On the whole there was disappointment at Microsoft’s conference (apart from the South Park game and segment), a better response to Sony’s conference, and great reception to the games shown at Ubisoft’s conference. That said, Ubisoft’s conference also had the worst presenters, with an awkward Tobuscus not as awesome as his literal trailers, and a woman who made references to ‘girl wood’ (as opposed to the more common term ‘lady boner’). While these two might be awesome in other places, they are not good at hosting media events. Then there’s EA. Tumbleweed would fit on that stage. Dead Space 3 was the only thing that blipped for me in that conference.
The big ones to watch so far are Watch Dogs, AC3, The Last of Us and BEYOND: Two Souls. Far Cry 3 doesn’t look to shabby either (and boobies), while Rayman Legends fulfils some inate need for good 2D platforming.
One thing to note is that this year is the year of the bow! Here’s a preliminary list of games shown so far that feature a bow:
- Assassin’s Creed III
- Crysis 3
- Far Cry 3
- Tomb Raider
Hooray for archaic weaponry!
Watch Dogs
Already hailed as GAME OF THE SHOW, Watch Dogs has a really impressive trailer showing off some natural looking civilians in Chicago, awesome use of hacking to accomplish objectives, and a really amazing sequence all round.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcMRkyoHKeA]
Reminds me a lot of Deus Ex or Hitman in terms of having options and gadgets to approach a situation, and the open-world is very GTA-esque.
Assassin’s Creed III
All of you are aware of my love for this franchise (and thanks again for the gift guys), and these two gameplay videos and the cinematic trailer just amp my anticipation for this rendition of the face-and-neck-stabbing series. First up, Connor inspires Washington’s Patriots to fight the Redcoats.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nL6chDa7T8Q]
Next up, Connor fights off wolves, blows up some ammo, and goes to town with some neat dual executions.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2i-dRkPtQA]
Finally, Connor becomes Captain Jack Sparrow as he captains a US ship against the British.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpBL-g9-Ss4]
Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation
This Vita only title features the first female assassin protagonist, and appears to be set primarily in Louisiana. I am wary of this title, as the portable versions of AC haven’t been great, but it appears that they are making this a lot more like the home console games thanks to the control scheme the Vita has. For a Vita game, it looks pretty good.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPVh32v9q0A]
Speaking of Vita, I’ve just ordered one, and will hopefully get it next week.
The Last of Us
Man, this is brutal stuff. Naughty Dog again show their mastery as we see some brutal violence, and not just violence for the sake of it, but representing how f’ed up this post-apocalyptic world has become. Naughty Dog have outdone themselves here.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZYkj0glnqs]
BEYOND: Two Souls
The creators of Heavy Rain return with another amazing looking game. While this might have been too slow for a conference, I think the moments of silence really punctuate how good the direction and acting in this game is. That face movements on that sheriff are something else. Unfortunately we have no idea how the gameplay is like, but it looks to be more action-packed compared to Heavy Rain.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NEup8y0g-Q]
XCOM Enemy Unknown
A turn-based strategy XCOM from the makers of Civilization. I cannot wait for this game.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNyhyzjYCks]
Rayman Legends
Rayman Origins was hailed as the best 2D platformer in recent times, and Michel Ancel returns to work his magic on the Wii U (before hopefully returning to finish Beyond Good and Evil 2). Looks like good fun for the whole family, and the art is just gorgeous. I may be overbetting here, but I think this may be one of the games that shows how the Wii U Controller Pad should be used, replacing a first-party Nintendo game that usually serves this purpose.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80sFt4IDI5k]
Far Cry 3
A warning: there is a small glimpse at nude boobies in this trailer, if that will offend your poor little eyes. Far Cry 3 impressed with its debut trailer, and the psychopathic philosopher returns to tell the player to kill him.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-gi9-aqp4g]
Halo 4
Guess what, the Chief still has work to do. A new mystery enemy appears to fight both humanity and rogue Covenant, and Cortana is beginning to degrade, which in human terms, means she’s slowly becoming psychotic.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N-CRrP9xjQ]
Splinter Cell: Blacklist
After the events of Conviction, Third Echelon has been publicly abolished. In reality, the US President has decided to make Sam Fisher the head of the new and even more secret Fourth Echelon (really, that’s the best name you could come up with Mr Clancy?). The satisfying mark-and-execute gameplay returns, but Michael Ironside (the voice of Sam Fisher) has not, because he’s too old to do motion-capture stuff.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuhfD48VRGE]
Dead Space 3
Dead Space 3 turns Dead Space into a co-operative game, with more action than most people would like for a survival horror game. While it remains to be seen whether the survival horror aspect of the game is severely impacted, hopefully the limb dismemberment is still as satisfying as ever.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drmumQwh7FA]
Star Wars 1313
This is an amazing looking game. The gameplay looks par for the course, but the graphics are something to write home about.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCLFfVav7qk]
SimCity
A tilt-shifted look and curvy roads makes this new SimCity one to get excited for. A shame that it is always online, which means that you won’t be able to save and reload maps.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SObs9KnK0Ng]
Tomb Raider
Lara Craft gets horribly abused in this gameplay demo. In the past Uncharted took cues from Tomb Raider, but now the roles are reversed. Let’s see if Lara Croft can take pain better than Nathan Drake can.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFhLS7DmLlc]
Medal of Honor: Warfighter
Frostbite 2 is a great looking engine. Medal of Honor: Warfighter plays like what you’d expect a CoD-competitor to play like.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn0RpX97fD8]
Persona 4: The Golden and Persona 4: (The Ultimate in Mayonaka) Arena
While these two games were not shown off at conferences, I am posting their E3 trailers here because I’m heavily anticipating the both of them. And the Arena trailer is simply awesome for the subtitles given to each character. “The Sister-Complex Kingpin of Steel”! Most stylish fighting game I’ve seen.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esQXF9UGFw0]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnwXbSYcywg]
