EGX17 at NEC Roundup
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EGX17 is the third year that has been based in Birmingham’s NEC (From 2008-2014 it had London venues). Also a big factor is after their no-show at EGX16, Nintendo made their comeback with three dedicated booths; Rezzed Indie games, their main selection in Zone 2 and a Tournament booth in Zone 3.
Super Mario Odyssey – Nintendo:
Super Mario Odyssey goes with the open world sandbox genre similar to Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario 64.
Mario’s flagship offering to the Switch was among the most popular games at EGX and hence queues were at least an hour waiting time. The demo let us choose either Sand Kingdom or Metro Kingdom to play and having a short 10 minutes to play through. I choose Metro Kingdom which puts you in New Donk City. New Donk City is modeled on New York City and Pauline(Mario’s first “girlfriend”) is the mayor of New Donk City and needs your help to gather four musicians located around the city to play at a function.
New Y….I mean Donk City
One noticeable feature is Mario’s cap sidekick “Cappy” which Mario can throw to attack enemies and hit blocks, but what’s truly new is that it also lets you “capture” enemies to control their bodies. That opens up many types of scenarios: Possessing a Bullet Bill allows you to control it to hover to other platforms but your time is very limited and will explode and turn back to normal. In New Donk City you can even possess some humans and do such tasks as controlling a remote control car to get a Power Moon (which are collectables to unlock new kingdoms in the full game)
If I had more time I would have tried out Sand Kingdom as well to make comparisons to Metro Kingdom.
Super Mario Odyssey is coming out on 27th October 2017.
Fire Emblem Warriors – Intelligent Systems:
Following 2014’s Hyrule Warriors which on paper is Legend of Zelda meets Dynasty Warriors comes Fire Emblem Warriors replacing Zelda with Fire Emblem.
The mission has you play as Hinoka, Camilla, Takumi & Xander to defeat Ryoma and Female Corrin alongside the hundreds/thousands of soldiers in your way, before defeating the bosses/commanders (Female Corrin in the demo) Like with Hyrule Warriors and Dynasty Warriors this game is essentially a hack and slash title in which basically you “spam” attacks by pressing X and Y. Each playable character has a unique special attack/Musou attack that can be executed when the special attack gauge is filled.
Switching characters using the D-Pad is an essential part of FE Warriors as it lets the previous character regain some of their health and giving you experience with a different character’s style e.g Hinoka flying pegasus and lance as opposed to Xander’s sword.
The demo had a timelimit of 15 minutes (although I was able to complete the mission within 10 minutes) but gives you enough time to get used to the gameplay. I was told that there would be 25-30 playable characters from various Fire Emblem games in the final version.
Fire Emblem Warriors is scheduled for release on 20th October for Switch and “new” 2DS/3DS.
Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions:
Superstar Saga was the first Mario & Luigi RPG game to come out back in 2003 for the Game Boy Advance and that being said it is being re-released on to the 3DS with graphical and gameplay upgrades as well as the extra mode (Bowser’s Minions) which takes place during the Mario & Luigi segment.
The gameplay at it’s core is the same as the original in that the battle system is turn-based. Mario and Luigi can attack either by jumping or using weapons such as hammers or Koopa shells. To avoid the enemies’ attacks the duo can either jump or use weapons again to do so and timing them perfectly can return damage to the enemy.
I was told that the 3DS-exclusive Bowser’s Minions segment is a battle simulation genre in which you choose minions to fight and they automatically battle their enemies and survived losers of the opposite team are able to join your team. Like with the main segment, you can time some attacks to get an advantage. This mode unlocks during playing the main segment.
Minions Charge!!!!
The 3DS version has some touch ups such as speeding through the story dialogue by pressing the R button and using the touchscreen as a minimap to make navigation easier.
Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions is released on 6th October 2017.
Metroid: Samus Returns:
In what has been 13 years since the last 2D Metroid game (Metroid Zero Mission for GBA), Nintendo alongside Mercurysteam has remade Metroid 2 for the Game Boy and given it a fresh look. The story is pretty much the same in that Samus is sent off to the planet SR388, which happens to be the home planet of the Metroid species. Her goal is to destroy all the Metroids (40 in total) and earn the respect of the Galactic Federation.
Most of the old moves are there; Morph Ball, Grapple Beam. But one noticeable new move is Melee counter ability, which lets Samus deftly knock away and stun an enemy with a well-timed button press before choosing to shoot the enemy. Also Samus has Scan Pulse which reveals hidden rooms around her present location, although this consumes Aeion energy so players must use it wisely. Fortunately when defeating enemies they leave behind some energy orbs so your Aeion Gauge can be refilled easily.
En Garde
A map has been placed on the touchscreen, so players have a view of it as they play. Map Pins can be used to mark important areas to revisit later. This feature was NOT in the original Metroid 2 due to the Game Boy only having one screen.
Metroid Samus Returns is still a challenging game, despite the new features in that it is easy for enemies especially bosses to overwhelm you. The bosses do have weak spots though, but they shoot out alot of bullets so dodging is a must before getting your chance to attack.
Metroid: Samus Returns looks promising and if sales are good, hopefully Nintendo will produce more Metroid games.
Metroid Samus Returns is out now for the 3DS.
South Park: The Fractured But Whole – Ubisoft:
Intended to be released last year and then March 2017, South Park: The Fractured But Whole has gone through various delays which has annoyed many fans of the 2014 Stick of Truth and the series in general, but finally the game has been finished and will be released this October.
The playable demo puts in control of “The New Kid” alongside Scott Malkinson who have to infiltrate a strip club to find a stripper called “Classy”. Along the side you can talk to the clients there, many of them recognisable characters from the show itself. Then you get into a mini-game which involves doing a lapdance whilst fart on the “VIPs” triggered a fight that shows Fractured But Whole’s fighting style. While Stick of Truth had a stationary turn based battle system, Fractured But Whole allows you to move your characters on a grid meaning more options like long distance attacks or covering behind objects.
Worst VIP Experience ever.
After the battle we needed to create a cocktail made of disgusting items found around the strip club and using the Craftsy app to mix in order to give to the DJ to knock him out.
If you loved Stick of Truth and/or the series you will love The Fractured But Whole, and if you buy the game you actually get Stick of Truth for free (via download code).
South Park: The Fractured But Whole will be out 17th October on PS4, XBOX ONE and PC.
Dragonball Fighter Z – Arc System Works:
Arc System Works have plenty of experience with 2D fighters such as Blazblue and Guilty Gear which are popular with the FGC (Fighting Game Community). They have got with the 3 vs 3 tag team similar to the Marvel vs Capcom series with DB Fighter Z. The art style and animations look like they are from the show itself and really shine out at the beginning of each battle with the close ups of each character showing their detail to the maximum.
The gameplay itself has the standard Light-Medium-Heavy set of attacks plus a dedicated special button and buttons for assists and tags, and though this feels fairly traditional to both tag-based fighters and some of the past work of ArcSystems there are tweaks and changes here gives Dragonball Fighter Z it’s own vibe – and notably, much more Dragon Ball.
As well as local play, there will be online play as well as shown in the closed beta available to those who signed up beforehand.
Dragonball Fighter Z will be out in 2018 for PS4, XBOX ONE, PC.
Hopefully we will see more more Nintendo at Rezzed 18 and EGX18 both in AAA and Indie Games.
The EGX18 will be in NEC Birmingham from 20th September to 23rd September.
This post was written by 
Cyburn, posted on October 8, 2017 Sunday at 2:45 pm
Cyburn, posted on October 8, 2017 Sunday at 2:45 pm Leave a Reply
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