With the magical week of E3 come and gone, the Non-Fiction Gaming crew reflect on what caught our eye this year. Whether it’s Indie or Triple-A, it’s safe to assume all gamers got a little something they wanted at E3 2014.
Sunset Overdrive
The magic of E3 is not always the ability to get consumers more excited about upcoming games. But it is the ability to get gamers excited for new reasons. This was my experience of E3 2014. I went in fully prepared to drool over the soon-to-be-released Super Smash Bros. but it was Sunset Overdrive that made a lasting impression. Aside from looking like a great deal of fun, Sunset Overdrive looks to have cracked one of the most difficult codes in gaming.
Games have had a hard time over the years trying to breach the comedy genre – where they usually fail dismally – or try too hard to incorporate comic elements and spoil the attempts. Portal is one game that found the balance perfectly. Sunset Overdrive, at least the trailer, looks like Insomniac have worked it out. Personally, I have been waiting for an absurd and hilarious game since Clayfighter 63 1/3.
No Mans Sky – Mirror’s Edge 2
What did I think about this year’s E3 submission? The only thing that disappointed me was that I was hoping that there some news on Prey 2. No news since the E3 2011 announcement, just silence…
But the very first indie title to grab my attention was No Mans Sky. It seems to be inspired by the vector graphic games of old, but revamped into the modern day using techno aesthetic. My first impression of the game was that it was just ‘Artsy Indie game’, all pretty and pleasing to the players eyes. But then I saw the introduction of some gameplay mechanics in which the player was able to exit and enter the atmosphere to and from different planets.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen this in any game before (not counting Space simulation games like Kerbal Space Program). I’m looking forward to this indie title for sure, especially since it’s going to be released on the PS4.
But the game that I am most excited for this year’s E3 would be a certain action adventure game.
Being a traceur myself wasn’t the only reason that this title got me squealing and fidgeting in my seat for. Mirror’s Edge is also one of my favourite games of all time. When the development team came on and explained the research and extent of effort that they were putting into Mirror’s Edge 2,
I could not contain myself. The detail and graphics and the small taste of what moves Faith can now pull off, everything about it pumped me up for the next instalment in the Mirror’s Edge world.
Bloodborne
I must say the games at E3 2014 have been thoroughly impressive. It was great seeing some updates from last year’s show. Really looking forward to the Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt especially seeing more of it in action now. However, one game caught me completely off guard that has beaten The Witcher 3.
It’s From Software’s new game, Bloodborne. It highly resembles a Souls game in combat in gameplay, but it is definitely changing things up as well. To start the game’s setting brings us to a more Victorian/gothic era rather than the medieval fantasy we’ve become accustomed to. Bloodborne looks grim as well. The other Souls games were as well, but the game looks exceptionally filled with dread, even compared to From Software’s previous titles.
Along with a new setting, combat will be changed up as well to fit the period. Shields are now gone and replaced with a very useful, and badass, blunderbuss. There is only a little footage out now along with a theatrical CGI trailer, but all around it’s looking very good. It may not have Souls in the name, but it is definitely looking to resemble it and that’s still worth getting excited about.
Tom Clancy’s The Division
E3 2014 has come and gone and we’ve seen exciting stuff from the big players. Last year Ubisoft gave us our first glimpse of Tom Clancy’s: The Division and this year we get another look. Being a fan of the Tom Clancy books and early Rainbow Six games, it will interesting to get back into that rich world again.
The pre-rendered trailer was nice, gave a bit of background and tugged at the heartstrings but the real money shot is in the gameplay. I don’t want to get overly excited because over-hype can be damaging to game enjoyment when it finally releases.
I’m even happy to hear that the game has been pushed back from a 2014 release to 2015. I hope this gives the development team more time to bring the polish to what looks like a great multiplayer experience. The world looks great and I am looking forward to putting a team together and roaming the streets of New York.
Powers
First thing that got me excited in E3 2014 was the announcement at the Sony press conference that they were producing a TV show based on the graphic novel by Bryan Michael Bendis, Powers. Quite ironic that the only thing that made me truly excited was a TV adaptation and not the video games. But Powers really is an excellent series of graphic novels and I’ll be looking forward to watching the show. In brief, imagine a pair of police officers who exclusively investigate the murders of super heroes and villains with an interesting art style that’s kind of hard to describe.
Other than that though, I thought most of the games Sony presented looked suitably cool to play. Special mention goes to No Mans Sky for looking like an epic space exploration game and to Little Big Planet 3 for looking adorable and seemingly adding a whole bunch of new gameplay elements to tinker with.
I’m not sure why but so far this year I’ve been in a very Nintendo mood so everything they showed at the digital presentation was quite appealing. There’s no need to mention that Smash Brothers is something I desperately want to play but I can’t say there’s no appeal in customising my own Mii and fighting my friends to the death, so that’s exciting. Bayonetta 2 became even more appealing to me now since it is going to be packed with the first Bayonetta which I never got around to playing but the game looked damn fun. Hyrule Warriors has Zelda as a playable character so that alone makes the game a breath of fresh air, let alone the fact it’s a hack n’ slash game. And finally, I’m looking forward to getting a posse together in Splatoon and inking up the place with some friends.
I was however a little disappointed that the Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei crossover game was not shown at all. Here’s hoping that the game will come out before 2015 or else I’m going to be broke that year!
And with that, the wait for next year’s E3 has officially begun once more. With so many announcements and information released this year, there is surely at least one exciting game we have missed if not a handful.
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