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E3 2010: A Whirlwind Review

E3 2010
E3 2010

It’s that time of the year again, when people come from all over the world to Los Angeles, California for the Electronic Entertainment Expo (aka “E3”). It’s a time when energy drinks flow like running water and hands are raised in the air saying: “Over here! Yes, in fact, I do want a t-shirt!” I was there representing Adventure Gamers, and I’m here to tell it you it was just as crazy and over-the-top as always, and I loved every minute of it. Things were a little light for the genre this year, but I saw a handful of upcoming adventure titles, as well as the hot new hardware from Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft, and a ton more games besides. Where do I even begin?

Where better than with adventure game legend Jane Jensen? I met with her and with Claas Wolter of dtp entertainment to talk about a little game called Gray Matter. Jane walked me through several big moments from the first half of the game, and it looks like the (admittedly lengthy) development time has been put to good use, though I’ll save the details for our full preview to come in the near future. Before I left, after making big news with the formal announcement of Black Mirror 3 right here at the show, I twisted Claas’ arm until he showed me the first five minutes of the game. It wasn’t much, but it starts out with Darren running through a forest before suddenly discovering Black Mirror Castle in flames and finding himself arrested for arson. From there, things get even crazier as a court-appointed shrink reveals that Darren… well, there’s no way I’m spoiling that shocker. So what can I tell you? It looks great, running on the same engine as the previous game. There will be a new playable character besides Darren, and several locations from the first two games will be revisited. It’s coming out in Germany this November, with an English translation to follow in 2011.

 

Image #1Later I met with Telltale Games, including Design Director Dave Grossman and Marketing Director Joel Dreskin. They showed me the launch title from their new Pilot Program, Puzzle Agent. It looks like a lot of fun, but quite unlike anything Telltale has done before, and we’ll have the full story on that for you in a few days. Despite my begging and pleading, and some passive-aggressive pouting, they refused to breathe a word about the new series they’re doing for NBC Universal: Back to the Future and Jurassic Park. Please, I said, is there anything at all you can tell me besides they exist and they’re coming out sometime this winter? Dave deadpans: “They’ll be awesome.” So I asked if they’d at least tell me if they’re the sort of games Adventure Gamers typically covers. He thought about that for a minute, and the result was Back to the Future: yes, and Jurassic Park: maybe. For the latter, Grossman claimed it depends on “why your readers enjoy adventure games.” He did say, “We’re not making a point-and-click dinosaur game.” That’s as much as we know for now, though, I’m afraid. And there I thought my E3 Media badge was supposed to make game companies give up all their secrets!

My final PC adventure meeting was with Jan Klose and Dr. Florian Stadlbauer of Deck13. You may know them as the developers behind Ankh and Jack Keane. Last year we saw some of their light-hearted paranormal adventure Haunted, and this year they showed off a little bit more. It’s in the final stages of development and coming along nicely. The preview extended a little bit further along from where we stopped the last time, and I got to see the young protagonist Mary meet her second ghost: a Scottish warrior who hangs out at the Tower Bridge in London. He needs Mary to help him stop a fangirl who’s obsessed with him from committing suicide. Not out of any sense of altruism, but just because he doesn’t want to hang out with her for eternity. Unfortunately, no English release date for Haunted has been nailed down as yet. I also got to see their new mystery title Black Sails, which has already been released in Germany and is aiming for a late 2010 English release. It looks very intriguing, and we’ll have more info in a full preview very soon.

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But that’s not all, as I also saw a bunch of adventure titles coming soon for the DS. I met with Lukasz Mach of City Interactive to talk about some of their upcoming DS releases, including a “new” game starring Art of Murder protagonist Nicole Bonnet, though as with the earlier Chronicles of Mystery release, it seems to be more a casualized reimagining of an earlier PC adventure. It’s called Crime Lab: Body of Evidence, and features a mix of hidden object screens and logic puzzles as you hunt down a diabolical killer. City also showed me some footage from Vampire Moon: The Mystery of the Hidden Sun, which is in the same casual vein and tells the story of a journalist named Emily Davis, who is somehow tasked with bringing down an honest-to-goodness vampire.

