Despite the efforts of many, many vloggers, bloggers and folks who just ramble about games (alright), there is a huge portion of E3 which goes horribly unnoticed, engulfed in the shadows of the latest triple-A giants. This is my effort to try and fix that. I mean, pissing in the wind has to be worth something, right?
In what can be considered a pretty average expo with some few good and great moments, some of the better, smaller titles on show were accidentally glossed over. For me, these show the best direction for gaming today. Some work with old ideas to create a characterful and charming experience. Others do something completely unexpected, and create a genre-defining title in the process.
So here, you may not be seeing highly anticipated games like Fallout 4 or The Last Guardian, although the former looks rather cracking, but you will see a couple of obstructed gems which have been hidden away from the main conferences.
But then again, Fallout 4 does look really, really top.
Without further ado, I'll show you my personal picks of this year's E3 through a series of easily digestible, not necessarily accurate awards, which are completely false and mean absolutely nothing. Unless you want them to.
Oh God, it's four in the morning again: XCOM 2
XCOM: Enemy Unknown was a surprise for me. A lovely unexpected occurrence in 2012, a year which was, for me, full of pretty good games. You know, the ones which are now in Humble Bundles for really good prices, and are very unlikely to be played for more than about an hour.
Amidst the action of SSX, Blacklight: Retribution and Dishonoured, this remake of the classic strategy game was a slow, but incredibly intense experience, something which I wasn't expecting, but strangely enjoyed. Many a night was haunted by the cries of fallen soldiers as a woke up cursing the permadeath mechanic.
Because the former title kept me up to ungodly hours, carved out over a hundred hours of my social life, and made me care for ridiculously named characters with bright purple hair, it's only natural that the sequel would make this list, and in a positive manner indeed.
Taking place twenty years after the first installment, this sequel puts you, (commander) as the sole force against an overwhelming alien opposition, because clearly things weren't intense enough before.
A hopefully solid interpretation of a beloved IP: Mad Max
I really, really hope that Avalanche Studios don't mess this up. At the very least, please make a solid action/adventure game. At best, do what was done with Batman, and the recently concluded Arkham trilogy; take a relatively mundane IP and revamp it. I mean, the time couldn't be better, coming off the back of the brilliant Fury Road.
Critics and those in the know are hailing it as a mash-up of Borderlands, Shadow of Mordor and Burnout. And given the distinct lack of the latter two titles this year, we can't go wrong. Can we?
As much as I want this game to be solid, some other chaps aren't as optimistic, which is perfectly understandable given the history of films which have become games. Remember Catwoman from the long-lost era of 2004? No, no you certainly don't.
Best vanishing act: Criterion's untitled racing game
Remember how everyone loved Burnout Paradise? Remember how it didn't do one trailer, get everyone excited and then disappear into thin air? Well apparently, Criterion don't learn well from such successes, and have gone and left every Burnout fan hanging for a year now.Forget everything that you just saw in that video, because chances are it isn't happening anytime within the foreseeable future. Remember the likes of Motorstorm and DIRT? As a kid, I thought that the best game ever would consist of cars and planes and racing and crashing, and it seems that Criterion were on course to make my inner 10 year-old weep with joy...
Ah well, apologies about the mid-showcase venting session. Within the wake of this year's expo, and a lack of Kinect, brown shooters and framerate arguments, this game, and all the potential it could've had still sticks out to me like the sorest of thumbs.
Taking other ideas and doing them properly: For Honor
Mate, have you seen this entire MOBA business? That's where it's at. Dirty Bomb did it in an FPS, and it seems that everyone's forgotten about Chivalry: Medieval Warfare. So, it appears that now is a great time to make a solid melee combat game with everyone's favourite childhood soldiers. Let's make people a Knight. Or a Samurai. Or a Viking, yeah that shit sounds rad.
They seem to be dodging the bullet of massive melee combat by using a hell of a lot of AI creeps, just like Titanfall and DoTA, which are easy for you to defeat. Plus, it makes it seem like there's a bigger conflict going on around you, that the battle isn't just a traditional 4v4 deal.
When it comes to improving on the likes of Chivalry, and it's lacklustre parry and blocking system, For Honor showcased its 'Art of Battle' control scheme. All gimmicky names aside, it looks solid, a natural improvement which melee games have been needing for some time, tying your attack and defense all the right stick, (good luck to PC players planning on sticking with a keyboard and mouse).
