I’ve been a DDR player for around 8 or 9 years now. I’m not one of those professional plays-on-two-arcade-machines-at-once kind of gals, but I’m certainly decent. If you’ve read my E3 hands-and-feet-on preview of the Wii version of the upcoming DDR game – you know my dilemma with how the series has changed over time. It’s gone from a tracklist of Eurobeat, hardcore, and Japanese-inspired songs to Britney Spears and Sean Paul songs slowly but surely. That’s when I left the scene… And waited ever so patiently for a return of the music that devoted DanceDanceRevolution players have been waiting for on current-gen consoles and arcades. We’re tired of tap dancing around on the PS2 if we want good music! Luckily I had a chance to try out the upcoming PS3 version of DDR at a Konami preview event in NYC this week which also utilizes the PlayStation Move hardware.

Sneak Preview: The music is back!

The full tracklist has not yet been announced but on the demo disc available at the event there were probably around 10 songs on there to check out. The good news? At least half of those songs were original songs along the lines of the old DDR music original fans may have been hoping for. I still can’t get the song Let’s Get Away from DJ Naoki and Brenda Burch out of my head. There’s even a song that reminded me of Vocaloid-inspired music called Private Eye by atomsoak featuring Cerol.

A few months ago at E3 when I played with the Wiimote and nunchuk – I was originally rather skeptical but it turned out to be for naught. The Wiimote worked well and was easy to get used to with the game. So I was willing to give the PlayStation Move a shot yesterday when checking out the PS3 version. The experience did not translate as well. Unlike the Wii how you have both the nunchuk and Wiimote to represent each hand, with the Move version, you have only one wand per player for this game. Each corner of the screen has a circle that you have to hit with the wand when the hand arrows come up on-screen. I couldn’t even reach all four for some reason, the camera sensor wasn’t “normal” – it expected me to reach a far distance  beyond what you can normally reach with your average arm extension. So it was a real feat to try to concentrate on stretching so far and still coordinating my footsteps and balance properly. Having a wand for each hand would make a lot more sense, I think. It didn’t end well for me, I’ll tell you that much. I know you want to say, “Well maybe you’re just short!” I’m actually pretty tall! So this definitely worried me. I was also playing on the Difficult difficulty, though, since I normally play DDR on Heavy.

Afterwards I watched another girl play and she played on the Basic difficulty, and it seemed more manageable, perhaps because it wasn’t demanding you stretch and jump diagonally at the same time. But once the hand motion and footsteps come together at the top of the screen, it becomes really difficult to coordinate it all. On the flip side, if you become good at it you will have some super serious hand-eye-foot coordination. Plus you’ll live forever. +999 vitality.

The game allows you to play without the motion controls as well, if you’re in the mood for classic DDR dancing which, for me, was just what the doctor ordered. I am almost definitely going to be picking up the newest DDR because classic DDR was there and boy did it shine. The songs are what make or break these kind of games, and seeing that they already have at least a handful of high quality original songs is essentially all I need to hear. A perfect mix of jumps, steps, eighth notes – it’s all there just how it should be.

One thing I would think would be nice to see though that wasn’t available would be on the scoring screen when you complete a song should tell you how many Excellents, Greats, Misses etc you earned separately for both footsteps and hand movements, that way players would be able to get a feel for what they’re struggling with and to concentrate on trying to improve their skill in that area. I hope the Move hand motions are calibrate a little better in the final game, since it was just a demo, but I know that playing on a lower difficulty setting will help you become more accustomed to the new control scheme of the Move.

Here’s a token embarrassing action shot while I was playing, taken by my friend Greg Wilcox at the event. You can check out the song list that has been revealed thus far below as well as the latest trailer which has the song Let’s Get Away playing – you won’t regret it!

Song List So Far

Licenses
Animal / Ke$ha
Bad Romance / Lady Gaga
Battlefield / Jordin Sparks
Celebration / Kool & The Gang
crushcrushcrush / Paramore
Hey, Soul Sister / Train
I Got You / Leona Lewis
I’m Yours / Jason Mraz
Love Shack / The B-52’s
My Life Would Suck Without You / Kelly Clarkson

KONAMI Originals
dreaming can make a wish come true / jun & NRG Factory feat. Anna Kaelin
IN THE ZONE / U1 (NPD3 style) & KIDD KAZMEO
Let’s Get Away / NAOKI feat. Brenda Burch
Private Eye / atomsoak ft. cerol
Rescue Me / NAOKI feat. Fracus
Top The Charts / J-Mi & Midi-D feat. Hanna Stockzell

Across the street from the San Diego Comic-Con, a cute girl motioned to me, told me to check out EA’s setup behind her. Curious, I followed her instructions and went up the steps behind her to be greeted by a giant dragon statue for Dragon Age 2. Immediately I become all giddy, realizing Dragon Age 2 was actually playable here, but my excitement disappeared upon seeing the long line into the building. I was not about to wait more than forty-five minutes to play this. Another girl working noticed my disappointment and noted that the Dead Space 2 line was completely empty.

So no, this hands-on preview is about Dead Space 2, not BioWare’s next installment of Dragon Age (didn’t you read the post title?). The first Dead Space was one of the better titles of 2008 that unfortunately did not sell as well as it should have. At the time of Comic-Con, Dead Space sat unfinished on my hard drive, but I figured I could take Dead Space 2 for a spin since I was nearly complete with the first. The lack of a line definitely pulled me into the Dead Space 2 room (which was considerably larger than the Dragon Age 2 play area). Shoving the inflatable Dead Space 2 plasma cutter given to me by an EA representative into my pocket, I stationed myself at an open station and started up the demo.

For those familiar with the original Dead Space, the sequel should feel no different. The controls feel a little tighter, the game seems to run smoother, and the visuals are fairly pretty. The HUD remains neatly packed away on Issac’s back. The stores at which you buy, sell, and upgrade have returned, and the monsters are still disgustingly ugly and horrifying. So what is new and different with Dead Space 2?

The zero-gravity controls are now awesome. In the original Dead Space, Issac was able to launch himself from the ground to the wall or the ceiling, from point to point. Unfortunately, this was the extent of his ability to make use of the zero-gravity. He could not float around, making his way to wherever he wanted in the room, like one should be able to where there is no gravity. For me, this made these sequences become annoying ordeals that sometimes proved confusing when the orientation of a room wasn’t clear. I guess Visceral felt this way too, because now Issac can do exactly what he could not do in the original. Although Issac is rather slow in his zero-gravity movement, there is a lot of potential with this. The demo only contained some trivial use of the new controls, with the main purpose being to pass through some fans after using Stasis to stop them.

Different is Issac: he speaks! This may be an issue to some, but I didn’t mind the change in his character. The acting and voice (from what I’ve heard) wasn’t bad, so unless you really care deeply for silent protagonists like Gordon Freeman, this won’t hurt the experience for you.

Issac gains some new weaponry for his arsenal. Most notable from the demo is the oh-so satisfying Javelin gun. Sure you can use your trusty Plasma Cutter or any of the other returning weapons from Dead Space, but don’t you want to pin enemies to walls? Also in Dead Space 2 is greater use of limbs to damage and kill enemies. With Issac’s Stasis ability, you can fire detached limbs at enemies, some more effective than others. It’s a nice, little addition that may prove to be handy if it fits into your play style.

Throughout most of the demo, enemies kept coming, and I kept shooting. Dead Space 2 successfully brought back the intensity and worry I felt in the first Dead Space as I constantly moved about, trying my damnedest to avoid the Necromorphs from chomping my limbs, puking on my face, or killing me in some other bizarre way. The first stretch of the demo brings back the familiar, slightly cramped and claustrophobic, hallways with metal pipes and large, frozen tubes. With the familiar Plasma Cutter in hand, I treaded carefully, only to be met by the typical Necromorph resistance (although Pukers, which… puke on you, are new). When fighting them, it’s the same old routine: shoot their limbs as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, even for a demo, the game seemed a bit tough. They burst out of the tubes, emerged from the ceiling, and reanimated when thought to be mere corpses, and I’m trying to shoot them but I miss and pew pew pew but oh crap suddenly one attacks me from behind and tries to eat on my neck and I run away to pew pew some more but omg now there’s two more and- perhaps it is a bit exaggerated, but it can certainly feel that hectic, especially if you are adjusting yourself to the controls.

