Eurogamer Expo 2012: A Glimpse of Things to Come – Part 1

 

With the Eurogamer Expo 2012 now seeming like a distant yet joy filled memory, I do believe that it is now time to look at what little bits of excitement it showcased and tell you why you should or shouldn’t be interested. I managed to either play or, in the case of ZombiU, enviously watch other people playing an eclectic mixture of games whilst I was at the Expo, with some far better than others.

The following is a collection of previews of upcoming titles and also my perspective based on what I’ve seen so far, with conclusions ranging from ‘Avoid at all costs‘ *Cough* XCOM: Enemy Unknown *Cough* to the simple and effective ‘Must Buy’. Enjoy!

ZombiU – Must Buy (That is if you plan on buying the WiiU…)

I’m pretty sure everyone agrees that A LOT has been said about ZombiU since it was first unveiled. Quite frankly, I think it’s becoming difficult for journalists to be original when talking about this game because it is that damn good. Maybe this journalist could meander around the summary and, instead of talking about ZombiU, I could talk about the queue for ZombiU at the Expo? That’s quite original, right? Plus, I even threw in a rhyme for your reading pleasure! Scrap it, I’m going to stick to the book and say that ZombiU is making the WiiU look far more appealing to someone who wasted a lot of money on the Wii many moons ago. A gory, flagship title like this will work wonders for a successor to the heavily child orientated and casual gaming provided by the Wii. It’s a serious game that represents a serious move by Nintendo to try and step on the toes of Microsoft and Sony’s bond with hardcore gamers. ZombiU looks stunning and the zombie combat is intense. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cricket bat make that kind of contact on a video game before, granted I still haven’t played Dead Island yet.

P.S. The queue for ZombiU was mahoosive, just thought I’d clear that up.

Tomb Raider – Must Buy

Now this was one of the most pleasant surprises of the Expo for me personally. The Tomb Raider reboot of the same name is basically how Lost: The Video Game should have been made all those years ago, yet a few of us unlucky saps know how that one turned out. I found myself thrown into the Beta version of the hunting level on Tomb Raider with an eerie sense that I was on the Island from the TV series Lost. I swear I could have heard John Locke’s voice if I’d listened closely! This isn’t meant to discredit the creators in any way, but you can see where they may have drawn inspiration from. The loneliness and survivalist elements of the game are going to be big drivers of the narrative, with trying to find your fellow shipwreckees, if that is even a word, and fending off all kinds of danger likely being the two most common occurrences. Poor little Lara really did have a harsh time in the 15 minutes of the game that I played and it is hard not to feel sorry for her, despite her being a fictional computer generated character. If, like me, you have never purchased a Tomb Raider game before then don’t be discouraged. This prequel is pretty much a stand alone title, yet there may be references placed within that only the hardcore Tomb Raider fans will understand.

Dishonored – So Bloody Tempting…

Maybe it’s the inner pro-Bethesda whore that’s telling me to buy this game, or maybe it is really worth all the hype? I’m so confused. I couldn’t help but feel like I was playing some sort of spiritual successor to Bioshock whilst I was sampling Dishonored’s delights. The dual-handed combat that I absolutely adored in Bioshock 2 seems to have re-emerged in Dishonored, whilst the twisted, alternate universe makes me want to delve into it in order to look for their own legendary equivalent of Andrew Ryan. I’m only being honest when I say that Dishonored really didn’t jump out at me in the way that everybody said it would, largely because it felt like I’d done all of this before. Maybe the expectations were too high and the familiarity of the gameplay was unexpected? I’m still not sure, but I do know that this is going to be a good game at the very least. Just don’t expect too much because you may possibly start writing paragraphs that are as indecisive as the one you’ve just read…

Hitman: Absolution – A Must Buy for any Hitman fan!

There may be a twinge of bias within the following paragraph because, quite simply put, I heart Hitman! Also the wonderful people at IO Interactive  gave me a shed-load of mini-Agent 47 figures! Hitman: Absolution has managed to take quite a mature franchise and bring it back with moderate updates and enough of the original class to appease the fan-boys. The beautiful rendition of ‘Ave Maria‘ that we’ve all become accustomed to rings out every now and again during the game, bringing with it the memories of past Hitman games and their composer Jesper Kyd, now absent. The levels have all of the various methods of completion that we’re used to, ranging from ‘Sneaky Bastard‘ to ‘Got Caught So Just Started Shooting Everything/Everyone‘. There was however one problem with the demo level that I played. At the final cut-scene Agent 47 began talking and I almost convulsed in horror. His voice had changed. It wasn’t even like they’d replaced the original voice artist, David Bateson, with a new distinctive and brilliant voice. Instead, Agent 47 had become bland and overly American. Luckily the director recently had a change of heart and has reinstated David Bateson as the voice of Agent 47, so my only complaint has now become obsolete!

P.S. What’s 10 x 47? (The aforementioned mini-Agent 47 figures…)

Check back next week for Part 2 of A Glimpse of Things to Come!

Toodle pip!