Impressions from Room299

And there’s a lot of good stuff coming! So to say I was excited to check out PlayStation Move, Killzone 3, SOCOM 4 and Gran Turismo 5 is an understatement. It’s too bad though that LittleBigPlanet 2 was absent, but to me personally – as a big fan of the first game – that’s a day one-purchase anyway. Before we got to actually playing the games, we first sat down to enjoy a nice and brief presentation.First up, some numbers on the PS3:

• 38 million units sold worldwide (16 million in Europe)
• The PS3 sold 60 percent more than in 2009
• Not less than 70 percent of all PS3 owners is connected to PlayStation Network
• According to Sony, multiplatform-titles sell better on PS3. Now, I don’t know if this is correct to be honest. It could be that they are reffering to Europe only (I forgot to ask afterwards), but that wasn’t stated during the presentation.
• PS3-exclusive games have the best overall scores on Metacritic

Coming soon:

• New PS3 models with bigger HDD’s (160GB and 320GB) and a Move-bundle (320GB).
• PlayStation Move (released September 15 in Europe, the September 19 in the US and October 21 in Japan)
• MUBI (video on demand)

Alright then. After we got that out of the way, it was time to do some serious testing. And I must say that I really appreciate what Sony did with Room299 in terms of decorating. There were some nice comfortable couches, a few paintings on the wall, fancy carpet, a neon light-version of the Room299 logo, tasty snacks and a lot of nice and helpful people. You could say it reminded me of home. Well, except for the big-ass 3D tv’s, the fancy carpet and the nice and helpful people of course. But hey, a great setting nevertheless.

The PlayStation Move.

Honestly, of all that’s coming to PlayStation this year, I was most excited about PlayStation Move. After all the positive stories I heard and read about it, I was extremely happy to be actually holding a Move-controller for the first time. And it totally felt right. It’s not heavy at all, but not too light either. It doesnt feel cheap. It feels like very decent hardware, just like most PlayStation products do, with just one big con: The four small iconic PlayStation buttons. They’re indeed very, very small when compared to the buttons that can be found on a DualShock 3-controller. They’re positioned differently as well, so it does take some getting used to. But I guess that’s just a matter of time. And most games rely on using the new ‘Move’ button and the Trigger anyway.

Of the two games I tried on the Move, Sports Champions was without doubt my favourite. Start the Party just didn’t cut it for me and I can be very brief about this: It’s fun to play around with augmented reality in some of the mini-games, and it works really well, but there’s not enough depth or variation to keep me (or any of you, I reckon) interested. Though one of the guys from PS3Clan.nl that I played Sports Champions with (Ronald Balk, who by the way took this lovely picture of me playing Killzone 3 in 3D – see below), was very excited about the game, as he believed his daughther would absolutely love it. So I can see this game selling rather well in the long run, as it’s a very entertaining title for families that have kids. That is, of course, if they would buy a PS3 with Move in the first place of course, as Start the Party certainly isn’t a ‘system seller’.

So what about Sports Champions then? Could that be a system seller? Well… I don’t know. It’s a fun game, sure, and it showcases all the great things you can do with the PlayStation Move quite well, but there’s nothing really new or exciting about it. To the casual market, it’s just another Wii Sports. But hey, I might be wrong here. Because when you actually play with the PlayStation Move, you’ll find that it’s very different from the Wii. It’s very, very accurate and it truly is a step forward in motion controlled gaming. Especially when playing Table Tennis, I really felt as if I were ‘in the game’. It’s something you just have to experience for yourself.

So, will I buy the Move when it comes out September 15? Most definately! I’ll pick it along with Sports Champions, just to show my friends that it’s much more fun than a Wii. But I’m also buying it for future games that will have Move support, such as Killzone 3 and SOCOM 4. Because that last one just blew me away. And not only because of how unexpectedly well it controlled with the Move.

SOCOM 4 / SOCOM: Special Forces

So like I said, SOCOM 4 controls rather well using the PlayStation Move. Unfortunately, my time with the game was rather short, as the democode wasn’t available all afternoon and there were a lot of people waiting in line to get hands-on with it. But from my brief session, I learned that SOCOM 4 is a game to look forward to.

As for the Move controls, I must admit that they weren’t perfect. There was some noticeable delay and the sensitivity was a bit too much for me. But on the other hand, you also need it, as you have to be able to quickly turn your character. Afterwards, I learned that the final version will enable you to finetune all kinds of settings, so you’ll probably be able to find a solution that works for you. I do hope they’ll be able to fix the delay, because eventhough it’s very short, the delay really holds the PlayStation Move from replacing my DualShock 3 when it comes to shooters.

Aside from these small issues, which I reckon will probably be fixed in the final version of the game anyway, the game looks stunning. It really does. It also helps that I’m a sucker for cover-based third person shooters ever since I played Gears of War on the Xbox 360, especially when they have a solid multiplayer-mode, and except for Uncharted 2 there hasn’t been a single game on PS3 that delivers the same ammount of fun and tension. See, the thing with Uncharted 2’s multiplayer-mode and controls, is that they’re a bit ‘goofy’. I don’t know how to put it otherwise. But the controls, shooting and cover-system in SOCOM 4 are really solid. I seriously can’t wait to play some more and try out the multiplayer-modes for it as well.

Killzone 3(D)

Another game I got some hands-on time with, is Killzone 3. The previous installment in the Killzone-franchise was a great shooter with fantastic graphics. In fact, it still is one of the best looking games currently available. And it looks like Killzone 3 will test the limits of the PS3 even further, with bigger environments, even more particle effects and more layers of lovely post-processing filters to top it off.

But unfortunately, I can’t say for sure yet. Because I played it in 3D. And although it was a nice experience, I can’t say that I was very impressed with it. I mean, the extra depth this technique generates does add to the experience and immersion while playing games and it’s actually quite cool, but it also (at least with Killzone 3) comes with a price when it comes to the visuals. Because to render the double images the 3D technique requires for it to work, the PS3 has to do a lot of extra work. And with Killzone 3, this means that you’ll be playing the game at SubHD with lower-res textures. And you can tell right away, which is something that really bothered me while playing through the three demo-missions this build had to offer. On the other hand, it was still Pre-alpha code, and they have a lot of time left to optimize before the game releases, so I’ll reserve judgement until I’ve played the final version. But in it’s current state, I think I prefer playing it in ‘2D’ and just wait until the next generation of consoles before buying a 3D TV.

I do want to add though, that the game itself plays great. The controls have been improved upon and felt much smoother than in Killzone 2, without giving up the unique sense of weight. The artstyle, level-design and lightning are still top-notch and really shows that the guys and girls at Guerrilla Games are very, very talented. More on Killzone 3 later though, after I got my hands on the upcoming Multiplayer Beta.

Closing Comments.

In the end, I didn’t get to play Gran Turismo 5, which was very unfortunate, but it didn’t ruin my day at all. I had a great time at Room299 and want to congratulate Sony Benelux with their efforts. I hope you enjoyed reading my brief impressions of what’s to come for PlayStation owners in the near future. If you have any questions, let me know in the comments. I’d be happy to answer them!