Granted, this all seems rather solid and promising, but keep in mind that it isn't even in an alpha stage yet. For Honor is far from being released, but it seems that Ubi have ditched their tower fetish, so good on them.
They seem to be dodging the bullet of massive melee combat by using a hell of a lot of AI creeps, just like Titanfall and DoTA, which are easy for you to defeat. Plus, it makes it seem like there's a bigger conflict going on around you, that the battle isn't just a traditional 4v4 deal.
When it comes to improving on the likes of Chivalry, and it's lacklustre parry and blocking system, For Honor showcased its 'Art of Battle' control scheme. All gimmicky names aside, it looks solid, a natural improvement which melee games have been needing for some time, tying your attack and defense all the right stick, (good luck to PC players planning on sticking with a keyboard and mouse).
Granted, this all seems rather solid and promising, but keep in mind that it isn't even in an alpha stage yet. For Honor is far from being released, but it seems that Ubi have ditched their tower fetish, so good on them.
Indie game which will have ridiculously large exposure: Cuphead
If you're after a beautiful game, look no further. With all the fuss about graphics over recent years, and more recently about the quality of Fallout 4's assets, it seems that people have been a bit too busy counting pixels to take a step back, and just appreciate how the overall package has come together.
And mate, it seems that a good art-style and excellent animation has been terribly overlooked. The first thing people shout when they see Cuphead is something to do with 1930's cartoons, and they aren't wrong. It's a style which has been seldom pulled-off beforehand, and one which needs to be done fully, or not at all.
Thankfully, Studio MDHR have fully embraced this idea, with a game which oozes character and charm, making a typical platform-shooter idea a much more appealing concept. In theory, Cuphead shouldn't be anything special. And without doing anything groundbreaking or innovative, the game has received so much more attention than it traditionally would, all thanks to some well-done art assets. Good work pays off, take note big developers.
This is one of the few times that E3 seems to be helping out smaller games, hopefully sending the Moldenhauer brothers to unseen heights.
Pissing off die-hard fans, making me excited: Fallout 4
Yeah sorry, you'll be seeing Fallout 4 here after all.
There were two things that caused an initial worry around Fallout 4 in the footage shown at the Bethesda conference this year: One was the objective quality of the graphics, how it looked a few years old to some, and how textures weren't as sharp as people had wanted. The second was the atmosphere it created. I know that's rather vague, so let me try and explain.
There were two things that caused an initial worry around Fallout 4 in the footage shown at the Bethesda conference this year: One was the objective quality of the graphics, how it looked a few years old to some, and how textures weren't as sharp as people had wanted. The second was the atmosphere it created. I know that's rather vague, so let me try and explain.
I'm not necessarily a Fallout fan. I can appreciate why people love it, but I'm just not all that fussed about it. I say this because I had the odd dabble in Fallout 3 and New Vegas, and the one thing I took away from those games was the atmosphere. Not the mechanics, the weapons, or the lore of the games, but the mood that engulfed it. I was intrigued that it created a mood similar to that of Metro, despite its much larger and arguably less detailed world.
I remember the colour palette seemingly being a pre-cursor to the phase of modern military shooters. Everything was brown, mate. And man, it has a lot of rather dedicated fans who loved it as it was.
Then I watched the Bethesda conference and got very excited about Fallout 4. The customisation, the details, the colours, the new look, the fact that you can fight a Deathclaw in a suit of power-armour. I loved it, presumably because I have no previous attachment to the series, so I can only imagine some die-hard fans being rather annoyed at the concepts which I love.
People will complain that the voiced protagonist breaks your immersion, and that the new look is too clean, Boston looks ruined, but not like it's been nuked. Some will be annoyed that it's weapon modifications won't fit in the universe, or that the made a gimmicky Pip-Boy, or that the dialogue system could've been ripped from any Bioware game.
But personally, I don't care. It looks great, (to me). Regardless of one's interpretation, it certainly is Fallout.
I remember the colour palette seemingly being a pre-cursor to the phase of modern military shooters. Everything was brown, mate. And man, it has a lot of rather dedicated fans who loved it as it was.
Then I watched the Bethesda conference and got very excited about Fallout 4. The customisation, the details, the colours, the new look, the fact that you can fight a Deathclaw in a suit of power-armour. I loved it, presumably because I have no previous attachment to the series, so I can only imagine some die-hard fans being rather annoyed at the concepts which I love.
