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Gamescom Impressions from the show floor.

Gamescom entrance right now:
tumblr_mpzzsqZK3c1sp9fcho1_500.gif
 

Denzar

Member
I've been there yesterday.

It was WAY too crowded, and it wasn't even open to the public yet... Waiting lines were already out of control. I had to wait almost 2 hours to play Tom Clancy's The Division. And this was the shortest line I could find for a big upcoming game. What I played left me impressed, but TBH I'm not at all blown away by the next-gen graphics I've seen on dsiplay during GC.

Everything looks really sharp, yes, but as a PC gamer first and foremost I saw games that don't deliver a drastic better image quality that I'm used to on a year old graphics card...

Knack did not really look all that good, Driveclub was kind of underwhelming (Forza 5 looked better), Killer Instinct looked okay... Nothing really blew me away.
 
Now the X1 controller...
The sticks are too loose and react to the smallest amount of movement. That by itself is not really a bad thing if they had done it right because I think they went a little overboard with it. Basically pick up your PS3 controller and that is how the sticks feel on the One now. Ugh.
The rumble in the trigger? Neat concept, completely useless in reality. First thing I will turn of when I get the thing. The triggers itself are very nice though. I was a bit worried since they made them bigger but they feel very natural.
LB and RB. They are shit. Harder to reach and since they made them clicky you have to press them down with the force of a hammer.
The Dpad seems definitely improved so I guess there is that. But IMO that should have been the only change. You would have the perfect controller if you put the X1 dpad in the 360 controller.

The-Office-gifs-the-office-14948948-240-196.gif


so they killed what was good about the 360 pad :/
 

Denzar

Member
What are your impressions of both controllers?

IMO the PS4 controller is a BIG step forward for Sony. Feels really good in the palm of my hand, triggers feel less squishy and tighter. Analogue sticks feel different, but more precise. The first thing that stood out though was the weight of the DS4. This is a good thing!

Xbox One's controller is also a nice improvement. I don't have to mention that the D-Pad is the one thing that improved the most. The rumble feedback in the triggers is also quite cool, especially in Forza 5, and more subtle than you'd think.
 
I had to wait almost 2 hours to play Tom Clancy's The Division. And this was the shortest line I could find for a big upcoming game. What I played left me impressed, but TBH I'm not at all blown away by the next-gen graphics I've seen on dsiplay during GC.

Was it being played on a console or PC? Was there a multiplayer part to it, was it purely single player? How was the shooting? The world?
 

Dawg

Member
I'm interested in that game because former Starbreeze is working on it. If you have played Riddick and The Darkness, did you see any improvements on the shooting front? Could you sprint? Aim down sights? Does it feel old style with modern flourish or modern style with old school nods like dual wielding?

You could sprint and the sights were there. Definitely a combination of old school and modern gameplay. HP, for example, only regenerates to a certain point. Full health is 100HP but if enemies shoot you down to 23, you'll regenerate hp to 40 something. Of course, you can find kits and even "overpower" drinks/food that thrive your health above 100. Also golden collectibles like in the original Wolfenstein.

One of the coolest parts was experiencing the transition from WW2 nazi's to modern nazi's. The guns etc changed too, you start the game with the usual ww2 stuff (including the dual wield) and then it gives you these modern/sci-fi nazi guns later. Won't tell you how the game changes from old school nazi to "the new order" though, don't want to spoil that :)
 
You could sprint and the sights were there. Definitely a combination of old school and modern gameplay. HP, for example, only regenerates to a certain point. Full health is 100HP but if enemies shoot you down to 23, you'll regenerate hp to 40 something. Of course, you can find kits and even "overpower" drinks/food that thrive your health above 100. Also golden collectibles like in the original Wolfenstein.

One of the coolest parts was experiencing the transition from WW2 nazi's to modern nazi's. The guns etc changed too, you start the game with the usual ww2 stuff (including the dual wield) and then it gives you these modern/sci-fi nazi guns later. Won't tell you how the game changes from old school nazi to "the new order" though, don't want to spoil that :)

Sounds great. What did you think of the leaning system, use it much?
iABYcdFASaz1F.gif

Riddick had that too.
 

see5harp

Member
Well it's still the Dualshock, make no mistake. So if you don't like the position of the sticks at all you are not gonna fall in love with the thing. They fixed almost all things wrong with the DS3. The sticks are further apart, concave and a lot stiffer with more resistance to them. The handles are longer so it doesn't feel so small and the rubber texture is really nice, feels grippy.
Your fingers naturally rest on the triggers which feel very good.

