Another day, more impressions.
Started off with getting in a line I didn't know I was getting in line for. Turns out it was for a free copy of Battlefield 1943. So now I have said free copy. Neat.
First-things-first, I checked out Wii Sports Resort, because I wanted to see if Motion + was bad on Red Steel 2 or if it was just bad in general. I only got to play some swordfighting, but it seemed pretty good. The guy I faced off against just waggled away while I tried planning attacks. I beat him four out of five times (I blocked and while he was off-balance, knocked him back). The archery stuff looked pretty good, and a newbie who cut in front of me (damn you N-Philes and ******* guys), did pretty well for their first try. The fencing minigame looked reminiscent of Zelda in a couple ways. I'm not sure I'd like either one in a Zelda game though.
The next thing I did was play Zelda: Spirit Tracks. They were handing out the same styluses that came with the Phantom Hourglass preorder. The boss fight and little bit of the dungeon I played were all right. I'm 90% sure I saw Kobun Heat cut ahead of the line (again, just as it was almost my go) along with this guy from some Playstation publication. While in line, someone from Sony asked what the line was for. When he heard it was for Zelda he asked, "is that some sort of game?" Of course not, not at E3.
I got some hands on time with Muramasa, and it was better than I expected. I don't know if it could be so good for the entire game, though, but it's now on my radar. I like that there are different swords, and switching between them (especially midair) is badass. I don't think they're going to dub the voices, and for once, I think it's a good decision.
I played Sin & Punishment 2 and I died, never finding out how to use the sword. It was pretty crazy.
Icarian was available at the Wiiware kiosk. I played the level from the trailer, and it was pretty great. While I was playing, two people from SCEA Santa Monica came over and asked if it was the new Kid Icarus (they were sort of in awe... I think). Good game, and nice use of the pointer controls with the platforming genre. It's the first game to do what this game does in the genre, and that's cool. I just wish the pointer didn't vanish for some reason on the second level. Maybe it was a problem with the save. Still, it's definitely a must-buy.
I gave NSMB Wii a shot afterward and I like this game much more this go around. Yesterday, I was a bit unimpressed with it. Today I got into several four player matches (I think I played for an hour, and for whatever reason, no one came to our little corner kiosk). After trying to be a team player and one guy kept trying to screw me over, I just decided to be a douchebag. I picked people off, threw them into chasms, and brought the ones back to life that I wanted to be brought back to life. At some point they all tried teaming up to take me down, but I still got first place. One thing I noticed that I didn't before is that these ten levels are actually picks from the full game. World 1-1, World 7-1, World 4-Boss level, etc. Some of the later levels were nearly impossible with four players, especially since we kept trying to fuck each other over. Lots of fun. It's now one of the favorite games I've played at the show.
I think this was when I went over to the South Hall to play The Conduit single player. Unfortunately, it's not nearly as good as the multiplayer. You have a location to reach, and in order to get there, you have to fight these ugly looking enemies. The controls are solid, but the main game isn't quite there. One thing that did stand out was one part of the level where I went through a destroyed house, and everything was on its side and disorienting (but it wasn't bad. I found it clever). Everything else just seemed kinda generic. Then again, it is the early part of the game, so maybe it gets better. It's at least better than Red Steel 2.
Then I went to Bayonetta and it. is. awesome. Man, fuck God of War, man. Instead of God of War's QTEs and BS, you actually pull off combos and insane-looking shit on your own. I faced off against three boss-fights, and two ended in a climax (think of it as a special finishing move), where the main character's hair turns into this demon beast and gruesomely mauls the enemy. You can use weapons dropped by a fallen enemy, and that's pretty cool too. Oh, and the level design in the final boss fight- I was going up walls, fighting on the ceiling, and doing all sorts of shit. Bayonetta is the real fucking deal. It's so violent, so over-the-top, so damn entertaining. Kamiya, thanks for this one, man. Just stick to action games and I'll love you.
Next was Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, and I was surprised. It's very good. Voice acting is nice, controls work, and the cell phone stuff is well thought out (it reminded me of GTA IV's cell phone feature, except this was better). I stopped playing when the world changed to the ice world because well, I didn't really want to do that. Oh, but the music is so nice. One of the games I was more impressed with at the show.
I went around the Microsoft booth and man is it sad. Between Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft, Microsoft's booth is the worst. Just bad layout design and very few variety among games. It's pretty sad. I couldn't find one thing I wanted to play that I couldn't play elsewhere. I really need to check out Brutal Legend at some point though. So maybe tomorrow.
I went to the Square Enix booth and got suckered into playing Dissidia.
At some point, I played TMNT Smash Up. It's basically Smash Bros. Brawl without polish. And I didn't care much for Brawl, so... yeah. The level where everyone was eaten by crocs was funny, at least.
I went back to the West Hall to try and play Trine (which is coming to XBLA, apparently). It was being played with an Xbox 360 controller and there was a sign above it that read, "Coming soon to Xbox Live Arcade!"
Got to play Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. Got my ass handed to me right quick, but I at least button-mashed two super moves for Ryu.
I went to the Sony booth and played Jak and Daxter on the PSP. Outside of the first minute of getting used to the controls, I had a good time. The level was well-designed and the demo was centered around platforming. You can really sense Naughty Dog's lack of presence, which brings me to
Uncharted Co-op was one of the last things I played. Outside of some sparse platforming (well, climbing, I guess), the game is a huge mess of badness. Sloppy controls mixed with generic shooting crap = frustrating and bad. It feels like it wants to be a first-person shooter, and it probably should have been. Otherwise, it should have been all about the climbing and co-op platforming (which is actually kinda neat when it works, but I think this build was having trouble recognizing I was pressing the correct button at times).
I finished the night playing a level of NSMB Wii and that was pretty much it.
So yeah, Bayonetta is probably my game of the show, followed closely by NSMB Wii. I wanna play Brutal Legend and Trine tomorrow, though, lines be damned.