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PAX West impressions


Eliwood8

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I'm putting together some thoughts on the games I saw at PAX West over the weekend, 'cause I'm sure some people will be interested in some of these. I was only there for two days so I didn't get to actually play too many games (at least, it feels like I played a lot more last year) but it was still fun to just watch some of them.

 

  • Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes

This is one that I really wanted to see so I waited a ridiculous amount of time to play (Nintendo's area had a huge line to get into their booth where you could play several games before leaving). Even though TSA isn't the same third-person action game as the previous NMH titles it was a lot of fun. It felt more like an arcade version of NMH: there's an overhead view, you have normal and special attacks, and enemies just spawn around you while you run through a pretty linear stage. If Suda 51's goal was to make a NMH game that feels like it was made by an indie studio, he succeeded. But like I said it's still fun, it still has the goofy meta-humor you'd expect, and playing co-op was neat.

 

  • Starlink: Battle for Atlas

My impression here is a little tainted by the fact that I was waiting behind a guy that had apparently never played a video game before, because he was completely incapable of shooting the GIANT GLOWING WEAK POINT on the boss. Anyway, the game itself is pretty cool; swapping ships/guns mid-battle feels gimmicky but it's still a neat idea. At one point I was using a flamethrower weapon but the range just wasn't working so I just quickly swapped out for a different gun. It was also kind of cool that the demo starts in space then you fly down to a planet to fight some monsters—that transition was just cool to see. I will say that some of the enemies had pretty ugly textures, but then again I was standing right next to a giant TV so maybe it'll look fine at home.

 

  • Pokémon: Let's Go Pikachu

Played with the Pokéball controller which was novel, but I admittedly felt silly shaking the ball in front of a crowd of on-lookers. Anyway this really is a midpoint between Pokémon Go and the main games: I wandered around Viridian forest, caught a Caterpie and a Pikachu (you can't fight wild Pokémon, only catch them, but it still gives your Pokémon team EXP), and fought some trainers which was more of a normal battle. I think the Let's Go games will perfectly suit Go players that want to try a more structured adventure but won't be that interesting to all of us that have played Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow before.

 

  • Zarvot

One of the Nindie games, pretty fun for a party/competitive game where you all play as cubes and try to shoot/stomp each other. I actually really like playing these kinds of games at conventions: four people can quickly join in and it's an experience you won't really get at home.

 

  • Super Crush KO

From the same developer as Graceful Explosion Machine which is in my opinion one of the hidden gems on the Switch eShop. They've taken the same basic idea (rack up a high score by using a wide variety of attacks) and made it a brawler instead of a shoot 'em up, and it was a lot of fun.

 

  • The Gardens Between

I was already interested in this from the Nindie presentation and playing a bit has sealed the deal for me. Really pretty, surreal puzzle game where you don't control the characters but instead move them forward/backward in time, affecting the environment around them. Interesting premise and decently challenging.

 

  • Gris

I didn't actually play this one since the line was so long but it looks so beautiful in person, can't wait to play it myself. It's a side-scrolling platformer that kind of has Journey's serene, atmospheric vibe.

 

  • Treadnaughts

Another competitive party game where you play as a tank that can move up walls/ceilings and try to shoot people—fun for a group.

 

  • Roundguard

Kind of feels like this is to Peggle what Puzzle Quest is to Bejeweled. Neat concept but it's rogue-like and honestly I'm so tired of rogue-like games.

 

  • Beat Cop

Pixel art police game where you balance handing out tickets and whatnot with interacting with the community. Seemed kind of cool.

 

  • Felix the Reaper

So delightfully silly, but the puzzles are pretty fun. It kind of reminds me of Lit if anyone remembers that one on Wiiware, but instead of creating paths of light you're creating paths of shadow.

 

  • Shovel Knight Showdown

Translating the Shovel Knight gameplay into a party-fighting game was a little wacky but it was fun. I lost both rounds I played though. :(

 

  • Darksiders 3

I'm really happy that the Darksiders brand is continuing but this demo left me pretty lukewarm. It might just be the fact that, as a demo, you have to just kind of jump right into the action, but the physics didn't feel as tight as I would have liked, and there were only like two attack combos I could figure out in the time of the demo. Keeping my fingers crossed that the final product is more polished, but the release is only a couple of months away.

 

  • Blood Roots

Fun, quick action game where you're just killing enemies but there are all sorts of weapons you can pick up and use and if you get hit once you die/start over, so it's kind of about finding the perfect rhythm for sweeping through the level.

 

  • Indivisible

One of the highlights of the show for me. The artwork is so beautiful and the combat is a lot of fun because you can link together combos depending on what characters you're using. Really looking forward to this.

 

And that's it! I didn't get to play Smash since the line was so long but from what I saw it looks great. I also didn't get much merch/swag aside from a hand towel from Nintendo. The conference was still a lot of fun though and now I'm exhausted.

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As long as Travis Strikes Again is fun then that's all I need to hear.  Yeah, it's not the same as the first two games but if the spirit is there and the gameplay holds up then I'll be fine with the changes for the most part.  Just glad we're getting more NMH in some form or another; and who knows what the future might hold after?

 

The Garden Between is another one from the Nindie direct that caught my eye too since I really like the idea of using some kind of element, in this case time, to play a role in how puzzles are solved.  I'm just curious how inventive they will become over time since there is a lot of cool things you can theoretically do with that as a mechanic.

 

Shame you didn't get an opportunity to play Gris since that was a really unique looking one, too. I'm mostly interested in the premise but the gameplay looks really smooth and fluid too from the trailer.

 

Felix the Reaper I had to look up videos for especially after you mentioned the similarity to LIT which I own on WiiWare.  First time really paying attention to the game but from what I can see it really does seem like an opposite of LIT in a way.

 

 

 

 

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17 hours ago, Kezay said:

As long as Travis Strikes Again is fun then that's all I need to hear.  Yeah, it's not the same as the first two games but if the spirit is there and the gameplay holds up then I'll be fine with the changes for the most part.  Just glad we're getting more NMH in some form or another; and who knows what the future might hold after?

 

Exactly; I'm happy for anything new from the No More Heroes universe, and maybe if this sells well it'll help fast-track another NMH game. And it sounds like Suda already has some ideas for another game, so Travis Strikes Again shouldn't be the end of the series.

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