EB Expo Impressions
After yesterday’s sneak peak I have now spent a day wandering the showroom floor and checking out the remainder of the games that were on my must play list. There were some cracking demos on display but there were also a few that left a little to be desired.
First on my list for the day was Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate. The demo highlighted the new character Evie and allowed me to sample the differences she brings to franchise. For one Evie is a much more agile and stealthy character. This agility comes into play most notably in combat where Evie is a very different warrior than the series is used to. Fast light hits were the order of the day and while the traditional dodge/parry system was available it was much less of a requirement to get through encounters. The Victorian London setting is also immensely appealing so hopefully this all pulls together into an entertaining entry in a franchise that needs to restore some credibility.
Straight after that I walked into the Division hands on. This small slice allowed me to play the “dark zone” section highlighted in Ubisoft’s E3 presentation. This game is going to live and die on who is playing with you at any particular time. I have no doubt that this will be a fun game if you get the right group of people playing together but a show floor demo is not the place for that to happen. The game was also quite bland and jaggy in appearance but that could be easily explained by the fact it was early code. I am cautiously optimistic on this one but not 100% sold.
A quick jaunt over the floor saw me wander into the Rise of the Tomb Raider demonstration. This was a lot of fun as it let me tackle the game’s first “tomb” section. Puzzles and platforming was the order of the day and it should be not surprise to anyone that it was a lot of fun. It was however disappointing that I didn’t get to sample some more of the combat because apparently that is where there has been quite a bit of improvement over the last game. There is no doubt this is going to be a good game and should keep fans of the series more than satisfied.
Finally for anyone that follows the site it is no secret that I am a massive fan of Just Cause 2 and I am more than a little excited for the third entry in the series. So when I found out JC3 was playable on the floor I was more than a little excited. The slice of gameplay on the floor was very small, only a timed challenge section, but it was more than enough to whet my appetite for the main game. I have to tell you all about one moment where I managed to launch a rocket, attach one end of the grappling hook to the flying rocket and the other end to a nearby satellite dish. The carnage that followed was glorious and has me jumping out of my skin to dive in to the fictional country of Medici and cause some carnage.
With that my time at EB Expo drew to a close. This year for me was a little quitter but as a result a more enjoyable show. I had a lot of fun hanging with the Player2 Crew and some other great people as I played some of the year’s most exciting upcoming games. Stay tuned for our upcoming E3 expo special podcast as well as more in depth coverage from other Player2 writers in the near future!
Matt Hewson
