TSA At PlayStation Beta Rooms

We brought you the news regarding the PlayStation Beta Rooms a couple of weeks ago, and it was met with a mixed reaction.  Essentially Sony is allowing a limited number of people access to some of their upcoming games.  Whilst this sounds incredibly generous, Sony employees will be gathering thoughts and opinions throughout the night which – hopefully – will shape the final versions of these games.

Being the super cool team that we are, Sony asked us to pop down yesterday evening to a Beta Rooms press event to see what we thought.  I took up the mantle on behalf of TSA – which involved nine hours worth of driving, four hours worth of games playing, and ten cans of red bull and coke.  Here are my thoughts on the games that were made available.

Killzone 3

This game is a beast.  It assaults you visually, aurally and mentally.  I get the feeling that if you played this game through a surround sound set up, you’d blow your damn house down.

The demo Sony turned up with allowed you to play through three small snippets of the game – one assault on the Helghast level, one jetpack level and one balls out, kill everything that moves and then kill it again with a rocket launcher level.

Gunplay feels weighty and very satisfying, and there are some fantastic subtle details like the Helghast’s clothes being ripped to shreds by some of the heavier artillery.

Graphically it’s looking fantastic and I’m looking forward to seeing if they can push the boundaries even further.

One way to describe the 3D version of the game is ‘subtle.’  Another way would be ‘downright disappointing.’  Hopefully this will get turned up a notch, because I was expecting a lot more.

Gran Turismo 5

It’s good – but you were expecting that right?  The car handling is spot on; the computer controlled cars are more aggressive; the graphics are sublime and the day/night cycle is an interesting feature.  I’m not going to go on about this game too much – you already know you want it.

The 3D has been nicely implemented in Gran Turismo 5.  Whilst not as subtle as Killzone 3, it doesn’t make you yelp in terror every time a bit of dust is kicked up.

Motorstorm Apocalypse

Think back – when was the last time a game made you swear in surprise?  Motorstorm Apocalypse made me say a big “holy sh*t” – and that’s all down to the 3D implementation.  Whilst Killzone 3 and Gran Turismo 5 caress and hug your eyes, Motorstorm Apocolypse slaps you round the face, pulls down your trousers and laughs at you.  It’s amazing.  The first time a car exploded and a wheel came flying towards the screen both myself and the person next to me ducked out the way.  This is the game that will persuade you to nip down to Currys and pick up that shiny new 3D TV.

That leaves the big question though – without 3D, does the game hold up?  At the moment I don’t think it does, mainly due to a few key issues.  There is far too much happening on screen at any one time – which causes unavoidable, frustrating crashes.  The game also seems to lack a sense of speed at the moment which I find really confusing.  The throttle trigger is fully depressed, the car’s engine is making all the right ‘look I’m so fast’ noises, but it just doesn’t feel right.  A few people noticed this, and I hope it’s just the car class that was in the demo.

One really odd addition is pedestrians who you can run down and kill.  Why?  Why is a Motorstorm game allowing you to kill people?  I don’t like this; it adds nothing but a higher age rating on the box.

LittleBigPlanet 2

Is it wrong to declare love for a game?  If it isn’t, then I love LittleBigPlanet 2.  The co-op demo level is the same as the gameplay trailer that was released a few days ago – and it’s a real gem.  The grapple is a real nice touch and allows some smooth transitions between platforms, and the jumping seems to feel less ‘floaty’ than in the original LittleBigPlanet.

Dead Nation

This would be the result if Left4Dead and Robotron had a baby.  Dead Nation is an old school shooter heading for the PSN that provides a fair amount of enjoyment if played in small doses.

You run from checkpoint to checkpoint blasting zombies with various weapons, before inevitably being overrun and killed – grrr.

An impressive number of zombies are displayed on screen at the same time, and the frame rate doesn’t miss a beat.

The only real complaint is that the weapons lack any real impact.  If I blast something with a shotgun I want them to know about it, but as it stands I could be firing washcloths.

Heavy Rain Move Edition

Once everyone had got passed sniggering over being able to towel dry Madison using motion control, there is actually a very good control scheme in place.  It takes a short while to re-wire your brain in to using the Move, but once you do it becomes second nature.  Will Heavy Rain be worth replaying just to use the new controls?  I don’t think so – but I’m sure a lot of people will disagree.

Kung Fu Rider

Who was smoking what when this game was thought up?  You ride various objects (pink wooden Bambi anyone?) down a course using the Move to steer left and right.  Flicking up lets you jump over obstacles, whilst holding the trigger allows you to duck.  At various points men in suits will try to stop you, so you have to kick them.  Did I actually dream this?

Kung Fu Rider is fun, but I’m not sure how much variation there is and it all seems a bit easy –  I managed to ‘S Rank’ three of the levels in the demo whilst downing a can of Red Bull and Coke.

Saying that, the Move controls are slick and responsive.  Good harmless enjoyment.

Eat Them

Oh dear.  I really dislike being negative regarding a game, after all, someone’s put time and effort into it – but Eat Them has a lot of problems that need ironing out before its PSN debut in October.

You take control of one of several monsters, and your aim is to destroy a city and cause as much mayhem as possible.  Unfortunately destroying a building results in some ridiculous slowdown and some serious lag from pressing the fire button, to something actually happening.  Add in some annoying invisible walls, and this isn’t a particularly fun game as it stands.

Sports Champions

Access was given to the ‘Frisbee golf’ and ‘Table Tennis’ parts of the game – and both impressed in terms of showing off the Move’s level of accuracy.

Frisbee golf requires you to toss a Frisbee until you hit a designated marker.  It sounds stupid, but is very addictive.  The Move allows you to tilt the Frisbee, and sense the power you put behind each throw.

Table Tennis is…well it’s Table Tennis, and very accurate at that.  In fact, most people spent their first few tries missing the ball completely because it is true 1:1 control.

It’s a shame the other games in Sports Champion weren’t unlocked – but what was on display was good stuff.

The Fight

I’ll be upfront; I didn’t rate this game very highly at all.  I was expecting fluid seamless controls, what I got was a slightly sluggish bout of fisticuffs that didn’t seem to calibrate properly, no matter what I tried.  Good for working up a sweat though, but expect the Daily Mail to be outraged.

The Move and Navigation controllers

Very interesting bits of kit.  They have a good weight to them but never feel heavy; and they are ergonomically very nice.

The calibration process was always simple and never took more than a matter of seconds, and on the whole I was impressed.

Overall

A good event, but also one that proves that whilst Sony is pushing the Move, motion control is in no way essential to have an amazing gaming experience.  Move or not, the next twelve months are looking pretty sweet for PS3 owners.

If you are heading down to the Beta Rooms today or tomorrow, you’re in for a treat – enjoy it!  Those who can’t make it, don’t fret – Sony has said that this is but one of many, a point that was brought up during my various conversations with the Sony bods yesterday.