The Best And Worst Of Gamescom Today

Three jet-lagged Game Informer editors are crisscrossing Cologne, Germany to bring you the most important news coming from the pre-convention press conferences today. See what looks awesome – and what looks worse than Wonderbook – inside.

Adam Biessener

The best thing I saw at Gamescom today:

Devil May Cry

Ninja Theory’s reboot of Capcom’s venerable stylish action series gets better every time I see it. The boss fight demonstrated live at the publisher’s press conference today was incredible. It started with Dante embroiled in battle against the physical manifestation of a manipulative cable news channel, which is also a major demon. The cyberpunk vibe of the initial phase, which has Dante facing off against a gigantic digitized head that alternately taunts the hero and shoots devastating eye lasers at him, would make for a cool boss battle in itself. Once Dante has inflicted a certain amount of damage to the increasingly raging demon head, it sucks him into a cable news broadcast where the demon-turned-news-anchor regales a non-existent viewership with tales of the vile terrorist Dante. The angry red-coated protagonist cuts apart waves of demons as a helicopter keeps a spotlight glued to him, and eventually the broadcast dissolves as the demon loses power. Dante finishes the job in the cyberworld-like original arena, and the demo ends.

Capcom also showed off Dante’s estranged twin brother Vergil as he appears in the game, but I’m less sold on that – something seems goofy about Vergil’s face. Nonetheless, Dante is wall-to-wall awesome and the presentation is unbelievably slick. DMC is one of my most anticipated games of next year.

The worst thing I saw at Gamescom today:

Crysis 3’s new Hunter multiplayer mode. Who, exactly, wants to be on the team that isn’t the invisible sci-fi ninjas with weapons that one-shot any enemy? Being on the underpowered Cell side sounds like playing Soldier #3 in a Predator film, except without the malaria. No thanks.

Jeff Cork

The best thing I saw at Gamescom today:

Dead Space 3

EA certainly had the most impressive press conference today, at least if solely measured by eardrum-rupturing volume. Fortunately, they had some great games on hand that made temporary hearing loss more palatable. My favorite game from EA’s presentation was Dead Space 3—but just barely. Criterion’s Need for Speed: Most Wanted looks like a deliriously fun racing game, and SimCity is bound to scratch my city-planning itch (it’s in a tough-to-reach spot, too). That said, seeing Isaac Clarke work his way through a ship as it was torn apart in space was exhilarating. As glass cracked and popped all around him and he was thrown into zero gravity and back again, it proved that the necromorphs aren’t his only threats. Plus, we finally got to see how he puts on his now-iconic RIG suit. Come to find out, he does it just like the rest of us—one leg at a time.

The worst thing I saw at Gamescom today:

Sony trotted out a selection of Vita exclusives during its show, including the impressive new Media Molecule game Tearaway and another look at Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation. You’d think that Sony Europe’s boss Jim Ryan would have more to show from Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified than the same logo we’d seen before. Unfortunately, he did. Sony’s press conference ended with a look at the game in motion, and it looked absolutely terrible. The fact that it was a Vita game displayed on a giant screen certainly didn’t do it any favors, and I almost feel bad for calling it out like this. It could be the most incredibly fun game of this generation for all I know. Still, it looked like a garbled pile of puke, and it was a bewildering way to end what was otherwise a solid press conference. Next time they should just flick the house lights on and off while yelling that we need to go home.

Bryan Vore

The best thing I saw at Gamescom today:

Tearaway

Media Molecule surprised everyone at the Sony press conference with a new property for Vita called Tearaway. It carries a similar creative, quirky vibe as the studio’s megahit series LittleBigPlanet, yet still manages to hold its own. The game stars a little paper man named Iota in a paper world and the player takes the role of a god character that can manipulate everything. A tap on the back touch area sends Iota flying if he’s standing on special drum panels. On other areas you can rub your fingers along the back panel and they will appear to puncture through the paper world onscreen. These fingers can be used to eliminate enemies and solve puzzles like shifting platforms into place for Iota to cross. Only Caucasian fingers were shown so far, but we’ll find out this week if there are any other skin colors.

The worst thing I saw at Gamescom today:

FIFA Move Functionality

After already seeing plenty of FIFA at the EA press conference, we were given yet another look at Sony’s conference not long after. The soccer series now supports Move controls for passing and defense and it looks like a complete mess. Granted, I didn’t play it, but using orange and blue lines extending from the current player to aim seems like a weird way to line up passes and shots. It was unclear how defense uses these controls at all. The strangest thing of all is that these onscreen lines basically broadcast your next move to your opponent if you’re playing locally together.