Last week, Christian Heldmaier, one of our colleagues over at the German version of DLH.Net, made the trip to Cologne for gamescom, the world’s largest games conference (by number of visitors), and one of the industry’s top venues for showing the world what they’ve got in the works. Here’s Christian’s account of his journey into the belly of the beast...
This year, we went back to gamescom for you guys, shaking things up in the business and entertainment sections, sounding out publishers and developers, and just staring slack-jawed at all the cool new stuff coming down the pipeline. There was way too much to report on all of it, but I would at least like to give you all a brief summary of my own personal impressions, and what were, for me, the tops and the flops of gamescom 2015.
Record attendance When the gates opened at gamescom last Thursday, it was clearly impossible for any one individual to see and to try out all the games, hardware, and gaming paraphernalia on display there. While there was a lot there to be sure, it wasn’t so much the wealth of stuff available that made it so hard to get to it all, but the sheer number of attendees who showed up. Like always, this meant we had to put up with wait times of up to several hours for certain games. The world’s largest event for computer and video games has been getting more and more popular with each passing year – this year saw a record 345,000 attendees, and the event itself covered more floor space than ever before, with an additional area between the business and entertainment areas to ensure a more even distribution of the crowds. In theory, this should have worked, but like always, the hottest spot of the whole event was the huge entertainment area, just as big as last year’s. This is where all the most important booths were located, which means it also attracted the most people, and the crowds were no better than last year. With all the congestion and the ridiculously long wait times, a one-day attendee would have only gotten to see a few of the exhibits, so I think it’s fair to say that they really need to think about making some changes before next year’s event. Maybe they could extend it by a day or two while at the same time reducing the number of tickets they sell for each day or something. I don’t know, that’s just one possible way they could make sure everyone who pays for a ticket would get enough time to actually try out the games, not to mention have enough room to breathe.
A thriving black market Once again, there was a sizable black market in secondhand tickets festering on the margins of the event, both before and during it. For people who didn’t buy a ticket far enough ahead of time, the only options they had left were less reputable dealers and private sellers offering tickets for up to three times the original price. This kind of stuff seems to be increasing every year, and I really wish the event organizers would step in and do something about it. They might be able to do something like personalize the tickets a bit more, set quotas at the box office, or whatever – I mean, they’ve got more than enough options.
A pleasant surprise from the Middle Ages To be honest, Kingdom Come: Deliverance was just one of several games I wanted to see, and to my shame I almost missed it. I got to see a presentation of the game at the very last minute, and from the get-go, I was sold. Currently in development, Kingdom Come is an RPG set in 15th-century Bohemia that boasts an appealing mix of historical authenticity and realistic combat. In contrast to your typical fantasy RPG, the main character is neither flashy, nor is he particularly powerful – he’s pretty much just a guy who’s been swept up in the tides of war, taking up the sword rather reluctantly. Currently in development, the game features a super-realistic combat system that places some serious demands on the player’s skills. Weapons clash against armor in ways that influence how you set up your next blow, and you better be sure you’re using the right kind of weapon against your opponent’s armor type if you plan on having any chance of winning. Targeting aids and special attacks don’t seem to be on the menu here – instead of just rushing your enemies, you’re going to have to rely on observational and tactical skills to find that gap in their defenses to strike at just the right time.
Your actions will also influence the world around you in some pretty innovative ways. If you rob a merchant, prices will go up in nearby villages; if you beat up a blacksmith at the tavern, he’ll avoid the place from then on, and look for other things to do in his spare time. And on top of all these cool new features, Kingdom Come: Deliverance has some pretty awesome graphics, with a gorgeous setting depicting an actual swath of land in medieval Bohemia (modern-day Czech Republic). I think this was really the most pleasant surprise I had at gamescom this year, and this game is definitely a title RPG fans are going to want to keep an eye on.
The Dark Side of Star Wars The new Star Wars: Battlefront is a game that has had fans divided ever since it was announced two years ago. No space battles, no 64-player maps, no single-player campaign mode, and rumors that it’s pretty much just a Battlefield mod. Nevertheless, I still couldn’t wait to check it out for myself at gamescom, and I played it the first chance I could get – Fighter Squadron Mode, an aerial dogfight between ten X-wings and ten TIE fighters on the PS4.
