Day Two of PAX was a big day for me! I attended more meetings, played more games, went to a party, and even met a celebrity! Click and read to find out what I played and who I met!

Tumblestone

The first game I played was a puzzler that will be out on PCs and consoles next year. It plays almost just like Magical Drop, even though the developers at the show denied it. I’m sorry, but if it quacks like a duck, well, you know. But that doesn’t mean the game was any less fun. It actually had a bit more strategy than Magical Drop, and will have a bunch of game modes. There will be a story mode and I played a four player race to see who could clear the most boards quickest. I’ll be keeping my eye out on Tumblestone and hope to get to review it.

Riptide GP: Renegade

This is a Jet Ski water racing game that plays similarly to arcade racers like Hydro Thunder. It has a very arcade-y feel and you can do stunts while in the air to give you a speed boost. The graphics look amazing and there will even be a six player local single screen mode as well as online racing. It’ll be for mobile devices and most of the newer consoles, except for Wii U, which is a shame since it’s the only new console I have right now.

Assault Android Cactus

I’ve already posted a review for this game when it first came out on PCs. But since it plays like an arcade twin stick shooter such as Smash TV, it’s a perfect fit for consoles. And now it’ll be available for most of the newer ones, with the PS4 version coming first and others afterward (like the Wii U). At the show, they featured some of the new additions like different weapons and stages as well as cut scenes. If you enjoy classic titles like Smash TV and Robotron, you’ll definitely want to check it out!

Mekazoo

This is a 2.5-D platformer that’ll be out on all consoles (even the Wii U). In the game, you play as a robotic frog who can transform into an armadillo. I’m not sure if there will be any other animal transformations, though. Anyway, as the frog, you can use your long tongue to grapple and swing on objects. And as the armadillo, you can roll up into a ball and spin dash up sides of walls and ramps, like Sonic the Hedgehog. Since you can’t jump, the controls for switching between different animals took some getting used to, but once you do get the hang of it, the game has a very smooth, seamless flowing feel to it. The graphics had you in an alien world with plenty of half pipe walls to dash up, and mushrooms to bounce on. It kind of reminded me of a cross between other 2-D platformers like Klonoa and Sonic. So if you enjoyed those games, you’ll want to keep a look out for Mekazoo.

Misc. Stuff

When I wasn’t attending meetings and playing games, I was walking around the show floor taking pictures and gathering info (and free goodies). So here are some cool pictures and things I did during those times.

2K Games was only showing one game at their booth: Battleborn. I don’t really have any interest in this game, but I have heard a lot of people talk about it. I did think the statue they had outside the booth was kind of cool, though.

Behemoth was there again as always, and they were showing off their new game, which has a name now: Pit People. It’s a simple strategy board game style challenge, and I played it last year. They also showed off Castle Crashers Remastered, which is the same classic brawler as before, now on the new consoles with better visuals and new modes. One I saw was Back Off Barbarian, which looks like a cross between a board game and Q*bert. Their booth was so crowded that I didn’t get to take many pictures, and the only one that showed up well was this pic of one of the characters from BattleBlock Theater, which my brother and his friends still play sometimes.

I was excited to see that Bandai Namco was at PAX this year, since usually they don’t go. But unfortunately, they were only showing two games: Dark Souls 3 and some online PC shooter that I couldn’t care less about. But out front they did have a neat (yet creepy) fountain featuring Dark Souls with black water spewing out of it!

Bethesda’s big draw at their booth was Fallout 4. I don’t really care much for the Fallout games, but I have a lot of friends and family who do, so I made sure to pick up goodies for them. Greeting you at their booth with a big thumbs up was this guy. I don’t know his name, but he’s in the Fallout titles and looks pretty happy about it. They were giving out free masks of this happy guy, too.

They also had a robot thing at their booth. I don’t know who it is, but it was moving and talking to people as they passed by.

Gung Ho was showing off various versions of their popular Puzzle & Dragons series, including Puzzle & Dragons Z/Puzzle & Dragons Super Mario Bros. Edition on the 3DS. They also had a Grandia 2 Anniversary Edition as well.

A lot of hardware manufacturers were at PAX as well, including this one company who had a giant pair of headphones out front. I’d hate to cross paths with the big guy who has to wear these!

WB Games was showing off two titles and one of them was LEGO Dimensions. It’s pretty much their answer to Skylanders. I really can’t wait to play it, though, because one of the worlds you get to tromp around in is Portal, and I really like the Portal games. It’ll probably be the closest thing we get to Portal 3 for a while, but I’m OK with LEGO Portal. I hope I get to review this one. Chances are I probably will since I’ve reviewed most of the LEGO games in the past.

