Adam Corn Oct 9, 2008
So I went to TGS today and actually played a few games this time. I am by no means a hardcore gamer (anymore) but figured I should give that media pass some meaning and offer some impressions 
PS3 Naruto was my first and favorite game of the show - fantastic cell-shaded graphics and maybe the most dynamic movement and camerawork I've ever seen. I was pretty clueless what I was doing but even basic attacks and movement are a rush. When you call in your "tag-team" partners to do your dirty work for you be prepared for a treat.
Wii Samba de Amigo felt natural playing with two wiimotes, even without the maraca attachments (rumble helps quite a lot). Shaking up and down was fine for me but the middle zone was tricky for a while - once the Sega dude told me to hold the wiimotes in a semi-horizontal position for that zone it got much easier. Definitely want this game but it sucks needing four wiimotes for proper two-player play.
Wii Sonic World Adventure was a mix of old-school 2D Sonic and 3D racing-style maneuvering and drifting. Level design seemed alright, with Sonic dashing and bouncing about seemingly randomly yet progressing in a way only Sonic can do, and the wiimote shake-to-dash control scheme felt surprisingly natural. The graphics are grainy and decidedly PS2 though.
Resident Evil 5 (I played it on 360) looks amazing. I haven't played any recent RE games to compare to (4 is still waiting on the shelf begging) but man is it intense. The two-player assist gameplay works well even in single-player mode and aside from slightly off lip synching the cut scenes are impressively gritty and real, although I don't know about this new Matrixy bad guy.
Got to play Street Fighter IV in both the Capcom booth (360 version) and Microsoft's. The 360 version looked good to me but I'm still trying to figure out why the shading looks so much cooler in some video clips than in others. Gameplay felt comfortably like old-school SF2. Really looking forward to getting back into Street Fighter!
Along with Naruto's cell shading and RE5's gritty, realistic look, 360's The Last Remnant was the most visually impressive game of the show. The characters are stylized just right (not too real and not too anime) and the graphics in both the battle scenes and the real-time cut scenes were as good as anything there for PS3. (I think I did spot a bit of slowdown though.) Really wanted to play this one but never got around to it.
The other game I really regret not playing is Muramasa: The Demon Blade for Wii. Remember how Astal for Saturn was supposed to be the second coming of the 2D action platformer? Well this might be the real deal. Usually I'd prefer 2.5D for smooth character animation and background scrolling but the traditional 2D animation and parallax scrolling in Muramasa just works, and the colors are vibrant and gorgeous. Hope it plays better than Astal!
Less noteworthy titles played: 360 Bionic Commando (hard to get the hang of that grappling hook), 360 Ninja Blade (Heavenly Sword-inspired with a bit too many interactive cinema sequences but may satisfy the ninja crowd), Phantasy Star Zero for DS (decent graphics but not much fun to play), Gundam for 360 (looks cool at first but not much fun; the movement is too restricted despite flying around in outer space), and WiiWare Tetris Party (an interesting take where you aim to stack the blocks *up* so some tiny dude can climb them to the top of the screen).
Despite the 360's abysmal market position in Japan I've often found that platform to be the most exciting at TGS and this year is the same. Little Big Planet is certainly intriguing and having White Knight Story playable would have improved Sony's showing, but with the 360 matching most everything else Sony had and having The Last Remnant to boot, it looks like a surprisingly strong show for Microsoft.
