PAX Prime 2011: The geek inherit the Earth (again)
Published: August 27, 2011
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FPS. DPS. RTS. RPG. ARG. AOE. RTD. MMO. D20.
What’s the one event in North America that unites the gaming acronyms of the world? PAX.
Think of this weekend’s PAX like it’s the Electronic Entertainment Expo — or rather, what it used to be.
E3 was a gigantic gathering of businesses and booth babes that regular gamers would scam, sneak or pay anything to go to. Many did, in fact. So many that E3 eventually went supernova, drastically shrinking in size and scope.
At the heart of that implosion was the struggle of what the gaming companies wanted it to be and what gaming culture demanded it be. In the end, business ended up ruling the roost at E3. At PAX, it’s the gamers.
On paper, that’s not so evident. The exhibitor list rivals that of any major gaming convention — EA, Ubisoft, Nintendo, Bethesda, Sega, Valve and Microsoft are just some of the major players here (not to mention U.S. military recruiters).
The advertising and swag presence is equally huge. The exhibition hall looks nearly identical to what you would see at E3: TV screens compete with frantic stage lights; PR people, some in skimpy outfits, hawk posters, buttons, mouse pads and hats; pitchmen on stages gather crowds to shout brand names for prizes.
But in the hallways between event rooms and in the lobbies of thousand-room hotels and top-dollar restaurants, the gamer community is holding the cards (literally, more often than not). The press is not royalty and you’re eyed suspiciously if you’re wearing a collared shirt.
A convention that was based on adoration of a few thousand in 2004 has grown to the size of a small city in the middle of Seattle.
It’s now four buildings (one conventional center, annex, concert hall and Sheraton Hotel) of table-top, video and card gaming madness — places where gaming culture is king and every hallway has a dungeon master, at least for a weekend.
A few impressions of games highlighted at this weekend’s PAX.
Resident Evil Revelations
It’s wasn’t a good thing for that other “Resident Evil” on Nintendo’s 3DS, “Mercenaries,” that the “Revelations” demo was included. You never want an appetizer upstaging the main course, but that’s exactly what happened when gamers got a brief taste of “Revelations” in demo form earlier this year. Capcom brought us a few more minutes of the return-to-form survival horror game here at PAX Prime, and I’m happy to report it’s looking even better.
“Revelations” is a step back, but in a good way: claustrophobic hallways, monsters lurking around every corner and cheesy plots and dialogue. You start in Jill Valentine’s shoes, waking up in a small room with no idea how you got there. Soon enough you’re hunting for keys, draining dirty bath water, piecing together clues that read like they’ve been run through an online translator a few times. It works well, especially on the 3-D screen of Nintendo’s portable. The controls hearken back to the tanklike controls of the older titles, but Capcom keeps some of the fast shortcuts – like quick turning and laser sights, that the later games have gained.
The old-school, methodic pace also means Capcom does less with enemies and more environments. This plays really well with the 3-D screen. Jill’s reflective, high polygon model stands in stark contrasts heavily to the low-lit dining halls and ship corridors in the demo.
"Resident Evil" jumped the shark plot-wise a long time ago, and it’s apparent from both demos that this game doesn’t try to cover up that fact. But as long as Capcom is willing to embrace what always worked in the long-running franchise – monsters bursting through every possible hiding spot, buildings filled with obscure locking mechanisms, and an eerily slow pace that sets us up for one horror after the next – we’re in for a good ride.
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City
Other possible titles for this game: “Resident Evil: SOCOM,” “Resident Evil: Gears of War,” “Resident Evil: Left4Dead.”
Well, I exaggerate, but after years of Leon, Jill and fighting to uncover the truth behind Umbrella Corp., Capcom has decided it’s time to flip the table a bit. As a result, in “Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City,” we’re now playing for Umbrella Corp., and we have to stop at nothing to prevent the news of the coming zombie apocalypse from reaching the wider populace. “Operation Raccoon City” borrows a lot from those aforementioned games. It’s a squad-based, over-the-shoulder shooter that will have you taking cover, working with up to three of your friends and feeling a more than a little sinister about the whole thing.
If you haven’t guessed already, this game is more fluid – a lot more fluid – than any previous “Resident Evil.” Characters will strafe, duck next to cover, fire and zoom while moving – a first for this franchise (sadly). RE’s newfound fluidity also extends to melee and secondary attacks. One tap of the melee button will send a kick in any direction you choose, while holding down the left trigger will start an auto-aimed pistol attack – extremely helpful as you run from quick moving baddies. Your team can choose from six different classes – such as medics, heavy or assault characters, and unlock new weapons and special weapon bonuses (unlocked in the demo: no reload).
While the staging feels very “SOCOM,” the level progression feels very “Left4Dead” or “Gears of War.” Reach a new area, unleash a new wave of ever-spawning zombies. Some battles will pitch you just against the undead – including “Resident Evil” classics like hunters and lickers, and some will include special police units, making for interesting three-sided free-for-alls. Once you reach a checkpoint, rinse, repeat and raise the difficulty. Depending on how robust the online support is, this game could be a great co-op option for console owners.
So far, taking the sinister side looks pretty good. I will add one complaint, however: If we’re departing so much from the standard, or even revamped “Resident Evil” style, can we please get a jump button?
Rocksmith
Plastic rock and roll is dead. Long live rock and roll.
That might as well be the slogan for Ubisoft’s “Rocksmith,” a guitar game trying to catch a rock music game train that left the station long ago. The kings of plastic rock, “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band,” are all but dead at this point. But “Rocksmith” has a potential game-changing twist: The guitar is completely real, and the game will really teach you to play.
Connected via a proprietary-guitar-to-USB cord, “Rocksmith” is more of a guitar instructor game than button-timing hero, and that’s what makes this title intriguing. The process is basically the same: Hit notes falling down multitude of streams at the right time to sync with the song. But instead of using four or five streams, “Rocksmith” has dozens – one for each note on the guitar fret, in fact. This requires both a quick and agile hands, capable of moving up and down the neck of the guitar. But if that sounds intimidating to the wannabe guitar heroes among us, worry not. This game demands real skill, but instead of using a penalizing score system that punishes you for missing a note, this game simply adjusts the difficulty on the fly. Miss a few notes in a row, and suddenly your stream seems a lot less populated. You have to earn your way to up to the real song.
The song lineup is extremely strong as well, with contemporary indie bands like the XX’s or Dan Auerbach, slightly older acts like Queens of the Stone Age, Radiohead and Nirvana, and even classic rockers like CREAM and The Rolling Stones. In addition to the more than 40 tracks in the game, there are already plans to offer 20 additional downloadable tracks on launch day. A two-player mode is also in the works – by way of additional guitar or bass, and the game has microphone support for the singers among us (though it will not – representatives stressed, teach you to sing). Ubisoft is really pulling out all the stops for this title, and in truth, they have to – the musical instrument fad died harder than pogs (in fact, there are zero plastic instrument games at PAX this year). Promoters on the stage billed this is the one game that will actually land you a lady in the real world. I won’t comment on that, but it might land you some real-world talent, which may be alluring enough.
- Sam Laney
