EB Games Expo 2014: What to expect at the Sony Australia booth

Unlike the supercars featured outside their booth, Sony is most certainly in cruise control at the start of this generation. The PS4 is dominating sales despite delays to big Sony exclusives Driveclub and The Order: 1886, both of which I got hands on time with alongside From Software’s highly anticipated Dark Souls follow up Bloodborne.

Driveclub

Driveclub is Sony’s feature title at EB Expo 2014, coming out in a few days with a limited version available free to all PS+ subscribers. Plenty is riding on Driveclub as Sony’s biggest AAA release of the season. While heavily focused on social connectivity, Driveclub will live or die on how it plays and first impressions are solid. The handling is on the arcade side (more than I expected from other previews) but differences in individual car attributes was noticeable and a variety of off road obstacles make it difficult to just careen around with complete disregard for the brake pedal. While racing on icy roads was perilous it wasn’t entirely unforgiving and Evolution has done a good job of retaining the personality of the cars while making a forgiving experience.

While not punishing you for taking what I like to call an “aggressive” approach to your fellow racers, a Project Gotham style points system rewards drafting, drifting, avoiding contact, and general good driving. I did find myself spun out once or twice by AI drivers but in the demo it felt like the pack slowed down for me, as I caught up in about half a minute after being turned around. We’ll see if rubber banding and AI are problems soon with reviews due any day now, but the core driving engine looks good from an early glance.

Driveclub has had a long and bumpy road to release, but will be out next week.

The Order: 1886

The Order: 1886 demo was brief, very brief. It is a cover shooter in the style of Gears of War with the unique gameplay hook being your weapon that can shoot thermite then ignite it with a flare, creating clouds of fire around enemy locations. The vertical slice we played wasn’t a great showpiece for the game, punctuated too frequently by cutscenes and moments without action in an already short experience. It is hard to get a gauge on The Order from the EB Expo showing, the weapon mechanics show promise but there was something unsatisfying about the game, from the way you don’t quite stick to cover to the way enemies react to fire. It looks sensational, probably the best looking game on the system, but gameplay has some catching up to do.

We previewed The Order: 1886 at E3 2014.

Bloodborne

I come to Bloodborne as a Souls rookie, familiar with the reputation of the series but with limited experience in the games themselves. I know enough to be sure that a show floor demo is not going to tell Souls fans much about the game, but it is still a very polished, entertaining showing. Combat felt as satisfying as expected, with firearms proving more of a complement to your sword/axe attacks than a useful standalone tool. The demo leads you through some one on one combat situations before throwing you into a set piece that you can choose to attack in several ways. There are some surprises (taking a shot to the back from a slumped over, presumed dead enemy was a nasty one) and with several approaches to picking off enemies it was a far more cerebral experience than I expected. Of course it is capped off with a boss fight against a massive lumbering beast.

I really enjoyed my time with Bloodborne, I don’t see it letting anybody down. Of particular interest is how many noted Dark Souls fans are staying away from the demo, wanting to go in blind to the full experience.

Bloodborne will be available in February.

What else is on offer?

Sony are also showcasing some of WB’s titles, Mortal Kombat X and Shadow of Mordor, and interestingly featured EA Sports games, considering their rejection of the EA Access service I was surprised to see EA hosted at Sony rather than Microsoft. The rest of their booth lineup includes Little Big Planet 3, Hotline Miami 2, Evil Within and Until Dawn, which I hope to get some time with over the weekend.