PAX 07: Atari (The Witcher and Godzilla Unleashed)
One of our Sunday appointments was with Atari, who had a couple of things I really wanted to check out, in The Witcher, and Gozilla Unleashed.
So, every time you mention The Witcher to Chuck, his eyes glaze over, he starts to drool, and it's only a few minutes before he starts going on and on about how he's been a huge fan since he first saw it, and no one else noticed it, like he’s the video game version of Christopher Columbus. Ok, I’m kidding, but not by much. I think he forgets I still wear the crown as undisputed King of E3's (now dearly departed) Kentia Hall, where The Witcher first made its debut, before it even had a publisher. So to say I spent some time watching the game in its first appearance on a show floor would be correct.
One of our Sunday appointments was with Atari, who had a couple of things I really wanted to check out, in The Witcher, and Gozilla Unleashed.
So, every time you mention The Witcher to Chuck, his eyes glaze over, he starts to drool, and it's only a few minutes before he starts going on and on about how he's been a huge fan since he first saw it, and no one else noticed it, like he’s the video game version of Christopher Columbus. Ok, I’m kidding, but not by much. I think he forgets I still wear the crown as undisputed King of E3's (now dearly departed) Kentia Hall, where The Witcher first made its debut, before it even had a publisher. So to say I spent some time watching the game in its first appearance on a show floor would be correct.
Fast forward to PAX 07 and it’s been a while since I’ve seen the game. So when we stopped by the Atari booth, Chuck basically stood me in front of the games demo station and said “watch”. I will say the game has come a long way since I first saw it well over a year ago. Due for release this fall, the game looks like it’s just about ready. There have been a lot of changes, seemingly all for the better. A new camera angle was added to bring you down to the central characters shoulder level. You can still play looking down from above, but this new camera angle makes combat and travel in most parts of the game far more enjoyable. Also, when I saw the game last, much of it was very raw, pretty common for where the game was in the development lifecycle. Some signs of the progress are the sharper graphics of The Witchers’ character modeling, the clarity of the environment as you move through it, even the addition of menu screen backgrounds, done by a French artist, which really adds some depth to the non-playing parts of the game. This title is going to be a lot of fun to play, assuming Chuck doesn’t drool on my copy.
The other title I’ve heard a lot about, and even wrote some questions for a developer Q&A with was Godzilla Unleashed. This title is like that ad for “Two great things that taste great together”. It’s got Godzilla and a bunch of other monsters (including a couple created just for the game), and it’s on the Wii. This combination can only mean one thing: flailing your arms about your living room as you try desperately to use the city skyline to defeat your opponent. In my two matches against Chuck, it became apparent that the developers were doing a nice job on the controls, as moves were easily repeatable, even without any training. We didn’t really have a lot of time to learn the special attacks, although Chuck seemed to delight in roasting me with Godzillas fire breath almost as much as I liked using MechaGodzillas lift and throw technique to knock down building after building. While I did find myself wishing just a little that the controls were a bit closer to that of Wii Boxing, I did really enjoy the game. I can't tell you anything about character selection, or even the HUD, as it was simply a pick up and go match we played. But I will say the game had some of the longest lines to play in both booths where it was on display. Plus, it didn’t hurt that at the end of each match, MechaGodzilla and I stood victorious.