The trek through the laboratory ends with a puzzle involving a revolving contraption that implements gravity in the room. Using your Stasis and Kinesis powers, you solve the puzzle and disable the gravity which then leads to the zero-gravity state (which, if you didn’t read above, is awesome). Once the zero-gravity is in place, every object not attached to the wall or floor begins to float, and Issac himself must now proceed upwards. A huge revolving fan must be paused with stasis, and Issac can then move to the top of the room (an otherwise unreachable area) and re-enable the gravity to go forward.

Awaiting Issac is a large cathedral-like room belonging to the Church of Unitology, complete with candles and stained glass windows. When one thinks Dead Space, the thought is usually of dark space stations and abandoned laboratories, not ominous locations out of Resident Evil 4 or Devil May Cry. However, there’s little time to admire the architecture and design as immediately after walking toward the center, a “Tripod” boss Necromorph descended and pinned me down. I was forced to shoot a yellow, glowing area of the boss a few times to escape. As the creature retreated, many more small Necromorphs appeared and attempted to swarm me. These little guys (or kids?) are called “Packs,” because they basically attack in large numbers. These new Necromorphs are rather easy to kill when fought individually, but the sheer number of them can prove to be overwhelming. They’re also super creepy. They look like bald children.

Eventually, I reached another elevator which led me to the second of the quick-time event sequences, the first being the fight with the tripod earlier. I entered a room, very much like what someone’s living room might look like in the future. On the other side of the large glass windows was a space station (apparently on one of Saturn’s moons). Moving to the other room, I saw another large windowed room. Emerging from below the window was a gunship that didn’t hesitate in firing at me. Being in space and all, the shattered windows caused the vacuum of space begin sucking out everything inside the room. Quick-time event! Mashing some buttons that appear on-screen allowed Issac to hold on and escape through an escape hatch on the ground.

It was not much of an escape, as Issac landed on some blood stains on the ground and was greeted by a large, charred Necromorph that attempted to kill him. This is similar to the tripod fight, in that the monster holds you in a certain position and you must shoot the pulsing, yellow limb. A few shots caused the beast to squirm and reposition itself, making me to shoot another part of its body. A couple of more rounds of this forced it to launch Issac across the room. From here, I began a mad dash before the monster reached me. Although I was able to make it to the end of this sequence without interacting with it, you can optionally use stasis to slow it down or you can shoot it (although I don’t think the latter does much in this situation).

At the end waited another large window, at which the gunship reappeared and resumed shooting at me. Again, the vacuum attempted to suck me out, and this time it was successful in pulling both the monster and Issac out into space. The volume immediately decreased as Issac was wildly propelled from the station. Issac managed to hold onto a floating container of sorts, to which the Necromorph also went. Despite being in space with no oxygen, the Necromorph still tried to kill me, but some suspicious looking barrels floated behind it. Logically, when you see a barrel in a video game, you shoot it. Doing that caused an explosion and… that was the end of the demo.

Overall, the demonstration was a very exciting ride that left me wanting more and more. The game was fast-paced and most importantly, fun. Dead Space 2 seems to fix any issues that the original had and proves that EA’s studios still have life in them. January 2011 can’t come any slower.

Every year EA Sports releases the Madden NFL “sizzle trailers” that give you a sneak peak at each team in the league and how they look in the new Madden. Well we here at Spawnkill know how lazy gamers can be and how excited they can get for the next Madden, so we created a one-stop shop for all the videos and screen shots you could ever want. We combined all the previews into two AFC and NFC videos. We also included some great Developer Interviews where they discuss Online Team Play, the new Gameplay mechanics and what they needed to improve on from last year’s title. We also have 193 gameplay screen shots that include every single team in the league. We hope you enjoy our Madden NFL 11 launch center!

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When I first saw NBA Jam on the Wii back in March I was immediately blown away by how the team at EA Vancouver was able to capture the old school gameplay and still make it feel new. At this year’s E3 I got a chance to play an updated version of the game, and although there didn’t seem to be a huge difference between this build and the build I played earlier in the year, I did notice the motion controls are more accurate. Plus, they introduced a few legendary players into the mix. After playing the updated build I can say for sure that NBA Jam is going to be a big hit with fans of the franchise and newcomers as well.

For those who missed our previous coverage, NBA Jam for the Wii is pretty much a remake of the classic titles many of us played in the arcades. The gameplay is similar to the older games but with a few new features that were implemented in the later iterations. The biggest difference between the Wii version and the classic titles is the motion controls and the new visual style. Things like blocking, dunking, stealing, pushing players over, throwing up alley-oops and shooting is all done with simple flicking motions with the Wiimote. The movement of your player is controlled by the nunchuk. The controls can take some time to get used to so those who don’t want to use the Wiimote can use the classic controller.

Visually, NBA Jam looks like an updated version of the classic title. The player’s bodies are polygonal models loosely based off the players themselves, while their faces are actual pictures taken from real on-court action. The faces have various expressions that will coincide with what is going on during the game. If the character is going up for a dunk, he’ll make his dunk face and look at the screen, and when they are just dribbling down the court they will have their normal expression on their face. It sounds strange, but it’s actually really awesome and hilarious. At E3 they were showing off for the first time the legendary players. What good would an NBA Jam game be if there weren’t classic players like Dennis Rodman, Clyde Drexler, Hakeem Olajuwon and Kevin McHale? That’s just a small sampling of legendary players that will be included in the game. Also revealed were secret mascot characters so many of us loved to play with. The two they were showing at E3 was the Toronto Raptors mascot “Raptor” and “Rumble” from Oklahoma City. Everything from the sideline antics, the crowd reactions and player models beings me back to the time when I wasted all my money playing an arcade game that I didn’t get tickets for.

Ultimately if the game doesn’t play like the classic NBA Jam then all of the aesthetics won’t matter. Thankfully it plays just as good as it did back in the day. It’s very fast paced, high flying action that brings out the kid in everyone. All the same rules apply so the rejections at the rim and pushing players over are still a big part of the game. I did notice that quite a few people had troubles with the Wii controls. Admittedly, it’s not the best way to play the game, many people had trouble shooting and tossing alley-oops. I saw a couple of close games end with a player that tried to shoot but flicked their Wiimote too fast so it didn’t register. Having played the game, before I was used to the controls, but still I would probably play it using the classic controller.

When I played the game a few months back the development team was excited about the single player mode but they still were tight-lipped about the other game modes. NBA Jam is really a “party” type game, and seeing as how I haven’t played anything but the 2 vs 2 mode I’m quite interested in seeing the game’s single-player mode for myself.

Not much has changed since I last played the game. The improved controls are a good sign, and I look for it to continue to improve since gamers are still having some initial problems with it. I like the legendary players, along with the mascots, and hope they include at least one for every team. Judging from the reactions of everyone who played it, NBA Jam has a good chance at being one of the most popular sports titles when it releases in October. We hope to bring you more information about NBA Jam and the other game modes as it gets closer to the release date.

In the world of ATV/Motocross racers there are very few titles that have been successful. It’s a genre that is very hit and miss. It’s either too realistic, not realistic enough, centered too much on tricks, or simply not fun. Titles like Pure, Motorstorm and the ATV franchise have successfully created great ATV racing experiences in large part due to the developers concentrating on a particular aspect of ATV racing. With Deep Silver’s upcoming racing title Nail’d, they look to do the same by focusing on the speed and exhilaration of ATV and Motocross racing. Nail’d is definitely an arcade racing title and from the demo I played at this year’s E3 there is a lot to like about this upcoming racer.

Nail’d might look like a realistic ATV title but it is anything but. Developers Techland want to provide gamers with a unique ATV experience where speed and hitting big jumps is everything. From the start they decided that they weren’t going to include tricks in this game. Even though there are moments in the game where you’ll be soaring through the air, there aren’t any tricks to pull off. Instead you’ll be guiding your vehicle through the air maneuvering to avoid certain obstacles and maybe even take out an enemy or two upon landing.

It might not sound so appealing at first but the huge maps and beautiful landscapes make it work. The controls are pretty simple, there are really only a few buttons you need to hit, the throttle and the boost button. There is a brake button, but you will never really need it in this game. I found that out the hard way when I quickly fell behind the pack after trying to drift around a corner. In Nail’d you will rarely need to slow down, in fact its best if you keep the throttle held down the entire time. Boosting is another big part of the game. It acts much like a nitro boost that you can use to get big air, pass up other racers or take tighter corners. With the boosting and the fact that you don’t need to slow down, you will be going very fast in this game, faster than you would expect to go in an ATV racing game.

