Impressions from Day Two at E3 – Full Text Overview
Since I’d spent all of my time in the Nintendo booth up until that point in the day, I decided to head off on my own and check out the South Hall, which featured booths from Square Enix, EA, Ubisoft, and Activision, among others. Along the way, I stopped by the Atlus stand, which was relegated to an underwhelming (in comparison to everything else I’d seen at that point) cubicle on the first level concourse, the goal being to try out Catherine for the first time. I didn’t get a chance to try it out because someone was already playing it on the one TV in the whole convention center dedicated to it (despite the Best in Show nomination), but I’ll definitely check it out tomorrow and write some impressions. It was the game I was looking forward to most coming into E3, after all.
I walked around the South Hall for a bit before wandering into the Ubisoft booth. I immediately got in line to play some Rayman Origins, a game I was very excited to play after seeing the aesthetically beautiful trailer, and in general being a huge fan of the platforming genre. While waiting in line, I was approached by some dude with a video camera, who wanted some positive reaction footage to another of Ubisoft’s upcoming releases, a music/rhythm game for the 3DS that goes by the name of Michael Jackson: The Experience. I obliged, and got a run down of the controls before starting up the game. Since I have undiagnosed ADD, I quickly forgot the controls, but the game was intuitive enough to allow me to figure things out right away. Purple dots reaching the middle of a bar located at the top of the screen warranted an on-beat tap, while directional arrows located on the various sides of the screen warranted a flick of the stylus in each corresponding direction. The game featured some nice visuals that were enhanced a bit by the 3D, including real footage from some of Michael Jackson’s music videos. It reminded me of a scaled back Elite Beat Agents. For serious fans of the rhythm genre, there might not be enough to necessitate a purchase, but fans of MJ’s music should be in for a real treat. After giving a somewhat meretriciously glowing review to the cameraman, I showed off a few dance moves and got back in line for Rayman.
After another five minutes of waiting I got a chance to play the PS3 version of Rayman Origins, and what an experience it was. What started out as a downloadable title a year ago has now blossomed into what is now one of my most anticipated releases of the year. Taking a page from New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Rayman Origins is a platformer with the ability for four people to play at the same time. Things are a bit less chaotic this time around, as Ubisoft has eliminated the ability for people to run into each other; players can still interact with one another by attacking each other, however. X controlled jumping, circle and square initiated an attack, and holding R2 allowed players to run. As long as someone was still alive onscreen, players wouldn’t receive a game over or death. Dead players turn into a bubble, just like in NSMBWii, and can get back into the action by simply floating towards and touching an active player.
