E3 - Impressions

Post by **Tomenaki** » 05 Jun 2012, 01:36

Day 1

E3 is the time of the year when us gamers sit before our TV's, Smartphones, and computers awaiting news for this year's newest games and possibly consoles for the future. Last year had quite clear winners and losers (in my book at least) and on this, the first day, I think there are some contenders for several ranked spots of good, bad, and just plain terrible.

Microsoft:
Microsoft started off their conference this year with a live-action trailer for Halo 4. Now, I'm not a Halo fan at all, and while I'm sure it was great fan fodder, I didn't get much out of the Halo 4 presentation, even the gameplay looks as dated as the series has always been. Somehow Master Chief is alive and now you've moved to a different planet with robotic enemies. Next to be revealed in Microsoft's conference was the stealth-based, action third person shooter, Splinter Cell: Blacklist. If you have read my previous posts, I have fallen in love with the more recent Splinter Cell game and this one looks to be even better in terms of gameplay. I, however, question a few things about it. For one, Sam Fisher does not seem to be voiced by the series-long voice actor, Michael Ironside. He did, however, approve of the new voice, Eric Johnson, and has passed the flame onto the new actor. That aside, Sam also looks younger than his Conviction counterpart despite this game taking place after the events of Conviction. Microsoft brought out more to the table (albeit lackluster) with Fifa 13 and the odd Kinect Fable game, both of which were nothing amazing. Following this was yet another disappointing reveal for the next Forza game as well as a lengthy showing of the Xbox 360 as an "entertainment machine" which I really think gamers have grown tired of seeing from Microsoft over the years. They also revealed a new aspect to the Xbox 360 by connecting it through your tablet or smart phone calling it "Smartglass" so you can have a "two-screen experience" with your media. I'm quite fine watching things or playing a game without a second screen, thanks. We move passed this deluge to an actual game, which was revealed earlier, Tomb Raider. I was skeptical about this game when I first saw it, but after Microsoft's gameplay sample today, I quite like how the game is turning out. They have completely revamped things and now Lara is just starting out as her iconic self (human body proportions this time around) and not only taking the bad guys down, but getting herself injured quite handily in the process. I won't bore you with the rest of the uselessness from the conference (mostly idiotic Kinect-based things), but I must mention at least the three bigger games they showed. First we have Resident Evil 6. For the first time, we have definitive gameplay footage of this game, and I have never been so excited about a Resident Evil game since the series began. Since ditching the Tank-controls of the vast majority of the RE franchise, RE 6 has taken a more modern, and intuitive, cover-based third-person shooter route in order to add more action to the game. I am looking forward to what Resident Evil 6 has to offer us. Next we have a game that was revealed a while back, the South Park RPG. I only mention this because Trey Parker and Matt Stone (creators of South Park), basically make fun of all the "connectivity" that Microsoft has been touting the whole time. That and for anyone who likes South Park, this genuinely looks like it could be good. Microsoft finishes off its presentation with Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. While I don't particularly find the CoD series to be anything spectacular, this game looked fairly solid. It kind of reminded me of a far less stealthy version of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, just in first person. Mind you, the game looks like your typical fare when it comes to FPS games. Big explosions, lots of shooting, bad guys dying, blah blah blah. Overall though, it did not seem like a bad game, so it passes for me. One thing I feel I should mention is that very very few of the games during Microsoft's conference are console exclusives, with plenty having not only PS3 but PC versions as well. Sure, Halo 4 is only on the 360, but I know Splinter Cell, Tomb Raider, and Resident Evil 6 aren't going to be console-exclusive and those are really the only games that interest me in the line of things Microsoft showed this year.

Rating: C

Electronic Arts:
EA and I have a hate-hate relationship with this company, much like I do with Activision. This year really did nothing to help that relationship seeing as EA had very little to pique much interest from me this time around. EA opened with the reveal of Dead Space 3. Mind you, I like the Dead Space series. Types of scares that make me jump, eerie soundscapes to fit the lonely and deadly atmosphere of the games, and recurring protagonist Isaac Clarke. I feel, however, that they've gone the wrong route with the series by adding a second person to the mix with the story. I'm pretty sure the game has always tried to make it to where you feel utterly alone and vulnerable, not hooting around with your co-op buddy. To me it seems to take a bit of the scare factor from the series, and I feel that's not a good thing. We move along to Madden 13 as well as social games ending up in Sim City. Mind you, I liked some of the older Sim City games, but this one seems rather lackluster. Then we come to the DLC section of the conference where EA announces not only more DLC to Battlefield 3, but also a new "premium member" aspect to the game where you can gain early access to things and added packages, etc. Still trying to milk the game... well done. Next is a section about Star Wars: The Old Republic. There's really nothing new here either. EA also pulls out a new Medal of Honor game called Medal of Honor: Warfighter. Yet another iteration of the same game, really. Then we have Fifa 13... yay?, along with a dreadful looking Need for Speed game (I thought that series was dead), and they finish out with the only redeeming thing for this whole conference, Crysis 3. I have only a casual interest in the series, but what they have done with the graphics engine of the game still stuns me. I believe Crysis 3 runs on a highly optimized Cry-Engine, which seems to be quite amazing (despite that they're already working on a Cry-Engine 3). I liked what I saw of the gameplay in the game, so EA ended on a note where I could somewhat forgive them, but not fully.

