[Editor's note: Capcom UK once again invited their community out to their offices and a number of UK based Dtoiders got to attend. The kids that went talked about the games they got to play in a Destructoid Discusses format. -- CTZ]

Wednesday 7th October. A day that will live in infamy. Where were you? Well if you were either myself, Anus McPhanus, McSnow, Atheistium, Njsykora or Justice, you were being awesome at Capcom UK playing Monster Hunter Tri and Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles.

But fret not the rest of you. You can hear first hand how we got on by continuing to read on.

DanGale

What did you guys think of the games then? Considering I had never actually heard of the Monster Hunter games before the current one I had no idea what to expect from it. I really enjoyed it though. It seemed like something I would really love playing on a regular basis. I really liked the feel and weight of some of the heavier weapons. I'd say the only thing that was really annoying was the way the levels were broken up into sections with loading screens in between each field. I felt it broke the game up more than it needed too. Perhaps the Twilight Princess route would have been better. I’m sure the small “corridors” in Hyrule Field hide the loading world ahead.

I went in with pretty low standards for Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles. I never enjoyed Umbrella Chronicles too much and it doesn't look like much has been done to change a mind like mine. I've no idea what kind of game it's supposed to be. I would love for it to be a rail shooter (because they're awesome) but the shaky camera is really off putting. Each time you line a head shot up the camera pans away. I would love for it to be a horror game too but there's not really much to build suspense. It just throws you into the action. It's most likely a good game but I'm not sure it's for me. Of course maybe when me and Justice get our freebie games I can play through it properly and see if I would enjoy it more away from the bright lights of Capcom and in my own dark living room.

Of course the most important hands on of the day were the sweet zombie t-shirts, am I right?

Njsykora

Monster Hunter Tri genuinely surprised me as I've always had it described to me as a massive MMO-esque timesink, yet it appears fairly simple to play from the start. The different weapons all felt extremely different which is something else I liked. Hopefully you'll be able to change the look of your character though as I really didn't like the look of some of them. Another thing that irked me was the controls, specifically having drawing and sheathing your weapon assigned to different buttons. We talked about having customisable controls while we were there and this is a game that really needs them.

Darkside Chronicles WAS Umbrella Chronicles with new levels. That's pretty much the whole story as I see it.

Best hands-on of the day was with Hopping Road though Dan. Gotta remember that.

Anus McPhanus

Ah the fond memories. Oh yes Lauren (Atheistium), I demand a rematch! My victory was stolen from me you harlot!

DanGale

My, my. Hopping Road. How could I forget that?!

I actually liked the look of most of the characters. I wasn't too fussed about the unsheathing, but the fact that 'Y' was "use item" and not "attack" threw me a few times. Customisable controls really would be in the best interests of the game. Also having to hold 'L and scroll items with 'Y' and 'A' was a bit of a downer, especially because the D-Pad was right there doing nothing useful!



Justice

Darkside Chronicles, as you said Francis (Njsykora), was an UC with different locations. I enjoyed it, I didn't feel there was anything that would make me want to play it again, though perhaps that's because I've never owned a light gun game since Duck Hunt, though I am a fan of Time Crisis. I can see why Resi fans would want to get this, since it ties in with the other games and probably fills in the story, but as a gamer looking in from the outside I never got the feeling it was worth my cold hard cash. With that said, it was well built and the additional features like if you waggle when a zombie grabs you your character kicks the zombies ass briefly (like the falcon punch in RE5). I have a feeling the graphics made me think less of the game too. I'm truly not a graphics whore, but I couldn't help think how much more appealing the game would be on another console with less jaggies.

Monster Hunter Tri was again enjoyable. I'm sure it's a good game but soon realised that to get the most out of the game you'd need to put in a lot of time. Supposedly the Wiimote and nunchuk controls sucked but I never used those. It worked really well with the classic controller. It was quite annoying travelling to fight this boss and then having the enemy fly across the game world, making you chase them to weaken them a bit more so that they can fly off again. Though I suppose that's partly what the game is about. I couldn't help be reminded of the Pokemon games when you're chasing a legendary. I'm sure multiplayer would be a blast. It's a shame it wasn't working since the gameplay looks suited to that but from the demo I didn't get any of the "magic" that the diehard players (wait I mean "hunters") get. Not to diss the game, it just seems targeted towards one group of people, which isn't necessarily a problem.

Anus McPhanus

To be honest, I went in with low expectations of both games and when I left they pretty much played out exactly as you'd expect them to.