People will complain that the voiced protagonist breaks your immersion, and that the new look is too clean, Boston looks ruined, but not like it's been nuked. Some will be annoyed that it's weapon modifications won't fit in the universe, or that the made a gimmicky Pip-Boy, or that the dialogue system could've been ripped from any Bioware game.
But personally, I don't care. It looks great, (to me). Regardless of one's interpretation, it certainly is Fallout.
I don't know what it is, but it looks lovely:
For this one, I was incredibly tempted to go with Lumino City. It was on the floor this year as part of the IndieCade Showcase, and it looks delightful. It's art style alone makes you all warm inside, and abruptly hinders your ability to say anything apart from 'it's lovely'.
Just have a quick gander, it's made out of paper and cardboard, and is the result of a collaboration between artists, architects and model-makers. Everything about it shouts enchanting. But unfortunately, it was released last year.
So, in order to appear legitimate, I'm gonna go with something which seems to be overlooked, even by the Indie specialists: The Flame in the Flood.
It seems to combine two things which are seldom paired; a marvelous and colourful aesthetic and some elements of survival. I'm thinking of an optimistic-looking Don't Starve and I still feel like I'm miles away. From the trailer, which is backed by a atmosphere-oozing Chuck Ragan, you get an idea of what you need to do, but not of the systems or mechanics it employs. The group's blog didn't help me much...
Seriously, all I know for certain is that there's a raft, and a dog companion. And subsequently, it has my curiosity, and my attention.
This still exists?: The Division
It's great that we finally got a release date for this title, March 2016, to be relatively vague. But I don't understand why we're still being drip-fed information and new footage, to be brutally honest, does the game look good enough to warrant such a slow development?The one thing I got from this year's coverage of The Division is that you now have the potential to betray your friends. It's around two years behind schedule, and we haven't seen much of a change since it's announcement in E3 of 2013.
What puzzles me even more is the ideas that Ubi seem to be utilising when it comes to The Division, and when it comes their shooters in general. Surely it would be better to focus on a single open-world shooter, instead of announcing another Tom Clancy game in the form of Ghost Recon: Wildlands.
I can appreciate that the two games are different types of shooters, in varied settings encompassing a different tone. But they're still two shooters nonetheless, inspired by the same man.
At least wait until one has been released, (and not inevitably downgraded), or make one a Splinter Cell title. Releasing two similar titles within a proportionally small time-frame just seems a bit daft, really.
It just won't stay dead: Guitar Hero Live and Rock Band 4
Remember the last console generation? Yeah, most of us do, although one thing I won't miss is the peripherals that came with it. While there was the likes of the Kinect, the Playstation Move, a bunch of small game add-ons like unique controllers for the quiz game Buzz!, the additions which seemed to clog up our storage space the most were the controllers for Guitar Hero and Rock Band.
I regret asking for few things when I was younger, but one of them was the Guitar Hero full band set, consisting of two guitars and a drum kit. There was DJ Hero too, but no-one remembers that.
Good God, these musical monstrosities were used once, then quickly ditched in favour of actual instruments. Have a look around your local pawn shop a few years ago, (for me, CEX), and see the array of peripherals which were testament to their quality.
I personally don't support these kinds of games. I get that people want to play music without playing music, if that makes sense, but for the £80 it cost me for a game and plastic guitar, you could get the real thing.
I've no idea why these glorified rhythm games have made a sudden resurgence, but surely demand for them can't be that high? I know that Guitar Hero and Rock Band go hand-in-hand like the worst gaming pair since Kane and Lynch, but just why? Haven't you done enough, Activision and Harmonix?
But anyway, the latest Guitar Hero promises crowds which react to how well you do, so presumably they won't just politely nod along if you're shite. It also promises a playable music network, which is updated constantly. Essentially a rubbish Apple Music, I'm thinking.
Quite honestly, I don't know enough about Harmonix's installment to even warrant a quick chat, so I'll gloss over it. If you're someone who's actually anticipating these games, then I hope you don't like money, as I can guarantee there'll be some kind of special edition guitar nonsense. Errrrrrr...
Can't go wrong, really: Mirror's Edge: Catalyst
2008 was a great year. I think. I can't really remember, but there was a great bit of innovation in at least one instance.
