My impressions from Eurogamer Expo

I thought I would post up some impressions from my time at Eurogamer yesterday.

First up, I spent the first couple of hours playing random stuff like upcoming indie and XBLA games rtc as I always like to find a gem. I fell in love with Awsomenauts this way and Mouse will be forever in my debt for bringing that game to his attention! Nothing quite that good this year but Foul Play (just released) was good fun and had a great sense of humour.

PS4 controller is a major improvement on the PS3 pad, which I hate. It's nearly as good as the 360 pad. The sticks in particular are far, far better and now as good as the ones on the 360 but the placement still isn't quite right for FPS. As for games, the show was disappointing for Sony. Killzone was pretty dull but very pretty, Knack had weird frame rate drops but looked promising otherwise and Resogun is as awesome as people are saying.

Xbox One's area was worse for queues and they quite annoyingly hid all of their games in separate walled off areas - think it was to do with having 16 and 18 rated games in the general area where kids are allowed. The controller is a mixed bag. The rumble is annoying IMO, the new triggers are awesome, the sticks are still great and it feels good but they've seriously fucked up RB and LB which are now very difficult to click.

As for the X1 games, the launch lineup is considerably more varied and interesting than Sony's. Killer Insinct is actually very good, after playing it I'm now actually excited for it coming out. Forza looks great and actually looked a lot better graphically than Driveclub which surprised me. I didn't get to play or see DR3 or Ryse as the queues were just a joke. Project Spark wasn't there which surprised me but Zoo Tycoon was which actually looks quite good if you like those strategy or management games.

BF4 was only there on X1 and not on PC or PS4. I have to say, I was quite disappointed. I'm looking forward to this and I can also remember BF3 being a mess at EGX two years ago so I'm still hopeful for the release version. There was a lot of texture pop in, really, really obvious stuff. It looked decent but not amazing - I can't work out if that's just me being spoilt as I have been playing BF3 on PC recently. It was, however, pretty smooth in frame rate terms. It felt difficult to aim for some reason, again, not sure if that's the controller or just the game at the moment.

My game of the show by an absolute country mile was Titanfall. It was running on PC with 360 controllers but it's stunning. The animations on the Titans is amazing, the movement is so slick and it just feels special. It was like playing cod 4 for the first time again. Everything felt right. There was so many moments that just made you smile and there was such a buzz around it at the expo. It's the game that will properly launch next gen I expect and is the main reason I'm not cancelling my X1 pre-order.

I also went to the developer session for Thief today as I enjoy the talks every year and I loved the original Thief as a teenager. Not the best presenter or most interesting talk in the world but it looks like a great game and certainly another on my radar.

Elder Scrolls Online was there running on PC. It was another one of the huge queue games but liked decent enough from afar. You can't make any judgements on an MMO from Expo demos though. I'll likely just take the plunge when it's released.

And my last point, there is definitely a common symptom of games in the launch window (bar Titanfall and probably Destiny) where current gen or PC is the lead SKU. Lots of developers and reps were using similar phrases about making sure there's a consistent experience across the platforms. It left me with an impression that early next gen games are mostly just current gen games in a slightly higher res and maybe with some added particle effects.

I think we'll see much more innovation in the coming months and I genuinely think Titanfall will ruffle a lot of feathers - it's that good and it's different. Even most of the exclusives played it safe, especially things like Killzone and Forza.

Great write up Daz

cool story bro.................. lol

a good read, id heard the ps4 pad was good

Reaper FWG wrote:id heard the ps4 pad was good

From what Dazzer has wrote he certainly seems to be saying it's good. For me the 360 pad is pretty much the pinnacle of what thumbstick-based controllers can be (excluding the absence of scuff-esque triggers on the back, I still think they should have been incorporated into the X1 pad design - it certainly would have went down well with the competitive community). If the PS4 pad is almost as good as the 360 one then it's pretty darn good.

Nice write up Daz.  My own impressions are similar to yours although I was a little underwhelmed by Forza 5.  It looked great but I found the trigger motors a bit overbearing and ultimately distracting.

I didnt enjoy Drive Club much but that was because I fucked up and set the controller to tilt control instead of thumbstick and it was not fun.  Resogun was a hoot and considering it will be a free to play on PS4 is a real bonus.

BF4 was messy, it didnt feel like much has moved on from BF3 and it had a number of technical issues - much the same as BF3 though prior to its launch so I daresay a lot of the issues will be ironed out by launch.

I was impressed by Dying Light and the Wolfenstein - I had little expectation of either but enjoyed both and will give them a look.  The new Need for Speed didnt really feel like it had moved on and added much to Hot Pursuit again which seems a waste.

Martin and I spent a stupid amount of time to try out Fable Anniversary which looks promising, visuals were nice but it was running on PC kits and seems like a lot needs ironing out on it - easy to see why it has been delayed.

Disappointed that Watchdogs wasnt there in any kind of playable form.

Titanfall was very good, I really enjoyed it and I can see it being very popular.  The gameplay was really slick, moving round the map felt really intuitive and the gunplay was really tight.  The Titans add another level to the game and don't feel overpowered or like they unbalance the game in any way - very impressive.

