NYCC 2013: Dustforce

For four days, people came to the Javits Center in New York City to experience one of the largest conventions on the east coast: New York Comic Con 2013!  Fans of comics, movies, television shows, and toys came together to revel in their hobbies, and with them came video game companies to show off their wares for the upcoming holiday season and beyond.  We here at 3RM attended a few of those days, and we have impressions and video to provide from our experience!

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Tony:

At Capcom’s booth there were a number of downloadable titles on display, and one of them was the console port of Hitbox Team's Dustforce, a combo-heavy platforming game about dust and ninja janitors.

Dustforce stars four unique janitor ninjas in their effort to clean the corrupting filth of the world. The team consists of a blue janitor with his broom, a red janitor with her push broom, a short purple janitor with feather dusters, and an old green janitor with his vacuum cleaner. While each have similar controls, they each have slightly different movements, such as jumping a touch higher or attacking faster. The point of the game is for these ninja janitors to race through each stage and clean up as much mess with as much ninja skill as possible. Playing the demo I got to try out a forest area covered in leafs in need of sweeping. Racing into the stages, my janitor would run along walls, across ceilings, and clean off any leaf-covered animals in the stage all while avoiding multiple hazards.

The gameplay of Dustforce was very reminiscent to N+ and other wall-running platformers. The largest difference Dustforce brought was its focus on cleaning up the stage while racing through them. As I ran through the stages, I would clean off the surface I touched, be it floors, walls, or ceilings. Besides wall-jumping, the janitors could also quickly dash forward, double-jump, and even super clean the entire screen once they accumulated enough of a combo meter. Occasionally, I stumbled onto enemies made up of dust or animals turned evil by the dirtiness. By attacking these airborne enemies, I not only freed them from the clutches of messiness but also my janitor earned the ability to jump again to reach higher enemies or more leaf-covered flooring. The major emphasis of this title was to clean off all the surfaces without stopping in order to keep the combo score increasing. At the end of each stage, I was ranked based on my time, how much I cleaned, and the combo score.  Clearly this game was designed more about mastering the combos than beating the stages, as they were nowhere near as frustrating as other indie platformers out there such as Super Meat Boy. However, I did have some difficulty judging my jumps and accurately using my cleaning skills. In order to clean a wall or ceiling, I had to move the joystick in the direction of the mess before I got there. This tended to throw me off, but it could have just been poor reflexes.

The game’s graphical style was a unique blend of colorful geometric forms. Rather than represent each character and leaf with realistic detail, everything was simplified to simple vector forms of color, designed as if everything was toon-shaded. The game also ran at a silky smooth framerate with fluid animations, which complimented its fast-paced action. As for the game’s audio, I sadly wasn’t able to make it out in the noise convention hall, so I will have to judge that at another time.

Dustforce, the ninja janitor platformer, was a joy to play, but I could see that mastering each level is where this title is going to push players. I do hope that the other regions in the game offer unique platforming gimmicks to keep it fresh in order to stand out from all the other challenging indie platformers. With its unique style and premise, I look forward to give this title another go when it comes out on consoles.

Dustforce is available now on PC, Mac, and Linux, and it being ported to XBLA and PSN this upcoming January.

NYCC 2013: Strider

For four days, people came to the Javits Center in New York City to experience one of the largest conventions on the east coast: New York Comic Con 2013!  Fans of comics, movies, television shows, and toys came together to revel in their hobbies, and with them came video game companies to show off their wares for the upcoming holiday season and beyond.  We here at 3RM attended a few of those days, and we have impressions and video to provide from our experience!

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Alex:
This year, Capcom's New York Comic Con booth focused mostly on upcoming downloadable titles from the publisher, and the big game front-and-center was Double Helix's Strider, a re-imagining of the arcade original.  I will admit I have never played the Strider games before this, but I can say that what I played at Comic Con was a smooth and intriguing experience.

Strider is a side-scrolling action title in which players control Strider Hiryu, sent to Kazakh City in order to hunt down and defeat Grandmaster Meio.  Getting to Meio is problematic, however, as he has many followers and soldiers at his disposal.  Within mere moments of nearing the city, Strider is shot down from the sky, leaving him at the outskirts of the city, still hot on his mission.  The city is massive in scale and the enemies numerous and ferocious, but thankfully for Strider, he is only going to get stronger as he makes his way into the city to face Meio.

