Last week was E3, an event that I always look forward to, because I’ll learn of upcoming releases from some of my favourite developers. I know there will be announcements for some of the yearly-released titles as well, but for me there was also a sense of awe at the original content coming. I have always been a Nintendo guy, and every time they release or announce a new iteration of their IP I’m the first one to drool.
I don’t get into “Who won E3?” because I feel it’s nonsense. I do however point out my favourite (and least favourite) announcements. The stories I enjoyed and the events that excited me. Boiling everything down to “X won this year!” makes it seem as though announcements didn’t matter.
Tomb Raider Rises…sort of: This year’s E3 showed us the first real gameplay trailer of the reboot’s sequel, Rise of the Tomb Raider. I’m still not a fan of the title or the taglines, find them cheesy to be honest. But at least the game is showing some promise. I have my doubts and you’ve read a few of my articles on the subject, but I can say that I am at least intrigued. They didn’t show enough new elements for my liking. I would’ve liked to see some proper puzzling, but we’ll see how it turns out.
DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM: That trailer. I mean that trailer!!! I want to play this game ASAP!
Emily Dishonored: Loved the trailer. Yes, I would’ve liked to see something with a bit more meat in it, but I found it very interesting that it’s a direct sequel to Corvo’s story.
Deus Ex Coolness: Adam Jensen returns, looking better than ever and with a bunch of new gadgets. I’ve been playing Human Revolution for a few weeks now, so watching more of the upcoming sequel was great. It was an alpha build but it showed a great degree of polish and the new mechanics and designs hit all the right marks for me.
Nintendo’s Quirkiness: Nintendo’s digital event didn’t have that much of a punch, but it was going to be difficult considering they pushed the next Zelda to 2016 to continue working on it and make it a better game. But even so, what sold me on their presentation was the lovable quirkiness of it all. The Muppet themed presentation did a lot for them, made it all very charming and funny. The developer stories were a bit of a mixed bag however, though I found Miyamoto’s insights into Star Fox and the Yarn Yoshi story quite endearing.
Ubisoft & EA Embarrassment: The two most evil companies went head to head to see which presentation was the most cringe-worthy and gimmicky. I give it to Ubisoft. Yes, EA brought out Pelé, but Ubi had Aisha Tyler coming back for another strange hosting evening, Angela Basset and even a random singer that no one gave a crap about and who really needs to get a vocal coach. It was painful to hear and even more so to watch.
Uncharted coolness: I don’t follow Uncharted. I’ve never had a PS so I haven’t played any of them, but even I have to admit that gameplay demo looked amazing. It was exciting and fun.
Assassin’s More-of-the-Same: After the disaster that was Unity I just can’t get excited about Creed anymore. It all just looks so bland and uninteresting. I know what the plot is going to be like even without playing, because it’s the same story all over again. Who knows, maybe it’ll surprise me and I’ll enjoy parkouring through Victorian London and getting on carriages and trains. But what really gets to me is that Ubisoft still refuses to highlight their new female lead, as if they were embarrassed of her. The male Frye Twin gets a full gameplay demo, while his sister only gets a short 1-minute trailer. I want to see more of her please, because her brother looks like every other AC character in the past.
Andromeda and Fallen Knights: Yeah, new Mass Effect and Old Rep expansion. Woot, right? Not so much for me. Yes, the trailers were really cool but they didn’t show anything, we didn’t even see how the game might play. Pre-rendered CG is lazy for an event like E3. Hell, the Doom and Dishonored trailers showed footage that at least LOOKS LIKE gameplay!
For Honor! This game hit all the right notes for me. I’m not big on deathmatch games, but a 4v4 medieval combat one? I’m in. My brother in law is big on medieval warfare so maybe this is the game we’ll play together, Bashbros to the end!
Horizon: This game looks amazing and I don’t mean the graphics, but the world and mechanics. I want to fight giant mechanical T-Rexes as well!
The Nintendo World Championship: This was the highlight of E3 for me and it was before the event even started. It had interesting games, evil elimination rounds and some of my favourite internet personalities and speedrunners competing for the prize. The finals were especially good with those downright evil Mario maker levels!
What were the highs and lows of E3 for you? Drop a comment and let me know!
The surprising Sony announcements were the highlight of the conference for me.
Sony definitely had some good announcements. It was kinda funny however to see them basically ignore the Vita.