It’s been over a full week now since Eurogamer opened its doors to 70,000 visitors at iconic exhibition centre, Earls Court 1 in West London, UK. We’ve already been running plenty of previews and articles, with a few more to follow next week. But whilst we’re here, we’d thought let you know what our pick of the expo were.
Best PlayStation 4 Game
Resogun
With all that AAA developers are throwing at Sony’s new megalithic hardware, it’s shocking to see some of these shamed by this simple, humble, but extraordinary indie game. Whilst technically this should probably be our “Best Indie Game”, the fact that it stands up so incredibly well against big studio releases means we see no reason why it shouldn’t have pride and place as our “Best PlayStation 4 Game”.
Fast-paced and visually dazzling, it’s an utterly addictive hardcore game with the ability to appeal to more casual audience. Fiendishly difficult, and making excellent use of the console’s spec, this game is as exciting a release as Killzone: Shadow Fall and Destiny.
Read our full preview here.
Best XBox One Game
Forza 5
Racing games have come a long way since Turbo Outrun. Despite there being numerous titles, all looking and playing rather well, Forza 5 has that little extra special something that really marks this out as a fantastic title.
The worlds look extraordinarily luscious, and the cars handle incredibly smoothly. Not to mention, Turn 10 studios have put joyous little nuances into the game such as vibration in the analogue stick when hitting the rumble strips. Just try not to drool too much over the controller.
Best Indie Game
Sir, You Are Being Hunted
Survival horrors have been around for a long time, and lately it’s been nothing but zombies, zombies, and more zombies. But developers Big Robot have seem to decide that tweed-clad killer robots are where it’s at and what gamers need, and by George, it’s scary.
Procedurally generated maps and exquisite sound design, armed with nothing more than a flask of hot tea and a good dose of British humour you’re only able to mostly run like the clappers from your bloodthirsty adversaries. The gameplay is absolutely terrifying and extremely challenging. Yes, it’s still in alpha, but it just means that the game can only get better. A marvellously original title.
Biggest Disappointment
Watch_Dogs
It’s set to be one of the biggest titles to launch across all platforms this year. With a little over a month until release, there was real hope that expo-goers would get hands-on playtime with this hack, slash, and…er…hack title.
After queuing for up to an hour, curious gamers were shuffled into a large black box to watch someone else play a small part of the game for 15 minutes. It still looks good, but the presentation gave no more insight than what has already been released into the public domain. With time being precious, especially with queues up to two hours for big titles such as Titanfall, this was unanimously considered a waste of everyone’s time and might as well not have been at the expo at all.
Highly Commended
Tearaway
We often forget that video games are supposed to be fun and make you smile. Media Molecule, makers of Little Big Planet, haven’t forgotten this, and their work on PS Vita’s relaunch flagship title is so gleamingly gleeful it’s impossible to not like.
Making ingenious use of all the PS Vita’s gameplay features, and keeping adults engaged as well as appealing to children, this is nothing short of glorious.
Read our full preview here.
Best Console
PlayStation 4
We have already given an in-depth showdown of the two next-gen titans. But in short, whilst XBox One has some of the better games, what makes the PS4 better is the great sense of variety across mainstream and indie titles being released. Along with better specs than the XBox One, a cheaper launch price, mounting buzz around Sony’s upcoming PlayStation 4 mobile app, and the upcoming integration with the PS Vita, it’s set to really be a great system.
Best Overall Game
Titanfall
With intelligent and dynamic gameplay, switching between various strengths of powerful mechanised armour and nimble and breathtaking parkour running paratroopers, this game not only plays frantically but looks astonishing too. It’s a real game-changer for the FPS genre and has wowed critics and gamers alike at every single expo so far. Absolutely stunning, we see no reason to disbelieve or disprove the hype.
Read our full preview here.
To keep up with our continuing Eurogamer Expo 2013 coverage, use the Eurogamer Expo 2013 tag.
Published: Oct 4, 2013 01:55 pm