This week sees the running of the second London Games Festival, in…er London. It’s not quite E3 (possibly a good thing these days) or TGS but it has a certain charm to it. I’ve been to a few events so far and bring news of hands-on play and a possible rumour bust…

Today I went to a hands-on expo hosted by Eurogamer. After the initial challenge of actually finding the venue (presumably some kind of mental aptitude test to assess my worth as a gamer), I was greeted with about a hundred or so consoles pumping out upcoming titles. Not just any old titles mind you, the big players were out in force: Little Big Planet, Street Fighter IV, Killzone 2, Resistance 2, Resi 5 and Prince of Persia to name but a few.

What follows then is my whistle-stop tour of the titles I got to play. Someone’s got to do it I suppose.

I’ll start with one of my favourite series: Resident Evil. I got to play the shantytown level we’ve all seen in countless clips and trailers. It’s hot; it’s dusty and surprisingly ethnically diverse. The remote African setting for Resi 5 now seems to be home to Africans, Caucasians and Hispanics. I didn’t hear any of the villagers shouting “¡Mátalo!” though. The game looks and feels very Resi 4 as you move around. Capcom have clearly chosen to stay in the comfort zone on this one and that’s not something I necessarily disagree with. Your new female companion (who’s lovely, but no Ada Wong) helps out in the tougher sections and you can share ammo, which I imagine will be sparse throughout. All in all a good current gen experience but nothing really exciting stood out. Dare I say…a little underwhelming?

Street Fighter IV then, not much to say here other than the word awesome. The HD shininess of 2.5D has not been done better than here. It brings forth all the memories you have of Street Fighters of old (apart from the movie *shudders*) and makes the action look slick and polished.

Now then, on to Killzone 2. I must admit, I was sceptical about KZ2’s chances. Few games have garnered the hype (and controversy) of Guerilla’s epic so I wanted to be proven wrong. As it happens I was blown away. KZ2 has an intensity I’ve not seen in an FPS for some time. I started playing in a section of the campaign in a Helgast city, all industrial ruins and soul crushing greyness. So far so FPS. However, the first skirmish put this back on my must-buy list. The pre-beta code I was watching looked gorgeous, smoke effects and swirls were oh so natural, and the visceral nature of the combat does nothing but immerse you in the battle. Sprinkle on destructible scenery here, some very realistic motion capture there and you’ve got a big title coming next year.

Lastly, let’s talk about Prince of Persia. The new cell shaded title looks like it’s drawn inspiration from Shadow of the Colossus and Ico, at least aesthetically. The wall running, climbing and gravity defying acrobatics were slick and most importantly intuitive. It’s pacing might seem a little slower than its contemporaries. But, as the enthusiastic man from Ubisoft explained “it’s all about timing and rhythm”. Isn’t everything? It’s a shame it doesn’t have trophies, I said. “Not so!” replied my new Ubisoftian chum. The game will ship with trophy support. Unfortunately I didn’t get to hear the trophy chime whilst playing so I’m going to take his word for it, for now.

So then that was my Wednesday night. Games galore and a warm, happy feeling inside.

Filed under: Game Previews, K, P