Checking out EA's Showcase 2010
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At the Mahalaxmi race course in Mumbai today, Electronic Arts held an event for the press where they showcased a bunch of their upcoming games such as Dead Space 2, Medal of Honor, MMA, FIFA 2011 and many more. Not being the sporty kind, the only games that held my interest were Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, Dead Space 2 and Medal of Honor.
At first glance NFS: HP seems a lot like Most Wanted with a hint of Burnout which is understandable as Criterion, the pioneers of the Burnout series are the guys working on this game. This being a demo granted us only one mode to play around with where we as cops had to chase down an illegal racer. Even though the game looks like Burnout, it isn’t as arcady and controls takes a while to get used to, especially while drifting around turns. However once you get the hang of the game, taking down someone is extremely simple as you have a bunch of tools at your disposal. In the demo today we could only call in a road block but even this stopped the racer with ease, especially after he/she was banged by our car a few times. While the single player was fun no doubt, it’s evident that online multiplayer will be the highlight for this game.
Even though I didn’t get to play Dead Space 2, I was highly impressed with whatever I saw as the game now boasts of scripted sequences intense and cinematic enough to rival those of Uncharted 2. And that’s certainly saying a lot. Other than that gameplay looked a lot like the first game, which isn’t a bad thing as Dead Space was backed by robust gameplay mechanics. And of course since this was being played in broad daylight amidst a bunch of people, the whole dread factor, this series has nearly perfected was a bit subdued.
Medal of Honor surprisingly didn’t look too impressive and the few minutes that I spent on the game were just above average. I was informed that this was a pre-alpha code so yeah, the game may end up looking better but that wouldn’t change the loose controls, dull gameplay or stupid AI. Now I understand war isn’t exactly a Jerry Bruckheimer film but I’ve been spoilt by the Call of Duty series where something intense keeps happening every few minutes. Still it’s too early to judge the game, especially by playing it for just ten minutes. Hopefully the retail version, releasing by the 13th of October should change our minds.
We were also expecting games like Crysis 2, BulletStorm and Dragon Age 2 to be playable but sadly, these weren’t available at the event due to certain logistical issues. Still I must say EA’s lineup for the coming fiscal year is looking pretty impressive with something for everyone be it first person shooter buffs, motor heads, RPG lovers or casual gamers.