EA Showcase Roundup

Crysis 2 (Xbox 360/PS3/PC):
A short teaser trailer and a shorter tech demo awaited us on the third floor, presided over by a member of the development team (dev team).

Shifting from the tropical island action of Crysis, Crysis 2 instead heads to that most obvious of video gaming clichés - New York City.

Where as the previous game gave players a choice of four nanosuit powers, Crysis 2 has instead grouped the strength, cloak, speed and armour powers into three distinct groups, allowing gamers to match their gameplay style to their particular talents, be it ‘Predator’, ‘Rambo’ or sniper.

The game itself looked as shiny and fast-paced as ever, with the Xbox build seeming pretty solid, if a little jerky at points, as the development team blew everything to pieces and waded in all guns blazing (not the approach I would have taken…) The PS3 build is apparently “well on the way.”

Whether or not you’ll need a nuclear-powered desktop computer to run the game remains to be seen, however.

Dead Space 2 (Xbox 360/PS3/PC):
After the success of Dead Space, EA are keen to take players back to the ‘verse of the Necromorphs, and have put players firmly back in the environment boots of Isaac Clarke - engineer and evil-hunter.

Instead of the confines of a starship, the action takes place on a moon of Jupiter this time, in a city known as ‘the Sprawl’. Once again the Necromorphs are on the loose and it’s the player’s job to put them back in their box.

The graphics seemed sharper and the gameplay smoother this time around, and a host of new enemies and weapons are up for grabs, including a javelin gun (which can also electrocute enemies), and Isaac’s new armour, which has a host of enhanced powers, as well as the stasis and kinesis modules that made exploring the Ishimura so much fun last time around.

This time you can blow holes in everything and even use the remains to throw at enemies - and who wouldn’t want to behead a Necromorph with a dinner plate.

The dev team were quick to point out the game’s new focus on inducing even more “horror and terror”, so expect more thrills and chills.

Isaac is also now “calling the shots” - no longer someone’s “errand boy” (and goodness knows I got fed up of “Isaac, go fix this, Isaac, go kill that…”.

All in all it’s looking good, and while the rumours of competitive multiplayer continue to circulate, the dev team could only shrug, and smile shyly - watch this Dead Space.

Star Wars: The Old Republic (PC):
A game that’s had Star Wars fans and MMORPG nuts up in arms for months, Old Republic was on show in a pre-beta build, putting the gamer in the armour of a Rattatiki bounty hunter out to join up with the Mandalorians (Boba Fett’s mates.)

The dev team were quick to push the fact that you can play as a non-human this time around and that the game has a full-voice cast, thereby cutting down on text boxes, but personally I found the mission and gameplay to be stilted and standard, not really straying from the MMO, but then, I was never one for MMOs.

Set some 3,000 years before the rise of Vader, it remains to be seen whether the Old Republic will rise, or fall.

And why isn’t Bioware making Knights of the Old Republic 3?

APB (PC):
Staying in MMO mode, we come to APB (All Points Bulletin), an interesting little addition that turns the Internet into a giant game of cops and robbers.

Set in a persistent online city, the game pits ‘criminals’ against ‘enforcers’ and allows the gamer to build up a criminal or enforcer from street thug to kingpin, or visa versa for the good guys.

With the beta already running, the APB dev team just logged us into the city and set us lose on a couple of missions, which were a blast.

Jumping into a car I drove off towards a shop, with orders to break into it, steal the goods and escape unharmed. Picking up my team of hard-bitten crooks I sped to the point and jumped out, before discovering the first of my two main issues with the game - no headshots. Get right up close to a person and shoot them right between the eyes, and nothing happens.

The dev team insist this is a “balancing choice”, but I found it to be merely an irritation. Similarly, I quickly discovered (upon grabbing the bag and running for a car) that car windows are bulletproof - so no sniping civilians from a mile off, and no taking out the driver in a car chase.

