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[CrisKre]

Ok, so i will humbly describe my impressions of some of the games I saw at E3 today.

Firstly I will like to say that IMO we are finally starting to see a shift in development towards the wii this year. Nintendo's console presence was notably stronger. The funny thing is that there seems to be a really good balance between casual offerings and more robust hardcore games too.

ok, so on to some game's impressions:

Firstly and most importantly New S Mario Bros. Wii:

I went to E3 with two friends, both of which where completely meh about the whole idea of this game. They both left the show saying not only they where completely sold on the idea, but furthermore stating it was the game they had the most fun with in the entire show. I share the sentiment. It is a perfect blend of familiar and freshness. It really is what you would imagine a mario platformer would be in co-op. How they havent done this before I dont know, and yet the concept is so flawlessly simple and addictive. THIS will be the biggest seller this year, once you play it you just have to have it. BTW, i am one of the New super mario bros. DS haters. I thought the game wqs unispired, been there done that. This baby is a whole other beast.
It is worth noting, of the whole show, it was the only game i saw people straight out laughing out loud and smiling all the way while playing it. Incredibly surprised and pleased , and once people play it they will become believers, no doubt. It just screams for online play though. I just hope Nintendo delivers on that. Oh, and the koopa kids are in. YAY.

some other games i liked:

FF CC The Crystal Bearers:

This is a ballsy square-enix right here. You read that right. High production values, heave ( and i mean HEAVY) story emphasis abd yet fresh and unique gameplay. The demo starts with the cruise attack you see on trailers, follows with you skydiving through the air, piloting the ship until you crash right into the city crystal-castle thing you all have seen in the trailers. There you get acquainted with the controls. Its a Zelda with telekinesis basically. And it seems to work beautifully. My only problem is the camera control, which is mapped to the directional cross, but it certainly is no deal-breaker. The graphics are knock out gorgeous tw. The texture quality is superb, dont believe the badly compressed trailer.


The Conduit: All im going to say about it is that having been keeping up with this game i was still SUPER impressed at how this game actually looks in person. The internet media doesnt really convey HV accomplishment here. I will now buy no doubt.

Silent Hill: The time i spent with the demo left me impressed and wanting more. The lighting in this game is soooo impressive. the action seems great, but ultimately the game will make or break it by how the whole story and gameplay ties together of course. I will say the feeling of tension seems more present in this game than in any other game I have ever played. If they can keep the experience fresh throughout they have a winner right here.

RE Darkside Chronicles: I really liked RE UC, and this game seems like a bigger version of that game, which is a good thing. I will say that even though it is certainly more dramatic and cinematic, the camera moves A LOT, which may take away from the presition of aiming and will certainly leave some players dizzy. Wether or not this will further immerse players and work better when playing at home remains to be seen. The graphics are ace though.

I will add more to the thread a bit later. im cooking right now lol.

 

[pakkit]

wow thx for the impressions

nice to hear the positive impressions about nsmbWii. it's been confirmed to not have online though, which is a huge blower for me. still, i do have friends, and if it's as much of a multiplayer riot as it sounds, i'll pick it up.


also, hearing that squeenix's Crystal Bearers is their ff zelda warms my heart a lil bit.

 

[AceBandage]

I can't wait to get Crystal Bearers in my hands.

 

[WickedLaharl]

nice impressions.

from the footage i've seen the only wii game that looks interesting to me is red steel 2

the sword fighting in the demo was what i had hoped that motion controls for the wii could do from the get go

better late than never ;D

 

[BorkBork]

Concerning NSMB, did you have issues like Marty Chinn had?

I played this at the show today and I'm a huge huge Mario fan but the multiplayer stuff left me really disappointed. I know the point is to compete against each other, but it was just so frustrating colliding into the person in front of you, bouncing off a guy or being bounced off of, having the screen scroll suddenly when you were making a jump but now mistimed it cuz it moved, being eaten constantly by someone else's Yoshi, and the worst thing yet, the game suddenly pausing for a half second when someone powered up or died which screws with your timing. It was just a super frustrating and annoying experience playing it multiplayer and I was playing with at least one person I knew. Zelda Four Swords at least had moments where you worked together but here it was pretty free for all and irritating. Hopefully the level design isn't too set on multiplayer cuz this is a game that I will likely never play with people.