The new Strider game is set in the sprawling Kazakh City, allowing players to explore and gather power-ups and secrets at their own pace.  As players rush through the landscape, slashing enemies with the help of Strider's Cypher, the world's large map updates and spreads out, much akin to a Metroidvania title.  In fact, this game's camera and action sequences feel very much like Chair Entertainment's Metroidvania game Shadow Complex.  At the beginning of the game, Strider has plenty of basic attacks, but in order to progress past certain obstacles, the player has to find special powerups for him or Cypher hidden around the city.  For example, there are a number of grates that are too small to cut through, but with a found ability, Strider is able to slide-slash right through the grates and out the other end.  Paying attention to where these air ducts are located will also provide health upgrades and other helpful powerups in the midst of the adventure.  Even with this example, it is clear that backtracking will be a large element in the game.

Graphically, the game looked crisp.  The color in the world was somewhat muted by a monitor overlay, complete with scanlines, but this only seemed to enhance the style of the game rather than muddle it.  There is distinct bloom from the glowing lights around the complex, helping to emphasize the stark contrasts of the shadows across characters and locales throughout the game.  The animation and framerate seemed very smooth, a good sign for a demo of what is to come.  The gameplay was kept frantic and active, and loading was kept to a minimum throughout the excursion.  My only concern about the graphics is the environments; I hope we get to see more interesting worlds as we venture further into the city (although the introductory screen had a pleasant background to see, for sure).

Those worrying about difficulty will know that while it started easy, the game became increasingly complex and difficult as the demo progressed.  Strider would run through enemies, swiftly cutting the lesser minions in half with relative ease.  This would change once I encountered larger, stronger warriors; at one point I faced an enemy who attacked unfazed by my attacks and ended up dying because of it.  The boss at the end of the demo, a large dragon robot, was equally armored and made for a hectic showpiece in the game.  I feel that considering this is the early portion of the game, the difficulty and complexity in combat will only grow and keep in time with what fans are looking for from the arcade action franchise.  Whether it will exactly match the difficulty of the older games, however, will have to wait until it is released.

The gameplay mechanics were as smooth as the graphics, quick to the point and in constant motion. Platforming was also swift, trying to maintain the hectic speeds expected of an arcade action adventure.  Upon colliding with a ceiling or wall, Strider immediately grabs hold of it, allowing for great maneuverability in rooms or in floating platforms throughout the world.  There were a couple instances when I would grab hold of a platform when I did not want to do so, but I imagine I would get used to the wall-grabbing mechanic further into the final game.  On the offensive side, even though I started with a number of powerful attacks, new upgrades piled on very quickly early on.  This makes me wonder whether the game was going to give that many upgrades so early in the game, but it could also be indicative of how many abilities will be given over the course of the final game.

Strider was a fun experience and ran very smoothly.  I cannot say how it compares to the earlier Strider games exactly, but from an outsider, it felt like a solid experience to look out for. Strider is set for release in 2014 for Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PC.

NYCC 2013: Earth Defense Force 2025

For four days, people came to the Javits Center in New York City to experience one of the largest conventions on the east coast: New York Comic Con 2013!  Fans of comics, movies, television shows, and toys came together to revel in their hobbies, and with them came video game companies to show off their wares for the upcoming holiday season and beyond.  We here at 3RM attended a few of those days, and we have impressions and video to provide from our experience!

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Alex:
In ShiftyLook and D3's booth, D3 Publisher showed off upcoming titles in their licensed franchises, but the company also showed off a demo of the upcoming sequel to its original IP, Earth Defense Force 2025.  We got to play through a mission of the game, and from what we experienced, it will be a treat to those who liked the series before, even if it retreads a bit on the chaos of its prequels.

Earth Defense Force 2025 is the latest in the revived Earth Defense Force series.  Much like its predecessors, EDF puts players in control of the Earth Defense Force, the last line of defense made to protect the world from alien lifeforms whose sole purpose is to destroy the human race.  These aliens use their technology to create gigantic bug monsters as well as to develop their own mechanical monstrosities to level the landscape and end humanity.  Not only are these monsters large and in charge, but there are a vast multitude of them attacking in hordes.  This creates for extremely intense situations, but at the same time, it makes completing these assaults on a myriad of alien enemies highly rewarding.