Now the X1 controller...
The sticks are too loose and react to the smallest amount of movement. That by itself is not really a bad thing if they had done it right because I think they went a little overboard with it. Basically pick up your PS3 controller and that is how the sticks feel on the One now. Ugh.
The rumble in the trigger? Neat concept, completely useless in reality. First thing I will turn of when I get the thing. The triggers itself are very nice though. I was a bit worried since they made them bigger but they feel very natural.
LB and RB. They are shit. Harder to reach and since they made them clicky you have to press them down with the force of a hammer.
The Dpad seems definitely improved so I guess there is that. But IMO that should have been the only change. You would have the perfect controller if you put the X1 dpad in the 360 controller.

RB and LB are clickier than they currently are on the 360 controller?
 

Shakka

Member
I saw Mark Cerny on the show floor floor today. I was standing in line for the PS4 area at the Sony booth when suddenly he came out of the exit of the PS4 area and crossed our line right in front of me. Was pretty cool seeing him there out of the blue in between all the regular folks just minutes after I had arrived at the show (at about 4pm).

My surprise of the show was The Wonderful 101. I was never planning on buying a Wii U, but man, this game was so much fun, if the console was a little cheaper it might actually make me do it.
Besides that, I played Knack (played on hard since I heard it was too easy, was surprisingly difficult, looked really good), Pupeteer (loved it, pretty unique gameplay, great presentation), Forza (was not impressed, but screen settings seemed off and I could only play in first person), FF X and KH 1.5 HD (looked nice, probably gonna buy again).

Overall a real fun day, looking forward to going again tomorrow.
 

Dawg

Member
Did anyone reach the second island on Elder Scrolls Online? Played this game last on my press day and I was so tired so I enjoyed being able to just sit down and play a mmo.

Played it for like two hours and when I noticed I was the only person in a forest type of area (every other screen was snowy :p), I checked my watch and noticed I've been playing it for two hours. Good stuff, even the bethesda dev was impressed and told me not many people got that far :p

Actual game was a lot of fun too, captured the exploration feeling of elder scrolls really well. Combat is fun too once you get the hang out of it. Blocking an enemy when he's about to use a charging attack and then doing a powerful move yourself when he's dizzy is fun :) Played a Dragon Knight myself and I enjoyed using the shield move and turning in some kind of half dragon :p It's also cool how many different kinds of xp you get. There's the general XP bar but you also get "dragon" xp if you use dragon moves and like other elder scrolls games you can lvl "heavy armor" etc too.

And yeah, if you find a chest... you have to lockpick it like in most TES games. It really feels weird with all these things from the SP games, I often forgot I was playing an MMO. I think one of the devs summed it up well: you can play this on your own and experience the entire story if you want, but you can also go do PvP and other stuff when you feel like it.
 

Salih

Member
came back from gamescom a couple hours ago; impressions (please excuse any misspellings):

Titanfall - yes, that game that won all these awards at last E3 and everyone couldn't stop talking about it. me rolling my eyes everytime i heard Titanfall. So i had to check it out - also a gaffer recommended it to me. Also fyi am not a fps guy, let alone play CoDs. But there is not much to say about this game besides: OH SHIT IT'S AMAZING! I HAVE SEEN IT! NOW I KNOW WHY! No, seriously - game of the show without a doubt.

First they showed us a short trailer to let us understand the basics and then we could finally try it out. What makes Titanfall so great? Being able to run through an area for 10-15secs jumping and running from one wall to another while gaining more momentum and speed and not hitting ground even once and killing everything along the way. It's so fucking intuitive and lets you play in ways that is not possible in current first person shooters. There is now another layer of depth introduced. Everything in this game seems so fluid - the animations, the way you control yourself and your mech - fluid as fuck. I left impressed. Calling titans and using them is sooo badass; i had a stupid grin on my face the whole time.
Also one time i was on top of a building and a enemy titan was below me - i right jumped onto it; my char held on to it and i started shooting at some fast rotating engines and jumping off it right before the explosion and seeing it getting destroyed and the pilot flying out of it was a thing of beauty.

Maybe the new Battlefield 4 or the new Killzone are better looking games - but from a clear gameplay standpoint Titanfall is in a league of its own. Outstanding - i am now a believer.

