Global VR ATEi 2008 Impressions

(More pictures after the break)

Global VR have impressed me of late. Not just because they appear to be emerging as one of the big amusements videogame developers, not just because of the variety of games that they have in thier stable now, but because of the price they are releasing thier games at. What ever the industry, there is nothing better than some one coming in and mixing it up with the established companies. A lot of this has to do with deals they have in place with EA and Ubisoft, arguably two of the biggest consumer video game developers around. This allows them access to a huge variety of consumer games that are ripe of arcade conversion.

Now to the games on show at ATEi 2008. Probably the biggest showing on the stand hand to be the debut of Blazing Angels, a console conversion of an early 360 title. Now I haven’t played the console game, and whether or not this will hinder or help my judgement of the arcade game I don’t know, but here’s my opinion anyway.

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(More pictures after the break)

This game differs greatly from its closest rival Afterburner Climax. Unlike ABC, Blazing Angels is not an on rails affair, but is free roaming. Obviously there is only so far you can go before you stray from you mission objectives, which include taking out enemy fighter planes and enemy targets. Which reminds me to tell you about the setting and the style of the game; the game is set in World War 2, so you’re obviously you are flying older planes than those you pilot in ABC. Check out this link to our earlier post on the game for pictures. Graphically the game is decent, although I’m sure the 360 version had a bit more shine to it. I guess it all depends on the hardware it’s running on.

As for combat, it could have been really tricky keeping this free roaming game simple enough for the arcade market. The thing that helps the combat work well is an additional button on the accelerator. This button spins the view round to your enemies targets for a few seconds. During this time you still have control over your plane and from what I played it was surprisingly easy to steer your aircraft in the right direction and line up for a shot at the enemy during this view point.

Cabinet wise, see for yourself in pictures. Personally I really like it, it really looks the business. Now all I’ll be waiting for is the full motion version. This one has force feed back in the seat by the way. Overall I liked the game and is a refreshing change from the break neck speed of ABC.

Other games on the their stand were the recently released America’s Army which, as you would  have seen in my videos, is a target based shooting game which takes you through all different types of scenarios like sniping, grenading and accuracy shooting. Pass the stage and you progress to the next and there are ten or so challenges to work through. Its nothing ground breaking but definitely has the potential to do well because of the high score tables and player having one more go to beat their personal best.

NASCAR was also present in three different varieties; standard, deluxe and motion. On their stand they had two motion and four deluxe hooked up for six person multiplayer action. Now this is where this game has the same potential to be as successful as the all time classic Daytona. The main difference between this and the Sega racer, other than licensed cars, different tracks and better graphics, is the slipstreaming system. This works fairly simply in the form of a bar the charges up whilst your in other cars slipstreams. Then once fully charged you make your over taking move and the boost is released. This makes for some hectic, non stop over taking during the 7 lap race. Suffice to say your very own Arcade Hero took victory with ease (makes a change!).

Lastly there was a new cabinet type for Paradise Lost in the form of Alien Extermination deluxe. Next up my round up of Namco Brent’s stand, stay tuned.