Sony’s games have a reputation. Ever since I played The Legend of Dragoon seven years ago, I’ve come to expect that Sony will continue to impress me with cutting-edge visuals. Heavenly Sword is no exception. In a brief demo lasting no more than 10 minutes, I was sufficiently awed.

Heavenly Sword definitely raises the bar with its visual style. The environments were stunning. Cinematic sequences looked impeccable and the visuals during gameplay were only slightly lower in quality. The game had a very fluid, cinematic style that, combined with the epic scale, made me feel as if I were the heroine in a movie.

Soon after the cinematic sequence ends, I was sliding down enormous ropes thicker than three of my character’s torsos. I had to jump between the huge ropes and land on a column towering over a hundred feet up. While I fought the enemies there, I tried not to get too distracted by the fantastic view of the untouched beauty of nature surrounding me.

There was also a beauty in the grace of my character’s movements. She had ridiculously long, supermodel legs with enough muscle to justify her incredible strength. The combat animation was fluid and the fights were elegant. She moved with the swiftness of a dancer, but executed attacks at a deadly speed.

Combat, although fluid, felt somewhat unrealistic. I enjoyed being able to use my sword in three different ways: as a ranged weapon, for speed attacks (as two swords separately) or as a power attack (three swords as one). The special attacks were cinematic but didn’t waste time with transitions. Some moves felt artificially effortless, such as picking up and throwing bodies with ease. The intense speed and fluidity was fun but unrealistic. It reminded me of God of War in terms of the bloody hack-and-slash, so it didn’t seem to push combat boundaries.

Other elements in the game felt very polished. The voice-overs were high-quality. Sound effects were spot-on. Certain mechanics, such as using the sixaxis to guide a thrown object, were innovative. Aside from a few irregularities, such as a lack of a block button, this game was quite well-rounded.

After only 10 minutes, it is impossible to truly judge a game. I have heard that it is a short game but, from my limited experience, it seems to be worth the time. I hope that I can play the full version of this game when I finally get a PS3 of my own.  

Next-gen consoles are supposed to be incredibly powerful, but it is hard to measure that power without a test. Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction seems to test the power of the PS3, cramming in as many explosions, sounds, AI, and activities on the screen as possible. It is a slight departure from previous Ratchet and Clank games, but this fast-paced platformer certainly performs well.

I was only able to play through the demo of this game, but I was impressed. From start to finish, the demo was a rush. It takes place in a city with incredibly tall buildings and vertical space is utilized in a unique way. Ratchet seemed to fall far enough be considered fatal, but then he would hit be some sort of trampoline device and he would fly through the air to a new destination.

The game was truly action-packed. There was a plethora of scripted events happening around Ratchet, but many did not directly affect him. It reminded me of the original Half-Life, where I could often look around and see events that could be missed if I was not vigilant. The processor on the PS3 handled all the scripted events and explosions beautifully; the console never slowed me down. The PS3 also allowed for greatly improved visuals - the animation was incredible and felt as sharp as that in a Pixar animated feature film.

Despite its intense pace, Tools of Destruction still preserved many of the best features of the series, including the humor and fun weapons. The characters were rich, as always. The weapons were creative, from a weapon that could morph enemies to a groovitron, which made all enemies in the vicinity dance.

Gameplay was similar to the rest of the series. There were some difficult parts that seemed unbalanced with the rest of the game. Fortunately, there were many checkpoints, so the game was fairly forgiving if you died. Also, most of the gameplay was very solid. There was a wonderfully creative part where I got to use the sixaxis tilting to steer Ratchet through multi-tiered air traffic. It was a fantastic moment of gameplay and an experience that felt strangely realistic.

I really enjoyed the demo for Tools of Destruction. It seems like a great use of the PS3’s power and I hope that the whole game lives up to the high standard set by the demo.  

When a game about the past is mixed with science fiction, it runs the risk ruining the realism of the game. Even if we have not lived during that past, previous eras are often carefully represented in games with characters we can understand. Fortunately, Assassin’s Creed has Altair, a very solid lead character who feels more real than his descendent in the near future.

The best part about Altair is how believable he feels. When he moves around, he feels heavy. There are clinks when he walks from his weapons and gear. He can push through a crowd or weave through less dense groups. He can also collide with people if he runs into them, and they respond accordingly. Despite his weight, Altair is still graceful enough to carry out acrobatic feats reminiscent of Prince of Persia.

Supporting the realistic Altair is a fantastic population of NPCs in towns. There are so many people in the towns, each traveling to and fro as if they have their own agenda. They make surprised comments if Altair leaps up onto a rooftop and notice disturbances he causes. The towns feel believable to a degree that has rarely been achieved in games to date.

Some of the visuals are fantastic, but other visual elements detract from the realism. The scenery is beautiful. The backgrounds in particular are incredibly real. However, the eyes on people are a little too bright and look slightly odd, slipping into the uncanny valley. Also, the motion capture technology is inconsistent. The doctor in the future looks great, but the assassin leader in the past has movements that seem a bit stilted.

