E3 Report + Pics

Alright!
As promised, here are the reviews of all the video games I got my hands on at E3.
*PICS CAN BE VIEWED THROUGH FACEBOOK HERE: [DAY 01] - [DAY 02]

Reviews available:
3DS
Zelda: Skyward Sword
Kirby's Epic Yarn
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Multiplayer Mode)
Kinect
Epic Mickey
Tron
Toy Story 3
Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep
Little Big Planet 2 (Multiplayer Mode)

Titles not included:
FFXIV (limited to appointment only)
FF13 - Versus (not shown)
Deus Ex (not shown)
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (limited to certain individuals/press)
The Last Guardian (not shown)



Reviews: (by developer)
! --  Keep in mind, most of the games I played were prototypes/demo versions of their titles.
What I say about it from this experience isn't necessarily how it will be half a year from now -- !

Nintendo:

• 3DS - Waited in line 2 hours for this, but well worth it! Nintendo gave attendees 10 minutes to run around and take a peek at over 20 different demos. Most of them were just to watch the visuals, as I only demoed 3 titles with interaction involved. All the 3DS were either padlocked to individuals, or bolted to a long stretch of table with an individual booth babe per DS watching to make sure nothing happened.
      But onto the review. Wow! And I mean WOOOOW!! I'm not at all into this 3D bandwagon that's been all over the place, but I think Nintendo has found out a way to take it up a whole notch. Looking at 3D without the use of 3D glasses...I couldn't wrap my mind around it. But it looks like the 3DS uses paralax projections. What I mean is that it's projecting 2 different views of the picture, so when you left and right eye look at both at the same time, the image is melded together to make certain objects appear with different distances. You can notice these dual projections when you tilt the 3DS away. (Which is also another thing...you can only experiences the 3D visuals when you look at it straight on. No one else will be able to see the effect from the sides)
      Another thing to note. The 3DS offers a slider switch on the side that can control how strong the 3D visuals appear. You can play between 2D to 3D (to which I was grateful for, because the Resident Evil demo was KILLING my eyes).
  The 3DS IS backwards compatible; I made sure to ask. But nothing on price and release date.
   
• Zelda: Skyward Sword - Been waiting for another Zelda game greedily. But the first thing I noticed when I walked in...Skyward Sword had a cell-shaded art style. This isn't nothing that would deter me from the game, but it's a drastically different step from Twilight Princess' art direction. Because it's Zelda's 2nd title on the Wii, most of the general gist of the controls were around the same, yet different, offering more ways to use your weaponry. For example: you had to swing both wiimote and nunchuck to make a spin attack rather than the wiimote alone. And now you have the option to physically control whether your sword does a vertical or horizontal slice by swinging your arms accordingly.
      Link also has a new feature: sprinting. Now, before y'all get excited and think that you can just haul-ass across fields without the help of Epona or warp points...sprinting is limited. By holding down one of the buttons (can't remember which), Link can take a sprint for about 10 seconds before his sprint indicator drains...making Link completely STOP to pant and nearly double-over on his knees for another 5 to catch is breath. (I don't know about the other peeps, but I really love this human aspect of exhaustion being added into a game) Sprinting seemed to be useful in the demo for climbing up a steep cliff that you couldn't just causally trek up. The only other thing I remember was that you were able to roll your bombs like a bowling ball (swinging the wiimote with the same gesture); giving you access to reaching bombable objects by simply rolling it through small tunnels and holes in walls.
      Now, because of the tight 10 minute limit for the demo, I can't say much for the environment (since it was a small space), or give my opinion on some of the new weapons. I was more concerned about playing the 2 available bosses: A Stalfo and a giant scorpion.
   
• Kirby's Epic Yarn - [Gameplay vid link] Once you get your hands on this game, any nostalgia from N64's Yoshi Story will come flooding back in full force. Denim sky, cotton clouds, plaid grassy hills....add a bit o' yarn in the mix and we have ourselves an awesome art style! Epic Yarn is a co-op platform which requires you and your partner to work together to reach a goal-point (in this case, a bell). Obstacles include pulling zippers, breaking through walls, among other things. Either of you have the option to grab a hold of your partner, and use them as a throwing projectile to break through barriers, or merge together (at certain points of the level) to become a humongous Kirby-punching-rocket shooting-tank! I got to play a dragon boss at the 3rd stage in which you and your partner needed to use a whip to tug on the dragon's tongue to put it into submission. And if you ever got to far, or fell away from your partner, you were conveniently transported by a 'bird' of some sort to wherever your partner is.  Needless to say, I was never bored...even with the fact that you only use the wiimote sideways, giving you the Dpad and only 3 buttons to worry about. Will look for it when it comes out.

