Albert Art

Day 7 - Biohazard, Unfinished Swan,

*Posted Saturday afternoon Japan Time.

TGS Friday!

I finally had a chance to play the latest Resident Evil aka Biohazard. You know the one set in Africa somewhere, and that came under some criticism for being considered racist. We had to wait 30 mintues or so, and were given the option of single player or co-op, with 2 different missions to try. And like the Silent Hill booth, we were treated to a video presentation prior to the game, but in Biohazard's case, it was a little more like going to Universal Studios. After the movie, we were debriefed on our mission with Chris Redfield, an actor from Italy, or France, or Germany, somewhere, came on stage, and in his broken english acted out the lines he was given. I didn't know Chris Redfield was Van Damme's brother? I had to hold myself back from laughing.

I found the 2 co-op missions particularly difficult even with a partner, we kept dying. Aiming is really tough with no auto target, and moving feels quite slow, like with all Resident Evils. The up-close combat is cool, stomping on Zombies to finish them off is fun, but with hordes of Zombies around its hard to fight off multiple enemies. This most definitely isn't Gears of War.

Pictured, the crew and actors behind the motion capture, for Resident Evil 5.

After RE, I tried several times to win a Street Fighter IV hat, to no avail! IN order to get one, you have to win 5 consecutive matches, of 3 rounds each. Which is tough considering the uneven skill level of those playing. Experts versus novice. That, or I guess everyone at the show is reeeeally good at Street Fighter, except for me. Instead all those who played Street Fighter got some nifty pins. Hands down Capcom had one of the most popular booths at the show, because they had so many games that people wanted to play. even then I'd still be happy just playing Street Fighter on those awesome screens, trying to win a hat.

Even though the first 2 days of the show weren't open to the public, the lineups still ate into my play time, so I couldn't get to everything that I wanted to see, and being that my hotel situation and plans conflict with the last 2 days of TGS, I had to make Friday my final day at the show. I hope next year I can stay for all 4 days. I should have planned my game plan better.

I really want Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, and Phantasy Star Zero.

After the show closed at 5pm, everyone headed on out to the after party and presentation of Sense of Wonder.

If it's one game that caught my attention aside from Pixel Junk, it's be The Unfinished Swan.

The Unfinished Swan, definitely has potential to be a hit in the indie games scene. Players are set in an entirely white world in a first person perspective, with only their black paint to reveal their surroundings. Being developed in XNA, Ian Dallas (USC) submitted this to the Sense of Wonder competition at TGS, which was presented at the after hours party mixer. I hope to follow this games progress, it's be interesting to see where it ends up. The new Portal?

Overall I think TGS is a great experience, and I wouldn't hesitate to go back. The only thing that really bugged me was the lack of wireless internet through the entire convention. It's kinda prehistoric that way.

So with all that, I'm off to Ginza, staying at the very cool Mitsui Garden Ginza hotel. I'm serious considering extending my trip, at this point. Hmmmm...