Paris Games Week at a Glance
Hi everyone. These are my impressions of select games shown at Paris Games Week. Another version of this piece can be found at my website: kylanknowler.com
As opposed to my post-E3 takeaways this past June, I will keep the focus here on titles which were demonstrated in-engine, in-game. I was intrigued by some of the teaser-trailer announcements, such as Housemarque's Matterfall, but I'll leave discussion of those for whenever their respective developers have something of substance up their sleeves.
This, of course, means I have no obligation to spend needless mental (or written) currency on David Cage's Detroit: Become Human, which—thank God. (I don't believe in God, so this should say volumes.) Although I must say, it's amusing to hear Cage, director/writer of big-budget games, describe his studio's shift to a multi-person writing team as being like a "TV series", as if it isn't already a longstanding hallmark of big-budget, 'AAA' games. For the sake of everyone at Quantic Dream (Cage incl.), I hope the shared reins of the script makes for a work which can - finally - be as beloved by others as it is by them.
Anyhow, it's time to talk games, mes amis.
GRAVITY RUSH 2
I find Sony's positioning for Gravity Rush: Remastered and its sequel somewhat strange. The remaster is ostensibly an effort to launch the series anew with the Playstation 4 serving as catapult, but if their press conference this week is the indicator, they want our focus squarely on the sequel (only Gravity Rush 2 made an appearance). The overwhelming majority of Playstation 4 owners do not and have never owned a Vita, Gravity Rush's original platform, so it's odd to place the emphasis on the sequel when most people will likely want to begin at ground zero with the franchise. Having not had the opportunity to try the original myself, I can't say how much story would be lost by skipping the remaster in favour of the sequel, but I imagine it isn't substantial; nevertheless, given the remaster will be available first, it would have been wise to at least include it in this briefing.
Gravity Rush 2 looks excellent, by the way: a crisp, gorgeously vibrant cityscape, (reportedly) responsive controls, three combat play-styles, and the overarching gravity manipulation which characterizes the series and lends it its name. From what I have seen, this is one of the most unique game-worlds of recent years; I'm looking forward to turning it upside down, and every other way I possibly can.
BOUNDLESS
Boundless's trailer didn't strike up an interest in me during Sony's conference, as it lacked concrete details - its overlying structure, for example - but developer Wonderstruck has since provided a fairly comprehensive overview on the Playstation Blog. On paper the game reads as a loose marriage between Minecraft and No Man's Sky, trading the spaceships of the latter for the more businesslike transport of portals (conveniently carved door-shaped). Where Sky features realistically spherical moons and dwarf planets, Boundless's "homeworlds" are blockier rubixes of a comparatively classic form. Head over to the overview post I've linked for the full suite of information on the game. It reads, to me, like a composite of several other games, and for this reason I'm not sure it warrants the excitement it's received; it has however earned the enthusiasm.
NO MAN'S SKY
And speaking of both, a lesson in diminishment courtesy Hello Games' No Man's Sky! Oh, don't get me wrong: I still think the game has incredible potential, although I've been lukewarm on the gameplay. And lukewarm was to be expected, I think, given how long a wait it was to finally observe many of the fundamental systems, such as on-foot combat and resource mining.
I've talked about the problem of premature reveals for projects before, and indeed, Sky has become a tiring act since its announce in late 2013. Originally tiring for its exhaustive possibilities, it is now tiring for reasons which run exactly counter to its objective. How many more trailers do we honestly want to sit through? How many times can director Sean Murray take center stage and climb the game's cosmic distance ladder before the audience numbs to it? Whatever the number, we're nearing it.
For a game whose key stress is on the element of discovery, I'm worried No Man's Sky's infinite universe is already far too populated with our too-well-traveled eyes. For the game's sake and our own, I hope the June 2016 release date lands smoothly on time, and not a moment (see: month) later.
