PAX East Report – Day 1 Impressions

Multiplayer was a cool treat. There were about 6 or so GBX employees playing as xenos against the same number of PAX goers who controlled marines. The load out screen showed some details about what you would unlock with the xp that you earned. More on that in a second.

The xenos are controlled in 3^rd person. Standard control layout had one of the triggers being held for wall climbs. The xenos would enter first person view when traversing through tight tunnels. They had a pheromone augmented view of the MP map – meaning that they could see through walls and see where other xenos and enemies were at any time. They could swipe with claws, pounce or whip with tails.

It’s important to note that there aren’t any instant kills. The marines had a (very) limited amount of time to shoot the xeno off of their teammate.

The MP map was a Hadley’s Hope – influenced level but on a small scale. Strictly deathmatch – no other modes shown or talked about. Two xenos were available to the GBXers – the lurker and the warrior. It was hard to tell what the differences between the two were, but both looked like they played smoothly. The action was pretty fast and furious with xenos pouncing on marines and there were some nice death animations.

You got XP for kills and avenging, much like your typical COD deathmatch. The animations were much smoother than the build shown in the videos released earlier this week. It looked good and felt balanced.

The marine side had 3 playable load outs – shotgun, pulse rifle and what appeared to be an SMG variant. Each played a little differently and felt pretty balanced. Pulse rifle’s trigger could be held down as auto and the SMG variant (that’s what I’m calling it – not sure if that’s truly what it is) was a semi-auto fire. Shotgun was your typical FPS shotty. The controls were typical of the FPS genre. The exception being that you could press the left bumper at any time to bring up the motion tracker. If it was out, you could not shoot.

Yes, the Motion tracker did have dots for friendly and enemy players. Yes, the enemy players were in red. Yes, there were arrows pointing behind you if the enemy movement was out of the 180 degree view of the Motion tracker. No, that’s not true to the movies, but for MP, it would have been impossible to distinguish between friendly and enemy. Single player had red dot too.

The smartgun was available to anyone who could get to it and equip it. The ocular overlay was pretty sweet and the gun felt heavier when playing. You couldn’t move around as easily. As I mentioned, the match was fast and furious, both sides seemed to be pretty evenly balanced. The crusher did appear every few minutes or so, but it didn’t seem overly cheap to fight against. It had a devastating pounce/bash move!

It really felt like you were against a swarm of xenos. Playing as the Colonial Marines, we actually beat the GBXers, which was fun. Everyone was all smiles. MP didn’t feel “tacked on” and it didn’t feel as stiff as AvP3.

The match end screen was telling as to upgrades. Much like other FPS MP games, there was a leader board showing kills, deaths, etc. You earned XP and were ranked by performance. A tally of ‘achievements’ scrolled on this screen earning you more xp, I believe, and showing any unlocks you earned. I unlocked one new weapon item during the MP – a flame attachment for the pulse rifle. Unfortunately, I only had a chance to play one round.

Overall, the game felt good. The controls were smooth and the game was already looking great. There were some issues with the early build – some of the kill animations skipped a bit, but I’m sure it’s only due to the unfinished nature of the game. Chris assured me that Gearbox was very aware of everything that was touched on and mentioned in the forums.

I’ll have more impressions tomorrow as I go back for a second round of the game and will also I will say that, while the game is still in an earlier build, it does look, sound and play great. I feel very confident in the work that GBX is putting into the game and you can honestly tell that they are passionate about it. That’s not just interview lip-service.

Some really quick notes I jotted down:

• Bishop – in one form or another is in A:CM – Lance told GBX that “they nailed Bishop”
• Xenos actually showed good pathfinding ability
• Can’t use Motion tracker with Smartgun
• MP map was called “Last Hope”
• Xenos went down in a few bursts, marines with a few swipes/tail impales
• Gory, but not over the top. Just the right amount of blood
• Sentries CAN be placed anywhere no prompts
• Definitely will be times when there is a more corridor shooter feel with a set path, but also times when there are no onscreen prompts and you need to figure out how to defend yourself best (make a stand, etc)
• There was an on-screen reticle and a small hit detection mark when your bullets connected.
• Weapons had appropriate weight and kick to them. It felt more realistic than AvP – movement wasn’t as heavy for marines, either
• Xenos wriggled a bit when they died – a la the xeno Vasquez shoots in the air duct how it sort of falls away and wriggles.
• Crusher is a tank, but we did manage to take it down with a group effort.
• Team work really played a role in MP – for both aliens and marines.

That’s all for now… will have more tomorrow! Thanks again to AvP Galaxy, Sega and Gearbox. What a great experience so far!

Continue here to read Tonks’ Day 2 Impressions.