In many ways, PAX has become too big for its own good. Busy gamers struggle to keep up with its relentless pace, and may feel cheated when many of its key touch points pass them by. This, our 9th PAX (we've attended all of the West Coast ones) was perhaps our most disappointing yet still offered a few gems that made it worthwhile.
This is not the first year we've taken our now 9-year-old Pikachu Fan to PAX, but it's the first time he's attended two of the three days. Having a child at PAX is at the same time immensely rewarding and maddeningly challenging - not unlike playing a multi-player game with someone who doesn't understand the rules and unwittingly wrecks your progress. But when it finally clicks and you take down the boss together, it's magic.
Plants vs Zombies Pinball (PS3, Vita, Xbox 360): This was the highlight of my show (as Zen Studios pinball tables frequently are!). Tucked away in the PopCap booth just outside the main Exhibition Hall, you could sit in a comfy chair and enjoy one of the best fantasy tables ever. Zen Studios seems to excel at taking other people's games, and making them into kickass pinball. My last favorite was Ms. Splosion Man (at PAX 2011). The PvZ table has everything you'd want and more: seed cards, shambling zombies to hit, sun energy to collect, a mailbox that locks your little green orbs for multiball, Crazy Dave's car, and the deep gameplay you've come to expect from a Zen table. This is already available for $3 on Pinball FX2 for 360 and Zen Pinball 2 for PS3/Vita, so pick it up! - Assassin's Creed III (PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U). I've been intrigued by the colonial setting since it was announced, but GrrlGotGame wasn't having any of it - until we watched the demo at PAX. Despite the lack of hands-on play, she was won over by the gory kills, plus new twists and game elements. Probably not a Day 1 game, but we expect to have it by year's end.
- Sacred Citadel (PS3, Xbox 360). I'm not usually a big fan of the 2D sidescrolling brawlers but this game - loosely based on the Sacred RPG series - won me over. You choose one of three classes (melee, ranged, magic) and then jump and button mash your way through enemies, traps, and bosses. The game was easy to pick up but, more importantly, playing multiplayer with our 9 year-old made for a great bonding experience. We both took a turn, and walked away wishing we could play more. We'll be picking this up when it ships to Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) sometime in 2013.
- Containment: A Zombie Puzzler (iPad, PC, Mac). GrrlGotGame fell in love with this little zombie game, which only costs $2-5 depending on where you buy it (iTunes or Steam). Inspired (loosely) by the ancient game of The Path of Go, you have to surround zombies with like human archetypal characters (cops, ladies, military, gang bangers) to contain the outbreak. There's a neat story and lots of little twists like helpful powerups and wizard zombies that make the regular zombies go a bit nuts, so it's a mix of action and strategy. Highly recommended!
Dishonored (PC, PS3, Xbox 360). You would think that a game that plays like a hybrid of BioShock and Assassin's Creed would be a slam dunk. But playing the game demo was a blend of fun and... not fun. After a two-hour line and the instruction that we'd better "use magic if you want to get through it," we were dumped in a mission with a lot of weapons and powerups that we had no idea how to use. The weapons were pretty easy to learn: I picked up the crossbow and used it to both slay and knock out opponents by varying the types of bolts it consumed. But the second part of the mission had us both lost and frustrated and we tried to find a hidden enemy who was marked on the map, but in a location that seemed completely inaccessible. We finally gave up (me after the lengthy reload screens became too much, and GrrlGotGame after she'd cleared all of the enemies and teleported into a fall for the sixth or seventh time). Despite the poor demo experience, we're still making it a Day 1 purchase. The controls felt right, and we trust that with a proper tutorial we'll have a ton of fun with this game. - Bastion for iPad (iPad 2 or greater): Converting an action game from console to touchscreen usually means slapping on an awkward little virtual D-pad, but Supergiant Games has come up with a better solution: auto-fire. You'd think this would kill the challenge, but the game has been entirely rebalanced for the new mechanic. For $5, you get a first-class port with immersive sound and crystal clear graphics. Oh, and if you really want a D-pad (say to use with those little stick-on controllers), it's tucked away in game options.