Ryse - As a 3rd person action game fan (i love Bayonetta, original DMC, Ninja Gaiden) i had to try this out. Yeah, after playing it you really can't compare it to the aforementioned games. Actually there is nothing quite like this on the market - there are no combos to pull - it's basically parrying at the right time with the A button and then hitting the enemy with either X (light attack) or Y (heavy attack) till a skull appears flashing above the enemy. Then you press B and you do a quick QTE where you finish him off. You can't block but you can roll. I played coop with another player and it's pretty cool if you and your friend press B at the same time on the same enemy doing a combo finish off which looked awesome. You have special attacks pressing RT which dazes every opponent surronding you.
I thought it was kinda good. I sure had my fair share of fun with it. Game was ridiculously easy though - little to no challenge at all. i blazed through the demo killing everything left and right. Another problem was whenever the finishing QTE appeared and the camera moved closer to highlight the killing animation there were sometimes clipping errors or bugs and you either couldn't see yourself or the enemy while killing him. I am not sure if they can correct that till launch.
At the end from what i have played there seems little to no real depth in the fighting mechanics. But to say the game plays itself is also wrong. You have to master parrying more than one enemy at the same time while they attack you from all directions. For me it seems like mindless fun. I saw a lot of people really enjoying this game and its crazy finishing moves. Oh and btw. it looked really good but the SP campaign looked graphically a lot better than the MP part.

Tearaway - i have no PSVita - so maybe this delightful little game could change my mind about purchasing one. Best thing about this game? Its charming world with its beautiful graphics and clean and luscious colors. It's very creative and you can do a lot of little funny things like design a hat for an NPC and then make a photo of it. From a clear gameplay standpoint there is not much challenge in this game. Keep in mind that it was really early into the game. I don't think the aim of the game is having a nice challenge but rather to enjoy the scenery while listening to the music - but i couldn't listen to any of it because it was too loud and they blocked the audio out on the PSVita so i could not even put my earphones into it. Did i have fun? Sure i did. Is it a must-buy as a PSVita owner? Yup. But will it convert me to a PSVita owner? No. But please more of this and eventually i will get a PSVita.

DKC-Tropical Freeze - played level 2-6 with my brother; hardest level in the demo and oh boy i was happy when we made out of the demo alive. We died 3 times. Game is really hard and very challenging - and there are secrets and shit literally everywhere. Beautiful game with lovely animations - it is pretty much what you would expect.

Mario Kart 8 - graphically the most impressive WiiU game. Texture work is a thing of beauty. gameplay-wise the same old good shit. But i can't believe my brother beat me using that stupid steering wheel. i felt like a piece of crap :(

Oculus Rift - last thing i checked out. There were two lines - one for iRacing, the other (and longer one) for Hawken - probably because it was a longer demo and you could actually play it. I went to check out iRacing with a group of 4 people in total - after demoing it two didn't like it - one of them could not really see the 3D (wtf?) the other one said it was nauseating the whole time. My brother said it was ok and i thought it was STUNNING. I loved it big time :) - i am a huge 3D fan mind you. This right here is the future of gaming. You could really feel a sense of speed which felt purely amazing.The only problem we all had and agreed on was that it was cleary not in 1080p with the consequence that it wasn't very sharp and the whole picture looked a bit unclean and 'fuzzy'. I thought they had the new 1080p models there? I don't get it. Nevertheless i was amazed - you really have to experience this. I want one asap - just imagining playing Titanfall with this already gives me a seizure lol

XboxOne controller - first thing i noticed were the smaller analog sticks. I don't know how i feel about this. Also LB and RB are imho harder to reach. I did not like this at all. The rest was fine and the dpad really clicks when pressing it - it was so much more responsive. so yeah, mixed feelings.

Sony - PS4 - i had some time left so i wanted to check out the PS4. But neither the new Killzone nor Infamous were playable; and i really didn't wanted to wait 1-2hours in a line to play AssCreed4 or Driveclub or Knack. Yeah, no way to check out the new controller.

Also Hideki Kamiya and Suda51 were there. It was awesome meeting them.
 

Mifune

Mehmber
Great impressions, Salih.

Titanfall sounds cool; I'm not a big multiplayer FPS fan either and you sold me with the idea that you can take out a bunch of enemies without ever touching the ground. Why hadn't I heard that before? That sounds fun.
 
Oh sweet Jesus, if you have Killzone MP gameplay, PLEASE UPLOAD.

1. I was worried about the OWL. Hopefully the game was played on an easier setting.
4. Can you only shoot forward? Can you explain the mechanics of the game, how the enemies pop up, boost, etc?

