E3 Awards!
I love Capcom--I really do--but I have to give two of this year's E3 awards to them. First there's the "Worst Controls in a Game" award. Killer 7 pulled ahead of all other games this year in that category. You're going to think I'm kidding when I tell you how it works. The d-pad moves the character, sort of. Up makes you go forward. Down makes you turn around (then you press up to go forward in that direction). So far only somewhat bad. Left on the d-pad does *nothing*. Right on the d-pad does *nothing*. Hold the R button to enter aiming mode (ok, that part is fine). To move the aiming reticule you have to use the left analog stick. That's right, you can *only* more the character with the d-pad and you can *only* aim with the analog stick, so you have to contstantly switch. The explanation for this was "It makes it feel like you're in a movie."
The next award is for "Worst Game Trailer." The game "Gun" wins honorable mentions here, for having a trailer that neither shows in-game or cinematic footage. It just flashes images at you so fast that you can't see any of them, shows some trite text, then the big logo: "Gun." Also, the game is named "Gun" which is pretty bad, too.
But none of that could match Capcom's Devil May Cry 4 trailer. It is the only trailer I've ever seen at E3 that the audienced actually boo'ed, or however you spell that word. After a 15 minute countdown, you get to see a few seconds of Devil May Cry 1, 2 and 3 footage (wtf??) followed by a 1 second animation of the new Dante pointing a gun, then the game's title. The footage from the old games is displayed in a very small window, black and white, and grainy. Also, I should point out again that it's Devil May Cry 1, 2, and 3 footage, because that's bad enough to point out again. There were boos all day over this trailer. (Note to Capcom: I really like DMC3. Don't make 4 so hard, and don't make me buy continues. Thanks!)
Now it's time for a follow-up segment. Last year, I awarded "Most Potentially Disasterious Game of the Year" to Marvel vs. EA, which is now called "Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects." It's not a disaster, since it has somewhat of a powerstone feel to it. But seeing the EA people in that booth actually believe they had something that should be called a fighting game was really very sad. They talked about how you don't have to memorize a bunch of different commands (were the incredibly simple controls of Soul Calibur too hard?). They talked about how instead of balancing the characters, they made 3 classes: bad, ok, and good. This supposedly makes it "fun." (I should award that "Worst Idea in a Fighting Game.") I also heard this line from an EA rep: "Everyone loves this game. Not one single person has had anything negative to say. It's great!!" I had to bite my tongue not to present my award right there:
"Worst Game Design Decision of the Year" goes to Marvel vs. EA: Rise of the Imperfects. Here's the design decision you've all been waiting for: this is a fighting game with ONE attack button! Hahahaha. The face buttons are block, dodge, object interaction/throw, and attack. One shoulder button is a shift button that alters what the other buttons do. For example, instead of bland punches with Logan, you get bland claw swipes with Logan (shouldn't he have been dressed up in Wolverine gear?). So yeah, a fighting game with one attack button.
I feel bad for them. They have a great license. They have some cool animations, a nice engine, and cool effects, but they need some help when it comes to making a competitve game that will hold people's attention for more than 2 minutes. (Note to EA: now that my snide comments are out of the way and you totally hate me, I'm available for combat design consulting.)
Those are all my awards for now.
--Sirlin
The next award is for "Worst Game Trailer." The game "Gun" wins honorable mentions here, for having a trailer that neither shows in-game or cinematic footage. It just flashes images at you so fast that you can't see any of them, shows some trite text, then the big logo: "Gun." Also, the game is named "Gun" which is pretty bad, too.
But none of that could match Capcom's Devil May Cry 4 trailer. It is the only trailer I've ever seen at E3 that the audienced actually boo'ed, or however you spell that word. After a 15 minute countdown, you get to see a few seconds of Devil May Cry 1, 2 and 3 footage (wtf??) followed by a 1 second animation of the new Dante pointing a gun, then the game's title. The footage from the old games is displayed in a very small window, black and white, and grainy. Also, I should point out again that it's Devil May Cry 1, 2, and 3 footage, because that's bad enough to point out again. There were boos all day over this trailer. (Note to Capcom: I really like DMC3. Don't make 4 so hard, and don't make me buy continues. Thanks!)
Now it's time for a follow-up segment. Last year, I awarded "Most Potentially Disasterious Game of the Year" to Marvel vs. EA, which is now called "Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects." It's not a disaster, since it has somewhat of a powerstone feel to it. But seeing the EA people in that booth actually believe they had something that should be called a fighting game was really very sad. They talked about how you don't have to memorize a bunch of different commands (were the incredibly simple controls of Soul Calibur too hard?). They talked about how instead of balancing the characters, they made 3 classes: bad, ok, and good. This supposedly makes it "fun." (I should award that "Worst Idea in a Fighting Game.") I also heard this line from an EA rep: "Everyone loves this game. Not one single person has had anything negative to say. It's great!!" I had to bite my tongue not to present my award right there:
"Worst Game Design Decision of the Year" goes to Marvel vs. EA: Rise of the Imperfects. Here's the design decision you've all been waiting for: this is a fighting game with ONE attack button! Hahahaha. The face buttons are block, dodge, object interaction/throw, and attack. One shoulder button is a shift button that alters what the other buttons do. For example, instead of bland punches with Logan, you get bland claw swipes with Logan (shouldn't he have been dressed up in Wolverine gear?). So yeah, a fighting game with one attack button.
I feel bad for them. They have a great license. They have some cool animations, a nice engine, and cool effects, but they need some help when it comes to making a competitve game that will hold people's attention for more than 2 minutes. (Note to EA: now that my snide comments are out of the way and you totally hate me, I'm available for combat design consulting.)
Those are all my awards for now.
--Sirlin
