Bit by Bit: February 2015

February usually marks the beginning of the first quarter game rush.  Despite not being as jam-packed with titles as past years, this February has been a good month for games.  Nintendo launched the New Nintendo 3DS XL in North America with two highly anticipated portable games, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D and Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, and some big AAA titles like Evolve and The Order: 1886 dropped.  It's easy to say February was quite an eventful month.  As midterms and major projects will soon be a constant part of life, best to utilize the little free time I have to deliver another exciting edition of Bit by Bit.

Game of the Month
As much as I love the core Pokemon RPGs, I can honestly say Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire didn't excite me that much before their release.  Nintendo and GameFreak have been releasing Pokemon RPGs every year since Pokemon Platinum released for DS in 2009 and I was starting to get sick of the yearly releases.  Although I planned on buying one of the remakes no matter what (sorry, I'm a sucker for Pokemon), I seriously thought Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire were going to be as disappointing as Black and White 2.  Much like past entries, differences between the two versions are relegated to minor story alterations and Pokemon exclusive to one version over the other.  While I only played Omega Ruby, my opinions on the game can be applied to Alpha Sapphire as well.

It may have taken a few hours of play, but oh was I ever so wrong about these games.  Applying the 3D graphics of Pokemon X and Y to the third gen Pokemon games may be the most noticeable addition to these remakes, but it isn't the biggest.  First, story has become a bigger part of recent Pokemon games and Omega Ruby makes huge advances in this area.  The story is far more engaging than any Pokemon game before it especially the Delta Episode.  Unlocked after beating the Elite Four, the Delta Episode links capturing Rayquaza into a Hoenn-wide adventure that has major implications on the series as a whole.  Instead of skipping through story moments, I felt compelled to read through all the lines of dialogue for once.  The other big additions change the means of exploring the world and capturing Pokemon.  The DexNav app of the PokeNav makes finding and capturing Pokemon in each route a lot more approachable as it tells what Pokemon are in the immediate vicinity and helps in finding rarer Pokemon.  Also the Soar ability adds a new dimension to exploring as you get to see Hoenn from the skies.  Soaring makes the act of flying far more engaging than the fast-travel of regular flying and allows trainers to go off the beaten path to find Mirage Spots, special locations that offer the chance to catch rare and legendary Pokemon.  After experiencing the wonders of soaring, I hope that it replaces Fly as the prime form for aerial travel in future Pokemon games.

Despite my early skepticism, Pokemon Omega Ruby turned out to be a great game that I gladly sunk my precious time into.  Although I thoroughly enjoyed the game, enough to pick it for Game of the Month over The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D and Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, I still feel I am at my wits end with these yearly releases.  I love Pokemon, but Nintendo and GameFreak please give us a year off!

Most Anticipated Game of the Month
It seems Intelligent Systems is dominating my Most Anticipated Game of the Month section this year.  Last month, I gushed over the announcement of a new Fire Emblem for the 3DS.  This month, I am eagerly anticipating Intelligent Systems' new intellectual property, Code Name: S.T.E.A.M.  First announced at last year's E3, Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. along with Splatoon represent the first new properties for the Big N since the early years of the Wii.  Code Name: S.T.E.A.M.'s interesting look and the pedigree of Intelligent Systems sold me on the game initially then the demo came out and everything changed for the better.

Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. is one of those games that you can't capture the quality in screenshots or trailers—you need to get your hands on it.  The demo takes players through the first few missions of the game, which slowly teach you the core mechanics of the game.  Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. takes aspects from both Valkyria Chronicles and the newest X-Com and blend them into an extremely engaging turn-based strategy game with turns that play like a third-person shooter.

After getting hands-on with Code Name: S.T.E.A.M., I have a feeling this will be one of those great titles that gets lost in the shuffle because its a new IP and doesn't have much marketing from Nintendo.  I highly recommend 3DS owners download the demo and give Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. a chance.  It is well worth it

Video of the Month
There are times when a trailer comes around that just sells you on a game.  It may only be a few minutes long, but everything contained in that video just leaves you in awe and wonder.  That happened this past month with the newest trailer for Persona 5.

