E3 info

Dave and the 007 ladies

MK Mythologies: Sub-Zero (psx): Quite an interesting step in the MK world, MKM takes Sub-Zero, using the standard MK2/MK3 gameplay, and puts him into an adventure game that is much more than just a Final Fight clone. Although you do fight minor enemies ( I never made it to a boss when I played), there is much more to the game. There are traps, such as dropping pillars that can cruch you in one hit, and platforms to jump on to make it across a pit. Overall the game seems very cool, and I can't wait till the home release late this summer.

Test Drive 4 (psx): looked and played very well, similar to Need for Speed part 1. There are 6 tracks, with 5 segments each. There are plenty of cars, although not all were playable yet, I did get to try out a Baraccuda, Viper, and a few other cars. The game looks like it could be a real winner when the final version is released.

v-rally V Rally (psx): Ocean's new racer is a great idea, has great layout, and great selection. However, from what I played, the gameplay wasn't that hot, the cars seemed hard to control. We'll see if it will be tweaked before release. With a total of 42 tracks with varrying conditions, and 11+ cars to choose from, and the ability to customize almost every aspect of the car, from shocks to steering, to tires and shifting speed, it should be a racing fan's dream come true...if the control is fixed up.
Multi Racing Championship (N64): Also done by Ocean, this racer looks to be the best yet on N64. With lots of cars, cool track layouts, and some cool customizable options for the cars, it looks to lead the pack of N64 racing games.

San Fransico Rush (N64): Midway's new racer is really fun when played on the 8 player arcade link, but the N64 version, although graphically outstanding and very close to the arcade, it just didn't seem that fun to play on a console. The 2 player split screen mode was fairly cool, but overall the game itself just seems rather dull. Maybe its me, I dunno.

Rapid Racer (psx): an awesome new jetboat game for psx, Rapid Racer has really good backgrounds, water effects, and cool jet boats to race with. 2 player mode can be either horizontal or vertical split screen, and plays really well. This looks to be one of the top Playstation racing titles ever.

Super GT (sega, arcade): Although I didn't see a Saturn version of this very cool arcade racer, I did get to play a few rounds of the 8-player arcade link. This game is quite a piece of work, everything from the control to the graphics is top notch...we'll see how well it does when ported over to consoles.

porshe challenge Porshe Challenge (psx): Possible the best looking racer on psx to date, this game has very high potential to make it big when it's released here in the US. The only drawback is the fact you can only pick one type of car, the only thing you can change really is the color.
Grand Tour Racing (psx): with so many new racing titles being released, Grand Tour really doesn't seem to stand out much from the pack. Although it seemed like a good solid title, I wasn't all that impressed with what it had to offer. Good game, just not superb. Grand Tour racing

Extreme G (N64): my first impression of this game was "its like Wipeout XL, only not good". Extreme G is basically like WOXL, only you control futuristic looking bikes, like from the movie Tron. You get weapon powerups just like WOXL, and the whole feel of the game is similar, yet not as fun. We'll see how the final version turns out.

Bravo Air Race (psx): perhaps the first airplane racing game, Bravo Air Race seems pretty cool, but I didn't really play it enough for a final judgement. From what I played however, it seemed pretty good.

Jet Moto 2 (psx): My only question was "why". Apparently Jet Moto, which I didn't find to be all that great of a game, was a fairly good seller. The sequel seems almost identical, with a new thruster look when turbos are activated (ala WOXL).

Cool Borders 2 (psx): its...cool borders 2....yay. See first sentence in above quote for any further comments.

Twisted Edge Snowboarding (N64): kinda like Cool Borders on psx....woo.

WCW Nitro (psx): probably the best looking wrestling game on psx, it even surpasses Toukon Retsuden 2 graphically, but play control wise, it seemed a little hard to control. It was just a beta though, so I won't pass judgement on this game just yet.

WCW vs NWO: World Tour (N64): to be honest, the game didn't impress me much. The graphics weren't that great, and from what I played, it seemed average at best. Only time will tell if the game can be improved.