HORIZON: ZERO DAWN
Another strong (if somewhat repetitive) showing for Guerilla Games' open-world 'post-post-apocalypse' RPG; another resource harvest from the impala-like "grazers"; another demonstration of Aloy's deployable tripwire traps and another showdown with the techno-tyrannosaur, the thunderjaw.
I understand why, for marketing purposes, the thunderjaws have been placed at the climax of Horizon's trailers, but it would have been such a gift to the game itself if these gargantuan, bullish bipeds had been kept hush hush for the player until then. Horizon demonstrates impressively enough notwithstanding these encounters that I believe Guerilla could have replaced them with even heavier emphasis, say, on breaking down its role-playing systems.
In any case, what's done is done. I have seen enough to know I've seen enough, and it's therefore likely the next mention I make of Horizon will be in review sometime next year, when the game is scheduled for release. It is perhaps the most promising upcoming game in Sony's entire portfolio, and I hope Guerilla spends less time worrying about making promises and more making good on the promise this already shows.
WiLD
Ah, there we are. I was getting anxious about this one!
We'd last seen Michel Ancel's (Rayman, Beyond Good & Evil) WiLD, after all, two Augusts ago; when it skipped a reappearance at this year's Gamescom in Cologne my heart skipped a beat, figuratively speaking. The game's presence at this year's Paris Games Week was leaked beforehand, so a potential happy surprise became a mere happy side of the show, which isn't such a tragedy, really.
But the positives didn't end there. Not only was I under the false assumption WiLD was being published by Ubisoft (on evidence in my post on Far Cry Primal), but, great news, everyone! The game isn't being published by Ubisoft! Happy Halloween!
...Whoops; wait a minute. What I meant to say is, the game looks spectacular.
UNCHARTED 4: A THIEF'S END (MULTIPLAYER)
I'm not a fan of the presentation chosen for Uncharted 4's multiplayer debut—this playacted, obviously over-manipulated "gameplay" footage. I'm not sure what developmental state the multiplayer component of the game is in at this moment, but personally, I always prefer a rough-but-representational build to a dolled-up placation. Just because you're under the spotlight doesn't mean you have to theatricize, Naughty Dog. Audiences are a lot kinder than you'd think, as you should well remember.
Regardless, even if the single-player campaign is still the main event, I enjoyed Uncharted 2 & 3's multiplayer a great deal. The lack of dedicated servers for 4's is strange, and certainly not ideal, but given the expense it isn't necessarily shocking, either. I'm looking forward to many nightly thiefs' ends (and plunderers' and kings') when the curtain on Drake's story is closed for good, March 18th, next year. (Tear.)
NIER: AUTOMATA
Even though this past E3 brought with it the return of The Last Guardian, and the Final Fantasy VII: Remake and Shenmue III announcements, the reveal of a new Nier game (subtitled "Automata") threw me most. I couldn't understand it from a business perspective, but I could only headscratch for so long before happily relinquishing myself to ignorance. It seems, given the first game's meager sales - and subsequent cult status - that this collaboration with lionized studio Platinum Games is something of a prestige project for Square Enix. But as curious as I am to find out for sure, I think I'll save the questioning for after the game has underwent physical manufacture, and I can slip it securely into my breast pocket until I know everything, lord, will be okay.
The Paris Games Week trailer is almost as much as one could ask for, but I think it may mislead the familiar and unfamiliar alike into believing it's an all-out action game rather than, like the first, an action-RPG, which director/writer Yoko Taro has claimed it is since the announcement in June. Still, what we have is confirmation of a beautiful (if destitute) art direction, an adrenalizing score by composer Keiichi Okabe, and the fluidity and electricity of Platinum's combat. I'm looking forward to the day we can observe these elements outside of combat, but I suppose ass-kicking is as good a kick-start as one could reasonably ask for.
Whew! That's a wrap on Paris Games Week 2015, folks. If Sony has anything notable left in them for next month's Playstation Experience event, you may hear me making similar noises then.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to share your own impressions of these or other games at the show.
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