iGame Radio

Another busy day of touring the expo floor of PAX. My gods, it’s busy today! I’m hoping that it might be a little bit less busy tomorrow. I had an appointment with EA today to review a bunch of their games, ones that I figured might have a good chance of ending up on the Mac (like Mirror’s Edge and Dead Space). And holy crap, it was so busy that I couldn’t get through half of the games I wanted to, and felt like barfing before I was done…the press of people, the smell, the lack of water, standing for over two hours. Yee gods! I couldn’t even play Dead Space (which I was so looking forward to doing) because it was the last game in the tour and I was afraid I’d get sick all over the X-box controls if I didn’t get the hell out of there (that and the fact that it was X-box controls..I mean, really, FPS can only really be done with the keyboard and mouse; but then, I’m a purist).

But, some feedback on this…more extensive in my podcast episode. I’m still not sure whether I’ll be posting an episode tonight or tomorrow, btw. Anyway, Dead Space look awesome, as you would expect. Among other things is the use of Zero-G in the game. Incidentally, if you heard that the game uses the UT3 engine, that is a no. Originally EA was going to, but they changed their minds because, among other things, UT3 engine doesn’t allow for the creation of Zero-G environments easily. So they built their own. This on the surface makes for bad news for Mac lovers…I don’t yet know whether the engine is Mac-compatible. On the other hand, EA made a committment last year to bring a bunch of games to the Mac, and they did. And Spore is on its way (more on that in a moment). I will find out more about Mac-compatibility tomorrow.

Game is dark, horror, gothic feel. Inspired by Seven, Alien (*not* Aliens), Fight Club. Cool effects, interesting gameplay, story is background, but more about it drops into the game periodically, like Doom, Quake, Half-Life, or Prey.

Spore looks awesome. We spent literally an hour playing it. Got to try out all levels, Cell, Creature, Tribe, Planet, and Space. Despite the fact that the game is nearly ready for release, despite the fact that people are getting pre-release copies…there were still typos in the game. Like when it told me that I was moving towards the ascii tribe. Heh. But still, Spore is outrageously fabulous, and nearly infinitely replayable.

Lastly, there’s Mirror’s Edge. This is a Manga style game, though I hesitate to use that word. It invokes a certain type of graphic imagary, and that’s not what Mirror’s Edge provides. Think of Ghost in the Shell as far as story feel, though not story theme. The graphics are bright, very nicely done. So good, in fact, that at one point you are moving through an air vent, and it really looks like it…the reflection is magnificently done. Still, when you are outside, it is too bright. You know you are in a game.

First person strategy shooter. You are a woman who is a runner…someone who runs information from one location to another in a near-futuristic world. Your sister is accused of murder, and you must help her out. You do a lot of running and jumping, attempting to jump from building to building, for example. Reminds me of No One Lives Forever, in a way. Would be a good candidate for the Mac, as it is being developed on the UT3 engine.

I also took a look at some of the games in the PAX 10 section. One, called Project Aftermath, is a basic RTS style game, but they took out all of the collection aspects of the game. So it feels like a capture the flag game with really awesome graphics. Which really boils down to a pretty boring game after a while, I think. Also, Aftermath! is the name of a pencil and paper RPG (that I used to play a lot of when I was younger) and since this game is set in a post-apocolytpic setting, methinks there might be legal problems for the game. I mentioned that to the developers for their benefit.

Another game, called Impulse, looked really cool! Graphics remind me of Neon Tango, but the gameplay is based on the use of magnetic polarities. It was a school project, but it is currently slated for PC. They are looking at the possibility of X-box, but when I mentioned the idea of an iPhone version, the guy I was talking to lit up and sent me to his partner, who talked with me a bit about his design ideas for an iPhone version. I’m thinking it will look awesome on the iPhone.

And, of course, my friend Ryan Clark (Grubby Games) was there, with The Amazing Brain Train (soon to be reviewed by me). No big surprise that his game ended up in this pack…it is an awesomely fun game. But then, Ryan is an awesome developer!