Bastion E3 2011 Preview

At E3 2011, several of my friends told me to stop by Warner Bros. Interactive’s booth to check out Bastion, an action-RPG for Xbox Live and Windows PC. I’m super glad that I did. The game is right up my alley — classic action-RPG gameplay, a beautiful art style, and surprising storytelling for a downloadable game. While Batman: Arkham City was getting the lion’s share of attention at WBIE’s booth, people in the know were spending a lot of time with Bastion.

If you enjoyed games like Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, X-Men Legends, and Marvel Ultimate Alliance then you’ll likely dig Bastion. The perspective and gameplay mechanics are similar to the ones in those games. You run around, fight things, nab loot, fight more things, get new weapons, and fight some really big things towards the end of each level.

I was surprised by the diversity in Bastion. Changing weapons and abilities really give the main character a different feel. Whether you like getting up close and personal with melee combat or enjoy firing away from a distance with ranged attacks, Bastion has a fighting style for you.

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The game’s art is really striking. WBIE refers to it as “painterly”. The artists use a cartoon-like art style and a bright palette of colors. Check out the screens above. If Bastion’s art style doesn’t make you feel happy then there’s no hope for your soul. Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but the art should be able to elicit some degree of warm fuzzies…or at least a hearty grin.

There are more than 40 levels for you to play in, which is surprisingly high for a downloadable game. WBIE promises up to 10 hours of gameplay, not including a “new game plus” mode that allows additional ways to experience the game.

Bastion will be released this summer. On Xbox 360 it will be part of the Xbox Live Summer of Arcade, which kicks off on July 20, 2011. On Windows PC it will be part of…the Windows Summer of Haywood Jablome (not an actual event). I’m super psyched to play it. It feels familiar and looks cool. Let me know if Bastion is something you’d be into.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 E3 2011 Preview

Final Fantasy XIII was a polarizing videogame. Some players loved the game for its gorgeous graphics, great soundtrack, fantastic battle system, and strong voice acting. Other players hated the game for its strict linearity, confusing story, and uneven pace. Square Enix hopes Final Fantasy XIII-2 will address the complaints of FFXIII while maintaining the features that made it popular. I got to catch a demo of the game at E3 2011 and play an early level. If the brief portion I played and saw is representative of the final product then FFXIII-2 will end up being the game that everyone wanted the original to be.

In terms of story, not much has been revealed. The game takes place a few years after FFXIII ended and Lightning, the protagonist in the first game, has disappeared. The game’s trailer implies that she has been displaced to an alternate dimension and only her sister Serah believes she’s still alive. In my hands-on time, I controlled Serah and newcomer Noel. Serah appears to be the main character — at least in the early going — and it was implied that other FFXIII characters will join the party.

The biggest change to the game is that it’s more open than the original. I’m not talking about Elder Scrolls-like or anything, but there’s definitely some exploring to do. The levels I was shown had hidden paths and alternative branches. You’ll have the opportunity to explore levels instead of just marching down a straight line. I’m very interested to see how far the dev team will take this aspect of the game as the strict linearity was the biggest complaint of the original.

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Adding general cuteness and aiding your exploration is a new moogle companion. Moogles are awesome and I’m happy that one will be accompanying me in FFXIII-2. In addition to making cute sounds, the moogle will reveal some hidden objects and use his powers so that you can nab them. It seems like he rips the fabric of space, perhaps revealing the dimension where Lightning is stranded…but that’s just conjecture.

FFXIII’s excellent battle system is back, with a few changes. As with the original, you’ll have to change your team’s behavior during the course of the fight (damagers, healers, buffers, etc.). After you defeat certain monsters, they’ll join your party. Different monsters will appear by your side, depending on what role you’re using and each monster has their own special ability.

Battles now have short quick time events. Some QTEs I saw were just simple finishing moves. Others had gameplay consequences. For example, some QTEs will buff up your party if successful and cause your party to take damage if failed. I didn’t see enough of these to see if they really add to the gameplay, but it appears to be part of a larger trend of quick time events infiltrating all sorts of games.

