Well, no one will accuse Bungie of being inconsistent. The ten minute glimpse into the gameplay that I was allowed to see was about half on-foot. If you really liked the first three and three-quarters Halo games, then Halo Reach is more of the same, and of course, if you really didn’t like the previous games in the series, there’s nothing in the standard FPS section that’s going to change your mind. Graphics are significantly improved, there’s more weapons, and you’re now fighting with a squad that not only lives for more than thirty seconds, but actually does some damage.

The real money comes in with the new space combat sections, which play out pretty much like Crimson Skies, as far as I could tell. There’s machine guns (very gratifying to see someone ditch the stupid laser weapons for space vehicles) and missiles, bad guys come in waves and you blow them up. Pretty simple stuff, but it looked smooth to control and exciting to play. Of course, who knows how much time you actually spend playing it, but if nothing else, those ten minutes should be pretty fun.

Rock Band 3 was somewhat on display at the Microsoft booth, I get the feeling that there’s a bigger, better display at the Harmonix booth proper. So far, it’s like Rock Band, but 3. Vocal harmonies, new music, redesigned interface. Big whoop.

I hopped onto Tron: Evolution hoping for shades of the PC game Tron 2.0, but I was sadly disappointed. While the PC game managed to look simultaneously simplified but high-res, this just looked simple. The graphics seemed blurry somehow, and the controls were simplistic in the extreme. Very much a “mash X to win” game, just a bog standard third-person beat-’em-up. The lightcycle sections weren’t anything to write home about either. Standard movie tie-in game, in my estimation.

Speaking of somewhat generic beat-’em-ups, for a game that’s spent many years languishing in development, Splatterhouse feels rather well put-together and cohesive. Now, what it’s cohesive as might not appeal all that much to some of you. For example, early on in the playable demo, you come across a picture of the main character’s kidnapped girlfriend, a photo that includes a generous amount of underboob. It looks and plays very much like the B-movie splatter-fest it is, like a third-person beat-’em-up that’s been drenched in Caro Syrup fake blood. Decent, but I’m not putting the release date on my calendar, either.

What has earned a solid spot on my “will buy” list is Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, however. The concept of a far-future post-apocalyptic retelling of Journey to the West is interesting enough as it is, and the gameplay itself is solid, with well-tuned controls and nice cooperative touches and beautiful graphics on top. What makes the game sparkle though, is the character interaction between Trip and Monkey. The writing, animations and voice acting really communicate the complexity of their relationship (she rescued him from a slave ship, but also mounted a bit of headgear to him that will kill him if she dies or presses the right button and is using him to get her home) and the differences between them. Early on in the demo, they come under fire from a mech with an machine gun, and while Monkey hits the deck and dives for cover, Trip locks up and stares at the mech pumping bullets in her direction until Monkey practically drags her behind cover. The 150 years after the robot apocalypse are shown beautifully on the decaying NYC landscape as well, providing a rich environment for the standard third-person obstacle courses. The whole game looks very promising, and I’m looking forward to picking it up when it drops.