are not dependant on the mode selection (arcade, career, etc.).

forget about getting reliable info at the show floor. not even in the business area staff is properly informed or authorized to inform. it's sad, but hey, i am there to get hands-on impressions in the first place and raise anticipation

What are the queues like at this show? From what I gather it's the most attended show in the world.

It's nice to see it's getting decent amounts of respect (from the companies attending, Grrr Capcom) now. Hopefully next year they'll schedule it away from the US and Japanese shows so there can be some megatons.

yes, this is a consumer, means a gamer show. so you have to be patient and selective if you've got just one day like TheForce had. but if it's not just the big hitters like Call of Duty, there are numerous possibilities to get immediate access to game stations. Sony's booth is a particular place where you wont have to wait long. i'd say it's worthwhile, even if you wont be playing everything you want.