Villordsutch reports from Play Expo Manchester…
This year’s PLAY Expo celebrated its 5th Anniversary in Manchester. This major North West event brings together gaming of all varieties. Most gaming events like to hug and look towards the next amazing next-gen treat, but this weekend celebrates everything from board games to retro and next-gen games and even games where you control the action by tapping a banana…no really.
Nothing is left out at PLAY Expo and this is why as a person that has enjoyed gaming through the ages and still to this day I’m glued to every release date, even lurking on many websites waiting for trailers to drop. I love this event and the 5th Anniversary quite frankly will be one to remember.
I attended for Flickering Myth on Saturday and whereas before we’ve seen car park attendants look like they’re swatting wasps, the day instantly started on a good omen when, like clockwork, we were being moved to an open space. Then working my way to the door and expecting to go through the, “I’m press”, “You’re press? Well we don’t know what to do with you so stay there as we pass the buck for 30 minutes”, I was in within 15 seconds and straight to a Replay Events desk to get scanned in and left to roam the arena. This was all going to easy…and I’ll drop a spoiler now – it stayed like this all day.
On notice boards at the entrance were pinned colourful maps to indicate which zone were where; from VR, LAN, Minecraft, Red Bull 5G, the event was laid out and it was so easy to follow. Aiming straight for Rebellion’s Battlezone, which was being showcased on the PSVR, I was hugely impressed – as were the members of my family – to the point we’re we have worked out the collective Christmas present to the ourselves this year (it’s tradition).
I then went on a wander past the Indie games stalls and spotted both Rob Hewson and Andrew Hewson promoting Hyper Sentinel, saying my hello’s and speaking with Andrew for a moment to tell him how much as a child his software house’s games were fantastic, I then trundled off. In the VR area I found another gaming legend Jeff Minter – from Llamasoft – so I managed to ask him a quick question too. It was later at home I discovered that feet away from me was Football Manager creator Kevin Toms so I was a bit gutted I never said hello to him. Jim Bagley was also showing off the inner workings of the ZX Spectrum Next – from what I believe – so I’m heart-broken I missed that too!
There were a number of special games on show here and I managed to get my hands on them: Ride 2 (I was rubbish at), Tekken 7 (I was destroyed on), Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 (I had no idea what was going on here), WWE 2K17 (My youngest and I drew a match each). One of the biggest draws was from a fairly colourfully little number called Snake Pass, however my favourite of the day was truthfully Battlezone which I could have stayed on all day.
There was an impressive amount of cosplayers wandering around and as it was the 20th anniversary of Tomb Raider there was an ample supply of Lara Crofts dotted around the arena. Two costumes really stood out: firstly the Bioshock Big Daddy costume and a hugely disturbing animatronic rabbit which I was informed – by a passer-by – that it was from Friday Night at Freddy’s.
PLAY Expo at Event City is an excellent gaming weekend. Due to its size it never becomes “that” busy, so you never feel like you’re cattle in a meat market and the queues all be it can be long, don’t become ridiculous. You can happily wander around and sit down at a chair (though if somebody is sat in a chair just relax and wait a minute, for they’ll move along soon and you can sit in a warm spot).
To watch the event check out the video below, but it is loud…
SEE ALSO: Interview with James Valls, Senior Producer on Battlezone from Rebellion
Originally published October 12, 2016. Updated November 30, 2022.