Thank you for the impressions :D
 
Another problem was whenever the finishing QTE appeared and the camera moved closer to highlight the killing animation there were sometimes clipping errors or bugs and you either couldn't see yourself or the enemy while killing him. I am not sure if they can correct that till launch.

You saw a lot of this?
i4h6NHo9L9T8G.gif

ibhnBoJCvrvTRV.gif

i15QOxxi7txT1.gif
 

MercuryLS

Banned
Well it's still the Dualshock, make no mistake. So if you don't like the position of the sticks at all you are not gonna fall in love with the thing. They fixed almost all things wrong with the DS3. The sticks are further apart, concave and a lot stiffer with more resistance to them. The handles are longer so it doesn't feel so small and the rubber texture is really nice, feels grippy.
Your fingers naturally rest on the triggers which feel very good.

Now the X1 controller...
The sticks are too loose and react to the smallest amount of movement. That by itself is not really a bad thing if they had done it right because I think they went a little overboard with it. Basically pick up your PS3 controller and that is how the sticks feel on the One now. Ugh.
The rumble in the trigger? Neat concept, completely useless in reality. First thing I will turn of when I get the thing. The triggers itself are very nice though. I was a bit worried since they made them bigger but they feel very natural.
LB and RB. They are shit. Harder to reach and since they made them clicky you have to press them down with the force of a hammer.
The Dpad seems definitely improved so I guess there is that. But IMO that should have been the only change. You would have the perfect controller if you put the X1 dpad in the 360 controller.

I've heard that a lot with the Xbox One bumpers, disappointing...I really liked the triggers and bumpers on the Xbox 360 controller. I'm happy that the DS4 is a great controller at least, hopefully there's a good PC driver for it. Thanks for the impressions.
 
Ok here are my impressions:

FORZA 5 (we attended a live-demo at the xbox-stage and the lead creative guy (don't really remember who it was) showed the game. It was a well enough racing game, but "Power of the cloud" and "power of Xbox ONE" really took me out of the presentation. Felt like scientology or sometimes like that with those random phrases.

Driveclub (haven't played it myself but saw live gameplay) looks amazing.

Mario Kart 8: just awesome, plays smooth, looks nearly perfect, very detailed, i bet it will be Nintendo Systemseller until Smash Bros. launches

Zelda 3DS and Pokemon looked good too as does Super Mario 3D World

FIFA 14: Played the XBOX 360 version at first and it felt damn slow (my brother and I play FIFA a lot and it really felt very slow) Played the XBOX ONE-Version afterwards and it ran smooth and at a normal speed, looked good, lots of details BUT the Controller...just feel weird...it feels way to "clumsy" the RT LT are good but RB LB are really weird. The analag sticks...well they are way to small and...feel weird...The controller could need an overhaul...Oh and the XBOX ONE next to ours, was really loud. Sounded like my old PS2 which was filled up with dust (so not good if you ask me)
 
FORZA 5 (we attended a live-demo at the xbox-stage and the lead creative guy (don't really remember who it was) showed the game. It was a well enough racing game, but "Power of the cloud" and "power of Xbox ONE" really took me out of the presentation. Felt like scientology or sometimes like that with those random phrases.

Every copy of Forza comes with a free audit.
 
Ok here are my impressions:

FORZA 5 (we attended a live-demo at the xbox-stage and the lead creative guy (don't really remember who it was) showed the game. It was a well enough racing game, but "Power of the cloud" and "power of Xbox ONE" really took me out of the presentation. Felt like scientology or sometimes like that with those random phrases.

Driveclub (haven't played it myself but saw live gameplay) looks amazing.

Mario Kart 8: just awesome, plays smooth, looks nearly perfect, very detailed, i bet it will be Nintendo Systemseller until Smash Bros. launches

Zelda 3DS and Pokemon looked good too as does Super Mario 3D World

FIFA 14: Played the XBOX 360 version at first and it felt damn slow (my brother and I play FIFA a lot and it really felt very slow) Played the XBOX ONE-Version afterwards and it ran smooth and at a normal speed, looked good, lots of details BUT the Controller...just feel weird...it feels way to "clumsy" the RT LT are good but RB LB are really weird. The analag sticks...well they are way to small and...feel weird...The controller could need an overhaul...Oh and the XBOX ONE next to ours, was really loud. Sounded like my old PS2 which was filled up with dust (so not good if you ask me)

How about Fifa itself? Could you see a big difference between current and old gen graphic wise? Did they change a lot of the gameplay compared to Fifa 13?
 

