Sports Gaming Highlights From PAX Aus 2016

Day one of PAX Aus 2016 comes to a close, and I’ve been kept bust running around like child in a candy store. But we’re here for sports games, so let’s check out some of the highlights:

Steep

Steep is a brand new extreme sport game where you race down the slopes of snow-capped mountains. It’s fast and blood-pumping action, and depending on the level you can tackle the course on snowboard, skis, parachute or even flying suite.I played it on the Ps4 and it was quite fun, despite some issues. The controls are tricky, but hopefully they can be mastered with practice. The graphics could be better, however they could certainly be worse, and the crashing ragdoll animations are so hilarious it’s hard to feel too annoyed at the broken physics as you go tumbling on forever.

From my time with this game, it would be fun for someone looking to chew up a few hours testing their skills, or as a fun break from the normal car-based racing games if that’s your thing.

VFC

Developed right here in Melbourne, this game is a virtual reality fighting game. The concept is simple; strap on the headgear, pick up the two controllers and punch the [fun] out of your opponent.

It’s not really a play-at-home sort of experience, considering the amount of blind thrashing, but it is a perfect showcase of the technology. Also you could fight against the A.I. or against another human opponent, standing on the other side of the screen. It was both epic and hilarious watching two guys going absolute ham at each other, standing ten meters away and swinging at the air.

But who knows, Real Steel might be closer than we think.

Party Golf

Made my an indie Aussie company, this game appears to have one motive; making golf more exciting. Really only a couple of the actual golf mechanics remain, like the objective of being the first to get your ball in the hole, but the rest of them are thrown to the wind.Party golf is perfect for casual gamers just looking for a bit of party fun, and friendly competition. It is a perfect counterpoint to other games who have ditched couch multiplayer, as this is built around that immediate competitiveness, and is all the better for it.

Without any sort of campaign, this one is exclusively for party gaming. Think worms, but much faster. We will also have a full review of Party Golf in a few days.

Rocket League Tournament

Having never really been one for the eSports scene personally, I was surprised to find myself engrossed in PAX’s rocket league tournament. The plucky young guns nearly knocked off the tournament favorite, but fell to a late goal in the deciding game. Rocket league is also the perfect example of the right game to be an eSport. Like how you can start kicking a soccer ball around, you can pick up a controller and get started on Rocket League, but the pros do things you could never ever hope to. It’s also a case of reading the game and positioning.

There were a heap of small Australian teams doing us proud, and tonnes of amazing international content and content makers.

PAX Aus is open for two more days, however Saturday is all sold out. If you’re in the Melbourne area, you can still pick up a ticket for Sunday and check out some of the incredible content they have in store.