Before each race you will have a choice between an ATV and a Motocross bike. The difference between the two is weight and speed. The ATV is stronger so it’s harder to get pushed off the track but you are slower. The motocross bike is faster but you are more susceptible to getting pushed around. The retail version will feature extensive customization for both the riders and the bikes, both of which can be unlocked through normal play in single player. Single player will also be where you will unlock the 14-18 tracks, the final number of tracks hasn’t been settled on as of yet. The track that was featured at E3 was a Yosemite Park inspired race track called Sawmill.

This demo level is huge, so big that for this track there’s only one lap for the entire race and it took me more than 8 minutes to finish it. The levels aren’t only massive in size; there is also a lot going on in the track. For starters there are multiple routes to take in the track: some that might bring you to a more scenic route but could cost you some time, others that are shortcuts. There is a risk with shortcuts though; in the level I played there were more obstacles to maneuver around where the shortcuts are located, so if you make a mistake it can end up costing you time. The track is also filled with huge ramps for jumps, a few conveyor belts pulling along tree trunks, a train and at the end of the track a huge airplane. At one point in the race I hit a jump that landed me on top of a moving train which I then used to pass up a few riders.

Since the gameplay revolves around speed and boosting, the bikes handle like you would expect it to. Making tight turns is pretty simple and don’t require you to let off the throttle at all. The hardest thing to do in the game is steering your bike when it’s in the air. The jumps that were featured in the E3 demo are so big that I spent at least half the time in the air. While you are in the air you’ll need to boost to avoid landing on a building, trees and you’ll also need to avoid other racers. You can steer your way to land on other racers but if you aren’t careful they can push you off the track while you’re in the air. Boost plays as big of a role in the air as it does on the ground. At certain moments I had to boost while I was in the air to land a jump or to avoid landing on top of trees. To get boost you can cleanly land a big jump, take out enemies or drive through a boost gate that completely refills your boost.

The AI seemed very capable even in the lower difficultly track but just like every other racing game there were always racers in packs. There were the 3 that were ahead of everyone, the 4 or 5 stuck in the back and then the stragglers that were so far back no one knows how they actually make it to the end. I would like to see the AI be much more aggressive in trying to bump you off the track but the easier difficulty setting could be a reason why they weren’t aggressive.

They didn’t go too much into the various modes in the game but there will be a 12 player online mode and an extensive single player campaign. Something I really enjoyed is the time tracking system they implemented. Just like most racing games there is a leader board where you can compare your times with other racers and people on your friends list. But what’s so unique about Nail’d is that they display this in real time in any mode in the game. It tracks the times from everyone on your friends list and it appears on the side of the screen in real time. The times will update automatically if you are connected online. So not only can you be racing against the AI but at the same time you can be racing against your friend’s times for that particular track.

Visually, the game looks really good at its early stage. The Yosemite-inspired track looks amazingly realistic along with all the effects from the ATVs. The soundtrack might get annoying for some, which includes me, but others might enjoy it. Already they have announced that they secured rights to songs by Slipknot, the Backyard Babies, Queens of the Stone Age and Rise Against.

As much fun as I had playing the game, I am a bit worried about its lasting appeal. The big draw to the game is the arcade style racing, the high speeds and big jumps. But I can see myself getting tired of hitting the big jumps and simply falling down from the jump by myself with no enemies around me to race against. If there were tricks included in it there would be so much more you can do with the game. If they can offer some really entertaining game modes to deviate from the simple time trail racing I can see this game being one of the better ATV titles, but from what I saw I am going to remain a bit skeptical. Nail’d will be releasing on PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3, and is slated for a Q4 2010 release date.

It’s too few and far between these days that we get to experience solid console co-op games. The last enjoyable one off the top of my head that I played extensively was Resident Evil 5, and that was already well over a year ago. Oh, and Borderlands, which is certainly fun, but moreso in the way that you and some friends can “hang out” and do a ton of mindless (the story is as generic as generic gets and you know it!) but really fun missions. That’s why when Bethesda announced they were publishing inXile Entertainment’s upcoming co-op title Hunted: The Demon’s Forge, I’ve kept my eyes peeled ever since. Luckily, at E3 I had the chance to play an extremely polished demo of Hunted and walked away with feelings of probably the game I would have been hands-down most excited to take home with me from E3.

In Resident Evil 5, co-op was “optional” but playing the single player experience certainly (to me) insinuated otherwise. The way to get to the real meat of the game was to gun down rotting flesh alongside a human ally. I can already infer that Hunted will flow in a similar vein. The two characters you will be able to choose from, and switch at a number of points in each area if desired, will be Caddoc and E’lara. Caddoc may look like a meathead because he’s all beefed-up and mighty with a sword and shield and other melee weapons, but he’s the cautious one. E’lara is your ranged weaponress of the team who is always ready to dive bow-first into danger.

Although E’lara is skilled with ranged weapons like longbows and magic, she is also able to manhandle a sword and shield, she just won’t do as much damage with it because she is less skilled in melee. Same goes for Caddoc, he can also wield for him what will be crossbows, which will be a bit more inaccurate and less powerful. What’s really great is that they both use magic, which of course uses mana. I usually end up fighting with friends over who gets to specialize in magic, but E’lara and Caddoc both have magic and skills to use, and more to gain and upgrade.

My favorite thing about Hunted: The Demon’s Forge is that… it’s, well, actually a co-op action RPG game. The game is designed for you and your partner to truly work together in ways other than we are used to expecting like turning a crank so the other can go under a now-open door. No, no, no, it’s much more than that. There are definitely a metric ton of puzzles to look forward to working together on that cater to their specific strengths and weaknesses at times, but what I had a lot of fun with was the buffs and skills that make working together worthwhile. For example, in my play time during the heat of battle Caddoc used a skill that made my arrows into ice arrows, which then gave me the ability to freeze the army of enemies going after him which then enabled him to absolutely massacre and shield bash the skulls in of our hapless frozen foes. Caddoc also had a skill which was used to levitate surrounding enemies in a pinch, which gave me the chance to take out the garbage by pretty much air-sniping the enemies out of our way.

Also along the same path of convenient co-op action in Hunted is that if your partner ever goes down in a fray, you don’t have to trudge along and hold their hand or er, pat their back to get them back on their toes. Come on, this is a fantasy game! To revive your partner you will be able to toss a magic vial their way to get them back into action as soon as possible.

Matt Dickenson from Bethesda, the Caddoc to my E’lara for the demo (though we switched characters mid-way), told us that they were really making an effort to minimize HUD and menu interaction as much as possible to keep you in the action, to the point where there was actually no mini-map or a full map to bring up at all. I was told that while there are plenty of off-path side quests and puzzles to tend to, it’s unlikely that players will get lost. So it being a co-op game and all where everything relies on your interactions with your partner, my instant reaction was, “What if I get separated from my teammate?” Players will have to rely on audio and visual cues to reconnect with your partner if separated, but the mostly linear areas and dungeons will minimize that from happening. Still, I can see some players wanting it for those who make mental reminders of what puzzle was where by using the map when skipping past a difficult puzzle they’d like to return to. It wasn’t a final decision to be map-less, so I’m hoping they decide to add that option in, even if it’s just a mini-map you can turn on or off.

The gameplay will instantly feel familiar to players who have played any Gears of War game. Hunted uses the Unreal Engine 3 and the action takes places in a third-person view where you can perform actions like holding the A button down to run and take cover. Cover and the environment in the game is also very destructible.

Hunted: The Demon Forge, for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, has no official release date yet, just that it will be available sometime in 2011. Check out the latest screenshots and E3 trailer below to get an early taste of the action.

Sega had a massive presence this year at E3, with a lofty sum of the Seganian Army dedicated to five upcoming Sonic releases that have been, should be, and will be receiving some props and attention for putting Sonic back on the fast track that he had strayed ever so far from in the past few years. The Sonic games present at Sega’s E3 booth this year were Sonic Colors – one for the Wii and one for the DS, Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1, the Kinect title Sonic Free Riders, and also a port of the Dreamcast favorite Sonic Adventure for XBLA and PSN. I was able to get some hands-on time with Sonic Colors for the Wii and Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1.

