Today I spent most of my time playing around on PS3 games, sticking to Sony’s “camp” and playing a handful of their exclusive titles – namely, Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm, Demon Souls, Resistance 2 and Killzone 2. I even got my hands on Street Fighter IV. : D

Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm

There isn’t really much that can be said about this game… It’s mostly the same build as everyone has been playing with since mid-July. The only addition, as far as I could see anyway, was Neji and Gaara. They’re suitably unique in their play styles, offering quite a diverse style of play – Gaara is as you’d expect, heavily reliant on Shukaku to deal damage and defend himself, and Neji is also extremely faithful to the anime. Everything he does is taijutsu based – relying on quick, sharp, combos to whittle down his opponent’s health. Anyone who wishes to see some gameplay, I found some on Gametrailers… You can find it here.

Street Fighter IV

From the short time I had with this game, it was easy to feel right at home. For those who felt that they needed a true successor to Street Fighter 2, worry no more… This is the true sequel. I got to play as Akuma, Ken, Chun-Li, Guile and Vega – and I got on well enough only on my knowledge of how to play them from Street Fighter 2. Although I should point out that this game, from the build I was playing, is insanely hard. The Focus Attack system that has been implemented this time around is crucial to survival. Forget winning, not dying is hard enough to achieve. As a mechanic, it works brilliantly. Absorb your opponent’s attack, countering with a crushing blow. The developers wanted to drift away from combo-heavy play, and the Focus Attacks help work brilliantly in doing so…

Demon Souls

The game that was only recently announced has taken the gaming world by surprise. Demon Souls is a game to look out for, if only for the ambition the game carries and the strong chances of this ambition being realised. Combat is a little on the strange side, concentrated on the shoulder buttons, and locking onto enemies is poorly implemented. After all, who assigns something as important as Lock On to clicking the analogue sticks? Destructible environments, impressive progressive AI that increases in correlation with enemy strength (meaning super powerful and super smart enemies later on in the game) and the promise of an expansive open world means this could be well worth keeping an eye on.

Killzone 2

First off, I didn’t actually get to play this myself. As you all know, I didn’t go to the Show by myself and I wasn’t the only one wanting to play games either. Kizzy 2 is one of the games that, even though I didn’t play it myself, I think needs something of a mention here. You see, first impressions are always important. I remember the CGI trailer released back in ’05, and this game looks identical to that in game. A brilliant atmosphere, enhanced by gun shots, screams, heavy smoke, camera shaking and other feasts for the senses, merely make you feel like this is shaping up to be the best shooter of 2009. Which is an impressive feat for, what I’m lead to believe is, a pre-alpha build.

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