I've only played a bit of Umbrella Chronicles but as everyone's mentioned, Darkside Chronicles is the same with new story bits. It's a lot of fun and for fans of Resident Evil/Umbrella Chronicles it's a no brainer. You know what you're getting. But for everyone else I can't bring myself to recommend it unless you really like light gun shooters or find it on the cheap. I must say though I had a hell of a lot of fun playing this game but I can't say much of the story bits or if they're really worth seeing because I wasn't really paying attention due to Lauren's awesome commentary. I can see this game being part of an epic drinking game!

Also I'd like to point out this gem from Chiara's twitter:
"Today's highlight:Capcom's own Ichi-san at the first to play event while D'toider [Anus McPhanus] screaming shoot him (zombie) in the balls is a classic"

If anyone knows of a video of Lauren's and my running commentary during Darksider Chronicles post it up somewhere because I need to see that!

As the Dtoider with apparently the most experience with the Monster Hunter series (I've played it twice!) and talking to the more enthusiastic "hunters" there, Monster Hunter Tri is pretty much Monster Hunter Freedom Unite with one or two new classes, new levels, re-worked controls and a more in depth story. There was nothing truly game changing for the series but more of a console remake with a few new features.

As everyone else has pretty much already mentioned it's surprisingly good with all the classes feeling really unique. It reminds me a lot of Phantasy Star Online, which I remember being so addicted to on the Dreamcast and Gamecube. It's a real shame that they couldn't get the multiplayer working because that was the deal breaker for me. While the game is fun on your own, I can see it getting really old, really fast. Multiplayer is where the heart and soul of the Monster Hunter franchise is, just like PSO and it's a bummer we couldn't try it out. I have to say though the fact it's such a multiplayer-centric game puts me off getting it because it's on the Wii. A game like this requires a fair amount of co-ordination and, although I'm not sure if the game is compatible with Wii-speak, let's be honest. Who has one of those? I'd be a lot more inclined to get it if it was on the PS3 or 360 just for proper voice chat. I know that PSO didn't have voice chat but in this day and age I don't know if I could go back to an onscreen keyboard for everything. Talking to the other guys there though it seems that if you enjoy Freedom Unite you'll love Tri. Although I have to agree with DanGale when it comes to the loading screens between sections. They were just too long and a real pain in the arse. I personally found the controls to be a bit fiddly at first but the nunchuck and remote combo is balls. You need a classic controller for this game.



DanGale

Oh, that reminds me, have I mentioned the Classic Controller Pro yet? It was awesome! Sure, the Monster Hunter controllers we were mainly playing with were nice, but that Classic Controller Pro was amazing!

Njsykora

I didn't like it, as I said then it felt much lighter than the classic controller and didn't really add anything to it other than new shoulder buttons. This coming from someone who loves the classic controller shoulder buttons.

DanGale

The only issue I had with the Classic Controller Pro was that the 'L' and 'R' buttons were the "bumpers" and the 'ZL' and 'ZR' were the "triggers". That seemed like a strange decision. It makes sense for 64 games, but otherwise the 'Z' triggers aren't as priority as shoulder buttons I've found.

Justice

The ZL and ZR "triggers" felt too much like standard buttons to me in that they don't push in very far.

Anus McPhanus

I was not a fan of it. I like the compact feel of the regular classic controller and I found the buttons on the pro to be a bit too floaty if that makes sense? I really didn't like the triggers either which to me felt really cheap and not very satisfying to press.

Also when you were knocked out in Monster Hunter I liked the fact that in the wagon you're carried back on, you're face down with your arse in the air and there's a great up skirt shot. I hope in the final localised version someone has spray painted on the side "Rape Wagon" and you're seen wearing new pants which say "got raped, was awesome, going back for more!"



McSnow

lul @ Dans gamer face. For cereal.

DanGale

That's how I roll, baby. It's that gamer face that helped me and Justice whoop all yo' asses! Word!

Justice

Word! Anyway, does Hamza still need us to talk about the rest of the event like the free pizza and gaimz or is that unnecessary?

DanGale

I think the people would want to know about the pizza. Plus, I forget who said it, but someone suggested that pineapple doesn't belong on pizza. It may have been Njsykora. The reason I forget is simply because that's just plain wrong. Every pizza should have pineapple!

Njsykora

You don't mix fruit and meat, it ain't right!

Justice

Aren't tomatoes fruit? Are you saying you don't like pizzas that have tomatoes or tomato sauce? Blasphemy!

Njsykora

I should remind everyone that I have far from a full anti-pizza stance. Also tomato puree isn't an optional topping.

