DoctorFinger
06-11-2011, 02:07 PM
As I begin writing this it’s Thursday night, and E3 2011 has officially just ended. I went in thinking it would be a memorable show, and I’d say that prediction came true.
There was one thought that kept floating through my head in the days leading up to the show: this holiday season is going to be insane. The four days of the show only reinforced that feeling. The PSV, Battlefield 3, Uncharted 3, Dead Island, Gears of War 3, Batman Arkham City, Rage, Skyrim, Modern Warfare 3, Saints’ Row 3, Ratchet & Clank All 4 One, Star Wars The Old Republic, Torchlight II, Tomb Raider, Assassins’ Creed Revelations, Space Marine, Operation Raccoon City, Twisted Metal. And I haven’t even touched on the downloadable games yet! Late 2007 is commonly thought of as the best season for gaming in modern memory with games such as Assassins’ Creed, Halo 3, The Orange Box, Modern Warfare, Rock Band, The Witcher, Bioshock, Mass Effect, Super Mario Galaxy and Crysis all launching in about a 12 week span. This year is - so far - a little lighter on the original IPs, but it may end up being legendary nonetheless. Of course some of these titles may slip to early 2012, but I’m not sure how many will change dates this late in the game.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5234/5817409040_c58872ca53_z.jpg
(Note that I wasn’t at the show. All of these opinions are based on trailers, video demos and previews of trusted writers.)
Right off the bat there were a few games which just blew me away. Battlefield 3 just kept cranking out trailer after awesome trailer, great demo after great demo, and kept the goodies coming with a fairly constant flow of news concerning gameplay features. I still don’t think it will outsell Modern Warfare 3 this year, but after E3 I think the margin between the two will be small. Bethesda also wowed me with Skyrim. For a while now I thought Bethesda, the game developer not the publisher, had great ideas occasionally plagued by mediocre execution. From everything I’ve seen of the game that likely won’t be the case with Skyrim. Then there was Bioshock Infinite. Initially I was hesitant to read anything about it for fear of spoiling the game for myself, but after hearing the raves from people I trust, I had to dive in. I’m glad I did. The videos and demos were short, but incredibly effective. It gives you a sense of the story, the exploration, the combat, all of which fit Bioshock in tone and have the potential to exceed it in execution.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3118/5810152929_1ce0b7a379_z.jpg
You may have noticed that all of those games were already pretty big deals. There were a few surprises. Bethesda’s Prey 2 is a game I’ve done a complete 180 on in the last few weeks. When it was announced as having a new main character, setting and game mechanics I was ready to write it off as a cheap cash-in. But after one good trailer and one very strong live demo, I’m sold. It’s a very different game than Prey 1, but everything I saw of it looks like fun. One of the brand new games which hooked me is SOE’s Payday: The Heist. Initial impressions of a Left 4 Dead meets Heist movie experience turned into something a little more interesting once hands-on demos began. A more complex experience than I expected, and a really pleasant one from all accounts. There were also a mess of impressive looking downloadable games: Bastion, Crimson Alliance, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, From Dust, Journey, Rock of Ages and Dust 514 all had me hooked at one point or another.
Then there was the hardware. I’m not a portable gamer, and I’ve been as critical of the Wii as anyone, but Nintendo and Sony did a fabulous job selling their new hardware. After a few days I started thinking about pre-ordering a Vita, and I haven’t owned a handheld gaming platform since the original Game Boy Phat. The Wii U is a bit more of an enigma, mostly since it’s still so far off. There’s a ton of potential there, but for now it’s only potential.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2433/5806892509_4b419d1fb0_z.jpg
Not everything I saw was positive, and I’ll start with Microsoft, who had a pretty lackluster show all in all. Some people say that it was a bad show for Xbox gamers without Kinect, but I think that grossly overvalues the Kinect games displayed. Lots of dance games and fitness games and cheesy mini-game collections. Twisted Pixel's Gunstringer and Double Fine’s Sesame Street: Once Upon A Monster were impressive, but what other Kinect games stood out? Sega didn’t show enough of their horror title Rise of Nightmares to even give me a sense of how it played. Star Wars Kinect looks slow and uninteresting and Fable The Journey was almost embarrassing. Kinect Fun Labs has promise, but is it enough to move Kinects off the shelves in greater numbers? MS once again didn’t show much in the way of new exclusives. Crytek’s Ryse was only given a cinematic trailer and it’s more than a year off in any case. Gears 3, Forza 4 and Halo 4/Halo Anniversary are nice but completely expected.
