Day two started so much better for me. No morning headache! I was a bit sore in my calves but other than that it was a great morning. Our routine was in full swing as we got dressed and headed down for some morning coffee and a donut. One lovely Ride Share later and we were in line. We found out that if you get there early enough you can go through the security line and wait in an overflow area right outside the doors to the expo hall. This came in handy because once the doors opened we bolted straight for the Ubisoft booth so we could sign up for a time to demo Ghost Recon Breakpoint.
We were waiting maybe a few minutes to sign up when the guy running the booth asked if anyone wanted to play Ghost Recon right that second without having to sign up. Oddly no one raised their hands except us. Hell yes, we wanted to play that second! That way we wouldn’t have to time out our day around it and could go with the flow. So, he let us in and we geared up. I haven’t played a Ghost Recon game since Ghost Recon Future Soldier. I wasn’t a huge fan of it and have been iffy on the state of the franchise. Admittedly, I do own Ghost Recon Wildlands but haven’t touched it.
Playing Breakpoint was a great refresher on how the franchise has been dealt with according to the guy who was guiding our crew. He told us that a lot of the elements from Wildlands were in Breakpoint and improved upon. That has me excited to get home and load that bad boy up! We didn’t get to choose our characters, but we hopped straight into a mission that tasked us with reaching a location on the map. We used this opportunity to learn the controls and motions of the game. The movement was smooth as butter as your character ran, slid over obstacles, and dove into a prone position. I really felt comfortable with controlling him from the get go.
While making my way down this mountain towards the waypoint I stumbled upon a vehicle. We were told we couldn’t drive them but I was still taking a gander when I rounded the corner into two enemies. I opened fire on them and wiped them out. Man! It felt so damn good. We continued to the compound that we needed to clear of enemies before meeting up with a contact inside. This proved a bit difficult for me because I ran in like a lone wolf and was eventually devoured. Nonetheless, my team managed to overcome the opposition and complete the mission. The time we had with Breakpoint was too short, but we enjoyed a few cut scenes and the play-through so much that it’s honestly our game of the show, thus far.
After we concluded our experience at the Ghost Recon booth we went over to the Borderlands booth only to find that it was capped. That was expected given its popularity, so we went to check on the Destiny 2 line. That too was jam packed. Instead, we got in line to play Doom Eternal at the Google Stadia booth. That game was insanely fun. The metal music is back and amplifying the intense combat as I raced demon to demon, fulfilling my blood lust. I’m very excited for this title. I do want to mention that Stadia had some lagging issues. I understand that we were at a convention with literally thousands of people, but it still has me questioning game streaming as a reliable way to play video games. At the end of the demo the booth crew ushered me out but, as I looked back, Ericco and Zac were still playing. They got to play two sets in a row without a break. I jealously waited for them to finish by testing out Google Stadia on mobile. This wasn’t a pleasant experience because the screen was too small for me to really get into it. I was playing Mortal Kombat 11, which I am not too bad at, and it still proved to be an issue. If I ever do use Stadia I don’t think it will ever be on my phone.
Ericco and Zac finally finished their Doom Eternal demo where they jokingly poked fun that they enjoyed it twice as much as I did. Har har har. They still needed to play Stadia on a mobile device because we were filling out a punch card for a pin. I had already collected mine so I ran over to the Borderlands booth to see if I could somehow squeeze in. They were capped when I approached it so I decided to casually linger until an opening was made. They had two lines, the main line and an overflow line that was across the hallway where all the traffic was. I was trying to get into the overflow line. When people started moving, me and a small group of people who had the same idea began lurking forward until the guy said the line was open to everyone. I tried pushing my way through the impending stampede but wound up letting a smaller guy ahead of me because he was getting smashed. As luck would have it that’s where they cut the line off. That guy made it in and I didn’t. I asked if I should go back to the overflow area and the man told me that he wasn’t doing that anymore because it was giving him too much “anxiety.”