During my demo, I saw a brief portion of the game featuring Lightning that was not playable on the show floor. She engaged in a cool fight while riding her Odin eidolon. Horsey fights looked like a nice change of pace from standard melee. They felt faster and seemed to implement quick time events better. Plus, Lightning just feels more bad-ass than her dainty sister and her boy toy companion.

I’m psyched for FFXIII-2. Keep in mind that I really liked the original game. It builds on a strong base and expands the world of FFXIII. Gamers that were disappointed in the original should keep their eyes on this game. It appears that Square Enix will address some of the complaints that turned off longtime RPG fans. If the devs add a mode that lets you torture wussy boy Hope Estheim then everyone will be happy!

I Am the Angelina Jolie of Videogame Verbal Entertainers

It’s true! Do you know how I know this? Virgin Mobile’s Sarah Carroll said so. It was great spending the Thursday of E3 2011 seeing all kinds of outstanding games, but I missed Sarah. She was so sweet in the YouTube video above. If you can, please drop her a line on her Twitter account to tell her that you agree that I am the Brad Pitt and/or Angelina Jolie of videogame verbal entertainers and don’t forget to CC me.

E3 2011 Day Two: Random Musings

– It was interesting talking to industry people about bad names. There are a lot of poorly named games and a pair of new consoles with bad names at E3 2011. Most of my friends have at least three game names that bother them. A lot of them spent so much energy hating on the name PlayStation Vita that they didn’t have anything left when the name Wii U was announced.

– I’m still seeking out sleeper games, similar to how Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom impressed me at E3 2010. I’ve seen a few major titles and spent most of yesterday with Virgin Mobile Sarah, so I haven’t been able to see any underdogs yet. A bunch of my friends were surprised by Bastion, an action-RPG from Warner Bros. Interactive. A few told me that Ubi’s The Adventures of Tin Tin was surprisingly fun in an old-school way — kind of like a mix of Donkey Kong and Elevator Action with modern production values. I’ll try to check out both today.

– After two days of game consumption, the majority of my friends still have BioShock Infinite pegged as the best game of the show by far. A lot of them are trying to get second viewings of the behind-closed-doors demo, simply because it’s 100-percent pure awesome.

– It’s funny talking to longtime developers that are now working on Kinect games. Showing off the same demo dozens of times a day for three days straight was draining at previous E3 shows. Being physically active has taken it to a new level.

– It’s always excellent seeing old industry friends, especially ones you haven’t seen for a long time and ones you’ve had a crush on for years (Annette Cardwell). It’s always excellent meeting new, cool people too. Emily from 5th Cell (Scribblenauts) and Cat from Red Box are awesome.

– Speaking of Red Box, please let me know if you use their rental kiosks. I might be able to hook you up with some freebies.

– Last, but not least, I miss you guys! I’ll miss the excitement of E3 2011, but I’m looking forward to writing more and hanging out with you here. Be good!!!

Hanging with Sarah Carroll at E3 2011

I spent a large chunk of yesterday hanging out with Sarah Carroll. She’s a spokesperson for Virgin Mobile and this was her first E3. It was fun showing her around and introducing her to my pals. Sarah is fun and cool and beautiful — an excellent accessory / conversation piece to have around. I definitely got more attention with her than without her. Ha!

Anyway, (please) check out these photos of Sarah with some of my videogame industry friends and stay tuned for some fun videos!

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E3 2011 Day One: Random Musings

An “official” day of E3 is in the can! It was way different than what I had planned. You see, I received a call during Sony’s party on Monday and accepted a video gig that…well, you’ll see. Now here are some random thoughts on some of the things I saw, played, touched, heard, and smelled one day one of E3 2011.

