After the success and enjoyment of last year’s Play Expo in
Manchester, I have been eagerly anticipating the return – especially as it
coincided with my birthday! What better way to celebrate turning 25 than to
play retro games, make a few purchases and see what’s new in the gaming world?
Exactly. However, it didn’t go as planned and unfortunately, I was only able to
confirm my attendance a few days before the event. As such, this isn’t as inclusive
as last year’s review but there is one key point I did want to focus on at the
end.
Bigger and better
With a much bigger space to utilise, Play Expo has learnt a
lot from its first venture to Manchester’s Event City. Each arena got a much
bigger space to fulfil and organise according. Where last year it could be
crowded and hard to move, this year there was ample space that was filled with
consoles, stands, shops and spectators alike. It was less claustrophobic but a
much better atmosphere.
The costumes seemed much better than last year. Having been
to Manchester’s Comic-Con this year, it was nice to return to a gaming
atmosphere. Full respect to those that dressed up and got in the spirit –
something I may have try one day, you never know – because it was clear a lot
of effort went into those costumes.
The pros were just as intense this year as last, and that’s
an intensity that drains you just by watching. I think I’m a gamer, but against
these guys I know I’d have no chance. I didn’t interrupt for fear of death but
it was fun to watch for a while again.
Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag
Of all the stands I saw and visited, this was the biggest
for me. It’s fair to say that Assassin’s Creed is not my favourite series. I enjoyed
the first one a lot, and the second did improve on what was great but it got
tedious and repetitive for me – something I know other people don’t agree with.
After the second, it was a disappointment and unfortunately,
there wasn’t much improvement this time. It caught my eye because it was on the
soon to be released PS4 – so I had to try it out. The graphics weren’t as great
as I wanted for the new console, which is going to show the crossover period we
have where games are released on current and next gen consoles. Only later will
we start to see the real capabilities of the PS4 and Xbox One.
AC4’s demo started on a boat that was as responsive as a
slug with a hangover. It took what felt like ten minutes to turn and there were
no clear instructions on what to do. Button mashing aside, the guys were quick
to explain and I did crash once or twice while trying to figure out what to do.
There’s so much to keep on top of that it was more of a chore than enjoyable.
With a real tutorial, this might be different. Movement afterwards was also a
bit sluggish and I switched off at the point.
It lost me. This is not an improvement and I’m not going to
be buying this one, unfortunately.
PS4 and the controller
However, moving on from a disappointing game to an
impressive console (or what were the indications of such). Not much can be said
of the console from this demo but I did get my first taste of the new
controllers and honestly, I’m very impressed.
I remember back in the PlayStation days where the first
version of these controllers was released. I didn’t like it but by PS2, I had
no choice and adapted. The design has been fairly consisted throughout and I
like that. Even now, on PS3, of my 3 controllers, one is lighter than the
others and is the one I use the least (I like a bit of weight, but not too
much).
This new version sees new materials which make the
controller a lot better to handle and use, with indentations in the analog
sticks to rest your thumbs in. Much better.
The biggest differences were the lower trigger buttons,
which stick out more to be easier to press. That’ll take some getting used to
but it’s going to be useful if there is so much to do in games like AC4. The
last thing is the touch pad, which wasn’t usable in this demo, so not much to
say but it threw a few people looking for the start and PS button found on the
PS3 controllers. They’ll find this with time, I’m sure.
Overall: very good and a good indication of things to come!
Final thoughts
Throughout the day, switching between new and retro games, I
found myself thinking about sensitivity in game controls. Are we so used to sensitivity
that the slightest touch for that fractional movement is so important? Going
from a Sega Megadrive to a PS4 was so strange because I had to hammer the
controls to move on the former console, whereas now I barely need to press
anything. I really had a sore thumb at the end of the day.
Has anyone else thought about this? I mean, it’s good we’ve
made so many steps but has that changed the focus of our games and the
difficulty? I still find these older games harder than a lot of titles released
today. Just some food for thought!
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