Some individual games seemed to regress a little. Aliens Colonial Marines seemed to drop the tactical, squad-based play for more generic run-and-gun style. I still think the game will be good, but that’s a step backwards for me. The new DmC also just looked...flat. Uninteresting. I’m not a huge fan of the series to begin with, but nothing I saw from the show made me interested in it the way I’m looking forward to, say, a possible Bayonetta sequel. I also have to put X-Men Destiny on the disappointing list. That trailer they released was just...terrible. I sort of understand that the premise of the game sort of makes you play as a new character. But who wants to play an X-Men game as a new character? We want to play as our favorites, and if you can’t manage that within the framework of your concept, then maybe it’s time to ditch the concept.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5189/5810710888_86a994ed6c.jpg
Then there were - as always with E3 - the missing in action. To me there were a few pretty glaring absences. Few games are asked about as much as Sony’s The Last Guardian, but it didn’t even rate a mention at the show. Likely not coming out this year after all. Also MIA was Konami’s Metal Gear Rising, starring Raiden. It had a fairly prominent place at the 2010 show, but nary a peep this year. While it’s absence wasn’t a complete surprise, I would like to have seen something out of Blizzard on Diablo III. I know Activision Blizzard usually doesn’t have a big presence at E3, preferring to use Blizzfest to make announcements, but a tidbit would have been nice. A tidbit would also have been nice to get from Bungie on their upcoming game for Activision, or something from Respawn on their (suppposedly sci-fi shooter) project for EA. We knew ahead of time they wouldn’t be there but this would have been the perfect time to tease the public. Also missing were titles like Max Payne 3, Thief 4, Rockstar’s Agent and Burnout Crash. Not formally announced, but I expected to hear at least something about Borderlands 2, Planetside Next, Syndicate/Project RedLime and a new Syphon Filter at the show.
Overall it's impossible to judge E3s against one another, so I won't bother. I do think what I saw this past week is a prelude to an incredible period in gaming this winter.
There was one thought that kept floating through my head in the days leading up to the show: this holiday season is going to be insane. The four days of the show only reinforced that feeling. The PSV, Battlefield 3, Uncharted 3, Dead Island, Gears of War 3, Batman Arkham City, Rage, Skyrim, Modern Warfare 3, Saints’ Row 3, Ratchet & Clank All 4 One, Star Wars The Old Republic, Torchlight II, Tomb Raider, Assassins’ Creed Revelations, Space Marine, Operation Raccoon City, Twisted Metal. And I haven’t even touched on the downloadable games yet! Late 2007 is commonly thought of as the best season for gaming in modern memory with games such as Assassins’ Creed, Halo 3, The Orange Box, Modern Warfare, Rock Band, The Witcher, Bioshock, Mass Effect, Super Mario Galaxy and Crysis all launching in about a 12 week span. This year is - so far - a little lighter on the original IPs, but it may end up being legendary nonetheless. Of course some of these titles may slip to early 2012, but I’m not sure how many will change dates this late in the game.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5234/5817409040_c58872ca53_z.jpg
(Note that I wasn’t at the show. All of these opinions are based on trailers, video demos and previews of trusted writers.)
