A couple of weeks back, I flew over to Japan for my annual trip for Tokyo Game Show, but I had the added responsibility of providing coverage for AFA Channel!

Tokyo Game Show 2014 took place at Makuhari Messe from 18-21 Sep 2014. Makuhari City’s entrance still looks the same as always as I make the long walk from the JR Kaihin Makuhari Station to the world famous 9 halls of Makuhari Messe. Along the way I see a huge poster of Psycho Break (The Evil Within) at the entrance and all around the general vicinity. I collected my business day pass and once the doors open at 10am, joined the crowd of journalists all over the world and made our way inside!

There are lots of huge booths from the biggest game companies spread out among the first six halls. Here’s a quick rundown of some of these booths.

All of them are not sparing any shots this year, bringing out their biggest guns for TGS ’14. With this being the first year that all three new consoles (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, WiiU) have been released worldwide, we are finally starting to see a steady stream of Japanese titles making their way of those platforms. Even local companies are making their mark at TGS as well!

The biggest feature though, would have to be Square Enix finally showing new footage of Final Fantasy XV, releasing on the PS4 and XBO. We also got a look at the updated Final Fantasy Type-0 for the same platforms as well, coming in Feb 2015. A demo code of FFXV will be bundled as well!

I wished that Type-0 would have been released on the Vita instead but I’m glad it’s at least finally releasing outside Japan for those guys who have yet to get their hands on it! There’s also a FFXIV challenge where convention goers can team up and challenge against the Primal Ramuh. Each winner would get a random draw for a Server, and every character in that Server would win a free earring item!

Capcom has a pretty strong showing with Dai Gyakuten Saiban and Monster Hunter 4G as well. I got my hands on the MH4G on the New 3DS as well too. Controls feel pretty tight on the new machine and the new C-stick is a wonderful addition. The new 3D screen and tracking is really useful as well, I actually like the 3D screen in this console. We had a 15 minute demonstration against the title monster Selregios. It was a tough challenge, but I thoroughly enjoyed the demo, and I’d say its probably the best Monster Hunter game yet.

There’s no doubt I’m picking this up when it released next year outside Japan.

Being the resident Gundam guy here, naturally I made my way to the Bandai Namco booth as well. They had a quite a few solid titles on show as well such as God Eater 2 Rage Burst on Vita, and making its debut on PS4 as well! Naturally I went to the Gundam Breaker 2 showcase. Game feels much faster than the previous one and the customization is even better this time round! There’s lots more different customisation options this time round, and more importantly more Gunpla to choose from! Here’s a sneak peek of what I had going with. I definitely had to be my favorite Gundam as the base 😀

It will be out on December 18, and I’ll be at my local game store to pick it up on that day as well!

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Over at the massive Sony booth I did manage to give Bloodborne a go. The game feels like a faster Dark Souls, but with all the gloom, and especially doom included. I didn’t manage to kill the stage boss but it was a fun experience! It will be out in Feb 2015 and I can’t wait to die again!

There are lots of other great PS4 upcoming titles on display as well such as Destiny, Driveclub, The Tomorrow Children, Until Dawn and LittleBigPlanet 3! Even a local game titled One Upon Light has been featured. I feel proud as a Singaporean!

And lastly I went to the Konami booth, which was surprisingly missing at last year’s TGS event.

They had quite a mix of Japanese mobile games, upcoming games such as The Legend of Heroes: Sen no Kisei II and some of their big hitters like Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. I had the pleasure to see Hideo Kojima present the game on the screen and it continues to be impressive, showing off all new features like alternate arm prosthetics, decoys and especially the buddy system, all which you can use when the game releases next year! I really like the new arm’s stun attack; it reminds me of the Shining Finger haha!

I hope you have enjoyed the Tokyo Game Show wrap-up! It was a pleasure to have attended the event and getting the opportunity to test out the latest games as well as speak with some of the developers of these games. Our next article will be featuring another of the Tokyo Game Show’s famous sights, the lovely booth babes!