Inside the E3 Sony booth

The Sony booth, judged on presentation alone, is a tad barren. The bulk of the space is devoted to the kiosks in the middle of the floor while one whole side is wrapped in a stock ticker style video screen. Towards the front, jutting up from the middle of a circle of Socom 3 stands is an hourglass-like tower of crisscrossing blue fluorescent tubes running ceiling to floor. And on the opposing corner a small, two storey, PSP-filled structure beckons with bright lights and long wait lines.

Unlike those hush-hush guys over at Microsoft, Sony’s booth space, this year, is almost entirely filled with playable games. From big name games like Castlevania to the much anticipated Shadow of the Colossus (the official American name for Wanda and Colossus). But one game is sadly missing from Sonytopia, the anxiously awaited PS3 game. Those hoping to get a peek at Sony’s forthcoming system had better have some connections ‘cause they certainly aren’t leaving them lying around the show floor. Not so much as a glass case with a system inside can be found to press one’s face against.

Once the disappointment of the complete lack of PS3 settles into your head, the search for worthwhile PS2 and PSP fodder begins. On the PS2 front, a few notable titles still exist to fan the charred embers of the aging reality engine. Most notably for most showgoers is probably the much maligned, by those who don’t own PS2s, Soulcalibur 3. The two playable characters available on the show floor were Mitsurugi and Tira, a circular blade wielding warrior, whose attacks tend to look more like an elementary jazzercise class then they probably should. Despite the silly jumping through hoops, she is a fairly middle ground character with some powerful strikes and decent speed. The graphics do look enhanced over the previous version, although not by any staggering amount. The overall aesthetic seems to have been overhauled slightly with the colour pallet seeing a bit more saturation this go round. While Namco’s much talked of Tales of Souls mode promises to add even further depth and repeatability, the two character limit on the demo prevented it from truly being experienced.

Heading just up the isle from Soulcalibur 3 is Shadow of the Colossus from the acclaimed director of Ico. While anyone who has played Ico will quickly realize the similarities, this is a wholly different game. The graphics have a similarly soft, atmospheric and almost ethereal feel that has carried over from Ico. This lends itself well to the new style of gameplay. One of the most notable things about Ico was the way it conveyed the feeling of being in a large space to the player. SotC actually takes this to a factor of ten.

As the demo starts, our hero is riding along on his horse with a distressed maiden (i.e. unconscious) in tow. After a few moments of establishing shots they arrive in a church-like room where the girl is placed on an altar. The player then assumes control and away we go. Seeing as there is a horse standing right next to you, your first course of action will invariably be to mount said horse. Controls are simple enough, analog stick acting as the reins for steering and slowing while the X button provides the whip. Once the altar area is exited the player is presented with a sort of valley, lined on one side by high rising walls and on the other by sharp dropping cliffs. Onscreen indicators recommend using your sword to reflect the sun to show you the path of the giant (a main game play element to be sure). Several moments and several incorrect cliffs later the player arrives at the correct cliff. Here the horse is left behind and our assault on the colossus begins... after a few bits of chasm jumping and wall climbing you are treated to an in-game cut scene of the colossus strolling by. Apparently just out for a walk and not really harming anyone, your task becomes instantly obvious, kill the sucker! After initially striking it with multiple arrows from a far, he became angry, and quickly and unfortunately changed course. This made staying alive much more difficult, but it also made catching up with the monster a much more manageable task. Having seen Mickey and the Beanstalk, and trusting the mouse not to misinform, the player quickly begins to climb the beast. As soon as the hero has climbed aboard the player is instructed to stab the walking level square in the back of the knee. Upon doing so, repeatedly, the monster stumbles down to one knee and becomes more easily climbed. After a quick trip up and a lay over on a few peculiarly placed platforms along its back, we reach the beast’s head. Where, as luck would have it, a weird glowing spot exists. Three good stabs through the skull, each followed by a lovely geyser of blood, and our hero stands unimpressively victorious.

While the look and scope of the game are indeed impressive, the straightforward nature by which the colossus was defeated doesn’t bode well for extended play. Hopefully more variety and difficulty will make up the final product, but judging by what was on display this game seems set to disappoint.

Just around the corner from SotC is a little game by the name of Castelvania: Curse of Darkness. A game that seems to share more with Devil May Cry than it does its namesake. The one playable level on the show floor was peppered with the same 3 enemies set on repeat and 5 second load times every 30 feet. While the loads are all quick and barely a problem it is a bit distracting when you cant walk through a door without interruption. The controls seemed painfully simplistic with but one button allotted for attacking purposes. This leads rather regretfully to a game that feels more like a 3D Streets of Rage than a Castlevania. More combos and weapons will invariably be unlocked as the game progress but at the early stage we had hands on with there was scarcely little variety. Another notable feature is the presence of your summons. These creatures accompany you throughout your battles and can even aid in puzzle solving along the way. The one instance of this in the playable version was using your Pteradon-like friend as a hang glider to cross a long chasm. This promises to add a great deal of variety to the game play but was somewhat under-utilised in the demo. All of this culminated in a rather standard boss fight that actually feels like it was poorly ripped from RE4. As you face off against a giant Minotaur in a closed-in arena, the enemy continually breaks off enormous pillars from around the stadium and briefly uses them as blunt weapons, before hurtling them javelin style at the player, not unlike the El Gigante fight from RE4. The primary difference however is that in RE4 El Gigante had several other attacks, to avoid and predict, and would change them up based on how damaged he was. Mr. Minotaur simply does not have that much depth of character.

Heading upstairs into the bright lights and hanging pod chairs of the PSP zone, you quickly realise how few titles of note the system has in the pipeline. The most notable titles on display were arguably the Sims 2 and Ape Escape. Hardly the Nintendo trouncing monsters Sony so desperately needs right now. Fans of the Sims will invariably jump at the chance to take their crack like addiction on the road with them, which could certainly help to sell a few systems. Other games available for play included sports, several of them, from the good folks at EA. And really, that was about it. By far the most visually and conceptually intriguing part of the whole Sony set up was filled with next to nothing in the way of worthwhile PSP software.

It should be noted that the Sony booth was one of the more happening areas of the entire show, with its giant scrolling display and loud hip music, but the substance of what was on the floor for public perusal was basically disappointing or recycled. In a year that promised to be one of the most exciting E3s in recent memory, the startling lack of killer software on show weighed heavily on this attendee.