Although San Diego Comic- Con is well known for its abundance of film and television stars as well as merchandise, parties, and numerous Hollywood activities, gaming has continued to grow in recent years and become a major part of the convention experience. During my coverage I spent some time visiting with Skydance Interactive who might be best known amongst fans for their division that worked with JJ Abrams on the recent Star Trek films.
The first game that I experienced was Archangel on the PSVR system. The game puts players in the cockpit of the giant Mech and using the move controllers, I was able to operate a number of weapons and defensive systems. The cockpit was extremely detailed including family photos and other details that helped cement the illusion that I was trapped within a gigantic machine waging war. As the battle engage smoke, sparks, and other debris erupted around me, which made the action even more intense.
One trigger would fire rockets for my left hand while a thumb button activated defensive Shield to repel incoming fire. My right hand unleashed the fury of chain gun assaults upon the enemy as my unit moved through battlefield. Although there were some aerial and ground-based units, the majority of what I faced were tanks some of whom had defensive shields they required me to locate and destroy the shield generator before taking them down. One nice touch was when I encountered a bridge blocking my path, I simply punched the air with my controllers in a one-two combo which reduced the obstacle to rubble and allowed me to continue on unhindered.
Once I completed my demonstration I moved over to the display which considering it was held in the Maryjane restaurant in the Hard Rock Hotel, featured the wait staff going about their business to eager guests during the breakfast rush.
PWND essay today shooter with a bit of a retro gameplay style and graphical look. I chased other players around at map in order to dispatch them with my gun. The trick is that once dispatched, the enemy is not dead but simply wounded and crawls along the ground. My objective at this point is to stand over their body and hold down a key while I do a celebratory dance over them. After a certain amount of time I have successfully “PWND” them and receive points for doing this. Naturally the other team is going to do everything in their power not only to stop me from doing this but to put me in other players in this position to turn the tables. While I only had one default weapon, I was able to take down about six players once I get used to the map and the mechanics of the game. It certainly does make for an interesting gameplay experience and hopefully that will be far greater options in terms of maps, characters, and weapons when the game releases.