He brings up some legit stuff, would like your thoughts on it since you've also played it.

 

[MWCShay]

Thanx for the impressions! All these are must buys for me, except Silent Hill. I have to try that one out first because the others really sucked and I don't want more of the same. The demo looked really good I will say.

Go look at how horrible the combat looks in SH3 and then watch the SilentHillSM demo. There is a world of difference.

 

[Alcibiades]

NICE!

It's great to hear some positive impressions on the Wii side of things. I can't wait to play NSMB Wii and I've never even played NSMB on DS. I'm a long-time Nintendo fan that's pretty excited about the Mario lineup on Wii.

Thanks for taking the time to get some playtime and posting some impressions.

 

[billy.sea]

Nintendo has a lot of games, but they presented it very badly so the whole conference felt uninspired and lack of energy.

They had the most surprises this year at E3, they are just not good at conveying that. Plus the audience didn't really give them any support. (unlike the other conferences where people go crazy over even Hanna Montana)

 

[Regulus Tera]

Thanks for the impressions; hopefully you'll get to play Sin and Punishment 2 soon. :3

 

[Zoramon089]

Concerning NSMB, did you have issues like Marty Chinn had?


He brings up some legit stuff, would like your thoughts on it since you've also played it.

That's weird, watching the conference stage demo I didn't see any pause when peple got powerups...

 

[ralexand]

That sounds horrible but make sense giving how the game is constructed.

 

[DrM]

That's weird, watching the conference stage demo I didn't see any pause when peple got powerups...

um, there is some pause after someone pick up powered up stuff. Check the video again.

 

[CrisKre]

Concerning NSMB, did you have issues like Marty Chinn had?
Quote:
I played this at the show today and I'm a huge huge Mario fan but the multiplayer stuff left me really disappointed. I know the point is to compete against each other, but it was just so frustrating colliding into the person in front of you, bouncing off a guy or being bounced off of, having the screen scroll suddenly when you were making a jump but now mistimed it cuz it moved, being eaten constantly by someone else's Yoshi, and the worst thing yet, the game suddenly pausing for a half second when someone powered up or died which screws with your timing. It was just a super frustrating and annoying experience playing it multiplayer and I was playing with at least one person I knew. Zelda Four Swords at least had moments where you worked together but here it was pretty free for all and irritating. Hopefully the level design isn't too set on multiplayer cuz this is a game that I will likely never play with people.

He brings up some legit stuff, would like your thoughts on it since you've also played it.

Not at all. The issue exists, but what i dont think he gets is that now the estra players can be as much an obstacle as a koopa. Whenever this kinda thing happened it was more of a reason to laugh than anything else, and the energy can easily turn from cooperating to competing at any given point for any given reason. I think saying that is kind of missing the point really.

 

[Scrubking]

The Conduit: All im going to say about it is that having been keeping up with this game i was still SUPER impressed at how this game actually looks in person. The internet media doesnt really convey HV accomplishment here. I will now buy no doubt.

 

[donkey show]

Here are some of my impressions from the Ninty booth today.

NSMB Wii
If you've played the DS one, not much new aside from a new Helicopter Hat that is activated with waggle. Regardless, I loved it since it was simple yet hectic when playing 4 players. Bumping into people wasn't annoying, but it made for some fun times and crazy maneuvers. Fucking people over is just as fun in this game as it was in the DS version. I was playing with one of the HAL Laboratory devs and had a blast. Met Charles Martinet (sp?) too. Good times!

The Conduit
The controls on default were very intuitive out the gate, moreso than Metroid Prime 3. They really did their homework on the controls and I enjoyed it. Felt kinda sluggish, but satisfying as I got better. The demo threw you into level 7 of all things and I got rocked hard the first time I played it.