Maxium Force (arcade): Maxium Force, a.k.a. Area 52, is a worthy sequel. It pits you against some sort of terrorist people instead of aliens, but still has the full blown action that Area 51 did.

Dark Rift (N64): Criticom II is what I was expecting, but to be honest the game isn't really all that bad. Its the best fighter on N64 by far, but it doesn't rank up with the big boys.

Tomb Raider 2 (psx/PC): Graphically, the psx version looks almost identical to Tomb Raider 1, however Lara has changed her look a bit, and now has a big swinging pony tail, and a lot more human enemies to waste. The PC version, running on a 3DFX card, looked very good.

Sonic R (saturn): Sonic R is basically a racing game, only you control the sonic characters running around a track. The idea was cool I guess, but the game isn't. Its really easy to fall of the track, and the game just didn't seem all that fun to play.

Mega Man X4 (psx/saturn): it looks like MMX4 will be making it to the US on both systems after all...from what I played, the game seems pretty cool. If you played a mega man game before, you'll know what it plays like...if you haven't...you have no business reading this. =P

Mega Man Neo (psx): Imagine Mega Man in a 3D 3rd person perspective, ala Mario64 or Tomb Raider, and you'll get Mega Man Neo. It seems to be a very cool game in the making, and the control is really well thought out. You have a jump button, and then 2 buttons for different attacks on each arm. I don't recall what other control factors there were, but holding the L/R buttons would allow you to run strait to the side. Anyway the game has an almost RPGish feel to some parts, because you talk to people as well as blast stuff.

Mace (arcade): Midway's 2nd attempt at 3D fighting comes off a lot better than the dismal War Gods, but Mace just doesn't quite seem to have what it takes to become the top of its class...all the more reason to take MK4 to the bank.

Crash Bandicoot 2 (psx): seemed quite similar to crash 1, only with slightly improved graphics and a sort of "choose your path" level setup. Looks to be a pretty good game, if you liked Crash 1 you'll like Crash 2...if you didn't....then you won't.

Blasto (psx): Supposedly the next "great" game from sony, Blasto just didn't seem all that cool. Far from a Bubsy 3D, it has all the elements of a really good platform game. However, it just seemed lacking in some way. Perhaps the final version will smooth out the game and make it stand above the rest. As of now it just seems part of the ever growing 3D platform genre.

Quake 2 (PC): Very cool looking, although it was running on a PC with 3dfx. All new weapons and levels, but still the same game as Quake 1. The EM rail gun (just like in the movie Eraser) is probably the coolest new weapon. The standard gun is now a pistol, and it looks really cool too.

Assault Rigs (PC): A game I really enjoyed on psx (athought it got boring rather quickly) is now coming out on PC with multiplayer capabilities! This game really needed multi player more than anything else, and from what I played it was looking great.


Other various info

Things I was suprised NOT to see: No sign of the M2 on the public floor room...can we say "vaporware"? Nintendo's lineup was pretty dissapointing, with StarFox 64 and GoldenEye being the only highlights of their booth. All the other games were either old, or simply demo tapes infinitely looping footage seen long ago.

Capcom had a nice setup with an arcade of all their best games there, including SFIII, MSH, Xmen vs SF, SFEXplus, and even DarkStalkers 3. There were some tournaments held, and although I got to play in the National Press Tournament, I "got Hyper Bombed", as my prize T-shirt states on the back. Oh well. Can't win em all. At least I got my picture take with Sailor Moon!

Dave and Sailor Moon!

(sadly to say, it was double exposed. It almost brought me to tears, but at least its still slightly seeable). The Sailor Moon dancers plugging the new "MixxZine" comic were pretty damn cool, although the lame regge-rap music they were dancing to just didn't seem at all Sailor Moonish...and the basketball freethrow contest to win T-shirts? Crazy promoters just don't know Sailor Scouts don't play much basketball I guess. Oh, by the way, I met Clyde "the Glide" Drexler at the Konami booth!

back to my homepage

Dave and Clyde the glide Drexler himself!        Dave and the MK chicks

Sailor Moon dancers