– The Wii U controller is way more comfortable than I thought it would be. As most of you know, I spend a lot of time gaming on my iPad 2. Since the Wii U controller’s screen is smaller (6.2 inches), I expected it to be lighter. The trigger buttons on the top corners of the controller help it feel more secure in your hands than a tablet. I still expect a few people to fling these controllers across rooms or into their televisions, but most people will be pleasantly surprised by the feel of the Wii U controller.

– Most of my writer friends have BioShock Infinite pegged as the game of the show by a large margin. A few of them are backing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. There are a lot of cool games on display, but these two seem to be the ones that journalists are most impressed with.

– Sony’s 24-inch 3D TV seems like a decent value and it’s cool that it can support two players independently. That said, I wasn’t impressed with the output. The color quality was unimpressive and there was noticeable ghosting. However, I’m guessing that these TVs weren’t calibrated, so color quality could be better than what was shown. It seems like a good secondary TV or a nice dorm room set.

– I had an interesting chat with VentureBeat’s “Dancing” Dean Takahashi — one of the best reporters in gaming. He had an interesting theory on Wii U controllers. He envisions different controllers with different price points. The “kid” controller would be cheaper and only have the standard capabilities. A more expensive controller would pack in more features and be geared towards tech geeks. It’s an interesting idea, but I’m not certain it will shake out that way. That said, Dean is exponentially smarter than me and Nintendo is the master of selling accessories.

– It was fun teasing Insomniac’s James Stevenson (the best community manager in gaming) about Overstrike. I kept telling him, “Man, that Overbite trailer looked hot!” I did this to him on at least four occasions. Insomniac Ted Price didn’t find it as funny…or maybe he just thinks I’m stupid.

– I received an impromptu demo of a Kinect Fun Labs game tentatively called Music & Motion. When Microsoft showed Kinect Fun Labs during its presser, I suggested that the company eliminate the word “Fun” from the title. Music & Motion is totally fun! It’s a game that lets you use Kinect to play air guitar, air drums, air keyboards, etc. I can see it being a great party game that everyone can enjoy. I was baffled that this wasn’t shown at the presser.

– Battlefield 3 looks completely awesome…but I wonder if console gamers will be disappointed when their graphics don’t look nearly as good.

– This is the most fun I’ve had with my Nintendo 3DS. I have almost 100 Miis on my system and expect to get dozens more today. The future of 3Ds looks pretty excellent. It’s a shame that it launched with such weak software.

Anyway, I’m headed back to the show. I’ll check on comments while I’m there. There’s beer in the fridge. Be good and try not to burn the place down!

Today’s Poll: Who Had the Best E3 2011 Press Conference?

The “big three” pressers are over! Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony strutted their stuff and kicked off E3 2011 with a bang. Which company did best? Kindly vote for your favorite press conference and discuss!

The “big three” pressers are over! Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony strutted their stuff and kicked off E3 2011 with a bang. Which company did best? Kindly vote for your favorite press conference and discuss!

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E3 2011 Nintendo Press Conference Live Blog

Are you ready for details on Nintendo’s next home console? How about information on the future of the 3DS? Any classic Nintendo franchises you want to see make a comeback? How do you think Nintendo of America’s new executive — the Dial soap guy — will do? Let’s see together in this Nintendo press conference live blog!

E3 Day 0: What Games Got Your Attention?

A day of E3 press conferences is in the books and the show officially starts today! There were a ton of great games shown yesterday. People were hyped about Battlefield 3, Halo CE Anniversary, Halo 4, BioShock Infinite, Overstrike, and more. The buzz at the show is one thing, but I wanted to see how everything played with you guys and gals. What games got your attention?

As for me, I’m going to be championing Sound Shapes for PlayStation Vita. It’s being made by Queasy Games (Everyday Shooter) and it’s refreshingly fun. Screens don’t do the game justice; at a glance it would be easy to dismiss it as an iOS game for Vita. You really need to play the game to feel how much fun it can be. Sound Shapes had me wishing I could teleport all of you to E3 to play the game with me.

Now it’s your turn! Please let me know which E3 games you’re high on, so far.