FAN EXPO Canada 2019 has wrapped and the post-con blues have set in. Four days of nerdy and geeky fun went by way too fast (as it always does), and now it’s time to get back to regular, non-con life. That being said, FAN EXPO Canada was one hell of a great time. We got to check out and do a bunch of stuff so if you weren’t able to attend last weekend, here’s a little run down of what went down at the con.
One of the main things I go to conventions for is video games, and luckily I was able to try out two of the biggest games on the show floor. First up, I queued up to play some Borderlands 3 (out September 13th). We played a build on PC, so obviously with about a month or so out from the launch date, I was expecting an unpolished version of the game but as it turned out, I was wrong to expect that. The game ran beautifully, and immediately while sitting on the main screen I could tell how much of an improvement over the last game this was. The visuals were beautiful while still keeping the gritty and dirty look and feel, a staple in the Borderlands franchise. During the demo, I played fast enough that I was actually able to play through twice. On the first playthrough, I played as FL4K (Beastmaster class) and the second playthrough as Amara (Siren class). I enjoyed my time with both characters, although when the game launches, I think I’ll be going with FL4K entirely because of his doggo companion. It felt like the handling has been greatly improved, as have the textures. Recently playing through Borderlands 2, it was kind of irritating waiting 3-5 seconds for textures to load in and there’s none of that in Borderlands 3. All and all, we played 20 minutes and I barely saw any bugs so it gets two thumbs up from me!
The next thing I needed to try before the end of the con was Gears 5. I love the Gears of War series and can’t wait for Gears 5 (out September 6th). I went in thinking it would be a gameplay demo like Borderlands 3, but it turned out to be a demo of the Horde multiplayer mode. I wasn’t as big of a fan of this as I was of the Borderlands demo, sadly. I found the gameplay to be a bit clunky, and for some reason, I didn’t have any ammo for the whole demo. I’m also not really into modes where you have to rely on other people (unless they’re friends who know what they’re doing, but most of the time you don’t get that lucky ). I also didn’t think the graphics looked that much better from 2016’s Gears of War 4, the most recent entry in the series. A positive tidbit about my time with the demo was that it reminded me a lot of Left 4 Dead, and I love that game. That being said, I’m all about the campaign and from what we’ve seen so far from the trailers, it looks like so much fun. Can’t wait!
While chilling between playing some awesome demos, I sat in on the Red Dead Redemption 2 panel. Voice actors are always some of the best people to see and meet at conventions. Nothing against celebrities, but meeting voice actors is always a unique experience. The RDR2 panel was hilarious, of course. It was attended by Rob Wiethoff (John Marston), Roger Clark (Arthur Morgan), Alex McKenna (Sadie Adler), and Benjamin Byron Davis (Dutch Van der Linde). My personal highlight of the panel was when someone asked Rob Wietoff if he’s played any of Red Dead Redemption 2, Rob’s answer was something along the lines of “I spent so much working on the game(s) when I finally went home, I had my 2 young kids waiting for me. I didn’t want to be away for so long then get home to my family and say ‘wait’ while I played video games. I have not been able to experience the games, but one day I will sit down and play both of them for hours and hours.” This prompted Roger Clark to chime in with, “I just want to say I also have two young sons at home…and I’m on my second playthrough”. It’s instances like these that I enjoy at panels, that show the awesome chemistry these actors have with each other.
Artist’s Alley is always an incredible thing to experience every year. Walking through the thousands of artists and vendors and witnessing the multitude of art spanning various genres and mediums is always a highlight of a con for me. Unfortunately, the horror presence at FAN EXPO has been diminishing a bit more each year, now only delegated to a very small area in one of the buildings. Nevertheless, it’s still fun to check out and Black Fawn Distribution (a staple in convention horror) is always there keeping horror alive.
The amount of stuff to see and do at FAN EXPO Canada is never doable within its 4-day window. That being said, I think this was one of the best years organization-wise, and the crowds, while still large, felt easier to traverse. I enjoyed everything I saw and did and would mark this down as a pretty successful con. Now it’s time to start saving for next year.
FAN EXPO Canada will return in 2020 on August 27th and will run until August 30th.
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