I was rather pissed off about that. But what can you do? I went back to see where Ericco and Zac were. I couldn’t find Zac, but Ericco was in line for Destiny 2. Instead of moving on I went back across the bridge towards the Borderlands 3 booth and took a seat. Eventually both Ericco and Zac came walking across and we connected back up. Zac told me about a cool VR game he got to play while he waited called, Until You Fall. I’ll talk more about that in tomorrow’s blog though. We glanced at the Borderlands 3 booth since we were there and it was still capped.
Making our way back towards the Oculus area we got pulled in to take a photo with a VR game Zac and Ericco really wanted to play named, Stormland. We posed with some large fake guns for a few neat pictures. We were awarded these cool pins that had codes we could scan to enter a contest. The code made it so a robot appeared on your phone and looked like he was actually in your living area. I snapped a good example of this later for Zac, be sure to check my future PAX Pictures blog. Once we finished having fun posing for the camera we hustled over to check out Remedy’s new game, Control.
This was a super fun title to play and it reminded me a lot of Quantum Break. Being able to throw objects with telekinetic powers and then shoot and dash around the map was pretty fun. There was also a platforming section I came across that kind of seemed out of place but was fun nonetheless. It wasn’t until I met the weird janitor that I got a weird vibe from Control. I do plan on playing this eventually, but I’ll wait for now. On the opposite wall of Control was another game that we could test out called, Journey to the Savage Planet.
I haven’t heard of this game prior to PAX. It’s a goofy, cartoony looking space shooter that is both quirky and fun. The talking robot lady, who reminds me of Glados, was extremely humorous throughout the demo. I ran into goofy-looking space creatures, plants, and food. I have no idea what this game is really about but it has my attention for now.
At this point in the day my feet were absolutely killing me. I could barely even stand on them for more than a few minutes at a time. We needed to take a short break from moving in general. Unfortunately, it was around this time we lost track of Ericco. Zac used this time to show me where the VR game he played was and while we did that I saw the booth for Cook, Serve, Delicious 3! I’m super excited about this news and will talk about it more in tomorrow’s blog. We also ran back by Borderlands 3 only to find that it was still capped. I’m sure I was being a pain about this game, but I really wanted to check it out.
We met up with Ericco again and proceeded to the Nintendo booth to collect the free pin they were handing out. We wound up playing Dauntless which was located behind the Nintendo area, and I have to say that this game was literally putting me to sleep. I’m sure it’s a fun game if you start from the beginning and learn the nuances of it, but they threw us into a boss battle that seemingly lasted forever, especially when my feet were aching so bad.
After Dauntless left a sour taste in our mouths, we headed back towards the Borderlands 3 booth one final time only to find it capped. I asked the fella if it was capped for the day and he wasn’t sure. Fortunately, Zac was paying attention to when the players finished the demo and had he and I ready to move up because the line was about to open. There wasn’t much the guy could say when Zac innocently asked, “Hey bro, is this line going to open anytime soon?” Zac is such a sweet talker. We made it in line and almost an hour later got our hands on Borderlands 3! Finally! It was fun.
K Bye.
I’m kidding.
The demo was roughly thirty minutes long and we got to pick which character we played as. I chose Moze - The Gunner. She was pretty fun because her special was hopping into a mech that mowed bandits down in seconds. The game itself is pretty standard Borderlands from what I saw. Goofy enemies with goofy dialogue, and a fun boss fight to top it all off. I didn’t get much of a chance to really change weapons but I was having a lot of fun. The graphics are vastly improved. Borderlands 3 still has its cartoonish graphics but they are so much more clear and realistic.
Unfortunately, the Expo hall closed down shortly after we finished. So, we slid on down to a joint called Steak N Shake. We dined on some tasty steak burgers and milkshakes before finding our way back to this crap hole we call our AirBnb and I began writing all that cool stuff you read yesterday. Come back and hang out with us tomorrow!
K bye… for real this time.
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