All posts in category Previews

PAX East 2012: Quantum Conundrum (Gamer’s Guide to Life – 4/16/12)

The Square Enix suite turned out to be a treasure trove of great games at this year’s PAX East. I was pleasantly surprised by the polish of Sleeping Dogs and the hack-y, slash-y fun of Heroes of Ruin, but the real prize, and my favorite game of the show, turned out to be Quantum Conundrum, the newest game from Airtight Games and Kim Swift. Swift was also the designer behind a little-known game called Portal, and Quantum has echoes of that game all over it.

I try to stay away from deliberate Portal comparisons when talking about Quantum Conundrum, but it plays so much like a spiritual sequel to the adventures of Chell and GLaDOS that a few references are inevitable. Like Portal, Quantum is a first-person puzzle game with a heavy emphasis on physics. Quantum also captured one of my favorite aspects of Portal: while most puzzle games make me feel like I’m being shepherded towards one “correct” solution*, both Quantum and Portal made me feel like I was finding a solution where none existed at all. It is a testament to Swift’s direction, as well as the rest of the team at Airtight, that I felt like I “broke” their game whenever I completed one of their challenges.

Quantum Conundrum was easily my favorite game at PAX East, and while it would do well for me to temper my expectations before its full release (something Jason Schreier of Kotaku noted in his preview), I’m still going to crow about this game to anyone who hasn’t had time with it all the way up until its ill-defined summer release.

Title: “PAX East 2012: Quantum Conundrum”
Outlet: Gamer’s Guide to Life
Publish Date: 4/16/12

Amid the usual greys, browns and cover mechanics of many modern games comes Quantum Conundrum, a first-person puzzle game of incredible whimsy and ingenious design.

Developed by Airtight Games and spearheaded by Kim Swift, the creative mind behind the original Portal, Quantum Conundrum is a pleasing mesh of reflexive first-person action and brain-prodding puzzle gameplay.

Players control a twelve-year-old boy who has gone to stay with his eccentric uncle, the inventor Professor Fitz Quadwrangle (what a name!). Unfortunately, the Professor Quadrangle has gone missing and it’s up to the player to find out what happened to him and bring him back.

Read the rest at Gamer’s Guide to Life.

Leave a Comment
by iamaparade on April 21, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Previews
Tagged , , , , , ,

Posted by iamaparade on April 21, 2012

http://andrewtesterman.com/2012/04/21/pax-east-2012-quantum-conundrum-gamers-guide-to-life-41612/

PAX East 2012: Borderlands 2 (Gamer’s Guide to Life – 4/16/12)

You want to know an awkward feeling? Playing a sequel to a game you didn’t play instead of thousands and thousands of others who did. The whole time you’re wondering to yourself, “Man, this is pretty fun, but I wonder what my fit of ecstasy would be like if I had played it as much as almost every other gamer in the world?” Yet another reason I subscribed to GameFly.

Anyway, disregarding the small pangs of guilt that I DID NOT LISTEN TO, I had fun with Borderlands 2, though I couldn’t tell you about any “improvements” it made over the previous game because, as we’ve discussed, I played the first Borderlands for a solid fifteen minutes before going back to something more pressing at the time; say, a large pitcher of margaritas, or what have you.

I did have a great time playing with a gentleman from Press Play named Nick Hawryluk, who spent probably 45% percent of the demo reviving me. Nick, if you’re reading this, I owe you a beer.

Shoot, loot, read on!

Title: “PAX East 2012: Borderlands 2″
Outlet: Gamer’s Guide to Life
Publish Date: 4/16/12

The original Borderlands was a huge surprise back when it released back in 2009, expertly combining twitchy, satisfying FPS action with stick-and-carrot loot collection à la Diablo and Torchlight.

Here in 2012, 2K Games knows that it has a hit on its hands, and gave Borderlands 2 one of the largest booths at this year’s PAX East. With so many gamers frothing at the mouths for a one-way ticket back to Pandora, will Borderlands 2 be enough to satiate diehard fans of the first entry whilst still gaining new ones? I went hands-on with the game in an attempt to find out.

Read the rest at Gamer’s Guide to Life.

Leave a Comment
by iamaparade on April 18, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Previews
Tagged , , , , ,

Posted by iamaparade on April 18, 2012

http://andrewtesterman.com/2012/04/18/pax-east-2012-borderlands-2-gamers-guide-to-life-41612/

PAX East 2012: Spec Ops: The Line (Gamer’s Guide to Life – 4/16/12)

2K games occupied a rather large portion of PAX East real estate this year, with a few of their booths representing some of the biggest on the floor. One such booth was for Spec Ops: The Line, with rows upon rows of TVs, Xbox 360s and PlayStation 3s, and happy gamers trying out the publisher’s new third-person shooter from Yager Development.

Also in the booth was a bombed-out wreck of a bus, which helped demonstrate some of game’s themes, e.g. there will be lots of blowed-up stuff to hide behind. It was impressive nonetheless.

At any rate, my colleague and I were able to swap back-and-forth between playing the game and watching, and I came away with enough of a feel for the game to write a preview. Enjoy.

Title: “PAX East 2012: Spec Ops: The Line”
Outlet: Gamer’s Guide to Life
Publish Date: 4/16/12

The Spec Ops franchise has long lain dormant, with its most recent entry, the budget-priced Spec Ops: Airborne Commando, releasing all the way back in 2002.

2K Games and Yager Development are gunning to breathe life into the ailing license with Spec Ops: The Line, a follow-up and reimagining of the tactical shooter series.

