PAX West happened in Seattle over the past weekend and almost every major company you could imagine was on the show floor, showing off games that are coming within the next six months. So naturally, I tried to see as much as I could while there. I didn’t have a media badge (one day!) so waiting on line for games left me with limited time to see games. That said, here’s what I managed to see over the past four days:
Battlefield 1
Developer: DICE
Publisher: EA
Battlefield 1 was shown at Microsoft’s booth this year and they allowed people to play a full match of 5v5. It looked similar to how Battlefield Bad Company 2’s multiplayer. It felt a little sluggish though, kind of like Battlefront. Riding a horse into battle was kind of fun, but overall I wasn’t too impressed by what I saw.
DeSync
Developer: The Foregone Syndicate
Publisher: Adult Swim Games
I’ll be honest, I wasn’t too sure what this game was when I played it. When I finished playing it, I still didn’t know what it was. It was first person, you had different guns, and you shot dudes made of blocks and other shapes. When the demo was over there was a high score board, but that was about it.
Tekken 7
Developer: Bandia Namco
Publisher: Bandai Namco
I’m a huge Tekken fan. I have been since Tekken 2 on the original PlayStation. So I’m definitely very excited for Tekken 7. The demo featured what I have to imagine is the full roster, or pretty close to it. It featured a number of the new characters. But my time was limited, so I played someone I knew in a best of five. The game looks gorgeous and it’s as responsive as ever, at least on the arcade sticks that were at all the kiosks.
Dead Rising 4
Developer: Capcom Vancouver
Publisher: Capcom
Honestly, I didn’t really enjoy the time I had with Dead Rising 4. It was a ten-minute demo where you could basically do whatever you wanted. You could follow the story missions or just run around and kill zombies. I did a bit of both. The story missions took you through a bunch of zombie hordes and slicing them to pieces was certainly fun. But the game’s controls get in the way of the experience, and it’s actually fairly ugly looking. Things in the distance look flat and pixelated like an old PS1 game would. I also got a look at the EXO suit that Frank West can use and that’s kind of fun, but it runs on limited energy, so you only get a few minutes with it before you have to dump it. This is more than likely a balancing issue, because you can instantly kill everything in your path while using it.
Drawn to Death
Developer: Sony San Diego/The Bartlet Jones Supernatural Detective Agency
Publisher: Sony
I played a quick match of David Jaffe’s newest game while at PAX and the game is… weird, as one might expect. It looks amazed and wears its style with heart. It will definitely take a little getting used to because I couldn’t tell what was what in the game. Everything is happening so fast that you have no time to figure out where you in regards to the map and where your enemies are. That said, it plays fairly well and it’s something I could see myself getting into.
Mother Russia Bleeds
Developer: Le Cartel
Publisher: Devolver Digital
It’s worth noting that this game is already released and on Steam for purchase, though I was unaware of this when I played the game. It’s basically a Streets of Rage set in Russia. You play one of four characters that are scooped up by the government and experimented on. You escape, and have to beat your way out of the facility and further. It’s your basic beat ‘em up with a lot of style and violence.
Burly Men at Sea
Developer: Brain&Brain
Publisher: Brain&Brain
The demo for this game was five minutes. It has a lovely looking art style and looks to tell a fun little adventure tale. I played it on a PC, but it’s clearly made for iPads and iPhones because the interface is meant to be swiped. Not much else to say on this one.
Thimbleweed Park
Developer: Terrible Toybox
Publisher: N/A
This one is Ron Gilbert’s new game made in the style of LucasArts’ old adventure games. It looks to tell a Twin Peaks like mystery about a murder outside of a strange town. The demo was only fifteen minutes and told the story about a clown that can’t remove his makeup. Some of the jokes hit, others feel like they would be better with voice acting – which will be in the full product at launch. But overall it’s exactly like the games of old you used to play.
Let It Die
Developer: Grasshopper Manufacture
Publisher: GungHo
Suda 51’s new game is an odd beast, as one might expect from Suda. It’s a third person action game, but with RPG elements? You have armor slots, weapon slots, stats, and so on. It plays almost like Dark Souls, with animation priority and knowing when to make an attack instead of button mashing. The setting is extremely unclear, the demo just dumped you into the game. I have a lot of questions about this game that were never really answered while playing it. But hopefully as time goes on we’ll be let in on more of the story.
Battle Chef Brigade
Developer: Trinket Studios
Publisher: Adult Swim Games
Easily one of my favorite games that I played while at PAX West. The game is basically an anime about Iron Chef, but if all the cooks hunted for their ingredients with magic and daggers. It’s got a great sense of style and humor. The art is beautiful. The only thing I can hope for is some voice acting in the game that gives it a bit more pop during the ceremonies. Definitely worth paying attention to.
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