EGX 2017 Report: Part 2

Part 1 was just the beginning! There’s still more from EGX in my second and final report from the show floor.

Detroit: Robot Hostage Negotiator

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with David Cage games. I enjoyed playing Fahrenheit and Heavy Rain at the time, both were certainly an experience. Yes, the plot fell apart at the end of both games quite spectacularly, but at least it was a fun ride getting there. Beyond: Two Souls I just found to be a slog throughout. Playing Detroit and even if you knew nothing about it beforehand, you’d be able to tell it was from the same wheelhouse as Cage’s other fare.

The same demo that has been shown at press shows before, your android is tasked with talking down another android from jumping off the roof with his young hostage. Before doing so though you can investigate the crime scene to get more info on the rogue robot. Each time you uncover a new piece of information your success rate percentage goes up, this carries into the decisions you make during the dialogue scene. One thing that really impressed was the audio, both in terms of sound effects and acting: the sounds of helicopters circling and your character’s robotic voice trying to save the girl from being killed were seriously impressive. My session ended with the girl being safe, but my character falling off the roof as he tackles the hostage taker. As I looked over as well it looked like a different outcome occurred with the guy playing it next to me as with his game his character was walking safely out the front door. No girl though so I assume he failed.

These types of games always demo well (remember the Fahrenheit diner scene being the best part of the game?) so it’s hard to say how it’s shaping up. That said, it’s an impressive first look.

Rogue Trooper Is Back

So this is a weird thing. I’m not quite sure why but Rogue Trooper is getting a new Redux edition, which is basically the same game with prettier graphics. I remember the original game coming out and people enjoyed it in a 7/10 sort of way, I doubt it would be high on anyone’s list of games they would want remastered. Unsurprisingly the shooting felt very archaic and the voice acting is laughable. I can’t see this one setting the charts on fire.

Post Mania Sonic

There were back to back pods for Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces this year. Sonic Mania had a big showing last year and was one of my favourite games of the show, Forces is the new Sonic game this year and my thoughts aren’t that positive. After the excellent response to Mania, Forces is back to the usual 3D sonic fare. Holding forward occasionally performing a homing attack, there were multiple levels I could try. One was the usual aforementioned 3D Sonic style, the other was dubbed “Classic Sonic” and was a recreation of the first boss from Sonic 1. Only the physics didn’t quite feel right so Sonic would bounce off in a way that didn’t match the classic Sonic experience it was trying to replicate.

Maybe Christian Whitehead should take over the entire Sonic production.

Dissidia: A Final Fantasy Spin-off

Now I’m not the biggest Final Fantasy fan, from the outside however Dissidia looked like more a fighting/hack and slash style game so I thought, why not? Turns out it was an arena based fighter, with Final Fantasy elements that doesn’t feel good enough to be enjoyed by fans of either type of games. It felt sluggish, it was hard to tell whether my attacks were doing much damage and it all felt like a missed opportunity in bringing all these different Final Fantasy characters into the same game. I know the FF series has trouble branching out into other genres and this doesn’t look like it’ll buck the trend.

Bits & Pieces

There are a few bits here and there that were more like quick walk-up-and-play games, I didn’t spend much time with them but it’s worth sharing my experiences. One of them was Ni No Kuni 2, which let’s be honest it’s hardly the best environment to play a game such as this. I found my brief time with it really confusing, not quite as confusing as Lego Marvel Superheroes 2 though which just threw me on the ship from Guardians of the Galaxy and didn’t give me any direction as to what I was supposed to do. The final quick play I had was with Disneyland Adventures, originally a Kinect game it now comes Kinectless. I had a quick wander around Disneyland before getting bored. Looks to be one for the kids or those who just love Disney stuff.

The Show

Its third year at the NEC, I would mostly call this a success for EGX’s ten year anniversary. Queues were less painful than previous years (a little over two hours was the longest I experienced for Assassin’s Creed) and best of all was the disappearance of the Tornado energy drink stand. The only negative I’d say would be the layout of Microsoft’s area. You’ll notice I didn’t experience much of Microsoft’s fare, that’s because at times it was impossible to see where queues began and ended. For instance I saw a sign hanging from the roof with Lucky’s Tale plastered on it. Okay I thought, I don’t have long left I’m sure there won’t be much of a queue here, I’ll give it a quick go. Only I couldn’t because I literally had trouble finding how to actually reach the demo pod. It almost looked like all the queues sort of met at the middle into one big mess. Compared to everyone else’s area, it looked a bit amateur hour.

Aside from that little hiccup, I had a good time at EGX. An impressive lineup of games and guests (Lorne Lanning and Andy Serkis were among the speakers this year) I can only see EGX getting stronger. See you next year!


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