Rating: D-

Ubisoft:
Not to be outdone, Ubisoft had its own conference. It began with a... musical performance which I didn't really care for. Had to deal with their Just Dance series, which is now on the third game. While I liked the host, for the most part, the scripted jokes were simply horrible, though not as bad as last year's with "Mr. Caffeine". After this initial presentation, we have our first glimpse of Far Cry 3, which did not impress me much. It's pretty much the same as the first two Far Cry games. Enter the well-known Toby Turner (known as Tobuscus) of the Literal Trailer series like I posted earlier, and you have basically Ubisoft's new face. The banter between him and the main host wasn't too bad, but Toby's brand of awkwardness came through with flying colors. From there we move to more information about that Splinter Cell: Blacklist game, which includes an action-packed CG movie for the game. Needless to say, I was happy to see more. they also mentioned that a co-op option like Conviction and Spies Vs. Merchs modes would be seen in the game as well. A disappointment for me in this conference was the odd Rayman Legends game for the Wii U which seemed very unlike the Rayman games, especially since we saw what they could do with Rayman: Origins. Along with that was the ZombiU (that's how it's spelled) game exclusively for Wii U. The presentation of that was great, up until I saw it was only for that system. I see some squandered posibilities there. Then we hit the biggest name in Ubisoft's arsenal, Assassin's Creed 3. The game itself looks to play well, Connor (the new protagonist) is less assassin and more badass god-like killer. I can definitely tell that the engine they used for this gameplay bit is in the alpha stage, but otherwise things looked fairly good. After this, though, we hit a section about E-sports games and I found it not at all interesting. Ubisoft, however, threw a huge curveball at the end of their conference with a brand new game, Watch Dogs. From what they showed of the gameplay, it seems to be a mix of high-tech hacking, Assassin's Creed-like target stalking, Ghost Recon cover shooting, and Splinter Cell stealth takedowns all mashed together. It was completely out of left park to me and while we know little about the story, the gameplay alone was enough to pique my interest quite a bit.

Rating: B-

Sony:
After last year's breakout showing at E3, Sony had a high bar to live up to this year. They began their conference with a brand new game titled Beyond: Two Souls. It featured some amazing graphics which is thanks to the highly optimized engine developed by the creators of Heavy Rain. They showed a real-time video of what the engine could do earlier in the year titled Kara (here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5m-r4S6j0o) which boasted some amazing potential, which they used in this new game, Beyond. Needless to say, the character animations looked quite amazing, to the point where they looked almost like the people that voiced them. The story to the game is still a bit in the dark, but it seems very intriguing. Sony then showed us more about their Super Smash Brothers-like game, Playstation All-Stars: Battle Royale. A bit of gameplay was shown, where, it's an interesting system of needing to build up a power bar in order to kill the other characters, but they also revealed two more characters to the roster of the game. Nathan Drake from Uncharched and the iconic Big Daddy from Bioshock are now part of the fighter line up. I expected Drake, but not Big Daddy. I'll keep my eye on this one, but for now I'm not horribly interested in it. The next section showed how the Vita and PS3 could connect with each other, and they finally revealed that PS1 Classics will be playable on the Vita soon. Why this wasn't a day one thing, I'll never understand. We get a preview of an Assassin's Creed 3 side game for the Vita as well as some Ship Battle gameplay of Assassin's Creed 3. Honestly, I did not see ship battles coming into play in Assassin's Creed, but what I saw looked quite interesting. Sony showed more of Far Cry 3, this time the 4-person Co-op (this time using both a PS3 and set of Vita's) which quickly turned into a lot of yelling and noise on stage. It did nothing to make me interested in the game, really. This is where Sony dropped the ball a bit as they went on and on about a Harry Potter-connected Playstation Move game called The Book of Spells. I could see it being good for children, but it was not worth the time they threw it for the presentation. Sony did not leave us in that painful limbo for too long, however, as they showed the first gameplay of God of War: Ascension. In short, it looks amazing. I think, perhaps they are using the same, or a similar engine as God of War 3 (which was eye-gasmic, graphically) and have added a few new tricks to Kratos's arsenal. Sony ended with the survival-action game, The Last of Us, by the same developers of the Uncharted series. I, unlike with Uncharted, was actually quite interested in this game for the sheer fact that it was more about survival than shooting everything that moves. You seem to have to play very smart in it and I liked what I saw.

