Ray Carsillo interviews Disney Interactive’s Jose Villeta about the latest developments to the Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes universe during the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con.
Tag Archive: preview
Carving out a niche
The big project on everyone’s mind during this year’s GDC was, of course, Sony’s Project Morpheus. Because of this, another work-in-progress at the show might have flown under a lot of people’s radar, but I went hands-on with it before the week was through—and it’s finally ready to be revealed.
Project Totem is the latest Microsoft exclusive from developer Press Play, the folks behind Max: The Curse of Brotherhood. It’s a puzzle-platformer that, like many games in the genre, has a simple premise. You play as a pair of blocks that normally would sit in a totem pole. Each block is sent down a path that often has a similar, yet not exactly identical, layout to their counterpart. Your objective? Get both blocks to the end of the course in order to unlock larger and more intricate carvings for the ultimate totem pole.
Where puzzle-platformers shine isn’t why you’re running these courses, but in how you traverse them. Gameplay is the driving force in this genre, and fortunately, even in the six pre-alpha-build single-player stages I was able to test, there seems to be enough easy-to-learn-yet-difficult-to-master mechanics to give Project Totem the addictiveness to compete against similar games.
The first, most critical element that I needed to learn was that the totem pieces are always linked. When one jumps, so does the other. When the other runs right, so does the other. Run left, and…hopefully you get the picture. The puzzle aspects quickly become evident from this mechanic when the courses stop being as identical as the totem pieces. Some pathways can only open when one of the totems steps on a particular switch. Other pathways can only be walked through by pieces of a certain color. And sometimes the lower totem block will have to serve as a stepping-stone for the upper one to reach the next platform.
As the courses become more intricate, the totem blocks also begin to acquire special powers. The first of these makes it so the two blocks can flip-flop positions at any time, even in mid-air, to move through color-coded barriers. Meanwhile, certain powers allow you to change the gravity of a single piece so one can be walking on the ceiling while another is on the floor.
Just as I began to get comfortable with these abilities, though, I had to start using them in unison. For example, in one instance I had to swap totems while simultaneously having one of them use its gravity powers. As more powers become unlocked, it was easy to imagine how crazy it might be to use three or four powers quickly in succession or different powers for each individual piece.
Besides this single-player mode, there’s also a time-trial mode to see how fast a player can beat each stage. The game also offers local co-op, which has completely different stages from single-player. Also, instead of each player controlling an individual totem (that would probably be a bit too easy), they control two totems for a total of four totems onscreen at once. When obstacles start becoming three and four blocks high, the emphasis on teamwork quickly becomes clear.
Even though Project Totem is still in its pre-alpha phase, Press Play is confident they can have the game available for download on Xbox 360 and Xbox One sometime in Q3 2014. And from what I was able to play of it at GDC, I’m fairly confident they can hit that mark, since the seven total stages each had a layer of polish you don’t normally see from games still labeled as pre-alpha. The controls were tight, the obstacles were creative, and there was a nice feeling of accomplishment every time I overcame a new challenge. If that’s any sign of what’s to come, puzzle-platformer fans should definitely keep an eye out for this one.
The Dark Knight returns
Everyone who knows me understands that I am one of the biggest Batman fans around. I spit out comic book storyline recaps like they were scripture and swear by all things The Dark Knight. So, when Warner Bros. announced Batman: Arkham Knight—and the return of Arkham Asylum and Arkham City developer Rocksteady to the franchise—my elation could hardly be contained. My feelings of ecstasy only intensified, however, when I was finally allowed to see a half-hour of the game at GDC last week.
With bated bat-breath I watched as Rocksteady devs showed us what they’d been working on as their first project for the new generation of consoles (and PC). The Scarecrow threatens Gotham with a WMD that would flood the streets with a new, highly potent brand of his trademark fear toxin. After evacuating millions of people out of Gotham, all that remains is a skeleton police force, the criminals who want to take advantage of the mayhem, and the Batman. But Batman isn’t alone in the shadows. In addition to Rogues Gallery mainstays like Two-Face, Penguin, and Riddler, a new villain, the Arkham Knight, emerges.