While this is an odd choice, the effort needed to factor splintering glass into an MMORPG, so it appears on everyone’s screen at once, must be huge, so it’s forgivable.

Graphically the game is nothing spectacular, sitting a little better than World of Warcraft’s offerings, but the degree of player customisation is immense. There’s a clothing editor, a chop-shop, a music mix board and a whole lot more up for grabs, and if you like what you’ve built you can even try to flog it to your peers for more game time – this could lead to an an interesting online economy, and one which might just be APB’s golden goose.

Need For Speed: World (PC)
One last MMO was on show in Shepherd’s Bush - an exciting little title called Need for Speed: World.

Now, as any petrolhead will know, NFS titles are some of the best street-racing titles out there, and NFS: World goes one step further - forget playing a game, this is more like living it.

An MMO like no other, NFS: World puts you in the driving seat of any number of hot-rod motors, with literally the entire world to take on at high speed.

Taking place in an American city, the game centres on racing, modding, painting and selling your motors. You can chose to jump into the ever-popular pursuit mode, or take on any number of races, facing down other players across the globe or putting in some practice on your own.

While still at an early stage, NFS: World was brilliant fun. Graphically the game looks great for an MMO, and the dev team claimed the game would be able to run on even a netbook’s hardware, and will be available free to start with.

The game is also big on social networking, even going so far as to include a link to Facebook - so be sure to find and insult that cheating player in the Audi TT who cut you up by using one of the game’s ‘power ups’ (a serious racing title this is not…)

Medal of Honour (Xbox 360/PS3/PC):
While still a way off, Medal of Honour put on a good show for the assembled fans, showing off some decent graphics and sound design and a cast of intriguing new characters.

The game itself centres around the war in Afghanistan and involves two levels of conflict - the “scalpel” of the military - A Tier One operator who remains nameless for now, and the “sledgehammer” - the US Army Rangers.

Appearing to be a Call of Duty Modern Warfare clone at first, the tech demo on display revealed a decent level of graphical mastery and gameplay mechanics, as a squad of Rangers took on the Taliban.

The environments appeared open and huge, and the sound of bullets whipping all around made the experience intense. That said, the ‘open’ environments seemed to be cover for a linear path, and I’d like to see an aspect of choice in the gameplay - do you call in the air support, or storm the building yourself.

Either way the game is shaping up nicely, and the fact that the man from the dev team looked exactly like the Tier One character was a nice touch (he had an awesome beard.)

Bulletstorm:
A surprise announcement, Bulletstorm is a cool-looking game in development by Epic (of Gears of War fame) and People Can Fly.

Coming across as a mix of Duke Nukem, Timesplitters and ten thousands buckets of blood, Bulletstorm is a sci-fi shooter which rewards you for shooting with style.

Set around a squad of mercenaries, the game is a blast through an abandoned city overrun with mutated plants and enemy soldiers, and there’s only you and your gear to stop them.

Lucky then that you’ve got weapons that can melt enemies, a ‘lash’ which can freeze them in place or throw them into orbit and a whole variety of interesting environmental kills just waiting to be triggered.

Kill enemies in an inventive way and the game rewards you with upgrade points, and there seemed to be a certain joy in finding new and interesting ways to murder the opposition.

Needless to say, this game doesn’t take itself seriously. I’ll be watching this one in the coming months.

Bad Company 2: Onslaught Mode (Xbox 360/PS3/PC):
Although there were other DLC packs on show at the event, the one that really stood out for me is the upcoming Onslaught mode for Bad Company 2.

Essentially a four-player co-op mode, Onslaught pits you and your friends against AI-controlled enemies on four of the multiplayer maps, with the objective being to capture a certain number of points and keep moving forwards.

While a simple addition to the game, the mode was a blast to play and a nice change to being sniped by some Australian from half a mile away - AI thankfully aren’t as good with a rifle as another human.

I’ll be buying this one as soon as it’s out.