Super Mario Bros. Wonder was one of EGX’s biggest draws (Picture: eyetunes)

A reader takes his seven-year-old son to this year’s EGX, as they both try out Super Mario Bros. Wonder, PSVR2, and more.

Last Sunday I attended EGX 2023 at the ExCel Centre in London, after a hiatus of a few years. I have been attending since 2012 but this year was the first time I took my son (aged seven) with me. It was his maiden expo so this year’s coverage is a bit different from previous write-ups. Despite being the UK’s biggest video game event, the exhibition was nowhere near as grand as pre-Covid times but showed some promise for the future.

The first game my son played on was C-Smash VRS on PlayStation VR2. We don’t have any VR headsets at home, so this was his foray into VR. There are a number of racket ball sports you can play in the full game, but this demo was for a game of virtual squash. He said ‘it felt a bit weird’ when he put on the headset but was soon swinging away and actually hit most of the returns. He was also equipped with the Sense controllers, which are required to play. This game is out now.

Next was a game for me and that was Wargroove 2 on the Nintendo Switch. I own the original game in the series and am a fan of grid-based tactics games like XCOM, Fire Emblem, and Final Fantasy Tactics. GC covered everything well in their review of the game and I echo those sentiments. I just played the tutorial level, which explained how the fighting system works but didn’t get a chance to play the new rougelike mode. I did ask the staff on hand about a physical release of the game as it’s only currently available digitally and they said to keep an eye out in the coming months for some more news. Fingers crossed.

The main attraction of the show was a chance to play on Super Mario Bros. Wonder on the Nintendo Switch. There were dozens of demo stations set up, slap bang in the middle of the hall surrounded by props from the game to have pictures taken, including the famous green warp pipes. A costumed Mario and Luigi were also posing for photos as well. We played this game in the two-player co-op mode a few times during the day. Feedback from my son was he thought the new Elephant Mario power-up ‘would be bigger on the screen’ I found that the aesthetic of it doesn’t really suit the game but found the wiggling pipes fun.

Sticking with the Mario theme we then both went along to The Story of Mario + Rabbids with Grant Kirkhope talk in the EGX Theatre. We lasted about 20 minutes (scheduled to last for one hour) before the little one was bored, but I found it very entertaining. Kirkhope scored both Mario + Rabbids titles and told the audience about how he got the job via LinkedIn and mentioned some of the games he worked on during his time at Rare, including Banjo-Kazooie.

We spent some time in the dedicated family area painting miniature figures to have a break. This zone also had loads of family based titles to play, including Super Mario Maker 2, Paw Patrol World, and My Little Universe, which he was quite enamoured with. It’s a resource gathering type game, think Minecraft meets LittleBigPlanet. He loved it so much we downloaded it when we got home on the iPad, but it’s also available on the Nintendo Switch.

Sonic Superstars was there too (Picture: eyetunes)

Another winner on the day was the gaming bus, basically a double decker bus kitted out with various consoles & PCs on both floors. We had plays on Minecraft and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, while I could see others enjoying Cyberpunk 2077.

The other big developer presence there was Sega, who were showing off Sonic Superstars. We actually played this at the Specsavers stand, as they were working in conjunction with them on a high score competition, whist encouraging you to look after your eyes and ears.

Sega were also showing off Persona 5 Tactica and Persona 3 Reload. If I was travelling solo I would have been stationed there most of the day, as I’m a massive fan of anything Persona and Shin Megami Tensei (it’s sort-of parent franchise) related.

I only got a chance to play Persona 5 Tactica in the end but it’s essentially a tactics-based spin-off of the main game. In the demo we were shown the new character Erina and it played much like the Mario + Rabbids games. Persona 5 Tactica is out on 17th November, while we have to wait a bit longer for Persona 3 Reload – 2nd February next year and I will be picking up both.

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Finally, worth mentioning that Call Of Duty games have always been a mainstay at previous shows and this year was no different. They were promoting Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 beta and it was a popular stand, judging by the queues. I would have loved to played it but had to sit this one out for obvious reasons.

Overall, we both had a very busy and fun day and sampled some titles that I initially didn’t expect to but that’s part of the fun. It must have been a success though, as he’s asked to go back next year.

By eyetunes (PSN ID)

A free demo of PlayStation VR2 (Picture: eyetunes)

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MORE : Super Mario Bros. Wonder review – Nintendo magic has never been stronger or stranger

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A reader takes his seven-year-old son to this year’s EGX, as they both try out Super Mario Bros. Wonder, PSVR2, and more.