This is going to be my personal opinion of all the conferences and games that were shown during E3. I am going to critique what I, personally, liked and not necessarily what was good for the console or in general. I am going to go through the games that I liked the most and which got me most excited during E3. I am also going to rate each conference by what appealed to me.
Bethesda:
Bethesda started the whole show by firing off a big opening salvo with the reveal of DOOM. It wasn’t just some sort of teaser, they showed off almost 20 minutes of gameplay. They also revealed modding/map maker content coming with the game next year. The gunplay seemed tight with shotguns taking center stage and the chainsaw making a return in the series. It also seemed to be very similar to the old Doom, with gory graphics and updated graphics. Dishonored 2 also made its debut with a pre-rendered CGI trailer that didn’t do a whole lot for me, as it doesn’t really show the game itself. It only tells the setting of the game and introduces the characters. The announcement of Dishonored 1 for the new consoles and PC, also doesn’t really do much for me. I know a lot of people were looking forward to Fallout 4, but I didn’t have that much hype for it myself. It looks to be a solid game, and I hope they can get rid of the bugs that Bethesda is so known for in their games. I would say that it was a solid conference, with no nonsense and a straight forward approach.
Verdict: 7/10
Microsoft:
Microsoft showed off footage of their biggest upcoming titles, but to me it felt like more of the same. It was Halo 5, Fable Legends, Forza 6, Gears of War 4 (and the Ultimate Collection) and last, but not least, Rise of The Tomb Raider. Tomb Raider is only a timed exclusive though, and will eventually be coming to other platforms. You had a new IP in Recore, but it was only a cinematic trailer for the game (albeit one that showed off the principle mechanic). You had a F2P game in Gigantic and Rainbow Six Siege, now with more flash bangs. The only game that actually interested me was Cuphead, which looked unique and refreshing. The biggest announcements Microsoft had weren’t actually games, but options for the console. Backwards compatibility was a big thing, and then you had the demo of the Hololens using Minecraft. The demo was amazing to look at, and blew my mind. The thing that gave me a bad taste in my mouth was that the field of view was later revealed to be much more narrow than Microsoft showed it. The Backwards compatibility doesn’t really phase me, as I still have my 360. The console also still has problems with older games, dipping under 20 frames with Mass Effect, so unless the performance issues with each game are ironed out, my expectations are tempered.
The only thing that actually got me the most excited game was the gameplay shown for Rise of the Tomb Raider and Cuphead. Both of those you can get on other platforms however.
Verdict: 4/10
EA:
The biggest mixed bag of E3 was EA. They finally showed off Mass Effect 4, now Mass Effect: Andromeda. They showed off the feel of the game, the Mako, space travel and combat. It’s what I expected a Mass Effect trailer to be, and it excited me for what they’re doing with the series. The new Need For Speed also fulfilled the needs of fans clamouring for a third installment in the sub-series of the franchise: Underground as the similarities to that sub-series showed, with the tuning of cars and racing at night. They even showed off gameplay of the game itself, even though it’s over a year away. That in itself is very impressive, but I also have to be critical because the game might not look like that upon release. If it is anything similar to the Underground series, I think it’s going to be very good. A big issue I have with it though is the DRM, that is nota concern to shy away from.
There was also a new expansion for Star Wars: The Old Republic called Knights of the Fallen Empire. Bioware promised that the game is going to include more storytelling from Bioware. If this means that there are going to be more class quests, then sign me up. Then all of the sports games took center stage, which was something I could not care less about. As a big football supporter it was nice to see Pele, perhaps the biggest footballer ever. Even with all the nonsense EA was throwing around, it was nice to get a talk with one of the biggest players of “the beautiful game” as he himself calls it. I also don’t like the focus on the female players in the upcoming game, because it shifted attention away from massive server issues that have plagued FIFA the last few years i’ve played it. Use resources to fix that, and then add all the female teams and players EA wants.
After that, there was footage from the new Mirrors Edge: Catalyst. I personally have never seen the appeal of the game, so it didn’t really get me excited. Then EA commited one of the biggest sins possible as they dedicated a big portion of their show to showing off mobile games. This wasn’t anywhere near what Bethesda did, by revealing a new app to play for those who want to. This was them pushing several games that no core gamer wants to play. This was probably the most boring part in all of E3 for me personallly. Then at the end, EA showed Battlefront. A game i’ve been waiting the last 10 years for. Even after all my personal scepticism of the game, I recognize good gameplay when I see it. Even if it was heavily scripted, I still liked what I saw. That doesn’t erase all my concerns, but makes them less of a factor. Overall a good conference with a few very bad parts in my humble opinion.
