Impressions from Gamefest 2011

A Little overdue. Here is what I played and what I thought of it.

Street Fighter X Tekken (PS3)
I find it difficult to judge a fighting game when I’m stuck on a normal pad. I use a fightpad and I can’t get to grips with only having the four buttons in the standard diamond. I enjoyed what I played, it has a nice pace and some cool new mechanics to master. I went straight for Chun Li and experimented with Cammy and Ibuki. I main as Chun Li in SSF4 so she was a natural choice. She feels different and I can’t tell if it’s the pad or the game.

Will no doubt pick this up at launch.

Sonic Generations (360)
Managed to get a play of City Escape, both Classic and Modern. Feels pretty much how I expected it to be.
Classic: Plays how I expected it to. Well polished with the opportunity to take other paths. What you want really.
Modern: Some nice improvements to the opening cityboarding section, offering new paths if you time your jumps right. The final chase is a bit more epic, the truck feels some much more of a threat now and the running alongside a building was a nice touch.
Best surprise? Seeing the bottomless pit warning from Sonic Colours make a reappearance. Such a simple yet effective addition.

Still really looking forward to this.

Sonic Generations (3DS)
Played both Green hill and Mushroom hill, both Classic and Modern. Classic is pretty much the same as the original games. Green hill in particular is very familiar. Modern is a little weird. Like the bastard son of Sonic 4 and Sonic Rush. There are some good elements, such as the dandelion things that go further and higher the faster you go through them (i.e. going further by boosting through them). Also really liked disappearing behind the scenery when using the pulleys. Good use of the 3D.

May wait for it to go down in price, rather than getting it straight away.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Wii)
It’s 3D Zelda, It’s going to be good. I watched the presentation and played the demo. Shame they were the same thing. Really liked the different ways you defeated enemies. Some really well thought out enemies. I hope they are all like that. My fear though is because the enemies have a specific motion based method of beating them you will only fight one or two at a time, leaving the game enemy light but puzzle heavy.

Another game I’m really looking forward too, but I have some small doubts.

Rayman Origins (360)
Played some co-op with Party Hat and Gorblet. This was a lot of fun. Like New Super Mario Bros Wii just with the added bonus of Online Multiplayer. It’s looking very good and I’m probably going to buy this near launch.

Soul Calibur 5 (360)
No Kilik which was a shame. Feels a little different to 4, was playing as Ivy and I seem to have forgotten how to change to whip mode (or they may have changed it, if so why?). Felt a little easy. I’ll be keeping an eye on this one; I’ve always liked the series.

Super Mario Land 3D (3DS)
I was quite disappointed in this. The courses felt short and Mario seemed to move too slowly. I later learned there was a sprint button, but why have that when you have an analogue stick. Looks good but I feel there was more bad than good. May wait a while this time, might save until Christmas.

Journey (PS3)
This had a bit of an Ico/Shadow of the Colossus feel. Very simple yet effective. I found the way forward pretty easy without any hints, and all the moves became second nature. Not really a game you can judge playing at a booth in a convention. May pick this up when it’s cheap and I can commit some time to it.

Modern Warfare 3 (360)
The big one. Unfortunately after all that queuing it was a spec ops two played horde clone, rather than a full blown multiplayer game (would’ve preferred some 6 on 6 domination). The game engine feels very much like MW2, which to be fair isn’t a bad thing. IW already took out the nuke so MW3 already has a huge advantage over MW2, I hated the Nuke and the way it made people play. What I played didn’t really sway me either way, come on its COD, you’re going to get it, admit it, I have my preorder down. Although I will admit I’m not nearly as excited for this one as I was for MW2.

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (DS)

Don’t ask me when but somewhere along the line there started to be more games than time to play them. It would not surprise me if you said you had a collection of games you have yet to play and you’re concerned you’ll never find the time to play them.

I share your pain. With the inclusion of Downloadable titles and Handheld games my “To Play” list is getting a little out of hand. Will I stop buying games until I’ve played the ones I have? Hell no, Arkham City comes within the next few weeks and that was long overdue from the moment I finished Arkham Asylum.

So where am I going with this? Well, amongst my growing pile of games was a little DS game called Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective. To be honest I had barely heard of it, just that it was sort of like Phoenix Wright, a series I absolutely adore. But truth be told it wasn’t the most exciting game in my pile. In fact it was in danger of being so far down my list I might never get around to playing it.

Fortunately I did and it turned out to be an absolute gem of a game, filled to the brim with great storytelling and originality. It so did not deserve to be ignored.

The idea is simple, you are dead and are now a ghost but you can interact with objects. Your goal is to discover the truth about your mysterious death. You do this by changing the fates of the main characters, usually saving them from being killed.

On screen you are a blue flame than can move between certain objects in a small radius. Once inside an object you can manipulate it using a “ghost trick”. For example you can open a suitcase, or turn on a fan, or roll a tyre. If you move the flame towards a dead body you can talk to them and relive the last 4 minutes before their death. Here you’re free to move about the area as a ghost and manipulate objects until you find a way of saving that person’s life.

For example there’s a section where one of the main characters gets sniped by a hit man hiding in the nearby junkyard. There are three places the hit man will try to shoot from and he will not shoot where there is a light. You can move about and turn on the lights covering the shooting locations but you can only turn on two at a time. You use the lights to place the hit man where you want him to be, and then manipulate the near by police car siren to alert the nearby policemen to his location.

Other puzzles get more complex, even moving to the location you want becomes itself a puzzle giving the limited range you can move. You need to take advantage of moving machines and objects to get around. Later on in the game you’ll get the ability to swap objects of similar shape, e.g. to change a boulder to a tennis ball.

It’s hard to place this in a genre. Probably closest to Point and Click but it doesn’t have the same feel as games like Sam and Max, or the Monkey Island Series. The go to location and interact with object mechanic is intentionally far more restrictive but offers a unique blend of timing and strategy.

By far the game’s best strength is its story. Gripping, nicely paced and with plenty of twists it has the makings of a real “page-turner”, just like Phoenix Wright hence the comparisons.

With a lovely soundtrack and some nice stylish visuals the whole experience is very well presented. It’s hard to find any fault; Ghost Trick is a polished, well made and original experience that deserves all the recognition is gets, and then some.

As I look at my pile of games yet to play I can’t help but wonder how many more potential Ghost Tricks there are, and worryingly am I ever going to play them.

If you’re looking for something to fill the void Phoenix Wright has left Ghost Trick is the perfect answer. A game that should be played at some point by anyone who calls themselves a gamer.

9/10