What I did at PAX West
The con started off with Media Hour. During it I played Toe Jam and Earl Back in the Groove. The aspect they were showing off was the four player co-op. It was fun finding the elevator and then jokingly telling the people I just met to hurry up. I wondered around and saw PUBG on Xbox One. I don’t play PC Games, so I figured I’d try it out. I’ve watched many streams of people playing it like my boss CheapyD so I knew what it was. The game for me felt like a fun exploration game where you occasionally find someone and shoot them in the head. I didn’t get any real sense of dread or anything out of it like I’ve seen CheapyD have.I tried Dragon Ball Fighterz again. I played it at E3, but they added characters I wanted to try out. Krillin was fun to play and it’s still fun, of course. Lastly I played Secret of Mana. It was fun, but be aware that’s very much a Vita game that they ported over to the PS4. If you have both systems just get it on Vita for portability and the small screen will hide the low resolution textures better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKHjcnOGPhs
After that, I headed up to the sixth floor to try some stuff from Oasis Games. They had Hidden Dragon Legend, LIGHT TRACER, and Fringe Wars. Hidden Dragon Legend reminded me of playing Streets of Rage except in ancient China. Light Tracer is a PS VR game where you guide a princess through puzzles with a light staff and move the camera and puzzle elements with your left hand. Fringe Wars was a PvP ship battle simulator with different class of ships. Fringe Wars was my favorite of the three they had.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtX6cAaSoe4
Next I went to Bethesda. I played Wolfenstein II first. That game has a good sense of humor about it. I was in a wheelchair inside a ship’s barracks wheeling around with one hand and shooting Nazis with the other while a man in a Nazi costume was making people milkshakes next to me in real life. Milkshakes were good by the way. I give them 10 out of 10.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI1TVhecBQ4
I then played Dishonored: Death of the Outsider. This game is a AAA budget title at $29.99 so that had me interested. I had played both of the other Dishonored games and this one felt like a stand-alone expansion that used a lot of the same game assets and mechanics. For $29.99, it’s a great way to experience more Dishonored.
Lastly I tried The Evil Within 2 there. It’s very much the same as Evil Within 1 except with better visuals and a new story. To be honest, I got a little detracted when the lady who was handing out posters to people after they played the game started talking about her work at the Strip Club to a coworker and how the pay there sucked. I think she didn’t realize the wall dividing us was made of a thin piece of cloth.
Next I tried Steambirds Alliance. It’s pretty interesting since it’s a multiplayer Shump. The controls have you turn left with LT and right with RT in an isometric view as you destroy ships with friends, The art style is cute too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvz73JrSshE
Next I had a private meeting with Square Enix to see Gravel. It’s interesting these days because companies’ book hotel rooms, but then the elevator requires a room key so they need to find you in the lobby unlike the old days. Gravel is a fun arcade style game like that of the Forza Horizon series except you can just get right into the racing. None of this driving to each location stuff. Most of the time I was picking the Square Enix guys’ brain about Square Enix West and East differences and how Square Enix West sales piss a lot of people off because I get “Where’s Final Fantasy” at least five times when a Square Enix West sale pops up. He replied saying he gets that a lot from a booking aspect too and that the two companies work independently from each other. It sucks because Square Enix West has been killing it with stuff like Life is Strange, Tomb Raider, etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIkX1CWAAKY
Last of the day was Atari. They had one game to show me and damn it was a good game. It was Tempest 4000. Imagine Tempest and REZ, yes REZ, had a baby. That’s Tempest 4000. The game has a great techno beat playing while you destroy enemies as they creep up the tunnel. It also fully uses the PS4’s power by using a lot of particles, polygon’s and a lot of other things you’ve come to expect from REZ. It’s the perfect game to play for 10 minutes before bed and wind down with.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaeK7ry3_Ek
After that, I hung out with my friends and had my panel at 10 p.m. Highlight was seeing the guy physically shaking when he found out he won a NES Classic and Extra controller. Thank you to everyone who came and told me they enjoyed it when they saw me on the show floor during the rest of the weekend.
Saturday
First appointment of the day was MOTHERGUNSHIP. It’s the guy who made Tower of Guns with the people who helped him port Tower of Guns to the PS4. It’s basically their Twisted Metal 2, Resident Evil 2, Mega Man 2, Street Fighter 2, etc. What I mean is it’s everything he wanted to put into Tower of Guns but couldn’t. I played Tower of Guns and honestly didn’t like the randomized chaos it had, but this game has seemed to reign back on that and has introduced an interesting story to it as well.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAjDFdfGIEI
Next I had an appointment with the ThinkGeek booth and talked to the PR lady for a bit about doing giveaways, letting me know when things are on sale, etc. We talked about the SNES and NES Classic bundles they put up and how it’s hurting their brand every time they do it. Of course she’s the lady who has to deal with the angry mob while the exec who ordered the bundles to be made doesn’t need to deal with the aftermath. Even I need to deal with it when I post a GameStop or ThinkGeek deal that has nothing to do with those bundles so I can just imagine what she’s got to deal with.