Sonic Colors

I went into Sonic Colors actually eager to try out a console Sonic game for the first time in quite a while. The teaser trailer released pre-E3 for its announcement was brief, but had an extremely catchy tune that I was dying to hear more of, not to mention a set of interesting new alien creatures called Wisps that gave me a nostalgic surge for some reason because they instantly reminded me of chaos, which I’d love to see brought back into a future Sonic game. (Hint hint at Sega: Creating a Sonic Adventure 3 for Xbox 360/PS3 would be my ultimate dream Sonic game…)

Sonic Colors is definitely headed in the right direction off the bat by not drowning us in any gimmick routines or crazy premises like Sonic and his werehoggery. Sonic Colors takes up a style that I think a lot of Sonic fans will appreciate in the way that it carefully mashes up 3D gameplay with 2D elements and gameplay, and much familiarity.

The alien Wisps are scattered all over the levels and act as power ups to collect. The yellow one for example will give you the power to drill through dirt areas below you and you’ll go into this 2D style screen where you control Sonic on auto-drill, collecting rings or discovering secret areas, until you zoom out of the dirt. The music also changes to a really fun electronica bass-style when you waggle the Wiimote to use the yellow Wisp. Another one I found allowed me to quick dash and defeat a row of enemies instantly. When you find a new Wisp, it’ll replace the one you have on reserve so don’t hoard your power ups!

While Sonic Colors is definitely headed in the right direction to rebuild the Sonic franchise — being able to jump and then use combo homing attacks again felt great –  it’s still admittedly not perfect. With a title declaring “Colors” in its name it certainly would also benefit from a high-definition shoe shine it would be able to get if it were on the 360 or PS3. And the voice, though ignorable, telling you “Awesome!” and the rest of the comments the voice makes when you can use a Wisp definitely kind of grated on me a bit. I might be able to do without him.

You can check out a gameplay video below of one of the levels that was playable at E3!

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1

Sonic fans are not as hard to please as Sega seemed to have thought for the last few years: a pinch of new with a metric ton of familiar is all it’ll take. Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 is pretty much all that and a bag of chips. Obviously Sega has really listened to the swan cries of the hardcore fans with this one. To the core this felt like a genuine old school Sonic title. It felt  almost like it was nabbed straight off of the Sega Genesis and given an HD spit-shine sprinkled atop it’s sprints and spins.

Honestly, Sonic 4 has the loops, bumpers and spin dash action he’s known for and the homing attack also makes a nice return. What was nice to see was the good variety of branching paths that was always responsible for the high replayability of the older Sonic games. And most importantly, you’re fast. Hella fast. The speed is back and at just the level you missed, needed, and craved for far too long from the fan favorite fuzzy blue hedgehog.

The demo I played at E3 had a set of four levels: three areas and a boss stage. Unfortunately Sega has yet to pin a price point on the upcoming downloadable escapade nor reveal how many stages we can expect from the full release. All I can tell you is that it will most likely (from what we’re told) be followed up by an Episode 2 of Sonic the Hedgehog 4 and that it will release on both the Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network towards the end of 2010.

For the first time in its history, the Medal of Honor franchise is bringing gamers to the modern war setting. With plenty of other modern war video games out there, EA is hoping to bring a sense of realism that other titles have not been able to accomplish. With the help of Tier-1 operatives, MOH’s campaign looks show gamers what it’s like to fight in modern day Afghanistan. EA’s realistic mentality doesn’t change when it comes to the multiplayer portion of the game. At this year’s E3 I was able to play a few rounds and I instantly found it to be very familiar.

The familiarity comes from the multiplayer being developed by DICE. DICE has a proven track record of creating an excellent multiplayer experience. Most recently they were behind what I think is the best online shooter, Battlefield: Bad Company 2. So when I sat down to check out MOH’s multiplayer I had very high expectations and for the most part I wasn’t disappointed. The controls felt a lot like BC2 and aesthetically it looks very similar but with a little more grit.

The demo featured the Kabul City Ruins map which is small but it’s perfect for a 4v4 Team Death Match. The multiplayer features three different classes to choose from; Rifleman, Special-Ops, and Sniper. Each class has their own set of distinct weapons and attachments to unlock. While I didn’t get to see the leveling, the EA representative there mentioned that there will be hundreds of attachments to add to a gun. In the retail version players will be able to change their load-out before every game.  As you kill enemies or complete mission objectives you will gain experience points. Certain things like headshots and multi-kills will net you more points. The top level to reach will be the Teir-1 Operative. For the demo the Rifleman was equipped with an M16 with a grenade launcher attached, the Sniper had a bolt action rifle and C4, and the Special-ops class had an M4 with a rocket launcher.

The easiest class to play right away was the Rifle class. This class came with a scoped weapon and their gun did more damage. Sniping in that level was a bit tough but that had more to do with the fact that I didn’t know the level and where to snipe from. The Special-ops class is great for taking out groups of enemies with the rocket, which is very powerful, but the M4 didn’t seem that powerful and didn’t come with a scope.

The controls feel so similar to BC2 it didn’t take me long at all to get used to them. One thing that is different is the ability to switch to the special weapons (grenade launcher/rocket launcher) by using the L2 or LT button. This allows you to quickly swap back and forth from the more powerful weapons to your main weapon. Every player has a pistol and a knife for melee but I never found the need for either expect for a few times here and there. Although the shooting felt a little too sensitive, it was still very good. DICE does a good job with getting the right amount of kick-back and accuracy of hip firing, and in MOH it feels like a good mix of MW2 and BC2.

After playing a few rounds of MOH’s multiplayer I could tell people were having some trouble getting kills but that was due to the realistic setting and the fact that it can be difficult to spot enemies. The Kabul City Ruins has multiple areas where you can get on top of small two story buildings and houses, and with ruble scattered around the map along with blown up vehicles, enemies can be hiding around every corner. Your allies will have a white arrow over their head so it’s easy to see where they are but the enemies can blend into the surroundings so occasionally I would see people run right past each other or I would run right under an enemy shooting me from above.

The map is located at the top left corner and works much like MW2’s map. When enemies fire they will show up on the map but unlike MW2 if you aren’t around them you might not see them on the radar. Most of my time playing was spent looking for high ground and looking for the flash of a gun. Just like in BC2 when you hit an enemy you’ll see flares appear on the screen so even though I didn’t see the enemy I just kept firing until he was dead. As you kill enemies you will you get Killstreaks which are called Scorechains. The first one is awarded to you after you get 3 kills. You have the option to choose an offensive or defensive ability. You can choose to drop a mortar strike on a certain part of the level or call in a UAV. As your streak continues you’ll unlock more powerful things like a health boost for the team or a predator strike.

I like the fact that you have a choice with the scorechains; it encourages teamwork rather than you looking out for yourself. The action was intense throughout the entire match. The sound and the debris from bullets and explosives added to the intensity. In classic DICE form the sound effects are amazing with the crackling of guns off in the distance and with jets flying above; the game is really brought to life.

I really enjoyed the multiplayer death match but there were a few problems that I ran into. Occasionally the game would lag when someone would kill me or I would kill the other person. We would be firing at each other for longer than we needed to and all of sudden one of us would be dead or both of us would be dead. This happened even when I would shoot someone at a distance. Other things like reloading not registering and the occasional lag when switching weapons can all be chalked up to the early build. A few things that I think has more to do with the design is the lack of distance from my grenade throws and the occasional spawn kills or just bad spawns. It seems like the spawns are centered around a few corners and usually you will spawn with no one in front of you but there are moments where I spawned over and over again with someone looking right at me. Because you die so fast in this game you have no chance if someone is right in front of you when you spawn. Grenades just went nowhere and were basically useless especially when every class has a better explosive to use.

Medal of Honor’s multiplayer has a lot of promise. I liked what I played and while others were surprised by it, I expected nothing less from DICE. There are a few issues that need to be addressed but with an extensive leveling system planned along with an awards system similar to BC2’s, Medal of Honor’s multiplayer can be one of the best ones this fall. The only thing that will hold it back is the fact that it will release in October, right in-between Reach and Call of Duty. The retail version will feature 4 different modes, one of which is included in the MOH Beta which is currently running. You can get into the beta by pre-ordering the game but my early experience with it hasn’t been great. It is flooded with bugs. As soon as the issues subside we’ll give you our beta impressions of the Mission mode. Medal of Honor is set to release on October 12^th on PS3, 360 and PC.  For those who haven’t seen it here is the multiplayer trailer shown at this year’s E3.

