B3yond the Report 11.03.09: God of War 3, Aliens vs Predator and Gran Turismo 5

Posted by Jon Seddon on 11.03.2009

Hands on with AvP, God of War 3, DJ Hero and Ratchet and Clank as well as Gran Turismo 5 rumors and a report from the Golden Joysticks from London, England



Despite this being the season of games releases, rather than breaking games stories I've still endeavored to bring you tales about the big future releases. This week I got some hands on time with Aliens vs. Predator and God of War III and still found time to play the new releases, DJ Hero and Ratchet and Clank. I also went to the UK Golden Joystick Awards and report on the latest features that may or may not be in Gran Turismo 5.

Top Stories

God of War III Demo released and Special Edition announced

Up till Friday, the opportunities for playing the God of War III demo looked limited to purchasing either the God of War Collection or else the District 9 Blu Ray. Either way, you were getting it with a quality product with the demo as a bonus rather than the other way round. Neither of these by the way were going to be available in Europe, so I was faced with importing them. The options were expanded on Friday night when I received a code for a God of War III demo download from SCE. I'm not sure how many people got this, but the email said something along the lines of, "as a valued PSN user, we'd like to offer you a GOW demo". Thank you very much Sony!



The demo itself was the one available at E3 and at the Eurogamer Expo that's been in London this week, so the graphically it could be a little bit behind the curve. My impressions are below, in the ‘What I've been playing' section.



Also announced this week was the special edition or Ultimate Edition as they are labeling it. Firstly, it comes in an enormous box, which might be what Pandora's box might have looked like, if it was real and Pandora liked large grotesque receptacles. Inside this box, you'll find an art book (don't you always), a DVD documentary, a soundtrack CD and some downloads codes, including a special Kratos skin and a combat arena with seven exclusive challenges. All this could be yours on launch day for $99.

Aliens Vs Predator Hands On

Also at the Eurogamer expo was a playable demo of Rebellion's Aliens vs. Predator game, which is due very early next year. As I am sure most of you are aware, Rebellion are the guys famous for making a decent AvP game, first on the Atari Jaguar and then on the PC. Both games achieved a certain level of terror and dare I say viscerally satisfying action. After a couple of poor movie tie-in games, they are now back on a big budget game, allowing you to mix it up with said aliens and predators, but also plucky space marines. The game is presented in the first person perspective, but depending which character you play as it looks very different. This week I got to play as both predator and alien in a death-match mode, but I was never brave enough to pick up an assault rifle as the human.



Unfortunately, upon picking up the controller, I was a little surprised about how flat and unimpressive the graphics were, especially when you look at the Sega's screenshots posted here. It's not fair to judge a game before release though as often it's only during the last phase of development that the lighting is sorted out. Play as the predator gives you access to the IR vision mode, which is invaluable when stalking the aliens, which are pretty hard to spot otherwise. You also get your own stealth camouflage which does give you some cover when trying to do your own skulking, but this is lost he instant you launch an attack. Weaponswise you get missiles, steerable discus type weapons and some melee and stealth kill abilities. As a predator you are pretty mobile, with a special jumping ability providing access to areas that might be out of bounds to marines and perhaps the aliens.



When your controlling aliens you don't get the fancy missiles, but you do get a ridiculous turn of speed and the ability to run on walls and ceilings. To allow you to run at the speed of the alien, it may end up being worth sacrificing some graphical fidelity and watching the brickwork flit by at the pace you're moving is a giddying experience. To make up for lack of long range weaponry the alien does get the ability to use bat sense or something similar to see enemies through the scenery and, whilst hidden in darkness you can make use of stealth kills, which are always satisfying.



As I didn't get to play as the marine, I can't comment on the balance of the game, but I suspect that you may be at a disadvantage if you only have human reflexes and the motion tracker to aid you. Again, I didn't get to play any of the single player campaign, but if it can recreate the fear of the 1999 PC game that may be it's best mode. At the moment, I worry about the state it appears to be in and the fact that it's due in February next year.