Although Rocksteady isn’t divulging too much info about the Arkham Knight himself just yet, we do know a couple of facts. First, he’s a brand new character, and he’s making his DC Universe debut in the game. We can see from pictures that he brandishes a large pistol and has taken on a motif similar to Batman’s (pointy ears, chest plate). His “anti-Batman” description also gives him an air that reminds me of the comic book villains Wrath and Prometheus. Whoever he is under that mask, we saw him get the drop on Batman during the demo, so I’m sure he’ll be quite the adversary over the course of the game.
After running through the basic plot points, we finally got to see Batman in action once again. New-gen tech has allowed for a bevy of upgrades and we got to see many of them in action. The biggest change is how Batman gets around. We finally get to drive the Batmobile. A major gameplay pillar this go around, the Batmobile is essential in helping Batman navigate a world that is 20 times larger than Arkham Asylum. But, as brand marketing producer Dax Ginn told us, the Batmobile isn’t the whole game.
“We wanted to be very confident and sure that we didn’t add the Batmobile and it suddenly just felt like a driving game or a driving bolt-on. That was something that was really, really important to us,” Ginn explains. “So, we’ve integrated Batman’s abilities and the Batmobile’s abilities, so that it very much feels like it’s a man and his machine, the integration between the two. You can eject out of the Batmobile to gain insane height, and that sort of augmentation of Batman’s gliding ability is the perfect example of how the Batmobile complements Batman’s features. There’s a lot more the Batmobile can do, but the way Batman gets into the Batmobile, gets out of the Batmobile—those things have really been designed to feel very natural and very organic.”
And from what he showed us, the Batmobile did seem to be more of a complement than the entire experience. In one segment, it launched the Caped Crusader into the night sky allowing Batman to effortlessly glide onto the roof of the building he needed to infiltrate. When Batman was ready to move onto his next objective across town, with a single button press, the Batmobile came roaring around a corner and Batman dropped into the driver’s seat, seamlessly, as Batman then raced off to his next destination. The player was in control the entire time. But between these segments there was still plenty of gliding, fighting, and case solving for the Dark Knight to do.
Also, it should be noted the Batmobile could be used for more than just catapults and driving around town. There are car-chase sequences where Batman can fire debilitating missiles to stop runaway criminals and even Riddler rooms dedicated solely to pushing the Batmobile—and your reflexes—to the limit.
“The role [Riddler] had in Arkham City, he’s more of an engineer. Very physical, constantly covered in a layer of grime, and so we wanted to think about what he would do next, where would he take the motivations he had in the previous game,” Dax says. “Integrating that with the Batmobile was an interesting design choice because he can achieve so much, even just as one guy, but it really comes down to the focus we put on the Batmobile. Driving through Gotham feels incredible, but there’s so much that it can do that the Riddler caves give us an opportunity to design puzzles that are specifically there to push the Batmobile to it’s limits, so we can really give gamers the opportunity to experience the Batmobile in all of its insane facets, not just driving incredibly quickly on the flat. You can drive up walls, drive on the ceilings, but that’s not so easy to do in the open world of the city. But the Riddler circuits can be anything, so that’s where it really starts to get fun and interesting.”
So, yes, the Batmobile can drive up walls. It is confirmed. I saw it do so, and it was amazing. But Batman’s car isn’t the only thing that’s tricked out in Arkham Knight. Gotham’s Guardian has a few new tools as well. In combat, Batman can now utilize the environment, like smashing a thug’s head through a car window, to get instant knockouts. He can also finally use his gadgets while gliding to get even more of a drop on unsuspecting ne’er-do-wells. And speaking of gliding, the precision while doing so has been increased so Batman can even do 180-degree turns midflight.
Batman: Arkham Knight is looking great—but with only a small taste of the full game so far, I’m eager to see if Rocksteady’s plans indeed pan out. Still, if there’s anyone I trust to make a Batman game, it’s them, so I have faith they’ll be able to deliver on their promises of the best Arkham game yet. Knowing the care and detail that came off in this demo, it’s hard not to believe they’ll come through for Bat-fans everywhere in the end.
Shifting Gears
Racing games have been around for a long time, and several top-quality franchises immediately spring to mind for anyone with an affinity for tearing up the asphalt. But when you narrow it down to free-to-play racing games for the PC, that list shrinks significantly. So, Slightly Mad Studios—best known for the pair of Need for Speed: Shift games they’ve worked on—decided to act a bit like their namesake in order to try to mix things up. Not only do they hope to succeed in an environment that hasn’t been great for racing games, but they also want to provide something different than what’s offered by the few competitors already in the space.
