My X'08 Wrap Up (BIIIIGGG Wrap Up )

[xXHorrorHippoXx]

X’08 CANADA

Ok, so I’m back and am ready to spill the beans to all of y’all! I know I’m a few days late due to prior planned visits so I’ll try and make it worth your read.

So as you probably know by now, X’08 was in Toronto once again at a place called Circa. This venue was amazing, 3 or 4 times the size of the venue last year! The colors and atmosphere at this place were very gamer-esque as well.

I’ll be rating all the games based on what I knew and thought about them going into the event, either; impressed, neutral or disappointed.
So we got all our passes and shenanigans then Greenskull, Club108 and I headed into...the Twilight Zone.

Rock Band 2

Rock Band 2 was the game I wanted to see there. It’s the first thing that I headed to, but I was slightly disappointed. The setup included two of the “New” guitars, the microphone on a stand, and the Ion drum kit.
I started out with Guitar on some Linkin Park song (I think) and it was same old same old, nothing special about the new guitar at all. The difficulty remained the same as the first Rock Band.

I then got to play drums, but I don’t remember the song. The drums were the thing I was most excited for and I was let down. I thought that the drums on the Ion drum kit were WAY too spaced out and I didn’t like the high plastic rim around the side. Also, the pedal wouldn’t stop moving around. I had to stop playing numerous times to bend down, find the pedal, and bring it back towards me at least 3 times in one song.

Oh, I also sang Eye of the Tiger...ya, I don’t want to talk about that.

The graphics looked improved and the menu is way better. You can now make a set list of songs to play instead of playing one, then loading, the picking another, then loading. There is also the ability to choose “Play All” in any category such as Metal or Fallout Boy. Another cool thing was all the different sorting options to make it easier to find the songs you want. Lastly, it was amazing to see the lumberjack singer from Rock Band 1 playing drums and guitar as well, thus showing us that any character can be used for any instrument.

Overall: Neutral

Guitar Hero World Tour (GH4)

I know how people are thinking that Guitar Hero has nowhere to go now that Rock Band is on the market, but I never really believed that bologna and I’m glad I stuck with my baby.

Guitar Hero was very impressive besides the awfully calibrated instruments.

First off I tried the drums. I was very worried that they would really suck but no, they are awesome. They are a lot quieter than the Rock Band drums and they also have a TON of bounce. The drums are spaced evenly and even though the pedal wasn’t attached, it still stayed on the floor. The drums are also following in the Guitar Hero family with difficulty. I actually had to play Everlong on Hard! Sometimes it was hard switching from the high hats to the regular drums, but you will get used to it.

The guitar was pretty much the same except for a bit more UMPH. It felt a lot stronger than the GH3 controller and the buttons felt more comfortable as well. I wasn’t quite sure how the slider buttons worked at all, but it didn’t seem that you had to strum while playing them. Difficulty remains the same.
I really liked the singing in this game even though I didn’t sing... So basically I liked the look of the vocal note chart. I like how it streams and shows you what pitch you are singing at all times, and gives you some sort of suggested path.

One of my complaints for GHWT is that it is very complex compared to Rock Band and Rock Band 2. There are weird note things (I don’t even know what to call them) that no one knew how to play. One on guitar you had to hold down one note then strum another while still holding the other... ? It didn’t seem to work at all. Another was the solo. There was a purple line attaching all the notes together and I had no clue what it was for. Wow, I have two more. On the drums, there are some notes that are thicker than others and I wasn’t sure what to do with them, and lastly, the random purple horizontal line while playing guitar. Sorry Activision, Guitar doesn’t have a bass pedal.

Lastly, I saw a bit of the character customizability and it looks amazing and very detailed! Oh, and PADORA IS BACK!

Overall: Impressed

Gears of War 2

Well it’s Gears of War 2, what do I have to say? It has amazing hype and it is amazing!

The multiplayer was cool, fun, and cool, oh and fun and amazing and stuff like that. There were 10 TVs set up so we were playing some big 5 vs. 5 player games of (Enter name of that game where one guy is the leader and people keep spawning until their leader is dead.) and we played some games on Wingman at the community event (2v2v2v2v2). Both were very fun. The strategy changes in both aswell and completely changes the game. Teamwork becomes necessary in Wingman and I noticed that if you lay around bleeding out long enough, you will get back up. (For those who don’t know, you can move around while downed.)

There are some new characters, Dizzy who wears a cowboy hat and has a beard, and then some other guys who don’t have specific names like Sniper and a few cool looking locusts.

The new weapons, and even the old ones, are really cool. One I played around with was like a portable mortar of some sort. I’m still not sure of how to aim it, but it still feels good to kill someone with it. Also, there is the new burst type pistol (I’m bad at remembering name if you haven’t figured that out) that is really awesome for a pistol. The shield is also an amazing addition and works great. There is also the human shield, so when you down someone, you can pick them up and carry them around using them as a shield. You can only use your pistol while holding them, but you take a lot less damage. The new chainsaw battles are pretty cool, especially when there are tons of people there fighting for their lives. You are WAY more vulnerable when chain sawing someone so you have to watch your back. There is also a variety of new executions that switch it up a bit.