First person and platforming are two terms which shouldn't theoretically work. I mean, try jumping onto something and looking where your feet are, it's a bit tricky.
But in a time in which the gaming industry needed a breath of fresh air, no-one really expected something like this, and no-one at all expected it to come from the likes of EA. But it did, and Mirror's Edge was brought into existence. And it was surprisingly good.
So after becoming a fan favourite, you can imagine how excited everyone was when the sequel was announced. At the very least, Catalyst seems to promise more of the same, and while I'd normally pan this notion, the rare case of Mirror's Edge seems to be an exception, despite the inspiration the original provided for other titles.
A free-roaming world with no loading screens seems to be an ideal progression for a game which has only previously seen rather linear levels. While I would fear for the plot of this upcoming title, (which seems to consist of 'big companies, no privacy, one big boss battle at the end, people's revolution', you know, that story), it'll be nice to get a more prolonged look into the once superficial world behind Mirror's Edge.
I mean, can Faith ask why everything's white? Is this Mr Kruger just really obsessive over the colour scheme. Even a worse case scenario promises us Faith's origin story, so it'll be difficult to mess this up; You know EA, and you've seen Battlefield Battlefront...
Exactly what was needed: Just Cause 3
A lot of what I just stated about Mirror's Edge: Catalyst applies here too. A lot of games have attempted to create a fuck-about sandbox, disguised as a serious game, and with the possible exception of Grand Theft Auto V, none seems to have mastered the remarkably simple formula better than Just Cause.
Seriously, it does compel me that no other games has topped this title; what's so hard about a big open world, vehicles, explosions and a grapple gun? Well, apart from tying it all together in a somewhat cohesive manner, I suppose.
Although everyone seems to be going with an open world recently, few can top the 400 square kilometers of Mediterranean dictatorship which Just Cause 3 boasts. I would say that No Man's Sky tops it, but that's an open universe mate, a different league entirely.
Infinite C4, some cracking new locations to destroy, and even the ability to draw a phallus in a field with a sports car, inadvertently prove that the third iteration of this game is shaping up to be the best yet. Without being too optimistic, how is it possible to mess this up? Then again, I've said that quite a few times previously.
Granted, we've yet to hear anything about multiplayer, but as someone who persevered through the mod for Just Cause 2, I must say that it's fairly low on my list of priorities for this game. And the support that Avalanche are giving PC modders seems to suggest that a similar mod will be made for Just Cause 3, eventually.
Compared to the previous few expos, which focused on "look how shiny our new consoles are", us gamers came off rather well this year. There was nothing too significant to complain about, (although we'll always find something), what with some nostalgic announcements, and an actual focus on games, but how good was the best?
I suppose there was nothing that utterly captivated me, but then again, E3 has never really been the place to do that. What was shown was solid, and as long as didn't make use of some exclusive beta nonsense, everything had its own merits.
Long story short; you couldn't go wrong this year.
Seriously, it does compel me that no other games has topped this title; what's so hard about a big open world, vehicles, explosions and a grapple gun? Well, apart from tying it all together in a somewhat cohesive manner, I suppose.
Although everyone seems to be going with an open world recently, few can top the 400 square kilometers of Mediterranean dictatorship which Just Cause 3 boasts. I would say that No Man's Sky tops it, but that's an open universe mate, a different league entirely.
Infinite C4, some cracking new locations to destroy, and even the ability to draw a phallus in a field with a sports car, inadvertently prove that the third iteration of this game is shaping up to be the best yet. Without being too optimistic, how is it possible to mess this up? Then again, I've said that quite a few times previously.
Granted, we've yet to hear anything about multiplayer, but as someone who persevered through the mod for Just Cause 2, I must say that it's fairly low on my list of priorities for this game. And the support that Avalanche are giving PC modders seems to suggest that a similar mod will be made for Just Cause 3, eventually.
Compared to the previous few expos, which focused on "look how shiny our new consoles are", us gamers came off rather well this year. There was nothing too significant to complain about, (although we'll always find something), what with some nostalgic announcements, and an actual focus on games, but how good was the best?
I suppose there was nothing that utterly captivated me, but then again, E3 has never really been the place to do that. What was shown was solid, and as long as didn't make use of some exclusive beta nonsense, everything had its own merits.
Long story short; you couldn't go wrong this year.
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