Yep, that’s right another PAX Prime article! What’s that you’re not sick of it yet? Awesome! With each convention we cover, we have awards that we give out to the games that really stand out. We have five awards we’ll be giving out in this article that we saw on the scene at PAX Prime. Fortunately all of which we even got our hands on! As our coverage of some titles is still ongoing, you can still expect to see a few more editorials after this article. The awards go: Best of Show, Most Anticipated, Best Playable, Most Innovative, and Up and Comer. No games will attain more than one award to keep it fair! Let’s see what titles will rock the rest of 2013 and 2014 to come.
Betrayer
Why start with Best of Show, we’ll save that for last! Now for the Up and Comer award, our rising star, I’m going to have to give it to a game that dazzled me. Going into it I wasn’t quite sure what to expect and even leaving it I wasn’t sure if I had learned much more. What was once a group of developers at Monolith Productions soon became the indie company Blackpowder Productions to create Betrayer. Betrayer is a confusing first person adventure game taking place in the 17th century as you explore the New World. But what’s berserk is the black and white art approach, with the occasional tint of red. Betrayer is a huge mystery waiting to be solved with perhaps a moral message to be told.
Takedown: Red Sabre
At this rate we might as well go backwards in the order we stated the awards, why not mix it up? The Most Innovative award is yet another indie title. One of the great things about indie games is they always manage to be unique and bring something new to the table. They’re able to take the risks that triple A companies aren’t. This is a company that has made the decision to skip following the generic shooter genre, let’s get rid of levels, noob tubing, and throw in tactics and strategy instead. Serellan LLC certainly deserves this award for their tactical shooter, Takedown: Red Sabre. Takedown: Red Sabre encourages the player to communicate with their team mates and take on each mission differently, in their hope to survive. Don’t expect to be running and gunning down the hallways, because there’s no respawning. It’s a pleasure to see a return to the tactical shooter and what appears to be a successful return. Once I got my hands on Takedown: Red Sabre it was difficult to stop.
Extraction
Then we have the Best Playable. After playing several different shooters this year at PAX Prime this was a tough decision. There are many new triple A games in the works, many indie games, and overall they’re all addicting and plenty of fun. But the one that had no issues and once I got in and had a blast in would have to be Extraction. Splash Damage has a long way ahead of them in their collaboration with Nexon, but I wish them luck in their adventure. The free to play model is a tough, but growing model and Splash Damage certainly isn’t letting that hold back the quality of Extraction. After running through two rounds of Extraction and tearing apart my enemies, I must say it was a ton of fun. This is a free to play shooter that I can see myself playing long term and not just as a fallback game.
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number
Most Anticipated was a close tie I will say, but I won’t say between which titles. This one is a little offbeat, but we all know the original blew everyone away with its incredible success. Dennaton Games manages to make this retro title even more vibrant, more violent, more disturbing, and somehow more complex. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number has a story we’re all waiting to unravel if we can manage to figure it out. This is a game that always keeps you wanting more even if there are a few moments where you’re like, wait, did that really just happen? Hotline Miami 2 will bestow a new interesting, impossible, violent experience. The soundtrack alone is glorious. I know I can’t be the only one looking forward to the sequel.
Titanfall
Last, but as they say, not quite least. The Best of Show award, the one you’ve either been waiting for or scrolled to the bottom to see. By now you’ve probably already seen the heading and know which game has won the award, dare I continue? The secret is out! As some have joked, the only way to beat the developers of Call of Duty is to be the developers of Call of Duty. But wait, Call of Duty wasn’t at PAX Prime! Former developers at Infinity Ward, co-founders even, decided to split and form Respawn Entertainment. Jason West, Vince Zampella, and their team have be at work on their new FPS title under the wing of EA, Titanfall. Titanfall isn’t just any shooter. Titanfall is like a mixture of Hawken, Call of Duty, Mirror’s Edge, and who knows what else. This is a game that is so great that it could have taken almost any other award we’ve given out as well. Titanfall combines the combat of a parkour grunt with the combat of a mech handling pilot. However way you play, you’re in for a unique deadly experience. Titanfall was the main title I heard spoken about on the floor and also one of my favorites. Really taking advantage of the parkour created a distinct experience from other shooters I’ve played, allowing for me to really maneuver around the battlefield either fleeing or tactically advancing. Climb here, climb there, run along that wall, double jump between buildings, etc. Next thing you know, I’m behind a squad of enemies taking them down one by one. So distinguished you’d think it was scripted. After my hands on escapade with Titanfall, I was filled with anticipation, because I can’t wait for this release.
Th-th-th-that’s all folks! Were you at PAX Prime this year? How was your event, what games did you enjoy, what should have gotten what award, and overall what do you think of these games? Are they awesome, do they seem strange, bad, or what? Let us know in the comments, we appreciate the feedback! Chime in!