Enter World of Speed, a racing MMO that hopes to deliver the look and feel of a triple-A racer while simultaneously connecting players via a social experience they usually don’t get from other games of this ilk. Sure, the game has brilliant HD graphics like Forza and all the tracks and real-world locales you’d expect from Gran Turismo, but the hook here lies in trying to win races and contests in teams and as part of larger clubs. Not to mention that, of course, since the game is free-to-play and on PC, new tracks and cars can be added at any time.
Team-based racing in and of itself isn’t necessarily a new thing, though—and this is where Slightly Mad mixes things up. Besides trying to win the race, each team member is also attempting to complete objectives to earn points. Whether it’s drafting a certain number of feet beyond an opponent, drifting through specific turns, or trading paint with so many cars, the objective points are worth more than your placement points. So, a squad that finishes third and fourth, could still beat a team that places first and second across the finish line. This adds an interesting bit of strategy to each race, since you’ll sometimes have to “throw” the actual crossing-the-finish-line part in order to hit your objectives. Yes, this actually happened during one of my races while playing the game.
I was in second place steadily for much of the race and was desperately trying to catch my opponent to hit the drafting objective. When I realized I had no chance of catching him, though, with about a half a lap to go, I slammed on the brakes and let his teammate, who was in third, pass me. I then earned the drafting points on him. In the end, my team still lost, because the partner I was randomly paired with seemed to not know what the gas pedal was, but I closed the points gap significantly with that move, even if I finished one place lower than I would’ve originally.
All this flies in the face of the basic instincts of a racing game, but the nuances added by the objectives are a fun touch and help the game straddle a line between pure simulation and arcade racer. Another element that straddles that border? The handling of the cars. The way vehicles take turns or accelerate makes them feel heavy, like there’s weight to them—just like in a simulation experience. But to make the game a little more fun, and to expand the possible objectives list, you don’t lose speed when drifting through turns, similar to an arcade-style experience like Ridge Racer. This strikes a balance you don’t often see in racing games, since they usually go one way or the other. I admit that, much like the objectives, it took some getting used to, but it only made the game feel that much more refreshing as I tried to master a new control scheme.
World of Speed left me wanting more. It fine-tunes a classic formula and makes it feel fresh again, and I was impressed even after just a couple of races with how everything handled—and how badly I wanted to form a team with some close friends. Some big questions still surround the game, such as release date and monetization, but as of right now, World of Speed seems to be set on a path straight for the winner’s circle.
Tanks, but no tanks
When I heard that the RPG specialists at Obsidian Entertainment were making another game, I already had images of mana pools and character-progression pages forming in my mind. I couldn’t have been further from the truth, however, as Obsidian wants to show everyone that even a decade-old studio can learn a new trick with Armored Warfare.
I admit that, going into my hands-on session, I didn’t know much about the project, since it had only been announced the day prior. With a name like Armored Warfare, though, I figured I could safely rule out ponies and princesses from the range of possibilities. What I wasn’t expecting, however, was the World of Tanks clone Obsidian had produced. The only discernible difference? Armored Warfare uses modern tanks—instead of those used during the mid-20th century—and a better graphics engine with CryEngine 3.
This isn’t to say Armored Warfare is a bad copy of Wargaming.net’s F2P sensation—but Obsidian scores no points for originality here. Armored Warfare’s PvP modes, multiple tiers of unlockable tanks, customization/upgrade systems, and even their F2P model are already seen in World of Tanks and feature no noticeable distinctions. What’s more, the PvE mode and destructibility in Armored Warfare will be seen in World of Tanks’ upcoming spring update, which will be well before Armored Warfare plans on hitting the market sometime in late 2014.
The PvP side of things includes the options you’d expect from a tank battler like this, highlighted by team deathmatch. There’s also a mode called Territory Wars, which encourages players to join clans. Their performance in battles while representing their respective clan then influences a metagame map as their group tries to conquer entire regions, which ups the stakes of your standard PvP fare in a similar fashion to Call of Duty: Ghosts’ Clan Wars mode.
