Dan's Highlights and Lowlights of E3 2014

Posted by Daniel Mann (friend me at Daniel Mann)

E3. It's the most wonderful time of the year for Gamers Everywhere. It's a Three Day spectacle, where the Gaming Industry showcases its latest and greatest upcoming titles. E3 is the most important week in gaming. A week, where gamers sit behind their desks pretending to work when in reality they're watching press conferences with unbridled glee. Hoping for Megatons and the like. As Gamers, we love the spectacle of E3. Even if we can't be there in person, we still get caught up in the excitement of the week.

So, without further ado, I'm going to count the Top 5 Highlights and Lowlights to come out of this years E3.

The Highlights

5.) Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

As a long time fan of the Metal Gear Solid series, if there is one thing I have come to expect from E3, then it is an awesome theatrical-like trailer from Hideo Kojima. Those expectations once again were met this year. Kojima promised a darker-grittier Metal Gear story, and this trailer pretty much delivered on that promise. Forget Peace, this is Revenge. Metal Gear style.

4.) The Legend of Zelda Wii-U

It may have been a short tease, but wasn't it beautiful too behold? Well, I guess that depends on who you ask. Because there was that select grouping of fanboys who just had to complain that it wasn't the "Dark and Gritty" Zelda, they wanted. I say screw "Dark and Gritty." If I wanted "Dark and Gritty," then I'd look elsewhere. Personally speaking, I loved what they teased. It looked like an oil painting brought to life. Or, even better, it looked awfully close to taking inspiration from Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke.

Also, if one is to read between the lines, then it seems that Nintendo is going for a more open world (ala Skyrim) approach. They mentioned that they were aiming to give the player freedom as to how they wanted to explore the world of Hyrule. If they meet those expectations then damn, this game could very well galvanise many hours of my life.

3.) Uncharted 4: A Thieves End / The Last of Us: Remastered

Okay, I'm cheating a little. But, after seeing the trailers for both, it was tremendously hard to pick just one.

First, Uncharted 4. It was a brief tease, but damn didn't it look stunning? In the past, Naughty Dog have proven themselves to be masters of motion capture performances. I didn't think they could top themselves; that was until I saw Nathan Drake's face up close and personal. The subtle twitching of muscles, the fact that the complexity of his skin tone changes as the blood circulates around his forehead as he raises his eyebrows.

It was this impeccable attention to detail that flawed me. It was an actual moment that screamed "Next Gen." That alone would have been enough, but then they panned upwards and showed us the moody and atmospheric night-lit environment of a desolated unclassified jungle terrain. Complete with a moody voice over from Sulley suggesting that Drake is too far in over his head. It looks as though Uncharted is going down a darker path, and I couldn't be more excited to see it through next year.

As for The Last of Us? Well, it was my favourite game of the last generation, and seeing the 1080p/60fps uncompressed trailer just made me want to relive it all the more. This game looked stunning on PS3 as was, and it looks even better on the PS4.

2.) Batman: Arkham Knight

There was One thing that stood out to me about the Next Generation AAA titles we saw at this year's show. It was that the majority of them are striving for seamless indistinguishable blending of visual fidelity between cutscene and gameplay. No other game highlighted this quite like Batman Arkham Knight. The trailer opened with Bruce Wayne suiting up. At first glance, it looked like pre-rendered CG. He then proceeded to jump off of a rooftop, swoop down to the ground below providing a breathtaking panoramic view of Gotham City along the way, before landing in the Batmobile.

Leaving the audience to realize that this was seemingly all in-game from the very beginning. It was a real "Holy Shit" moment that stood out to me. But then, it only got better, as the Bat drove his car around before launching out of the car and into the air, before swooping down on a random crime happening in the streets of Arkham. Leaving me with yet another "Holy Shit" moment in the process. It is the one thing I've always wanted to pull off in a Batman game, and you're telling me that Rocksteady games are going to allow me to execute this moment in-game whenever I please?

In the words of Fry from Futurama: Shut Up and Take My Money, Rocksteady.

1.) No Man's Sky

Have you ever played a game and thought to yourself "I wish there were no invisible walls; I wish I could just go wherever I want, whenever I want, even if that means flying to another planet"? I think that is the one dream that all gamers have had at some point, or another. We want to be able to break free of the path set before us and travel wherever, whenever.

