Well, another year, another Expo. PlayDevil has reported from the previous two expos, and once again brings you coverage from the biggest show in the UK in 2011. The queues even for press on the Thursday were massive, but we’ve managed to try out the biggest games, and go hands on with everything from Awesomenauts to War in the North, even trying out the new PS Vita on the way.

 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, I headed straight off to see Skyrim when the floodgates opened. This seemed a popular choice, because even with my early entry pass I struggled to get on a machine (the queues later on were just horrendous!). What you’ll notice straight away are the widespread changes, to both the interface and to the graphics from the previous Bethseda games this generation.

We were only allowed 15 minutes with the game, but the combat is now much more visceral and satisfying, you can now sprint (thankfully!), and your health will slowly regenerate over time. The AI and animation of NPCs is also much improved, so I’m genuinely very, very excited for this title when it comes out in November.

 

Next up was NFS: The Run. Now Black Box have had two years to make a game, are we guaranteed a classic NFS game every year? The omens are again, looking very good. It’s point-to-point racing, with a story, and I got to try out two of the single player levels. One evoked classic Road-Rash style gameplay, trying to overtake as many cars as possible before the road ran out, whilst the other was a one-on-one in some snowy mountains. This level was immense, with avalanches coming down everywhere, some very tense gameplay, and an incredibly cinematic feel to things.

 

I then tried out Dark Souls- sequel to the sleeper hit Daemons Souls. It was, as expected, incredibly hard, and I died over, and over, and over again. The combat is very satisfying though, and the stamina system works really well. However, the graphics were fairly mediocre in comparison to some of the other titles I was playing, and this will clearly remain a marmite game upon release. Fans of the first game will no doubt enjoy this, but it won’t be for everyone.

 

I then tried out some upcoming Nintendo 3DS games (and tried out some remakes of N64 classics, which I couldn’t resist, having spent so much time with them as a kid), in the form of Mario World 3D, and Mario Kart 7. Both games had more impressive graphics than anything else seen on the 3DS so far, and were nearly Gamecube in quality levels. I could only spend a couple of minutes with each, but I was genuinely impressed, and hopefully with these better looking and playing games, and the recent price drop the 3DS will finally gain a little bit of traction in the marketplace.

 

Next up was Forza 4. Graphically amazing, the UI and gameplay will be very familiar to long-time players, although the handling model has definitely been given an upgrade, and is now even more realistic than ever. I tried one race, and one time trial in an M5, and in a Ferrari, and I cannot wait for this game. AI still seems a bit of an issue, but either way, this is a drop-dead gorgeous simulation that any true fan of cars and driving should be slavering in anticipation for.

 

Carrying on in the same vein, I then tried out the considerably less impressive Ridge Racer Unbounded. Developed by the guys behind FlatOut, I was hoping for a fairly destructive racer. What I got were some cars that handled like they were stuck in mud, with a bizarre system to score points that would occasionally get you a lacklustre power-up, that didn’t actually give you much of an advantage. The game is quite a way off compared to some other titles, but I wasn’t very impressed at this stage.

 

I then checked out Rage. It may be out in a week, but I love ID software games, so I was looking forwards to a blast anyway. I was stunned. The game was running on some cranky old TVs, but still looked stunning. The game moved brilliantly (it’s 60FPS), and the gunplay also felt very measured, whilst probably for the first time, driving felt natural and weighty in a FPS. It looked simply stunning, and I can’t wait to play this game!

 

Then it was time to see War in the North, an action-RPG set in the Lord of the Rings universe. It’s an all-new story, but LOTR games have been disappointing in the past. This was no exception, unfortunately. Graphically, it seemed very poor, and the console had to be re-booted about 4 times just to get the demo to work, and even then the loading times were dreadful. The gameplay, by meaning ‘action’, has gone for the ‘hit it with a big stick many times until it falls over and drops some loot’ approach. I got pretty tired of mashing the same button over and over in the 20 minutes I played the demo, so the full game will really have to offer something a bit more to sustain a full-priced game.

 

Then, before I headed off to the multiplayer area, it was time for some Sonic Generations. Sonic games have, for the last 15 years, been pretty uniformly terrible. So I was basically playing this for a laugh, to see how bad the next game could be. But, amazingly, this looks pretty good. Graphically, it’s wonderfully bright, whilst being super fast and responsive. There’s two modes, one which is 2D only, and another which is a mix. Both worked well, as in 3D the paths were narrow, and it was almost just like a different perspective. The levels were maybe a little too long for my personal taste, but I was genuinely pleased and surprised. Sonic demos are often better than the finished product though, so whilst still only cautiously optimistic, this still looks to be the best Sonic game in an age.

 

Once in the over-18 area, it was time for some multiplayer- Battlefield 3 vs COD MW3 in the battle of the Christmas heavyweights. However, it’s difficult to do a direct comparison because of what was on offer. MW3 was spec-ops based, with the new horde challenge. This was a co-op mode, and whilst my team mate made my own COD incompetence look somewhat better than usual, this was still a tightly balanced and highly enjoyable mode that looks like it will have a lot of legs. I was worried that with the heart of Infinity Ward ripped out, that the game would suffer, but so far it seems very impressive in terms of the gameplay and graphics.

 

Battlefield 3 has obviously been the source of much speculation as to just how good it looks, as the console versions were kept under wraps for some time. In single-player it looks just fine, but I only tried out multiplayer on both PS3 and 360, and I came away a little disappointing- it’s functional, and perhaps a little nicer looking than COD, but certainly not the generational leap people were expecting. The gameplay is really pretty similar to what people have come to expect from a modern multiplayer shooter, and whilst I’m sure that the game will be a great success, neither of the games I played really blew me away; but this will no doubt be a solid shooter all the same.

 

Finally, after a 90 minute queue, the last thing for me to do was check out the PS Vita. I only got 10 minutes with the console, but I struck gold and got to check out Uncharted- which has definitely been the game that has had people talking so far. The console itself is very sleek, although it definitely feels quite chunky- it won’t fit in a pocket, that’s for sure. Graphically though, this is another level. Some lighting effects and post-processing seemed missing, but otherwise, Uncharted on the Vita looked pretty much up to the standard of Uncharted 1 on PS3- and this is pre-release code of one of the first games for the system. This was no port either, as the game tried to make use of as many of the features as possible, with gyroscopic aiming for sniper rifles, and touch based free-running and climbing that worked really well, and gave a smoothness and accuracy that even console players could only dream of. Controls were tight, and the two analogue sticks felt very natural. I wasn’t expecting much, given that the PSP has been a bit of a disappointment, but with the right games for it, and the right price, Vita could clearly be a fantastic challenger.

 

So, there are a couple of bigger previews to come, but that about wraps it up for the hands-on demos that I got to try over the course of my weekend. There was plenty more I got a quick glance at, including the retro area, the previous Eurogamer games of the year, and various PC MMOs, but there was way too much to report on everything over the course of just two days! This year was better and bigger than ever, so I’m looking forwards to more reports from the show floor at the Expo in 2012!