I hadn’t gone into “Star Wars Day” at Comic Con expecting much on the game front, and for the most part, it was a just assumption. The trip to San Diego did, however, make for some interesting diversions in between Powerpuff Girls panels and the Kevin Smith Q&A. I put most of my time into the THQ and Konami booths, were I was able to stab my way through the lines to three titles for a quick jaunt: “Saint’s Row 2” and “Darksiders: Wrath of War” at THQ, and “Silent Hill: Homecoming” at Konami. With each title I averaged about 10-15 minutes, but thankfully the provided levels gave a good idea on what gamers can expect come future months.

Going into the game I had the same comparison in my head as everyone else: “God of War” meets “Devil May Cry,” with a splash of post-apocalyptic design and run-of-the-mill demon critters to slice open. I should preface this with the fact that this game, shipping in Q1 of 2009, is not final build, and as such is expected to get at least some polish before release. This was made especially apparent with the sputtering frame-rate and frequent load times. The demo consisted of a single level (most likely in the earlier part of the game) set in a crumbling temple cut underneath with a river of lava which would occasionally flow into the player’s path, leading to some simple jumping exercises. This was, as the developers explained to me, a “dungeon” level, which meant it didn’t feature the open-world aspects touted in press releases, and was a level the player entered from the sandbox for a specific task, which seems to be following a giant winged creature battling with a character in shining gold armor. The player is horseless and with War’s sword and a few spells, but nothing else. The player guides War through some “find a sword/key to open a door to a new area” exploration, tagging along the aforementioned battle sequence. Throw in the occasionally appearing demons of famous winged and grunt warrior, and types, and you have the idea. The game definitely feels like a middle child to Kratos and Dante, but from the combat choices the demo yielded, it came off as more “Devil May Cry,” especially with the difficulty curve pushing for button mashing rather than any real combo-stringing. The combat, deprived as it was, was intuitive, conforming with only slight pullback to your play style, be it aerial-centric or tank. The short bits of platforming players had to endure were also smooth and lead to a sense of power and weight with the character. The design is of the ramshackle buildings as expected, but its hard to gauge the overall effect on this side-quest level. The Horseman’s design is respectably intricate, and flows with movement and combat impressively. The creatures all have the same brown palette, save for the Ogre mini-boss, who sported blue-crystal armor and an Incredible Hulk-inspired color/build. All in all, we have seen these monsters before. I came away from this game slightly disappointed, shown things done better in other games, despite the bonuses of smooth platforming and excellent lead character design. Thankfully this game still has some polish to apply, and what is there is workable if not original. As long as the game stays to the epic vision of its designers and inspirations, what should come out will be better than shown.

This demo pit players directly at the game’s start, showing off its character creation hub and opening cinemas. The player goes through the tutorial prison outbreak, forced to keep alongside his homie (literally titled so) and kill/jump his way through various guards and obstacles to reach the docks. The cinemas are quite dated in terms of look and facial/voice design, but the creation menu is varied and good enough to avoid most complaint. Characters speak with expected thug vocabularies, but the feeling thankfully doesn’t descend into the cheesiness of most “gangsta” titles. The movement feels a bit loose and unrealistic, despite the acceptable movement motions, with your character jogging off at the slightest controller press. Combat is controlled with the two shoulder triggers and the attack button, and once the player gets used to it, the combat flows nicely. Same can be said for the jumping portions, despite them being confined to specialized locations (no free running or parkour here.) The shooting and cover system were functional, aside from that nothing stupendous. Picking up objects could be slightly irritating though, with guns and smaller objects taking a few tries to get into your hands. The final few minutes of the level felt like an escort mission, a bad sign for an open-world venture, and cut off a lot of fun in the gameplay, having to stay back with your slow homie and beat your way through waves of guards. You can revive your teammates, with liquor, at any time, which makes it slightly easier, but no less frustrating. What was shown looked pretty close to final build, if not the shipping version itself, and that’s disappointing because the cinemas look very bland, especially when inevitably pitted against Grand Theft Auto IV. Not much can be said for the free-roaming aspect, as there was none in the prison tutorial level, and the play-time allotment didn’t allow for anything more. This title comes off middle-of-the-road, with a decent combat system and passable dialogue; but with just plain bad looking cinemas and contrived platforming, one can only hope that the sandbox aspect can at least pit this game among the purchasable.  

By far the most surprising entry demoed, mostly because, when playable, it gives off a much cleaner and sharper feel then the press coverage has given credit to thus far. You guide the lead character through the prologue Hospital level, encountering several series-regular creatures in your attempts to get your brother. This was the only title to be placed side-by-side with the competing console versions, and the PS3 is noticeably superior with sharper textures and a deeper soundtrack. The grainy filters of fans expectations also appear stronger and creepier on the Playstation version. Comparisons between the last Resident Evil and this game will fill the forums soon, with button-prompted actions and quicktime events littering the level. Thankfully though, they are done well enough not to detract too much from regular gameplay, and create a sense of a more combat apt protagonist. Speaking of which, the updated combat system shines, being leagues ahead of past entries, and very smooth. Combat is controlled with a shoulder trigger and attack button, one can hold for a power attack or string together various combinations of smaller attacks, and it feels phenomenal for a series used to grungy-at-best fighting. The wounds that appear on the monster’s flesh, however, look like someone spilled jam at odd angles, rather than realistic-looking wounds, and appearing at the same places each time makes this mechanic look tacked on and gratuitous. The 360-degree camera doesn’t cut out as much of the suspense as fans may think, but it will leave players missing the limited but dramatic angles of yore. Cinemas and their character/vocal designs are as bad as shown previously, and this appears to be final build, so players will be stuck with the poor synching and mapping they have seen so far. This is lessened somewhat but a well-executed dialogue tree option, but not by much. As far as scares, it seems much more in line with the first three “Silent Hill” titles than expected, with Akira Yamaoka’s score being the reliable best, and the level design much grittier than previously shown. The game does go for more intense scares than needed in the series, and the demo didn’t leave time to build any psychological or philosophical frights, but the atmosphere is there, with key-holding bodies chopped in half and baby-cries leading to burnt dolls in incubation chambers. “Homecoming” comes away better than expected, but still clinging to the problems it’s had for months.  

That’s it for the demos most attractive on the Comic Con show floor. Chances are E3 has already made up Gamers’ budgets, but there are still chances for surprises in the coming lineup, and that any expectations can be changed with picking up the controller.