In all honesty, I am still fairly new to the Shin Megami Tensei franchise as I have only played the fourth entry in the main series.  Despite my current unfamiliarity with the franchise, the trailer caught my full attention with its stylish UI, jazz soundtrack and unique gameplay mechanics.  Seriously, traversing through the world like an action-platformer or sneaking up on enemies using cover in a JRPG is freaking awesome!

Thanks to this trailer I want to dive headfirst into the world of Persona.  Be it Persona 3, 4, Q or Arena, I am really excited to get into this series when I have the time.  Also I will definitely be there day one to buy the newest entry when it releases later this year.

First Byte: Fan Expo 2014 Gauntlet Part 1

A few weeks back, yours truly made the long trek to Toronto for Fan Expo Canada.  My main reason for going to Fan Expo this year was the plethora of upcoming games available to play at the event.  In total, Fan Expo had well over 30 games to play including Middle Earth: Shadows of Mordor, Halo: Master Chief Collection, Assassin's Creed Unity and Destiny.  While I was hoping to play every game on the show floor, that ambitious goal did not come close to happening.  In fact, I only got to play ten games.  Although that number might not seem like a lot, I got to play the games I was most interested in trying, and those with the shortest lines.  Considering I did not get a whole lot of time to fully experience each demo, I will be doing brief impressions on the games I played instead of doing separate first impression previews for each one. As I cannot fit all ten games in one article, there will be two parts to this Fan Expo Gauntlet.  The first part focuses on the demos I got less than ten minutes with while the second part previews the games that I got much more hands-on time playing.

First things first, I learned a valuable lesson at Fan Expo: I am horrible at racing sims and that's a fact.  I played three different racing sims on the show floor in Driveclub (exclusively for PS4), Forza Horizon 2 (exclusively for Xbox 360 and Xbox One) and The Crew (available on all platforms), and each game had a unique take on simulation racing.  Driveclub was solely focused on providing an experience that expertly replicates the nuances of driving.  With crisp graphics and precise controls, Driveclub seems to be tailored for a gaming steering wheel and throttle.  While Driveclub focused on a pure simulation of driving in a pristine environment, Forza Horizon 2 took the similar precise controls and crisp graphics and threw it in an open world.  The race I played in Forza was very interesting as the race dynamically moved from tarmac to dirt to grass causing me to think on the fly about how to control my car through the constantly changing terrain.  Even the great grip of the tarmac can be easily erased by a downpour, all thanks to Horizon 2's dynamic weather.  Although I ended up last in both Driveclub and Forza Horizon 2, I enjoyed my time with each game.  The same cannot be said about The Crew.  Ubisoft's unique street racing sim with a focus on team-play did little to impress due to the incredibly loose control of the cars and the complete lack of direction.  It may be nice to have an open world to drive around and explore, but when the only person able to initiate anything in the demo is the Ubisoft rep, there's a big problem.

Coming out of E3, The Order: 1886 looked like a promising new IP from Sony, but I still had some reservations due to the lack of demos on the game.  Once I saw that the game was going to be at Fan Expo, I was ecstatic to play it.  In fact, it was the first game I played on the show floor.  My ecstasy for The Order subsided when the demo ended after a mere three minutes.  You are dropped in the middle of Chapter 3 of the game with the objective to escape the alleyway.  Using the termite gun, you fire off a few rounds, try the special bullet time-esque pistol move, jump from multiple points of cover, activate a quick-time event and the demo is over.  Three minutes is nowhere close to enough time to form an opinion on the game other than hoping there is much more in the final product.  With only six months left until release, I hope Ready at Dawn has a lot more up their sleeve than this three minute disappointment.

Much like The Order: 1886, Far Cry 4 had a really good showing at E3 so again I was excited to get my hands on the game.  Very similar to my time with The Order, Far Cry 4 left a lot to be desired.  While The Order's problems stemmed from showing barely anything, Far Cry 4's problems stemmed from ridiculously long load times and severe pop-in.  You can give the benefit of the doubt to Ubisoft, but to show a game to the public in such a poor state does not help push pre-orders.  It will cause exactly the opposite to happen.  Despite those issues, Far Cry 4 gave you three scenarios in which to siege an enemy fortress: sneak, ride and fly.  I chose the ride option which allowed me to ride an elephant to siege the fortress.  While the destruction the elephant caused was a sight to behold, I found attacking the fortress to be ill fit for one person as I was easily swarmed and overwhelmed by the enemy AI on multiple occasions.  In my opinion, the demo would have greatly benefit from having two people cooperatively siege the fortress.  Due to the poor quality of this demo, my expectations for Far Cry 4 have lowered quite a bit.