The demo has a few unique features.  For one, it is a timed demo.  It allows 30 minute play sessions, and there’s no continuity between.  You play for 30 minutes, and if you want to play more, you can, but you start over with a new 30 minute session.  Anything you collect or any level progression you make does not transfer over.  The other unique feature is just how gigantic this demo is.  It’s literally bigger than some games I’ve played.  It basically sets you down in one section of the game, out of three I believe, and let’s you do whatever you want.  There are guidelines, but they’re easily ignored.  For a demo, it’s massive.  The 30 minute window keeps things under wraps, never letting you experience too much of the game, but you still can if character advancement holds no interest for you.  In the hour that I’ve played, two thirty minute sessions, I’ve explored a shipyard area, collecting agility orbs and shooting down members of an organization known as Cell, and driven around the streets at night plowing freaks down.  Basically, I’ve gone two directions out of maybe ten that this demo allows.

Gameplay is nearly identical to the first game.  In Crackdown, agents could find orbs to increase agility, could drive cars to increase driving skill, shoot things to increase gun-play, blow things up to increase explosive power, and punch things to increase strength.  The same attributes apply in Crackdown 2 and they are acquired in the same manner.  The lock-on system is nearly the same, with a notable exception.  Agents lock-on to enemies, but with a flick of an analog stick different body parts of that enemy can be targeted.  Head shots can be initiated, though the reticle that shrinks as you aim to denote accuracy takes longer to shrink when aiming at a smaller target.  I didn’t find this particular feature useful in the demo, but I am curious what applications it could have in the game.  Boss fights in particular could play out differently if head shots or arm shots enable a different way of fighting.

Visually the game is also similar, but obviously with a few more years of development the game is going to look better.  It still sports the same animated style, but everything’s prettier.  I noticed the water in particular was noticeably more watery.

I didn’t get a chance to try out any new weaponry in the demo, but it could very well exist.  It’s hard going from the endgame arsenal of the original Crackdown to an opener collection for the second game.  The standard shotguns and SMGs just don’t compare to my grenade launcher.  Nonetheless, I would hope they might have some surprises for us.  With the slightly futuristic tone of the series, some futuristic weaponry certainly wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility.

New to the series are two enemies: an organization known as The Cell, who in the demo were a bunch of thugs shooting at me all the time, and the freaks who are basically mutated people who flood the streets at night and attempt to overwhelm you with clumsy melee attacks.  We saw these briefly in the first game, created as part of a genetic mutations program initiated by one of the street gangs.  They appear to have spread to and now flooded the city.  The demo doesn’t really offer much information about either of these antagonists, and for the most part we’ll probably be waiting for the actual release to get the full skinny.

The actual city your agent has access to is the same Pacific City from the first game.  The biggest difference is that following the events of the first game, something happened to destroy the place.  Statues are thrown down and buildings torn apart.  It’s a real war zone.  The same could have been said of the first title, but at least things were working.  Chaos seems to have overtaken the city in Crackdown 2, and it sounds like it’s your agents job to restore order to it all.

Also returning to the series is the announcer from the first.  I don’t think it would quite be the same game without him.  He gives you directions and announcements and generally makes a nuisance of himself, but as there’s no central character aside from your nameless agent, he really gives the game its personality.  The agents themselves are similar to the 4 playable from the first, except there are more, and you’re allowed to color code them however you like.  This is probably for whatever multiplayer they’re integrating.  One new feature of co-op play comes in the form of orbs only accessible when two people are grabbing them.  There was multiplayer in the first game I know, I just never had occasion to play it nor any desire to.  I’m not saying it couldn’t be fun, but I have a hard enough time coordinating my own play sessions, much less play sessions with real people.

If you liked Crackdown, go download the Crackdown 2 demo immediately.  It’s expansive, familiar, and with just enough new flavors to satisfy fans.  If you’ve never played Crackdown at all and enjoy open-world games where destruction is paramount, go buy it.  You can finish it in a weekend if you’re serious.  It’s a much-needed evolution to open-world games, offering some of the best exploration travel methods out there (only eclipsed by Prototype and various Spiderman games in my opinion).  Hopefully new developer Ruffian Games has taken the reins from Realtime Worlds and improved things.  Look for Crackdown 2 itself on store shelves next Tuesday.

I’ve been a LONG-time fan of the DDR franchise. For years and years my friend’s and I would practice and train rigorously for hours at home so we could play at the arcade every weekend. Good times were had with all the vibrant classic DDR beats from DJ Naoki, RevenG and dj TAKA, but the franchise took a huge wrong left turn and changed to reel in a new audience who weren’t as familiar or ecstatic about the Eurobeat flavor it was offering. Towards the latter end of the PS2 DDR cycle the games started having much less of the music that the hardcore fans were crazy about and instead were given a helping of Britney Spears and Sean Paul. I finally got a chance to give the newest Wii version a shot at E3 (titled merely: Dance Dance Revolution currently, as skeptical as I was about playing with arm movements, but came out impressed when I realized how fun it actually could be.

The new Dance Dance Revolution combines the traditional arcade pad setup with the Wii motion controls. The Wiimote and nunchuk control actions like punching, striking a pose or moving you arms. The game still has the four button path layout on-screen, so the hand motions will fly up the same beat path, only colored differently and with a design on it to show you what to do. They move up along the paths just as the directional arrows do, only they’ll take up two paths (two for the left hand, two for the right hand; see the screenshots below for a better example!). As skeptical as I was at first to utilize the motion controls to the traditional arcade game I’m so used to, jamming to DJ Naoki’s “Let’s Get Away” (feat. Brenda Burch) felt like actual dancing for the first time in any DDR game I have ever played.

The hand controls weren’t just tacked in either, they felt like actual fun movements that fit along with the song. It will surely require a lot more concentration learning to combine it with the feet movements. You’ll definitely be earning some legitimate hand-foot-eye coordination skills for all your hard work though.

I was also told there would be more of the Wii Balance Board implementation again for those who are familiar with the Wii iterations of DDR as well as a four-player multiplayer mode. The character models also look a bit more adult (with what looks like their newly acquired glow sticks) and are adorable as well with a couple of returning characters like Rena, Dyna and Bridget.

The most important thing of any DDR or music and rhythm game — the track list! — has not yet been released other than the two songs that were present on the demo which were DJ Naoki’s “Let’s Get Away” which you can hear a snippet of in the trailer below, as well as “In the Zone” from U1 (NPD3 style) & KIDD KAZMEO. Stay tuned for the full track list as soon as it’s announced and cross your fingers with me for more Naoki and Eurobeat-style tracks this time around!

Dance Dance Revolution will release this fall 2010 on the Nintendo Wii.

Ivy the Kiwi? was created by Yuji Naka former head of the Sonic Team for the original Sonic the Hedgehog game, now head of Prope. With such a massive notch like creating Sonic under his belt, he’s now gone on to create his first fully original game of his own. Ivy the Kiwi? creates a slight edge of its own genre by what feels like a platforming puzzle game where the main character, Ivy, is a flightless bird who is born into the world without her mother in sight. That’s where the question mark in the title comes in — IS Ivy a kiwi? Poor Ivy doesn’t know and is saddened to be without a mother so she goes on to find her.

Ivy the Kiwi? has a sweet and charmingly innocent vibe to the attractive storybook-style artwork of the game, but don’t be fooled – the game is definitely not a walk in the park! You don’t control Ivy directly, Ivy will just constantly walk on her own without making any turns or jumps or anything. Where you come in is where you have to help make sure she gets to the end of the stages safely by drawing vines to fling her around the stage to help collect rare collectibles like feathers, avoid traps such as spikes and avoid the enemy rats. It’s not at all like what you might think, it’s not just a plain and simple “draw a line to help her cross over holes.” It requires some finesse and strategy to maneuver her around the stages and you can also even pull down on a vine you’ve just drawn (you can draw up to three at a time on-screen before the older ones fade and break) and use it to slingshot Ivy into hard to reach places to find some of the collectibles.

