Montréal Comiccon celebrates video games and other geekiness

From July 6 to 8, comics, anime, movies and TV series pop culture fans gathered in Montreal for a weekend of total geekiness. Now that video games are a part of Montreal Comiccon, I used the opportunity to try out the latest video game demos from the PlayStation booth and looked around at Nintendo and the Indie Game Zone.

Creed: Rise to Glory

The PlayStation VR boxing game takes us into “Rocky” territory. You play as Adonis Creed, Apollo’s son, in training to be a professional boxer. I was shocked to discover that my personal trainer was non-other than the legend, Rocky Balboa. That is awesome in itself!

Creed isn’t a simulation game, but it feels special to have a man standing in front of me and having to fight it. With a PlayStation Move controller in each hand, I fought my opponent relentlessly, and moved up and down trying to escape his punches. When Creed is down, I had to walk back into the ring, as if I was part of its aura or spirit of some sort. The other special move is to put both hands into a circle. This launches a harder hit to your opponent. From my experience, Creed: Rise to Glory is an arcade game. The graphics are a little cartoony and of course, I didn’t feel a thing when I was hit.

It’s a great exercise to do, definitely a game to add to a training routine.

Creed: Rise to Glory is set to release later this year for PlayStation VR, Oculus, Vive and Steam VR.

Astro Bot: Rescue Mission

This 3D platformer game is my favorite of Montreal Comiccon at the PlayStation VR booth. The hero is a cute little robot going around to save his friends and collect coins. In the two levels I played, I solved light puzzles and moved around using the DualShock 4 controller. The game uses it at the fullest as it’s used for gadgets unlocked throughout the levels. During the boss fight, I needed to smash the gorilla’s teeth, then use the hook to take them out. It seems brutal laid out like that, but it’s a family game so it’s still cute and funny.

Blood and Truth

Developed by the London Studio, the PlayStation VR action shooter Blood and Truth brings players to the London underworld. During the demo, I needed to survive while being shot at from all over. We progress in a railing mechanic as we go from one spot to the other by pressing left or right on the Move controller.

The shooting mechanic felt natural, reminding me of Bravo Team. I also liked the ability to hold the gun with either hands, and reloading manually adds to the realism of the gameplay. By pressing the Move button from both controllers slows the action, giving us time to aim in a concentration mode. I made good shots there.

The game is still in development. I had a hard time with precision in my shooting skills and the camera lost me a few times. Blood and Truth has no release date yet, so we’ll see how it feels when it comes out.

Spyro: Reignited Trilogy

If your young ones are Skylanders fans, you already know Spyro. Activision’s Spyro Reignited Trilogy is a great opportunity to revisit the origins of this cute little dragon. The 3D platformer package includes the 3 original games remastered in beautiful 4K HD, brought exclusively on PlayStation 4.

– Spyro the Dragon (PS, 1998)

– Spyro: Ripto’s Rage! (PS, 1999)

– Spyro: Age of the Dragon (PS, 2000)

Originally out on the first PlayStation and developed by Insomniac Games, Toys for Bob took over this remaster now published by Activision. In only a couple minutes, I could see how Spyro: Reignited Trilogy feel great. The controls are updated to fit modern gamers, and what can I say about graphics. The levels I played look amazing on PlayStation 4!

Spyro Reignited Trilogy will be available on PlayStation 4 in September.

Nintendo had a booth where players had fun with the best games, such as Mario Tennis Aces, Mario Kart 8, Fortnite and Nintendo Labo. The Indie Game Zone was also a great place to play the best independent games developed here in Quebec. Take a seat and look at what gamers were playing last weekend.

Tabletop gaming

To wind down or to pass the time between conferences, a tabletop gaming room let people borrow any board game available and play with friends. It’s the best place to try a new game or have fun with classics. One of the games featured at Montreal Comiccon was Star Wars Legion. The cool thing about feature games is that players can learn the basics with a master, and really have fun fighting for victory with their troops on the battlefield.

Montreal Comiccon is about sharing our passion as fans

People dress up as their favourite character and get to meet their icons in real life. Celebrities comes from all over the world to meet fans. This year, Chuck Norris was a guest of honour, and I wanted to see him. I waited more than an hour to have a good seat at his conference where he talked about his movie career, his training as a fighter, and of course about his “meme” legacy. Hearing his thoughts about his presence online was surreal. He’s a legend I didn’t want to miss!

The other conference I waited for a good seat at, was the X-Files special event. For an hour, guests David Duchovny, Mitch Pileggi and William B. Davis answered fans questions in a special Q&A I really enjoyed.

Comiccon blends amateur and professional conferences. I love that. I attended the Persona 5 presentation on Friday, and it was casual and entertaining. It clearly was a fan presentation explaining all the game characters and their motivation regarding the main theme of the game. By the end, everyone in the audience was participating, talking about their gaming experience.

Montreal Comiccon is about celebrating what we love. Having the opportunity to meet our heroes are only part of the event. Sharing our passion with those who are as passionate as we are for comics, graphic novels, anime, movies, TV series and video games is such a thrill. I had a great time, and I can’t wait for next year!