In light of the small amount of time I got to play Mortal Kombat X (a mere three minutes, in fact), I am going to keep this short and sweet.  Mortal Kombat X was a lot of fun.  The controls felt responsive, it was a lot more approachable than past entries as I put together some unique combos with ease, the interactable elements were well integrated and the game has more than enough blood, gore and violence to keep any Mortal Kombat fan happy.  Although my time was short, I came away impressed with how Mortal Kombat X is progressing.  Finishing foes with fatalities cannot come soon enough.

Bit by Bit: E3 2014 Wrap-up

E3 has come and gone for yet another year.  While the event may be over, the analysis of the show and all the games shown off has just begun.  All over the net, you see all the podcasts, reviews and awards dedicated to every aspect of the show popping up in the next couple weeks.  Here at Silver Bit, the month of June usually is solely focused on E3 from the previews to the conference impressions to the wrap-up articles.  In fact, I am watching all the gameplay footage that I can get my hands on to put together the annual Top 10 Games of E3 article which will conclude the month of June.  Before we move onto bigger and better things, let us look back on the show that was E3 2014 in this special edition of Bit by Bit.

Winner of E3 2014
As a whole, E3 2014 was an entertaining and ultimately safe show.  Aside from a few unique experiences, not many gambles were taken to infuse some innovation into the industry.  Although there were a plethora of familiar games showcased, all of them looked incredible.  With the amount of detail and fidelity in the coming wave of next generation titles, I can understand the current lack of new properties as a trade-off to getting a handle on the new hardware.  There were still new properties shown at the event in Evolve, The Order 1886, No Man's Sky and Sunset Overdrive, but they have not been put on the same pedestal that Assassin's Creed, Gears of War and Uncharted were early in the previous console generation.  Apart from the focus on familiar franchises, E3 2014 did an excellent job in showcasing how great 2015 will be compared to the rest of 2014.  All of the games people eagerly desire except Destiny or Super Smash Bros. comes out next year and that fact is just a little upsetting considering there is still no killer app for this generation yet.  Guess it will come with everything else releasing in 2015.

Enough of my analysis of E3 2014, let us get down to which company won at this year's show.  Winning E3 really comes down to personal opinion and how the showcased games appeal to each individual.  This year, the three console manufacturers were neck-and-neck in their showings.  Everybody did a good job in providing gamers with the games they wanted to see and the information they wanted to hear.  As close as this arms race was, Sony impressed me the most at E3 2014.  While I am in the minority, Sony's winning performance last year only came because they did the exact opposite of Microsoft and built their hype for the PS4 around that plan.  On the software side, not much impressed last year.  However this year Sony delivered with the games and content to compliment their highly successful system.  I came out of the Sony Press Conference knowing that I need a PS4 to get the most out of this new generation.  Even though the press conference had that excruciatingly boring thirty minutes, I would take this year's great three quarters over last year's excellent one fourth any day.  Sony could have lost some ground at E3 2014 with a lacklustre showing, but they delivered and solidified their place as number one this console generation.

Surprise of E3 2014
In the last few years, E3 surprises have become few and far between.  With the internet now, the few surprises actually planned for E3 might not make it to the show itself as they are leaked in the months, weeks and even days in advance.  For a surprise to stay a surprise right up until the moment of its revealed makes the moment feel like an event especially on this stage.  There were a slightly more surprises this year in Phantom Dust, Rainbow Six: Siege, Splatoon and Codename S.T.E.A.M., but one stood tall over the rest.  That surprise came at the Sony Press Conference from Adam Boyes along with some help from a girl named Sally.  It would turn out that Sally was not a girl, but renowned adventure game designer Tim Schafer.  Sally's wish for a return to a classic Tim Schafer adventure game came true when Boyes announced the Grim Fandango HD remake exclusively for PS4 and PS Vita.  As niche as adventure games may be, this news got me very excited because I have never played the original and heard so many great things about the game.  Funny enough, I was actually wondering if Double Fine would re-release Grim Fandango on Steam or remake the game for this generation a few months back.  After thinking about it, to actually see Grim Fandango HD become reality was like Sony found a way to read my mind.  It was an incredible reveal that easily was the highlight of the Sony Press Conference and the entire show.

