10. Guitar Hero Live
During a visit studios Freestyle Games, we were able to touch again to Guitar Hero Live, next installment in the musical series that wants to revolutionize his concept. Concert Live view in the first person, with 6 new guitar frets but also musical TV platform online, this new episode of the series pulls no mortmain.
Like our previous surveys and reports were focused on the guitar and on the Live experience, we will focus here on Guitar Hero TV that was playable for the first time.
On TV But What Form?
Guitar Hero TV globally is half the Live Guitar Hero experience. From the game menu, you have access to the Live section to play concerts and monitor different groups (Folk, Alternative, Indie, Metal and Rock) and the TV section was left up to today mystery. The latter, which requires an internet connection, you connect to servers and Freestyle Games offer players to connect to two thematic channels: GHTV1 and 2.
These have a preset program displayed and retransmits over the world, live more a hundred titles with clip, tablature and vocals. By connecting eg TV1, you can compete for the title of best guitarist on your level against other players who take part in the competition. The playlist is quite varied here since found classic rock, but also pieces of metal … and even Skrillex.
Everything responds rather well, loading times and connecting on test servers are not very long (count 5 seconds on average) and the experience proves pleasant and comes with over 100 titles at launch.
A Small Dose of Free to Play
Where the public tiquera a little is the economic model of this Guitar Hero TV. Indeed, GHTV adopts a new model that is rooted in the free to play. Monetization side, the recipe is well known: on one hand the players are raking points “free” and the other, they can buy Guitar Hero Cash against real money, that unblocks faster additions and above “Play”.
But what are these “Play” you will say, well, he is simply a credit for playing a song of your choice from the playlist. So you can connect for free to TV1 or 2 and play immediately at the touch of a button, but also choose your song and experiment if you deign to use a “Play”, previously acquired with your real or play money.
Difficult to gauge in the state if the acquisition of a set of credit remaining on free use is quick, but the developers have obviously assured us that the game would be balanced so that people can play for free in freedom.
My Gamescom 2015 Report on Guitar Hero Live
This inspiration free to play can be felt directly in the menus that offer, among others, to participate in Premium Show, these challenges on specific pieces, unlockable if we managed some achievements (play 3 pieces of such a group for example, or make such a score on such a piece). A key?
Aesthetic customization elements of your highway, notes on the screen, or elements for your player card to show off the ladder. It is possible that music “exclusive” are found on these Premium Show before landing on Free playlist. Again the details arrive at the exit of the game. However, developers rely on this momentum to encourage people to play songs directly from the vast playlist using “Play” and so by participating, free or not, the economic model .
Too bad this system destroys the notion of “play for fun” since each test you will do on a piece of your choice will cost something, real or fictional. One would think a system to buy songs, to be able to train without worrying of expenses, but it is not. GHTV requires you use “Play” if you intend to play a song of your choice. Obviously, it is still possible to participate in the playlist of TV 1 and 2 in order to collect points and make you hand over the pieces that pass.
Note in passing that GHTV aims to offer a vast selection of playable pieces with their clips to match a wider variety of tastes without the player must purchase another drive for additional songs. From that side, developers promise constant additions to the playlist and customization sets (Highway Playercards, emblems …) to make GHTV a dynamic section of the title.
The Powerups are also present in order to make highest scores on certain sections and we unfortunately could not see their importance or impact on the ladder. Freestyle Games is well aware of the concern that can cause this kind of adding on a model free to play and assured us not wanting to do a Pay-to-Win. We will wait for the test in order to have the heart net.
And Live in it All?
W
e also got to try us on 7 pieces of the playlist Live with Fall Out Boys, Soundgarden and the Royal Blood, among others. This new test session proved successful even if a recalibration of the guitar was necessary. After a few tens of minutes, the feelings are there, although we regret not to be immersed in the monstrous video work upstream to reproduce the atmosphere of a live scene: obviously, it is difficult to pay attention to it when you play a song.
The show will nevertheless be there for your friends who may also join the game by singing or playing bass. A USB microphone is also needed for singing. Rest assured, words and intonations to adopt will be at the top of the screen.
So we were able to play quick game on a few pieces at our disposal but the developers have been able to show the interfaces and part of the campaign mode, as part of the time dedicated to the making of and Behind the Scene. Thus, you will be able to go to festivals with various themes (indie, rock, metal, alternative, folk) and several scenes that will each have their atmosphere, their sound and their landscape, sometimes sumptuous.