I played both the Wii and DS versions of the game during E3. The Wii version was the first one I tried, which was immediately something that will take some getting used to. Swinging Ivy around with your vines definitely takes getting yourself going at the right pace and precision is certainly in order when going for the collectible items. It also has a co-op mode where up to three other places can jump in and help you get Ivy to the goal platform. You co-op friends will also be able to draw up to three lines each of their own on-screen. Luckily, towards the end Jimmy Soga of the XSEED team had the heart to demonstrate the co-op feature at just the right time and jumped in and team up with me to help get Ivy to the finish line. There is also a versus mode with up to four players quad split-screen style as a race to the goal. You can draw lines to impede your teammates’ progress while advancing your own little Ivy. Frenetic and crazy is the simplest of the ways to describe these modes that I can conjure up. It’s definitely challenging!

The Wii version was definitely difficult for my seemingly shaky hands so when I was offered a chance with the DS version as well, I was in paradise. The instant precision the stylus allows for made the platforming a lot more enjoyable for me. Pulling down on the vine to slingshot Ivy, slinging her around on the vines, it was all so much easier to control. It was still no walk in the park but it was for me much more enjoyable and an addictive platformer perfect for the DS to pop in and play through levels both at home and on the go. The only trade-in the DS version has from the Wii version is that it doesn’t have co-op or versus play.

Both the DS and Wii version of the game will have 100 levels in total to play through. You’ll need to complete 50 to get to see the ending of the story, and the remaining 50 will be bonus levels.

During our meeting at E3 with XSEED when checking out Ivy the Kiwi? we were also shown a cute storybook (in Japanese, unfortunately!) that the team created about the story of the game. They’re hoping to get it published here in the U.S. What would be real crazy (and super exciting) would be if they made mini versions for pre-orderers of the DS or Wii version of the game. I know, I know, sometimes I hope too high. Let a girl dream! Ivy the Kiwi? hatches in North America this Summer 2010.

Check out the trailer and screenshots below to get a nice idea of how the controls and gameplay work.

I didn’t get a chance to play every PlayStation Move game at E3 but the few that I did gave me a good idea of what I could expect from the Move. For those who don’t know what the PS Move is, its Sony’s new motion control peripheral. Working in conjunction with the PlayStation Eye (camera), the Move controller with the ball at the end of it can sense almost every movement the player makes. I was able to test out the Move playing Time Crisis: Razing Storm, Resident Evil 5 and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11. Each of these games shows off a different way to use the PS Move and, more importantly, are geared towards the more “hardcore” audience.

Time Crisis: Razing Storm

What good would a motion controller be if there wasn’t an on-rails shooter to go with it? Time Crisis, in my opinion, is the best light gun game at the arcades and now with the PS Move coming out in the fall it’s only fitting that a new Time Crisis game will be releasing to go along with it. Time Crisis: Razing Storm is also set to release in the fall with full PS Move support and will include 4 distinct game modes, a Time Crisis 4 arcade mode, and Deadstorm Pirates. Namco was quick to note that players will be able to play using the Wireless controller and the Guncon 3 if they don’t have the PS Move.

The E3 demo showed off the arcade mode of Razing Storm, which is the only mode that supports same console multiplayer. If you’ve played any of the previous Time Crisis games then you’ll be accustomed to shooting from behind cover, but in Razing Storm you’ll be running around with only a riot shield. You will still have to hide behind it to avoid incoming shots and to reload.  Unlike other Time Crisis titles this one is faster paced and less about accuracy. Instead of having to get kills to keep combos going you can keep a combo by destroying the environment. Almost everything in the environment is destructible. As reluctant as I am to do so, I have to admit that it makes the game a little bit more exciting.

Using the Move controller with this game was pretty simple: you don’t have to aim it at the screen, all you have to do is move the controller and hit a button. The reticle on screen for the most part reacted accurately to my movements. At times though there seemed to be a bit of lag when I would move across the screen and my partner had his get stuck on the side of the screen a few times, which forced him to reset the controller.

The arcade mode promises a lot of 2 player competitive action and lots of huge boss fights but those aren’t the only things included in the game. Razing Storm will also feature a story mode in which gamers can use the navigation controller or a wireless controller to move around the levels similar to an FPS. Along with this there will be an 8-player online versus mode that will use the same control scheme. The game will also come with previous Time Crisis titles which will be great for those who enjoy the more traditional gameplay. I really enjoyed the simple Move controls and the on-rail action but I hope the issues I encountered can be ironed out by the time the game releases.

Resident Evil 5

RE5 for me was a huge disappointment. There was nothing about it that reminded me of a Resident Evil game. Even when they went to the more action-oriented route in RE4 there were still plenty of survival horror moments but none of those moments could be found in RE5. As much as I disliked it there were plenty of people who didn’t, enough in fact to release a Gold Edition of the game and to add PS Move support.

Those who played RE4 on the Wii with the motion controller will feel right at home with the PS Move controller. RE5 is almost identical to how Capcom changed the controllers for the Wii version. The Move controller is what you’ll use to shoot your gun and knife zombies, the navigation controller will be used to move your character around, and the d-pads will be used to change weapons or equip items. One thing that’s different from the Wii Resident Evil is you won’t have to point the Move controller at the screen in order to aim your gun. In fact even if someone steps in front of you you’ll still be able to play.

The E3 Demo took me through the same demos that released with the original game. Since I played so much of the RE4 on the Wii I felt quite comfortable with the controls right away. Holding down on the trigger of the Move controller allows you to aim and hitting the move button on top of the controller fired the gun. There are buttons surrounding the Move button, of which one is used for quick turning. Aiming while shaking the controller reloads the gun while shaking the controller when not aiming executes the knife attack.

After taking a second to get used to not having the controls inverted, I got right into the action. Everything felt very fluid and accurate. At times when you have to hit targets that might be off screen you’ll have to move your character using the navigation controller, but for the most part I was able to accurately hit targets using just the Move controller. Using the Move made the game more exciting for me but maybe that’s just because I’m experiencing the game in a brand new way. At times I did find myself having a hard time getting headshots on enemies I could easily shoot if I was using a normal controller but I’ll chalk that up to me needing to get used to the controls rather than issues with the move. There are however a couple of things to note; the PS Move free update is only available for the Gold Edition of Resident Evil 5, and you will be able to play with someone via local multiplayer who is using a regular controller.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11

As a big sports video game fan whenever I see a motion controller I immediately think about how that will work with sports games. The Wii has tried their hand at it and even with the Motion-Plus attachment the Wii hasn’t been able to give me a true 1:1 experience. EA’s Tiger Woods series has been one of the driving forces for motion controllers in sports titles and with their recent title, PGA Tour 11 on the Wii, they’ve gotten much closer to 1: 1 than anyone else has. As good as that is, Tiger Woods 11 on the PlayStation Move feels much better. When I played it for the first time at E3 on the most advance setting every hole in my swing was recognized by the game which was embarrassing but at the same time amazing.

The controls for Tiger Woods 11 on the PS Move are pretty similar to that on the Wii. Point the controller down and hold down the trigger to swing. You can choose your clubs and change directions using the Move controller so there’s no need for the navigation controller. What was so amazing about Tiger Woods using the PS Move was how accurate it was in detecting every single movement. I’m talking about small movements of the wrist, the speed of the swing and even movements of your arms. So if you are like me and tend to pull your arms in on your swing the game will take that into account. The same goes for opening or closing the club, if you open up your hands all the time your shot will go to the right every time, just like in real life. The speed of the swing is also taken into account, especially when putting, which every golfer will tell you is the hardest thing to do in golf.

I played a few holes at E3 and the Move controller responded quite well to my movements. There were moments where I moved too fast or two slow and the game didn’t recognize it, especially when on the tee, but this could have been because I was too close to the TV. I was only about 3-4 feet away from the TV, which seemed a bit too close to me. I was able to play on easier settings where you only have to concentrate on keeping your wrist and swing straight and the game will give you more leeway in terms of accuracy. On the easier modes you still get the feeling of playing golf but it’s nowhere near the same as the near 1:1 control you get on the hardest settings.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 not only has the next-gen graphics the Wii lacks, but it also has a much better 1:1 control even at this stage of development. There’s still some work to be done for sure and I fully expect some buggy moments when using the Move but as of now PGA Tour 11 with the Move is as close as you can get to playing the real thing from home.

I didn’t play the more “casual” games that are going to be available when the PS Move launches and I wasn’t able to get my hands on SOCOM 4 or Killzone 3 with the Move; however, playing these three games gave me a good indication of how the Move will play with other titles. There is a definite 1:1 feel to these games, even if there are moments where my movements might not be recognized.