Earth Defense Force 2025 is a third-person action title, and in each mission, the players are given a goal to complete, usually revolving around the mass murder of giant bugs or warships.  Players have the ability to choose one of four different classes of soldier: Ranger, Wing Diver, Air Raider, and Fencer. Rangers are  basic foot soldiers, capable of using basic weaponry as well as vehicles and other artillery available within the battlefield.  Wing Divers have jetpacks and laser weapons, allowing quick mobility in the air around the enemy.  Air Raiders can set up air raids and larger attacks from the sky, and finally Fencers are heavily armored and weaponized warriors.  Between these different classes and the large assortment of weapons to collect in each mission, the game is full of variety, and seeing as there are many difficulty levels for each mission, replayability is even further emphasized.

In my playtime with the game, my brother and I worked together to kill off a myriad off ants as they ravaged through the city, attacking any passerby they encountered.  I personally chose the reintroduced Wing Diver, and I found it to be a delightful experience.  While I was much weaker than my brother, who played as a Ranger and later a Fencer, I was able to fly over the enemies and use highly-destructive lasers and rocket launches from afar.  In usual co-op fashion, I accidentally killed him at least once with a large pulse of my weapons, but thankfully players can revive each other with minimal loss of time.  Still, there is definitely a need for cooperation if every player wants to make it out alive.

The graphics for the game have improved a bit over that of Sandlot's previous installment, EDF 2017.  The city has more variety, and citizens do not simply appear and vanish quickly in front of us.  There is more detail in the buildings and monsters, but there are still some lower polygon areas, especially amid the rubble of the battlefield.  Also, as is the norm in EDF, the framerate starts slow enough, but when action gets heavy, the game can quickly become a slideshow.  There are just so many monsters and explosions happening at once that the game can barely handle it, but with as many enemies as there are, perhaps it is for the best for things to slow down a touch in order to ensure correctly-timed dodges.

My only major concern is repetitiveness.  While the game shows plenty of promise with different weapons to gather and now four different classes to control, I wonder exactly how much of the game will be similar to that of its predecessor.  Thankfully, since the game is pushing more toward a cooperative experience, it is likely that the experience will remain fun and intense with friends much more than when playing it alone.  Regardless of that concern, if it can please me as well as it has in the past, I can say this will be a go-to game for anyone into an action-packed alien massacre with city-leveling explosions on top.

Earth Defense Force 2025 releases February for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.


Tony:

At New York Comic Con 2013, I got a chance to try out Earth Defense Force 2025, the latest edition of the EDF franchise. Having played earlier games in the franchise, I looked forward to playing this action-packed title, filled with large insects and massive explosions, and it did not disappoint.

In my hands-on, I played the first mission through the game's co-op mode, a franchise staple. The mission briefing opened up with an emergency call claiming there were alien invaders in the city. Although the group thought it was just a prank call, it did not take long for the crew to be proven wrong as gigantic ants began terrorizing the city, attacking anyone nearby in a very gruesome way - more violent than I remember from the other games. Just like in the other EDF titles, it was our duty to hunt down and destroy the invaders (with the city landscape as collateral damage). In this first level, all the objectives revolved around heading to different parts of the city to kill all of the ants there. Once they were exterminated, we would receive another order to take down a new cluster of ants invading another part of the city. This continued until the mission ended in victory.

Before the mission started, I was able to select from different classes of EDF soldiers. The one I selected was the Ranger class, armed with a shotgun and grenade launcher. The satisfaction of blasting away alien monsters and the occasional building was still there, complete with explosions and falling debris everywhere. I did notice that the buildings had more resistance than in the past, but I guess that is more realistic than the fragile buildings of yore. I think character movement had reduced itself somewhat, as it felt slow-going to get down streets and face off against more bugs. Once I got used to the new movement and readied my shotgun, I found myself blasting away ants like it was my job, which it was.

Compared to its predecessor (2017), the details of the city and alien ants were much improved. However, I felt that the low framerate made all the on-screen action rather hard to follow, but this may have been because the demo I played was using split-screen co-op. Despite the framerate, EDF 2025 was still a blast to play in co-op with explosions, buildings, and alien parts going everywhere.

I really enjoyed my short time with Earth Defense Force 2025. My only concern is whether the framerate will improve any before launch. Besides that, the game is sure to make EDF fans happy with alien-killing action and destruction everywhere.