The other game they had was Mad Max. Outside the convention center they even had a Mad Max car you could take a picture of.

Speaking of outside decorations, there was another one that was so huge, I couldn’t really take a good picture of it all, even though I tried. I’m assuming it was for Magic: The Gathering, since the logo was on a sticker near the thing. But it was a statue of a giant monster crashing through a building and crushing a police car! It’s not a good shot, but here’s a picture of the whole thing.

And here’s a closer shot of the arm smashing a police car!

And here it is crashing through the window. It really was a big statue. Only way I could’ve taken a good picture of it was to stand in the middle of the road, which I wasn’t about to do.

I really like Shovel Knight, so I was glad to see them at the show. They were featuring some new DLC that lets you play as Plague Knight! The game will also be sold in retail stores later this year, and even though I didn’t see it at their booth, they’re also coming out with a Shovel Knight Amiibo that unlocks a co-op mode when you scan it on the Wii U (and some other stuff on the 3DS). I must have that Amiibo! They were also selling lots of Shovel Knight merchandise at their booth, including plush toys. I got a Shovel Knight plush from another booth, though, because it was five dollars cheaper there. I really like Shovel Knight!

Square-Enix had so many games at their booth that there’s no way I can remember them all! Although I will be reviewing Lara Croft Go on the iPad soon. Two games that caught my eye were Dragon Quest Heroes on the PS4 and Final Fantasy Explorers on the 3DS. Both look like 3-D action games featuring characters and monsters from their respective series. If I had a PS4 I’d consider getting the Dragon Quest one. Outside in the hall they had an area where you could pop a wall of bubble wrap with DQ Slimes on them! I thought that was pretty funny and clever, so here is a picture of that:

Adult Swim Games

One of my last meetings was with Adult Swim Games. They had so many games shown that there’s no way I could remember them all. They had almost as many games shown as Nintendo. If they keep this up, they’ll really be a force to be reckoned with! The titles they had showcased were: Headlander, Rain World (which I played last year at PAX), Rise and Shine, and Death’s Gambit. Also there was Small Worlds Big Televisions (you use cassette tapes to make new worlds), Ghost Song (a cool Metroid style game), Wasted, and Desync.

Even though it’s already out, they also had Duck Game featured since it was so popular. In fact, Adult Swim Games was going to do the Ride the Ducks Tours in Seattle to promote that game, but it was on Sunday when I was flying out so I couldn’t do that. But I did do the duck tours a few years ago when I was at PAX, and it was a lot of fun. But the thing I’m most excited about is that Adult Swim Games is going to be publishing Starr Mazer. It’s a combination between a 2-D shooter and a point and click adventure, and I first saw it at PAX South earlier this year. I’m glad that they found a publisher and I think Adult Swim Games will be good for them.

Cartoon Network Games

Adult Swim Games’ other publishing division, Cartoon Network Games, wasn’t at PAX, but they helped host a party after the show on Saturday evening, and I got invited to it! There wasn’t much at the party I was interested in, but I was happy to be invited anyway. I haven’t been invited to a convention party since my Dallas Morning News days, so it was nice to feel kind of important again. At the party, Cartoon Network Games had some iPad demos set up with some games I’ve already reviewed (Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake, Adventure Time: Game Wizard, and Steven Universe: Attack the Light). But they had a new free-to-play game based on the recent We Bare Bears cartoon. Unfortunately, it froze up when I tried to play it. I just downloaded it to my own iPad, so maybe I’ll review it later if I run out of things to write. They also had a photo booth where you could get your picture taken with a Cartoon Network overlay from shows like Steven Universe or We Bare Bears, but when I went to take my picture, my face broke the camera (actually it just ran out of batteries). But at least I got a pretty cool loot bag. But before I messed up anything else, I decided it was probably time to head on out of there!

Star Wars: Uprising

But one of the best things about the second day was my meeting with the folks who are making Star Wars: Uprising. This is an upcoming mobile RPG set in the world of Star Wars between Return of the Jedi and the new The Force Awakens movie. I didn’t get to play it at the show because their booth was so crowded (it comes out in September so maybe I’ll get to review it), but I did get to meet a famous Star Wars celebrity. Me and a select few other media professionals got to talk to and take pictures with Billy Dee Williams in a private room. He played Lando Calrissian in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi! Here is a picture of him at the show. He may look a little different now, but that was around 35 years ago so give him a break! At any rate, it was an honor to meet him and will definitely be a feather in my game reviewer cap!

And that’s the second day of the show! On the third day’s article which will go up tomorrow, we’ll wrap up the last of my meetings and look at some crazy cosplayer costumes I took pictures of. Later! –Cary

Tags: Misc