Sony isn’t holding anything back with the PlayStation Move; in fact RE5 and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 will be playable with the Move on day one. The price of it should be much cheaper than it is ($49.99 for the Move controller), especially for the extra cost of the navigation controller, but the titles that will support it might be enough of an incentive for people to spend the extra cash. The PlayStation Move is set to release in September and here is a list of tiles that will have PS Move support courtesy of IGN.

• Sports Champions, September 2010
• EyePet, September 2010
• Kung Fu Rider, September 2010
• Start the Party!, September 2010
• Echochrome 2 (PSN), September 2010
• Tumble (PSN), September 2010
• Hustle Kings, October 2010
• Pain! (PSN), October 2010
• TV SuperStars, October 2010
• The Fight: Lights Out™, October 2010
• The Shoot, October 2010
• High Velocity Bowling (PSN) October 2010
• Heavy Rain, October 2010
• The Sly Collection, November 2010
• SingStar Dance, November 2010
• LittleBigPlanet 2, November 2010
• Beat Sketcher (PSN), Fall 2010
• SOCOM 4, Fall 2010
• Sorcery, 2011
• Heroes on the Move, 2011
• Killzone 3, 2011
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11, September 2010
• Toy Story 3: The Video Game, September 2010
• The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest, September 2010
• Brunswick Pro Bowling, September 2010
• Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition, September 2010
• Time Crisis: Razing Storm, September 2010
• NBA 2K11, October 2010
• John Daly’s ProStroke Golf, Fall 2010
• Racquet Sports, Fall 2010
• R.U.S.E., September 2010
• Kung-Fu Live, October 2010
• Deadliest Catch: Sea of Chaos, November 2010
• Tron Evolution, November 2010

I admit to some hesitation about a Lego-based game set at Hogwart’s.  I’d tried Lego Star Wars and Lego Batman and did not care for either.  Maybe the aesthetic behind those two intellectual properties is too dark in nature.  Maybe I just wasn’t mentally prepared for seeing some of pop culture’s largest heroes reduced to blocky caricatures of themselves.  For whatever reason, the same doesn’t seem to apply to a Lego Harry Potter.  If they’d tried it with the last three books in the series I might have a different opinion, but the first four, and the first two in particular, are light enough tales that seeing them block-ified doesn’t annoy me.

For the demo I played at E3, I was restricted to year 1.  I started out right away with access to all three of the series’ perennial heroes, and could switch between Harry, Hermoine, and Ron at the flick of a button.  Each had access to just a few spells for the demo, the levitation spell Wingardium Leviosa and a simple zap spell, but there’s so much going on in this game that I never really needed more.  And surprisingly, at this point in the game story-wise they would only have access to simple spells like those anyway.  At first, there are no discernible differences between using any of the three, aside from Ron’s pet rat Scabbers who is actually vital to solving some of the puzzles littered around Hogwart’s.  When Ron brings Scabbers out, players actually control the rat and climb up through transparent pipework in order to flip a switch or knock down an item from above.  Otherwise, using any of the three characters is merely a matter of preference (obviously I chose Hermoine).  Later in the game, there will be larger differences such as Harry’s ability to turn invisible with his trademark cloak, or Sirius’ animagus morphing ability (incidentally it’s rumored that there are a boggling 167 playable characters we will have access to).

I’m not entirely sure where in the story I began.  When I first picked up the controller, I was in what appeared to be the main hall of Hogwart’s.  I had no coaching on plot points or what I was supposed to do next other than the glowing line that appears to lead you on the proper path.  Each room Harry and company travel through generally has interactive objects or puzzles to solve, with the rewards either being access forward or simple Lego coins.  I honestly have no idea what the coins are used for.  As I said, I never made it too far in any of the other Lego games and their use wasn’t explained to me by the exhibitor guiding me along.

The puzzles I navigated in my play through were never very difficult, though I did run into a few tricky ones.  The majority of them involved levitating certain objects and placing them in their proper position.  A few others had me either interacting the the famous moving paintings around the castle or using Scabbers to scout out hidden objects or switches.  Seeing and interacting with the various Lego-made areas of Hogwart’s is extremely charming, however, and of particular note was my first foray into the dining hall.

The first thing that happened upon entering the dining hall was an encounter with Draco Malfoy, the young scoundrel who perpetually torments the three friends during their time at Hogwart’s.  The game has no dialogue, which seems an odd thing considering the literary background from which it hails.  Nonetheless, Draco’s message was quite clear when he threw a gob of something at Hermoine’s face, an act that caused her to flee from the room in crying horror.  This is the sequence that would begin my troll hunt portion of the demo, though I feel it necessary to note that in the books this is not what caused Hermoine to run to the girl’s bathroom crying and eventual encounter a giant troll that the book’s villain had unleashed upon the school.

Regardless, to the bathroom I went with Ron and Harry, and after bypassing a nefarious puzzle involving a wizard in a painting, I found myself face to face with a large, lego-shaped troll.  Anyone who has seen the movie or read the book knows exactly how the boys deal with this troll and save Hermoine’s life, and the game plays things out no differently.  It did force me to levitate a few more things than just the troll’s club to smash over its head, but that’s the nature of video game boss fights.  Once I’d defeated the troll and watched a humorous cut scene of Professor Snape scowling suspiciously at Professor Quirrel (foreshadowing!), the demo ended.

I can not say how well this game will go over with non-Harry Potter fans.  Anyone disdainful of the series will probably be double-disdainful of it in Lego form.  For fans, this game is nothing short of delightful.  It’s light-hearted, manages to tell a story without ever uttering a word, and brings to the screen plenty of familiar Hogwart’s haunts as well as some new places for eager hands to explore.  I think with the fever building on the way to the next film, which happens later this year, now is the perfect time to pick up a slightly odd rendition of those first four years and lavish oneself down memory lane.  I honestly can’t wait to get my hands on a copy, even if I’ll feel downright silly play as a Lego version of Hagrid.  Look for a Spawn Kill review when it hits store shelves later this month. Check out the video below for the year 4 trailer shown off at E3.

As soon as I was ushered into the dimly-lit booth of TERA, I was told to pick a character and have a seat.  They had four computers set up with both keyboard and mouse configurations and a controller available.  A cursory glance around the room told me I wanted to play as the dual-wielding warrior, a staple of my own MMORPG experiences as I can’t get enough of swinging around a pair of blades.  The race I was playing as was one of the lumbering Aman, a race of former slaves who value freedom and self-sacrifice and who look a little like man-bears.  The Warrior class is one of pure damage in TERA, with other classes providing the tank roles veteran MMO-players might be used to associating with a warrior.  After a few introductions around the room, we were told what our roles in this demo would be.  The Berserker character, a dainty elf to my right, was oddly enough the tank of the group.  Across from me were a Slayer, a 2-handed damage dealing class, and a Sorceror, your standard spell-slinging role.  The demonstrator took the lead as a Priest in order to keep our inexperienced selves alive with healing magic.

The area we began in was a beach resting aside a forest.  The basic mechanics of the game were explained as soon as we’d unloading off the dock.  TERA Online is an action-rpg, meaning it does not rely on turn-based combat nor does it feature an auto-attack of any kind.  For the demo, we had a regular attack mapped to the left mouse button, and a stronger attack mapped to the right.  I assume any skill can be mapped to any button, but for the demo these two worked out fine.  Players fight by moving a reticle, something new to MMOs, over an enemy and clicking away in true Diablo fashion.  I’m not sure how spellcasting or healing works as I only watched my own screen, but I’d assume it’s not too much different and much of the time our healer was hitting us with area-of-effect spells that covered a portion of the ground rather than a target anyway.  There are other skills we had access to via the number keys, but for now all we needed to do was button mash those mouse buttons and attempt to stay alive.