The Golden Joystick Awards

The Golden Joystick awards are the British equivalent of the American VGAs, all be it with a few differences. They have been awarded since the early days of home computing and this is their 27th year. Unlike the VGA awards the Golden Joystick Awards are entirely voted for by the public and this year include games released between May 22nd 2008 and May 22nd 2009 and so tend to be reflective of whatever was most popular during the last year. This year there were a record number of votes - 1.2 million, which is pretty impressive and does at least give the opportunity for gamers to have their say.



The reason I'm telling you this, is that 411mania were invited to attend this year to cover the awards in London and I was lucky enough to be their man on the scene. I'll just go through the winners that are going to interest PlayStation owners and not cover categories like Nintendo game of the year.

Family Game of the Year - Little Big Planet

Rampage Soundtrack of the Year - Guitar Hero World Tour

PlayStation Game of the Year - Killzone 2

Publisher of the Year: Activision Blizzard

Shortlist One to Watch - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Game of the Year - Fallout 3

I can't say that most of them would have been my picks and it doesn't make any sense that Little Big Planet was Family Game of the Year when it was beaten by Killzone 2 for PlayStation Game of the Year. I was though in complete agreement for Game of the Year as the 100+ hours I've spent on Fallout 3 will attest. The one that perhaps hurts the most though for me was Activision winning publisher of the year above EA in a year when EA have released such great games as Rock Band, Rock Band 2, Dead Space, Left4Dead, Skate 2 and FIFA 09.

All was soon forgotten though when we hit the party which featured DJ Shadow and lots of beer, so I must at least be grateful to Activision for sponsoring the entertainment.

Netflix on PS3 update

This is just a quick update on the Netflix situation just because there's been some interesting comment from industry analysts this week about how the supposed Microsoft exclusivity deal could have been circumvented.

If you remember from last week, to use Netflix on your PS3 you will need to use a disc in the console. Michael Pachter commented on why this and whilst his wording is a little complicated: "We believe that the exclusive arrangement limits Netflix's ability to appear on the ‘dashboard' for the PS3 or the Wii, but because both devices have open architecture Internet browsers built-in, the solution proposed for the PS3 would likely not violate the terms of Microsoft's exclusivity". He essentially means that embedding it into the operating system wasn't allowed.

This is backed up by Netflix who have said that a system update next year will allow you to use the service without the disc, but they did not comment on whether this would coincide with the end of Microsoft's exclusivity agreement. What worries me more than using the disc though is how good the streaming will be. It took me all night to download a 2.5 GB MAG update the other night, which is unacceptable on an 8-bit connection.

Gran Turismo 5 news

There was an interesting article in Official PlayStation Magazine UK this month when they went to Japan to talk to Polyphony Digital. They've managed to turn up a few choice bits of news on this much overdue racer. Whilst we know that damage is included for the first time, it seems that Yamauchi hasn't quite decided exactly how it will affect gameplay yet and whether it will be universal or just feature on rally cars in terms of affecting handling. He was equally uncertain about dynamic weather saying that whilst it had already been built in to the game, he wasn't sure it improved the experience and so therefore might be taken out again.



Disappointingly, it still seems some Japanese developers don't get the whole online experience. Yamauchi is quoted as saying regarding online modes, "It's more about the experience and sharing than racing against people". I think that's dead wrong! The modern racer is all about racing against other people, which removes a lot of the complaints held against the AI racers, i.e. they always take the perfect racing line, take no account of what you're doing and rubber banding destroys the experience. You only have to compare the online experiences in games such as MotorStorm and even Mario Kart to realize that online is where it's at. Don't expect any DLC soon either as apparently, "Everything we want to put in the game is on the disc".

It's not all bad though as there definitely will be online races with voice chat, online photos and the ability to upload your favorite moments to You Tube.



Regardless of what does and doesn't make it, what is certain is that at 60 fps and 1080P it will probably look amazing, but let's hope the handling with a Sixaxxis feels better than GT5 Prototype, which I always felt was rather unrealistic or at least not how you expect a car to handle.