- Dead Island: Riptide (PS3, Xbox 360). GrrlGotGame was a huge fan of the original Dead Island and would have pushed for it to be Game of the Year if it had been a little more busy gamer friendly. She's greatly anticipating the sequel, due in 2013, which includes a new locale and new elements such as mines and fences you can throw up to slow down the advancing horde. We almost never do this, but GrrlGotGame preordered it right there at the show.
Code Hero (PC). We first learned about this "game" when community member InvaderSil backed its Kickstarter. We almost did, but didn't ultimately pull the trigger. Now, we're giving it a second look thanks to a complete overhaul that's about to release as an alpha update (final version expected later this year). The goal is to teach a new generation of game programmers (like our own 9-year-old aspiring game creator Pikachu Fan) by putting them into a game world where they can pick apart pieces of code and modify them to their heart's desire. The tutorial pits you against a dragon that you can defeat much faster if you change its damage counter for a one-hit kill. - The Unfinished Swan (PS3). I almost didn't give this a second look due to the presence of the Move controller (which we've opted not to invest in), but it plays nicely with a standard DualShock as well. The idea is that you toss black ink onto blank whited-out landscape to reveal paths and obstacles. Small bursts of color in the distance help you orient yourself. As the world is revealed, you find moments of confusion mixed with splashes of beauty as you unveil the surprisingly expansive monochrome landscape. Our 9-year-old had difficulty with the first-person view (he kept spinning his view up to the sky, which remains blank) but I found myself enjoying it.
- Vessel (PC, Xbox 360). We interviewed a member of the Strange Loop team last year at PAX, when Vessel was just a promising game. This year, it released on Steam and it's due on XBLA "soon." I actually got some hands-on time: It was fun and challenging to solve the water physics puzzle, which include turning elements like water and lava into sentient creatures that walk around and help you open blocked areas. Fun! I almost can't wait to play more.
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Transformed (3DS, PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360). Just when I thought I was done with kart racing style games, they suck me back in! This update to the Sonic Racing series includes a range of vehicles that transform from track-locked karts into boats and planes as you cross into different segments of the race courses. I played a level inspired by Panzer Dragoon that had a significant flying component, which greatly increased the challenge - and the fun. - Doom 3: BFG Edition (PS3, Xbox 360). The default option was to play this game in 3D, but we rebelled by turning it off and had a good time. (The 3D felt gimmicky, didn't significantly add to the gameplay, and didn't work at all with GrrlGotGame's prescription glasses. The people who followed us actually chose the demo stations because they weren't in 3D!) The big difference in this Doom 3 vs. the one we played last gen is the flashlight that's always available (duct-taped to your weapon) but we didn't notice a big difference. It still had the cheap surprise entrances and ladders that are hard to spot, so we wasted a lot of time wandering in circles. Still fun. We might actually finish it this time!
- Skylanders: Giants (3DS, PS3, Xbox 360). Our 9-year-old had to find him some new Skylanders, and was disappointed that Activision didn't have a booth. Fortunately, Nintendo hosted a Skylanders kiosk, showing off the new game for 3DS. Giants will come with one large figure (the same on all platforms, except for some special retail bundles that aren't announced yet) with a total of 8 new Giants initially - with more to come, of course. The game didn't seem especially better or different, but we suspect we'll still find one under the holiday shrub this year.
