Pax Prime 2014: Day 3

Day 3 began like any other day that we’ve had here at PAX. Woke up, showered, grabbed breakfast, and walked directly to the main theater for a panel. Gearbox was opening the morning with one of their epic shows. I love going to Gearbox panels because they give out some epic loot. Normally I would think it’s damn shady to stand in line for such reasons, but this theater is big enough to house everyone that showed up. Hell, we showed up pretty early and still would up in the middle of the pack. I also really enjoy Gearbox panels because they’re very entertaining. Randy Pitchford did magic for us and it rocked. He basically told a story of Borderlands the Pre-Sequel using the cards he had. We got some cool new information on the playable characters and some hints at future downloadable characters. They also talked about a game they recently announced called BattleBorne and showed a kick ass trailer. I love the idea behind this game and how you can go from level 1 to level cap in the span of thirty minutes. They’re supposedly offering a wide variety of characters to play as and combine that with the speedy level ups, this is looking like it could be a highly replayable game. Overall the panel was fun and rewarding and the entire crowd was awarded the season pass for Borderlands the Pre-Sequel, which I suppose guarantees extra sales on their end. Very smart marking ploy, still totally worth it for me though!

The rest of our day was devoted to trying to play some games. We first decided we would try to do The Order 1886, but I wanted to check the line for Tales from the Borderlands first. Packed, just as it has been everyday. I guess the demo is thirty minutes long and they’re giving awesome t-shirts. So naturally, people who have no intentions of buying the game get in line for free shit because fuck you. Whatever, we head past the Evolve booth, packed, Borderlands Pre-Sequel, packed, Shadows of Mordor, packed, and finally The Order, packed. The lines for all of these games were capped off meaning we had to wait in order to wait. So we decided to check out less popular things. I went over to play Ori and the Blind Forest and accidentally wound up playing a game called Project Totem. I vaguely heard of this before and was pleasantly surprised at how fun it was. It takes puzzle platformers in a different direction. You control two totem pieces, one on top and the other below. You must navigate these pieces safely to end in order to complete the stage. So even though I wasn’t expecting to play this game, I’m very glad I did.

This is where things got a little crazy for us. We checked all of the lines again and they were all still capped. We had momentarily split up for a quick coffee/lunch break and then met up at the Far Cry 4 booth. I really wanted to sneak into the Evolve demo, but that line was capped and there were so many people hovering around it that the idea of getting in was absurd at this point. It’s around this time that I realize the Far Cry 4 booth, the one with the fuzzy cage fighting animals, actually had a demo. So I convinced my Uncle to stand in line with me to play it. It was a very short wait, one my Uncle didn’t complete because he realized he didn’t care if he played the game or not. I certainly enjoyed my turn though. I am a big Far Cry 3 fan and taking over the controls on Far Cry 4 felt very familiar. The goal was to liberate an outpost. I got to choose three different play styles, sneak, flight, and one other I cannot remember. I chose sneak. I started with a crossbow and a sniper rifle. I snuck into the outpost and disabled the alarm as fast as possible. From there I literally snuck around the camp and put an arrow into the face of every guard I saw. I was so fast and efficient that the exhibitor running the booth was impressed. Far Cry 4 has the same look and feel of Far cry 3, but the new setting, better graphics, and new weapons give it a fresh spin that I’m looking forward to.

I received a text from my Uncle as I was playing that said the wait for Sonic Boom wasn’t bad. I’ve been playing more and more of my Nintendo Wii U and have been on the lookout for new titles I might enjoy with my kids. I went and waited in a short line and played the shortest demo I’ve ever touched. The game let me pick a level to play on and dumped me right into the action. The portion I played was a modern version of the old school Sonic I played as a kid. It had Sonic and three of his friends racing from the beginning of a level to the end all while avoiding dangers and collecting coins. It was very simplified and obviously meant for kids, although I did enjoy the time I spent on it. This might be a title my kids would love.

I was a tad disappointed at how short my demo was, especially because my Uncle picked a different level and his lasted closer to thirty minutes. I was happy though because they gave us a giant tote bag, which fortunately made life much easier. Now I can’t remember exactly when we visited the Assassin’s Creed booth, but we did. There wasn’t much there at all other than a cool new trailer for Assassin’s Creed Rogue, which is only coming out on the last gen consoles, and a gameplay video of Assassin’s Creed Unity, which is only coming to next gen. I did score myself four shirts by pre-ordering all of their games, but I cancelled it shortly after that. It’s not that I don’t want the games, because I do, but I would rather purchase them digitally. After Sonic boom finished my Uncle got in line to play Smash Bros on the 3DS while I attempted to play Ori and the Blind Forest…again. Failed attempt on my part. I did walk over to The Order 1886 and saw that the line had some room, yet they weren’t letting people in. I asked the guy how long it would be and he told me fifteen minutes. So I rushed over to where my Uncle was to find him playing Smash Bros. I didn’t want to be rude and kick him off, but we hadn’t been able to play ONE major title we had on our list for the day and time was running out. I did let him finish though because this wasn’t about me, it was about him getting to enjoy something he wanted. We did make it back over to The Order booth just in time to not get in. We did hover around, however, and once he opened the gates we stormed the castle like a bunch of fat kids headed to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.

Once we were actually in line, the wait wasn’t even that bad. I think we waited around an hour or so to get in and play. We had a great chat with the guy in front of us, I think his name is Matt, and that helped the wait go by faster. The Order’s booth was a real nice set up because it was staged to look like an old steam punk building. The TV’s they were using to play the game on were by far the nicest at PAX. I sat down and jumped right into the game. Had I been wearing a diaper I probably would’ve gone ahead and shit myself. The Order is an absolutely stunning game and it really shows the power of the Playstation 4. The thing that impressed me most about it was how immersive it felt. There isn’t a heads up display other than the occasional instructions in the upper right hand corner to tell you what to do.

The shooting mechanic in The Order 1886 is very unique. You’ll have to forgive me because I cannot remember the names of things, but you shoot your gun at someone and then you shoot secondary ammunition to ignite the white particles you just shot, or vice versa. Moving from one section to the next was very smooth and from the short section I played I could tell how decent the acting is. This sexy steam punk game may be my tipping point for buying a Playstation 4, well, alongside Drive Club!

We really wanted to play another major title before the day ended, and since Evolve, Borderlands Pre-sequel, and Tales from the Borderlands were all insanely packed, we decided to check out Shadow of Mordor. Unfortunately that line was closed for the day, as was Tales from the Borderland I soon found out. My Uncle wanted to check out the Astro gaming headsets and I decided that it would be a perfect opportunity to FINALLY play Ori and the Blind Forest. I get over there and only have to wait a couple of minutes to get my hands on the controller. I started playing through the beginning of the game and learned the ropes when I get a text from my Uncle telling me he was with Angry Joe. So I played for another minute or so, soaking the game in enough to know I DO want it, and then ran back towards the Astro booth.

Sure enough, Angry Joe, one of my favorite Youtube personalities, was checking out the gear as well. I went up and introduced myself and told him that I enjoyed his work. I have to say, out of all the people I have met in the industry, he was by far one of the nicest people. He let me take a photo with him and that made my day. Well, that and having just played one of the best games at the show. The Order, not Ori, although I would recommend Ori to platformer fans.

This pretty much wrapped up our day. We didn’t have much time left so we went cruising on back to the hotel. Well, I did, my Uncle wanted to go get a few of the QR Codes that PAX had hidden around. Find all sixteen and get a prize. I went back to the hotel, grabbed some Subway, and wrote day 2’s update. Let me know what you guys think and stay tuned for the final day of our adventure.