Rating: B+

So far, E3 has been a bit of a roller coaster, but overall, I'm interested in a good deal of what's been presented. My list of games to look out for right now:
- Tomb Raider
- Splinter Cell: Blacklist
- Resident Evil 6
- Assassin's Creed 3
- Watch Dogs
- Beyond: Two Souls
- The Last of Us

Post by **Sti_Jo_Lew** » 05 Jun 2012, 05:01

Dangit Toki, beat me to the punch of making a thread like this.

I'll just post a few small opinions on what I watched, completely out of order:

Spoiler! :

Guess we'll see tomorrow how terrible the Wii U will really be. I have a bad feeling about it's success. Nintendo kind of ruined their position as the best family/ party console, and fail to appeal to the "hardcore" gamers due to it's gimmicky-as-hell controller and lackluster hardware compared to what the other next-gen consoles will likely have.

Post by **Cpt_Harlock** » 05 Jun 2012, 22:37

I'm just some old gaming has been that thinks every single one of these games looks like shit nowadays.

The only thing any of these games has going for them is graphics... The one thing I don't care about.

Like Watch Dogs. I was impressed... at first... The graphics looked amazing. Then it gets into the action scene. OH LOOK! A third person shooter that uses the same exact cover system that every third person shooter has had for 10 years. Then he gets into the car and the driving physics looks like an early PS2 game. Maybe not even that good. And those flames shooting out of the exsaust every time the car changes gears is just a TAD over the top.

Then games like Star Wars 1313. OH LOOK! A third person shooter that uses the same exact cover system that every third person shooter has had for 10 years. Oh wait... I just said that. But this looks like Mass Effect 3 mashed up with Uncharted. So nothing new at all... I miss when E3 blew your mind with new shit you've never seen before.

Splinter Cell... (get ready for even more negativeness). I was really excited to see it was over in a middle eastern "Lets kills sum' turrerists!" setting. Reminds me of old socom style. Then OH LOOK! A third person- Ok sorry. But seriously? This game play looks fun? You click on your targets and Sam Fisher kills the enemies for you. I don't understand why so many games do this now, I want to aim and kill the enemy how i want, not watch a pre-animated clip of my character doing it for me. So I was almost happy with this one.. almost...

One game that I'm not bitching about (yet) is Tomb Raider. It looks like they took the old school game play and made it alot darker and grittier. But I've yet to check out any new footage so I could be severely disappointed as well. But I have my hopes up for this one!

But I haven't watched alot of the conference, maybe I'll post more. But nobody probably wants to see any more of this from me anyways, but oh well!! I think the industry is turning into complete shit. Very very polished shit.

TL;DR Raaawrgh!! I'm Cpt and I hate everything about every new game!

(sorry, I see some frustrations were vented in this post, but i shall keep it intact cause I still agree with it all)
=)

Post by **Tomenaki** » 05 Jun 2012, 23:24

Day 2

Well, E3 started off with 4 large conferences right out the gate with Microsoft, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, and Sony. Day two continues with mainly the Nintendo presentation. Since this is pretty much the only thing of consequence for E3 from here on out, I'll just be doing something dealing with the Nintendo conference.

Nintendo has been known, as of late, for being somewhat off the wall and quirky presentations, last year being no exception with the failure of the Orchestra to realize what the "Item Get" song from The Legend of Zelda was. Back then, we at least had some interesting and new games coming out for the Wii and 3DS. They also revealed their new console, the Wii U. Horrible naming scheme and ridiculous tablet-based gamepad aside, it was something new. This year has proven to be one of Nintendo's weakest over the many years I have followed E3. It began with Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo's main man, revealing Pikman 3. I suppose if you are a Pikman fan, this is a great thing to hear. He, however, seems to really care about the franchise, and I've heard Nintendo reveal less interesting games. After this, however, they brought on Reggie, and the presentation was downhill from then on. Nintendo goes on to show the Wii U as an entertainment machine at it's core. Mind you, I have nothing horribly against adding things on like that to a game console, but to make it the focus of the system seems backwards. We move onto the next Mario game titled "New Super Mario Bros. U". If it really were "new" I'd be happy, but it seems like Super Mario Bros. Wii with some few added things. It's not bad, but I would hope they could come up with something along the lines of the Super Mario Galaxy series for this new console.

