Last week we were lucky enough to have our friends from SONY stop by and let us have a preview of a couple of their upcoming PlayStation 3 releases - Starhawk and Sorcery.
Starhawk
This sci-fi/western hybrid was action-packed to say the least. The game boils down to two rival factions fighting over 'rift energy', which can not only power technology but people, too. In the story mode, you play as Emmet, a man caught in the middle and who works as a very accessible entry point to the conflict. We sampled the first of nine mission, and it certainly got us pumped for more.
The third-person controls worked more or less as you'd imagine, with the classic cover-based tactics intact, in both the rocky deserts and the frontier-like settlements dotted around it, and boy do you need it when the enemies come rolling in from all directions, including crashing down from drop ships above.
Fortunately, you have air support yourself and can call down everything from pre-fab mining bases to automatic gun turrets to help you out with your missions. This 'Build and Battle' function really helps shape the battlefield to your advantage... in theory at least - we made the rookie mistake of turning our newly-arrived wall into a gate. Not the best defensive strategy, and one we won't repeat next time!
The space frontier setting really seemed to set this apart from other shooters, with the golden deserts and blue skies of the planet lightyears away from the industrial cities of other shooters. And it's a fairly open-world to explore as well, with plenty of the planet to explore and danger luring around almost every corner. The music was also a stand-out, too, with bluesy steel guitars further cementing the western mood.
This really whet our appetites for the release of the game on 11th May. If you want to have a similar test, the Beta version is on PSN now.
Sorcery
We then took a trip to the Faerie kingdom to try out this hot new fantasy title, specially crafted for the PlayStation Move - and a game that really takes advantage of the Move controller by using it as a magic wand. And boy did we have fun with that, zapping away and turning sheep into pigs, squelching away pumpkins, moving rubble out of the way and taking out reanimated skeletons.
The game is set in a lush fantasy world inspired by Celtic mythology, with a quirky, animated style that's part Lord of the Rings, part Shrek. The main character is Finn, an ambitious sorcerer's apprentice who is goaded into action by his sarcastic magical cat, Erline. There are five realms to travel through, each with a different boss and assorted enemies to conquer.
Again, we only sampled a small part of his adventures from his first experiments with the wand to his overconfident trip to retrieve a magical ingredient that took him into a Banshee's tomb. But we picked up three of the six "core spells" needed throughout the game in that short time, as well as learning valuable skills and tactics for defeating opponents where timing and combination of spells - as well as accuracy with your Move controller - is key.
This really feels like the game Move was made for, and the confidence that SONY have in the game showed in every aspect, from the astounding visuals, to the characters and their development, to the puzzles and action of the gameplay itself. Even overcoming the smallest of challenges filled us with delight, and, quite frankly, we could have gladly played all day!
Sorcery really looks like the kind of game you would not tire of playing, and we're heartily looking forward to picking up our copies when it's released on 25th May.