Last week theCHIVE came and conquered all around gaming’s largest North American trade show. I personally had some hands on demos on and around the show floor and this is a highlight of the things I was shown.
To be clear, this isn’t everything that was there, nor everything that I saw. Just the best of the best. If you go straight to the comments and say “Well clearly he is a moron because he didn’t say anything about the Last of Us II, well then simply that would be because I didn’t see it (or it was awful, but that seems less likely).
Hues of pink, purple and crimson highlight all over the announcement trailer for RAGE 2 and that isn’t just a colorful marketing gimmick. The game is covered in the same hues all along walls and distant vistas with bright purple sunsets. The over the top violence is well represented as well. The player is imbued with Jedi like extra powers that include pushing, jumping, and quick dodges. The gunplay is violent and quick and very reminiscent of id software’s latest DOOM as well.
If Deadpool had a game tied in with the recent string of hit films, it would look a lot like My friend Pedro. The freewheeling action shooter shows all the creativity any would be assassin could dream of with a ballet dance of bullets guiding you through ever mission it becomes something beautiful to behold. So, behold it! Watch this trailer.
Devolver Digital showed off games like My Friend Pedro and Serious Sam 4 from the comfort of their private cabin.
Cyberpunk 2077 stole all of the thunder out of the Xbox press briefing with their surprise take over, and they stole the show with a behind closed doors demo that clocked in at nearly an hour long and showed off branching story paths, different play styles, an open world that would rival any GTA. A lot of people around the floor were suspicious that this game may not run on current consoles, and it is a fair question given how well it looks and performs.
Playing as V, a custom character of your choosing, you fight for survival in an overpopulated and dingy city where cyber implants are as normal to them as a cell phone in your pocket it to us.
M Cables
These impressive cables claim to improve your TV’s image quality and after watching their demo it was easy to walk away a believer. In the demo they showed me, they had 2 identical 4K televisions showing off Halo 3 running on an Xbox 360 through an HDMI splitter. From one splitter was a standard HDMI cable and the other was the M-Cable Gaming Edition. The TV with the Mcable was more than just a little bit clearer, anyone and their mom could notice a very clear difference and a much cleaner image. They accomplish this by including a built-in scaling chip into the cable. The catch? If you are the kind of customer who wants the best image you probably also are interested in HDR and 4K gaming. The Cinema edition does not support HDR (but does do 4K) and the gaming edition does not support higher than 1080p. But if you have invested a lot into a 1080 setup, or love playing your Nintendo Switch on the TV this cable is a very worthwhile investment.
Fortnite brought the battle bus to the show floor and even had attendants to help kids play in the area.
Take the mind controls of 2004’s Psi-Ops and combine it with the gunplay of Remedy’s 2016’s Quantum Break and you get Control; a mind bending 3rd person shooter that follows the Director of the fictional Federal Bureau of Control. The FBC is in charge of keeping the mysteries of the universe in check. In the demo, we saw things had clearly gone awry in the offices of the director as walls, passages of time, and mysterious rooms would go in and out of existence. One side mission, that was sadly not played, included a man whose sole job was to stare at a refrigerator because if he were to look away a being of unimaginable horror would emerge to blight out the universe. Do to some disruption of the normal work schedule, no one was there to take over his shift and there were visible signs of his prolonged work duty as spilled pots of coffee were strewn about his room.
Live action segments were peppered throughout the demo as well as a series of psionic powers wielded by the player including telekinesis, hovering, and ripping the floor up to create a personal shield. Every object in the demo appeared to be destructible as well, creating a cacophony of objects splitting apart in every combat segment.
Taking place 15 years after the outbreak, DL2 showed off how every mission would impact the city around you in ways you could not foresee. In a more depth demo of the trailer they published, they showed how the city’s economy and politics would change depending on if you made water free for everyone. You could create a black market and reap the reward or turn on the spigots allowing you and everyone else to drink but have it controlled by an authoritarian government. Free running controls and melee combat also looked improved over the first game, though Techland had made first person hand to hand combat somewhat of their specialty over the last decade.
RIP Cayde-6
With a full game on disc at launch, Hitman 2 won’t be months of waiting between missions anymore. The bright Miami level was a strong start as I strangled my way through the F1 mascot (F1 has mascots?) security guards, and of course our intended targets. Of course, the real fun is failing over and over and the wild situations you get stuck in while trying to salvage a bad situation.
