The biggest week in gaming news is upon us. Every year we are treated to huge announcements, incredible demonstrations and breathtaking spectacles, all for the sake of selling new videogames. Even before the show begins, though, some studios are already pushing their hot new software into the minds of anxious gamers all over the ‘net by unveiling hot new trailers. The big announcements are yet to come (What big surprises do Nintendo have up their sleeves? Will we learn anything more about Metal Gear Solid: Rising? Are Criterion really working on the next Need For Speed?) but here are a few of the games already burning our retinas and causing our fingers to twitch:
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
This digital download beat’em up from Ubisoft is based on the award-winning and beloved Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series from Bryan Lee O’Malley and Oni Press, timed for release alongside the feature film adaptation directed by Edgar Wright this summer. If the brand’s name recognition alone weren’t enough to get hipster nerds totally pumped, take in those glorious 16-bit graphics from famed retro-animator Paul Robertson (Pirate Baby’s Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006, King of Power 4 Billion %, Architecture in Helsinki’s “Do The Whirlwind” music video) and an original soundtrack by 8-bit superstars Anamanaguchi and you’ve got enough geek heat to light Livejournal on fire. While sure to take a few liberties with the source material, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World promises at least six epic boss battles, weapon and store systems not dissimilar to the NES classic River City Ransom and unique movesets for all four playable characters, but honestly, they had me at “playable Kim Pine.”
Shank
Not nearly as over-the-top as the extended gameplay demos we’ve seen in the past, this neatly polished story teaser for the EA-funded indie brawler looks more an more like Kill Bill: The Game every day. If cartoon ultra-violence and ridiculous combos are your thing, so is Shank. If realism and and political correctness are, go play Madden or something. Shank has been in development for quite awhile and only recently picked up by EA, who’ve shown a dedication to quality in small-team efforts by publishing Double Fine’s Brutal Legend and Valve’s Portal. Eyes are on Klei Entertainment’s Shank to see if they can follow that trend. The animation is gorgeous, the question now is whether Shank has the gameplay to match.
Rock Band 3
The big new features of everyone’s favorite party game with plastic instrument controllers are the addition of the keyboard and a new “pro” mode that more accurately simulates playing real instruments. The new “pro” controllers for the keyboard, guitar and drums even have midi-out so they can be used in professional music production studios. As always, there’ve also been big improvements in setlist controls, character creation, and all the other nitty gritty. Confirmed songs so far include Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” The Doors’ “Break On Through,” and Metric’s “Combat Baby” along with the Jimi Hendrix, Them Crooked Vultures, and The Cure tracks heard in the trailer. I’m sure a lot of people aren’t all that interested in rocking out on the keys, but the concept is curiously exciting to me and I’m sure I’m not alone.
Vanquish
For what seems like the entire history of the medium, popular videogame design has been dominated by the Japanese. Something curious happened in the past few years, though, as Western developers have risen to prominence, primarily with gritty action games starring super soldiers with big guns (Halo, Gears of War, to a lesser extent Call of Duty). Not to be outdone, one of Japan’s biggest risk-takers is trying his hand at this Western design aesthetic in Shinji Mikami’s Vanquish. Single-handedly inventing the survival horror genre with Resident Evil, Mikami knows a thing or two about taking a crazy idea and running with it. The trailer shows an army of soldiers not unlike Halo engaged in Gears of War-like combat wearing suits similar to Mikami’s biggest flop P.N.03. It’s also the newest title from Platinum Studios, the hot young game house of former Capcom employees that’s already produced the smash hit Bayonetta and the excellent-but-commercially-underwhelming Madworld. The question here isn’t whether a Japanese studio can produce an authentically American-feeling game so much as what can they do to make such an experience uniquely compelling.
Super Scribblenauts
5th Cell’s Scribblenauts was the little game that could at last year’s E3. Unlike the studio’s previous Drawn To Life which allowed players to draw the elements of an otherwise generic platformer, Scribblenauts ignited imaginations by allowing the player to insert nearly anything they could think of into the game world via a vast and powerful encyclopedia engine. Once you got past that incredible innovation, however, the game was equally shallow and kind of aimless. Super Scribblenauts aims to fix that problem with better controls, more robust challenges and, most excitingly, ADJECTIVES! Yes, while in the first game you could only summon nouns like “jetpack,” “gun,” and “gorilla” to your aide, now you can clarify the characteristics of those nouns with marvelously colorful adjectives. Just look at that trailer and tell me “Gentlemanly Red Raptor” doesn’t sound like an awesome idea for an entire game right there.