It will follow different groups with real musicians as actors, always in the center of the action because in order in the first person. As said before, the crowd and your group will react to your performance based on your performance and all honors the concept.
Transitions will, in fact, cut the video stream to juggle between “good performance” and “poor performance”. Salute in passing the work performed by Freestyle Games to recreate from scratch these concerts, even if the transitions sometimes turn a little too visible.
My Impressions
Guitar Hero Live promises a fairly large chunks of spectrum, first with its part “Live” including the complete playlist has not been revealed, but mostly through Guitar Hero TV. The latter has two channels where one can play freely against the world on a day of programming that selects securities from over 100 songs in the launch.
Besides that, the “playlist” Party proposing to play a piece of their choice, requires spending credit (available against units gathered by playing on the channels or faster by paying with real money), it must therefore wait for the game in order to shed light on possible through this model borrowed from the Free-to-Play.
As for the game itself, the copy is still good and we can only admire the face of completely recreated live concerts for the campaign title. Too bad, however, that the player does not have time to enjoy the show, it will be primarily reserved to potential guests, between two parts of guitar, bass, or vocals, can admire the performance of their friends right concert and especially public reactions in over 5 hours of video.
Gameplay side, after a few tens of minutes, the 6 new guitar frets are quietly tamed to provide closer gameplay experience of a guitarist. The question is whether this justifies the investment for you 99 dollars to have the accessory and the game. Seeing the best players in the studio at work, we were also able to tap away those offered the game, pushed to its limits in terms of difficulty. At this level, no doubt about it, Guitar Hero is back …
9. Street Fighter V
E3, we go to test all the games coming to discuss with developers of all stripes, to cover the event in the most comprehensive manner possible, or to identify the future GOTY round a corridor . But for some people, E3 is the opportunity to go on one stand, shut himself up in a single terminal of a single game all day, throughout the week. Street Fighter 5 is one of those games that are reason enough to come.
Browse thousands of kilometers across the ocean, only to only play a first beta of a game coming next year? Thank those addicted. Capcom had unwrapped a dozen terminals to test the beast, freeplay course, but also in tournament and exhibition match.
So that in the mid fellows, some of the greatest players in the world have come to appreciate the beast in motion: Justin Wong, PR Balrog, Daigo, Xi’an, Tokido, Mago and many others, not to mention working for Combofiend Capcom USA in goaltender playing techniques. The all streamed and commented for much, letting you know what sauce you will be eating for the next 10 years.
Salon major forces, the editor took the opportunity to announce two new characters, value number 6 playable characters and known. Thus, Birdie Punk and military Cammy join the eternal Ryu and Chun-Li, the dictator’s friend Charlie Bison and Guile disappeared. Cast overall good taste of Street Fighter Zero and has aged well.
Birdie more Badass Than Ever
Unable to present all the information that may have fallen this week, it would take tens of pages. But you will find something here to understand which direction to take Street Fighter 5. The first chapter of the game system, a point on aesthetics then we will end up on the competitive aspect. Hang on, much to assimilate. But your mind is ready, you can be sure.
Mechanical Game
Talk about a fighting game, Street fighter, a fortiori, it is mainly its mechanical shell game. Presented a few days before the show, so we were able to focus on the details that make the difference. Complete inventory below. Combos
Beginners can rest assured, combos “Just frame” disappear. This improbable timing (16.6 milliseconds) was Street Fighter 4 game too elitist and competitive players forced them to resort to “D-Link” to do great damage. This function is now “integrated” and the game will grant you one of two window frames to make your hardest combos.
Simplification also in the field of movements, the game is no longer the difference between shots “close” and “far”: standing, a big fist is a big fist, regardless of the distance to your opponent. Many “Command moves” will surely expand the panel ahead of the characters.
Graphics, Animations, External Impressions
2 big screen items showcased the exhibition games to everyone. Good for them: 5 Street fighter is extremely beautiful. The Unreal Engine 4 engine is praiseworthy for its optimization and its different lights depending on the course, but the work of artisans Capcom is not outdone, the character animations are the most striking.
The movements are credible, bodies really engage in strikes, the impacts exude power. The first alpha sinned by lack of feelings during shots is largely solved here. Vice is pushed into a detail that will be expected to appear in 2015: collisions are not the same if the hand touches or is blocked! Ryu FINALLY sees its rotation blocked when his brush meets the opposing guard, according to physical rules in our universe.