Some originality does bleed through in PvE, at least, since there’s a loose story based around the idea of players taking on the role of a tank pilot for a massive private military contractor. With new conflicts popping up all over the world, business is good. So good, in fact, that your company has a fleet of war machines always ready for you to ride into battle to help keep your pockets lined with cash. As you earn money, both here and in PvP, you can unlock bigger and better tanks from the fleet and customize them as you see fit. And, although details are currently sparse, you’ll also be able to develop a relationship with your tank crewmembers, giving the tiniest glimpse back to Obsidian’s RPG bread-and-butter.
I tried one of the PvE missions during my hands-on time and confess to being pleasantly surprised by the gameplay. There’s an unexpected amount of balance for a game that hasn’t reached its closed beta yet. The controls felt smooth as I slid from a third-person view to a first-person angle to take careful aim down the sights of my cannon and blow up enemy AI. My tank handled well and felt very responsive as I rolled across various kinds of terrain (as responsive as a lumbering mass of steel and rubber can feel, anyway). The power of CryEngine 3 also really came through: The tiniest details were crystal clear on my PC monitor, and the destructible environments really helped convey the power of my tank as I bulldozed my way through brick buildings in a Western European countryside.
Despite the fact that the demo played really well, though, I don’t know if there’s enough in Armored Warfare, from what I’ve seen so far, to make players jump ship from Wargaming’s offering. If your biggest complaints about World of Tanks is its look and having to use heavy armor from 70 years ago, then Armored Warfare can help with their modern, CryEngine 3–built tanks. Aside from that, I’m at a bit of a loss. No matter what side of the fence you’re on, however, the fact remains that Armored Warfare is going to have a steep hill to climb as Obsidian continues to target a 2014 release for the suddenly crowded action-MMO, tank-battler genre.
Ray needs remake…badly
While it hasn’t had nearly as many remakes as some of its arcade brethren over the years, Gauntlet still holds a special place in many gamers’ hearts. EGM even listed the beloved “needs food…badly” quip as the No. 3 greatest videogame line of all time back in 2002. Now, Warner Bros. has secured the rights from Midway after the latter went bankrupt (and after Midway acquired the rights from Atari in the same manner), and they’ve tapped Swedish developer Arrowhead Game Studios—best known for 2011’s Magicka—to bring the series back for a modern audience.
Obviously, tailoring Gauntlet for younger gamers means some changes. I’m going to brace myself, because this is where the old-school trolls start licking their chops. But there’s actually not that much of a difference here from what arcade junkies know and love. The most immediate change you’ll notice is that you don’t continuously lose health anymore. This forced “time limit” was originally designed as another way to suck down your stack of quarters, and it would probably just piss a lot of people off nowadays. This new Gauntlet isn’t a cakewalk by any means, though. While before you’d pump in more quarters in order to revive yourself, now you need to spend the gold you find in levels.
This works because a lot of modern games have put less of an emphasis on score. It also means this remake has its own skill-based life limit in line with the spirit of the original game. An extra nuance is that when playing cooperatively, all the gold is communal, so if you have a friend who really sucks, all that extra gold you risked your life for may not be there when it’s your turn to finally kick the bucket.
Another interesting thing about gold is that it’s not used to buy weapons like in later Gauntlet ports. Instead, you get new weapons and items by finding “relics” in levels, which then give you special powers like an ice blast or better speed. As you find more and more relics, you need to make some tough choices. You’ll keep them forever, but you can only carry two at a time into a level and can’t spam them because of a recharge meter.
Beyond this, the 4-player hack-n-slash co-op action you know and love still feels a lot like it did back in the day. The four classes—Warrior, Elf, Valkyrie, and Wizard—return, but you can only have one on each team (no clones). You can choose to turn friendly fire on in order to add some extra griefing potential, but because of the communal gold, the game feels less like a competition and more like a true co-op experience, kind of like the Gauntlet Legends spin-off for the N64.
The game also features some classic dungeon designs. I played a level with an Egyptian-tomb motif that was filled with hundreds of undead mummies, and at the end, I faced off against a boss that looked a lot like Death. The classic top-down view is still present, and everything just looks like it’s received a modern coat of paint. I can’t deny that it was tons of fun to swing my Warrior’s axe while surrounded by dozens of foes.
My only real disappointment is the fact that this is currently a PC/Steam exclusive. I miss games where you could sit around a couch and play with a bunch of friends—and I don’t think of that when I hear “PC.” This feels like it’d be perfect for the Xbox One and PS4 with four controllers, but we’ll have to wait and see if Warner Bros. reconsiders after seeing how well Gauntlet does when it hits this summer.
