Hey All, figured I'd pop my forum cherry with some impressions from the X1 event in Dallas!
I just got home, so it's still pretty fresh.
I live about 3 hours from Dallas, but just couldn't help making the trip. My brother came with me and I'll include some of his feelings as well.
First off, I'll say I wasn't impressed by the TVs they used. They were all Samsung, but had to be on the lower end of the quality scale( makes sense, I guess, as they will likely see some abuse traveling all over the country). Second they have you sit WAAY too close to said TV. It was also obvious they were using old builds(likely Gamescom or TGS). I've seen enough footage to recognise they aren't as far along as some of the new stuff. All that being said, my brother and I both came away very excited about our X1 pre-orders.
Forza 5: I'll get this out of the way- the aliasing was very disappointing. There was a lot more than I anticipated but I'm not sure if it was the TV exacerbating the problem or not as I was noticing even the text was a bit jaggy in the menus. I can't see T10 letting that go. To be fair it's likely an old build, as it was the Laguna Seca track demo from months ago.
I also wasn't blown away by the visuals which were a step up, but massively hindered by the jaggies which seemed worse than those in F4. The Sound on the other-hand, was amazing.
Going from the cockpit to exterior and back again was a revelation- The engines sound meaty and you can almost hear the atmosphere( don't know how else to explain it). It had a weight to it that I found remarkable, but what really solidified my desire to OWN the game was how it felt to drive.
I really can't understate how much of a game-changer the rumble is. It really conveys your throttle and wheel-spin. Getting that kind of feedback is not something I think I can go back from
The Physics are definitely much more realistic- couple that with the haptic feedback, and I am in racing heaven. I had actually played a bit of F4 right before I left the house, so I had a fresh memory to compare.
What I came away with was that although the visuals didn't floor me- the made up the difference. It felt like something new, and that's what struck me the most. Those triggers may well define the console if used effectively
Battlefield 4: Looked good, sounded amazing.
This one is a mixed bag. It's the same build from the very first MP footage we saw off-screen a long (relatively, lol) while ago. It had none of the niceties seen in the showdown footage, but it still looked very nice. Certainly better than current gen. Framerate was smooth, but there were jaggies.
The destruction was great- it made me think of BF Bad Company in a lot of ways and it had plenty of effect on gameplay. The sound was more top-notch DICE sound. They finally nailed that sharp, snappy sound that small caliber weapons have. Felt hot and very powerful. Amazing really.
The new controller is a friggin' champ! I love it. The sticks have a phenomenal stiffness to them, with pretty much zero dead-zone, and not once did my thumb slip. I know some people felt weird with the bumpers, but I thought they were great as well- I can hit them with the sides of my index fingers, so I don't need to take them away from the triggers
All in all it was a blast, and it feels somewhere between BF3 and Bad Company, which is a good thing, IMO.
Kinect Sports Rivals: We played the jet-ski race, and it was beautiful and responsive. There was a good bit of nuance to the control too. The way you break/accelerate by opening/closing your hand like on a bike was cool, and leaning your body for sharper turns felt pretty natural( the lady next to me was very un-coordinated though, lol).
On a side note- I was impressed with how quick the Kinect recognised me- it was very snappy. Night and day compared to the current one.
Dead Rising 3: Unfortunately the line was long and the demo was lengthy, so I settled for just watching for a bit.
I can say that it was one of the most polished looking titles there. I think it was the Gamescom build as it had a rock solid framerate. It didn't tear once- very impressive. Of course I'd seen that area in a number of vids, so no real surprises aside from seeing it in person. It had great atmosphere and the dynamic lights and shadows were impressive. Lots of particles and a very clean image. Great stuff- wish I had played it, but I didn't want to spent the time in line when I could be spending it with another game that I'll get to later
Crimson Dragon: I didn't like it at all, and I LOVED the Panzer Dragoon games. Visually it's disappointing, and the control was abysmal, which surprised me. The movement and the aiming are separate and it just felt totally wonky, imho. Couldn't play more than a couple minutes.
Loco Cycle: I'm trying to forget it's existence. Not funny, not fun. Ugly -as-hell, and strangely generic given the premise. Not sure what they were thinking.
