Next I had a half hour encounter with an old friend, the special edition still sits on my shelf; it’s been an encounter in the making for almost 7 years. On with the 3D glasses, controller in hand, I shed a few joyous tears as I returned to a highly polished Shadow of the Colossus. Any old fans will be familiar with the Colossus that I faced, number three, or (if it was a ‘Friends’ episode) ‘The one that was on a giant platform in the middle of a lake and wielded a huge sword’.
It was easy to slip back into playing it, the controls are the same, the game is the same, everything is the same so far as I could tell. I killed a few lizards, jumped off Agro once or twice on the edge of a cliff and pretended I could fly, even attempted to go up ‘that’ piece of ivy (if you know it, you know it, if you’ve never played the game then I’m not ruining it).
The Colossus fight was still as awe inspiring as it was way back when the game first came out, you can’t help but shake the feeling of isolation and seclusion when riding through a foggy moor desperately hoping to find another person. The 3D is possibly the best that I experienced on the day and just helps to make the emotions and experience of the game that much more poignant and touching on the gamer.
Although it’s a remake of an old game, the revamped graphics of it would easily slot in upon the shelf next to the likes of Uncharted or the first Assassin’s Creed. They aren’t great or vastly up to date as the graphics in games that are coming out this year, but if it was part of the PS3 launch line-up then it would have blended in well. When all’s said and done Shadow of the Colossus was probably my third best experience of the day.
After moving on from slaying Colossi, I watched Demon Souls being played for awhile but knew how hard it was so didn’t attempt it myself. The difficulty level was evident as the person playing it died seven times in the space of three minutes, in exactly the same spot each time. Graphically it seemed absolutely fine, but I was left flummoxed by the premise of the game. It appeared to use some kind of medieval/fantasy setting and everyone I watched playing it had their pride served to them on a silver platter. Several times.
If you like that kind of thing then fair enough, the graphics looked nice, it appeared to control easily enough and the game itself was just… nice. Not my kind of game, but it looked to be popular by the queue it had to play (the only game that had a queue all day), so I suppose it’s worth your while playing it if you are interested.
Next was PlayStation Move. I have mixed opinions on Move, if I wanted motion control then I’d go downstairs and carry on playing Pikmin, Monster Hunter Tri or Mario Kart Wii as I have been this week. Catch that word there? Wii.
I’ve always thought of the Move as PlayStation’s way of cashing in on the motion control market that is generated by families and casual gamers. Then again, it also offers gamers another experience on regular gaming, such as the use of Move in Resistance 3 with the Sharpshooter peripheral (will also come back to this later). I avoided the ‘Move’ section of Access, instead watching my friends Joel and Ranj amuse themselves on Medieval Moves, LittleBigPlanet Move and several other games.
The one thing I did notice was that the tracking is a lot better than the Wii, no need for an additional bit to shove up the rear to make it point better, the controller just naturally sensed the TV better and worked better than a Wiimote. Medieval Moves was really good to watch, it appeared a tad childish for me but then again plenty of other adults were having a go. If you’ve seen any footage of the game then there’s no need to explain anymore, it plays exactly as seen, no hidden extras, the use of the Move controller with the weapons is a really good idea.
LittleBigPlanet Move was exactly that; LBP with Move support. Nothing really extra or special about it, just a different approach or another way of playing the game instead of a controller. I didn’t see this is a bad thing, but didn’t really see it as a good thing either, just something else that’ll appeal to people who like that kind of thing and another option to give gamers a wider choice when playing.
I apologise in advance for the briefness of the coverage of the next game. I hate football games with a passion, along with pretty much all sports games. FIFA 12 was at Access, there was even a FIFA competition. There were only two FIFA consoles, compared to the nine Resistance 3 or five Assassin’s Creed consoles, and they were constantly occupied by fans. I didn’t get a chance to play the game, and avoided it altogether. I’m not that ‘savvy’ with other FIFA games so I couldn’t really say whether it was more up to date or not, it looked good enough. Let’s leave it at that and skip along.