Time waits for no hero
I’ve gone hands-on with Wolfenstein: The New Order before, but my recent glimpse at the game has given the most complete picture of B.J. Blazkowicz’s new adventure thus far. For those of you who may be unaware, the premise of The New Order is that it’s an alternative storyline or parallel universe from the Wolfenstein games many of us grew up on. Here, B.J. Blazkowicz doesn’t stop General Deathshead. Instead, he suffers a coma-inducing injury, sleeps for 14 years, and wakes up to hell on Earth, a world where the Nazis won.
This new build allowed me to play the entirety of the game’s first three chapters, starting with B.J. flying into Nazi airspace with his buddy Fergus. Now, I’m not going to get into the minutiae of my time with this demo, because if you’ve played a Wolfenstein game before, you’ve got an idea of what to expect: lots of Nazis to shoot and stuff to blow up. But few games have given me that big-budget action-film vibe more than this.
From that very first sequence, you’re asked to do the impossible, and as is typical in these kinds of games, it’s all so much daily routine, like brushing your teeth in the morning. Jumping from your doomed plane onto the wings of another allied plane. Hopping into a turret and fending off half-robotized German Shepherds. Commandeering an AA gun to take out a giant mechanical walker reminiscent of a Star Wars AT-AT. And this was just the first chapter.
Beyond the variety seen in the over-the-top action moments, The New Order did a great job of making me feel empowered with just its standard first-person shooter fare. Running through the trenches, dual-wielding assault rifles and mowing down Nazis left and right, legs and arms flying everywhere. I felt like I could take on the entire German army by myself.
And, yes, all this sounds super-sensationalistic, but you don’t play Wolfenstein for realism. If anything, gaming these days is so much about immersing you up to your eyeballs in the world we already live in that when something like The New Order comes along, it actually feels kind of refreshing. I saw how fast B.J. sprinted from his wheelchair in the asylum after sitting on his behind for more than a decade, and I knew that most of reality had been checked at the door. This game is all about empowering the player on a very basic level.
Even the cutscenes communicate how much of a badass B.J. is. In one, after escaping the asylum, B.J. interrogated a German officer with a chainsaw. Let me say that again. With a chainsaw. In the three chapters I played, B.J. projected more testosterone than I’d seen from every male gaming protagonist combined over the past year. I’m not saying that’s always a good thing, but in this context, with the absurdity of the situation, it fit—and I found myself enjoying my playtime more because of it.
Some less-bombastic moments with B.J. also showed a little depth to his character. My favorite? After clearing out a bunch of Nazis from a roadside checkpoint’s motor pool, B.J. got into the husk of an abandoned jeep. He then started spinning the wheel, pretending to honk the horn, and even worked on his pickup lines with an imaginary girl. It helped give the sense of B.J. being a man out of time—both in regards to recent gaming trends as well as his own plight. Then he went outside and blew up a pair of mechs.
I also noticed something interesting while working my way through the game’s menus. Late in the first chapter, your unit is captured, and you have to make a choice on whom to save between a pair of soldiers. I made my decision and realized later on that text appeared on my menu detailing the person I’d saved, giving me the sense that it could affect my playthrough later on. I don’t know if the choice will result in anything beyond a cameo later in the game, or whether it meant my entire story had been thrown down a different path, or even if more choices were coming at some point, but I love the idea of your decisions—even in something as far-fetched as Wolfenstein—carrying weight.
Honestly, I was more excited for Wolfenstein coming out of my play session than I had expected to be. The stunning attention to detail in the world and its characters impressed me, but what I’m most looking forward to is seeing how far MachineGames goes with this action-movie focus. Sometimes, like moviegoers with big budget blockbuster films, you just want to leave your brain at the door, and Wolfenstein looks to be banking gamers will be looking for that kind of experience come May.
Rivalry renewed
While at New York Comic Con 2013, I had a chance to go hands-on with both the PC and PS4 version of Need for Speed: Rivals. Before getting into the details of what I actually played, I do want to say how gorgeous the PS4 version looked. I don’t have specs for the PC the game was running on in order to make a true comparison, but the PS4 version looked just as good, if not better. No matter what opinions you may have going into the next generation, we should all be able to agree on how pretty it’s going to be.
