-Day four, the last day of another exhausting, but really fun year. Only myself and my girlfriend remains of the original four, so we started the day slow, packed up everything and checked out of the hotel.

DAY 4 – PAX Prime 2015: Going Home

-Upon exiting the monorail in the shopping centre, we had a quick lunch at the food court and made out way to the convention hall for the last time. Exiting from the shopping centre, we bumped into Gabe himself, Mike Krahulic, said hello, and kept walking. He seemed really busy.

-Today my intentions were to try a few more games, and leave early for the drive home. As it was a Monday, and not a long weekend, we were hoping the convention hall would be a little quieter. It was, but not by much.

-Rounding on the Square Enix booth, we watched a quick demo for the new Hitman. The game very similar to its predecessor, Absolution. Instinct mode returns, but the game looks very gorgeous, and the levels are huge. The game promises more open ended levels and more free-play, reminiscent of the earlier Hitman games, like Blood Money. Costumes still play a large role, as they allow us to enter into guarded areas.

-Onward and upwards, we checked out the Just Cause 3 area and watched the destruction challenge demo that they had on display. Wielding a rocket launcher, the point is to cause as much damage to the surrounding area in the time allotted. Game looks nice and plays pretty smooth from what I saw. The demo itself didn’t show any story missions though.

-Next stop in our brief day was the Microsoft Xbox quadrant. This portion had a lot of big games on display. I expect to already get most of them anyways, so this area wasn’t my initial priority this weekend, but with the convention closing today, I figured I should get some hands-on while the crowds were smaller.

-On display at the Xbox floor was Plants Vs Zombies – Garden Ware 2, Halo 5, Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, Rainbow Six Siege, Forza 6, and Rise of the Tomb Raider.

-I already have the beta access to Siege on Sept 24, so I just watched from the sidelines. The game was 5 v. 5 and have the groups go through the viewing and staging section, and then onto gameplay, playing 6 rounds. It seemed like it was only elimination and objective mode. No hostages.

-For the most part, the game looks and plays really good, however, it did seem to suffer from some lagging issues. I wasn’t sure if it was just this build, or the setup, but there was noticeable hiccups. Possible one of the reasons for the game’s delay. The games mention of the one bullet, one death is evident, as enemies will go down quickly. The level of destruction was less evident as previous demos seen last year. There are breachable walls, and you can drive around the camera bot. But I didn’t notice as much wall destruction or floor breaching from the matches I saw. Could just be a unique occurrence, but I’m sure I’ll have more opinions come Sept 24th and the beta.

-Mirror’s Edge Catalyst looks gorgeous and plays smooth. The demo was showcasing the parkour elements, and the game clearly looks like it’s on the latest Dice Engine. Very clean and colourful.

-The Forza 6 demo had 6 playable races, but I was only interested in 2: Rain, and Night Time. The game feels and plays like Forza 5, so nothing new or surprising there. It boasts 60fps and 1080p which is to be expected, and 400+ vehicles. Sounds good. It doesn’t necessarily look any better than Forza 5, but they’re claiming a 70+ hour campaign. I don’t yet know what they mean by campaign, as Forza 5 was just a list of races to know off. Is there a story?

-Night time looks nice, but its unclear if there’s different levels of night yet. Midnight, Sunset, Dawn, dusk? or is it just straight black? Headlights looks nice, and having 24 vehicles on the tarmac adds a challenge.Cars feels a little more solid, and hopefully more of a detailed damage model.

-Rain looks great. The game already looks great as is, mimicking near real life quality, but the rain effects are pretty cool. Again, unknown if the rain is just the one setting, off and on, or is there gradual rain, downpour, wind, etc. Reflections look nice, and the puddles on the track are 3D rendered and will make your car slide realistically. Fun addition, but basically they act as an obstacle. Colin McRae’s Dirt 2 had puddles, if you’ll recall, Forza, 6 years ago. I think I failed to mention that in my review….

-Lastly, after my Forza fun, I waited to play Tomb Raider, The Rise Of. Before me was a Tomb Raider, player Tomb Raider. ZOMG!

-The demo was from the story, and focuses on the exploration and platforming of a hidden, ruined temple. We start off in a vehicle with our driver, who we found has called in our location for a reward. The jeep gets taken out by helicopter gunfire, and we’re sliding down the cliff face to our doom, only to grab on with our rock climbing axe, which saves us.

-The feel of the character plays exactly like the original Tomb Raider reboot, but just a little more fluid and nuanced. Her next-gen hair returns, with all its physics. level design and detail is bolstered, and lighting and effects look good. Climbing, and breaking through walls feels familiar and intuitive, and the torch from the first game is replaced by a handy beautiful blue glow-stick, as Lara is expected to be a more established explorer this time around.

-The character animation has received another coat of mo-cap which is appreciated, and the game feels very cinematic, like its predecessor. Lots of in-game cutscenes break up the exploration and gameplay. It’s a nice touch and should be a blast to play when it’s fully released. I loved the first one.

-We ended the day on the 6th floor checking out the 2nd half of the exhibit on the floor (I did find the Rooster Teeth merch booth, but none of the prime significant members where there), the classic freeplay area, and when we were sitting down, resting our legs, caught some more cosplayers.

-Leaving around 3PM, headed back to the car, and drove the lengthy 4 hours home. Another successful PAX. Another great show.

-iRogan