Okay, I know this is woefully late, but I wanted to toss out my list of honorable mentions from E3. These are the games that showed potential and were interesting, but weren’t quite the best of the show.
Red Steel (Wii)
Another first-person shooter? I admit that I wasn’t excited about this game prior to E3. However, using the Wii control scheme, it looks like it will (dare I say it?) revolutionize the genre. You move with the thumbstick and aim by pointing to the screen; already, it seems like shooting is going to be much easier than with a standard controller. But they added other unique gameplay elements. If you get to a closed door, you can make a movement with your left hand like you’re pushing the door open, and you see your in-game hand opening it. Each weapon has a different way of reloading, and if you’re using the shotgun, you actually hold your right hand upright, and move your left hand like you’re pumping the barrel to reload. Very cool. When you have your opponent disarmed, you can just wave your gun towards the ground, and he will understand that he’s supposed to lay down. Oh, and you can hold your gun sideways if you want to look like a gangster for some reason.
But the coolest element has to be the swordfighting sequences. You slash and thrust with your right hand, and bring your left hand up to block. It remains to be seen how precise the motions will be (the demo showed the player holding a sword to his opponent’s neck), but if it’s anything near what was shown, it should usher in a whole new way of playing FPS games. Hopefully other developers will take the cue and start thinking differently about the controller and its effect on gameplay.
Viva Piñata (Xbox 360)
Okay, I’ll admit it: I’m a sucker for cute. And I’m a sucker for sim-type games where there is no predefined goal. Oh, and I’m a sucker for cool uses of online connectivity. Viva Piñata for the Xbox 360 delivers all of those, in spades, along with a graphic style that you have to see to truly appreciate. Every character and item in the game looks like it was made from that crèpe-paper piñata material, and everything is very colorful. I could just sit and watch this game all day.
The premise of the game (and please, bear with me here) is that you’re cultivating an area of land to attract living piñatas. One of the examples given was that if you have water, grass, and apples, you will attract the horse piñata. As you change and develop the environment, different types will arrive and leave. Maybe some types only show up if other types are already present. Some animals don’t get along, so you’ll either have to keep them separated, or there’s going to be a lot of candy spilled on the ground. Sometimes a sour piñata will arrive in your town, being violent and attacking the other residents. You can either lure him away, try to cure him, or just get your shovel and beat him until his sour candy pours out. Of course, then you risk other animals getting infected….
I suppose that if there were a goal to the game, it would be to eventually collect every different type of piñata. To that end, you can package up one of your residents and give or trade it to a friend over Xbox Live. Some will be common, and some will be rare. Maybe you will end up with a rare color combination that you can sell in the Xbox Live Marketplace. If you want, you can pay someone else to come in to your town (again, over Xbox Live) and do your gardening and take care of your town. And of course, the developers will continually be adding new items and piñatas that will be available for download.
Although I am a big fan of the potential for online connectivity, there are admittedly some concerns. The developers mentioned having new content available, but were unclear whether it would be free or not. Is this entire game just a ploy to get obsessed gamers to play $1.99 each month to download the latest cool pets? Or will most of the content be free? And why is there already a cartoon tie-in planned? I suppose the jury is still out on this one. It sounds like a mere shadow of what Spore will be, especially since the types of piñatas are limited by what the developers create, while Spore has an infinite number of creatures designed by millions of other players across the globe, all downloaded to your machine seamlessly in the background, for free. But from a strictly 360-centered point of view, I think Viva Piñata looks intriguing.
Guitar Hero II (PS2)
Not much to say about this one. It will have something like forty new licensed songs, and a number of other independent tracks. One of the licensed songs is “YYZ” by Rush, and I got to try out the bass line. I don’t really have any news other than that. It will come out this fall, and you’ll buy it, because it is insanely addictive and one of the best PS2 games ever made. What more do you need to know?
Heavenly Sword (PS3)
Oh look, a PlayStation 3 game made it onto my list! Well, don’t get your hopes up too high. The demo of this medieval fighting game was set in an arena, where your double-bladed heroine gets to face off against scores of enemies. Gameplay-wise, it seems very similar to God of War, as you have several different attacks using your chain blades, as well as pre-scripted combo moves that you execute by hitting the right combination of button presses following the on-screen prompts.
So why did this make my list? Three reasons: One, it is just a lot of fun to play. They really make you feel in control of the character, as she jumps around and pulls off various combination moves. Secondly, the graphics are just stunning. Everything is suffused with a golden glow, from the metal on the armor to the ethereal haze of the weaponry. This is the only PS3 game I saw that really looked better than the 360. And finally, it seemed to have some great character A.I. When you start off the demo, the enemies are watching you practice your moves in the arena. As you perform various tricks, they laugh and clap and cheer and goad you on. Then, as they start attacking, the onlookers react realistically to what is happening on the battle. If other games can start having background characters that act this realistically, then I will be very pleased with the direction the next generation is headed.
Super Paper Mario (GameCube)
For some reason, Nintendo chose not to have any GameCubes on the show floor. Okay, maybe there was a good reason, since Super Paper Mario looks like the only new first-party GameCube game they announced. But it looks like the GameCube will go out with a bang! Super Paper Mario looks like a traditional side-scrolling action game utilizing the 2-D paper look from the Paper Mario RPG series. However, as with Paper Mario, this game plays with those conventions in interesting ways. Since the characters are literally flat, they can slide under obstacles, roll up and blow away, turn into a paper airplane, and do all sorts of other crazy feats.
This looks like a game that plays with the conventions of traditional side-scrolling action games, and throws in a bunch of perspective changes from 2-D to 3-D just to confuse the player. From the demo movie I saw, there were shots of a giant Mario character drawn in the blocky style from Donkey Kong, characters running on walls as gravity changes direction, and strange art-deco–inspired moving backgrounds. It’s been a while since the GameCube has had a good, classically-inspired Mario game.
