Child of Eden by Q

[spadgy]

Tetsuya Mizuguchi (Rez and Child of Eden) is talking tomorrow (Friday) night in Central London at a BAFTA Q&A the public can attend.

£5 to get in. Here's the link for the event. Quite a few UK-based games industry legends should be there too, in the audience and hanging out before and after (based on chat on Twitter and my experience of the previous BAFTA nights).

I'll be there for work, so it would be great to see any of you.

I'm actually getting to interview Tetsuya Mizuguchi if all goes to plan. Exciting, and it will be great to hear him talk about Child of Eden

[Super Laydock]

^^ I would have liked the heads up a bit earlier

would love 2 come (could have if 1 week notice).

then again,my health probably wouldn't benefit from short notice breaks..

[cul]

I'm a huge fan of Rez and so far I'm meh about this one.

Especially because the music we've heard so far is really gay. Rez had people like Ken Ichii or bands like Coldcut, they better hire as talented people for that one.

[spadgy]

^^ I would have liked the heads up a bit earlier

would love 2 come (could have if 1 week notice).

then again,my health probably wouldn't benefit from short notice breaks..

Sorry man! I only heard out about in last night after a chat with some industry folks.

[Skykid]

Aww FFS, SOLD OUT!

[spadgy]

Badger Ubi for a press pass! they are available.

One-to-one interviews are not, sadly.

[Skykid]

Badger Ubi for a press pass! they are available.

One-to-one interviews are not, sadly.

Balls, wish I'd seen your post. I didn't realise Ubisoft were doing press passes.

Woe is me, I would have reached for that one for sure (and attempted to get my copy of Rez signed by the man. )

[spadgy]

Guess who forgot to take their copy of Rez? spadgy the dick!

Still, I did get a one-to-one interview in the end. I'll feed back here on it all soon.

Child of Eden looks unbelievably good - like loosing your mind in a 1990's rave flyer.

[Skykid]

Child of Eden looks unbelievably good - like loosing your mind in a 1990's rave flyer.

Cools will be well up for it then.

[BulletMagnet]

Child of Eden looks unbelievably good - like loosing your mind in a 1990's rave flyer.

Did you get a chance to actually play it at all? Like several others on here I'm curious as to how it plays on a regular ol' controller as opposed to Move or Kinect...

[szycag]

But how does it sound?

[cul]

Child of Eden looks unbelievably good - like loosing your mind in a 1990's rave flyer.

Did you get a chance to actually play it at all? Like several others on here I'm curious as to how it plays on a regular ol' controller as opposed to Move or Kinect...

From what I get there's a locking weapon and a non lock weapon, so it will be rez/panzerdragoon like, pretty sure.

[BulletMagnet]

From what I get there's a locking weapon and a non lock weapon, so it will be rez/panzerdragoon like, pretty sure.

I figured that much, but I'm most concerned how cursor/reticle movement is calibrated for a controller versus a motion device, sort of like d-pad versus mouse control on a PC shooter.

[spadgy]

Yep - that's it. It's one hand to highlight and lock, and then fling that hand forward to unleash a volley of shots. The other hand is a non-locking constant 'machine gun' shot called 'tracer'. Mizuguchi (a very funny man) also treid to demonstrate you could play with your feet. There also seemed to be some special two handed weapon, but I didn't quite catch the explaination.

The game was mesmerising to watch on a huge screen with a meaty sound system in a darkened room, but it was actually almost more captivating to watch Mizuguchi (and later the lovely Guy Cocker from Gamespot) playing, looking like a crazed conductor with arms spinning.

The music was more ambient than Rez in what I saw (three levels) but visually it was a far more hyperactive experience than that which
Rez offers. The screen was constantly full of all kinds of activity, and elaborate forms and shapes folding in on one's selves or expanding and evolving dominated. There was also quite a bit of interaction beyond the familiar Rez gameplay mechanic, for example sweeping piles of small blocks that formed obstacles out of the way.

Mizuguchi also hinted at Move and 3D versions, and left me very excited and optimistic about the day I play it myself (no luck yet). Honestly, it looks awesome, and anybody who enjoyed Rez should give it a chance, as it seems like a natural extension of what Rez offered.

Still, it did seem to play like Rez, albeit a version where you throw your whole body into the synesthesia thing.

[t0yrobo]

iirc when raise both your hands it uses a overdrive, or whatever they're calling it for this game.
So now when you get pissed off and throw your hands up in the air everything gets blasted.

[cj iwakura]

This has the potential to top Rez, if only because the Genki Rockets are involved.

Also, it's gorgeous. Gotta settle for the PS3 version though.

[Dave_K.]

I don't typically follow modern console game releases, but was very excited when I saw the first previews for this successor to Rez a year ago. I just found out this is now being released next week, and watched a few of the final trailers, and am shocked that the cyberpunk techno theme has turned into j-pop with flowers and birds and shit. WTF happened!?

[Strider77]

gayness comes in many forms...

[GaijinPunch]

So, do that trailer over with the guy swiping on a 100" touch screen, he's like 5' away flailing his arms at a regular ass HDTV. So much less cool.

This. When someone releases DJ Max Technika for consoles I'll be impressed.

I tip my hat to you if you understood exactly what the guy was saying.

[chempop]

Was all pumped to buy it this week and then remembered that it might be region protected. If anyone who buys this happens to be able to test out the North America region game on a Japanese console it would be appreciated.

It does look flowery and gay compared to Rez, but it's still going to be a great game.

[GaijinPunch]

Wow -- PS3 version comes out that much later. Any news on what will be different?

