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.

 

NYCC 2013: Q.U.B.E. Director's Cut

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 had a whole room dedicated to both tournament games and games on the Nintendo eShop, and among the Wii U games to come, Q.U.B.E. Director's Cut was playable, at least on the later days of the convention.  Unfortunately, we were unable to get our hands on directly with this game, but we do have a short gameplay clip that we can share of someone who was playing through the demo.

Q.U.B.E. is currently available on PC, while Director's Cut is expected for release sometime this year or early next year for Wii U and PlayStation Network.

NYCC 2013: Retro City Rampage 3DS

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:
Nintendo had a whole room dedicated to current and upcoming games on the Nintendo eShop, and among them was a new portable version of one of WiiWare's biggest final releases, VBlank Entertainment's Retro City Rampage.  I got to play a little bit of the demo, and it feels very much akin to its other versions, fit for the 3DS experience.

Retro City Rampage is a retro-style overhead action game akin to the older Grand Theft Auto games.  Players control The Player as he ends up sucked into the past and now must find a way to get himself back to the correct time.  Much like Grand Theft Auto, The Player can wander throughout the town and do oddjobs with a multitude of people, as well as complete a number of challenges in order to get money or medals and other achievements in the game.  Searching through the city might even give you new special weaponry or abilities that can be helpful in completing the game's Story Missions.  Once a mission or challenge is encountered and completed, players can choose to replay them from the game menu if they desire.  Other than the main and side missions, the game also has mini-games to play, starring other indie game heroes such as Commander Video and Meat Boy.

Whereas the previous games have all displayed the game with a zoomed-out look using the retro-style graphics, the 3DS iteration defaults the option to zoom-in, accounting for the system's smaller resolution screens.  Extraneous information such as money count, map, and weapon selection is stored on the bottom screen, although developer Brian Provinciano has noted on the game's site that he intends to check out possibilities of using the touch screen for more than just a display.  In the demo, there was no noticeable element to the bottom screen, and it was actually difficult with the zoomed-in view to glance at the map to see where I should have been going.  I was not exactly looking for anywhere specific anyways, so getting lost was expected, but I think some guides on the top screen would be beneficial, at least giving a general direction where a marked area might be.

The demo offered a free-roaming mode and a challenge mission to cause as much damage as possible in a short time.  The gameplay was as smooth as the original version, though I had to figure out how turning worked on the Circle Pad.  In my brief moments of gameplay, I found myself occasionally using the Circle Pad to point where the car should have gone, but the controls were set for steering instead.  That was probably more a fault of mine over the game's, though.  What I did notice, however, was that the graphics seemed to flicker on the menu screens.  I thought it was a style choice, but there was inconsistency with how the flicker appeared.  I suspect this would be fixed in the final release, and I hope other graphical glitches like that are ironed out in the completed game.

Overall, Retro City Rampage on 3DS played much like what you would expect on the other versions, with some adjustments to be put on the device.  Those who enjoyed the game in the previous releases or have been curious about playing the game on the go (and not on PSVita), then this is shaping up to fit the bill.

Retro City Rampage on 3DS is expected to release this holiday.  The game is currently available on PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, PC, and on WiiWare (also via Wii U).