The 3rd in the excellent Metro series, Exodus changes the formula up a small bit with an open map level instead of a straight forward crawl (think like Halo 3: ODST). In the demo, we saw we disembarked a train heading to Moscow to investigate the radioactive survivors in a local church who worshipped (or rather condemn) all forms of technology. After rescuing a family locked away for using a flashlight I hopped into a row boat and headed for another section of the local islands before being attacked and drowned by a large mutant lizard fish. The controls had a few difficult spots as they have overloaded every button with alternate functions but there is plenty of time before they release in February 2019 to smooth things out.
Jurassic World Evolution had one of the largest booth designs.
Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden
Based on a tabletop RPG, Mutant Year Zero (which from now on I’m definitely calling MYZ) is a turned based tactics game in the same vein of X-COM though during our demo I had the distinct impression that it was more forgiving than their computer and more interesting with systems in place for mutant abilities and enemy AI that would play cat and mouse with you instead of just bowling through you with unfair advantages.
A VR cockpit with a fully matching set of buttons both within the game and in reality, Thrustmaster showed us just how real a simulator could feel. It was physically jarring to take off and bank towards the coast while wearing an Oculus headset as the sense of gravity and speed were aided by the banking of the chair they had designed to go with it. When I took down my first enemy MIG I was warned to look for the second, which had me swiveling my head in all directions to peer around the cockpit and spot my bogie before it was too late (it was too late).
EA heard a lot of groans when they announced that the first game in the Command and Conquer series since 2012 was a free-to-play mobile game. But in stark contrast to another more elder mobile game I got my hands on, C&C Rivals can hold some attention. The matches only last a few minutes each and units move slow enough that you can make quick decisions on multiple fronts while still adjusting to enemy movement.
It won’t make anyone’s most anticipated list but when it is released it is worth downloading and trying out for yourself.
Coming to all platforms, the sequel to one of the most antagonizing multiplayer games you and your friends can cook up. Try and keep up with the orders in multiple restaurants, or sabotage your friends until you are acquaintances at best. New features include restaurants that change locations across the world and the ability to throw your ingredients across the room to co-chefs. No word if our favorite bug from the first game (infinite onions) returns.
Gears of War Pop one of 3 new Gears games announced, brought a life size pop to the Microsoft Theatre.
Steeped in Norse mythology without actually abiding it, Rend gives players the opportunity to clan up with up to 20 friends and fight for resources on an island full of mystical creatures and real human enemies. The goal on each map is to build up massive defenses around religious objects that provide your clan with souls. Given enough souls and your clan can bring on ragnorak and claim victory over the map. And if that all sounds too easy, REND schedules times in real life (known in advance) where player forts will lose their magical protection and be open to attack. Be online to defend your homes or risk losing them to your enemies.
Reminiscent of Fable or the Witcher 3, GreedFall showed off an alternate historical landscape. A moment in time that never really existed during the age of exploration. Magical forest life was as readily accepted as fire was hot, and your character combines pistols, swords, axes and magic in a quest that lacked a lot of explanation but will probably involve saving something or someone from some else (video games, am I right?)
Setup your bedroom and then wait for waves of attacking monsters to come for you. Is it a nightmare, or are they real? In this twin stick shooter, you’ll lose hours creating advanced mazes of turrets, mattress walls and whatever else your bedroom can offer to stave of the monsters until another sunrise.
Live ivy all around the Shadow of the Tomb Raider booth.
Cheaper, longer lasting, and smaller than most gaming laptops; the SMACH Z is a handheld computer (running either LINUX or Windows) that will run any modern PC game with a built-in controller. Perfect for any plane ride or bedside where you need one more turn in Civ 6 or want to keep your Fortnite squad going from the comfort of your lap.
A very long awaited sequel indeed. Underworld II came out in 1993 before being purchased and locked away for almost 3 decades. This first-person dungeon puzzle puts you through your paces as you use your environment and the elements to reach hidden artifacts deep within large caverns full of enemies, traps, and treasure. There are dozens of ways to solve every puzzle. When blocked by a locked door for example I took a large crate and threw it at the door creating a chip. Another blocked entry I lit on fire by igniting an arrow in a nearby torch. Every level ends by showing you how you approached the cavernous puzzles, be it violently or creatively.
Ingrem US brought these encompassing workstations to guarantee you stay at your desk “working” for hours and hours. Before you race for your wallet, the base price of the cheapest station is $3,500 and does not include a monitor. Ash tray/cup holder optional for additional cost.
Straight out of your favorite penny dreadful (if you took a class on dime novels in college like I did anyway) Strange Brigade lets you choose from a cast of old-times adventurers who are set to plunder the mysteries of forgotten lands. Punctuated by the comedic touches of an overly British narrator, this 3rd person shooter has you and a team of 3 searching through mountainside villages for lost treasure and shooting lead through hundreds of mummified villagers out to protect their loot.