[dcharlie]

was in stock in aki yesterday according to gmh.jp - but now sold out.

Went at lunch and no joy - what's frustrating is seeing the new game boxes all stacked up and them not being opened. Asked at all the import stores and it was the usual air through teeth sucking and "maybe later/tomorrow"

If i get the US version, i'll check it on my JPN machine.

[antares]

Wow -- PS3 version comes out that much later. Any news on what will be different?

I guess it's because they decided to put Move support in fairly late in development.

[chempop]

Oh, so it's out in Japan? For some quackshot reason I though US was getting it first.

PS3 version should be 3D, but probably won't be, oh well.. Not that I'll own a 3DTV anytime soon, it would be a perfect game for it.

[dcharlie]

Oh, so it's out in Japan? For some quackshot reason I though US was getting it first.

it's the US version in Aki, not the Japanese version

[chempop]

I'm driving home with a 24"-36" poster frame, child of Eden poster, and.... <SPLOILER ALERT!!!> Child of Eden

Was nice being part of the shmups forum for 6 years, if my brain still functions after playing this I'll post some impressions.

[BulletMagnet]

Played a bit of this earlier on, a few quick impressions:

- Don't have a Kinect, so just using the regular ol' controller...generally works fine, though I do wish they'd included d-pad support (analog stick only). Still feels nearly identical to Rez, despite not having an onscreen character - found myself suffering a handful of "what hit me?" moments though, since you don't actually "see" the bullet smacking into you.

- One niggle I have with the overall structure is the reticle - in Rez it'd display the current number of lock-ons you have, but here it just fills in a circular "meter" around the outside as you latch onto enemies. Still technically works, but it's a lot tougher to keep track of in the middle of the visual explosions every two seconds.

- No need to unlock "score attack" as scoring exists from the beginning. Since you now have two different types of shots, one of which is used almost exclusively to cancel bullets, exploiting enemy fire for increased lock-on multipliers is kaput. In its place is a rhythm-based system, which gives you a bonus if you unleash a x8 in time with the music - neat, but again, a bit hard to keep track of sometimes.

- Presentation-wise it does look very nice, in a "whoooa, the colors" kind of way - musically it's not quite as techno-oriented as Rez, but is still definitely in the ballpark. The "story" takes a bit more of center stage here, including some rather weird live-action mashins, which will probably raise an eyebrow when you first see them but aren't too tough to ignore after that.

- Length-wise it looks to be about the same as its older sibling (i.e. not very long - five "regular" areas plus one unlockable IIRC), though you can replay areas for trinkets (and, of course, for higher scores). Haven't gotten too far yet, so there might be more to it, but no indications as of this point.

Overall, not a bad successor to Rez: though it feels a bit less mechanical and a tad more "chaotic" (for lack of a better word), it's not a game-breaking deal. That said, I enjoyed Rez, but I got it for less than 20 bucks - gonna have to see how I feel after paying full price for this one (and again, note that I'm Kinect-less, so you'll need someone else to critique that end).

[BulletMagnet]

If anyone who buys this happens to be able to test out the North America region game on a Japanese console it would be appreciated.

Just got the chance to try my US copy on my J360, and am happy to report that it DOES work.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Bought this new fangled "Child of Eden" game on day one of release at my local Best Buy. Tried it out for the first time last night for 30 minutes before hitting the sack. Wow, this game seems to have the same feel of Rez but with support up to 1080p + Kinect support from the get-go. Yes, I do have a Kinect but haven't tried it out with this game yet. I've only tried it out with a Microsoft 360 gamepad.

The very first stage in CoE does have some of the classic end-stage bosses taken from Rez but with more visual appeal/eye-candy. This type of gaming experience calls for one of those bigger HDTV screens/projector to enjoy it to it's fullest potential.

Just for kicks, it'd be cool to play CoE on a low-res 15kHz arcade monitor/cab setup as a novelity.

I recall calling up my local Gamestop to see if they had gotten in their first shipment of PS2 Rez and they said they did. It came with a MSRP $49.99 + tax. Didn't even have a pre-order reservation for it either. Yes, I bought my copy of PS2 Rez on day one of release -- still have the receipt for it as well.

The only two other console games with such high-production values/eye candy/visual flair would be the PSX import of iS: "internal section" & the 360 indie game of "Prismatic Solid". Only if SquareEnix were to do a proper sequel to iS (considering that it was released back in 1999 for the Japanese PSX audience), makes me think that the old Squaresoft just wanted it to be single game experience/release (just like how Einhander was a single game release despite fans clamoring/ranting for a updated prequel/sequel). The iS OST (with it's two additional unused BGM tracks as a bonus) is cool to take out for a spin every once in a while.

It's surprising that Microsoft hasn't even offered a d/l playable demo of CoE on the U.S. region XBox Live site but yet, has a single FMV trailer up showcasing it. The hard-core Rez fans have already snapped up their copies to see/play what the hype is all about.

You don't need a Gold Account to gain access to the CoE's leaderboards which is a plus in my book. You can find what your ranking is (even after completing a stage as well).

One of EoC's unlockables will net you a cool music video to watch at your leisure -- trippy stuff indeed.

The CoE game is not installable on to the 360's HDD but rather played straight from the disk itself (but rather a game save file is created on the 360's HDD/USB drive for posterity). I tried several times to do so but it's not possible.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[chempop]

I don't care how girly parts of this game are, it's friggin amazing! Every bit as good as I hoped it would be.

The only thing I think it is sorely missing is a mode that let's you play all the stages in succession... I forgot what it was called in Rez, but I always played that mode (Trancemission?)