Gandysampras

Yes it is, you can have sauceless or BBQ at most places.

Hamza

Good luck getting this organized Dan!

DanGale

My god! It..it...can't be done!

So has anyone anything more to say on the day? McSnow, Atheistium? I don't think we've heard much from you two. How did you find the games?

Atheistium

Resident Evil is a video game.

DanGale
Interesting…can you elaborate?

Atheistium

A video game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. The word video in video game traditionally referred to a raster display device.[1] However, with the popular use of the term "video game", it now implies any type of display device. The consumer electronics electronic systems used to play video games are known as platforms; examples of these are personal computers and video game consoles. These platforms range from large computers to small handheld devices. Specialized video games such as arcade games, while previously common, have gradually declined in use.

DanGale

*sigh*



Anus McPhanus

Let's keep on track guys! We're here for them vidjagaims!

I don't know if it was just in the demo but the time limits on the hunts in Monster Hunter Tri were totally lame. It would have been nice to see the village/hub section as well but maybe I just missed that like
a fool.

McSnow

They did say we could extend the time limits if we wanted to, They had set them to 15 minutes just for our demo.

DanGale

Yeah, he did say that. It was quite annoying. I almost had that second beast beat. Then I ran out of time. :(

Atheistium

I'm not a fan of Wii shooters. I don't feel comfortable pointing a controller at the screen. Therefore I wasn't really prepared to enjoy this as much as I could have. I liked my brief stint with Umbrella Chronicles but I can't imagine myself sat for over 6 hours pointing a Wiimote at the TV. With Darkside Chronicles I just find the whole experience very indifferent. There was nothing to hate (apart from Leon's womanly face) but nothing to love either. All you did was hit the trigger button and quickly smash ‘A’ when there were items on screen. The narrative was boring and the only real eye candy was Claire Redfield and the occasional ass shot.

Me and Anus McPhanus had a fantastic time commentating on the few short levels we played but nothing about the game jumped out and said "Awesome!" to me. I wish I turned up for Monster Hunter instead :'-(

Anus McPhanus

OMG the commentary was so awesome! I couldn't believe I was saying the stuff I was saying with/to Atheistium after we only just met and although I had no idea the head of Capcom R&D was standing right behind me, I would have carried on anyway if I did know.

The problem with RE:Darkside Chronicles is that while it's a good, fun game there's nothing there to really grab you and keep you playing. You pretty much already know if you're going to enjoy it before you pick it up and if you're uncertain, I'm sure if you tried it you would have fun doing so but you probably won't be converted by the end of it and Leon may have a womanly face, but he also has a remarkably chiselled arse and Claire was indeed rocking the booty. I'd tap that.

I know I just complained about the time limit but playing on my own I kind of found that Monster Hunter was dragging on a bit after the 3rd or 4th time I died. It just started to get really repetitive to me, which is a shame that the multiplayer wasn't working because that could have saved it.

DanGale

It was a shame the multiplayer in Monster Hunter Tri wasn't up and ready, but the single player didn't drag for me whilst I played. Every time I got my ass handed to me by the big monsters I went back for more until I beat the son of a bitch. However, from the short demo I'm not sure I was playing the game correctly. After all, whilst I'm sure the big appeal is hunting the big "boss" monsters, I never really engaged in any of the little ones. I never scavenged around for materials for the village like the nice Capcom man was explaining we needed to do, so from the demo I feel that I just scratched the surface. That said it was enough to intrigue me and I'll certainly be giving it a go when it's released next year.

Anus McPhanus

You know maybe it was because of the time limit but I never even thought about going after the smaller buggers. I guess you're right in saying we weren't playing the game to the fullest. I'm hoping that the story the Capcom chap was telling us about is as rich and detailed as he made it out to be. The online on the Wii is something that's really holding me back on this game though and a split screen option like on Phantasy Star Online on the Gamecube would have been a really cool feature I would have liked to see.

DanGale

Does anyone else have anything to add before I bounce this into something readable?

Anus McPhanus

Just noticed some more pictures that have surfaced

http://www.capcom-europe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33941

I know they took some video of us as well but I guess we'll have to go back to get it off them.

DanGale

Who the fuck are those n00bs? And are they playing Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom with Hori sticks?! Motherfu...

I hope everyone found our discussion enjoyable and informative. Many thanks must go out to Chiara at Capcom UK for allowing us the pleasure to be there and experience the goodness first hand. It sure as hell beats reading a poorly coherent "discussion" on a popular videogame Web site after all, right?