Rumor of the Week - Gran Turismo 5 will feature a track editor

Unbeknownst by me, Gran Turismo 5 has long been rumored to feature a track editor and a story was published on E4G that it had been confirmed publishing a quote from Polyphony: "Yes it will have a track editor. You will be able to rebuild a track from scratch or edit the tracks that are already put in Gran Turismo 5".

That was obviously a pretty sizable scoop so websites everywhere were eager to follow it up. Today Sony published a non-denial, if you will, "We haven't confirmed this and aren't offering any other comment at this time," which may well mean they have no idea what Yamuachi and co. are up to.

Chance of this rumor being true: Probable.

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I think even an optimist might find it hard to get excited about the offerings on the PSN Store for PS3 this week, with only a demo for the already released Ratchet and Clank really worth checking out. Although, if you want to play old board games and pay a fortune for the privilege then Hasbro has your back with it's Family Game Night.

To coincide with the release of DJ Hero they have released a couple of mixes: "All Of Me" by 50 Cent featuring Mary J. Blige vs "Radio Ga Ga" by Queen and "DARE" by Gorillaz vs "Can't Truss It" by Public Enemy. There's been a bit of a commotion though considering they are $3 compared to the usual $2, but the argument from Activision is that you're actually getting two songs. I can actually sympathies with the big A in this case as they probably have to pay for the license for both songs and the mix and then pay DJ whoever to produce it.

There are better pickings on PSP with quite a few more games getting a digital release and a couple of new Minis. Square's tower defense game, Crystal Defenders gets a PSP release, but it's never been that well received and it's released after many better efforts on PSP. Loco Roco Midnight Carnival, also out this week, is another addition in the popular series and is a smaller digital update to the series featuring some more challenging levels.

Zombie Tycoon is the new Minis game but $7.99 might prove a little steep for a simple RTS game that can be finished in perhaps a couple of hours.

Full list at the PlayStation Blog

PlayStation at Retail

This week is the first time you will be able to scratch that 250GB PS3 slim itch when it hits stores at just $349. 250GB is starting to approach a seinsible size for something that you're going to be using and filling with content for the next 5 years. On the games front it's the last chance to get your game out before Modern Warfare 2 and this week EA are trying to pique your interest in the sizable RPG challenge that is Dragon Age: Origins. The PS3 version was going to be delayed, but thankfully it has made the earlier date that might secure it some extra sales.



Rock Band: LEGO takes on Band Hero in the a battle for the kids that just want to play music. They are both aimed at the younger audience, but for me the track listing for Rock Band is the more appealing with songs that younger kids will probably love, but will still appeal to their parents - Kung Fu Fighting has wide appeal. Band Hero on the other hand probably has the teen market in mind with its pop soundtrack.

Jak and Daxter is also be scheduled to be released this week, but that date doesn't seem certain and neither is positive feedback. From what I've read, this might be one of the few big PSP games this year that disappoints, but we'll have to wait till we get review code.

PS3
Dragon Age: Origins
Pro Evolution Soccer 2010
Band Hero
Rock Band: AC/DC Track Pack
Star Wars The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition
Rock Band: LEGO

PSP
Formula one 2009
Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier

PS2
Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier
Band Hero
Rock Band: AC/DC Track Pack

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What I've Been Playing

DJ Hero. This is one of Activision's mhttp://www.411mania.com/posting/add_column.phpore experimental games this year. It's experimental in as much as it's packing in a new turntable peripheral and the fact that the music on offer is very different to the Guitar Hero track lists. To give it more appeal with the casual audience though, it's still using the Hero branding and essentially the game's structure is the same. A description of how the game plays is mostly covered in the preview from Gamescom, but what is new in the release version is the ability to have the colored buttons

God of War III Demo. As I said, this is the demo from E3 and so by the time the game reaches retail next March, it will probably look even better. What you're getting to play is the chunk of gameplay that involved Helios and the giant titan that appears to be made of lava. How representative of an actual level this demo is, isn't clear, but its a roller coaster of action from start to finish.