The vulgar attitude Birdie with his belly or the combos Cammy also command respect. The standard is laid for the “realistic” (if a karateka throwing fireballs at a military thong is realistic) alongside a Guilty Gear Xrd the climax of what is done in the industry “Japanimation “.
Movements, Lights, Chara Design, Everything is Perfect
What about internships per character? What happens to the emblematic postcards of the series? At first the move to 3D will hurt the background artists, but are waiting to see the next for a final opinion.
The Royal Guard, 27 Flags, a Phone Booth … We are in England, We Understand
Also booked on the female anatomy, definitely the most surreal part: that Cammy still earns a cap and catches Lara Croft borders on bad taste, but Chun-Li’s chest bloblottant as water bombs, it is not . Capcom calls for the “glitch” only Player 2 and promises a correction, just as Birdie chain that blithely through her locket or hair Cammy who go into a spin. By cons, Cammy does a very distinctive face, giving it a real personality “English” comes to end a tradition of dolls without a soul.
Any Future Course?
If we take a little height in relation to this mass of information, the new metagame seems drawn: the “Neutral game” is the center of this opus. Every shot hurts a lot, each pressed button becomes a critical choice, the body-to-body becomes a “no mans’ land” and comeback must earn to death with V-Trigger away profitable Snitches 4th episode. The game is nervous and gets good ideas of each former opus, while learning the lessons of the recent competition in world sport scope.
However, keep our critical and come out of this baptism of fire THE question that matters: Street Fighter 5 he has enough under the hood to take 7 years? It arises after an observation, which is that after more than five hours of gameplay videos, all the phases and possibilities of 6 characters takes not even 30 minutes.
Did not we see all that is possible with the V-Triggers? What state of mind were we in the first beta of Street Fighter 4? He lacks a mechanical yet revealed and that would make sense from the current game? Is the secret in the diversity of characters?
For now, no one has shown any possible way to an abysmal depth, where the system of “Focus cancel” Street Fighter 4 took us technically. But again, E3 is done to check these things and developers have (should have?) A very clear idea of what the players are supposed to do and achieve in a short period of play.
No evil spirit, but a missed gameplay would be a disaster, “electronic sport” pending its flagship fighting game. Street Fighter 5 is promised a glorious destiny: more beautiful, more dynamic, more readable. It must resume the “hype” where 4 Street left her, while delighting fans of the previous versions. The misstep is prohibited.
5 years now, Capcom methodically directs its games to the global competition: it accelerates the patches and sets up the “Capcom pro tour” each year. In short, it makes a federation structure with tournament organizers.
The result: Street Fighter 4, the top of its 7 years, never stops to climb the ladder, respected by other disciplines and attracts more and more the public that now has hundreds of thousands. And high hopes finally toward the very mysterious “Capcom Fighters Network”, recorded at the beginning of April, resembling an Internet platform for centralizing information.
Purchases of DLC? Provision replays? Advertising on upcoming tournaments? Everything is possible. But if the big blunders are avoided, the future feels very good.
Little Piece of Archive for the Most Curious
Capcom will start a world tour, halfway between the marketing operation and the beta test. The now England and France tomorrow: Street Fighter 5 will be playable at Japan Expo in early July. The flood of ads around the game will certainly continue to EVO on the weekend of July 18, perhaps with new characters …
You can do lots of info on the game by following Ken Bogard on Live Gaming, including his show completely dedicated to fighting games “Not Die Without Your Pif” on Wednesday to 19h. As for writing, you will find other articles on jeuxvideo.com up to its release, and even beyond!
My Impressions
Impressive technically Street Fighter 5 unveils the charms of its mechanics, slowly. Simple and effective, it should satisfy the competitors, not forgetting to be fun for the layman. In any case the balance that has to find any fighting game, and that Capcom has in mind. Prints for now are very good, but we expect the editor at the turn of options and details that usually sin, as the story mode or tutorials. 2016, the year of the big game?
8. Horizon: Zero Dawn
Big sensation during the conference Sony’s at E3 2015, Horizon Zero Dawn is the new project by Guerrilla, an RPG action game in the third person well rooted in a post-post-apocalyptic universe – the repetition of the prefix is clearly important in the eyes of Guerrilla …
After the trailer and gameplay sequence announced at the conference is in a much more cozy space that we find Guerrilla Games to talk about the game and try to learn more. Let’s start by saying that the universe Dawn Horizon Zero does not respect the traditional rules of post-apocalyptic.