Ubisoft:

• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (multiplayer) - Single player demo wasn't available, but discussed exactly the same as done [here in this vid]. I've been looking forward to the multiplayer for WEEKS ans finally got in a 2-hour line to get my hands on it and play an assassination game with 5 other players.
      You are able to choose between 7 different classes (doctor, courtesan, noble, butcher, barber, etc), and choose what pair of abilities they'll have (one for L2 and the other for R2; includes disguise, stealth, agility, etc.). As I played the demo, I noticed that there were multitudes of the same avatar running around, confusing the hell out of you. I'm not sure if this is done on purpose so that targets are harder to find, or what. (I didn't think to ask if the classes were a bit customizable.) But then again, making your avatar customizable would make it easier for your pursuer to spot you, wouldn't it?
      Back to the demo: After character selection, you are dropped into a city and given a target, which appears on your upper right with a mini-portrait. At the same time, you have to keep in mind that you have an unknown pursuer on you. Since, again, there are multitudes of the same avatar class running around, the only thing that'll help you indicate your target from the rest is a blue ring, a "compass" for lack of a better description, that appears on the lower center screen. The ring will fill in the direction of your target, and fill more when you get closer. If your target is within assassination range, the entire ring will fill with blue and your target will highlight.
      Depending on your stealth, you getting a different amount of points (aerial strikes seem to be the highest that I've found). Meanwhile, if you have been "spotted" by your pursuer (indicated by a red flash on the screen), it's your job to break his line of sight on you (+ more points) and hide from him (+even more points). So you can potentially win a round without having to kill a single person...but it would be harder. There are now touch-activated traps that you can set so that you can place obstacles in your pursuer's way. The demo example showed a character going through a pair of iron swing-gates that closed when you went through them, making the pursuer have to climb over, or wait til they open again. Your pursuer can also breach the "line of sight" and potentially kill you from a rooftop should they have throwing knives, disguise themselves as a different class, or walk ever so slowly towards you.
      * Note to mention that the controls are the same as in previous games (gentle push, assassinate, speed walk), with the exception of the added abilities you chose earlier.

Microsoft:

• Kinect - As much as I wanted to try and kind of like the Kinect....I couldn't. And let me tell you why: so far, it's done the exact SAME GAMES that the Wii titles have already explored--except without a controller. I played a running game, a game that involved jumping and leaning to avoid obstacles, and a game where I played with a pet tiger. The only, ONLY game that made me want to play a bit longer was a kart racing game. A friend and I stood side-by-side and were told to hold out our hands as if we were holding a steering wheel. The car goes automatically when the race starts, so no worries on how to control gas. To turn, we rotated our hands just like we would for a steering wheel, and if we wanted to drift, we leaned in while turning. But a racing game can't be the only thing to hold my interest.
    The Kinect has the amazing ability not only to identify your body's different limbs/parts, but separate them from your partner's. THAT is intriguing; I thought we would run into a lot of tweaks when both of us would overlap our silhouettes. But the Kinect was able to differentiate us apart.
      If Kinect wants my attention, it needs to explore what they can potentially birth with this amazing piece of technology. It has AMAZING potential...but it's not worth my money with what they've got so far. All they're relying on at the moment is the fact that it doesn't require a controller to play with games that already exist.

Disney:

• Epic Mickey - [Gameplay vid link] Sadly, this demo was all over the place; one of the Disney Interactive staff I talked to, who was in charge of some of the AI programming, told me that the demo was still in prototype, so I wasn't expecting much then. If you've ever played Kingdom Hearts, the 3D models have a similar, simple feel to them. What I rather enjoyed were the cutscenes, which were drawn in the style of the classic Disney colored storyboards. An added bonus! The cutscenes were short and to the point! (SquareEnix needs to take a lesson in this desperately!)
      Mickey had one weapon, a paintbrush, with two abilities: paint (blue) and thinner (green). The blue paint, which is controlled by the nunchuck, can add objects to an environment (such as a bridge or wall) and turn enemies into friends. The green thinner, via the Wiimote, can erase objects and destroy enemies. Mickey is also able to do something of a spin attack when you shake the Wiimote.
      I got to look at 3 levels in the demo. The "hub" or rather the  "home base" was your shopping central, and kept track of what you've done. The "Steamboat Willie" level, which turned into a non-fighting platformer. And "Skull Rock" (from Peter Pan), which was a full-on action island level surrounded by HP-sucking oil with a mini-boss that looked like a robotic hermit crab with a giant teacup for a shell. The only other weapon Mickey could collect was a TV system. If these are placed near an enemy, the enemy would forget you exist and sit to watch the TV for a good 15 seconds whilst you wander around it.
     The controls seemed a bit touchy though (which is to be expected with a prototype). I had yet to run into another person who didn't die at least once from falling and failing to "bouncy away" from the oil ocean and try to hit land before dying. There was no "lock-on" function; Mickey just attacked whoever seemed closest, which irritated the hell out of me as there were points where I wanted to avoid the minions to get to the mini-boss. Hopefully, these will be addressed soon.
     I think it was the assistant producer that was telling me that a lot of levels were optional, as you can continue without finishing them, but are greeting with different obstacles in result to that. When I asked if there would be a large library of levels in respects to that, he responded, "Tons." Now that begs to question how big the scope of this game will be, cause he had made it sound like a larger universe than Kingdom Hearts had (for lack of another reference).
   
