What I Played Today: PAX Wrap-up

Gamma World, Guild Wars 2, Portal 2, Castle Ravenloft, Super Hero Squad Card Game, Rock Band 3, Dance Central, Lego Universe, Final Fantasy: The Heroes of Light, A Story of a Blob, Retrograde, Runebound, World of Warcraft: The Board Game, Betrayal at the House on the Hill, Ubongo, Monsterpocalypse, Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue, Pajaggle

Hey! Long time no see. Turns out I was at a gaming convention this weekend, PAX Prime, which was a really good time. I couldn’t have asked for a better con. I also got to play a lot of games, like so many games, so here’s my huge wrapup. As a note, I loved pretty much every new game that I played, and if you don’t want to read every word, just assume that if it is listed above, it is a Good Game.

The first day saw me going to a couple of panels which I really enjoyed, the Rock Band 3 panel, in which they showed off the new guitar and just generally answered questions about how good the game will be, and were a riot to listen to. I also got into a panel about game design featuring my favorite designer, James Ernest, who is a really funny guy. There were some blockhead questions at this panel, such as some moron who wanted a job and someone who just threw around nonsense buzzwords, but Mr. Ernest was so entertaining that it didn’t matter. I gave him my card, and I got his, which is the best I could have hoped for.

And, it turns out, Mr. Ernest is a member of the Amazing Society, who were heavily promoting their online MMO, Super Hero Squad. I could care less about the MMO part, but they also included in all the swag bags a half-deck of the card game portion of the game, which looks really good. The rules are simple but deep, there are a lot of neat little cards, lot of potential for interesting decks (I love Spiderman’s general theme of a lot of small attacks that build as he fights), and I have not been this excited about a CCG in a long time. I hope that I get in the beta here soon.

In the same booth was the Lego Universe demo, which apparently has been in beta since March, but I got a beta key for it, and it seems pretty clever. Although for some reason, the people had the demo set up with DM characters, so the players were constantly being asked questions by the other players in the game. I had some guy following me around demanding to know how to get to Rank Tree. Silly.

Near to them is the booth I spent the most time hanging around, the Harmonix booth. They were showing off both their games, Rock Band 3 and Dance Central. The only thing I really have to say about Rock Band 3 is that it looks so much better, and I’m excited to play it. Also, Dance Central is the reason that I will buy the Kinect...it is a fun dancing game with what seems like hundreds of different dance moves available. The game just seems like great fun.

A game that I kept coming back to and never managed to actually play at the main booth is Guild Wars 2, which looks absolutely fabulous. There is a lot going on, a lot of little changes that make the game play better and more interesting. I did play it at the nVidia booth, which is the best-kept secret of the con, by the way, as they have some of the newest games available to play, but because they are showing off their hardware, people ignore it. So I played Guild Wars 2 on the largest 3D screen in the country! I participated in the Shatterer fight, and although I had no clue what I was doing, it was interesting to see a dynamic fight in action. I can’t wait for this game...it’s too bad it’s at least six to nine months off, and maybe even more. But they advertised the hell out of the game, and people seemed really interested, so that’s good.

I also got into the Portal 2 demonstration through the virtues of my media status, and as things turned out, I was sitting in the exact right place that I got to actually play the game! They pulled me from the audience to give it a try with one of the developers. It was pretty fun, really showing off what was needed in coop, including the ping feature that tells your partner where to put portals. The developer did trick me and sent me to a watery grave, but we hugged it out, so it was alright.

As for the other video games I got to put my hands on...I played the Final Fantasy that’ll come out on the DS, a gaiden game that will be more like the original than the newer stuff. It looks neat. Also played a game for the PSN Network before I realized it wasn’t going to be on a system I owned; it was like a 2D co-op Katamari with blobs and goofiness, not bad. I played Retrograde, which is, I guess, a reverse shooting game, in which the battle already happened, and you have to do it in reverse to prevent the time-space continuum from imploding. It was playable on guitar, which required you to do things you didn’t really expect, so it was tough. Also spent a couple of minutes with the newest Deathspank, which was about what you’d expect. Amazed that it came out so quickly.

There was also some tabletop stuff, mostly in the evening when nothing else was happening. My friend and I played a game of World of Warcraft with a couple, and it went really well, considering how intense the game is. I used my knowledge of the game to quickly get it set up, and we charged in, making it 20 turns in about two hours, which is pretty much unheard of. We had to stop because our garage was only open so long, but it went alright. The second day we played Betrayal at House on the Hill, which was really popular this con, with three copies available to rent out in the library, and we quickly got a team of six together to play. The traitor won, which because we were concentrating too much on punching him and less about saving the guy in the grave. There was also a game of Runebound that frankly dragged a bit, as the difficulty ramped up too quickly and nobody was taking risks. Those who were died, of course, but otherwise, it was just a bit too tough. We called it after three hours. Finally, as a last act on the third day, my friend and I played Ubongo, a puzzle game in which you must fit shapes into a specific grid, and it hurt our brains a bit, but it was fun.

On Saturday I sat in on a game of Gamma World, which is a lot like D&D 4E Lite, with a bunch of wackiness and randomness thrown in. It has the feel of a game that can be played quickly, in which you quickly roll up a character and get thrown around a crazy world full of radioactive badger men. We were given a booster of the cards they are releasing, which have both mutant abilities, which change every encounter, and special gear, which occasionally breaks after you use them. We had an adventure that specifically geared towards Seattle, which was neat. I think it’ll be good for one shots, it doesn’t seem designed for extended campaigns.

Also made some purchases, including Monsterpocalypse, which I had been ignoring up until now because I am wary of miniatures games, but this seems to be an interesting game, with a lot of options, expansions, and a neat mechanic in which you control a single monster with two different forms. It’s a bit neat, and I got a great deal on a starter kit with four boosters. Nice. I also bought the two series from Telltale that I didn’t have, Sam and Max: Season 2 and Tales of Monkey Island.

Probably the only thing I saw that I cooled to pretty quickly was Pajaggle, which is a lot like Perfection only all the shapes are similar to each other. It’s an easy game to pick up, in which you place the shapes in the appropriate spots...but it’s not really something you want to play all the time. There are only so many times you can play before you know the game already, and the price point is way too high. Plus their marketing is a bit obnoxious and the stupid words they made up for the game wear on me a bit...but it’s the only thing I looked at that bothered me.

Otherwise, a great con. My only regret is that I didn’t get to play Battlestar Galactica (I love Battlestar Galactica), but otherwise it was the best I could have hoped for.