Red Steel 2
It's getting there. Really cool launching fools up in the air and doing some Devil May Cry-esque finishes. Couldn't really get a true grasp on it as 2 other people around me were swinging like maniacs and fucking up my sensor. I tried to stab as a normal attack, but the Frenchie Ubisoft dude told me they haven't implemented it yet. Oh well, cool looking game and pretty satisfying slashing fools.

Wii Sports Resort
Did some Kendo stick action. Fun.

FFCC: The Crystal Bearers
Throwing fools in this game is good shit. Pretty solid gameplay. I concur with CrisKre in his impressions. Awesome game.

Sin and Punishment 2
Ahhhhhhhh, this game and the Wiimote were made for each other. I instantly knew what to do right away from the outset the minute I grabbed hold of the controllers. Controls feel great, graphics are pretty sweet, and the chaining system and difficulty is pure S&P. Honestly, this is the perfect game for the Wii. Buy it Day -10 when it comes out. Seriously.

Plus the booth girls were pretty hot like usual.

 

[CrisKre]

Nintendo has a lot of games, but they presented it very badly so the whole conference felt uninspired and lack of energy.

They had the most surprises this year at E3, they are just not good at conveying that. Plus the audience didn't really give them any support. (unlike the other conferences where people go crazy over even Hanna Montana)

let me tell you, this may be true in the presentation department but if you walk the show the Wii's presence is freaking HUGE. there are A LOT of good games showing. My buddies are heavy HD players and they both said they where the most impressed by wii offerings at the show. That being said, the game that seems to attract the most attention seems to be God of war, followed maybe by SMB wii abd Wii Sports resort.

 

[Danthrax]

wow

Spoiler

thx

the Crystal Bearers wasn't even on my radar but you make it sound pretty great. good to hear the textures look better in person than in that awful-looking trailer.

 

[myDingling]

NSMB Wii was loads of fun. Being able to jump on top of other player's head gave it a sense of space that made it unpredictable and fun. I'm looking forward to it.

I played all of the new Red Steel 2: amazingly it was a lot of fun if not a little smashy (or "slicey). I like the new art style and think it makes sense for the series.

 

[Neiteio]

It is worth noting, of the whole show, it was the only game i saw people straight out laughing out loud and smiling all the way while playing it. Incredibly surprised and pleased , and once people play it they will become believers, no doubt. It just screams for online play though. I just hope Nintendo delivers on that. Oh, and the koopa kids are in. YAY.

Back the fuck up.

Do you mean THE Koopalings are in? Iggy, Morton, Lemmy, Ludwig, Roy, Wendy and Larry? Are you serious?

Please verify. NOW!

Also, very reassuring to hear you loved NSMBW without liking the DS verison. I own the DS version and frankly, I don't care for it much. I'm glad to hear you don't need to like that one to like the Wii one.

 

[Danthrax]

That's weird, watching the conference stage demo I didn't see any pause when peple got powerups...

well NSMBWii is taxing the Wii to its absolute limits, so there's bound to be hiccups and framerate drops here and there...

 

[CrisKre]

Back the fuck up.

Do you mean THE Koopalings are back? Iggy, Morton, Lemmy, Ludwig, Roy, Wendy and Larry? Are you serious?

Please verify. NOW!

Also, very reassuring to hear you loved NSMBW without liking the DS verison. I own the DS version and frankly, I don't care for it much. I'm glad to hear you don't need to like that one to like the Wii one.

I dont know which one i played but i definitely played one. magic wand and all.

edit: just checked, seems to be morton. it did the shell spin and threw magic. is that morton?

I also saw a trailer with a pinguin hat, rays with googles as platforms, full on water levels.... this game will deliver and out-smash bros smash bros as 4 player heaven in a disc.

 

[koam]

I just hope Nintendo delivers on that. Oh, and the koopa kids are in. YAY.

Oh, and the koopa kids are in.

koopa kids are in.

koopa kids are in

Interest + 1000

 

[Fantastical]

Are there videos of Crystal Bearers?

 

[markatisu]

Back the fuck up.

Do you mean THE Koopalings are in? Iggy, Morton, Lemmy, Ludwig, Roy, Wendy and Larry? Are you serious?

Please verify. NOW!

