Hey folks! Just got back from day 1 of the show floor went around, it’s a bit overwhelming walking through the many different booths. As soon as I got over the craziness of it all, I started making my way through the crowd and over to several booths picking up the controllers and playing a few games. Today I got around to playing; Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days, Front Mission Evolved, Tron, and Gran Turismo 5. Do you want to know what I thought of the games?

Of course you do! That’s why you’re reading this now.

Well first let’s get to Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days. If you don’t know about the game yet, the game is based off of the Micheal Mann film. We find our anti-heroes in Shanghai, China and they have 48 hours to set things right after a heist goes horribly wrong.

First off let’s just say that it had tons of improvements from it’s predecessor. IO Interactive looked to improve the aiming & shooting, the cover system, and the enemy AI, and that they did. However, the controls are a bit slow in responding to the action. It is still a little difficult to maneuver in the game, and it’s a slow paced third person shooter. At least this is what I’m getting from the game preview they had up. I do like the use of the body shields where you can grab a person and use them as a shield, but don’t grab your teammate or you will be considered a traitor and both teams can kill you. When you die you aren’t able to respawn in the game.

IO added on the multi-player games, and I had the privilege of playing a couple of multi-player variants. One of which is comes from the first which is the “Fragile Alliance” game variant. It starts off as a co-op bank heist until players go rogue in an attempt to grab more cash for themselves until one man is left standing. This mode will now be playable offline with AI bots.

Additional online modes will also be available including a team deathmatch mode pitting cops against robbers and a variation of Fragile Alliance that adds an undercover cop into the mix. The undercover cop will be chosen at random and his duty is to make sure than none of the crooks escape, but keep his cover as long as possible. It adds a layer of paranoia to the gametype and should be a lot of fun.

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days will be released on August 24 for the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.

Front Mission Evolved

Developed by Double Helix Games and Square Enix, Front Mission Evolved is a third person mecha fighting game. It reminds me a bit of the old Virtua On game if you remembered from the arcades, however there is no hovering or flying involved but there is still a dash feature that allows you to dash around the stage to get to the other side much faster, and jump over objects as well. The graphics are pretty good, and it definitely is a huge step up from the last game it spins off from, Front Mission Series.

My first impression of the game was that the controls were very responsive, and very easy to use. This game will also be available in 3D and that version looks pretty good. It seems like a lot of fun to play and I like how you are able to upgrade your mecha to perform better and have better weapons. The aiming is a little difficult, but they do have a feature where you can lock and aim missiles if you have upgraded your guns correctly.

Look for a September 14 release for the PC, Playstation and Xbox. You may want to look into buying the 3D version as well.

TRON

Next up, comes one of the games I was waiting for. TRON had two playable levels for me to demo. First there was the free roaming mission, where your character is trying to escape from a building you were held up in. The graphics weren’t too bad and fit well within the game as it kept with the Tron theme (why wouldn’t it?). Your main weapon, is your light disc which you throw at the enemy targets. It’s a quick auto aim, as long as you look at the enemy’s direction you’ll get them. That’s one thing it could work on, though I do see how that might turn into a problem with some gamers. There were elements of freerunning and parkour mixed into the game play where you can kong vault over objects and get a huge boost to get you through large gaps. You are also able to wall run, jump to the other side and continue the wall run. The controls are very responsive, and it could be a fun game to play.

The game is very linear and looks like it leaves no room to roam. Especially when it comes to the lightcycle action. You don’t have a reverse button, so you’d have to work your way around doing a very wide u-turn. You can’t fall off by bumping the sides of highway, so it’s hard to die. You also have no room to turn around and roam, all you can do is go straight and follow the road, which disappointed me a bit because I was looking forward to a 90 degree turn feature if they would have put it in. You are very limited in your movements and your controls and once again your main weapon is your light disk which you just throw and it’ an auto hit for the enemy in front of you.

Gran Turismo 5

The long awaited Gran Turismo 5 finally gets a release date. There was a playable game demo on the show floor with both the 2D and 3D playable features. Wesley and I chose to try out the 3D version, before I get into the 3-D I’ll speak on the game play. The controls are a lot easier to use than they were before, but then again we were playing with the steering wheel and foot pedals, I don’t know how it is on the remote controller. The game is a lot more realistic and the graphics are just amazing. If you remember the trailer from when the PS3 came out, it’s a lot better actually seeing it in gameplay in person. The tracks incorporate real traction and the vehicle response is amazing. I was driving and lost control, managing to get the vehicle back on track, however when another car hit me I was pushed to the side and started to spin-out once again. I like how the game incorporates real physics and allows for better gameplay.

Now let’s get into the 3-D. I don’t think it’s really worth getting this game in 3D simply because the graphics make it real easy to get dizzy. Wesley learned that first hand, when he first went into a spin-out, he felt the motion sickness start to set in and when he couldn’t get out of the spin-out the 3-D didn’t help any better than it did when he started the motion. So 3D may not be good if you motion sickness is something that you get easily.

Gran Turismo 5 is set for a release date of November 2nd, only for the PS3.

That’s it for now Whargarblers! Stay around for more E3 news as we go through the next few days of gaming fun.