The maps we played were Avalanche (or Snowstorm or something) which is like a small slightly symmetrical Santa’s Village with a snowstorm that occurs every once in awhile, completely killing everyone’s visibility. Next there was Gridlock, which hasn’t changed much physical, but looks much better. I know we played two more maps but I honestly don’t remember their name. One was in a street and it almost like Raven Down in Gears 1, except better with the ability to go up to higher levels on certain buildings (unless the guy was hacking). Lastly there was the other one that I don’t remember really at all except it was some kind of village and stuff.

Now there are a few random things I learned. One is that there are no specific maps for Horde (the 5 player coop game) but the maps you will use will be all the multiplayer maps which let you make your own bases. Also the scoring in Horde will be based on damage, not kills. Cliffy also informed me that there will be bonus points for headshots and such.

Overall: Impressed

Ok so I got bored of writing so I will be updating this post daily with reviews and impressions on games like; Call of Duty 5, Viva Pinata 2, Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts, Marvel vs Mortal Combat (whatever its called), Shawn White Snowboarding, Pure, In the Movies, Fable 2, Portal Sill Alive, Duke Nukem, etc.

I will also be letting you know a little on a few game I saw a bit of like Farcry 2, Fracture, Lips, Madagascar 2, Castle Crashers, Project Origin, Fallout 3, Wanted (I think), High School Musical DDR, Disney Karaoke, Scene It 2, etc.

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Heres 2 more!

In The Movies

I hadn’t heard much about this game before going to the event but now I am glad I tried it.

Basically there are 4 rounds of silly little mini games that make you embarrass yourself in front of tons of people, but it’s all good and fun. The mini games work surprisingly well and the camera picks it up very well. We played a few games like a dancing game where there are two hands where yours must go, kind of like a hardcore disco simulator. Another one was a race where you have to pretend you’re running then squirt some water on yourself every once in a while to keep up the speed. Oh and there is one that I played and you have to hit targets and avoid swinging arms, it’s harder than it sounds.

All of the mini games have scores attached (except for the improv games such as “look in the well” and stupid stuff like that) that are based on 2000 points, 2000 being perfect. Some of them are really hard to get perfect but the challenge is fun. Others pretty much give away 2000 points.

So when you are done all 4 rounds of awesome mini games, they are put into a movie. The one we say is called “Cold Blooded” and it was hilarious. The captured motions are added into the movie flawlessly, even when you do the actions wrong. It makes for a great time and there are going to be over 30 different movies to make!

Overall: Impressed

Call of Duty 5

I was quite disappointed when I heard that they were going back to WW2 with this game. I was also pretty mad when I heard it was Treyarch again. Basically, I was set on NOT buying this game. This all changed at X08.

I didn’t manage to play this for very long, but for the amount of time I played it, I’m glad I did. We played a mode called “Competitive Coop” where there are two (might be more in final game) playing through the story trying to rack up the points. You get points for headshots, grenade kills, multiple kills, revives, etc. Whoever has the most points at the end, wins. Simple.

I noticed that this game was a lot like Call of Duty 4 in many ways. The graphic style seemed the same, the enemies died the same (go into last stand) and it just felt the same overall, which is nice. The AI seems much improved and the game just feels right, unlike COD3.

There are new weapons and such added. First of all, the Molotov cocktails; just press down Left Bumper, light it up, and BAM, flaming goodness! The WW2 weapons are also much upgraded and they sound and feel a lot better. Since there is coop now, there is a healing system. It is extremely basic, but it works. I know because my teammate died (well last stand’ed) on me 3 times. You go up to them, hold down X for about 3 seconds, and they’re good to go!

Lastly, there are some cool effects. I was in a building that caught fire so there was smoke. We were told to crouch down to avoid all of the black smoke. When you are standing, everything is black, but when you are crouched, you can see.

Overall: Impressed

[Agaroth]

Sweet Thanks Paden.

[rabidhotdog]

Sweet, it makes me happy to hear that Pandora is back!

[BmKzegoomba]

Gorgon pistol and Gaurdian gametype. But thanks for your update!

[Retep]

Overall which do u think is better the GH drums or RB2s ( not the ions but since the new set will be similar to the first)

[Greenskull]

Originally Posted by Killer DemonX

Overall which do u think is better the GH drums or RB2s ( not the ions but since the new set will be similar to the first)

GH. You can live with RB1s drums.

[Agaroth]

hopefully it's updated during the day. I never had any intrest in gears of war..but the new one actually looks like it'll be fun.

[I KmaC I]

Originally Posted by Killer DemonX

Overall which do u think is better the GH drums or RB2s ( not the ions but since the new set will be similar to the first)

GH's were definitely better...and more compact as well

[Agaroth]

lol give us pictures kmac :p and Paden post more **** so I can read!

[Lord Dman]

You mean Pandora right? And you sang Eye Of The Tiger!?!? It's on RB2 thats it buying 4 sure!
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