To start things off I want to point
out that this list is in no particular order and is not based on the quality of
the game’s showing at E3, all it has to have done to qualify is be at the show
in some way.
Halo: The Master
Chief Collection
This
is pretty much a dream come true for me. The Master Chief Collection comes
with: Halo 1 Anniversary except the Halo Reach multiplayer has been substituted
for the original multiplayer now on Xbox Live for the first time ever, Halo 2
Anniversary with cinematics being remade by the incredible Blur Studios, all
maps ever released and 6 of those maps will come with an additional version
that has been updated to look like Halo 5, plus Halo 3 & 4 with all of
their maps and some visual touch ups. It sounds amazing and I can’t wait to
relive the terrific multiplayer experiences that were Halo 2 & 3 and
getting to finally play Halo 1 online. It even comes with a campaign feature
where you can make playlists of different single player levels across all four
games and play them in any order you want alone or co-operatively.
Phantom Dust
Now
the odds are that the reveal of Phantom Dust returning wasn’t a big deal to
you. Most gamers have never even heard of Phantom Dust, let alone got to play
it back on the original Xbox. I, however, did and it was one of my favorite
games on the console. Phantom Dust is a post-apocalyptic real-time pseudo–card-battle
game that is far better than its description sounds. The truth is words can’t
describe the greatness that is Phantom Dust, there is nothing else like it and
I am extremely happy that more people will get the opportunity to play it. I
just hope that Microsoft’s Major Nelson’s comment about it being a
“remastering” means that it is a full Xbox One remake rather than simply
Phantom Dust HD and that it can be successful enough to get a real sequel.
Star Fox
Nintendo
is best known for their stable of great franchises. Unfortunately some get a
great deal more attention than others. Every year I wait for the day when Nintendo
finally announces a new Star Fox. This year it finally happened. Now there
isn’t an official trailer yet, and the people who have gotten a chance to play
it have said that it is very rough and clearly early in its development, but
the fact of the matter is I don’t care. It is a new Star Fox where Fox stays in
his vehicles and that is all I have wanted for more than two console
generations.
Mirror’s Edge
EA
showed some very early footage of Mirror’s Edge at their press conference this
year. It was kind of disappointing because it didn’t show anything that you
wouldn’t have seen before in the original game and didn’t divulge any specifics
about the new story, but it is nice to see that things are moving along and
that the game is coming “when it’s ready” as they teased at last year’s E3. I’m
really excited for this game in spite of its less than impressive showing
because I thought the original Mirror’s Edge was a fresh, unique and great
game.
Assassin’s Creed: Unity
Assassin’s
Creed Unity looks absolutely stunning. The graphics are incredible, the game
can supposedly support 5000 gorgeous NPCs (non-player characters) at a time and
once again the series seems to have out done itself with remarkably smooth and
varied traversal animations. Unity has a large focus on co-op, which bothers me
because I know that personally I won’t have three friends with the game ready
to play whenever I feel like progressing through the story. With that said
there seems to be a lot of cool content that you can explore all by yourself. I
like the side quests, such as the murder mystery that you can stumble upon, and
how you can seamlessly enter and traverse through one out of four buildings in
the game so far. I am also glad that they have finally added the ability to
crouch and use cover effectively, so that you can be stealthy and sneak around
in the game about being a stealthy assassin who sneaks around and eliminates
his targets by surprise. After Desmond’s story rapped up at the end of
Assassin’s Creed 3 I thought I was done with the franchise, but the French
Revolution and the apparent improvements have me willing to give it another go.
Batman: Arkham
Knight
Rocksteady’s
Arkham games have been praised countless times for making you feel like Batman,
but until now they have left out one huge part of what it means to be Batman
and that is the Batmobile. Now they have finally corrected that great error.
The truth is I was apprehensive about the Batmobile when I first heard it would
be in the game. I’ve driven around open world’s plenty of times, so I figured
it wouldn’t offer anything unique or special to the experience. Then I watched
the gameplay footage from E3 and it looks amazing. The Batmobile tears through
anything in its way and can turn into a tank and quickly strafe around the
battle field using its weaponry to take out any enemy foot soldiers or vehicles
around. Another cool feature is that you can now chain stealth takedowns
allowing you to clear out more bad guys in a shorter period of time. Rocksteady
has said that this game will end the Arkham series and so far it looks like
they will be going out with a bang.
Destiny
Destiny
didn’t introduce anything new that we hadn’t seen before at this E3, but they
did start their Alpha on PS4 (which is really phase 1 of their Beta as they
have now opened their game up to testing outside of their company therefore
making it a Beta and not an Alpha, but why nitpick) which allowed some players
a chance to try it out and from the videos I’ve seen things look good. I’m not
in the Alpha so I won’t know if the shooting is as good as I want it to be (see
Halo for reference), but I do like the number of abilities, weapons and gear
plus I think the way they merge players into each other’s games so that they
can play co-operatively if they choose to, a la Journey, has the potential to
be much better than simply being assigned a couple of teammates at the
beginning of your session. I really hope Destiny can live up to the high bar
Bungie previously set for themselves with Halo and that is why I am so excited
for it.
Rise of the Tomb
Raider
The
rebooted Tomb Raider was a great game and I thought it did a good job of
grounding the character of Lara Croft and making her more believable than how
she had been depicted before. I like that they appear to be trying to continue
Lara’s progression as a character in order for her to become the legendary
figure she had always been. Crystal Dynamics has also stated that Tombs will be
larger and more important this time around, which sounds good. I thought Tomb
Raider was one of the best games of last year, so I’m eager to pick up that
awesome bow again and raid some tombs.
Halo 5: Guardians
I’ve
already mentioned previously in this article that I love Halo. I think 343
Industries failed to maintain the same level of quality that Bungie achieved
for the main games in the series, but that Halo 4 was still great. I am
interested in seeing where their story goes following the events at the end of
Halo 4 and I am curious as to why The Arbiter wants Agent Locke to find Master
Chief. I am also hopeful that 343’s work on The Master Chief Collection,
feedback from their Halo 5 Multiplayer Beta that will start nearly a year
before the game is released and their decision to refer specifically to Halo’s
“arena” multiplayer at Microsoft’s Press Conference means that they will work
to correct the mistakes made to Halo 4’s multiplayer.
Metal Gear Solid
5: The Phantom Pain
Metal
Gear Solid 5 looks like it will be an incredible experience. Kojima has said
that Metal Gear Solid 5 won’t shy away from topics that might make people
uncomfortable or that might disturb them. There are artists in every medium
available that have used sensitive subject matter and abused it to be edgy and
generate attention for what they have made or are making, but I do not believe
that is what Kojima is doing here. The English version of MGS5’s E3 trailer
from this year put something from the E3 2013 trailer into context for me (if
you want to avoid spoilers don’t go back and watch it, but if you choose to
then it will hopefully be quite obvious what I am referring to). Last year I
worried that the scene would be in the game for shock value, but now I see the
way that Kojima and his team are handling things in MGS5 and I found myself in
awe of it. I think that the way they are tackling very sensitive topics and
images will end up being controversial, but that it will be handled in such a
way that it will actually set a new bar for the medium of videogames and
potentially move the industry forward. And if that isn’t something to be
excited about I don’t know is.
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