Okay, it’s day 3 and I’m finally broken. I want to eventually find a way to talk about everything that I’ve seen at the show but in the interest of my own sanity I’ve just included a few of the title highlights that I got to check out today.
Hand Of Fate
In which I find myself cursed.
My first appointment of the day was to see Hand Of Fate. I wasn’t super keen on the concept when I watched its trailer on Steam before the show, but I definitely warmed up to it after getting my hands on it.
Hand Of Fate deposits you in a cabin at the end of the world where you square off face-to-face with an evil fortune teller. The game basically consists of a card game between you and the fortune teller that’s frequently interrupted by action RPG segments, with combat reminiscent of games like Assassin’s Creed and Arkham Asylum. Your character’s equipment and traits are determined by the cards that you put into your own deck, while your opponent across the table has a handful of cards of their own that will determine just how rough of a time you have.
You navigate the game’s dungeons by choosing a path through a set of cards laid out on the table. Each card is turned face down so you won’t know what scenario you’ll be dealing with before you choose it. Some cards just present you with a moral choice, others will actually start combat segments, with other cards determining the amount and type of enemies you do battle with.
The card game roots of Hand Of Fate do ensure that regardless of best laid plans it’s always possible for things to go terribly wrong. I think some players may be put off by the random elements of the game but for me it was a fascinating take on the rogue-like genre.
Evolve
In which I hunt the most dangerous game.
I got to look at Evolve from a distance at E3 but never made an appointment or attempted to brave the horrific line. As soon as I sat down and got a chance to do some dedicated matches it became very apparent why the game has garnered such an enormous following at these conventions.
If you haven’t been following it the game’s premise is pretty simple. One player controls an enormous and powerful monster that will grow and evolve to become even more powerful. The opposing team meanwhile consists of four people dedicated to blowing the monster away. Each player on the hunter team will play their own unique class, and having one of each is crucial to successfully bringing down the monster. The Assault class is responsible for dealing out the heavy damage with additional assistance from the Support class, the Trapper’s ability to lock the monster into a dedicated arena or tether it in place feels like one of the most crucial parts of the team, and of course who could forget the Medic who operates in a fashion very similar to Team Fortress 2.
To put it simply, it’s a blast to play. While I didn’t get a chance to control the monster I did play 3 of the 4 hunter classes (everyone excluding the assault class). Each hunter class feels crucial to the team’s success, and I definitely could have kept playing this for longer than the 45 minutes they allowed.
#IDARB
In which I, along with a crack team of mimes, beat a team of walking soda cans at esports.
I didn’t know anything about #IDARB when I made my appointment with the developer. As I approached the booth a 6 player game was about to begin and someone just handed me a controller with no real direction or idea what was going on.
It was a blast.
One of the game’s creators, Mike Mika, described it as an attempt to highlight just how bad crowdsourcing a game could turn out that eventually actually turned into a pretty good game. The simplest explanation is #IDARB is a very simple 3 on 3 2D soccer-esque game where you attempt to fling a ball into an opponents goal. The controls are rather minimalistic, X or the right trigger will knock the ball free of an opponents hands, or if the ball is in your hands it will toss it in the direction you’re holding. B will pass the ball, and A will make you jump. And that’s it, it takes about 5 seconds to figure out but there’s plenty of modifiers to keep you on your toes.
During play you might find all the players becoming “dizzy” which will invert everyone’s controls. Sometimes the physics in the game will get tweaked and you’ll find yourself sliding all over the place. If you’re really unlucky a gigantic Rick Astley will fly into the stage and mess you up. To keep it blunt, it’s insane.
The game has an awesome sense of humor (these are the same people who brought you Duty Calls), and will be launching on the Xbox One and PC a little later this year.
Shadow Of Mordor
In which I become non-canon.
I’ve been pretty excited for Shadow Of Mordor since it was announced so it was nice to finally get some hands on time with the game before its release later this month.
If you’re familiar with the Lord of the Rings series you might already know the state of Mordor when I tell you the game is set between The Hobbit and The Fellowship Of The Ring. Mordor is not yet the barren wasteland seen in the movies, although it’s certainly not a peaceful and rosy place either.
The game’s Batman-esque freeflow combat system is competent and cool looking but the really interesting thing is what Monolith has done with the “Nemesis System”. This system keeps close tabs on the different Uruk-hai making up Sauron’s army, and more importantly it tracks how they react to you. If you encounter a general that you’ve fought before he’ll remember you. If you dealt mortal damage to him but didn’t manage to kill him during your last encounter he’ll feature scars where you injured him, if you had to run away last time you ran into him? Yeah, he’ll remember that too.
The Nemesis System is somewhat random and it means that everyone is going to have a slightly different experience when playing through the game.
The absolute highlight of the demo for me? Accidentally getting beatdown by a completely random Uruk-hai who, after killing me, clawed his way up to the top tier ranks of Sauron’s army and effectively became my arch-nemesis.
Stealth Inc. 2
In which I am not special.
The original Stealth Inc. launched on just about every system but the Wii. Now the folks over at Curve studios are going the exact opposite route. Stealth Inc. 2 is coming soon as a Wii U exclusive and they really couldn’t have picked a better time than now to jump on the Wii U bandwagon.
The game sees you controlling a clone in the process of escaping from a facility. You of course facilitate this escape by avoiding cameras and enemies via dimly lit areas and by collecting gadgets that will grant you access to new parts of the map. The original Stealth Inc. didn’t have much of a story to write about, instead it just put you through test chamber after test chamber until you found yourself at the end. In Stealth Inc. 2 there’s a bit more of a narrative (meaning players who missed the first game won’t have much trouble jumping in here) and while there are still test chambers to provide puzzles they’re all littered throughout a complex overworld that definitely make the game feel more like a Metroidvania title than a puzzle game.
The game has a wicked sense of humor and does a great job teaching you its mechanics subtly without beating you over the head with tutorials. The game is also quite tricky sometimes but I rarely died without feeling like I deserved it. This is definitely one to check out when it releases in October.
