 |
| This was from 2 years ago. Imagine this, but with more people. |
Although called "Comic Con", this convention also holds host to all kinds of movies, shows, and video games. One of my favorite parts of coming to NYCC is the chance to play games sometimes months before they are released. Of course, with the lines so long, by the time you actually reach the game, they game might already be released.
Another one of my favorite parts of NYCC is the free loot. I never feel bad about buying my Comic Con pass because I can be assured that by the time it is over, I will have at least 5 free t-shirts, 10 free posters, a lot of free comics, and every kind of bit and bauble imaginable.
Now, while it sounds like a paradise, I refer you to the picture above. To get all of these things, you will probably have to wait on a line for upwards of an hour. Or sneak in and steal them. Whatever floats your boat. But waiting seemed to be a theme this year. Don't get me wrong, the lines have always been long, but this year had the worst line I've ever waited on, and I've been to Walt Disney World in July. But I'll get to that line fiasco later.
 |
| "Line ends here." |
Batman: Arkham City
The first panel we had the pleasure to wait a half hour to attend was the Batman: Arkham City panel. I'm going to do a post on the game itself later, but the panel was pretty fun. Game director Sefton Hill and sound designer Nick Errandale gave some behind the scenes info about the game, and Kevin Conroy, THE voice of Batman, was there to give is take and thoughts on the character. They premiered the launch trailer there, which you can watch here. But just go out and buy the game. It is seriously great.
Resident Evil: Revelations
Our stroll around the show floor eventually brought us to the Capcom booth, Where tucked in a little corner were 5 Nintendo 3DS's playing Resident Evil: Revelations, not to be confused with Assassin's Creed Revelations, which was also at the show. I was slightly disappointed with Resident Evil 5, in that it wasn't scary, and in trying to be both an action game and a survival horror game, failed at both. But the trailers and gameplay footage I had seen of Revelations looked very promising, so I was excited to try it out.
I popped on the headphones and started up the demo. Immediately, I felt I was playing a Resident Evil game, in both the good ways and bad. The demo starts you as Jill Valentine in a very creepy and dark room, which seems to be in a mansion. This atmosphere is directly lifted from Resident Evil 1 on purpose to evoke that same feeling that you got from wandering the mansion. At once you run into a locked door, and a classic Resident Evil "get this item to open the door" puzzle is started.
I guess now is a good time to mention the bad. The controls, as with all of the Resident Evil games, are somewhat awkward. It is said that this is a design choice, but Dead Space is able to get both responsive controls and horrifying atmosphere, so make of it what you will. Also, after finding the item to open the door, your first encounter with the enemies of this game, a sort of lurching humanoid blob of evil, presents itself. The shooting controls are similar to that of RE 4 and RE 5, in that you have to stand still and aim. I'm not a fan of this, but it works fine.
Of course, it takes half of your only handgun clip to kill the creature. Yes, the survival part of the survival horror game seems to be back in full force. Bullets and other items are sparse, and by the end of the demo I found myself just running past the baddies due to the fact that I had NO bullets whatsoever, and oddly, no knife.
Overall, it's good. The game presents a creepy atmosphere, it gets back to the RE roots with the limited ammo, and it is gorgeous. I forgot to mention how good it looks. I hesitate to say, but it may look better than RE 4 on the Wii. You really must see it to believe it.
Star Wars: The Old Republic....
...Was there, but I didn't feel like waiting an hour to play it. I got a picture, though, if you want to see it...
 |
| "Ah, jerk, I thought he meant gameplay...." |
Just to tease you, I did watch the gameplay on the monitors. It looks...like Knights of the Old Republic. What else is there to say? That's what it's supposed to be.
Final Fantasy XIII-2....
....Looks and plays exactly like Final Fantasy XIII. If you liked FFXIII, you'll like this one. Moving on.
