EGX Rezzed

A couple of weekends ago, we had the chance to go EGX Rezzed at the Birmingham NEC.

As a first Expo for both of us, we didn't quite know what to expect or how to prepare!

Well we'll skip over the details of terrible train delays and a traumatic attempt to reach the airport from the train station and leave this wondrous tip for anyone planning on visiting the NEC and staying over the course of a few nights, undoubtedly at an airport hotel:
When you reach Birmingham International Train Station, head to the Air-Rail in the station!
It's free and frequent and it transports you in comfort directly to the Airport Terminal from which you can reach most of the hotels in minutes.
Travel tips aside, we were extremely excited to finally be at our hotel and ready for the long weekend of gaming.

Luckily we had booked tickets for all three days meaning we had plenty of time to visit all the stalls and try everything that took our fancy.
The most surprising thing was how busy the opening Friday was especially compared to the Sunday which struck us as very odd, but being our first expo we didn't know better!

We were greeted with a big queue and closed doors.

No Entry: EGX Rezzed has doors closed!

Once the doors were opened and people were let loose onto the floor, this was the view:

Expansive: The show floor of EGX Rezzed

Now being a couple of PC gamers as of late, the first thing to catch our eye was a bus emblazoned with a rather distinctive acid green.

Eye-catching: The Razer Bus on the show floor!

Although it was there in front of our eyes, the Razer Bus was still yet to be set up when we entered which was a little bit of a party pooper. However once it was all up and running, we noticed something rather odd. People, it seemed, were entering and none came out! More interested than before, we stood in queue for an eternity until we boarded the bus and were greeted with a LAN and many Razer goodies showcased.

As you can imagine with so many computers in a restricted space, it was more than toasty in the bus! After playing a few rounds of the already popular Shootmania, we were ushered out to let the next lot of intrigued souls have their fill.

Most interesting of all was that the bus wasn't set out to be a merchandise stand for Razer at all, and instead focused on letting people use the equipment which was a nice touch.

Next, the biggest and most imposing of all, the centre exhibit was the highly anticipated Alien:Isolation.

Imposing: Alien:Isolation walls encasing the exhibit

Now we were expecting scary, no doubt about it, this is Alien after all, but it was sheer terror. Thankfully we bore witness to some of the more hilarious (for us, not the player) scenarios of people physically screaming and jumping out of their skin, whilst maintaining most of our own dignity.

Frustrations did soar though, this is a tough game, very tough, and we didn't even get to know if there will be a difficulty slider! 

The blacked out room and eerie green light shining on your head probably didn't help the feeling of dread all that much.

Moving around the floor, being the first day, we looked for the AAA titles and found another, somewhat hiding behind other stalls. Murdered: Soul Suspect.

Eerie: Glowing bullet holes aren't fun

Everybody loves a play on words right?

A new murder mystery. Let's go solve this crime with a twist.

We're instantly plunged into something akin to the 1940s era with a heavy film noir influence, greeted with the protagonists backstory and the events immediately before where we enter the game.

Think Heavy Rain meets L.A Noire and mashed with the supernatural.

Ghosts and stuff are never the most welcoming kind and you'll find more of that along the way whilst you rack your brains trying to solve the case!

Last of the AAA titles that we visited but only due to the queues. InFamous: Second Son

Rebel: Disappointingly not actual spray paint

Having played the first two games of the InFamous franchise, there was an immediate sense of familiarity with Second Son's controls and feel. However as expected from a next-gen addition, colours and textures are far superior as well as a smoothness never before felt from the previous games. The progression within the small demo emphasised one of the best parts of the franchise: large scale free roaming. You also aren't stuck to just one set of powers now! Oh and if you've seen the trailers with the epic launch up into the air before a piledriver into the ground below, then it was the alternate ending of the demo if you had gained enough power from draining sources! With impressive visuals and great gameplay smoothness, Second Son is a worthy successor to the InFamous name.

Now obviously what we played aren't final, ready to be shipped products so take everything with a grain of salt!

WORM!!!

This wraps it up for the AAA titles at EGX Rezzed, but you know there is much more to come from the indie game scene!