Eyes-on at E3 2008

Games that made me cry, stuff that opened my third eye, and a few that got away.
7/25/2008 10:38 PM | 3 Comments | Page 1 of 2

Going to E3 is all about seeing and playing new games, but unless you're some kind of scheduling ninja it's nearly impossible to check out everything. It doesn't help that some of the stuff you run across is so mind-boggling messed up that you immediately wish you were elsewhere, like maybe the dentist or the DMV. Still, there are always one or two games that bear so much promise that all the pain and suffering seems worth it. Here's a late-breaking final shot E3 round-up.

Games That Made Me Cry

I'm a sucker for Animal Crossing, but was seriously bummed when Nintendo revealed that Animal Crossing: City Folk would be yet another iteration of the same game we've been playing since 2002. Is a top-down re-imagining of the game too much to ask?

NanaOn-Sha are music game originators. Their PlayStation classic Parappa the Rapper started it all. I was simultaneously thrilled and bummed to see Major Minor's Majestic March for the Wii. The game retains the awesome cartoon-styled look of artist Rodney Greenblat, but it wasn't all that fun to play.

I've been secretly rooting for Konami since they announced that they'd be entering the music game war. They did, after all, practically start the whole rock simulation thing with their arcade game Guitar Freaks. Sadly, Rock Revolution proves that though Konami may be innovators, they still don't get it. Banging on their freakish drum set feels nothing like laying down a beat in Rock Band. And the music they chose is just as terrible as all their Bemani stuff.

Eye-Opening Moments

Dragons and wizards are so last-gen. Give me a post-apocalyptic setting any day. And though Borderlands, a new shooter from 2K Games, takes place on an alien world it still has a distinct "Mad Max" vibe. The moments I saw of the game (a hands-off demo) underlined the game's angle on Diablo-style looting and co-op action. Enemies drop a vast variety of guns, all of which are generated on the fly -- making each firearm feel all the more unique.

I love going to the Game Developers Conference because it's the best place to hear game designers talk about their games from a personal perspective. Jenova Chen from That Game Company recreated that vibe when pitching his game Flower for the PlayStation 3. Rather than taut features and run-through bullet points he started off his talk by explaining that he aimed to use Flower to make gamers feel emotions other than anxiety, fear and aggression. Consider my interest piqued.

I was genuinely surprised at how scary Valve's shooter Left 4 Dead could be. I usually zone out when playing multiplayer shooters, disconnecting myself from the action. But here, I found myself immersed in the bombed-out buildings and totally freaked out by the game's fast zombies. One of the undead is no problem: You just empty your clip into their brain and watch them flop to the floor. But when a dozen of them come booking around the corner, your bowels empty before you get a chance to pull the trigger.