In a side room I had a go on God of War HD collection in 3D, the one that contains the PSP re-releases. I’m not generally not a fan of repeated button mashing and hack’n’slash games but they’re just not my thing, so I can’t pass too much judgement on the gameplay. However, the graphics looked relatively good for an upscaled PSP game, and the 3D worked really well with a lot of depth and realism. Fans of the franchise will enjoy these greatly and I’m sure they’ll be a nice addition to a strong line-up for the back end of this year for Sony. Just like SOTC this collection would also blend in nicely with earlier games such as GTA4 or LBP.
We’ll be back tomorrow with part two of Posem’s experiences at the event. If you want to see even more images from the day head over to Flickr.
DeathByNumbers
Journey seems quite an interesting prospect, I look forward to playing that one. Can’t wait for ICO/SoTC. I can’t really stand football games either haha thanks for letting us know how it went. Hopefully they will bring one of these to Northern Ireland at some point.
Rocket_345
Nice coverage there. I keep hoping they bring one closer to me as although i can get to Birmingham (closest to me) in a couple of hours i’d rather not travel on my own (the last days of this all my mates were on holiday) however if closer i probably would. Looking forward to next days coverage.
TSBonyman
That’s an interesting take on Journey, i myself found the beta fairly intuitive and the lack of info just encouraged me to explore, but now i’m wondering will some people find the experience exasperating instead of intriguing and uplifting. It’s probably not the best game to be played in that type of environment, it’s more of a personal experience and i’m not sure i could have relaxed into it with someone peering over my shoulder. – i think you probably figured that out for yourself as you’re obviously still interested! :)
From the way you speak about it it’s clear Move is still new to you ;) I’m interested in how you fared with the sharpshooter.
Also, nice to see i’m not alone in my aversion to footy games. Thanks for your report, looking forward to the second part.
bunimomike
Good point, fella. Journey, Flower, Limbo. All games that strike me as “oh” in a crowded, noisy environment (read: at a show). However, they’re all perfect for quiet, quality time invested with no distraction and absolute immersion.
posem
Move is actually pretty old hat to me, been around it since release day. Its just one of those things I have different opinions on
TSBonyman
Ah, i think i understand, you were being reservedly diplomatic regarding Move. ;)
posem
i was withhelding informazional material for le good of ze Empire!
bacon_nuts
Cannot wait for SOTC. Journey too, sounds odd, I think it will be great, but of course, won’t be agreed on by everyone..
anthro
I’m guessing you mean *Dark* Souls rather than Demon’s Souls, as stated?
Sounds like some good stuff was shown…
Jas-n
Ah PlayStation Access, on Thursday there was more people working there than gamers.
Jas-n
Also a PS3 died… was flashing read… a symptom of YLoD.
Jas-n
red*
anthro
A flashing red light was symptomatic of a yellow light of death? …??
TROPtastic
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think a flashing red light just means that the console has overheated.
TrialByFire
No, it just got hot in the enclosed cases they were using.
YLOD is VERY rare on any PS3 and non-existant on slims…
ScottW-1976
Was thinking the same thing.
10 minutes of aimless frustration = Day 1 purchase?
Don’t think I’ll be bothering to read part 2 as part 1 reads like and EMO schoolboy’s diary….
posem
ever read an emo boy’s diary? trust me, its not pretty and certainly nothing less this. more sushi and less anachronisms.
DrNate86
If 1976 really is your date of birth, don’t you think you should act it?
ScottW-1976
Please enlighten me DrNate as your post makes no sense. Are people over a certain age not allowed to have an opinion?
DrNate86
More they are mature enough not to be unnecessarily rude.
ScottW-1976
Just an opinion on the writing style and tone of the article. All I got from it was “not my type of thing” and “don’t like that”.
And this
“I was frustrated, so gave up playing it. I still love the game and will buy it on day one, but sadly my brief experience at Access with it was daunting to say the least.”
makes no sense at all…
mynameisblair
Good write up, a nice mix between a blog and a write-up of the games. I really enjoyed the Glasgow one, you seem to have had fun!
Jakster123x
Wish I got to go to the Glasgow one.
DrNate86
Fun little read this, I can’t wait for the next one if it includes some AC tidbits!