Stephen's Highlights and Lowlights of E3 2014
Posted by Stephen Lambrechts (follow me @Slambrechts)
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 hype. 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.
Dan already posted his list of favourite games of E3, so now here are my Top 5 Highlights and Lowlights to come out of this year's E3.
The Highlights
5.) Assassin's Creed Unity
Revolutionary! To be honest, I dropped off the Assassin's Creed series after the hugely disappointing AC3. I didn't even bother with the pirate-themed AC: Black Flag (I just don't give a shit about pirates), but Unity, set during the French Revolution, looks exactly like my cup of tea.
The setting reminds me of how awesome AC2 was. I’d much rather play in a cultured and developed setting like this, because we rarely get to in modern video games outside of this series.
4.) Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
Dat trailer. Uncharted was already a beautiful looking series, but add some next gen grunt to the equation, and it's game over.
The E3 trailer, which has been released online in full 1080p and at 60fps as intended, gives us a look at what the future of gaming is going to be like, and it is definitely a future we want to live in.
3.) Batman: Arkham Knight
Holy shit, this looks good. Rocksteady looks to once again bring the goods in the closing chapter of its Arkham trilogy (Origins doesn't count).
The graphics look mind blowing and the batmobile driving action has me drooling. It’s pretty much a sure-fire thing at this point. Now I just want to play it - desperately!
2.) No Man's Sky
It's hard to believe that something so ambitious can come from such a small development team. Aesthetically, No Man's Sky feels like a game created entire for me. A vibrant colour scheme, synth wave score, deep exploration and a world inspired by retro science fiction.
My one concern is that I'm not entirely sure of what the gameplay will consist of. My hope is that there will be some kind of adventure hook to it, and not just some Minecraft-style world creation stuff. Whatever it will become, it's guaranteed to be gorgeous.
1.) Yoshi's Wooly World
Colour me ahocked to find an adorable Nintendo game as the one I'm most looking forward to from the entire show. Having recently purchased a cheap Wii-U, my love of all things Nintendo has been reignited.
When I saw Yoshi's Wooly World in action, I was gob-smacked. Not only is it stunningly gorgeous (easily outclassing the just announced LittleBigPlanet 3), it manages to look insanely fun despite being the most gentle looking game of the show.
Nintendo games are a wonderful palate cleanser between all the grim and gritty shooters and open world games that come out on the other consoles, and after a show consisting mostly of these kinds of games, Yoshi's Wooly World provided exactly that kind of relief for me.
Honorable Mentions:
Rise of the Tomb Raider - Goofy-ass wannabe Dark Knight name aside, the prospect of a new Tomb Raider game that follows on from splendid recent reboot is extremely exciting. Also sounds look a perfect lead-up to Rise of the Planet of the Tomb Raiders.
Mario Maker - Finally! A build-your-own levels platformer with platforming gameplay I actually want to play (no hard feelings, Sackboy).
Destiny - Only reason this isn’t in my top five choices, is because I’ve spent the weekend playing the shit out of the Alpha version. It’s absolutely glorious. The full game is going to be epic on a whole other level.
Far Cry 4 - Yep, Ubisoft’s Far Cry series has become something truly incredible, and the latest entry looks to up the ante even further. Can’t wait to ride into battle on the back of an elephant!
Zelda Wii-U - Finally, the next gen Zelda game we’ve been waiting for. Love that it has adopted a unique graphical style, reminiscent of my favourite Zelda game, The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. Also excited about a more open approach to its gameplay. Will this be the Skyrim of Zelda games? We’ll have to wait and see.
The Lowlights
Lack of Final Fantasy XV - Where the hell was it? Seriously, I want to see more! This is the first Final Fantasy game I’ve ever been excited about. Now I just more details.
Lame ass Mirror's Edge behind the scenes video that showed nothing - Seriously, that’s the best DICE could come up to show in the last year of production?
Vita support kicked in the nuts - Look Sony, I don’t give a shit about playing a bunch of back catalogue games on some game-streaming service that probably won’t be available for quite some time in Australia. If the Vita isn’t going to release some big first party games in the near future, then I guess me and the Vita are done.
Still no real Halo 5: Guardians footage - That pre-rendered trailer was, and Halo: The Master Chief Collection looks awesome, but I sure would have loved to see some real Halo 5: Guardians gameplay footage.
No new Gears of War info - Heck Microsoft, even an Uncharted 4-style ‘title only’ trailer would’ve been better than completely overlooking one of your flagship franchises.. Come on people, my chainsaw is beginning to rust!
What do you think about my picks for the Highs and Lows of E3 2014? What were your Highlights and Lowlights? Let us know below.
-----------------------------------------------------------
