There doesn't seem to be such a thread so far, so I hope noone minds if I make one.
We (me, DCharlie, LEOsh, TekunoRobby) didn't stay all day today, because honestly a lot of the games just didn't grab us by the nads and make us want to play, and anything remotely interesting had huge queues (i.e. Level-5's stand), so we just left early.
NiGHTS
Well, I was cautious, pessimstic, call it what you want, but this blew me away. It's NiGHTS. It's fucking NiGHTS. Gameplay is intact and almost exactly the same as the original. The one thing they've changed is a fucking improvement of all things. Now to cash in your chips, you don't have to go into the cage mid-loop, you just go into the cage at the end of the loop, so you can keep looping and looping and looping, until your time gets close to 0, then pop in the cage at the exit. Neato. Stage design of the part I played seemed pretty similar to the original NiGHTS, and the boss was also a little similar to one of the original bosses. Remember the big doll with the huge round ass that you have to pick up and throw through gates to break them? It was like that, only you were moving up a chute. So if you misfire, the guy floats down to the bottom. I failed because I misfired a bunch of times.
The only thing bad about the game at this point is the framerate. It seems like 15fps. I hope they clean it up before release. Everything else was slick and NiGHTS fans will be thrilled.
Patapon
Seems like it has potential, but the demo was extremely repetitive, just hitting square square square circle continuously until the end of the level. And I don't know if it's a problem with the PSP buttons, or if it's actually a gameplay feature, but several of my button presses didn't register, which caused a bit of a headache. The graphics are cool, and the music is catchy, but unless the rhythm has considerably more variation later, I predict the game will be very dull. All style, no substance? Wouldn't be the first time :/ but there is potential, I reckon.
Little Big Planet
OH YES! OH MY FUCKING GOD! THIS IS IT! Played with DCharlie, LEOsh and a SCE rep as a foursome. The physics are amazing, everything feels so alive and fluid. And it's so unbelievable cute. If you don't know already, you can press the 4 directions on the d-pad to make different facial expressions which is insanely adorable. We played the exact run through the level that is in the old movie, ending with the skateboard, but the level seemed to have a few branching paths that the SCE rep wouldn't let us go down. This game is going to be HOT HOT HOT when it comes out. I hope it ends up being online with voice chat because that is going to be THE way to play... with some drinks for extra amusement.
Ikaruga XBLA
Seems like a perfect port, but in slightly higher res. I'm not an expert though, so I could be wrong. Good stuff nevertheless. Damn, I forgot to check out the achievements
Arkanoid DS
The paddle controller is neat, but the game is way too easy. Why? Because the screen is now about a third the width of the original game, and in the default setup, you can miss the ball three times and it will bounce back from the bottom of the screen. At the end of a stage, these three shields seem to replenish too. WTF. DCharlie had more fun with Space Invaders Extreme though... hopefully he can comment later.
That's all I played. The Level-5 queue was about three hours long. It was insane. I guess everyone wanted that limited cart.
We (me, DCharlie, LEOsh, TekunoRobby) didn't stay all day today, because honestly a lot of the games just didn't grab us by the nads and make us want to play, and anything remotely interesting had huge queues (i.e. Level-5's stand), so we just left early.
NiGHTS
Well, I was cautious, pessimstic, call it what you want, but this blew me away. It's NiGHTS. It's fucking NiGHTS. Gameplay is intact and almost exactly the same as the original. The one thing they've changed is a fucking improvement of all things. Now to cash in your chips, you don't have to go into the cage mid-loop, you just go into the cage at the end of the loop, so you can keep looping and looping and looping, until your time gets close to 0, then pop in the cage at the exit. Neato. Stage design of the part I played seemed pretty similar to the original NiGHTS, and the boss was also a little similar to one of the original bosses. Remember the big doll with the huge round ass that you have to pick up and throw through gates to break them? It was like that, only you were moving up a chute. So if you misfire, the guy floats down to the bottom. I failed because I misfired a bunch of times.
The only thing bad about the game at this point is the framerate. It seems like 15fps. I hope they clean it up before release. Everything else was slick and NiGHTS fans will be thrilled.
Patapon
Seems like it has potential, but the demo was extremely repetitive, just hitting square square square circle continuously until the end of the level. And I don't know if it's a problem with the PSP buttons, or if it's actually a gameplay feature, but several of my button presses didn't register, which caused a bit of a headache. The graphics are cool, and the music is catchy, but unless the rhythm has considerably more variation later, I predict the game will be very dull. All style, no substance? Wouldn't be the first time :/ but there is potential, I reckon.
Little Big Planet
OH YES! OH MY FUCKING GOD! THIS IS IT! Played with DCharlie, LEOsh and a SCE rep as a foursome. The physics are amazing, everything feels so alive and fluid. And it's so unbelievable cute. If you don't know already, you can press the 4 directions on the d-pad to make different facial expressions which is insanely adorable. We played the exact run through the level that is in the old movie, ending with the skateboard, but the level seemed to have a few branching paths that the SCE rep wouldn't let us go down. This game is going to be HOT HOT HOT when it comes out. I hope it ends up being online with voice chat because that is going to be THE way to play... with some drinks for extra amusement.
Ikaruga XBLA
Seems like a perfect port, but in slightly higher res. I'm not an expert though, so I could be wrong. Good stuff nevertheless. Damn, I forgot to check out the achievements
Arkanoid DS
The paddle controller is neat, but the game is way too easy. Why? Because the screen is now about a third the width of the original game, and in the default setup, you can miss the ball three times and it will bounce back from the bottom of the screen. At the end of a stage, these three shields seem to replenish too. WTF. DCharlie had more fun with Space Invaders Extreme though... hopefully he can comment later.
That's all I played. The Level-5 queue was about three hours long. It was insane. I guess everyone wanted that limited cart.