In the past, this hasn't been a feasible option. But now, one daring studio, Hello Games, is attempting to make this untold dream a reality. No Man's Sky is a game that prides itself on exploration. Want to fly a Space Ship out of the Atmosphere and into Space? Do it. Want to land on that uncharted planet and explore its surface? Then by all means, do it.

Granted, we don't know much about the game from a Gameplay standpoint, but the concept of being able to fly wherever you want, whenever you want is just brilliant in and off itself.

Honorable Mentions:

Sunset Overdrive

Super Smash Bros for Wii U/3DS

Bloodborne

Vita TV is Coming to the West

Final Fantasy Type O

The Lowlights

5.) Lack of AAA Vita Games.

Speaking of Final Fantasy Type 0. After much port-begging from the devoted FF fanbase, Square-Enix finally caved and decided to localise the once PSP game for the West. It was first announced over at the PlayStation Blog as a PS Vita HD re-master. The Vita fanbase cheered with glee. Only to find out a mere hour later that the PlayStation Blog had got their facts wrong and that the game was being re-mastered for the PS4 and Xbox One. On one hand, it is nice to have this game finally make it to the West. On the other hand though, it reminds us just how dead the Vita is, at least when it comes to the AAA scene.

Outside of a single sizzle reel highlighting a few Cross Buy Indie Titles, Sony had nothing of significant note to announce for the Vita. Indies and JRPG's are nice to have, well, I certainly appreciate having them. But Indies and JRPG's has no chance of penetrating a wider market. With a lack of advertising and lack of anything compelling to draw in a Wider Mainstream Audience. As much as it pains me to say, but the Vita might as well be dead already. I guess there is always Gamescom in August. Here's hoping.

4.) A Complete Lack of Japanese Presence

Capcom, Konami, Namco-Bandai and Square Enix. Four of Japan's biggest third party developers, and judging by their complete lack of presence, you would barely know they're still in business. When the big four of Japan can't be assed to show up then you have to wonder just how bad the scene is in Japan?

3.) The Midsection of Sony's Conference

Games, games, games; that was the confident opening demeanor Sony exhibited. They started off with Destiny and went from there with one remarkable unveiling after another. Just when we thought they were finally getting it right, they then reverted back to their old ways. The Sony, that likes to drone on about useless stats and numbers for 20 minutes. Boring the audience and effectively killing any momentum they had gained. Thankfully, after twenty minutes of this Toilet Break inducing behavior, they closed out the show with games. But the damage was done none the less. Final thoughts? Please iron out your pacing issues for next year's conference.

2.) EA's Press Conference

What can we take from EA's Presser? On Paper, EA has a pretty impressive lineup. It's just too bad those games were far from ready to exhibit. Outside of their annual Sports Lineup, most of their Next Gen Big Hitters are still in early concept stages. Making for a truly dull showing of what could be good in the near future. Sure, we got hints of a new Mass Effect, along with an impressive sounding open world first person traversal game from Criterion studios, but without anything of real substance to show, their showing was mighty underwhelming.

1.) The Last Guardian No Shows Once Again.

Deep down, I know that Team Ico's baby is probably dead and buried. It's most likely vaporware at this point. Even if it does come out, then there is no guarantee it won't be another soul-crushing Duke Nukem Forever experience. Meaning a game built on antiquated ideas that would have flown well in the PS2 era, but have long since been bypassed by newer games.

After all of the controversies in the build to E3, I sincerely had hoped that this would be the year. That this would be The Last Guardian's year to shine. How wrong I was.

Deep down inside, I know that we are probably never going to see this game again, but I can't bring myself to give up hope on Ueda and Team ICO just yet. I want to believe. I want to believe that this is the year where they will finally reveal TLG, and they will finally unveil it as a PS4 title. I want to believe that this is the year that they go to TGS and make their splash. But deep down, I know I'm just opening myself up for more Crushing Disapointment. But one man can dream, can't he?

Those are just some of my Picks for the Highs and Lows of E3 2014. But what say you? What were your Highlights and Lowlights of E3 2014? Let us know below.

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