Verdict: 6/10
Ubisoft:
The Ubisoft conference started with a big surprise. A new South Park game got announced called: The Fractured But Whole. The creators said they now knew how to make a game, and wanted to try again, even with all the stress of The Stick Of Truth’s development. A great announcement, I must say. I didn’t really care for the game For Honor, but I did enjoy the new footage from The Dvision. The most interesting part was how the pvp actually worked with loot as you could do a risk reward type of thing. Being in the extraction zone with other players mixing pvp and pve. The cherry on top was that the last man standing left his team members behind, taking all the loot. It looks really interesting, and it looks like a game I am going to be playing next year, though I will have to see more before I actually choose to purchase it. The only other games that interested me during the conference were the new Ghost Recon: Wildlands game and Trackmania coming to consoles. Those two are games I am probably going to get down the line if they both hold up and are good games. Ubisoft had a pretty solid conference, but it also had the most cringeworthy moment of the entirety of E3. Jason Derulo came up on stage to perform some of his “hits” and proceeded to just have one of the worst performances possible. It didn’t just stop there, he wanted Aisha Tyler to come on stage, she refused and he continued even after the song was done. Trying to hit on a married woman live in front of millions is just freaking bad. Otherwise the whole conference for my part seemed really solid with gameplay shown pretty much for every game.
Verdict: 8/10
Sony:
Sony just blew this one out of the water now didn’t they? The Last Guardian, which has been the Half Life 3 for Sony, was finally shown. I’ve been fascinated by the games made by Ueda and I am looking forward to what this game is in the future. Final Fantasy VII being totally remade is incredible. Square has also said that they’re also considering doing it with the other entries as well. The conference showing those two games alone made them win E3 for my part. We can only hope those games are going to be good as well. I want Final Fantasy VII also to stick true to its roots, and not change the combat to what Final Fantasy XV is doing. Shenmue 3 was also a huge announcement for many, but not for me. I’ve never really been into the first two games and they never appealed to me personally. Media Molecule announcing Dreams is really interesting to me. This developer has always been one of the most creative in the industry. I need to see more before i can totally judge it, but it’s looking good. Guerilla Games showing off Horizon: Zero Dawn was the best new ip of the whole event. Dinosaur robots and third person RPG looks really good. The graphics looked stunning and the developer said they’ve been working on this for 4 years.
It’s safe to say that it shows promise as an exclusive game for PS4. No Man’s Sky also had a great gameplay demo. Showing how the planets are actually going to be like, gathering resources, Alien species and spacebattles. That looks to be a huge game! World of Final Fantasy looked interesting, because I am a really big fan of turn based battles in the series. There’s not a whole lot otherwise in the conference that interested me in particular, but the rest wasn’t bad either. I thought it was a solid conference in showing games, Which is the most important thing about E3.
Verdict: 9/10
Square Enix:
Square Enix was the conference which had just the overall worst pace of them all. There weren’t a lot of games that were shown that interested me, or anyone else, in particular. Kingdom Hearts 3 and Hitman being shown was pretty good as I am looking forward to those games. The most important thing was gameplay from Kingdom Hearts 3 being shown. Hitman Absolution was very good in my opinion and I hope it is a quality entry in the series. They did show a few other titles, but they didn’t really interest me at all. It was an ok conference for me, but I hope they do better for next year.
Verdict: 5/10
Nintendo:
This was the overall worst conference of them all. EA had some big screw ups with their mobile and sports games, but at least they showed games most people were interested in. They should have just called the Wii U dead this E3, because there was nothing that actually made me slightly interested into that console. I was getting really close to actually buying the Wii U a year ago, but then they rolled out their youtube partnership, which just stifles and censors content creators. Also them not showing worth anything for the Wii U for me is not making it better. They showed of some good games for the 3DS, But games for the 3DS just don’t interest me anymore. Them also releasing a new version of that handheld console doesn’t make it any better. Nintendo needs to come back down to earth. For Iwata to lecture that people didn’t “get” what the Wii U was is not their fault, that just says it all about Nintendo’s arrogance. It’s your job to make a console appealing, not us as consumers trying to figure out what you’re actually selling. It was a disaster and it’s a shame for all the developers actually making good games at Nintendo.
Verdict: 2/10
So that is my review of E3, what did you think of the whole event? Do you agree with me or am I totally wrong? Let me know!
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