The Marvel and DC booths
In the past years that I have been to NYCC, the Marvel and DC booths would lay out free issues of their comics, people would line up, go down the line, and grab one of each. Maybe I missed something, but this year saw no free comics. I saw writers and artists signing at the booths, but no free stuff. I was a little disappointed, but maybe it just wasn't the right time for it. DC just relaunched, so all they had for free was the Guide to the New 52, and Marvel had a huge Avengers booth set up, but only a boring little Avengers poster to show for it. Hopefully next year will promise more free goodies from the big two.
DC All Access: Justice League Panel
What should have been a great opportunity for DC to explain their plans for the future of the DC universe and what comes next for all of their core titles was really just an awkward mess. For a panel that was standing room only, there was very little excitement from the writers or artists about the relaunch and their titles. The panel was constantly interrupted by the movie panel behind us and the roaring cheers of the QUIDDICH MATCH next to us. Quiddich was getting more excitement than the DC panel. Think about that.
The Avengers Panel
I know how conventions work. The bigger the panel, the earlier you need to get there. The Avengers panel promised to be the biggest of NYCC. Before the Avengers panel, however, was another big one: The Walking Dead. John and I both decided to play it safe, and get there an hour and a half early to the Walking Dead panel, and just stay in the theater for the Avengers panel. But I should have known better than to underestimate The Con.
Unbeknownst to me, right before the Walking Dead panel was the unassuming "Sony Pictures" panel. "Sony pictures," I scoffed, "There will be, perhaps, 10 people to see that little panel! I shall sit through that and then revel in my Walking Dead and Avengers greatness." Unfortunately, what was printed in the program as "Sony Pictures" was in reality, "Ghost Rider trailer that, even though everyone hated the first movie, must be seen by all". So the line was long. No, long is too short a word to explain the length of the line, as there must have been at LEAST one thousand people in front of us. Let me peruse the thesaurus for a better word. Sift, Sift. Ah, here we go. The lines were "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!".
The utter sense of hopelessness radiating from our part of the line was palpable. If one saw a picture, one would immediately think of plague victims at the end of a short supplied vaccine line, or bread lines during the Great Depression.
 |
| Like this, but half of them are dressed like Doctor Who, and the other half in Naruto outfits. |
And after all of that buildup, it was....ok, I guess. They had Kevin Feige, President of Production for Marvel Studios, Chris Evans (Captain America), Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill), Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson), Secret Guest Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner/Hulk), and star of the panel Tom Hiddleston (Loki). They showed the first clip of Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, and it's pretty good. I was worried about losing Ed Norton as Banner, but Ruffalo does a good job "Ruffalizing" the part (his words, not mine).
"But wait," you loudly proclaim at your computer, "What do you mean 'star of the panel Tom Hiddleston'? That guy who played Loki in Thor? What gives anonymous blogger?" To which I reply, "I can't hear you, this is a soundless medium, yelling louder won't fix that." In all seriousness though, when time for Q and A came, 80% of all questions came from both women, and those with an odd fixation on Hiddleston.
 |
| Keep in mind, Chris Evans was there too. |
I don't know why this panel suddenly became the Tom Hiddleston Show, but basically that was all that happened. "Where did you get your influences for Loki?" "You look and sound like Gene Wilder." Just a bunch of weird stuff directed towards him, and a Panel wasted. But, I got to see a 4 minute clip after waiting 3 hours on line, so I guess it was worth it.
Overall Impressions
New York Comic Con is an experience. I won't say it's a good or bad one. You could be walking the show floor, and all of a sudden find yourself 3 feet from Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. Or you could be waiting on line for a panel right behind a Ghostbuster. Or you could stand in the same place for 3 hours and only get a 4 minute clip out of it. I love NYCC, but it definitely isn't for everyone. Maybe for Tom Hiddleston fans though, I guess.
 |
| Seriously? This guy? |
Keep an eye out for John's take on New York Comic Con. He had hands on time with games like Prototype 2 and Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City. Find out what he thinks.
No comments:
Post a Comment