In addition to some of the bigger games of the show, I also got to try a few upcoming smaller titles, and some are… more engaging that others.
Transistor
I don’t want to bust Supergiant’s chops just yet, but honestly, they shouldn’t have been showing this. It’s not that Transistor as it stands is bad, quite the opposite for what it is. But the demo they have doesn’t really do a good job of making it clear why we should care so much about this game, or what makes it particularly different from all the other isometric games on the floor.
You get the feeling there’s more, much more, in fact, to the overall game, but you don’t see it quite yet, although the game itself plays quite well. It’s still early days, however: The game doesn’t come out until 2014.
Marvel Heroes
This, however, comes out this year, and honestly, it’s not terribly compelling. The game itself is Diablo with Marvel characters and a “free-to-play” price. But it should tell you something that the booth was making a big deal of its costume contest and its raffling off of in-game costume unlocks. The costume contest was… memorable, let’s say, but it makes it very clear that it’s about the characters, not the game. Hey, at least it’s free, and it does look beautiful, at least.
But really, it just makes me wish I still had X-Men Legends at my fingertips, and that’s not a good sign.
DuckTales
Capcom and WayForward haven’t done much to this game, gameplay-wise. It’s basically the NES cart with tighter controls. Graphically, though, holy crap. It really does look like an episode of the show. The animation is smooth and gorgeous, and the updated soundtrack is note-perfect. I can’t wait to play this game.