E3 Impressions: Electronic Arts

Today’s meeting with EA, like a couple of other meetings I’ve had so far, ran into a bit of a scheduling conflict. After being trapped in a crowd of people watching the trailer for Star Wars: the Old Republic, then finding out I didn’t really have a rep, then being shunted into a demo for Dragon Age: Origins that won’t be coming to Wii, I ended up with a bit les time than I thought I would have to check out the EA booth. This wasn’t much problem, though, as I got to go hands-on with the games that I was hoping to see, and eyes-on with another.

First up was Spore Hero, the console iteration of the popular Maxis PC title. This game takes the creature creation elements of Spore and translates them into an adventure title, complete with a story (save the world from evil). As you play through the game, you’ll find new creature parts everywhere; you can discover them while exploring, by completing challenges, and many other ways. The game contains every single creature part from Spore and several hundred more on top of that. There are points in the game where you won’t be able to progress until you find a certain part, such as wings. The creature creator works just as well as it did in the original game.

In addition, there is now an actual combat system in place; it’s rather simple but it can be entertaining. Depending on what parts your creature has, you can block, roll, charge, jump, bite, or do your standard melee attack; the controls don’t get very advanced or in-depth, though, and I imagine it would have the potential to become less interesting over time. The focus, from what I saw, seems to be on exploring the game world and completing tasks and building up your creature. Bringing the Creature Creator to the Wii is always a good idea, and I can only hope the other gameplay can measure up in the finished product.

The next game I tried out was one I’ve been waiting to play for a long time, the newest incarnation of Tiger Woods PGA Tour with the MotionPlus accessory. I stepped right in and started swinging away, taking a few practice shots and such, and initially I was pretty terrible at everything. If you haven’t played golf before, there is going to be a bit of a learning curve there while you figure out what the proper way to swing your club is. Once I figured that out, though, I found the whole affair to be highly satisfying. It really mattered how hard I swung my remote, how large my backswing was, whether or not I was twisting my wrist, but it also felt like I was in total control; at no point did I feel like I was wrestling with frustrating controls, though hitting short putts can be extremely difficult if you ask me.

I also tried out some Disc Golf, which it turns out I am even worse at. I was able to see all the motions of my wrist as I turned the frisbee about, but throwing it with any power or accuracy was a rather difficult affair (just like in real life). With time, though, I was able to improve bit by tiny bit, and I still didn’t get the sense that shoddy controls were responsible for any of my troubles. This is a game I want to spend more time with, and luckily I can soon; a MotionPlus bundle will be available in stores this Tuesday for $60.

I wish I could say that Grand Slam Tennis was as satisfying to play as Tiger Woods, but in all honesty I found myself having a nearly opposite experience. I ended up playing against a CPU-controlled Roger Federer in a singles exhibition match, which was probably a mistake to start out with but I didn’t pay that fact very much mind. The controls, I found out rather disappointingly, aren’t quite one-to-one at all, even with MotionPlus added. There were many instances where the game would swing when I didn’t intend to, or vice versa, making it quite clear that one-to-one motion isn’t quite in play; additionally, you cannot add height or remove height from your shot, and you need to press additional buttons to lob or drop. You can tell that old-school gesture controls are still the overriding element of the game, while the MotionPlus can only modify direction and intensity of your shots (if they register, that is). The experience as it stands doesn’t quite measure up, and sometimes it feels outright broken. Needless to say, I lost every single match I played, but this time I am not prepared to blame my own lack of skill; I think this game needs more work before it’s ready for store shelves.

I did not get a chance to go hands-on with EA Sports Active, but I did get to take a look at how the game played, via two EA workers on hand who were demonstrating. While there are some games such as basketball available for play, the demonstration units were a straight-up workout; exercises I saw included lunges, raises, running, jumping repeatedly, and more exercises that make the game out to be your personal trainer of sorts in a similar vein to Wii Fit. Instead of a balance board, though, this game utilizes a bungie cord that stretches between the Wii Remote and the nunchuk, or else a strap that lets you connect the nunchuk to your thigh for exercises like running. These two were definitely working up a sweat, and some of these exercises would be able to develop muscles as well. This would be a game that fitness-minded people may want to keep their eyes on, as it seems that EA is really taking the fitness seriously with EA Sports Active.

The last title I picked up was Dead Space Extraction. This prequel to the original Dead Space is an on-rails shooter detailing the accident that occurred on the Ishimura, and an unnerving one at that. Two elements that really define the Extraction combat are limb targeting, which allows you to disable enemies by cutting off legs, or maybe their heads, and the fact that it’s so freaking dark. Enemies are often going to be jumping out at you and you won’t have much time to react and shoot them before they grab you, since they’re hard to see, especially in areas where you must use the "Glow Worm", which is charged by shaking the Wii Remote. Once an enemy does pop out, you’ll have to take them out rather quickly, and random firing isn’t going to do the trick; you’ll have to have a steady hand to take down this wave of monsters. You’ll have several fun weapons at your disposal, such as a flame thrower, or a gun that shoots small saw blades, and you can also use the C button to slow down an enemy in time, making for easier kills. While completing this game is likely going to be anything but easy (I got myself killed a little ways on by an excess of monsters), the gameplay is rather satisfying, and you’ll probably be feared for your life in more than one instance.

EA had some other games on display, but I didn’t have time to go check them out; if I do get my hands on games like Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince or Need for Speed Nitro, you’ll be seeing another article from me. Otherwise, keep an eye out for other E3 impressions shortly.