There are screenshots that confirm this

Awesome impressions, keep them coming!

 

[Rlan]

From what I played today of NSMB Wii, I'm going to have to agree with the frustration bit, and it looks like the single player might be a little empty and boring because of the way its built.

And yes, KOOPA KIDS ARE IN, best part of it. Saw Morton Koopa Jr. in one of the boss fights.

 

[toxk_02]

Back the fuck up.

Do you mean THE Koopalings are in? Iggy, Morton, Lemmy, Ludwig, Roy, Wendy and Larry? Are you serious?

Please verify. NOW!

 

[Fuzzy]

I want to know what the boss fights in NSMBW are like in multiplayer. Just curious.

 

[ivysaur12]

Have any media sites given Crystal Bearers impressions? Yours sound great, I cannot wait for this game.

 

[Fantastical]

Have any media sites given Crystal Bearers impressions? Yours sound great, I cannot wait for this game.

Seriously, I'm looking but I can't find any. This was one of my most anticipated games to see at E3. Need some video/impressions.

 

[donkey show]

Seriously, I'm looking but I can't find any. This was one of my most anticipated games to see at E3. Need some video/impressions.

I'll take some vids tomorrow, but from what I've played today... I was really impressed. Again, controls were easy to jump into kinda like S&P, and there was a Zelda-like feel to it. Gameplay was fun considering you're grabbing and chucking stuff all over the place.

 

[CrisKre]

Have any media sites given Crystal Bearers impressions? Yours sound great, I cannot wait for this game

I, sure they will. there was a heavy emphasize on FFCC on squares booth surprisingly.

I'll take some vids tomorrow, but from what I've played today... I was really impressed. Again, controls were easy to jump into kinda like S&P, and there was a Zelda-like feel to it. Gameplay was fun considering you're grabbing and chucking stuff all over the place.

this is true, but the really cool thing is how it seems to be all tied up together. Per example, when you get to the town you have to fix a clock by using your tower, which allows a train to leave the station. On the next stop of the town you meet the silkie girl and follow a weird squirrel that happens to steal your crystal that i assume you are trying to sell, and then you end up escaping guards on chocobos riding on the back of a cart and using telekinesis to throw them off their rides and using elements in the environments to slow them down. All of this with top notch presentation. Its fun and classy.

 

[Fantastical]

I'll take some vids tomorrow, but from what I've played today... I was really impressed. Again, controls were easy to jump into kinda like S&P, and there was a Zelda-like feel to it. Gameplay was fun considering you're grabbing and chucking stuff all over the place.

Great. Love action RPG type games, so this game really looked appealing to me. Good to hear the visuals are better than in those super compressed trailers.

Thanks!

I, sure they will. there was a heavy emphasize on FFCC on squares booth surprisingly.

Good to hear. Hope this game makes a splash.

 

[Neiteio]

OH SHI--

Quick, someone transplant the Koopa Kids into Galaxy 2!

(My inner child is beaming to see Morton )

 

[Azelover]

Nintendo has a lot of games, but they presented it very badly so the whole conference felt uninspired and lack of energy.

They had the most surprises this year at E3, they are just not good at conveying that. Plus the audience didn't really give them any support. (unlike the other conferences where people go crazy over even Hanna Montana)

I think we just have a lot of viral activity here. Really, it's the long haul that matters. Once the games are released we'll see. It's nice to make decisions based on genuine opinions, rather than how someone presents it or the herd mentality.

Personally I'm really excited about Mario, it's totally my taste in gaming. There isn't much else out there quite like it, so me and my friends are individually happy to get more.

 

[ivysaur12]

I'll take some vids tomorrow, but from what I've played today... I was really impressed. Again, controls were easy to jump into kinda like S&P, and there was a Zelda-like feel to it. Gameplay was fun considering you're grabbing and chucking stuff all over the place.

This is so comforting to hear. I've been hyped for this game for ages so I'm really glad it's turning out well.

 

[donkey show]

The thing I love about this NSMB Wii is that it's simple and effective. Again, this is probably one of those games that truly shine in multiplayer aside from the single player (which there will be a dedicated one from what the reps told me), but I'm down either way.