Killer Instinct: Looks very good. 720p upscaled to 1080 looks great. People need to stop freaking out, lol. Control is tight, sound is great, TONS of particles going on. Had some fun with it despite being a KI noob( was always a Street Fighter/ virtua Fighter type). I may just pick it up. I can see it being a kick in short bursts, and the game made me want to learn the combos. Good stuff.
Ok, that covers most of it, except my brother and I's top pick of the show. That would be RYSE.
I honestly thought I knew how the game would feel to play. I'm super happy to say it's way more fun than I expected. I thought about how much I wanted to play it again the whole way home and it was the game we kept coming back to over and over. My brother( on his way back to Stillwater, OK) called me on the way and we both had to talk about it.
It was the same MP demo we've seen over and over. It's friggin beautiful, and only gets more amazing as you get closer to the characters and objects. The blood was turned off, but the decals still showed up on the ground, and you could see the cuts and stabs you made in their flesh(exactly where you stab them, too!!)
The Combat is similar to Batman, as I'm sure we all guessed, but it all feels more Solid and impactful.-
It's definitely slower paced than the Arkham games, but man, it feels great. The game is definitely going to challenge you. There is no Icon that shows when they are going to attack you, either- you just have to watch their movements. There are different enemy types you have to fight differently too. You don't have execute anyone if you don't want to, but the crowd won't like that I find myself wanting, just as the devs said in one of their Vidocs, to play it over and over trying to get more points and group executions!
I really appreciated the fact that every time I played it, it was different. Little set pieces would come up and you have to deal with them whether its destroying catapults, sending archers arrows back at them, or just taking on a group of 10 guys with traps all around. It's all super fun and satisfying.
I Think RYSE is the sleeper hit here. Just the little snippet of MP has me hooked and salivating. My brother is the same. It was the game we kept going back to. I thought I'd spend most of my time with BF4, but I old did 2 rounds on that, regardless of how much I liked it. RYSE is a must buy for me. It went from "I'll get it when I can" to "first game I buy". Love. Hope the rest is great.
Anyway, Hope that wasn't too much, lol! I'd be happy to answer any questions you guys have...
I just got home, so it's still pretty fresh.
I live about 3 hours from Dallas, but just couldn't help making the trip. My brother came with me and I'll include some of his feelings as well.
First off, I'll say I wasn't impressed by the TVs they used. They were all Samsung, but had to be on the lower end of the quality scale( makes sense, I guess, as they will likely see some abuse traveling all over the country). Second they have you sit WAAY too close to said TV. It was also obvious they were using old builds(likely Gamescom or TGS). I've seen enough footage to recognise they aren't as far along as some of the new stuff. All that being said, my brother and I both came away very excited about our X1 pre-orders.
Forza 5: I'll get this out of the way- the aliasing was very disappointing. There was a lot more than I anticipated but I'm not sure if it was the TV exacerbating the problem or not as I was noticing even the text was a bit jaggy in the menus. I can't see T10 letting that go. To be fair it's likely an old build, as it was the Laguna Seca track demo from months ago.
I also wasn't blown away by the visuals which were a step up, but massively hindered by the jaggies which seemed worse than those in F4. The Sound on the other-hand, was amazing.
Going from the cockpit to exterior and back again was a revelation- The engines sound meaty and you can almost hear the atmosphere( don't know how else to explain it). It had a weight to it that I found remarkable, but what really solidified my desire to OWN the game was how it felt to drive.
I really can't understate how much of a game-changer the rumble is. It really conveys your throttle and wheel-spin. Getting that kind of feedback is not something I think I can go back from
The Physics are definitely much more realistic- couple that with the haptic feedback, and I am in racing heaven. I had actually played a bit of F4 right before I left the house, so I had a fresh memory to compare.What I came away with was that although the visuals didn't floor me- the made up the difference. It felt like something new, and that's what struck me the most. Those triggers may well define the console if used effectively
Battlefield 4: Looked good, sounded amazing.
This one is a mixed bag. It's the same build from the very first MP footage we saw off-screen a long (relatively, lol) while ago. It had none of the niceties seen in the showdown footage, but it still looked very nice. Certainly better than current gen. Framerate was smooth, but there were jaggies.