Read the rest at Gamer’s Guide to Life.

Leave a Comment
by iamaparade on April 18, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Previews
Tagged , , , , , ,

Posted by iamaparade on April 18, 2012

http://andrewtesterman.com/2012/04/18/pax-east-2012-spec-ops-the-line-gamers-guide-to-life-41612/

PAX East: Heroes of Ruin (Gamer’s Guide to Life – 4/16/12)

Up in the Square Enix suite, I was able to sample from a number of new games from the publisher. My next taste of hands-on gameplay was with a 3DS hack-y, slash-y, dungeon crawl-y action RPG called Heroes of Ruin. Heroes is being developed by n-Space, a studio whose claim to fame has consisted almost entirely of Nintendo hardware-related ports (also, Geist, but no one would prefer you remember that one).

Being a console gamer for most of my life, I missed out on several game genres that flourished on PC, including the hack-y, slash-y, dungeon crawl-y action RPG. Yes, I played the ever-loving crap out of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, but that game had more in common with God of War and Devil May Cry than isometric games about going CLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICK until enemy corpses and epic drops litter the ground.

Despite my lack of experience in the hack-y, slash-y, dungeon crawl-y action RPG genre, the little time I’ve spent playing them has shown me how great the potential for enjoyment is for a portable game of this ilk, and this is where Heroes of Ruin comes in. Not only does the game provide an excellent foundation for loot-grinding action, but it also has a wealth of cooperative play options, available both locally and online. I still have yet to buy a 3DS, but Heroes of Ruin did a great job of showing itself off as another, non-Miyamoto-related game worth picking up on Nintendo’s glasses-free 3D system.

Title: “PAX East 2012: Heroes of Ruin”
Outlet: Gamer’s Guide to Life
Publish Date: 4/16/12

“Hack-y, slash-y, dungeon crawl-y action RPGs have come back into vogue recently.

It’s a trend we’ve seen develop, with Runic Games’ Torchlight becoming an instant classic on Steam back in 2009 and Blizzard looking to drop the mother of all lootfests, Diablo III, later this spring. Developer n-Space is looking enter the hack-y, slash-y, dungeon crawl-y action RPG realm with Heroes of Ruin for the 3DS. Published by Square-Enix and created to be n-Space’s first original IP, Heroes of Ruin aims to bring the thrills of spelunking for treasure to portable gamers everywhere, and I got a chance to try it at this year’s PAX East.“

Read the rest at Gamer’s Guide to Life.

Leave a Comment
by iamaparade on April 18, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Previews
Tagged , , , ,

Posted by iamaparade on April 18, 2012

http://andrewtesterman.com/2012/04/18/pax-east-heroes-of-ruin-gamers-guide-to-life-41612/

PAX East 2012: Sleeping Dogs (Gamer’s Guide to Life – 4/15/12)

Ahoy there! Now that I’m finally recovered and situated from PAX East last week, I can start posting some of the previews I wrote on games I covered. There’ll be time for a recap what went on during the show, but for now I’ll content myself with going through my posts for Gamer’s Guide to Life. Not to worry, though; I have a good, solid plan of how to chronicle my experiences at PAX, and it won’t be too far down the pike. Who knows, these previews may even help provide context.

Anyway, let’s dive into it. One of my first major bouts of hands-on gaming came during the first day with Square Enix. Unlike other studios in attendance, Square had rented out two adjoining suites in the hotel next door to the convention center, and was using the space as a sort of press room, inviting game journos in to try out five or six games and help themselves to hors d’oeuvres. “How is your show so far?” I asked a particularly tired-looking PR fellow. “Depends on how much you like hotel rooms,” he replied with an exhausted-looking grimace. As a former housekeeper, I could relate.

The first game I looked at was Sleeping Dogs, developed by Canadian developer United Front with help from EA Black Box and Rocksteady Studios, who assisted with the game’s driving mechanics and hand-to-hand combat, respectively. I had a good time running the game through its paces, and heard a bubbling-under of positive word of mouth throughout the show. Hopefully it’ll do some business when it drops this August.

Title: “PAX East 2012: Sleeping Dogs”
Outlet: Gamer’s Guide to Life
Publish Date: 4/15/12

“After nearly four years and two name-changes, United Front’s gritty open-world action game, Sleeping Dogs, is finally nearing release.

Inspired and influenced by works of Hong Kong cinema, Sleeping Dogs offers a stylish, story-focussed take on the open-world genre already populated with heavy-hitters. I got a chance to go hands-on with Sleeping Dogs during PAX East, and came away impressed at the game’s polish and ambition.

Sleeping Dogs’s main narrative follows Wei Shen, a San Francisco cop tasked with infiltrating the Triad gangs of Hong Kong. As Wei Shen further penetrates the Triad ranks, he begins to encounter more and more emotional friction and toil over the decisions that he’s forced to make to keep his cover, making the story unusually character-driven for an open world action game. Where many sandbox games – Saints Row, or Just Cause, for instance – keep the proceedings light and humorous, Sleeping Dogs features a plot which is straight-forward and hard-boiled, heavily drawing cues from Infernal Affairs, the film that informed the 2006 Best Picture-winner, The Departed.“

Read the rest at Gamer’s Guide to Life.

Leave a Comment
by iamaparade on April 16, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Previews
Tagged , , , , , ,

Posted by iamaparade on April 16, 2012

http://andrewtesterman.com/2012/04/16/pax-east-2012-sleeping-dogs-gamers-guide-to-life-41512/

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.