Game-Pad© - Video Game News, Reviews and Interviews

This year Lindsay Cox went to Eurogamer Expo and as a result managed to get some short hands on time with many upcoming titles. To see his brief impressions of games such as Saints Row 3, Dark Souls and Uncharted 3 hit Read More.

So Eurogamer. How was it you ask? Good, I reply. Essentially, there were some big games there. I'm not going to list them all, but I will whack out a couple of sentences about the ones I played. Unfortunately this doesn't include Battlefield, COD and NFS due to large queues. All of the opinions are mine and mine alone, so take this as what you will:

Anarchy Reigns

So Platinum Games have decided to make this interesting brawler. I only got my hands on the local multiplayer, but from my first impressions, even though there were a variety of characters it seemed to be a button masher. The idea is good but I'll wait to see what the final execution will be.

Binary Domain

Now, this was something which came out of nowhere. Think of this as Gears of War but in Tokyo 2080. It reminds me of the likes of Ghost in the Shell, Bladerunner, Deus Ex etc and throws in some 3rd person shooter gameplay. This is one to watch out for.

Dark Souls

Do you remember how infuriating and hard Demon Souls was, yeah it returns, but also on 360. From Software have done a top notch job of creating a brand new addition to the franchise. Love it or hate it, this one is here to stay!

Final Fantasy XII-2

The entry to the series that I really want to love due to the amazing story, but the gameplay is just stale. Adding some new characters and a new storyline, FFXIII-2 looks to be good in this department. Combat wise though, it's playing the same tune as its predecessor. Similarly, I saw both versions and again the 360 version has that layer of grime that was present in the cutscenes of 13. The combat did add some cool special effects and you seem to have a chocobo as a party member, so maybe we'll be saying that this is what 13 should have been in a couple of months time.

Halo Anniversary

Well we all know what this is going to be like so not really much to say. However, it seems to be the crispest and most polished Halo yet. I played multilayer, and it was perfection.

Ghost Recon Future Soldier

Again, like with most of the games I played, I only played multiplayer. What I played was fun. There were good customization options and what I played felt very good.

ICO & Shadow of the Collossus HD

Okay, I didn't play this, but I played the original SOTC on the PS2. However, when I passed the booth I noticed the Collossus and my god it was pretty. This will be a "this is how a HD collection is done" title.

Forza 4

Crisp, pretty, and realistic. Forza 4 gets GT5, pushes it in the mud and rubs its face in it. Visually the game is now pretty much identical if not better, but the new physics and difficulty options make the racing extremely realistic.

Saints Row the Third

Ridiculous in every way in a GTA style, just how we like it. I spent a lot of time driving around calling down an airstrike on gang members and then getting out "The Penetrator" and beating down the remaining enemies which the bombs had missed!

Tekken Hybrid

Tekken at its best, with both Jin and Kazuya chilling in their demonic forms.

Uncharted 3

If you've played the beta, you will have already played the multiplayer. When I first played the beta, I felt abit 'meh' about the multiplayer, however having played with friends in an epic battle, my mind has been changed drastically. There was single player there, but we know what's coming, and I didn't want to spoil the story.

Although I didn't get chance to play them, there were other games of note I saw or played very briefly including:

• Assassins Creed: Revelations (believe this was just the MP)
• TinTin
• Ace Combat
• Batman (massive queue)
• Battlefield 3 (massive queue)
• COD (massive queue)
• El Shaddai
• House of the Dead (PS Move)
• Journey
• Lord of the Rings War in the North
• Zelda
• Guild Wars 2 (massive queue)
• Need for Speed: the Run (see above excuse)
• Metal Gear Solid HD Collection
• Just Dance 3
• Ninja Gaiden 3
• Mass Effect 3 (did I mention the queues?)
• Rage (shall wait and see about this)
• Ridge Racer Unbounded (Split/second anyone?)
• The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim!!
• Silent Hill (wasn't impressed)
• Star Wars: The Old republic (words cannot explain how much i wanted to play this, however I did not have time to queue all day!)
• SSX
• Trackmania 2 Canyon
• World of Tanks

I also managed to see the Vita and got some previews of LittleBig Planet and Wipeout 2048. Think what you will of a new handheld in today's climate, but this console looks intuitive, fun and has cross platform play with PS3. Still not sold on the 3G though...

All in all a good trip, if you can get to London over the next couple of days, GO!!