Games

Sony Shows Off Sweet Holiday Lineup - Part 2

By Eli Green
December 10, 2008 - 22:40

The following article is something we promised a while back but, unfortunately, never got around to publishing. It has sat on a hard drive since late October, waiting to be finished and, finally, today we're doing just that. It's Part 2 of our look at Playstation's 2008 Holiday Preview Event.

Activision

Continuing through the event floor, I made my way to the Activision booth to see its offerings. I already knew to expect Guitar Hero World Tour , but I also got a close look at The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon and 007: Quantum of Solace .

I started out with Dawn of the Dragon (available now). Not having heard much about this new Spyro title, I didn't even expect to see it at the show, but I was happy to give it a go. You've got the option of playing as either Spyro himself, one again voiced by Elijah Wood, or his new ally, Cynder, voiced by Christina Ricci. Friends can also jump in/jump out of gameplay at any time and, for the first time ever, Spyro can now fly at any time. Spyro's flight is a bit restricted, but it helps you get around levels and avoid pitfalls a little more easily.

Graphically speaking, this new Spyro title is not all that impressive. If the development team was going for high-def graphics, they certainly did not achieve them. To say the least, the image quality, modeling and environments look quite outdated. Gameplay is a bit of a different story. Physical attacks and magic attacks can be pulled off quite smoothly, and the control system for choosing magic attacks is simple enough that younger players won't have a difficult time with it. This is especially important for puzzles in the game that require players to switch between different magic powers.

The game looks to be considerably more violent than previous titles in the franchise, but that would explain the E10+ rating. For parents who actually take the time to look at the ratings and see if a particular game is right for their child or not, I'm definitely willing to recommend it. The platforming is good and the gameplay handles well, the graphics are a bit outdated, but aside from that, it should be quite the entertaining game for kids. I couldn't say much about the story though, as the sound from the Guitar Hero World Tour booth drowned out most of the story/speaking sections of the game.

Just for kicks, and to compare it to the Xbox 360 version, I took a quick look at Guitar Hero World Tour . There aren't many, if any, differences between the two versions, but an interesting thought was recently presented to me that puts a compelling spin on why the Playstation 3 version may be the better purchase for some consumers looking to get the game this holiday season. If you take into consideration that there are a number of casual or non-gamers out there who are only looking into purchasing a console for games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band , it makes more sense to purchase the Playstation 3 versions of those games. It's not because they look any better, run any better or have more interesting content. It's because the Playstation 3 is a more reliable system than the Xbox 360. Simply put, if you're a casual gamer only looking to play games like Guitar Hero or Rock Band , or are just looking to watch a movie or use your console to listen to music, the Playstation 3 is the better buy because of its reliability. This doesn't apply as well to core gamers, who generally look for the kind of experience that Xbox 360 offers – a huge game library backed by a massive online community – but for casual gamers, Playstation 3 is a solid choice, especially since you won't have the constant “what if” situation like the Red Ring of Death on your back.

While playing Guitar Hero World Tour I caught a glimpse of Call of Duty World At War in action. I didn't get the chance to play it myself at any point in the day. That game's booth was also surrounded at all times of the day. I will say this though, only based on what I saw and heard from someone else playing the game: Call of Duty World At War both looks visually stunning and sounds amazing. A note though, and this is where that core gamers comment I made above comes into play. I was speaking to Sean Guadron , a game design professor from George Brown College – he attends a number of Toronto community gaming events – after the event and he told me that, when asked, one of the representatives from Activision told him that the Xbox 360 version of World At War would be better than the Playstation 3 version. There are a couple of main reasons for this. The first is that the game is being designed around a PC platform – which also explains why the game's beta is only going to Xbox 360 and PC gamers – and was therefore highly compatible with Xbox 360. The second reason is that most developers have still not found the best way to develop games for Playstation 3's Cell Broadband Engine yet (the console's specially designed multi-core processor).

After gawking at World At War for a fair amount of time, I made my way over to play the new James Bond game, 007: Quantum of Solace , which takes place somewhere between the last Bond movie Casino Royale and the upcoming Quantum of Solace . The portion of the game I played appeared to be from Casino Royale , during the train scene. It took me a bit to get used to the controls, but once I did, I made my way through and over the train's cars, ducking and taking cover from enemy fire, shooting various explosive elements and fighting off the wind to make my way to a fist fight at the end of the level. I like the controls for the game, and I'm quite glad that they've finally introduced cover into these types of games. It just adds a bit more realism to a game when you have to make your way through a level by protecting yourself and shooting from cover, whether it's from behind a wall, a bar, a couch or any other number of things. Apparently Sean managed to get through the entire level without taking cover once, and, in doing so, also got the Activision representative managing the game's demo booth a tad miffed.

