Top 5 handheld highlights from Day 3 of E3 2008
Our pick of the best games, announcements and previews of Thursday July 17th
Yes it's all over! The fat lady has sung her larynx out and the computerised chaos of the Electronic Entertainment Expo is complete for another year.
Unsurprisingly the final day of the show was rather less than revelation-packed, as Tuesday's torrent of news and innovation slowed to a trickle. Nevertheless our intrepid reporters still had their hands full, quite literally in fact, as they got to grips for proper hands-on tests of the new games on show.
As usual we've digested only the very best here into a handy guide.
Oh, and just in case you missed them, you can also check out our Top 5 E3 highlights from Day 1 and Top 5 E3 highlights from Day 2. It's almost like being there… only without the insanely loud music, flashing TV screens, scantily clad girls (actually, they don't have those anymore) and annoying teenage 'retail buyers' (or those, supposedly).
The Top 5 handheld highlights from Day 3 of E3 2008
1. Hands on with Puzzle Quest: Galactrix
With the original Puzzle Quest:Challenge of the Warlords retaining a prized place amongst our ongoing favourites pocket gaming playlist on both DS and mobile formats, our expectations of the impending sequel are understandably high.
Fortunately a hands-on test has done nothing to dampen enthusiasm as it appears that Puzzle Quest: Galactrix expands the scale of the original in just about very conceivable way. In place of the olde worlde RPG quest we're now faced with a vast interstellar empire; in place of a lone warrior we now have a flotilla of space-ships; and in-place of engaging battles we now have both diplomatic and conflict options to play out via an enhanced puzzle game.
The only bad news? We're going to have to wait until 2009 to get hold of the final game.
Read the full PuzzleQuest: Galactrix DS preview.
2. Hands on with they eye-popping Resistance: Retribution on PSP
Standing out as one of the nicest surprises of the show (certainly on PSP), the announcement of Resistance: Retribution – an exclusive handheld incarnation of the gorgeous PS3 shooter – certainly fueled our imagination.
Fortunately we didn't have too long to wait before we could test how the reality matched up as we managed a sneaky hands-on play of the latest build.
We weren't disappointed either, as the combination of stunning visuals, brooding atmosphere and a smartly re-engineered control system suggest the game is on course to live up to the hype and set new standards for handheld gaming in 2009.
Read the full Resistance: Retribution PSP preview.
3. Holy Hands on! We get to grips with Lego Batman
After quite literally block-busting performances in every conceivable way with the best-selling Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones games, you might suspect that Traveller's Tales would stick to a winning formula when it came to its first (but surely not last) stud-ly superhero outing.
Judging from our hands-on test you'd be absolutely right, too, but then again considering the success (and fun) offered by the formula in question that's really no bad thing.
Offering a considerably lighter tone than noirish movie The Dark Knight, Lego Batman's action owes more to the classic TV series, from the episodic structure right down to the pun-tastic titles.
Whilst hardened fans might object to this (and hardened gamers may begin to tire of stud-collecting), the chance to play as Caped Crusader or Boy Wonder and employ the full gamut of their 'wondrous toys' in tracking down notorious n'er do wells such as Poson Ivy and the Joker is enough to keep us holy engaged.
Read the holy Lego Batman DS preview here.
4. The knives are out as Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen and What's Cooking? with Jamie Oliver go head to head
Not content to confine their conflict to the kitchen, chefs-come-media-whores Jamie 'Pukka' Oliver and Gordon 'F**king' Ramsay have extended their battle to books, TV shows and ad-campaigns.
It was only a matter of time before they served up some software and sure enough that's precisely what we got at E3.
To be fair, the digital dishes are quite different. Whereas What's Cooking? with Jamie Oliver joins the fresh but burgeoning ranks of the computerised cookbook, Hell's Kitchen has been rather neatly described as 'Cooking Mama with swearing'.
Whilst neither title is likely to top the charts, they deserve their place in our run-down both for cementing of the 'Cook-'em-up' genre and offering another important indicator of gaming's move to the mainstream audience. Yes?
Get the full story on the DS's Hell's Kitchen and What's Cooking? with Jamie Oliver.
5. Going Loco again for LocoRoco 2The rumours have been rife for some time, and we'd seen the screenshots, but Sony chose E3 to finally come clean and officially show one of the most eagerly anticipated pocket sequels in the form of LocoRoco 2.
While the original LocoRoco might not have been the commercial smash that Sony hoped for, it was certainly a much-loved game – a champion of genuine originality and innovation in the face of a of an onslaught (at the time) of watered down PS2 titles.
The sequel employs the same proven controls, quirky visual style and impossible to get out of your head tunes but squeezes in a host of new locations, opponents and LocoRoco abilities to provide for an even wider variety of puzzles. We're excited and humbly suggest you should be too.
Read the full story on LocoRoco 2.