Playstation Beta Rooms is the latest showcasing event by Sony. It marks their new intentions of bringing events to a wider audience. Held in the extremely attractive Custard Factory in Birmingham’s Digbeth area, the event showcased numerous titles, from the genuinely surprising Playstation Move to the awe-inducing Motorstorm. More Beta Rooms are scheduled later throughout the year, even making an appearance at Eurogamer Expo 2010. Here’s what occurred…
Killzone 3
The event also showed off Guerilla games sci-fi epic Killzone 3. Its gore soaked visuals and sprawling mountain top vistas were all the more glorious in 3D. 3D which by the way is a game changer, it’s considerate and modest, not overpowering aneurism inducing stuff. As opposed to shrapnel and guts flying into your face, it flies past your face; a surprisingly big difference. The range of depth is also vastly increased, something which first person shooters benefit from greatly.
This level had you reprise the role of Sev, teamed with the grating hard-as-nails Rico. You are tasked with infiltrating a Helghast base. Set in some distant snowy mountains, it’s a refreshing setting, a break from the cities and deserts of its predecessor.
Although in the pre-alpha stage of development this particular level was extremely well polished, with vast improvements been made on its prior instalments. Most notably the removal of the sluggish character movement; the bane of KZ2. Movement is far more natural, it’s easier to aim and easier to kill, although the iron sites are still by default relegated to R3; annoyingly. Soaring into this instalment are jet packs. Not flimsy backpack look-a-likes but massive winged things that give the already dangerous Helghast a lethal edge. Don’t go thinking that those flying machines are Helghast-centric, Sev takes control of the devices at certain points. During these platforming pieces you become the death from above, it’s a nice break from the monotony and quite frankly adds heaps to the game.
With visceral and heated 3D action, Killzone 3 remains one to look forward to, Beta Rooms definitely gave a worthy taster. February 2011 cannot come fast enough.
Playstation Move
Move represents Sony’s march on the casual market. Much like the Nintendo Wii, it places two separate controllers in each hand, only here the Eyetoy grants a third input making the Move system incredibly responsive. A title called Sports Champions showed just how accurate and responsive it can be. The only portion of the game available to play was table tennis. All that was required was a quick calibration, a standard effort of: arms by the side, by the shoulder and finally by your belt buckle. My actions and the actions of the on-screen paddle were mirror perfect and at no time did any fault occur. In this particular game, Move was perfect.
Then there were other titles making use of Move. Kung Fu Rider was one of them. As fun as the game was it had its woes. The game sees you riding around various urban tracks on all kinds of crazy vehicles, most notably, an office chair. Score is based on you collecting cash dotted along the track, it’s extremely fun, yet clearly has no lasting appeal. However asking me to “gently wave the controller up and down to move forward” when playing a game that is the epitome of crazy, is unwise. Other actions included: jerking the controller up to jump, sideways to drift and leaning either way to turn. Asking me to “gently” do anything when under such frenzy seems counter intuitive, and highlights a weakness of Move, or at least in this case, Kung Fu Rider.
Playstation Move: The Fight also shined a light on the troubles Move will potentially face. Set in the gritty world of underground fighting dual Move controllers become your fists as you square up to some mean looking, and perfectly done characters. It is important to stress that this was still a pre-alpha version and the game very much reflected this.
It felt that the game was trying to push me to do certain actions, my quick jab to the gut, turned into the games idea of a destructive haymaker. Which didn’t work anyway because I didn’t put enough power in the shot. A shot I didn’t want to pull off in the first place. Sports Champions was proof positive that Move has the ability to 100% reflect your actions, The Fight is proof that if developers don’t do a job properly, Move suffers as a consequence. A more than capable peripheral.
Heavy Rain with Playstation Move
Heavy Rain released in February this year surrounded by buzz. Its tale of kidnap and mystery set to redefine videogame storytelling giving adult games a rebirth, and launched the title into critical acclaim. Its complex controls also wanted to change the way we play games, it didn’t, but at least it had good intentions. Much to the disappointment of fans Move support is arriving at the expense of any other DLC.
That’s not to say Heavy Rain is dead. The segment I played was very well done, in fact, it showed great promise. It’s one of the greatest parts of the game, you feel genuine fear for the characters life; the home invasion level.
This is where things got annoying, even with a tutorial the game had one massive flaw. A flaw that is still a problem for many Wii titles. It’s all well and good telling me I’ve gone wrong, but you have to tell me what exactly I did which was wrong. With something as accurate as Move, you have to go into specificities. So aside from the odd command that I couldn’t pull off, the combination of a game so in depth its creator called it a movie and a device so accurate and responsive it places you on the game is very deadly.
Motorstorm Apocalypse & Gran Turismo 5
Possibly the most anticipated racer of this decade is released November of this year. Gran Turismo 5 is set to be the definitive racer, making full use of the powerful PS3 system. I have to say it’s one of the most beautiful games I’ve ever played, both cars and tracks were perfect. Handling was almost flaw-free although I have a feeling traction control was turned off at some points making it very hard to control. The segment playable was only a tiny snippet but to be fair, it showed a great deal of promise.
It’s a great shame there was not more to see with regards to GT, I would’ve liked to see some multiplayer and the customization was very limited; just a few tracks and cars were available.
GT also happened to be shown in 3D, whilst I didn’t get to play it in 3D I did spend some time watching. Although it’s early code there were a lot of texture pop issues in the 3D version; a great many in fact. Apparently rendering the game unplayable. While I’m sure this won’t be an issue in the final build, it was painfully prevalent in this version.
Another eagerly anticipated racer on show at the event was Motorstorm Apocalypse, the latest in the series by Evolution Studios. Set in an unnamed city, the game has you race as the world literally crumbles around you. Tracks shift and change as the environment has it’s impact.
From the vehicles on show it looked fairly similar to the earlier incarnations although graphics had been improved and handling tweaked. Gameplay remained essentially the same, you’re pitted against a host of other drivers and vehicles in dynamic and beautiful environments.
There’s a lot to be said for trying to outrun a hulking building as it starts to fall towards you; this game says it all. When paired with a 50 inch T.V the experience was truly amazing, one that you won’t want to miss.
Little Big Planet 2
The much loved Little Big Planet made a bounding return at Beta Rooms. Although little has been said about the title it was obvious that the game features far more customization, especially clothing for your Sack Boy, from a strawberry head to a conical flask outfit.
In the level demoed each character came with a whip that could latch on to various things. Whilst only a small detail it added so much fun to the game, allowing me to save my partner in certain situations. There’s not a lot to say on Little Big Planet, there wasn’t much to see. I can assure it’s well in it’s way to becoming a fully fledged title. Surpassing the first in terms of everything.
