Unless you’re part of a huge media outlet, and you get a schedule of what you’re going to see, what interviews you’re going to have and when and so forth, managing E3 can be pretty daunting. This is the third time I’ve gone, but only the first time I’ve felt like I had my head above the water’s surface. And even then there is stuff I regret not checking out more deeply, not checking out at all, or not even realizing was there until after the fact. They really ought to add at least one more day, especially since a whole day’s worth of time ends up being eaten up waiting in line. Heaven help you if new hardware is unveiled that you want to see.

Anyway, to wrap up my coverage, I have a few more games I didn’t get enough from to warrant independent articles, but still wanted to give my two cents on.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Once again, Nintendo had units lined up with ten minute demos of their latest major release in the Legend of Zelda series. This time there were three types of experiences: a bird flying mini-game, a taste of the first dungeon, and a battle with the game’s villain Ghirahim. I opted to go with the dungeon, since what I wanted most was a taste of how general combat would feel. This kind of turned out to be a mistake, however, since I really didn’t pick up anything additional from last year’s presentation. After running around and beating up all the enemies, I was left to just solve the puzzle elements which didn’t grab me as much (though the fight with the dual-sword wielding skeleton is still fun). Once again though, I seemed plagued by calibration issues, and I had to point nearly off screen just to center any of the aiming weapons. With all the flashing lights and wireless signals, E3 doesn’t seem to be a great place to showcase motion control games (not to mention getting smacked in the face after coming too close to the Just Dance 3 demonstration).

The Ghirahim battle may have been a better choice, though from watching it seemed fairly formulaic. Funnily enough, I saw a number of people struggle on it. The guy was telegraphing his attacks pretty clearly, as to which way to hold the sword and such. One person I saw burned through all the hearts in the room, all the potions he had on hand and used his fairy to restore after fainting. He was just too timid to run in and attack. Man, what are modern games doing to people? Then again, considering how Ghirahim has a tendency to leer at you and lick his lips, I might have trepidation too.

Star Fox 64 3D

When I was a kid, I don’t think I could even beat the second stage of Star Fox, and that’s when I more or less decided I wouldn’t be a fan of the series. However, I really wanted to give this one a try for Jesse’s sake. The demo I ended up playing, however, was for the four-player battle mode. I’ll admit, it was a bit fun, even though I was still getting used to the basics of control the whole time. For the most part, I tended to hang out away from the action and blast people when they got near, but eventually they figured this strategy out and came at me pretty hard.

The avatar feature is neat, though I wish they’d made it a still image instead of the very choppy video feed. Also, depending on how you like to hold your 3DS, you may just let people have the pleasure of looking straight up your nose.

Ben 10: Galactic Racing

I stopped watching cartoons once they took Courage the Cowardly Dog off the air, so I have no knowledge of anything about Ben 10. However, after playing around with Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon, the D3 reps were eager to nudge me over to their other games. Considering how tucked away their area was, I don’t blame them for wanting the attention. Initially I was going to try White Knight Chronicles 2, which I also know nothing about, but it’s from Level-5. However, a video team just arrived to cover it, so Galactic Racing it was.

To put it plainly, it’s Mario Kart, even having the same weapon pickups and a spacy, Rainbow Road-esque course. Even the representative was candid about comparing it. This is the first racing game of the series, and is intentionally being aimed at a younger audience. It played pretty well, and although I imagine it’s intent is to draw in the Ben 10 crowd, I’d think most people could at least enjoy playing it.

Minecraft on Xperia Play

I doubt I’d have paid this any mind, but a friend really wanted me to try the Xperia Play, since he’s a phone nut. The Xperia Play is Sony-Ericsson’s upcoming Andriod powered smartphone with a slide-out gamepad similar in design to the typical Playstation pad, albeit using touch sensitive circular pads in place of analog sticks. I don’t really care for the feel, but at least your thumbs aren’t covering the screen like they would with an iPhone-style device.

The phone will be getting Minecraft: Pocket Edition. I’m not certain how much it will differ from the actual Minecraft, and the demonstration on display was a build of the old Creative version, wherein you can place blocks willy-nilly and there are no survival aspects. I didn’t care for the controls at all, which relegated building and destroying to the trigger buttons, and jumping and cycling through materials to the main buttons. And yes, it’s ironic that, as much as I’m not a PC gamer, I far prefer the mouse and keyboard controls that make movement and action so easy to pull off in tandem. But I really can’t rule out that it was an issue of being unaccustomed to the controls, and I’m at a loss to think of any better way to setup the controls on a gamepad.

Tags: 3DS, Ben 10: Galactic Racing, E3 2011, hands-on impressions, Minecraft, Minecraft: Pocket Edition, Star Fox 64, Star Fox 64 3D, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Wii, Xperia Play

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011 at 10:50 am and is filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.