Today was an amazing day, it was my first time at a major gaming convention. Never been to PAX or E3 or what not. Been to a small event in Montreal but nothing compared to Gamescom.

So a month ago I knew that I was going to be in the Netherlands towards end August and I remembered "Hey! Gamescom is happening I should go", so I went and here are my impressions!

The event as a whole:

• Great, big and everything I imagine E3 being. I've been watching events for years and it was surreal to be surrounded by massive LCD screens with next-gen gameplay, aka paradise.
• However... the lines... THE LINES! Having to wait 3 hours for "Rise: Son of Rome" isn't normal.

The games

Call of Duty: Ghosts

• Only played Multiplayer and to be honest it was on PC so that bummed me out. Lined up for only 30 minutes (early morning) for the Xbox One version but the people working there couldn't really understand me (I don't speak German) and so I ended up stuck with PC...
• Anyways, first impressions? It looks and plays exactly like Call of Duty, I used to play a lot of Modern Warfare on PC and am proud to say I was pretty great at it and it translated directly. Ended first with no issue and then I realized why. COD is COD is COD is COD.
• Glad I played it because I realized I just want to play the singleplayer, I'm done with the multiplayer.

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

• Demo starts at sea and you have to destroy forts and then run up it and what not and get your things done (assassinate one dude).
• Shortest demo I've played today but kinda loved it
• It's really hard to explain how great the sailing felt, the waves were great and you really felt at sea, was also the first time I held a PS4 controller so might have been that
• Felt and played like Assassin's Creed but without the bugs so I'm ready to give it another chance

Ryse: Son of Rome

• Lined up for an hour and barely moved and so I just left :P
• I watched people play the demo and it felt so boring, so so so boring, slowest hack and slash

Dead Rising 3

• Cool story here, I lined up for an hour before the woman working the booth told me it was only a video presentation. I don't understand how press people can do that all the time, can't stress enough how misinformed most people in the line were, it was advertised as a playable demo. Thing is it was only playable by a random developer -.-

Batman: Arkham Origins

• Friend half forced me to play it
• Played exactly like the other Arkham games... NEXT!

Knack

• Looked pretty great, especially the the particle effects. The way Knack could just break in a million pieces and back again in an instant was great.
• Somewhat difficult, I died a few times and stopped playing out of frustration, wasn't that interested before and this didn't help

Driveclub

• Looked great but the game felt slippery, turning a corner and just pushing the stick a bit too much and no more control. Don't know if it's really realistic or what not but I didn't like it.
• HOWEVER, I was more than pleasantly surprised with something that will get me playing, leaderboards. Having everyone around me competing and their ghost cars being on your track was a great incentive, plus the picture you take at the beginning follows you everywhere and seeing all the crazy faces was a nice plus.
• It's free with Plus and I can't wait to play more of it and hopefully maybe get better at it?

Others

• Played a PS4! That controller is simply amazing, it feels thinner, not as plastic-y and those triggers were magic. Super glad I pre-ordered one, feels like a greatly improved PS3 and I'm am so so down.
• Didn't play Xbox One, only game with a lot of booths somehow was Peggle 2 and I didn't want to line up for 2 hours just to play Peggle.
• Sad there was no playable demo for the Witcher 3 :(
• Tomorrow will be my last day and saved Battlefield 4, Watch Dogs and Titanfall (hoping on Xbox One) for last. Super excited and will be posting impressions tomorrow night too! Also hoping to get my hands on a Xbox One, don't know which game, maybe Titanfall but won't know until then.