 

[Neiteio]

Personally I'm really excited about Mario, it's totally my taste in gaming. There isn't much else out there quite like it, so me and my friends are individually happy to get more.

This is so true. I love, love, LOVE my PS3, and for the past year it's all I've been playing. But there's one thing missing, and watching the Nintendo conference I realized it's MARIO. It's great to see Nintendo delivering, what, four Mario titles for Wii and DS in 2009-2010, one of which is a sequel to this gen's best game (Galaxy!).

 

[markatisu]

I would think this build of NSMB Wii is tailored for multiplayer, people should stop acting like its coming out next month and this is final.

I am sure before the holiday season single player will be tightened up quite a bit, but if the point is to showcase multiplayer why have a solid single player ready to demo?

 

[Meesh]

...also, hearing that squeenix's Crystal Bearers is their ff zelda warms my heart a lil bit.

Zelda was there in spirit

 

[AniHawk]

I'll go ahead and dump mine here, too, if you don't mind.

NSMB Wii: The gameplay has the potential to be fun the way Four Swords Adventure was. Since you're ranked at the end of each level, you can be a bastard and throw a friend down a chasm to decrease their score at the end of a level. Some of the power ups are neat. I started filming, but one of the women working there told me the guy at the kiosk had to be in the frame for me to film. There were people from Retro, HAL, and Intelligent Systems wandering the area. That was kinda neat.

Rabbids Go Home: I could barely understand the poor guy working the booth, but I made it through the level just fine. The first level is pretty basic; it's the one from the trailer. I can tell the full game will be pretty fun and funny, but probably won't be considered more than a "7" or "8" type of game to most people. Fans of the Rabbids will enjoy it.

The Conduit: I was very uh, skeptical, of the game to put it in a pleasant way, when I first saw it, but I left the booth impressed. Each kiosk was connected and every person was playing another in a mode called Bounty Hunter. You're given a mark to kill, and if you kill anyone else, it's negative points against you, but if you kill your mark, you gain points. Meanwhile, you're someone else's mark (you can attack back and it doesn't count against you if you kill that person), so you're being hunted while you hunt. The game will support up to 12 people online, and it's pretty much done. The team is also pretty damn young and enthusiastic. One of the guys behind The Conduit told me they have about five games going on right now, and we agreed that he really can't say anything about them. The game controls really well, and you can adjust the sensitivity as you play, apparently (though I didn't). The sensitivity levels were a little off from what I remembered of Metroid Prime 3, but the game was pretty fluid otherwise. I didn't play the single player. It seemed to get some pretty positive impressions from everyone who played while I stuck around there. I was certainly impressed.

Red Steel 2: Close to the least favorite game I played. Switching between the gun and the sword works really well, but it gets very disorienting very often. I imagine it takes a while to get used to the controls since swinging the Wii remote means swinging the sword, and holding B means firing your gun. So a common mistake is to hold B and swing the sword while in a fight. From what I played, it seemed to be only a demonstration of the Wii Motion + controls, so, for the most part, you were just moving from area to area to fight enemies (though some had more armor). It also requires that you really SWING the remote like a sword. The guy I spoke with said that in the Expert levels, you'll really need some strength behind your movements. Considering my arm's been broken twice, and the pain I felt after the five or ten minutes I played, I don't think it's a good thing.

Span Smasher was right next to Red Steel 2, and it's much more my type of game. Using the Motion + controls were meant to give you better control over the yellow round thing, but I couldn't tell. I played for two levels and a boss fight before the end of the demo. If priced right, I can definitely see myself picking it up. It's also supposed to be a multiplayer game. I don't know if it was announced at the conference.

Wii Fit Plus was something I didn't get much playtime on. All I saw was the Mario-like platforming segment, so I had to play it. And, it was pretty good. My coworker said at some point before I got knocked off the platform, Reggie stood behind me and watched as I played. Afterward, my coworker called me over to where he was (he was about to be interviewed in front of NSMB Wii with Matt Cassamina). Everyone was taking pictures, even Charles Martinet (which I thought was a little strange). Geoff Keighley came over and played a little bit later as well.

