Some of the most anticipated upcoming games for the Xbox 360 and PC weren't playable on the X06 show floor but were shown off by the developers in behind-closed-doors demos. Here's some quickie descriptions of the demos and some thoughts on what was shown:
- Alan Wake: Developer Remedy shared lots of new information about this "psychological action thriller" (a term used by the developers to describe the game multiple times). The story, told rather clunkily through some Max Payne-style exposition, revolves around Wake, a writer who finds his life begins to mimic his best-selling novel. Grappling with insomnia in a rest clinic in the Pacific Northwest, he finds the line between his waking life and his nightmares begins to blur. The most striking feature graphically is the dynamic lighting, which casts soft shadows and glistens beautifully off everything from the trees to the water. The demo also showed off environmental effects with a quickly gathering storm that cast everything in eerie, somber tones. The demo ended with a thrilling chase by a glowing entity that took out all the electrical lights as it approached. Definitely one to watch for.
- BioShock - Following up on the demo shown at E3, Irrational showed off a new area which again showed off the game's beautifully dark underwater environments. The developers emphasized the importance of using improvised attacks and abilities like teleportation against the lumbering, suited "Big Daddy" and the "Little Sister" he jealously protects. They also stressed the importance of moral choices in shaping the game experience -- as the demo fades out, our protagonist is busy deciding whether or not to beat a little girl with a wrench. Best moment: using telekenesis to throw a teddy bear into a fire and then using the flaming bear to set an enemy on fire. The demonstrator said they hope to "redefine the first-person shooter" and it looks like they just might.
- Mass Effect - The game looks as pretty as ever, with convincing character animation and facial expressions, especially during the branching conversations. The developers showed off how the game map spans from a galaxy-sized Milky Way view down to individual planets, and mentioned that two separate players will likely take completely different paths through the game. A quick boss battle showed how squad placement commands can be used to set up a cross fire that emphasizes each character's particular abilities. Shows promise but the full scope was hard to gauge from the demo.
(Page 1) Reader Comments
i would much rather play gears of war
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Yes the game is very beautful and it even shows off the physics and some gameplay and my god this game looks nice...
Oh yeh forgot the link...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3HybhZjcGE
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Without trying to invite bashes from either of the three camps of fanboys, is it just me or does Kyle appear to be rather ... Bad? From last night to his most recent X06 posts, he's really rather negative and ... annoyingly unprofessional.
Just an example from this specific post concerns Alan Wake. He's judging the entire story representation as if he's already played it personally all the way through. Which obviously he hasn't. Clunky story telling, maybe, but it's said in such a manner than it's hard to beleive he has an unbias towards Microsoft.
Yeah, Joystiq staff are supposed to be gamers and will ultimately be in someone's corner. But when you report it for the masses to be /informed/, try not to be such a spazz about it and give off perceived or actual personal feelings, Kyle.
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Atleast gamespot has some in depth coverage of the event. And some impressions that actually give you an impression of the game.
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prove it. :D
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Then I saw the demo....and the "amazing" enemy AI left me disappointed. The annoying narrative (sounded like the nerdy actor who plays PC's in the Mac vs PC commercials) while going through the demo seemed to milk "choice" too much, when it really wasn't necessary..."see this, I have the wrong type of bullets to kill this thing, lets mod our gun to get the right type of bullets...oh look at that 2 shots and its dead...amazing choices and creativity available to you"
And big daddy is supposed to have amazing AI because he won't bother you if you don't bother him or his little sister...? The little sister was retarded, she was afraid of person playing when he got 5 feet from her, then all he had to do was step back a little, and the sister forgot he was there?...if it were AMAZING AI I was looking at, I would suspect that the sister's actions would be a bit more apprehensive with me even close enough to see her!
Anyway, I could go on but I'm pissing my wife off. Final thought, I think that people will be so into the hype and gorgeous graphics that they won't see that the choices and creativity seem tacked on, and it seems like one of those cases that the developer's dream on paper seems less than inspiring in game.
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i am sorry but ur basing all this of a early build shown back in may for a agme not out for another year from that build? u do relaise it was just to showcase the engine and give u an idea of what they are trying to do. but ofcourse if u go to a factory and see the frame for a car ur going to be abke to judge its handling based on this one part?
donlt buy the game but last i checked nothing out for the 360 comes anywhere near what they are trying to do. it looks great, looks to have depth, and seems like thye are trying to do some outside the box stuff.
I was floored by that demo walkthorugh and will be gald when i ahve it and playing. u donlt like it donlt buy it and if u based ur decision ot buy a 360 on 1 game that unless u bought it yesterday was nowhere near completion nor had any footage out thats just dumb and shows maybe u have ni clue what ur talking bout.
they showed u 5 mins of a demo engine and ur bashing the game lol. heres some advice. don't forget ur safety helmet when u go out to play with ur friends. don't want u to hit ur head when u fall down lol
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For goodness sake, you're obviously in a hurry since you can't afford the time to use the 'y' and 'o' keys, but at least try to make a coherent point before attacking someone's intelligence.
I think Negativecool has made a somewhat valid point, although I think we still come to expect too much regarding AI because, as he mentioned, we tend to believe/expect what the developers write on paper, rather than what ends up in the final game.
Almost every game ends up promising more than it delivers, especially when it comes to AI. The real test, however, will be how the AI in Bioshock compares to that used in other games. We really won't know the answer to that until the final game is released, but that doesn't mean people can't be apprehensive based upon what little experience they've had so far (why make a demo if you can't put your best foot forward).
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it was a tech demo to show off the game. when is the game projected to be out. q2-q3 2007. so lets say MAY. when was the demo shown. e3 2006 back in may. so its an early early build and somehting they threw togetehr to show off the aspects they are trying to achieve and show off the engine. the demo was neevr playable to the public similar to e3,s mass effect demo.
my point was that he basicaly judged this game to suck off that short tech demo. now if he has played a close to final build and can say it lakcs than fine but like i said. a build one year from completition needs to be taken as such. What does he think they will be doing over the enxt year? Improving every apsect till tis as close to perfection as they can. thats why it was not playable. its an early build
so we can all agree its an early build nearly a year or more from final build. hold off judgment till we see something closer to final build. and if still unsure donlt get it. But rught now i see no other game trying to do what they are trying to do and if it fails it fails but i aint bashing a backdoor demo a year from completition.
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That nerdy narrator is Ken Levine, of Thief and System Shock 2 fame. Little respect?
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Rii.ISPRO--None of which I gave a crap about so no respect given to the PC nerd. But hey, thanks for the attempt at a condescending bit of info anyway.
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The game has been extensively reworked since. Have you read any other site's coverage of the latest gameplay demonstration? This writeup mentions little to nothing of what happened.
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