Yes, something happened causing the decline of the human race and the development of nature but the game goes a step further by imagining what happens even after that, hence the post-post-Apocalypse: an era dominated by machines, where mechanical creatures are at the top of the food chain, relegating man at the bottom of the ladder.
The survivors gathered in tribes, and gradually returned to the fundamentals of the past. The young woman Aloy belongs to the tribe that, first, relearned the art of hunting, and is also the first to have perfected the crafting beautiful objects to assemble.
It’s joystick in hand as game director has guided us through a gameplay sequence, the same view at the conference. Aloy wants to retrieve a precious material that can only be found on the back of grazers, robotic creatures that could be compared to antelopes. Armed with his bow, Aloy advance slowly towards the flock of his choice, hides in the tall grass, switches off a snooper who, without it, would have spotted his movements, and finally popped up on his victim to shoot an arrow.
The panic begins, beasts flee, and eventually attract a big beast, definitely more dangerous than simple grazers. The fight begins with it. Aloy carefully selected his arrows while the action slowed during this time. It can select those it wishes to use and change on the fly thanks to the appearance of a radial menu still very incomplete. The idea is probably to fill throughout the adventure craftant new weapons and ammunition.
Each weapon will be able to carry up to three types of ammunition, opening a lot of tactical choices during the clashes. After the post-post-apo universe, and the presentation of his heroine and metal monsters, the strategic component remains the third Guerrilla given that currently wishes to highlight. The studio insisted the coup on the balance of power clearly to the detriment of heroin.
Aloy is always in danger and cannot ultimately rely on his agility and his decisions in the heat of the moment to stay alive. The big battle of the demo actually shows the need to juggle several types of ammunition to first weaken the creature, then swing it a good load of EMP before immobilizing a burst harpoons.
Finally, a well-placed arrow will overcome the enemy. Thanks to his talent hunter, Aloy is also able to use some special features such as a more powerful or marksmanship shooting. In the latter case, the camera quickly zooms forward for us to mark the target with more ease. The effect is rather class, and obviously very useful in combat.
Alas, we do not currently know much more about Horizon. Creative did not wish to expand on the scenario, or on missions that punctuate the progress and trimballeront us to every corner of this universe also announced as an open world free zone or load.
It is assumed that it will be possible to climb on the giant scrap and possibly use it to explore the map designed by Guerrilla but this remains to be confirmed. In truth, there is still a lot to check in Dawn Horizon Zero, but this first contact, the first statement of intent, suggests a way to watch closely.
My Impressions
In addition to being a new license, Horizon Zero Dawn has also the merit of offering a great breath of fresh air to the players lost in the current blockbusters that end up a bit by all look alike. Out of the imagination of a studio that has already proved what he was capable of in a completely different genre (FPS with Killzone), Dawn Horizon Zero is undoubtedly one of the most intriguing games of E3 2015 we look forward to see where the journey takes us Aloy.
7. Doom
Presented through a long sequence of gameplay at the Bethesda conference of E3 2015, the new Doom took the twentieth edition of QuakeCon to be approached by the players present at this annual event. No single player campaign here, but a first alpha preview of its multiplayer. Here are our first impressions after a few games.
For fans of id Software productions, the thing could be summarized thus: Quake multiplayer meets their expectations while Doom is considered more for its solo campaign. The task of the new multiplayer Doom is twofold, keep the nag and bloody spirit of the whole saga by injecting a rapidity to Quake.
Note that alpha playable at the convention only covers a very limited part of the final content of the game, only one map and one game mode, a basic “Team Deathmatch” 6 against 6. What you deliver all well my impressions in terms of feelings of play.
MOVE or Swim
Returns the first players on the gameplay of the next Doom were fairly shared. If the side deliberately bloody gunfights served by super finish moves chainsaw fashion reassured some of the players on the orientation less survival-horror of this album, the slow gameplay combined with an impression of lack of punch arms raised some doubts among the public.
Doom, initiator of the FPS genre, would he have forgotten its fundamentals? Well this first grip multiplayer reassuring. If the game is still far from reaching the speed of action of a Quake, it offers gamplay nag, technical, and punctuated by various events.
Example of Weapons Available in Multi Mode
Three archetypes are offered to the player, Assault, armed with rocket launchers and its plasma gun, the Sniper with its vortex precision rifle and shotgun mythical super to do battle at close range and finally the ambusher ready to battle with its Static Cannon, a precise weapon that gains power when the player stays in motion, causing the class not to play too stashed.
