PAX is all about games, and the massive show floor had plenty of them on display. Here are the impressions from the show floor demos. Keep in mind, many of these are at different stages of production, so things could change. Read on for impressions of Starcraft 2, Gears of War 2, Left 4 Dead, Resistance: Retribution, and more.

StarCraft II

The long awaited sequel to arguably the best real time strategy game ever was open for public testing in Blizzard’s booth. The lines were long for a chance to get 15 minutes with the game, but well worth it. Everything about the original has been built upon and improved. The graphics look perfect and the controls are familiar. Everything has been improved, often with subtle changes that leave an impact as big as a siege tank barrage.

The Zerg look organic and slimy, in a very Aliens sort of way (the creep actually glistens menacingly) the Protoss fields are shiny, with powerful units brimming with lasers and teleportation, and the Terrans have upped their arsenal with big guns and good ol’ fashioned attitude. The game feels faster as well. Maybe I haven’t played the original recently, but it felt like I was able to advance the tech tree much faster than I remember, and by the end of my 15 minutes I had battle cruisers and a Thor (walking death!) up and running.

The game is familiar enough that I was able to use hotkeys right off the bat. It’s everything you’d expect from a Blizzard sequel, and no heroes in sight. It’s going to be a difficult wait for this one, but after 10 years, what’s another couple of months?

Left 4 Dead

Zombies, zombies zombies. Gotta love it. Its easy to see why people were waiting upwards of 90 minutes just for a few precious moments with the game. Left 4 Dead is basically Counter Strike meets 28 Days later, as swarms of angry zombies come screeching out of dark corners to bash the characters to death. Shotgun usage is mandatory, and cooperation is imperative, as any member of the four-person team who wanders off will die a swift death, and players can revive fallen teammates. At one point, our team set off a car alarm, and “alerted the swarm.” Within seconds, half my team was dead, and I was desperately trying to fight off a dozen infected and raise my one remaining team mate. I did manage to get him up, but we were both so low on health that we died moments later.

Taking sufficient damage doesn’t kill you right away– your character gets knocked down and you can continue to shoot with your hand gun, similar to the CoD4 last stand perk, except that a teammate can pull you back up. Unfortunately, if you and your teammate are both down, it’s only a matter of time. Even if there are no zombies around, you cannot heal yourself from the prone position, as I found out.

This one is destined for greatness, and when it hits shelves, the hungry moans from the hordes of gamers banging on the doors of their local game store will be heard throughout the land.

You can also read our E3 preview here.

Darksiders

Darksiders starts with a promising idea: As the fourth horseman of the apocalypse, War, you are out to kill things, a la God of War. Throw some Zelda elements of puzzle solving and item collecting in and you should have a nicely blended game stew. However, the demo failed to impress. The camera was buggy, the level (and puzzles) felt like a cheap copy of a Zelda dungeon, and the combat was bland. THQ better inject some serious badassery into this game before it releases, or it’s going to be just another clone.

Gears of War II Multiplayer

New executions and easier chainsaw usage were on display with the Gears of War II multiplayer demo, and they looked slick (and violent). The other thing I learned while playing the demo? I suck at it. Other than that, it feels the same as the first.

Red Faction: Guerrilla

Taking destructible environments to new heights (or razing them to new lows), Red Faction: Guerrilla was a surprise hit. Using a space sledge hammer to destroy anything standing (including opponents’ skulls) was fun, but dropping an entire building on a camping sniper should prove to be even more satisfying in the final build. Throw in 10 different back packs (five were available in the demo) which can make you fly like the rocketman or beef up your damage output, amongst other things, and you’ve got a recipe for an intriguing new multiplayer. The graphics were nothing special, but I have a feeling the map is going to look like a pile of rubble at the end of the match anyway.

Check out our in-depth PAX 08 preview here.

Ecocism

A fun little game from a pair of guys who’ve done all the work themselves. You speed around in a hovercraft planting trees and gun turrets while shooting giant metal spiders. It’s still in development, but the early build showed some definite potential. Look for this one on the Xbox Live Arcade in the future.

Legendary

Taking on mythical beasts unleashed by Pandora’s box in the streets of New York city sounds like more fun than another first-person shooter full of Nazis. After all, variety is the spice of life. However, the demo was only “decent,” despite plenty of action going on during the hectic first moments of the game.

Legendary also felt way too linear. At one point I stood in the street and waited for something to happen and move some cars so I could move to the next part of the level –which ended up being a series of cleverly disguised corridors. The gun play was nothing remarkable, and I found that using a fire axe was much more effective than wielding a pistol.

In addition to taking on Gryphons and little fire dragons, a private military force made an appearance just in time for target practice with a machine gun. Despite the cool concept, the game felt underwhelming.

Resistance: Retribution

A Resistance title for the PSP, set as a side story to Nathan Hale and the first Resistance, the Retribution demo takes place in a Chimera Conversion factory as a human resistance fighter and sabotage expert makes his way deep into enemy territory. The graphics were sharp, but combat was a bit unwieldy. The use of auto targeting and auto cover (just stand behind anything short enough and the character automatically ducks down) made things a bit easier, but it was tough to move and aim simultaneously.

Tags: left-4-dead, legendary, PAX 08, Red Faction, resistance, Starcraft 2

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