The rest of the day was me playing Ubisoft games on bar stools. I played the Crew 2 first. Basically it’s a game that’s easy to play multiplayer games with friends and you can switch from car, boat or plane in an instant. Planes and motocross racing were the highlight of the demo.
Next was Far Cry 5. The only new aspects I saw is they had fishing, an AI partner fights with you and you can fly a plane. If you were looking for more Far Cry but in America, this is the game for you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kdaoe4hbMso
Lastly was Assassin’s Creed Origins. It’s the team behind Black Flag, and it has some interesting mechanics like an eagle that that spots enemies and points of interest for you as you sneak around and kill people or investigate some bull turds.
Sunday
My first appointment was Masquerada for the Switch. It’s an action RPG with a cool art style. Some aspects were hard to read in handheld mode, but I think they are working on making the text larger.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjZQuESLslw
Next I saw The Gardens Between. A fun puzzle game you can also play for 10 minutes before bed and unwind with. You basically rewind and fast forward time in order to solve puzzles with objects that are either affected by time or not. I talked to the developer and told him about a game not a ton of people played called Remember Me which had a mini game that was very similar to this game. He said he got the idea from watching Minority Report which makes sense since that mini game in Remember Me was a lot like the scene in that movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmBXEGmQ_og
I then saw Legrand Legacy. It’s a team that basically wanted to make a game like the RPGs of the late 1990’s/early 2000’s and they crushed it. It very much feels like a Final Fantasy game of that era with some timing elements for more damage towards the enemy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t20pZlrKQk
Next I went over to the tiny Build Booth and saw Pathologic 2, Party Hard 2 and Graveyard Keeper. In Pathologic 2 you have the ability to dissect corpses to find useful items and body parts. It was a short demo, but it had my interest. Party Hard 2 is the best kind of sequel. Same gameplay as before but this time the visuals have been given an upgrade. There are a lot of new mechanics at play. For example, now you have a instant kill ability, you need to complete multiple objectives instead of just killing everyone and more. I am really looking forward to this one. Graveyard Keeper is the Harvest Moon or Stardew Valley of graveyard keeping games. You build stations, harvest body parts and more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qekTbTpUsFs
I then visited the Team17 Booth. The highlight of my visit was Genesis One. Basically imagine the Metal Gear Solid V Mother Base mode in a universe very similar to Ridley Scott’s Alien movie. You make, customize and expand your mothership. In order to do this you need to send your crew to nearby planets for resources. Much like Alien, the crew might come back with unwanted life forms and you need to deal with them before it’s too late.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3s_tlA6EQA
At the Indie Mega Booth was a game called Church of Darkness. Imagine Metal Gear Solid 1 gameplay set in a village like Jonestown. For those who don’t know what Jonestown is, it was a cult were everyone died from drinking poisoned Kool Aid and the term “Don’t drink the Kool Aid” came from. Talking to the developer was fun because he knew his stuff about cults from his extensive research. Also the story changes based on if you knock out members of the cult or straight up kill them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XVyVqhPnjk
Next I saw Children of Morta. Imagine Gauntlet with Hyper Light Drifter quality of pixel art animations and you are there. The game has randomized dungeons and you choose a family member to go explore the dungeons. The Narrative Designer was showing me the game and I asked where he was from. He said Waco, Texas which isn’t too far from Hurricane Harvey so I asked if he was OK and told him where I was from. Luckily he was OK.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWNzuJZK2ZA
Last game I played was Sonic Forces. If you’ve enjoyed Sonic’s latest adventures like Sonic Colors, Sonic Generations, etc., you’ll love it. I died a lot because the levels had a lot of open pits and I’d accidentally hit the “Sonic goes really fast” button a lot. Create a character levels were interesting since you get Wisp power ups and had a whip, fire gun, etc. I told the PR rep about how when I post a Sonic deal most of the retweets come from people who are furries which didn’t surprise her.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn6uqp_mr98
Overall, I enjoyed this year’s PAX West a lot more than last year’s PAX West and highly recommend going. Get a Sunday or Monday badge and you’ll be able to play a lot of stuff that isn’t a huge franchise or is a AAA game. Unless waiting two hours to play a AAA game is exciting for you. For those with Saturday or Friday badges go to the sixth floor first and there will be no lines between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.
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