OK, so now that that’s out of the way, this demo focused on a couple of things—one of them being what it means to be the law in Need for Speed. After going through the basic tutorial for both racers and police, I got thrown behind the wheel of a patrolman’s car and sent after illegal street racers, trying to ram them into submission. Much like the racers, though, there were speed points that tested our average speed and set records that, in the final version of the game, would be uploaded to Autolog.
The demo was fun, but the small slice of gameplay felt more like a demolition derby than something you’d normally expect from Need for Speed. The cars handled well and looked great, but I’d be lying if I didn’t have some concern over the variety of gameplay—or lack thereof—you might see as a police officer. All I did was race and knock other cars off the road. This could also change depending on the class type you choose when you play as the 5-0. Of course, it’s not easy to show off how a game will truly feel and play over the 20 minutes of hands-on time I got, either, so I’ll just say that I’m reserving judgment at this point.
The other major feature of the demo showcased the interplay between Rivals and Need for Speed Network. Using an iPad, I watched a map overview of several developers and testers who were part of the Network profile’s friend list. From there, I could choose to either help them through a few taps on the iPad—granting them nitrous boosts or other buffs—or grief them by adding helicopters to their respective chases that would make it harder from them to lose the police on their tail.
Network also keeps track of your game progress and how well you do compared to your friends in certain areas—not to mention the head-to-head numbers, adding another nuance to why this game’s called Rivals. There’s nothing like seeing concrete numbers displaying who’s better than who to stir up a little friendly trash-talking among friends.
The NYCC demo may not have given me as fleshed out a view as I’d have liked, but at the very least, I can say that my curiosity is piqued. Technically, Rivals seems to be as tight as you’d expect from a game labeled Need for Speed. Now, it’s just a matter of seeing whether new developer Ghost Games can deliver enough quality content to live up to the brand.
More convenient than Bat-Shark Repellent
Much of the current Batman buzz may surround the upcoming Batman: Arkham Origins console game, but at New York Comic Con 2013, Warner Bros. wanted to make it clear that they haven’t forgotten about the iOS and Android platforms, either. The mobile incarnation was unveiled at the show—it’s scheduled to be available sometime around its console brethren’s October 25th release date—and I was able to get some solid hands-on time with this free-to-play Bat-brawler.
The mobile version’s being developed by NetherRealm Studios—the folks behind Injustice: Gods Among Us—and fans will quickly see parallels between that game’s mobile tie-in and this experience. Much of the core gameplay still revolves around tapping on your enemies to chain together punches and kicks to take them down in succession, and after dispatching a variety of thugs, you’ll earn a chance to beat down one of the eight assassins after the huge bounty on Batman’s head. The Caped Crusader has a stamina meter, however, and he can only pick so many fights in a row before he needs a break to recharge his batteries.
The concept may sound simple enough, but there’s a far deeper experience here than you might expect if you were to give the game a cursory glance. Sure, you won’t get the dialogue or story that you’d get from a Batman console game, but there’s more than enough action to give Bat-fans their fix on the bus or a plane before getting home to their consoles to continue their proper pursuit of Black Mask.
The overall layout breaks up Gotham City into four sections, and Batman must methodically work his way through them all to clean up the streets. While the game will launch with only four of the eight assassins, Warner Bros. promises that— much like the Injustice mobile tie-in—there’ll be plenty of continued support down the line.
The game also includes an RPG-like element; Batman can level up by earning experience after every battle or by using the in-game currency he earns (which can also be purchased for a fee in the game’s store) to unlock a variety of special moves and new costumes that provide natural buffs. Batsuits like the one worn on Earth-Two will provide more health, while the Batman Beyond suit can provide a nice all-around boost.
The combat’s also deeper in that Batman can pull off six or seven moves in a row—unlike the three or four that players were limited to in Injustice. Plus, the variety of special moves is far larger. You can only bring four moves at a time into battle, though, so you’ll have to switch some in and out on the customization screen as you unlock more.
You can also bring medkits to heal yourself—or maybe the Shock Gauntlets, which then switches the game to a first-person perspective as you try to pound your foe’s face into paste. Or there’s always my personal favorite: throwing dual Batarangs for huge damage and then calling in a swarm of bats to slow the enemy down.
But Batman’s combat isn’t the only element to see an overhaul in this mobile version. His would-be assassins also have special maneuvers that require players to master mini-games in order to block or counter opponents’ signature moves. When I fought Deadshot, for example, I had to quickly tap all the bullets he was firing at me in order to dodge them, Matrix-style.