NYCC 2013: Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I Don't Know!

For four days, people came to the Javits Center in New York City to experience one of the largest conventions on the east coast: New York Comic Con 2013!  Fans of comics, movies, television shows, and toys came together to revel in their hobbies, and with them came video game companies to show off their wares for the upcoming holiday season and beyond.  We here at 3RM attended a few of those days, and we have impressions and video to provide from our experience!

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In the ShiftyLook and D3 booth, D3 Publisher was present to show off the upcoming video games for Cartoon Network's biggest shows, and on a couple console displays, they were showing a playable demo of the upcoming Adventure Time game, Adventure Time - Explore the Dungeon Because I Don't Know!  Unfortunately, due to our constrained timeframe, we were unable to get our hands onto the game, but we did score some brief video clips for you to watch.  It is a shame the sun wanted to come in and play on the television screen, but we did what we could at the time.

Adventure Time's second major game adventure launches this November on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, PC, and Nintendo 3DS.

NYCC 2013: Regular Show: Mordecai and Rigby in 8-bit Land

For four days, people came to the Javits Center in New York City to experience one of the largest conventions on the east coast: New York Comic Con 2013!  Fans of comics, movies, television shows, and toys came together to revel in their hobbies, and with them came video game companies to show off their wares for the upcoming holiday season and beyond.  We here at 3RM attended a few of those days, and we have impressions and video to provide from our experience!

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Tony:

Located at D3 Publishers’s booth at New York Comic-Con 2013 was a number of Nintendo 3DS’s displaying the first game based on the Cartoon Network hit, Regular Show - Regular Show - Mordecai and Rigby in 8-bit Land. This title was inspired by classic games of old, from the graphics down to Jake Kaufman's retro-styled soundtrack. Sadly, although it advertises some interesting gameplay-changing mechanics, I only had a short time with the game and was unable to reach any special events. I instead got a chance to play a few of the game’s general 2D side-scrolling stages.

As stated in the title, the game had me playing as both of the Regular Show’s main duo, Mordecai the blue jay and Rigby the raccoon.  Each of the two had their own benefits and drawbacks.  For example, while Mordecai had the ability to double jump, Rigby was a smaller target.  Having multiple characters is not unusual for platformers, but what made this game special was the ability to switch between characters at the press of a button. In one area, a ledge would be too high for Rigby to reach, so I had to switch to Mordecai. In another place, Mordecai was too big to fit into a tunnel so I had to become Rigby. As the stages progressed, I found myself having of switch more and more; it was important to learn each character’s strengths and weaknesses even that early in the game.

In the early stages, I navigated across grassy terrain with the occasional shrub here and there. These stages were filled with the usual fare of platforming segments along with enemies such as large snails and thick-skulled bullies. Luckily, Mordecai and Rigby are able to overcome these obstacles with well-timed jumps. Besides jumping on enemies, there is also a power up that gives our heroes mullets, allowing them to shoot punches and lasers, similar to fireballs in another platforming series. However, also like that other game, after taking one hit, the power up went away.  Dollar bills also riddled the stages for the two to collect. This money would be useful at the end of each stage where there would be a mini-game; in this game, players can use the money to place a gold coin on one of four paths. The marker would then move up the path, crossing any intersections it came to, until it reached the end of the paths, containing extra lives, more money, a fany-pack, or bottomless pits.

Even though Regular Show - Mordecai and Rigby in 8-bit Land claims to be an 8-bit adventure, the game’s sprite work was more complex than would be possible in 8-bit, but it still had a unique pixel-art style. The characters’ animations were smooth and managed to keep the characters’ personalities from the show while still being "retro." While the graphics are more advanced than what one would find in an 8-bit title, the game’s music could have been ripped straight from games of old. The music was a perfect match to fit with the retro style they were aiming for. As for the 3DS's 3D display, they were fairly basic and added minimal effects to the game, but the effects did not harm the game's performance when activated, which is always a good thing.

Regular Show - Mordecai and Rigby in 8-bit Land is the Regular Show’s first video game offering and it fit well into the retro platforming style. Sadly, I was unable to try out any of the gameplay-changing levels, which I feel may make this game stand out more. Without those elements, the title felt like an average platformer, which we know is not what people expect from a Regular Show video game. Hopefully, the game will surprise people when it comes out tomorrow!