Right off the bat there were a few games which just blew me away. Battlefield 3 just kept cranking out trailer after awesome trailer, great demo after great demo, and kept the goodies coming with a fairly constant flow of news concerning gameplay features. I still don’t think it will outsell Modern Warfare 3 this year, but after E3 I think the margin between the two will be small. Bethesda also wowed me with Skyrim. For a while now I thought Bethesda, the game developer not the publisher, had great ideas occasionally plagued by mediocre execution. From everything I’ve seen of the game that likely won’t be the case with Skyrim. Then there was Bioshock Infinite. Initially I was hesitant to read anything about it for fear of spoiling the game for myself, but after hearing the raves from people I trust, I had to dive in. I’m glad I did. The videos and demos were short, but incredibly effective. It gives you a sense of the story, the exploration, the combat, all of which fit Bioshock in tone and have the potential to exceed it in execution.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3118/5810152929_1ce0b7a379_z.jpg
You may have noticed that all of those games were already pretty big deals. There were a few surprises. Bethesda’s Prey 2 is a game I’ve done a complete 180 on in the last few weeks. When it was announced as having a new main character, setting and game mechanics I was ready to write it off as a cheap cash-in. But after one good trailer and one very strong live demo, I’m sold. It’s a very different game than Prey 1, but everything I saw of it looks like fun. One of the brand new games which hooked me is SOE’s Payday: The Heist. Initial impressions of a Left 4 Dead meets Heist movie experience turned into something a little more interesting once hands-on demos began. A more complex experience than I expected, and a really pleasant one from all accounts. There were also a mess of impressive looking downloadable games: Bastion, Crimson Alliance, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, From Dust, Journey, Rock of Ages and Dust 514 all had me hooked at one point or another.
Then there was the hardware. I’m not a portable gamer, and I’ve been as critical of the Wii as anyone, but Nintendo and Sony did a fabulous job selling their new hardware. After a few days I started thinking about pre-ordering a Vita, and I haven’t owned a handheld gaming platform since the original Game Boy Phat. The Wii U is a bit more of an enigma, mostly since it’s still so far off. There’s a ton of potential there, but for now it’s only potential.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2433/5806892509_4b419d1fb0_z.jpg
Not everything I saw was positive, and I’ll start with Microsoft, who had a pretty lackluster show all in all. Some people say that it was a bad show for Xbox gamers without Kinect, but I think that grossly overvalues the Kinect games displayed. Lots of dance games and fitness games and cheesy mini-game collections. Twisted Pixel's Gunstringer and Double Fine’s Sesame Street: Once Upon A Monster were impressive, but what other Kinect games stood out? Sega didn’t show enough of their horror title Rise of Nightmares to even give me a sense of how it played. Star Wars Kinect looks slow and uninteresting and Fable The Journey was almost embarrassing. Kinect Fun Labs has promise, but is it enough to move Kinects off the shelves in greater numbers? MS once again didn’t show much in the way of new exclusives. Crytek’s Ryse was only given a cinematic trailer and it’s more than a year off in any case. Gears 3, Forza 4 and Halo 4/Halo Anniversary are nice but completely expected.
Some individual games seemed to regress a little. Aliens Colonial Marines seemed to drop the tactical, squad-based play for more generic run-and-gun style. I still think the game will be good, but that’s a step backwards for me. The new DmC also just looked...flat. Uninteresting. I’m not a huge fan of the series to begin with, but nothing I saw from the show made me interested in it the way I’m looking forward to, say, a possible Bayonetta sequel. I also have to put X-Men Destiny on the disappointing list. That trailer they released was just...terrible. I sort of understand that the premise of the game sort of makes you play as a new character. But who wants to play an X-Men game as a new character? We want to play as our favorites, and if you can’t manage that within the framework of your concept, then maybe it’s time to ditch the concept.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5189/5810710888_86a994ed6c.jpg
Then there were - as always with E3 - the missing in action. To me there were a few pretty glaring absences. Few games are asked about as much as Sony’s The Last Guardian, but it didn’t even rate a mention at the show. Likely not coming out this year after all. Also MIA was Konami’s Metal Gear Rising, starring Raiden. It had a fairly prominent place at the 2010 show, but nary a peep this year. While it’s absence wasn’t a complete surprise, I would like to have seen something out of Blizzard on Diablo III. I know Activision Blizzard usually doesn’t have a big presence at E3, preferring to use Blizzfest to make announcements, but a tidbit would have been nice. A tidbit would also have been nice to get from Bungie on their upcoming game for Activision, or something from Respawn on their (suppposedly sci-fi shooter) project for EA. We knew ahead of time they wouldn’t be there but this would have been the perfect time to tease the public. Also missing were titles like Max Payne 3, Thief 4, Rockstar’s Agent and Burnout Crash. Not formally announced, but I expected to hear at least something about Borderlands 2, Planetside Next, Syndicate/Project RedLime and a new Syphon Filter at the show.
Overall it's impossible to judge E3s against one another, so I won't bother. I do think what I saw this past week is a prelude to an incredible period in gaming this winter.