The dialogue and visual presentation are two of the game’s main weaknesses. There are many lengthy cutscenes that could be a lot shorter if the dialogue were tighter. The lines are often repetitive and give too many details. Unfortunately, the camera angles during cutscenes can be controlled by the player. I frequently found myself flipping through the angles out of boredom and it severely detracted from my immersion in the game. Sometimes none of the angles would look right, and it felt like this mechanic was a cheap substitution for a cinematographer.

I had a few more frustrations with this game. First, the tutorial was way too long. It went on and on, going over abilities I didn’t need to know until much later. It is impossible to remember everything when too much is presented at the beginning. I was so excited to play the game that I could not retain as much as normal. Also, the game soon takes away all these abilities that it spent so much time teaching me. It seems pointless to learn how to use several abilities only to lose them. Why not learn them gradually? Finally, the combat system is essentially a few non-strategic button presses. It felt unremarkable and dull.

Assassin’s Creed is not a horrible game. It does a lot of things well, most notably many visuals and the realism in towns. However, its weaknesses detract from this game’s merits and can become frustrating. While I did enjoy playing Assassin’s Creed for a while, I hope that games in the future can model themselves after its strengths and learn from its weaknesses.  

I finally made friends with someone who owns a PS3. After a horrible experience with Genji near the release of the PS3, I had vowed to keep my distance from that console. Fortunately, game developers have been working to utilize the capabilities of the PS3. When I saw the screenshots for Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, I wanted to see if the game looked as good as the promotional images. Fortunately, I was not disappointed.

The PS3 felt similar to the 360 in terms of next-gen console quality. The PS3 controller was oddly light compared to the PS2 controller, but that was the only significant difference that I noticed. The PS3 start menu seemed confusing compared to the more straightforward layout of the 360 menus but the PS3 menu was prettier. After getting over my fascination with the new and unfamiliar, I started up the Drake’s Fortune demo.

I’ve had limited experience with adventure games that involve a lot of shooting, with the exception of a couple hours with Lara Croft. I didn’t have many expectations beyond the spectacular visuals I’d seen in the screenshots – and the vast jungle scenery didn’t disappoint. The jungle felt lush and alive. The water looked fantastic. It was great to be able to walk into a lake and have jeans appear wet only where my character’s legs were submerged.

The gameplay felt a lot like Tomb Raider until I got into a shooting match. While I could easily run at enemies shooting in the beginning of Tomb Raider: Legend, Drake’s Fortune was more realistic. I had to aim and use more stealthy tactics. I hid behind cover and darted from one area to another as quickly as possible.

The realism in Drake’s Fortune immediately pulled me into the game. The enemies I shot felt like real people, not just faceless alien clones. They would flank and attempt to get closer. There was no health bar, so a drop in health was indicated a loss of color on the screen and a heartbeat when my life was on the line. Health recovered relatively quickly when behind cover, so I never felt like it slowed me down. It was refreshing not to have to worry about resource management for health packs. Fewer fictional elements to manage health systems create a more immersive experience.

While there were a lot of enemies, there were plenty of elements to help me survive. Sounds such as footsteps always alerted me as to enemy presence. There was plenty of cover. This cover would sometimes get damaged due to grenades and other weapons, but there were always sound and visual cues before the grenades detonated.

The Drake’s Fortune demo was a very cinematic experience. The opening cutscene was just the right length and got me straight into the action. From there, I was fully immersed and enjoyed exploring the rich world and fighting off the realistic enemies. I probably won’t buy a PS3 to play Drake’s Fortune since I’m not a big fan of adventure games with lots of aiming and shooting. However, it is certainly a well-rounded game that gives me hope for the capabilities of the PS3.  

I got to play a PS3 today. A recent graduate in my program came into one of my classes, and she happens to be developing a downloadable game for the PS3. I was excited to hear her speak about how she started her career and even more excited to play the prototype on the PS3.

While the prototype was not complete, much of the artwork and animation was in place. My classmates and I were all very impressed when she put in the cheats so we could see the final forms for the creatures you can control.

I watched a few people play using only motion control - no buttons or analog sticks. The game is a 2D/3D hybrid that is very dynamic and captivating. It was amusing to watch some of my classmates use the motion control, over-compensating and wiggling around in an uncoordinated dance.

When it was finally my turn, I moved the controller in more moderate movements and found that it was quite intuitive. I enjoyed moving my character with only motions themselves, rather than being artificially separated with button-mashing or stick-pushing.

However, I found that the motion control was not as revolutionary as I would have hoped. At its heart, I was still just moving a controller around, but at least it was in a 3D environment (rather than the confining limits of analog sticks, triggers, and buttons). While the motion control felt natural, it was not as if I merged with the game. Even if I was playing on an enormous projection, it made no difference.

So where will games go next? How will motion control become innovative rather than boring? I am excited to play the Wii and compare. I hope developers will take advantage of the next-gen possibilities of the Wiimote and the PS3’s motion controls as they become more commonplace. We may not have the Virtual Reality we once dreamed of for the future, but at least we can create a more immersive experience through the motion control in the next-gen consoles.