The PS4 controller is very good, a massive improvement over the DS3 with it sitting in the hand more confortably and much more precise feeling sticks.  The XB1 pad is very good as well - the shaping of the triggers really helps and the thumb sticks are very grippy.  The heads on the sticks seem smaller than the 360 ones so require finer control.  Gamers on both systems will be very happy with them.

One of the highlights of the show for me was the nVidia Shield - it is a really trick piece of kit and I want one!  Hopefully they bring it to the UK soon.

The expo was good again but it seemed like there were more people and fewer machines this time round.  Some of the queues were just stupid and the set up of the Xbox area was awful with queues all over the place

Thanks for the write up guys, I am pleased to hear that the PS4 controller feels alot better as the PS4 may actually be my main console.

@Daz, what do you mean the rumble on the X1 controller was annyoing? was it too strong?

It was the rumble in the triggers. It was quite a heavy rumble and used a lot on Forza - during acceleration etc. I was hoping for a more subtle effect when you leave wheels on the kerbs etc.

Great write up Daz

Daz190uk wrote:I was hoping for a more subtle effect when you leave wheels on the kerbs etc.

This was my impression as well. I daresay the game will allow you to have the effect on or off or (hopefully) adjusted. As it was it was a distraction rather than something that added to immersion.

Good Titanfall preview here -

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/09/30/heres-why-titanfall-stole-the-show-at-eg-expo/#more-170802

Hehe that is a pretty good descriptive preview of the game

Was anyone tempted to pick up a PS4 after playing it ?

Finances depending I intend to carry on with my PS4 pre-order, switched my original pre-order to the Killzone bundle yesterday with Shopto.

I don't have much interest in an X1 I'm afraid, although Titanfall did a pretty good job at swinging me back.

BaldHeadedBloke wrote:Was anyone tempted to pick up a PS4 after playing it ?

Very tempted with the PS4, but like Titanfall. Will wait until my birthday (March) before making a decision.

BaldHeadedBloke wrote:Was anyone tempted to pick up a PS4 after playing it ?

Yep.  If I can swing getting a Vita as well then it is most likely my next gen console

Titanfall is coming to 360 as well as PC and X1 so if it reviews well on 360 I might still pick it up and retain my Gold

N1NJA FWG wrote:

BaldHeadedBloke wrote:Was anyone tempted to pick up a PS4 after playing it ?

Yep.  If I can swing getting a Vita as well then it is most likely my next gen console

Titanfall is coming to 360 as well as PC and X1 so if it reviews well on 360 I might still pick it up and retain my Gold

I bet there will be a PS4 & PS Vita bundle before long. For me it'll be cheaper than getting a pc and nVidea Shield.

To be honest the more I think about it the more I can not see a reason to buy the X1 at launch. Games like FIFA, Battlefield, CoD etc are all available for the the 360 so is it worth splashing out near on £450 for a console to play the same games. I am looking forward to Titanfall but again you can get it on the 360.

Will give it some proper thought over the next few weeks and may wait until after Xmas

Alot of people seemed impressed with the PS4 after Eurogamer

what ive observed after eurogamer is that a lot of folks were swayed to the x1 that werent before, and a lot of folks were very impressed by the ps4 that already were before. and when it comes to the games, the x1 games folks tend to be impressed by are the quite large games (titanfall, forza, etc) and the ps4 games folks tended to be impressed by were indie games (resogun, octodad, etc).

it started at whatever that thing was in august. the xbox is going to really cater for the folks that want big budget games, the ps4 is going to cater for those that want indie games.

its fine. theres a distinct choice for people. but, to me, if you are going to go next gen, theres no point spending that kinda money if the only games that really excite you are small, little things. especially when 90% of them will end up on steam. and as far as ps4 goes, i dont see what there is to be excited for aside from indie games.

slowdog76 wrote:the xbox is going to really cater for the folks that want big budget games, the ps4 is going to cater for those that want indie games.

Couldnt disagree more

I think people were impressed with the indies (especially Resogun) because they were fun but both machines will have their 'big' games that attract the masses and a lot of games launched will be on both. Even in terms of exclusivity, I wouldnt bank on Titanfall staying purely on MS platforms long term:

http://metro.co.uk/2013/08/28/ea-hints-at-titanfall-on-playstation-4-3940031/

I do like that Sony are attempting to do more for all gamers whether you want big budget (Killzone), Indie (Resogun) and are also looking to dabble more in territories usually reserved for PC (Planetside 2?).

Sony are lining themselves up well for launch just by the fact that with having PS+ at launch you will be getting Drive Club and Resogun on launch as FTP. Even just shelling out on the console nets you a couple of playable games instantly.

Both machines will be fine though, both will offer what their respective owners will be looking for.

Funny though from my recent gaming point of view, I have had more fun with Indie games on my PC (Gunpoint, Antichamber & The Swapper) than I have had with some so called AAA games purely because they were much more fun....

Both platforms will cater for AAA and Indie games, outside of the exlusives I really don't think there will be too much difference.

For me it was all about the controllers and I have to say that I thought the DS4 was slightly better than the X1. That doesn't mean I'll get the PS4 it just means I still ain't got a clue what to get. My live runs out in February so will make my mind up then,but the PS4 is very slightly edging it.

I'm still considering cancelling my X1 pre-order as I'm just not sure it's worth it. I will be holding off until the last moment before doing that though.

Not that I was impressed by PS4 in a big either, although the controller was good, but I am tempted to just stick with PC.