The user interface is also much clearer now, with all your special moves easily clickable down on the bottom of the screen—and if you wish to use your second hand, a block button is available for faster reactions. Of course, if you find the HUD bothersome or think it clutters up the screen, there’s an option now to turn it off altogether.
Clearly, this isn’t the same experience that you’d get on a console. But if you’re on the go and feel like letting out some pent-up aggression on Bane or Copperhead, this looks to be shaping up as a quality mobile tie-in that’ll be great for killing a little time during your commute.
Going Deep
One of the big surprises of Sony’s February PS4 reveal was when Capcom showed off their new online multiplayer medieval fantasy game, Deep Down. At least, we thought it was a medieval fantasy game—until, during the events leading up to Tokyo Game Show, we learned that we should maybe stop with all the Dark Souls and Dragon’s Dogma comparisons, and instead look more to Assassin’s Creed.
While much of the game’s action will indeed be set in the past, your character is actually part of Ravens, a special team of people living in 2094 New York. These individuals have the ability to travel back in time to explore eras of interest, although nothing (as of yet) has been said as to why these time periods are on the Ravens’ radar, or how the Ravens actually time travel. So, while a medieval setting will surely be included, that’s not to say the American Revolution or the Renaissance are off the table either.
Deep Down wasn’t done showing itself off, however, and at TGS I was lucky enough to actually get my hands on this fascinating new title while at Sony’s booth.
I began by selecting one of two lance-wielding medieval knights, whose only real differences on the surface seemed to be cosmetic (with one wearing silver armor and the other clad in gold). I chose the more traditional silver, and was brought to a character customization screen with three branches of abilities set before me. I admit my lack of understanding Japanese left me a disadvantage here, but I was able to select three abilities from the first tree, and two more abilities from each of the following two trees.
I was then teleported to what I can only assume to be a level specifically designed for the demo, as the lack of complexity left it wanting, with only a few corridors and enemies to speak of. The level’s detail, however, was a fine testament to next-gen hardware, as every stone in the wall seemed to exist on its own and dynamic lighting and dust particles galore gave me the sense that I was indeed exploring a small section of some ancient dungeon.
As I slowly proceeded down the first corridor—avoiding the fire spewing stone turrets placed at regular intervals—I was confronted by a creature that could best be described as a hairless Rodent of Unusual Size from The Princess Bride standing on its hindquarters. Where the look of the game had first wowed me (and actually continued to do so with how grotesque the creature standing in front of me was), the controls knocked me back down a level as they felt clunky and slow in regards to the combat. I could swing my lance wildly directly in front of me, or aim and thrust forward with the triggers, but I felt like I was fighting both methods as much as I was the ROUS (Rodents of Unusual Size).
The magic spells I blindly picked at least helped, as I could perform a strong 360 degree spin with my lance with one, or throw a variety of magical grenades with another. One grenade was made of light, and exploded after a delay; the other seemed to be a spirit scroll, releasing ethereal energy from its enchanted pages after contacting the ground.
As I continued to explore the level, I stumbled across a couple of hidden passageways that served as shortcuts and slayed another half dozen or so ROUSs before reaching the end goal, marked by a teleportation dais. As I approached the dais, however, a motherly voice began coming through the headset, seemingly speaking to my character. Whether this was a memory of the Raven or of someone from the time period, I’m not really sure, but the voice seemed to haunt me as I drew closer to the demo’s end and added a necessary layer of intrigue for the story.
When all was said and done, the demo was probably less than 15 minutes long—but it gave me a decent idea of what I could expect from combat, regular enemies (no dragons like those pictured above quite yet), and magical powers. The story could potentially be a huge selling point once more details emerge about the Ravens and their purpose. I think the game is visually stunning, and the magic is cool, but melee combat definitely needs more work if Deep Down’s going to be a hit.
I really wish I had gotten more than a thrown-together demo level. I’m curious as to why I was allowed to play something that feels so incomplete and yet clearly will have the complexity you’d expect from most RPGs (at least we hope) in the final product. This isn’t to say I’m disappointed, but I feel like the more I learn about Deep Down, the more questions I have. Only time will tell if the answers are worth the wait.
RayCarsilloWrites.com 