I played The Crystal Bearers, and there's no doubt that there was a lot of effort put into this game. The part I played was of the main character controlling this ship, and you had to steer it so it wouldn't crash into the rock walls on either side. Meanwhile, as you crash more and more, this girl becomes more and more frantic, starting off with screaming and eventually ending up with comments like "WE'RE GONNA DIE!" It looks like the Wii remote is there for pointer controls mostly. You pick things (or people) up and throw them. Aaaand that's about as far as I got. Good voice acting, though.

Dead Space Extraction was surprisingly good and very creepy for being an on-rails game. I don't think I gave it a good enough shake when it was first announced, but there was a lot of effort put behind this and it shows.

I would think this build of NSMB Wii is tailored for multiplayer, people should stop acting like its coming out next month and this is final.

I am sure before the holiday season single player will be tightened up quite a bit, but if the point is to showcase multiplayer why have a solid single player ready to demo?

I spoke to one of the guys at the booth, and he said there will be a normal single player game, but you can have friends jump in at any time. The E3 build was pretty much a showcase for multiplayer, and there were only ten levels.

 

[BrodiemanTTR]

So is No More Heroes 2 not at the show? Ubisoft mentioned it during their legendarily dull presser, I was hoping it would be at their booth.

 

[Buckethead]

Interest + 1000

Seconded.

If Nintendo can drop SMG2, Zelda, and Metroid next year, then next year truly will be the year of the Wii, but we know how that usually turns out.

Glad to see NSMB Wii has a bit more soul than previously shown. Let's hope Koopa Kids aren't the only surprise for this game....

 

[AniHawk]

Seconded.

If Nintendo can drop SMG2, Zelda, and Metroid next year, then next year truly will be the year of the Wii, but we know how that usually turns out.

Plus Pikmin 3 and Sin and Punishment 2.

 

[BrodiemanTTR]

I'll go ahead and dump mine here, too, if you don't mind.

NSMB Wii: The gameplay has the potential to be fun the way Four Swords Adventure was. Since you're ranked at the end of each level, you can be a bastard and throw a friend down a chasm to decrease their score at the end of a level. Some of the power ups are neat. I started filming, but one of the women working there told me the guy at the kiosk had to be in the frame for me to film. There were people from Retro, HAL, and Intelligent Systems wandering the area. That was kinda neat.

Should've stopped one of those Retro guys and grilled him for juicy info.

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

So, was Zelda: Spirit tracks playable?

 

[AniHawk]

So, was Zelda: Spirit tracks playable?

From what I could tell, there were two systems available, which caused a huge fucking line.

 

[WickedLaharl]

Red Steel 2: Close to the least favorite game I played. Switching between the gun and the sword works really well, but it gets very disorienting very often. I imagine it takes a while to get used to the controls since swinging the Wii remote means swinging the sword, and holding B means firing your gun. So a common mistake is to hold B and swing the sword while in a fight. From what I played, it seemed to be only a demonstration of the Wii Motion + controls, so, for the most part, you were just moving from area to area to fight enemies (though some had more armor). It also requires that you really SWING the remote like a sword. The guy I spoke with said that in the Expert levels, you'll really need some strength behind your movements. Considering my arm's been broken twice, and the pain I felt after the five or ten minutes I played, I don't think it's a good thing.

nooo

 

[Buckethead]

Plus Pikmin 3 and Sin and Punishment 2.

Well S&P is a given. Retro's game seems like 2011 material, whereas Pikmin is up in the air.
Swap Pikmin for Metroid and that'd be even better.

But my definition is "strong 3rd party + strong first party" = year of the Wii.

Who knows. The sooner the better though. It'll be interesting to see what goes down @ the trade show and TGS.

 

[Buckethead]

Red Steel 2: Close to the least favorite game I played. Switching between the gun and the sword works really well, but it gets very disorienting very often.

How was gun control? Were you able to mess with bounding box, etc?

Also how "1:1" is sword?

 

[Black-Wind]

So can you ONLY play as the characters we have seen or can you play as something other than those 2 Toads and the bros?