Kinan

Member
Here a bit of Mario Kart 8 gameplay. Looked really nice indeed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Hts9lo4s-8


Also wanted to say that I find it interesting that in the bootup process of the driveclub demo station "User logged in" message is coming way before Dualshock indicator. Seems like logging in is implemented somewhere on the very basic level, probably to support that standby mode.
 
Would kill for a campaign with titanfalls gameplay.

I can't but feel that it's not as easy as it sounds to make a good SP with titanfall gameplay.

Everything I've seen of Titanfall thus far feels like it's purely designed for MP, from the map designs, layout, the wall-running/jumping mechanic, etc.

It's a combination of those gameplay, amplified by the excellent map/set-pieces that allow for that gameplay to shine, and a very clear focus that has made Titanfall look great. I don't think I've seen a SP campaign that has ever successfully implemented the components of an MP that way that it has allowed Titanfall to shine.
 

Krilekk

Banned
Just wish TitanFall had sp. They could at least do a bot mode or horde mode.

I thought it has. Not singleplayer campaign but you can play online and just have bots as enemies. Nice impressions by someone who has seen Titanfall. The hype might be justified after all.

The Oculus Rift 1080p still uses only half of that resolution for each eye. So you basically end up with 960 x 1080 per eye, that's why it's still visible. This is no problem for TVs with 3D modes but when you're close to the display of course you see every pixel.
 

LeBoef

Member
my controller impressions differ somehow

XBox 1
controller is somehow smaller, think they moved the bumpers back. got to get used to it.
rumble triggers are amazing, especially at forza. love the rumble feedback while your brakes lock.
dpad is stiffer and clicking now, but dont know how it responds ingame.
and i love the new analog sticks. stiffer and the material is awesome. convex shaping.

PS4
the controller has a proper size now and fits perfectly in your hand. but the triggers are still too short and made of that cheap rubber stuff. i dont like that at all. analog sticks are made of the same material and got a concave shaping which is imho real bad.
 

Lima

Member
my controller impressions differ somehow

XBox 1
controller is somehow smaller, think they moved the bumpers back. got to get used to it.
rumble triggers are amazing, especially at forza. love the rumble feedback while your brakes lock.
dpad is stiffer and clicking now, but dont know how it responds ingame.
and i love the new analog sticks. stiffer and the material is awesome. convex shaping.

Impressions can be different but you can't be serious. Did you play with some kind of special controller? The sticks are stiffer, sorry what? Compared to which controller?
There are also concave and not convex. Maybe you got that impression from the material they use on the sides of the stick. The material and shape on the face of the stick are the same as on the 360 controller with the transforming dpad.
 

Soi-Fong

Member
my controller impressions differ somehow

XBox 1
controller is somehow smaller, think they moved the bumpers back. got to get used to it.
rumble triggers are amazing, especially at forza. love the rumble feedback while your brakes lock.
dpad is stiffer and clicking now, but dont know how it responds ingame.
and i love the new analog sticks. stiffer and the material is awesome. convex shaping.

PS4
the controller has a proper size now and fits perfectly in your hand. but the triggers are still too short and made of that cheap rubber stuff. i dont like that at all. analog sticks are made of the same material and got a concave shaping which is imho real bad.

WTF? People were complaining before that PS3 sticks were convex and now people are complaining they're concave? Seriously?

Edit: Think this guy doesn't in the diff between convex and concave. Hell, add to that every other preview have said how XBONE controller sticks are looser, not stiffer,
 

LeBoef

Member
WTF? People were complaining before that PS3 sticks were convex and now people are complaining they're concave? Seriously?

Edit: Think this guy doesn't in the diff between convex and concave. Hell, add to that every other preview have said how XBONE controller sticks are looser, not stiffer,

yeah, i am confusing concave and convex.
just re read it.

take a look at the controller:
i dont like that rim and that convex middle (now i got concave and convex)
dualshock-4-580-75.jpg



Impressions can be different but you can't be serious. Did you play with some kind of special controller? The sticks are stiffer, sorry what? Compared to which controller?
There are also concave and not convex. Maybe you got that impression from the material they use on the sides of the stick. The material and shape on the face of the stick are the same as on the 360 controller with the transforming dpad.

yes right, messed up convex/ concave. sry
the one analog sticks felt stiffer than the 360 ones. but i played pes on ps3 right before going to microsoft.
the rim is different to the 360 controller.
 
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