• Tron - I know there are a few people who were worried about the "overpowering" glowing tracks and filaments that would obviously be present throughout the entire environment, but I was surprisingly taken aback by how balanced it all was. It wasn't too glowy or flashy, and didn't take your attention away from what you were doing or lose track of anything in the foreground.
      [Gameplay vid link: action ]  - The first demo was to go through a small tutorial that lead to to a room that you had to clear out. The tutorial flowed nicely into the story, wherein you had to follow another character and copy what they do (jumping and running across walls). Some bit of free-running and parkour later, and you're made to clear out a couple of rooms filled with enemies. The vid shows a friend of mine button-mashing since I kind-of just threw the controller at her...but the controls seem very sophisticated, but not overly complicated. There were a series of 2 hit attacks, and 1 finishing move for the most part.
      [Gameplay vid link: Light Cycle] - I honestly didn't know what to think of this part of the demo. Every since Light Cycle racing was introduced in Kingdom Hearts 2, I was hoping for some similar action, but with better controls. But in this version, I'm suddenly thrown onto a light cycle, and have to run down an almost linear track (if not for the random falling debris). An enemy with another cycle constantly bumps into you, but it doesn't take much for you to whack him away and continue on your merry way. And it may have been the 'speed' of the cycle, but it was extremely hard to control. So if you couldn't make a split turn on time, there wasn't any chance of saving yourself before you're forced to crash into the wall.
      All in all, this looks to be a good game thus far. I'm a Tron nerd at heart, so I'm hoping that I can see a more flexible fighting mechanic for the light cycle aspect when the finished product comes out.
   
• Toy Story 3 - Don't let the simplicity of the controls fool you, this game kept me AVID from trying not to die from General Porkchop's ufo rays! The only demo I got to try in this game was a train roof fight. Armed with that iconic , Pixar rubber Star Ball, Woody had to navigate through cart after cart of a moving train. The demo had you fight off some of the Little Green aliens, while trying to rescue some kids toys. Once you got to the end of the train, you were to face General Porkchop (Hamm), who would shoot laser beams that were HARD to avoid unless you swiftly navigated yourself behind some crates.
      The controls were easy to handle, and the graphics reflected the same quality the movie has. It is very reminiscent of the Toy Story game that appeared in the Sega Genesis many eons ago in respect to how addicting these short, yet action packed levels are.

Square Enix:

• Kingdom Hearts: BBS - First off, let me rant about the UNNESSASSARY LOAD TIME FOR UMDs!!! I swear to god the load times were just as long as the cutscenes! I saw spinning hearts for hours after I stopped playing!! </rant>
      Unless your knew to the game's mechanics, all I can say is same old, same old. The only thing I found reassuring was the fact that you didn't have to button mash like in KH2. Having to go through your command menu with your Dpad makes you actually think of what to do. And since those abilities take a while to charge before you can use them again, strategy once again reappears like it was in KH1. There is also an option to use what looks like a first-person shooter view to lock on a target and blast them away. (I didn't notice this action until late in the demo, so I have nothing to report on it)
      It may have been because I had to start with a new world, which always wound up being "Deep Space," but I would sit though 5 minutes of cutscenes. And not just 1, but it seemed like a cutscene every time I entered a room, so all I did essentially was go room after room of killing small-fry Unversed (the "Heartless" equivalent in this game). (This may be me being irritated at the fact that I'm sitting though cutscenes wherein I'm supposed to be playing a game's mechanics at these kinds of tradeshows...biased? maybe...)
      But, because I'm a loyal KH follower, I made my way through and was thouroughly enjoyign the fact that you got to see 3 different perspectives of the same game through the eyes of Ven, Terra, and Aqua. Granted, I only got to play with Terra and Ven (Ven seems to be the best balanced). I didn't get a good sense of the story since I only played for about 15 minutes for Ven and Terra, but I'm liking the direction it's taking thus far. *NO SPOILERS PLEASE!!

Sony:

• Little Big Planet 2 (multiplayer) - I had never played LBP, as I had only ever watch gameplay videos. But as I played the multiplayer with a 3 other friends, I found myself having a bit of fun. We played a platforming level where you had to ascend to the top and collect orbs on the way. The only functions you had were a whip to hang and attach yourself to objects (as well as other players), and jump. So the point wasn't to fight, but to race through a multitude of obstacles (such as springboards and electric shock panels). If anyone should be too far away from the highest person, they were left in the dust until said highest person got to a checkpoint (then whoever got stuck below was automatically transported to that checkpoint.) There was nothing really to it other than being a fun get-together game.


• The Move remote -........If I ever have to wave a wand and dance with a blue lightbulb to "Hit Me Baby One More TIme" again, or even pet an EFFING MUTANT DOG with a REMOTE via camera, I may have to chuck said remote or a hundred to a highly expensive HDTV!! Stupid, stupid games that were rehashed from the Wii. NOTHING intrigues me to the Move! Waste of my effing time! </rand pt. 2>

So that's all I could remember.
I'd review Marvel vs. Capcom 3, but since I had no idea what I was doing and had never touched the predecessors,
I felt it unfair to try and review.
If you have any questions, feel free to comment below.