Batman: Arkham City Preview

Move over Batman. Catwoman is stealing some gameplay from you.  I had the opportunity to play as the cat burglar during a hands-on demo at PAX.

The PAX demo gave me immediate access to Catwoman’s gameplay.  With cat-like stealth, I attempted to break into Two-Face’s hideout and steal some documents.  After being detected, I made quick waste of Two-Face’s thugs.  Catwoman’s feline grace and snapping whip attack adds speedy, smooth combat to Arkham’s signature rhythmic gameplay.  Her move-set is more acrobatic-oriented than Batman, featuring claws, whips, bolas, and a sexy leather outfit with tons of cleavage.  Taking advantage of the chaos in Arkham City to acquire jewelry and high tech gadgets (similar to how Batman receives new items and upgrades), Catwoman’s own heist-focused storyline set the Arkham City’s game events in motion when I (playing as her) was eventually captured by Two-Face.  Seeking to gain notoriety among the villains of the city, Two-Face planned a public execution of Catwoman.

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Jurassic Park: The Game Preview

Holy Quick Time Event!  Telltale Games, who is best known for Back to the Future: The Game, had demos of their latest movie-based game, Jurassic Park: The Game, at PAX this year.

It’s always difficult when creating a game based on a classic movie franchise with a huge following.  Fans are going to especially critical of not only the gameplay, but the story as well.  Luckily for fans of the film, Telltale Games focus on story and plot and character.  That’s what is important to them, and Jurassic Park: The Game is no different.  While the gameplay in the demo was lackluster, completely consisting of quick time events, the story sounds quite intriguing.  Jurassic Park: The Game isn’t just a recreation of the original film.  Instead, Telltale has decided to explore the “other” characters on the island during the dino-breach.  They focus on the details that the movie might have left out and create an original story revolving around those details.  Do you remember the barbasol can that Dennis Nedry was using to smuggle the dinosaur embryos out of the park?  Jurassic Park: The Game focuses on that can with the different groups and people trying to get that can and secure the embryo.

Fans of Jurassic Park will get to see and play as some of the recognizable characters from both the book and the movie like Jerry Harding, the man who took care of the sick triceratops.  If you are familiar with Back to the Future, Telltale releases episodes of the game.  Jurassic Park will be similar as the different episodes will expand on the stories of your favorite characters.

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Dead Island Preview

Do you remember when zombie games used to really be about survival?  I’m not talking about surviving a wave of zombies in some generic first person shooter multiplayer mode.  I’m talking about true survival; you being thrust in an environment overrun by hordes of zombies using only what you can scavenge to defend yourself.

At PAX, I had a chance to experience the hands-on demo of Dead Island and it was definitely a breath of fresh air (by fresh, I mean the aroma of rotted flesh filled the air).  Dead Island harks back to the traditional points for playing a zombie game: blood and gore, survival, and thrill.  Granted, games like Left 4 Dead offer that, but not with the in-depth approach Dead Island takes. 

So how does Dead Island differ from other zombie titles, like Left 4 Dead or Resident Evil (can that even be considered a zombie game anymore)?  Well, for one thing, Dead Island is not just about running around and shooting up the place.  It’s about carefully choosing when to engage a horde of zombies.  You aren’t given an arsenal of weapons.  You are a survivor; that means you can only fight with what you find, and what you find has limited durability.  In the demo, the paddle I scavenged actually broke in the middle of a zombie encounter.  It literally snapped in two as I cracked the skull of one of the zombies.  Zombies were swarming and, with only my fists, I decided it was better to just run.  This is just one example of how Dead Island makes an authentic survival experience.

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