Trailer of E3 2014
The only thing more prevalent at E3 than the plethora of demos that line the show floor are the trailers.  Each game at the event has a trailer to get gamers excited and to permeate the hundreds of screens covering the E3 booths.  Ranging from multi-minute vignettes to short little teasers, the trailers at this year's event varied in quality.  Some tried to be incredibly dramatic while others went lighter in tone and heavy with the humour.  There were quite a few standouts such as The Witcher III's epic story trailer, Sunset Overdrive's hilarious parody of modern shooters and Super Smash Bros.'s Mii Fighter reveal which saw Reggie and Iwata duke it out in spectacular fashion.  Out of those great trailers, The Legend of Zelda for Wii U reveal trailer was the best.  While short in length, the trailer captured key details for this new adventure in the world of Hyrule.  The beautiful cel-shaded anime-inspired graphics and the grand vistas will be the first things to catch the eye, but there are much more to dig into with this trailer.  The confirmation of horse riding, more options to fight on horseback, the blend of modern technology and medieval fantasy and the dynamic open world were among the amazing features revealed through this trailer.  While early in development, The Legend of Zelda for Wii U looks absolutely incredible and this trailer is just the beginning of all the great media we will receive in the near future.

E3 2014: Sony Press Conference Impressions

Heading into E3, Sony was in the best position amongst the three console manufacturers as the PS4 has sold over seven million units.  With the immense amount of pressure on Microsoft and Nintendo to deliver this year, E3 2014 was Sony's to lose.  Could Sony pull out another show stopping performance or would they rest on their laurels now that they are number one in the current console war?

To answer that question, Sony killed it again this year.  While last year's conference only came together in the last thirty minutes, Sony kept people excited and interested throughout their two hour presentation.  There was a good thirty minute chuck that almost killed the pace of the entire conference as Sony took time to talk about Free to Play titles, PlayStation Now, PlayStation Plus and the PS Vita.  Although it may have been a dry thirty minutes, it was necessary portion of the conference because it gave important information on the PlayStation Now Beta coming this summer, announced the PlayStation TV for 100 dollars or 139 dollars with a controller and the Lego Movie video game and gave a little life to the PS Vita with games like Tales of Heart R and Minecraft.  The portion of the conference that felt completely unnecessary was the presentation of the PlayStation exclusive show Powers and the Ratchet & Clank movie.  It may have lasted close to ten minutes, but it added nothing to the conference other than a lot of eye rolling.  Aside from that forty minute portion of the conference, Sony hit everything else out of the park.  There were tons of great gameplay demos for The Order 1886, Entwined, Far Cry 4, LittleBigPlanet 3, Mortal Kombat X and Batman: Arkham Knight.  Each demo made this writer and the company watching gasp, laugh, pump their fists and get excited.  These gameplay demos sold a lot of these games as must owns to yours truly.  Along with the great demos, Sony dropped a lot of surprises at the conference like a remastered version of Grim Fandango exclusive to PlayStation, From Software's Bloodborne, Dead Island 2, Magika 2, Giant Squid's Abzu and Devolver Digital games coming exclusively the PlayStation consoles.  Sony also made a big effort in pushing exclusive content and benefits for multiplatform games on their consoles such as the Destiny Alpha and Beta coming first to PS4 and exclusive missions or enemies in Batman and Diablo III respectively.  Sony ended the show in style too as they showed off the first trailer for Uncharted 4: A Thief's End.  After all the controversy surrounding The Last Guardian's false cancellation announcement, this writer thought Sony had to make an effort in showing the game is still alive and kicking.  Although The Last Guardian would have brought this conference to legendary levels, Uncharted 4 did its job in ending the Sony press conference with a bang.

After the end of every conference leading up to Sony's, this writer felt underwhelmed with the lack of legitimate surprises and games that truly captured my imagination.  Apart from the dull forty minute information dump, Sony's conference was a breath of fresh air.  Everything showcased at this conference are the reasons people play and get excited about video games.  Due to Sony's efforts on Monday, this writer is finally feeling much more optimistic about the next generation of video game consoles.  Last year Sony dropped the mic, this year they stole the show.

Grade:  A