At this point something humorous happened to me.  I was told that as a warrior, one of my main skills was the dodge-roll.  As I’ve said in other previews, I love to dodge.  I prefer it to blocking in most cases.  Generally, online games do not feature anything like this, and in this game there are only a few classes allowed to perform it.  it also costs mana for them to do so.  Mana in this game is a pool below the health bar that any skill used will pull points from.  It is regenerated by attacking an enemy.  The faster one attacks, the faster the bar rises.  Dodging takes mana, but it also renders a Warrior or Slayer invulnerable to any damage they may otherwise have taken.  I like this mechanic, having historically played melee characters who tend to be frail and of low healing priority.  It’s refreshing to be able to use one’s own reflexes and skill to avoid said damage.  Naturally with a mana bar depleting, one can’t continually roll around like a hyperactive acrobat, and rolling deals no damage, but it’s very useful nonetheless.  Our first few battles saw me rolling and slashing and assuming I was doing a fine job. Then I got hit once and died, and the presenters embarrassingly came over and switched my character to a level 33 Warrior instead of a level 3 Warrior.  Yes, I had somehow been loaded up with a character 30 levels too low for the area we were fighting in.  I maintain that for a level 3 Warrior, I was kicking ass.

After this mishap, our party made its way down the beach, killing giant crab-like beings and in general being merry.  We were given explanations on a few more of our skills not long after.  As a Warrior, I had access to a point-blank area stun.  It had a cooldown and required mana to use, but it stunned anything within a 10 foot radius of me.  Anyone familiar with MMOs will know just how useful such a skill is, particularly in PvP.  The other classes had similar signature skills, such as the priest’s ability to regenerate his own mana with a concentration spell.

Before long we came to an area full of centaur-like creatures, and our task was to find and slay their leader.  I love a good boss fight, so this was right up my alley.  It was in this area that we were told to start acting more like a team.  We needed to let our tank establish aggro (the MMO term for getting one person to focus an enemy’s attack upon themselves), and use our defensive capabilities to stay alive.  We all passed these tests with flying colors, and for a bunch of random guys (and one girl) who’d just sat down to play a brand new MMO, we did surprisingly well together.  I blame myself for my outstanding stunning skills and smoking damage capabilities.  I’m also an expert dodge-roller, as I think I’ve mentioned.  Anyways, we eventually we reached the centaur boss, and despite some massive damage being thrown around with hoof-stomping and charges, we downed him to the cheers and applause from our presentation team.

I walked away from the TERA Online booth feeling fairly good about the game.  It’s difficult to break in to the MMORPG market, particularly for a smaller studio like Bluehole.  They’re walking into competition with companies like Blizzard and BioWare and Square-Enix.  To carve a place for oneself amidst such giants is intimidating.  However, the action-rpg niche is one few other games fill.  Age of Conan attempts something similar, but isn’t nearly as fast-paced, and I’ve yet to see the reticle style combat in any game (I know one other had a reticle, but my brief time with it was quite awful and I can’t even remember its name). TERA is entering its first phases of beta right now and doesn’t release until 2011, but it’s shaping up nicely.  It doesn’t seek to break any new ground in setting or story, it’s still a fantasy MMO, but it looks very pretty, runs smoother than most online games I’ve played, and has the potential to be quite fun.  I’m personally sick of the auto-attack mechanic seen in most of these games and welcome anyone who looks to break that mold.  Check out the trailer below for a taste of what’s in store for PC gamers come 2011.

One of the new contributions touted in the press release earlier this year announcing the game was a new engine, an engine that promised next-generation graphics for the young wizard and his adventures.  Starting the demo, I could see that the graphics were indeed improved over what I’d at least seen in screenshots and videos of the former games.  To call them next-generation might be stretching the truth, however.  I suppose a definition of next-generation graphics could be argued, but with any game released today I feel that the visuals should surpass what we’ve seen in prior years.  This particular build of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 looks decent, but not what I’d expect from a game released in 2010.

Nevertheless, it’s easy to look past the slightly wooden character models and frequently broken terrain when there are dark wizards to blast and spells to cast.  The controls of Harry Potter do indeed feel like what you might find in an Uncharted or Gears of War.  Harry has a reticule, and at least in the demo, access to a half-dozen spells, or thereabouts.  Movement is dictated by one analog stick and camera another.  One trigger controls aiming, another firing.  Spells can either be switched with a directional arrow or one can go into a menu to change them manually.  Unfortunately, the camera and reticule controls are very loose.  At the time of the demo, there was no option to change sensitivity or any control whatsoever.  It made the game downright hard to operate compared to the tight handling of past third-person shooters I’ve played.  This is certainly something that could change by the late-year release date, and I strongly hope it does because it made playing through the demo difficult.  Even the exhibitor, a charming young woman with a delightful Australian accent, was impressed that I made it to the end of the demo as the majority of people who had passed through that day had had too much trouble to make it past some of the rougher sections.

The portion of the game they let us experience was an area not featured in the book version of the story.  It was a hollowed-out warehouse, complete with junkyard in the back for cover-based roaming.  The demo gives no story-entrance point, but simply drops poor Harry in this scary place and makes him fight off a slew of dark wizards that apparate (appear from thin air, to you Muggles) and attack him.  In short, it’s a combat demo.

Harry’s arsenal is fairly varied, and I actually enjoyed the spells he has access to even if I found them largely inaccurate from a lore standpoint (nerd alert!).  His bread and butter spell is Stupefy, which can almost be likened to a rapid fire machine gun and throws out purple orbs that can be fired off quickly but have relatively low damage.  With the controls as unforgiving as they were, I found myself using Stupefy quite a bit simply because I could litter the screen with purple orbs and come out alive.  The most entertaining spell to use was Confundus, which when cast on an enemy will make them hostile to any other enemies surrounding them.  What’s more, the spell has no cool-down and can be cast on an entire group of enemies for some real mayhem.  The other spell I found myself returning to often was Expelliarmus.  The Harry Potter movies have always taken some liberties with this particular spell.  In the books it’s one of the first spells that students learn when attending Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft & Wizardry.  It’s simple and effective because all it’s supposed to do is disarm an opponent, yanking their wand out of their hand and often into the casters.  In fact, it is this spell that Harry uses in the end to defeat Voldemort.  The movies give it substantially different properties, and this game takes that one step further by basically turning it into a kill spell.  It has a long cast time, and requires more accuracy than the controls of the game allow you, but it one-shot any wizard I managed to hit with it.  Useful, but also frustrating.  Harry can also heal himself, though the game has virtually no HUD at all, and the only indication of damage taken is the screen losing color.  Often Harry dies so fast that it’s hard to get his Protego spell going, which supposedly brings his health back up but I think rather instead protects him while the game’s natural health regeneration fills in (I didn’t want to correct my exhibitor’s words, but that’s how I think it works).

The other spells I didn’t use a whole lot.  Harry uses Crucio in the game, which provides a damage-over-time like effect if it’s held on one enemy.  Again, lore would dictate that Harry not use one of the “unforgivable curses,” but the game takes liberties and who knows, maybe against dark wizards he would be more apt to.  Another spell is Confringio, which creates small area-of-effect explosions.  I used this a few times and never again simply because I kept harming myself trying to cast it.  The spell I least used was Wingardium Leviosa, which enables Harry to pick up objects and levitate them.  At one point I made a rotating shield of barrels to protect myself with, and which I could then throw at enemies.  Harry also has a locator spell that when cast will point him in the direction he’s supposed to travel.

For the demo, Harry simply travels around and through this shell of a warehouse killing or banishing dark wizards.  The final act sees him protecting a few old, dumpy wizards who’ve been surrounded by a group of Dementors (ghostly beings in black robes that suck the soul out of their victims).  I had to use the signature Expecto Patronum spell at this point, which creates a bright white light to banish the fiends and has a cool-down that made this portion particularly frustrating.  Also disheartening was the lack of a white stag to accompany the spell, something present in both the books and the movies.  Once I’d banished them, the demo ended and I was praised for being one of the few people to complete it.

There was never any dialogue or story to the demo, and despite the wonky controls I actually enjoyed being Harry Potter for a ten minute chunk.  The dulcet tones of an Aussie exhibitor may have helped, but mostly I think I just love the series and I am eager to play a game related to it.  I’m intrigued and curious at the direction they’re taking this game.  The third-person shooter aspect actually makes decent sense with wand-play, and while I’m disappointed that there isn’t some kind wand motion feature involved, I think it could work well.  And who knows, maybe there will be Move or Kinect integration by the time the game releases.  I can actually see it working in the context of the Harry Potter world, and the game is also headed to the Wii so there may already be something in that vein.  Check back later this year for a potential review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.

The E3 trailer below shows off some of the action and a few of the spells I detailed.  It also has Hermoine in it!