However, it is sufficient to note the pace of the action of the multiplayer mode to ask the question that remains too static in Doom? Stop is to die and the movement is considered by many defensive and offensive manner. The developers have also made the choice to remove all forms of automatic health regeneration, forcing players to stay in motion to gather care packages.
The Heatwave Card Multiplayer Doom Alpha
The countdown begins and we go for 6 minutes frag within the Heatwave card, a kind of refinement plant whose ambient darkness is broken by artificial light the building but also by the orange glow of huge pits filled with lava when it is better to avoid falling (that happened to me once or twice after a missed jump, I must admit …).
Far from being flat and linear, the map provides a rather unstructured level design done in several stages that the player can achieve through platforms, launching ramps for Quake or double jumps after which it can cling automatically to a ledge to cross it.
This construction of the card associated with sustained action therefore takes the legacy of id Software games, fans should appreciate.
This is the Story of Bruce Lee on a Skateboard
As usual, there are scattered within the map many bonuses to collect: pack of ammo, shield recharging, additional armor, without forgetting the traditional power multiplier or temporary invisibility. These improvements are part of the multiplayer objectives, therefore good player will pick them promptly as they provide a considerable increase in power and survival in the hell of the battle.
Here, the fight never stops, pulling in all-will with big shots rocket launcher or grenade and both teams strung bloody kills without slowing the pace. From the lips of Marty Stratton, the producer of the game, multiplayer mode has been designed to provide the sensation of being “a Bruce Lee armed with a shotgun on a skateboard,” the spirit of Doom nag therefore intersects with a form of speed to Quake.
As Coveted as it is Powerful, the Daemon Can Change the Course of a Game
And how better to impose its power by turning themselves into a demon armed to the teeth? At regular intervals, great bonus appears on the card; so imagine the six players from both teams rushing on him to give a moment of absolute bloody thanks. Let’s face it, the creature is a real killing machine armed with a jetpack allowing it to cross the map in a wink and two ultra-violent rocket launchers on his shoulders.
The course of the game can turn in a few minutes if the master demon the “subtleties” of its operation and if his team takes a supporting role. For everything it is overkill, the player becomes the demon target to shoot for the opposing team. Especially once dead, it will drop to the ground its transformation bonus. This aspect brings real team play dimension to the party until then rather oriented solo performance, a good point for Doom.
The Classic Yet so Effective Super Shotgun
Regarding the weapons potato, things offer any other feeling than the Bethesda conference presentation video from E3 2015. The keyboard and mouse gameplay involved for many returning gameplay speed sensations, on court it jumps all the time, it turns abruptly, pulling in anything-goes, here’s Doom embrace unbridled approach run and gun.
Run speed, however, seems to oscillate between the pace of Doom 1 and that of the third component. Importantly, reloading weapons no longer exists here. Our arsenal recharges itself over munitions collected on the ground. Again, Marty Stratton says the thing by the desire of developers to offer a gameplay free from many constraints.
You Can Also Create Weapon Combinations According to Your Taste
The punch is indeed present, the mythical rocket launchers or other super shotguns provide many good sensations firepower, which reassures us for the solo part of the game. Of course, the card, made of narrow spaces, encouraged by the player to turn to less subtle weapons that the sniper rifle, six minutes of each party gave every time in an orgy of rockets and grenades frag balanced at all-will in the narrow corridors of the area , to the delight of the buggers Action cultivated by the license since its inception.
Graphically, the id Tech 6 engine delivers a convincing rendering without line their peepers. It is primarily by its artistic director and his demonic industrial atmosphere Doom try to entice players. The title also seems to revive the organic side of the first flap while perpetuating the legacy of dark and metallic third episode. The lighting effects will play in this sense a crucial role in the final result of the game in both multi, but mostly solo.
The purpose here to id Software is finding the right balance between graphics rendering and display performance because the objective is to offer a gaming experience at 1080p and 60 fps on all output platforms, PC, of course, but Xbox One and PS4.
My Impressions
The first grip of the new Doom been so short and limited is intense. The multiplayer title reassures us greatly on the direction taken by id Software for this fourth installment of the saga. We find this quite old multiplayer sensations, a sweet fragrance FPS old enhanced with significant new features like the double jump and the introduction of the devil in control of the objectives of the game.
Without claiming to want to reach the speed of a Quake, Doom get watered to provide a multi unrestrained and violent experience which we are eager to discover new modes of play. One is assured!