At first, Battlefront definitely seemed to live up to my expectations. Switching back and forth between first (cockpit) and third-person view, everything looks great as I lock the the s-foils in attack position – at this point I’m really getting that Star Wars high! We’re headed towards the swarm of TIE fighters up ahead, piloted by bots. Soon, the battle is underway, and I have the first one of them in my sights. I graze him with my lasers, but can’t manage to take him down, and he’s able to get away thanks to the TIE fighter’s superior speed. Whatever – I spot the next target, and this time I want to try out the X-wing’s proton torpedoes. Like in other Star Wars sims, you have to lock onto your target to do this, but the targeting system keeps jumping to other enemy fighters before I can actually fire one off. Dammit! Okay, so back to the lasers, I guess. My opponent’s veering off to the right, so I better pull back on the throttle a bit… Wait, how do I do that? Even back in the 90s, games like Wing Commander let you incrementally control the throttle so you could easily adjust your speed when taking sharp turns in hot pursuit of your target. Some of them even gave you the ability to increase your maximum speed by diverting power from your shields. Battlefront only offers the second option – a small slider controlled with the left analog stick allows you to regulate the craft’s power distribution. I’d like to be able to use the stick to do rolls to evade enemy fire or confuse them, but instead they’re treated as special maneuvers using the D-pad. The cumbersome controls for regulating speed combined with the lack of precise controls for rolls and other evasive maneuvers is pretty annoying, and then when you add the erratic targeting system (which by the way also goes for the laser cannons) on top of that, it can get downright frustrating. Everything’s just a bit too clunky, and sometimes it felt like I was playing on a PS1.
A couple of massive Star Destroyers loom above us enticingly, and to veteran 90’s-era X-wing pilots, they’re practically begging to be attacked. To my disappointment, it turns out they’re just for decoration, and this fighter free-for-all is all there is for us; and yet, I still managed to fly out of the battle zone more than once while trying to chase down targets. To change things up a bit, they send two transporters through the fray during each match, and depending on what side on, your task is to defend them or to destroy them. But before we’re able to form up and complete this critical objective, it’s all over.
What remains is a game with some really impressive graphics, to be sure, but at least in the game mode I played, it doesn’t offer much variety, nor are the controls easy to use. Instead of a sophisticated and graceful space combat sim, Fighter Squadron Mode comes off feeling like a rather average arcade mode, at best. Battlefront II’s space combat parts were a whole lot more fun, and that was ten years ago..
In my opinion, the only real hope for Battlefront is if the ground combat parts are as good as they look. Come to think of it, maybe a Battlefield mod wouldn’t have been such a bad idea.
Fallout 4 and Lara Croft – You can look, but don’t touch! I only got to see most of the games at gamescom in the form of a presentation. And two of the most eagerly anticipated of these titles were Fallout 4 and the latest game in the Tomb Raider series.
Most of what I saw from Fallout 4 were weapons. Big weapons, little weapons, self-crafted weapons, as well as countless enemies falling victim to said weapons. When it wasn't just showing you all the different ways you can kill your enemies in Fallout 4, the presentation focused on the game’s character and crafting systems. The character system offers an endless variety of options for customizing your character, with the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system once again at the fore, along with all the special abilities that depend on your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats. And you get a dog, too, but this one will follow your commands and do stuff like fetch items and the like. I thought the graphics were really impressive, too, though the NPC facial expressions could use a bit more work – they just seemed kind of wooden and apathetic. Killing and levelling up – I really wasn’t able to get much more out of the presentation I saw. But the brief glimpses of cities and the game world that I saw looked really interesting, and I’m already looking forward to exploring Wasteland once again. Bethesda’s definitely got my attention, and Fallout 4 is on my shopping list, to be sure.
Finally, our favorite grave robber is back in action with Rise of the Tomb Raider. The 20-minute presentation I was at really introduced a lot of new stuff compared to 2013’s Tomb Raider, but they didn’t actually show much of the game itself. One of the only new features I was actually able to see was the improved hair animation, which is more realistic-looking. Otherwise, everything looks just like before, with Lara climbing, jumping, and crawling through temples, mountains, and icy landscapes, solving little puzzles to make it to the next area. Bringing the series back to its roots, the frequent shootouts that marked the previous game are going to be a bit less pervasive in this one. And even though, or probably exactly because Rise of the Tomb Raider looks so similar to its truly impressive predecessor, the whole thing had me at the edge of my seat. So if you liked Tomb Raider 2013, you can look forward to very promising sequel. (Christian Heldmaier; translation by Chase Faucheux)
