PAX day 1 highlights

The fisrt day of PAX Prime 2015 is behind us. It was an exhausting start to the most enjoyable chaos that any fan of playing games is likely to find. For my part, I decided to pace myself this year and spend my first day taking it all in. I walked the expo hall floor, checked out a panel, and played a few of the games on offer.

Tumblestone

The first thing I set my camera down for was a deceptively cute puzzle game called Tumblestone. It’s part of the PAX 10 and deservedly so. It seems at first like a straight forward match three game, but the main mode of play being shown off is a head to head multiplayer challenge. Up to four players compete to solve the puzzle the fastest. First one to finish wins the round and the first to win three rounds takes the game. I can imagine many an evening will be filled with colorful language that hasn’t been uttered since the days of Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo. What seems cute and simple on the surface may be a frenetic friendship tester by night’s end.

Super Dungeon Bros.

Megan and I stopped by the Super Dungeon Bros. booth and played a round of this party game. My initial impression is that of a colorful take on the dungeon delving of classics like Gauntlet. Players take control of a knight using their choice of weapon (only a sword or crossbow were available in the demo we played) and venture forth into a monster filled dungeon in search of loot and glory. That is until your comrade picks you up and throws you into a lava pit. You know, because it’s funny. I call it a party game because I can easily see us getting four people together on a couch and spending an afternoon screaming nonsensical things at eachother, forming spinning bro totems (a bro-tem, if you will) and causing all around mayhem in virtual dungeons.

Ultimate Chicken Horse

Jon wrangled a bunch of us into the indie megabooth to go check out Ultimate Chicken Horse. It’s another multiplayer game for up to four people that involves playing a cute farm animal intent on reaching the goal whie screwing over his friends. Play consists of a large area with a starting point and an initially unreachable goal. Players get to choose an element from the “party box” and place it somewhere on the map to help them get to the end. Unless they pick a trap to make it harder to reach the goal. Then they’re just trying to be a dick to their friends. Players only gain a point by reaching the goal if one of their fellow animals gets eliminated before reaching the end. First to reach three points wins, so matches can get resolved pretty quickly. I totally don’t encourage physically jostling friends to screw them up when they’re placing traps. Not at all.

Inside Gearbox Software

I try not to miss this panel at PAX Prime. Firstly, Randy Pitchford and Mikey Neumann are hilarious. Secondly, these guys have a habit of handing out software like a guy on the street with a stack of CDs he made himself. C’mon man, just take this copy of Homeworld Remastered. Of course, the panel came on the heels of the announcement earlier in the day that Gearbox and 2K have partnered with Lionsgate to begin work on a Borderlands movie. We’ll see if it can hold up to comparison to the greatest game movie of all time: Mortal Kombat. They also announced the upcoming technical beta for Battleborn (which is playable on the expo hall floor) as well as showing off some new heroes from among the 25 playable characters. And then there was a wedding. Because why not get married in front of hundreds of other Gearbox enthusiasts on stage at Benaroya Hall with a cadre of cosplayers gathered as a backdrop? Of course, what Gearbox panel is complete without Randy Pitchford performing a magic trick to close it out?

In all, it was a crazy day of walking the hall, getting swag, and going until I was ready to collapse. Then off to an after party at the Hard Rock Cafe complete with photobooth where party goers could pose with a snake and a Lara Croft cosplayer. There was a poutine bar so I couldn’t pass that up. However, the coffee is brewing and people are stirring. It’s time to gird ourselves and venture forth into day two. So many games to see and so little time.