- New Super Mario Bros. U (Wii U): Mario fans waited in super-long lines to get hands-on with Super Mario Brothers designed for the Wii U remote. The demo station was set up for four players: one Wii U remote and three traditional Wii controllers. The line moved at an odd pace. Most games with four players have long leads times, then several move forward. But here, people were abandoning the Wii U remote, sometimes mid-game. The exhibitor offered Pikachu Fan first shot at the Wii U remote, leaving the adults to use Wii controllers. Our 9-year-old struggled both with the weight and size of the remote which, to be fair, had the largest security brick known to man. More tellingly, he had a hard time moving back and forth from the TV screen to the little screen on the remote. The marketing guy gave him explicit, step-by-step instructions: Back on the screen! No, the Wii-U screen! Jump... No, use your finger, not the trigger... OK, now use the trigger. It was the one time all weekend that Pikachu Fan looked disappointed, and at one point, close to tears in frustration. GrrlGotGame suggested leaving after the first round, but Pikachu Fan really wanted a Mario shirt. (He was, in fact, dressed as the Italian plumber.) One of the other adults offered to trade remotes, which brightened our son's day considerably. Pikachu Fan had a terrific time tearing through the remaining three levels, although he declared it "not as good" as Super Mario 64.
- Go Home Dinosaurs (PC, Mac, Linux): This cute little tower defense game had our 9-year-old transfixed, and best of all its free right now on Chrome, in beta form. Give it a try!
- PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale (PS3, Vita): This is another game the 9-year-old had to play. He's not had much exposure to the brawlers, not even Super Smash Bros (we know, we're terrible parents) but he really wanted to play as Big Daddy from BioShock (he hasn't played that game, but it does come up a lot in our household - yes, we know, terrible parents). The game was pretty much what we expected - lots of jumping, getting hit by random stuff, and hitting/kicking/special attacks. Not bad, but didn't rock our world even though we tied for second place (and me using a Vita - which I've never studied! - in place of a controller).
- LittleBigPlanet Karting (PS3, Vita): The LBP games were a big hit in our house until we hit a difficulty wall that we couldn't surmount, even playing co-op. So we've given them up, for now at least. This one seemed decent, as Kart racers go, but our 9-year-old couldn't master the steering and I couldn't get excited about the battle levels. All in all, we'll probably pass on this and go with the Sonic & Sega All-Stars game instead.
- Epic Mickey: The Power of Two (PS3. Wii U, Xbox 360): The first Epic Mickey was a pass for us (we'd all but abandoned Wii games by the time it came out) and this one's only real selling point is the multiplatform availability. After 20 minutes of confusing co-op, we won't be preordering and probably won't give it a second look unless it gets stellar reviews.
- Skulls of the Shogun (Xbox 360, Windows 8, Windows Phone): A turn-based "adventure" that didn't have much adventuring, despite the marketing. A better comparison would be Battle Chess. You command a small group of soldiers and a leader who resembles the Castle Crashers guys. You have a set amount of time to do as much as you can: Haunt the rice paddies or castle for power ups, move your men into position, or eat heads to turn into a demon. GrrlGotGame played Pikachu Fan in what was referred to as "the longest game" played at the show. It seems the 9-year-old was more interested in haunting and becoming a demon than actual game play (attacking). Eventually, GrrlGotGame went on a rampage to end the game, much to the relief of the exhibitors. An interesting game, but the mechanics - including limitations on how far you can move - made it drag out much longer than seemed necessary.
- Rampage (Vita): This old-school Midway game made an appearance last year in the Xbox Live Arcade booth. This year, it debuts on Sony's handheld. This was GrrlGotGame's first time using a Vita, and she was impressed. It's slimmer and lighter than the PSP, although the bulky security device attached to the back did throw off her balance on some of the demo games. Rampage itself hasn't changed a bit. It's 8-bit violence in all its glory. Your goal is to, well, go on a rampage. Using bullets, bazookas, fists, and whatever else you get your hands on, you shoot to kill and aim to thrill within a set time limit. While not a system seller, it is a fun little diversion for people looking to blow off some steam on their Vita.
- Guacamelee (Vita): Another GrrlGotGame discovery in the Vita demo area. This highly stylized side-scroller features Luchadores, a seriously silly story, and a lot of jumping. It was beautiful and entertaining for five minutes, at which point GrrlGotGame couldn't make a triple wall jump to advance. (That also stopped her progress in Mario 64 many, many years ago.) Definitely not a system seller, but worth checking out if you already have a Vita. Especially if you can triple wall jump!
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