It’s not surprising that an expo aimed towards fans of video games often has a very competitive mindset; fans and journalists alike are often keen to say that one company or another ‘won’ E3. However, with solid performances from every company and developer at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, I’m not one who is so tempted to declare such a winner. With both entirely new games and sequels to old favourites showcased impressively all around, Bethesda started off the show with a bang as Fallout 4 was announced to the delighted squeals of Fallout fans everywhere. The game’s traditional FPS-meets-RPG niche looks to further expand into an RTS-like gameplay with the addition of post-apocalyptic city building elements. Plus, for a few extra bottle caps, you can own your very own Pip-Boy!
Microsoft’s showing was highlighted by the announcement of Xbox One supporting backwards compatibility for Xbox 360 games, even allowing for online play between Xbox One and 360 players. The new Halo 5: Guardians also features an online multiplayer with up to 24 people. There were new titles such as Tacoma, a story-based first-person exploration game set in a futuristic space-station from the makers of Gone Home; the gorgeous cel-shaded action RPG, Ashen, revealed to be an Xbox One exclusive; as well as more footage regarding previously announced sequels such as Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Fable Legends.
Square Enix also had an impressive showing, with teaser trailers showcasing both the highly anticipated and celebrated RPG Kingdom Hearts 3, and the first glimpses of gameplay for Eidos Montreal’s newest thought-provoking stealth-action sci-fi, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.
Announcements from EA included the previously teased new entry in the Mass Effect series, Mass Effect: Andromeda, which will feature a separate story from the original trilogy featuring Commander Shepard. Perhaps one of the most refreshing and surprising stars of EA’s presentations was that of Swedish developer Martin Sahlin’s Unravel, a new puzzle platformer that is simple but heartfelt in thought (simply listening to the developer talk about his game shows this). The gameplay focuses around using yarn-based physics to solve puzzles and move forward. Of course, EA also displayed it’s fair share of staple sports titles, as well as anticipated sequels like Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst and Star Wars Battlefront III.
UbiSoft kept things simpler, showing off the newest entries in their own tried-and-true series. The new Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate brings fans to a long-desired location: Victorian London, with all the steampunk one could want courtesy of the Industrial Revolution. Three new games are also planned for the Tom Clancy series, including The Division, Rainbow Six Siege, and Ghost Recon.
As a big Nintendo fan, suffice it to say I was slightly underwhelmed by this year’s performance in comparison to previous years, as it focused almost entirely on titles to be released in the immediate future, and not long-term titles such as the new Zelda on the WiiU. Nevertheless, there were several exciting announcements in the new StarFox Zero for WiiU—a franchise long in need of a reboot—and a new three-player co-operative The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heros for the 3DS, which once again looks to aim to recreate the feel of top-down puzzles from previous hand held Zelda titles. There was also new information and trailers for previously announced, but still highly anticipated titles, including the adorable but innovative yarn mechanics Yoshi’s Wooly World; the massive open-world futuristic fantasy RPG, Xenoblade Chronicles X; and Fire Emblem: Fates, which adds a focus on the results of player choice to the familiar turn-based strategy gameplay.
The controversy in announced games included the announcement of Metroid Prime: Federation Force—a 3DS game whose ties to the Metroid franchise seem tenuous at best, as it does not feature the iconic protagonist, Samus, nor the gameplay typical of a Metroid game, nor even the art style of any games even previously featured in the series. Feedback towards the title even saw the creation of a petition for Nintendo to cancel production of the game—quite a devastating response for the poor game developers. The new Animal Crossing titles, Happy Home Designer and Amiibo Festival, were received with similar, but quite less severe criticism, as both are spin off games, not the highly anticipated main entry in the well-loved series.
Sony’s presentation opened with a very exciting re-introduction of The Last Guardian—a game in development since 2008, designed by The Shadow of the Colossus director Fumito Ueda, with both action-adventure and puzzle gameplay elements featuring a weaponless boy and his large, griffin-like companion. The crowd-pleasing didn’t stop there; there was also announcement of the remake of fan-favourite Final Fantasy VII with a gorgeous teaser trailer and no foreseeable release date. A very surprising showing was of Shenmue III, which was revealed to have a Kickstarter in place in hopes of attaining a funding target of $2 million USD in one month—a sum that it reached within eight hours of the game’s reveal. Updates on previously announced titles such as Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, No Man’s Sky, and StreetFighter 5 rounded off Sony’s impressive showing.
The video games were not the only source of excitement at E3—virtual reality hardware took centre stage as well, with both Microsoft’s hologram projector, Hololens, and Sony’s Oculus-like Project Morpheus being available for guest use. Of course, both projects do not appear to be quite consumer-ready, but that doesn’t stop us from being really excited about being brought even closer to the promise of VR gaming in the near future.
For myself and many other gaming enthusiasts, E3 is like a second Christmas. Luckily for us, many of the games scheduled for release in 2015 are to be out this holiday season, and even more in the early months of 2016. If your wallets are feeling a little lighter after the Steam Summer Sale, it might be time to start saving now for your new favourite entries to your library, because there sure are many to come!
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