Later I played a couple levels of Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective at the Capcom booth. You’ll learn more about this unique release from Phoenix Wright creator Shu Takumi in a preview we’ll have for you later this month. At the Nintendo booth, I got to spend some time with Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, the third puzzle-adventure in the popular DS series. It seems Layton’s apprentice, Luke, has received a letter from himself dated ten years in the future. This bizarre event ties in ominously with a recent incident: a man named Dr. Stahngun was publicly exhibiting a “time machine” he supposedly invented when it violently exploded during the course of his demonstration. In the chaos, both Dr. Stahngun and the Prime Minister of England disappeared. The letter directs Luke and Layton to a mysterious clock shop, where the demo ended but the adventure begins, offering more of the same kind of extensive puzzling goodness gamers have come to expect after the first two games.

Speaking of Nintendo handhelds, perhaps you’ve heard about the new one they’ve come up with. It’s called the 3DS, and claims to display a 3D image without needing to wear glasses. Well, I’ve seen it, I’ve held it, I’ve even played it, and I can tell you it works exactly as advertised. There I am flying around in a light aircraft on Wii Sports Resort Island in Pilotwings Resort, and everything has a genuine (and very cool) sense of depth. They’ve already announced two adventure games for the 3DS: Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle and Hollywood 61, and I got to play a very short demo of the latter. The demo did a great job of showing what a 3DS adventure can do that a DS adventure cannot. For one thing, the 3DS is a lot more powerful, and that was apparent from the FMV, voice acting, and other graphical effects present. The built-in tilt controls came in handy when I needed to physically turn the 3DS to see both sides of a hidden message, written on the folds of a large theater curtain. Finally, the 3D was utilized well in a puzzle where I needed to rearrange a series of mirrors to guide a light from one side of the screen to the other.

 

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Hollywood 61 on Nintendo 3DS

 

Nintendo isn’t the only one coming out with new tech. I also played several games with the Sony PlayStation Move, their new motion controller. It works in conjunction with the PlayStation Eye camera to give the player more control. It also allows for some cool effects, like seeing yourself on the screen, but instead of the Move controller, it looks like you’re holding a giant cartoon tennis racket or a flashlight. Overall, though, my impression is that it’s essentially like the Wii but with HD graphics. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as the Wii is insanely popular, but it doesn’t seem to be a huge technological leap forward.

Microsoft also has a new motion controller called Kinect, except there’s actually no controller at all. Originally known as Natal before being rebranded, it works entirely from a camera that observes your movements. I tried it out with the new game from Rock Band creators Harmonix called Dance Central. Unlike more casual dance titles, this one actually wants to teach you to dance. While you’re following along with the onscreen dancer, there’s a tiny screen of your silhouette that highlights what part of your body is not in sync with the movements and scores you appropriately. There are several difficulties, and a practice mode for learning each move separately. Yes, I danced, and with enthusiasm. Listen: it’s been a dream of mine for years to participate in a synchronized dance with several other people to Bel Biv Devoe’s classic song “Poison,” and I’m not ashamed of it.

Image #4I played a couple dozen more games, but for the sake of space, I’ll tell you only about a couple I think might especially appeal to adventure game fans. There’s a Wii-exclusive game coming out later this year called Disney Epic Mickey, and it features Mickey Mouse exploring a huge world of cartoons, with an emphasis on old and forgotten characters from Disney’s past. It’s basically a platform game, but has a lot of hidden depth, like side-quests and bonus levels based on classic Disney shorts. Here’s one example of the depth that totally blew me away: in the Adventureland hub world, Mickey may get asked to locate three hidden tiki masks by a chap named Tiki Sam (actually Goofy). Now, you can certainly find all three masks and deliver them, or you can find one mask, then go around the back of Tiki Sam’s hut and use paint thinner to melt the rear wall, steal the mask, and just keep giving it to him over and over until the quest is fulfilled. The game never prompts you or suggests this course of action, but if you feel like being mischievous, there’s nothing to stop you from going ahead and trying it.

Another cool game I played was Super Scribblenauts for DS. Last year, Scribblenauts challenged players to write in the name of any object in existence and then use it to solve a series of puzzles. This year they’ve added adjectives, and it really opens up the possibilities. It’s much easier, for example, to ride a Happy Dragon, while an Angry Refrigerator will fight you to the death. Feeling dangerous? Add “Explosive” to something, and watch what happens. Best of all, you can now control Maxwell with the +Control pad instead of the stylus if you wish. For many of us who played the first game and were frustrated by the controls, this is a wonderful improvement.

Image #5E3 is over now for 2010, but I’ve still got the sore feet, the pile of t-shirts, and enough great memories to keep me going until next year. As mentioned, the next few days and weeks will bring some in-depth previews of a few of the adventure games at the show, so don’t wander off, as our convention coverage has only just begun.

 

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Referenced Adventure Games

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