You get to do all the usual Kratos stuff like and the controls and mechanics remain very similar to earlier games. In Fact after extended play, once your eyes have adjusted to the increased detail level you could even fool yourself that you're playing an earlier game. What is striking about this episode though is the levels of gore and blood on offer with eyes being gouged out, heads being ripped off and abdomens getting torn apart. All of this is accompanied by great fountains of blood and the stirring GOW music.

The demo takes you through areas that just require you to spam the attack buttons to wade through foot soldiers to a point where you have to use winged harpies to reach higher areas. You then take on a selection of mythical creatures including a centaur and a Cyclops and includes the famous section where you control the Cyclops to sweep away a group of hunkered down grunts.

Eventually, you reach a section that meets your expectations of what a next generation God of War game should deliver with you flying upwards, dodging fireballs before arriving next to the glowing Titan, whose scale becomes clear and truly epic. I can't say that I'm as excited by the game as I once was, but then when we first saw the game we hadn't seen games like Uncharted 2 and The Last Guardian, but with Bayonetta and Dante's Inferno out soon, God of War deserves the chance to see off these upstarts.

Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time Clank Demo. This is another game that looks absolutely amazing and shows what developers are able to do with PS3 on their second or third game. Not only that, but on the evidence from the demo and the review scores it's also a very well put together experience and perhaps the most comprehensive Ratchet experience yet.



The Clank demo gives you a shot at the time manipulation tools with both the ability to freeze time in certain areas and record and playback actions using specially colored pads. That is actually a rather complicated mechanic to explain, but at it's simplest if a door require Clank to stand on a pressure pad to stay open, you can record yourself standing on the pad and then play this back and whilst your doppelganger is standing on the pad, your real self can step through. I'm no fan of the series, but this looks genuinely interesting.


Tekken 6. Again, I have to show my complete lack of gaming gravitas, by saying that this is only the second Tekken game I have ever played, the other one being the HD port of the PSP game. This was actually a bit of an accidental purchase as I'd added it onto my pre-order list on a whim months ago, and I only remembered it was there when I got the email receipt that it had been shipped.

Anyway, what did I think? First impressions weren't great as somehow I don't find it graphically as attractive as Street Fighter IV or SoulCalibur IV and I even put SF back in to check. I've always thought of Tekken somewhere between SF and SoulCalibur in terms of its approachability, but I was getting absolutely hammered in arcade mode. The only other time, I've played it, I've played with a Six Axis and I was finding playing with a stick pretty challenging. This is going to need a lot of focus to get better at, so it's probably going to have to wait until a quieter period in the gaming calendar.

I did have a brief play of the story mode, which is a 3D brawler rather a traditional fighter and I thought it sucked big time, with the camera often leaving me completely unable to see what I was doing. This is a shame, because quite a few of the unlocks require you to pay through this mode.

Heroes Over Europe. It's a tough gig playing this game after the relative brilliance of IL-2 Sturmovik. Whilst IL-2 was a simulation of WW II air combat that was heavily tweaked to make it approachable for the console market, Heroes is a pure arcade game that uses the war as a backdrop for it's shooting action. This is another game I've got for review, so I'm not going to say at this point whether I think that this is arcade approach is a good or bad thing for the game. So far, I've only played through the tutorial, but the planes are as easy to fly as your average X-wing and the shooting seems to be extremely easy. Only more time in the cockpit (a little ironic as the game doesn't provide you a cockpit view) will show whether that gets dull before the end.

WWE Smackdown vs. RAW 2010. I've played a lot of this game this week in preparation for review, so expect to see my thoughts later this coming week.

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Next week I'll be thinking about what effect the new DS XL might have on the PSP resurgence and also I'll be reporting back Dragon Age: Origins, starting to play Borderlands proper and also getting in all of a froth about Modern Warfare 2.