The Sun Sets on the 2nd Day

So it’s the end of day 2 and I didn’t spend as much time wandering about today. I actually got down to business and did my duty as a gamer and played some games. Knocked a few things off my to-do list from yesterday

Todays Activities
No good, bad list today. Just an overall

• Medal of Honor - Actually got to sit down and play this today. My previous opinion of it still stands though. It just doesn’t feel like it does anything new. The guns feel the same. I still get a mortar strike for getting x amount of kills. And I still get points for shooting somebody to death, and shooting them to death in the face. More of the same here unfortunately. Hopefully as we get closer to release they will show off some new game modes that offer exciting gameplay and some (albeit minor at that point) innovation to the genre that is being saturated with games.
  
• Gran Turismo 5 - Been on my have to play list since the PS3 was announced. Near a century later we have a release date (November) and its playable on the show floor in all its glory. I got to play super quick, because everybody waiting in line wanted to try it in 3d (bleh). I did terribly. Ive never played the GT series using a wheel and pedal setup, so I was grossly out of my element. Given the amount of time they’ve worked on the game it should be perfect . And that was exactly my impression of it when I left. The tracks are lively, the driving is top notch. But I’m sure this is all expected of this title.
  
• Vanquish - A very nice shooter coming out of the Sega camp. The trailer released the other week was a bit on the “over the top acting and lines” side of things but the actual gameplay is nice and fast paced. The cover system works well and sliding around with the boosters is a little disorienting at first but I quickly figured it out and was dodging rockets and laser beams easily. My only real complaint is that it felt too easy. Lot of time left before release so hopefully they tighten up the AI.
  
• Ghost Recon: Future Soldier - Accidental called this advanced warfighter yesterday, which was the previous set of GR titles. The game isn’t playable, but Ubi paired groups with a developer and they did a nice walkthrough of a mission. The gameplay looks solid. And the 4-player coop sounds fantastic. The teammate AI in the demo they showed worked very well and seemed to respond to the players tactics. I would like to find out what kind of intensity they will bring to the single player (especially with Homefront still fresh on my mind), and I would like to know how they intend to keep the multi from becoming a camp fest with the active camo they use on the suits. But this is definitely a title I am going to be keeping my eye on.
  
• Mafia 2 - Got to sit down and take my time running through a mission. Probably a good 15 minutes or so of gameplay, and it did not disappoint. So far this game is shaping up to become the sequel that Mafia has always needed. The game feels right. From the tone and characters, to the driving and the tunes on the radio. I was prepared to kidnap a developer but they gave me a T-shirt, so I let them live another day.
  
• Black Prophecy - WHATS THIS!!! NetDevil is sending me to E3 and I spent time playing another space mmo? Blasphemous! I’m sorry, but its been a long time since I’ve gone adventuring in space, and I didn’t want to be rusty come tomorrow. I will say that BP was a disappointment, but at no real fault of the game. The booth attendees didn’t help me out at all and it was simply jump on the computer and start playing. Nothing was shooting back at me, I had no clear idea of where to go (I went to the red dots on the HUD and fired, but they just kept going). Flying felt well enough, but I didn’t like the constant thrust to maintain speed thing (though it ultimately didn’t matter much, as I would probably hold accelerate anyway). Turning and maneuvering was good and bad. Nice and fluid if at speed, but if I was going slower the ship barely responded.
  
• Epic Mickey - This game looks fantastic. I didn’t get a chance to play it (its their own fault) but I watched a developer play through it a bit, and it is looking like a great platformer. Just so you know, I missed out on playing it because every time I wet by their booth, they had a “certified Disney fine artist” doing some speed painting on some 12x12 black canvas’. He was awesome, lots of energy, and he can paint some pretty fantastic painting in 5 minutes. I probably watched him paint 6 paintings today. Hopefully I get some game time tomorrow.

I think that about wraps up todays events. Super excited about tomorrow and our VIP event. Im not sure what I want to focus on tomorrow after the JGE presentation. I have played everything on my watch list outside of the Nintendo booth (which I think im just going to keep ignoring). Maybe I will try to tough out some actual interaction with Kinect and Move so I can cement my apathy towards them. (Under 1000 words today. You’re welcome)