Gamescom 2010 Hands On Round-Up

We hope you’ve enjoyed our ‘hands on’ articles over the past two days. As you will be aware though, Gamescom was full to bursting with gaming titbits – so here’s a brief round-up of games I played that had short demos, and games I managed to observe being played.  Warning – this article will make reference to me jiggling my arms and legs up and down like a crazed clown whilst playing Kinect; TSA will not be held responsible for any nightmares that may occur.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

Oh dear.  This game really deserved an article of its own – but unfortunately the demo units all seemed to have been struck with a gypsy curse that caused them to shut down at random.  What I did manage to play was encouraging and leads me to think this could be the 3D Castlevania that actually works.  Rather than comparing the game to God of War, it actually feels more like Heavenly Sword in terms of its combat system.  The whip feels light and nimble rather than Krato’s more meaty blades.  I would certainly like to play more.

Nail’d

Ever wondered what Motorstorm would be like if you gave it five litres of extra strong coffee?  The answer is called ‘Nail’d’ – a downloadable off road racing game.  The racing is solid enough but the sense of speed is horrible.  The quad bike was going at a reasonable pace, but it seemed like to add a false sense of speed, the scenery whooshing past had been sped up to an absurd degree.  It made me feel a bit ill.

DC Universe Online – single player mission

I know DC Universe Online will live or die by its online mode – but trying to get a go on that was like trying to get blood from a stone.  Instead I managed to get hands on with the single player side of things, to get an idea of how the character controls.  I’m happy to report that things have come along nicely.  The powers are fun to use, and whilst the camera sometimes decides it knows best (it doesn’t) I didn’t have any major concerns.  The game has great object physics too.

F.E.A.R 3

I hate games that make you jump.  What I hate even more are games that make you jump in a room full of other people.  That’s right ladies and gents – F.E.A.R 3 is up to its old tricks with enemies that jump out at you, mind games and things you catch out of the corner of your eye but vanish if you try and look.  Plot wise I didn’t have a clue what was going on because all audio was drowned out by the event – what I did play confused the heck out of me.  Solid gunplay though, but the aiming is a bit twitchy and needs slowing down in my opinion.

Fable III

This game should not have had a demo.  The Fable games have always been about building up a character and going exploring – so to create a five minute demo forcing you to walk a scripted path and kill some soldiers seems a bit pointless.  The new spell system is a nice touch though.

Epic Mickey

I love this game so much.  It looks fantastic, the controls are spot on and it’s going to provide a real alternative to those who have an aversion to moustached plumbers.  It needs to come to the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Kinect

Tricky subject this.  It didn’t seem to go down well at all from my perspective.  Those watching people playing all seemed to have the same look on their face – complete indifference.  Some of the games I observed worked fine, whilst others struggled a bit when using the swipe motion to flick through menus.  I got really annoyed when a couple of people started a game of Dance Central – and they were obviously professional dancers with a choreographed routine as they weren’t even looking at the screen.  That’s not convincing me that Kinect works guys.

My own hands on with Kinect wasn’t pleasant.  It was a party game compilation and I played two of its games – bowling and some kind of monster squashing game.  The bowling was ok, with Kinect registering what I was doing absolutely fine.  The monster squashing game was an embarrassment as you were forced to jiggle about waving your hands whilst stamping your legs.  I walked away with but a shred of pride remaining.

PlayStation Move

There’s nothing more to say that we haven’t said before.  It really does work – very accurate with some great games on the horizon.

Nintendo 3DS

Worst part of the show.  “Why’s that?” I hear you cry – because it wasn’t bloody there!  I’m heartbroken Nintendo, I really am.  Still love you though – call me ok?

So that’s TSA’s Gamescom 2010 hands on articles finished. I’m sure you’ll agree that the next twelve months are going to be an outstanding time to own any of the consoles.  Happy gaming!

36 Comments

  1. Thats for the coverage guys. As always, excellent work!

    Cheers,

    Foxhound_Solid

  2. Epic Mickey is the reason I’m somehow going to find the money to buy a Wii. Can’t wait for it… then of course I need a 3DS, plus a boat load of games for both ARRGGGHHH!

    • Nintendo had a grand total of ONE machine playing Epic Mickey

    • haven’t bought a new game for my Wii since Mario Kart, was thinking of trading it in for a 360S but love the look of Epic Mickey.

    • Didnt I read a while back that they wouldnt rule out a PS3 version of epic Mickey which supports Move.

    • Not a fan of disney franchise’s since well..? playstation, Epic Mickey looks awesome and er.. EPIC!

  3. “I walked away with but a shred of pride remaining.”

    hahahahaha!!! nice one, that gave me a giggle ;)

    • lol same here.

    • Careful, cc will be along shortly berating you for daring to criticise the technological wonder that is Kinect. _Obviously_ the lighting was bad, or people were taking photos with flashes or there was some other half cocked excuse for why Kinect was a steaming pile of overpriced poo this time around.

      Great to hear Move is meeting the hype though. The GamesCom MAG announcement as well as Flight Control HD and Virtua Tennis 4 are making me v happy. I can see my DS3s getting very little use in future as I bounce from Move title to GT5 steering wheel and back to Move :).

      As for pride, at 35 I do have to swallow some of my own as I lower myself into my home made racing chassis in front of my friends and gf :). Secretly they all want a go though, perhaps it’s the same with Kinect?

      Thanks for the coverage this past week TSA, you rock.

  4. did you scream like a girl during your Fear 3 hands on? ;)

    • More like clucked like a chicken!

  5. Great coverage of Gamescom. Nice to see some games coming along really well. And I’m like you Dan, I jump at a lot of things. Even loot midgets in the Knoxx DLC!

    • add spaniards in uncharted 1 to that ;) crapped myself, didnt play it again for months lol

      • Forgot about them. I think I left that game for about 3 months too.

  6. good round of some good hands-on’s :) really made me rethink about some games

  7. Great work guys…. only one TSA! =D

  8. Great work guys…. only one TSA! =D (and it wouldn’t let me post that on it’s own, it said it was a duplicate comment?)

    • oh wait doesn’t matter… I wasn’t showing up on my screen lol =S

    • Haha, TSA always knows best!

  9. Great coverage has been super helpful at the game store i work at and i recommend the site to all my customers!! Good job!

  10. Thanks for all the great coverage and for making us envious with all those hands-on demos. ;)

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