Arkum’s PAX East Wrapup

PAX East is done and over. So how did it go? What did I see and/or play? Find out below.

There really isn’t a coherent way of blending everything we came across at PAX East into a well flowing piece of writing. So I’ll fall back to the old standby of making a list. Here is what I saw or got hands on with and a bit of opinion about it as well. Cause we all know I love to express myself.

Let’s start with the games.

Mafia 2: If you’ve played any of The Godfather games or The Saboteur you know what to expect out of this one. Nothing really new here, except now you can collect ancient porn that you didn’t want to see anyway. Thanks for bringing negativity to an already beat up gamer stereotype. (Twitter @ MafiaIIGame)

Shank: A fun side scrolling brawler with some amazing art and animation. The controls are simple and intuitive. Think of it as a beefed up Double Dragon turned up to 11. I got to talk with the Creative Art Director Jeffrey Agala for a bit while he freehand drew an amazing GameGamePOW logo with the star of Shank Brock Samson. He was genuinely excited to be at PAX and get to hear gamer’s hands on impressions with the game. Great guy and I look forward to talking to him again.(Twitter @Klei)

Red Dead Redemption: First of all this was obviously an old build that we were able to play so I will leave out the graphical quirks and broken gameplay elements that were present. This game has the largest map of any Rockstar game to date and it shows. You could get lost out there in the desert. You can expect to come across people being robbed or even animals fighting each other while exploring. The physics are spot on and people react to being shot perfectly. Shoot a guy in the leg and he will go down, but watch out cause he’s going to be shooting from the floor looking for revenge. There is a moral system, but they weren’t getting too in depth as to what that entails. The shooting and cover system were fluid and its got this “bullet time” like feature they are calling Dead Eye. I’ll try not to take offense. (Twitter @RockstarGames)

Red Steel 2: We only got about a 10 minute demo that was performed for us and almost half of that was the opening cut scene. While it is an impressive looking Wii game and the first to be designed exclusively with Wii Motion Plus even the girl giving the demo was bored after a few minutes. (Twitter @UbiLeak)

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands: This game looks great and plays great as an action platformer. If you loved The Sands of Time then you will feel right at home with this release. With new elemental powers you will need to pay close attention to your surroundings to progress through a level. The combo system is real button mashy and you do some weird moves, like jumping on enemies heads, but it does what it needs to do and doesn’t really seem to be the focus of this title. If you’re into running on walls, manipulating the elements and rewinding time if you screw up than this is right up your alley.

Split Second: Going into PAX I had zero interest in this arcade racer.. Seemed gimmicky at best. Then I got my hands on it. Super simple controls allow you to drift in and out of turns with ease building up a powerplay meter that you can then use against you opponents. Powerplays change the terrain of the track causing destruction and chaos for the other drivers. Build your meter up enough and you can drastically change the course of the track gaining a huge advantage. There is no HUD in this game besides the powerplay meter, which looks more like ground effects. Its gorgeous, fun and has multiplayer lobby support so you can meet up with your friends easily. It has now become a must buy at release.

Breach: This is a multiplayer first person shooter by Atomic Games. Realizing that Six Days in Fallujah keeps getting delayed they decided to pour the millions of dollars they had invested into the engine into this XBLA title. It’s got a really great cover system that pulls out to third person view when activated allowing you to see all around you and over the cover. The destructibility in this game is its most impressive asset. There are no preset destructions. It’s literally brick by brick. You can shoot out a single brick in the wall and scout the enemy. Or set a breaching charge and blow a big whole in the wall. In my opinion this is the XBL title to watch out for.

Joe Danger: I had never heard of this game before walking up to Hello Game’s booth. At first glance it looks like a new version of Excite Bike, but it is so much more. You’re a stuntman and the goal is to get to the finish line, or more specifically one of the goals is. Each level has multiple paths, and ways of completing it. Collect all the letters to spell D-A-N-G-E-R, get all the stars, land on every bullseye, there is just so much to this game. Sure you can go for a speed run and go for the best time, but you can also jump all around the multiple levels on these Sonic the Hedghog style springs. That’s right, it has a whole platforming gameplay side to it as well! With the most in depth, easy to use, on the fly level editor I have ever seen this is surely a game I will be putting many many hours into. It also has couch co-op so you can play with your friends right next to you, a commonly left out feature in current gen games. (Twitter @hellogames)

Now moving onto hardware that I tested out.

Turtle Beach PX21: When you first pick up this headset it feels like a child’s toy. It has almost no weight to it at all. They are comfortable to wear and don’t immediately give you an discomfort. The sound is surprisingly low quality. Its got that chunky sound of an old boombox and has no sense of depth. The mic is a joke, looks like something they pulled out of the door panel of an ’86 Ford Escort. Seriously, don’t even try these let alone buy a pair.

Tritton AX-720 and AX Pro: I currently own a pair of the AX-180’s and was planning on upgrading to the Pro’s since Tritton was offering a discount. At their booth they had all of the headsets available to try out on MW2. After spending some time with each model I really couldn’t justify the cost to “upgrade”. All they seemed to do was make the sound louder, and that certainly does not mean better. As a gamer who already owns the 180’s I don’t recommend paying any extra for the other models.

Let’s get into the subject of what it’s like being surrounded by fellow gamers for three days straight. The first thing you think about when you think gamer is what? If you said someone who looks like an unmade bed holding a bottle of MTN Dew than you are correct. To put it into perspective, the store across the street form the convention center sold out of MTN Dew. They had a hard time keeping up with the demand at the vending machines. People were walking around with 2 liter bottles of it the same way runners carry water. If MTN DEW had a booth it would have had a longer wait than Skate 3 and Red Dead Redemption combined.

The smell of Axe body spray and BO lingered throughout the halls like a Junior High School locker room. Threadless T’s as far as the eye can see. Gamers raiding their pockets for lunch money they’ve been saving for months to drop it all on the counter for some Official PAX merch. Sticking swag they scored from every booth all over their bodies proudly displaying their willingness to become a free public billboard. It’s truly a scene difficult to describe unless you have in fact witnessed it first hand.

And with all that, the second I even heard a rumor that they were doing it again next year, my heart skipped a beat. I’d wait in line now if It was the only way to secure tickets.

Thank you Penny Arcade for hosting a great show and thank you fellow GameGamePOW staff members for making it unforgettable.