Members of the Well Played podcast team (Siobhan Keogh, Chris Leggett and Aylon Herbet) were invited along to Fiveight’s offices to get some hands-on time with upcoming titles House of the Dead: Overkill and Driver: San Francisco. We were were also able to play through a bit of the latest Sonic title; Sonic Generations and we were shown hands-off footage of Assassin’s Creed: Revelations.

Driver: San Francisco

It’s nice to get hands-on time with a game that you would normally not be that hyped for, but I soon learned that the four player coop mode for Driver: San Francisco is all kinds of crazy fun! The story behind Driver: San Francisco sets you up for the freaky “shifting” gameplay mechanic that you’ll see in the multiplayer. This really was a game-changer for me. I am not normally a fan of driving games (hence the reason why I kinda suck at playing them), but having the ability to “shift” (physically take over) into other cars while attempting to chase-down and take out your opponents really is seriously fun.

We played through several game modes of Driver: San Francisco with “Tag” being one of my favourites. The object of this particular game mode is a game of “Tag” but in reverse; everyone is trying to “tag” one particular player and once that player is tagged, the player who delivered the tag is “it”. What makes this game mode so much fun is that you can randomly take possession (i.e: “shift”) of any car on the map. If you’re falling behind the rest of the field, no problem – just “shift” into a car that’s closer to the player you’re chasing. Just make sure you don’t accidentally shift into a car that’s horribly slow, like a pick-up truck!

There’s a little bit of demolition derby going on in the game as well as you’ll inevitably come face to face with your opponents. Of course, it’s always fun eliminating your opponents by simply taking them out of the race! Just remember though, shifting works for everyone.

Driver: San Francisco has a lot going for it including a rather “freaky” storyline and some great multiplayer game modes. Check out the demo if you haven’t already.

Assassin’s Creed: Revelations

While we didn’t get any hands-on time with Assassin’s Creed: Revelations this time around, the game is looking especially slick! As always, the beautiful landscape that we’ve all come to love in the Assassin’s Creed series is captured and detailed wonderfully in Revelations, along with a much older Ezio, who is now doing his stealthy assassin’s dance in Constantinople during the reign of the Ottoman Empire.

A new environment means new adventures and challenges for Ezio. Although Ezio is much older now and may be a little slower to react than he once was, he’s still absolutely kick-ass! With age also comes experience and Ezio is now even more skilled than before, with brand-new moves and skills to use.

We didn’t get to see much more than that other than a few nifty new bomb mechanics that Ezio comes armed with as well as the new “hookblade” device which will help Ezio traverse the city a lot more efficiently (and speedily) than before. None of this is new content however, as trailers revealing the new location, devices and bombs were previously revealed at this year’s E3.

House of the Dead: Overkill

So I revealed to everyone at Fiveight that I am a complete newbie when it comes to using the PlayStation Move! And I wasn’t too great with setting up House of the Dead: Overkill to begin with, but having said that, House of the Dead: Overkill is a lot of fun. It’s basically a full-on, in-your-face shooter with loads of gore and body parts flying everywhere. Great, huh?

If you’re familiar with the arcade version of this on-rails shooter, you’ll know exactly what to expect. In the arcade version, you actually use light guns to point and aim at oncoming opponents. You gain points by blowing them away. It’s a typical scenario but one that’s captured exceptionally well with the PlayStation Move. The whole entire “arcade” feel of the game is replicated beautifully with the paddles but I can’t help but think it would be even more authentic using the PlayStation Sharpshooter instead (which I’d love to do, once I get around to acquiring a PlayStation Move and a Sharpshooter).

I played through one portion of the game coop, which is actually a lot more fun than having to go through the game solo (and also, if creepy shooters aren’t your thing, it’s best to team up with a buddy).

All-in-all, I was pretty stoked with House of the Dead: Overkill and I’d seriously consider getting Move and a Sharpshooter just so I could shoot the crap outta everything just like I did in the arcade version