Sierra Spring Event 2008 A few weeks ago, Sierra Entertainment held an event in downtown San Francisco, USA, with the purpose of giving local and international games media a chance to see how some of their biggest titles of 2008 are shaping up. GameSpot AU flew halfway around the world to get our eyes, and in some cases our mitts, on the latest development builds of games such as Ghostbusters, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, Crash Bandicoot: Mind Over Mutant, The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon, Prototype, The Bourne Conspiracy, World in Conflict: Soviet Assault, and a swag of Xbox Live titles. We were also originally meant to see Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust, and Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, but both dropped out ahead of the event to be shown at a later date. Given Australia's current classification quagmire--particularly with mature-themed games--and the fact that the last Larry title was denied sale in Australia, not showing it may not turn out to be a huge loss for Aussie gamers.

　　The event was held over the course of a day in the bowels of the Ritz Carlton Hotel, with black cloth booths erected to demo code away from the prying eyes of impatient journos. With Ghostbusters The Video Game on show, we had hopped there would be some kind of ballroom trashing party complete with green slimed overalls, petrified hotel staff, and flaming toilet paper rolls on room cleaning trolleys, but it wasn't to be--after all, think of the cleanup costs. Sierra did, however, throw a rad Ghostbusters-themed party, complete with bookshelves covered in spider webs, ghostly cocktails, and marshmallows to toast over an open flame. We'll talk more about that later, complete with photos. Yes, that's right, these are the kinds of tough assignments we here at GameSpot AU put ourselves on the line for, all in the name of bringing you the latest game news and previews. It's a tough gig.

　　For now, let's talk about some of the games on show, starting with The Bourne Conspiracy. After its success as both a spy thriller novel series and trilogy of Hollywood blockbuster films, it was only a matter of time before someone snapped up the licence to create a game (or series of games) based on Robert Ludlum's Bourne universe. Currently in development by High Moon Studios, the guys behind 2005's fantasy first-person shooter Darkwatch, the team has put a lot of work into blending traditional third-person run-and-gun shooting mechanics with smooth hand-to-hand combat. They certainly aren't doing things in halves, with some great looking next-gen graphics, chunky sound effects, and a big-name soundtrack from well-known club DJ Paul Oakenfold. Action events play a big role in Bourne, with everything from defeating bosses to sliding under security gates Indiana Jones-style requiring a sequence of controller buttons to be pressed in order to complete goals. The developers have made a conscious effort to not punish those with limited thumb dexterity too much, stopping short of requiring you to begin battles over if you miss one combo, with many long events having a save point just before they occur. During gameplay you'll build up adrenaline, filling one of three zones on the HUD. Using your built up power activates one of several takedown moves, damaging your opponent with either your hands or an environmental object, including throwing them into an air conditioner unit, slamming their head through a photocopier, or soaking up bullets by using them as a human shield. Be warned though--bosses can also use counter-takedowns to block your moves. When used, gun takedowns are a single bullet instant kill, and we saw them used to great effect in situations where we were surrounded or enemies were at long range.

　　While our demo was limited to the same three levels that have been trotted out since January this year (and are the same ones included in the upcoming Xbox Live and PlayStation Network demos), the team did give us a sneak peak at an as yet unseen level of the game set in Lithuania. The scene opened with a scripted action button assassination at a university. Once the deed was done and the action was a bit too hot to handle, we were forced to escape. In the process of exiting we came across a mini-boss we had to fight bare knuckled, backing him in front of our character to protect us from enemy gunfire from a distant balcony, before kicking him over a railing. Further along in a courtyard we used Jason's "Bourne Vision" to find the weak spot in an armoured tank, dispatching it with precision shooting. The end of the chapter saw us moving through a distillery, dodging fires before needing to escape the building by racing a countdown timer.

　　Sierra also trotted out a couple of Massive Entertainment developers at the event to show off World in Conflict: Soviet Assault, a soon-to-be-released add-on pack which will expand the existing WiC single-player campaign. WiC: SA also marks the game's first outing on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 home consoles. To be perfectly honest, we were pretty sceptical about porting an already successful RTS franchise to a game controller. We've seen it done before with some pretty lousy results. The good news is we were pleasantly surprised at how well it looks and handles. We've covered the title and its control intricacies extensively in our hands-on impressions preview which you can find here.

　　Sitting in a corner booth, Sea Life Safari may not have been pulling the crowds of curious gamers like Prototype, Ghostbusters, or Bourne, but it was there in all its fishy glory. It's probably most comparable to the N64's Pokemon Snap, a game that sees you traversing the ocean in one of five different undersea locations. Along the way you'll encounter more than 60 types of fish and other marine life, with the sole purpose of not blasting them to kingdom come, but rather the innocuous task of taking their photo. The whole adventure is on-rails, so you won't need to blow your mind steering and snapping at the same time, but we're told each dive will vary depending on what you've already managed to capture on film. Each level includes a "gizmo" which you can throw at fish to get their best side. Not surprisingly, many of the animal photos in our demo turned out a little shocked after we pummelled the creature with a flare. The game doesn't feature Pokedex-style information like Endless Ocean for the Wii does, but your goal isn't to learn, just snap. Once you've taken 24 photos you'll need to surface, and depending on your subject composition and level of zoom, your pics will be marked accordingly. Designed for younger gamers after a family friendly ocean frolic, the visuals are cartoony and colourful. Sea Life Safari is due to swim its way onto the Xbox Marketplace later this year.

　　There was so much to see at Sierra's Gamers' Day 2008 we had to split our thoughts into two blog entries. Check back shortly for the second part of our feature.