The destruction was great- it made me think of BF Bad Company in a lot of ways and it had plenty of effect on gameplay. The sound was more top-notch DICE sound. They finally nailed that sharp, snappy sound that small caliber weapons have. Felt hot and very powerful. Amazing really.
The new controller is a friggin' champ! I love it. The sticks have a phenomenal stiffness to them, with pretty much zero dead-zone, and not once did my thumb slip. I know some people felt weird with the bumpers, but I thought they were great as well- I can hit them with the sides of my index fingers, so I don't need to take them away from the triggers
All in all it was a blast, and it feels somewhere between BF3 and Bad Company, which is a good thing, IMO.
Kinect Sports Rivals: We played the jet-ski race, and it was beautiful and responsive. There was a good bit of nuance to the control too. The way you break/accelerate by opening/closing your hand like on a bike was cool, and leaning your body for sharper turns felt pretty natural( the lady next to me was very un-coordinated though, lol).
On a side note- I was impressed with how quick the Kinect recognised me- it was very snappy. Night and day compared to the current one.
Dead Rising 3: Unfortunately the line was long and the demo was lengthy, so I settled for just watching for a bit.
I can say that it was one of the most polished looking titles there. I think it was the Gamescom build as it had a rock solid framerate. It didn't tear once- very impressive. Of course I'd seen that area in a number of vids, so no real surprises aside from seeing it in person. It had great atmosphere and the dynamic lights and shadows were impressive. Lots of particles and a very clean image. Great stuff- wish I had played it, but I didn't want to spent the time in line when I could be spending it with another game that I'll get to later
Crimson Dragon: I didn't like it at all, and I LOVED the Panzer Dragoon games. Visually it's disappointing, and the control was abysmal, which surprised me. The movement and the aiming are separate and it just felt totally wonky, imho. Couldn't play more than a couple minutes.
Loco Cycle: I'm trying to forget it's existence. Not funny, not fun. Ugly -as-hell, and strangely generic given the premise. Not sure what they were thinking.
Killer Instinct: Looks very good. 720p upscaled to 1080 looks great. People need to stop freaking out, lol. Control is tight, sound is great, TONS of particles going on. Had some fun with it despite being a KI noob( was always a Street Fighter/ virtua Fighter type). I may just pick it up. I can see it being a kick in short bursts, and the game made me want to learn the combos. Good stuff.
Ok, that covers most of it, except my brother and I's top pick of the show. That would be RYSE.
I honestly thought I knew how the game would feel to play. I'm super happy to say it's way more fun than I expected. I thought about how much I wanted to play it again the whole way home and it was the game we kept coming back to over and over. My brother( on his way back to Stillwater, OK) called me on the way and we both had to talk about it.
It was the same MP demo we've seen over and over. It's friggin beautiful, and only gets more amazing as you get closer to the characters and objects. The blood was turned off, but the decals still showed up on the ground, and you could see the cuts and stabs you made in their flesh(exactly where you stab them, too!!
) The Combat is similar to Batman, as I'm sure we all guessed, but it all feels more Solid and impactful.-
It's definitely slower paced than the Arkham games, but man, it feels great. The game is definitely going to challenge you. There is no Icon that shows when they are going to attack you, either- you just have to watch their movements. There are different enemy types you have to fight differently too. You don't have execute anyone if you don't want to, but the crowd won't like that
I find myself wanting, just as the devs said in one of their Vidocs, to play it over and over trying to get more points and group executions!I really appreciated the fact that every time I played it, it was different. Little set pieces would come up and you have to deal with them whether its destroying catapults, sending archers arrows back at them, or just taking on a group of 10 guys with traps all around. It's all super fun and satisfying.
I Think RYSE is the sleeper hit here. Just the little snippet of MP has me hooked and salivating. My brother is the same. It was the game we kept going back to. I thought I'd spend most of my time with BF4, but I old did 2 rounds on that, regardless of how much I liked it. RYSE is a must buy for me. It went from "I'll get it when I can" to "first game I buy". Love. Hope the rest is great.
Anyway, Hope that wasn't too much, lol! I'd be happy to answer any questions you guys have...
