I've made little secret of my console preference. Hell, this blog is named after it. So when I got the e-mail asking if I wanted to attend an event previewing all their new games, I was all over it like a bum on a sandwich.
Ostensibly I was there as a representative of DadCentric, reviewing their new family-friendly offerings. I felt it was my obligation to focus on all the new services designed to make the Xbox more of a media center and kid-inclusive device. It took about seven seconds for me to discard that illusion once I saw some buys playing Gears of War 2.
Let me first state that I haven't played much of the original Gears of War. I loved the fast-paced gameplay and the way enemy heads exploded, but I was getting my butt kicked, and was quickly distracted by shiny object like Oblivion and Burnout. I was sorta "meh" on the new version. Until yesterday....
What I saw was so freakishly awesome-looking I probably looked like Marty Feldman watching it. I saw some guy firing down at a horde of enemies from a window, as bullet-trails whizzed past his head. I saw the Hammer of Dawn fry some multi-leg monstrosity as it turned a corner. I saw the heavens open and the light of God shine down upon me. I shed a tear.
My next stop was Call of Duty: World at War. Call of Duty 4 was my game of the year last year, and I was a little disappointed to see that we were yet again reliving the last righteous moment of glory the United States has had playing as World War II soldiers. But the scene I saw began with you lying wounded, surrounded by other wounded soldiers. An enemy soldier (probably a fucking Nazi) steps over some debris and starts executing my fallen comrades. Next thing you know you're dragging your tattered body behind a wall so you can pick off enemies with your sniper rifle. It's a brilliant collage of "war is hell"/"never say die" realism, enhanced by the incredibly realistic reactions of enemy combatants and the stunningly beautiful graphics. Again, I had to pick my jaw off the floor.
Sadly, I didn't have time to look at Fallout 3, and I had only a few brief minutes with Fable 2, when I was taken upstairs to view the "family-inclusive" games. This is when the true highlight of my day occurred.
Madden 09
I met one of the developers, who was there to demo the new version. I started off with a few pieces of history and feedback:
- Madden 01 is what made me buy a video game system in the first place.
- I've owned four Madden titles since then
- I love football the way you probably love your children
- Collectively I've spent a total of 10 hours playing all of them, because I can't figure the shit out
With that as our premise, he demonstrated some new tweaks. First off, it actually teaches you how to play with far more intuitive training tools. Second, it recognizes that you may be a novice at running plays but intermediate at passing plays, and adjusts the difficulty accordingly. ON A PLAY-BY-PLAY BASIS!! Then, Chris Collinsworth will come on and actually explain the play and how you could have done better. You're no longer required to have a Belichik-level knowledge of the game to select plays. The controls are streamlined. And no fucking Marshall Faulk reading from some retarded script.
And the graphics....oooooh, the graphics.
The developer spent a good five minutes zooming in on the grass and pointing out the flashbulbs in the stadium and the security guards at the entrance. Is it that important? Not really, but it does add to the experience. For my money, watching guys getting gang-tackled without video glitches was enough to sell me. Looks like fifth Madden title will be on my birthday list.
I could say more about the family games they showed me, but you can read about all that on DadCentric. The fact is that the Xbox division is the one shining bright spot in the ever-fading constellation of Microsoft, and these dudes GET what us geeks are looking for. You can appeal to families and you can appeal to freaks like me...you can do both! They GET it, and god bless them for it.
Now let's hope they keep me on their short list. Daddy needs an advance copy of GoW2....
Comments