About a week and a half ago I had the chance to attend X’13. As part of the annual “X” events put on by Xbox Canada, X’13 has come back and although not as a big as previous “X” events it was quite cozy and showcased some games and apps coming to Xbox in the near future, if not already available. One change to this event that the Xbox Canada Community was quite excited about was that for a portion of the event it was open to some select community members to get their own hands on preview of the spring line up for Xbox 360.
The atmosphere for the event was split up into two main parts with Tomb Raider being set up right in the middle of the floor surrounded by some greenery, skulls and bones to accent the island where Tomb Raider takes place. In the background there was a mini war zone set up with Gears of War: Judgment set up for everyone to try out. Up on the balconies were some soldiers and not so friendly folks from the Gears of War series to set up the atmosphere quite nicely.
The first game I hopped on to try out was Tomb Raider and I was instantly hooked. I found myself so absorbed into the game that I spent an hour playing through the first bit of the story. The graphics, gameplay and reinvigorated life that has been instilled in the latest Tomb Raider is simply breathtaking. The story was what really grabbed me from the start to the finish of my limited gameplay experience. The instant attachment to this revised edition of Lara Croft really sets her apart as an actual person with emotions and not just another female video game character with out of this world proportions. The controls are tight and easy to pick up and the gameplay experience does an action adventure game some justice. By far it is one of my top titles to play this year and playing this portion of the game during X13 has only solidified my excitement.
After getting my mind blown by Tomb Raider I checked out a couple Xbox Live Arcade titles coming out sometime this spring. For starters there was the avatar based Motorcross Madness that will draw comparisons to Joyride that was also released on XBLA. This time around you are riding around on dirt bikes in a circuit race launching yourself off ramps, performing stunts and using your racing prowess to come out on top. It’s a simple game where stunts and boost icons gain you some boost, coins get you currency for upgrades and on top of that you earn some experience which helps unlocks more race tracks. Overall, it was an enjoyable game but the controls were not the best and with an avatar based game you are not going to get next gen graphics as you get more of a cartoon based experience. Ultimately, this game will come down to pricing for gamers to take the plunge based on the experience I had with the title.
After racing a few laps in Motorcross Madness I hopped over to a game I’ve heard about on the OMG! Hour through Sinnix called Terraria. Ever since Terraria made its way on to Steam it has exploded with over 2 million copies purchased, which bodes well for the upcoming edition to XBLA. The game is a 2D action adventure platformer with a crafting twist which has drawn comparisons to Minecraft, but Terraria sets itself apart by focusing more on the adventure, than the crafting. I had more of an opportunity to battle some creatures and had an epic battle against one of the mighty bosses that pretty much wiped the floor with me on my first try; however, some highlights that I learned about the game through 505 Games Community Manager Logan Rosenstein, were that there are over 14 environments throughout the game that includes adventures above the sky on a floating island, jungle forests, desserts and even the pits of hell can be dug into if you just go deep enough. There is also a huge assortment of weapons, armor and special items that can be constructed when the right materials are collected to make potions, laser guns, flamethrowers, chainsaws, swords and even gain the ability to fly.
PC gamers will know most of these features, so the question remains “What does the console edition bring to the table?” Well, for starters there is a tutorial to help get people started with building and exploration. Of course games that are ported over from PC require a whole new control scheme which introduces an automatic and manual cursor mode which makes crafting and combat much more console friendly. The console version also includes some new content with new enemies, a final boss, new weapons, armor and new music. There are also some never before seen pets for gamers to bring along for the ride. Another great addition for gamers is a world map that will help make it much easy to navigate this rich and deep world known as Terraria. Honestly, much like Minecraft I find titles like this a lot more of a chore to play as you have to spend quite a bit of time constructing buildings, objects, etc. to get to places in the game and progress to new areas; however, I do see the appeal to this game and it should bring a new and fresh experience for fans of this genre of gaming.
Another game that was at the event was Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 bringing the Classic Edition out for this year. Although I didn’t get to play the title, Ryan Simmons the Product Manager was quite informative on some of the new features. The main one being that you can play notable tournaments from the 1930’s to present day. For golf history buffs and those just interested in the history will be in for a real treat. Not only do you get to play in these historic events the equipment physics and clothing will be simulated for each of those eras appropriately. Another thing that I appreciate, and I know my wife is silently saying “finally” in her head, is the introduction of the LPGA tour franchise that is a welcome addition to the game in my opinion. Although I only had a brief time with the title I am inspired to jump out and buy it again when it comes out this year.
The final two games on the floor were Bioshock Infinite and Gears of War: Judgment two titles that I had the pleasure of viewing for a bit, but unfortunately didn’t get to play for a couple reasons. Gears of War unfortunately has been a series that has created the feeling of motion sickness and has made the series unplayable for me. However I did to get watch it and also talked to some gamers that attended the event. Deadbl0w is “Excited for Gears, especially the new classified feature.” Along with Kiesy78 saying, “I would have to say my favourite game I played was Gears of War: Judgment. It still has that Gears feel with a couple new features added in. Can’t wait for the title to be released.” All in all it is a beautiful game that fans obviously are going to love.
Finally, there was Bioshock Infinite, a series so popular I never had chance to pop on it due to that popularity of the demo, but I did sit with fellow journalist Sean Evans and watched him play through a good chunk of the game and my first impression is, “Holy crap this game is gorgeous.” The developers have pushed the Xbox 360 to its limits and by far have created one of the best graphical games I have seen for this generation. The story is intriguing, the gameplay was awesome, and being a newcomer to the series I want to play this title horribly and I am going to go back and play the previous titles in the series to catch myself up before I do. I did have a chance to talk to the thebruce0, another gamer who attended the event and he simply summarized Bioshock, “”Bioshock gooood!”
As this was the first event that Xbox Canada Community Manager Raj Patel had his hand in arranging he was generous enough to invite some community members to try out these great titles. I had to the chance to talk to him about how he felt the event went and how the community has reacted. Here is what he had to say: “It was great being able to give a few lucky community members the chance to take an early look at some of this Spring’s biggest games. Overall things went really well and I’ve been hearing so many good things from everybody who attended.” Well, that sounds like a success to me, and I have to say that I am sure excited for this spring line up after some titles that were not on my radar and now there and others have been solidified even more. We’ll be talking about all of these titles on the next edition of The COG Arcade so feel free to comment below and ask any questions you have about the event or the titles.
