September 25, 2008

Thoughts from PAX (part Final)

Surprise! Ubisoft had an amazing demonstration I didn't think I'd care much about. They walked through the upcoming Prince of Persia and Far Cry 2.

I played PoP: Sands of Time...and loved it. Never got around to the other two, but I heard they aren't near as good anyway. This new one seems to get back to what made Sands of Time so great: puzzle-platforming-acrobatic-goodness! The style of the game is very rough edge, cel-shading and a great use of contrast. Can't say much more on it. But it wasn't the big surprise.

Far Cry 2 features an open-world of 50 sq. km. to roam, hunt, kill, and cause other such mischief. I wasn't a big fan of the first, though I only tried the demo (seemed overly difficult from the beginning). The spreading fire effects and various ways to combat each situation are very intriguing; they probably won't be intriguing enough for me to buy it though. However after gameplay, the demo went into the map editor? Why oh why would you demonstrate a map editor in front of 3,000 people? Because it's frakking awesome. The capabilities for forming/deforming the terrain are insane and rather easy to manipulate. Just like Little Big Planet makes me wanna get a PS3, Far Cry 2 makes me wanna play with a map editor.

Lastly from PAX (maybe more will be squeezed amongst other crap later) is Jumpgate: Evolution. It's a sequel? Hadn't heard of Jumpgate before. Well it's an action-MMO type game that looks a lot like Descent: Freespace. Only watched my friend play Freespace and didn't make any time to sit down with Jumpgate. Although, it looked like a competent 3D space flyer with real-time combat and maneuverability. Basically, I don't know why I'm excited for it, but I am.

Coming soon: Rock Band 2 & WAR.

-- "Old age. It's the only disease, Mr. Thompson, that you don't look forward to being cured of."

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