NYCC 2013: Bayonetta 2

For four days, people came to the Javits Center in New York City to experience one of the largest conventions on the east coast: New York Comic Con 2013!  Fans of comics, movies, television shows, and toys came together to revel in their hobbies, and with them came video game companies to show off their wares for the upcoming holiday season and beyond.  We here at 3RM attended a few of those days, and we have impressions and video to provide from our experience!

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Nintendo was showing off plenty of upcoming games for the Wii U at their booth this year, and one of them was the latest venture with Platinum Games, the action-packed explosion that is Bayonetta 2.  While the demo appeared to be the same as at E3, we still went over to its demo station to check it out.  Unfortunately, we were unable to get any hands on the game, as it was only playable in one demo station and very busy throughout the convention, but we did get some gameplay from the last demo from the show.

Bayonetta 2 does not have a set release date, but we suspect an early 2014 release based on its being here at NYCC.

NYCC 2013: Mario and Sonic at the Sochi Olympic Games

For four days, people came to the Javits Center in New York City to experience one of the largest conventions on the east coast: New York Comic Con 2013!  Fans of comics, movies, television shows, and toys came together to revel in their hobbies, and with them came video game companies to show off their wares for the upcoming holiday season and beyond.  We here at 3RM attended a few of those days, and we have impressions and video to provide from our experience!

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Nintendo was not just showing off the latest Sonic adventure at their booth; they were also displaying two event demos from the upcoming collaboration title Mario and Sonic at the Sochi Olympic Games.  These two events were figure skating and snowboarding, one using Wii Remotes and the other using the GamePad.  We did not get to play the game, but we do have some footage for you to see.

Mario and Sonic at the Sochi Olympic Games comes to Wii U November 15th.

NYCC 2013: Shovel Knight

For four days, people came to the Javits Center in New York City to experience one of the largest conventions on the east coast: New York Comic Con 2013!  Fans of comics, movies, television shows, and toys came together to revel in their hobbies, and with them came video game companies to show off their wares for the upcoming holiday season and beyond.  We here at 3RM attended a few of those days, and we have impressions and video to provide from our experience!

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Tony:

Among Nintendo’s eShop demos at Comic Con I found a demo for Yacht Club Games' 8-bit inspired platformer, Shovel Knight.   Shovel Knight stars the blue-armored knight of shovelry on a quest to save his partner and save the world from the evil Enchantress and her Order of No Quarter.  Inspired by games such as Zelda II and Mega Man, this game caught people's attention when it appeared on Kickstarter earlier this year as well as from YCG's presence at PAX East.  Now nearing its release, I got to try it again in NYCC.

At PAX East earlier this year, I was able to get a hands-on with Shovel Knight before, and this appeared to be the same demo except now on Wii U hardware. The demo took place in Pridemoore Castle, which was populated with helicopter rats, jousting horses, and large gryphon bosses that could breath fire. Each of these enemies could be defeated by shoveling away at them or by plunging the shovel from above similar to Scrooge McDuck’s cane in Ducktales. However, other enemies such as wizards and armored knights required more strategy to properly get an attack through their defenses, such as deflecting magic back at them or mixing up attack patterns to get an opening. 

Much like in other 8-bit platformers, the stage was filled with platform gimmicks such as falling chandeliers and magic platforms that only exists as long as a spell book is open. Navigating these hazards amid flying rats and attacking wizards created a enjoyable challenge that was both tough but satisfying to try over an over again. At the end of the stage, I once again dueled with King Knight and his gallant stroll. He called forth trumpets to rain down dangerous confetti on me and dashed towards me at alarming speeds. He felt a tad tougher than before, but thankfully I had the magic wand I found earlier in the level to help take him down.

The demo felt more or less as it did back at PAX East, but that isn’t a bad thing. The game’s graphics were colorful and fluid, the music (that I could actually hear this time) was action packed and made me reminisce about games of old, and the controls were tight and responsive, which is very important in a platformer of this genre. The only major update from this demo was that it was playable on the Wii U GamePad. The off-screen play felt just as fluid as it was on the television in front of me, bright and colorful as ever.

Shovel Knight was once again a joy to play, and I cannot wait to dig into this when I releases sometime this year.  Shovel Knight is expected to release later this year on Wii U, 3DS, and PC platforms.