The graphics in Quantum of Solace are crisp and clear, and the environments were rather impressive, though I did only see the train and its surroundings. The views from outside the train were particularly eye catching though, because that specific level included high wind speeds and pouring rain. While I wasn't taking cover from a rain of bullets, I could look around and see some hazy mountain terrain or make my way further down the train cars to the end of the level, fighting through the driving rain, which in itself looked great. I was also quite impressed with the way the developers managed to model Daniel Craig's face. It really looks like him.

Electronic Arts

I'll begin this section with Rock Band 2 , because I've already written about the game, and because Sean has already provided us with a full review. I enjoyed it on PS3 as much as I did on Xbox 360, but I did notice that the on-board guitar calibration has issues finding the proper timing when in high ambient noise situations. This shouldn't be an issue in home settings, but it's important to note. I still recommend this as a great gift for the holiday season, whatever system you plan to purchase it for. As I noted with Guitar Hero World Tour though, if you're just getting a new system and these casual, multiplatform games are the ones you're into, Playstation 3 is probably the better system choice.

Aside from Rock Band 2 , the only other EA game I looked at was Mirror's Edge , which I instantly became obsessed with. We'll have a review up for it soon, hopefully, but to spoil the surprise, it doesn't matter whether you have an Xbox 360 or Playstation 3, this is an absolute must have game. Mirror's Edge takes platforming to a whole new level, and its graphics are jaw dropping. Whoever said platforming doesn't work in first person has likely taken that back now.

Namco Bandai

Finally, a Playstation 3 exclusive to talk about. Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm was being demoed by Namco Bandai at the event and, honestly, I wasn't particularly impressed. The developers have definitely made a great looking game, similar to the way Ubisoft has made Naruto: The Broken Bond look very eye catching with cartoon -inspired 3D environments and character models that are true to their original design, but the gameplay just isn't as interesting. This may be because Ultimate Ninja Storm is a fighting game. I'm not the type to pick up a fighting game when I have other choices. All that said, people who enjoy the show or the mangas should still get a kick out of the game, as there are a lot of cool moves you can pull off with some of your favourite characters, and it's easy to pick up and play. However, this one is definitely not on my holiday list.

SEGA

I made a quick stop over at SEGA's floor space to see what was showing there. I caught a glimpse of one of the SEGA reps running through a level in Sonic Unleashed . While the Werehog portions didn't look very interesting, I did notice that the regular Sonic platforming sections had a classic look to them. It was fast, very fast. It appeared that the development team went back to the game's roots for these sections and reintroduced that basic speed platforming element that was so prevalent in the original games. I didn't have the time to try out the game for myself, so I can't give it a nod or a thumbs down.

I did, however, take some time to get a run through of Golden Axe: Beast Rider , which left me with some mixed feelings. The game looks decent and has some eye catching moves, and character models for that matter. I also liked the fact that players who want to delve deep into the storyline can do so by collecting story scrolls, while those who want to just want to play through can move on. What I found a bit annoying was that the game appeared to be a hack and slash title, with riding beasts occasionally, but with a slower feel.

Sony

Would you believe that the only Sony title I managed to get my hands on at the show was Killzone 2 ? It's true. All six hours of the show, the Resistance 2 area was packed with players, with good reason of course. I also spent so much time at the third party publishers' areas that I barely had any time to check out the Sony titles anyway. But I did manage to get some time with the Killzone 2 alpha, and I was impressed.

The first thing I noticed once I realized what I was playing (the title was not listed anywhere on the floor or in the game) was the graphics. I remember hearing talk from people at Sony about a year ago or so, saying that, unlike Halo 3 , Killzone 2 will actually live up to its original trailer's graphics quality. So far, it appears that that is absolutely true. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, quite honestly. The environments were highly detailed and rich, and the character models looked, well, real. The controls were also quite easy to pick up. For an alpha, that version of Killzone 2 was unbelievable. I can only hope that it keeps getting better as it gets closer to its February 2009 release.

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12