Nintendo moves on to show a far more mature game than they have had on a console in a while, their version of Batman: Arkham City, with the subtext of Armored Edition. I'm glad to see this change since Nintendo hasn't put out much in the line of hardcore games in a long while. It is, however, a game that came out last year, so it's nothing particularly new. Nintendo unveiled a Wii U version of Scribblenauts, which, I have to say actually looks quite good. It also uses the concept of the Wii U quite well. They continued the show with more about older games, such as Mass Effect 3, making it to the Wii U and a few other smaller games on the system. The Nintendo introduced the "Miiverse" which has something to do with a social aspect of the Wii U. They then moved on to showcase the new Wii Sports/Workout game which failed to really impress me. What little time they gave to the 3DS did little more than fill time to me.

The highlight game of this conference for the Wii U is the next one that really caught my attention, ZombiU. Regardless of what I said about the game earlier, I really do like the concept of the game, and how Ubisoft actually figured out how to implement the Wii U tablet into the idea of the game. You use the tablet like your backpack, and while you're looking through it, you are vulnerable to attack. It's realistic as well as an interesting use of the technology. That is probably the most interesting thing left in the conference.

They ended their conference with a social program/game known as "Nintendoland". Basically, it's an amusement park with your Mii's with social games for you and your friends. It's an interesting idea, but I feel like it was still a weak thing to show at E3. Overall, it still feels very gimmicky, much like this entire conference.

Rating: F

Post by **Cpt_Harlock** » 05 Jun 2012, 23:38

I've given myself a mission. To counter my anrgy/negative post, I'm going to look through all of E3 when I have time and fine all of the stuff that I find awesome and am excited for. No idea how long the list will end up, but it's going to happen!

Post by **Sti_Jo_Lew** » 06 Jun 2012, 02:12

Nintendo disappointed me, again. Big surprise. They announced new Super Smash Bros games coming to the Wii U and 3DS last year. This year? No mention of them. I am a bit interested in Pikmin 3 though, loved the first one. Other than that... nothing excited me.

Oh, and I found out that the Wii U (rename the damn thing) will actually support TWO of those iPad-like gimmicky controllers. That's good, Nintendo didn't completely destroy their top position as the party/ family console.

Post by **Lord_Mountbatten** » 06 Jun 2012, 09:23

@Harlock: Do you propose a different cover system be used or no cover system at all? I can understand the need for one due to the fact that generally, when under fire, people do take cover. And I'm certainly not pleased at all with the way the Splinter Cell series has gone. Chaos Theory was and still is one of my favourite games for a very good reason.

Post by **Cpt_Harlock** » 06 Jun 2012, 12:32

Sti_Jo_Lew wrote: gimmicky controllers

exactly

And Lord. I personally prefer no cover system. It my be a personal bias from growing up playing games like socom. It's just dumb to me cause the cover system in a third person shooter is obviously to get behind a wall... that's what third person shooters have always used for cover: your prospective.

I guess the thing I dislike most is the 'pop-out and shoot' shit. And I hate having to be stuck on a wall or hit a button for it when I used to just be able to crouch/prone when I pleased to keep myself safe wherever I wanted, not just on available walls/cars. And not having it frees up a button for more usefull stuff. Unless it's one of the games that there isn't a button for it but you're just magnitized to every wall you walk near... which is annoying.

And yes, the old Splinter Cells were amazing. I loved throwing beer bottles down an alley and knocking the guards out... was so awesommme.

Post by **Invunarble** » 06 Jun 2012, 23:07

I have to say, Splinter Cell went downhill from Double Agent. With all the running around and time-based challenges with barely any action, it bugged me alot.

I found my favourite classical Splinter Cell was Pandora Tomorrow, back during the time of the PS2. With it being the most skill-testing and not relying on running around everywhere to get your next kill, I really found it great for it's time.

I personally haven't played Conviction yet, but I hear it's been ruined due to the near complete removal of the stealth system, which is what Splinter Cell was made for, and the massive amount of open area gunfights and all the silly assassination animations.

There's your negative review for the day.

Post by **Sti_Jo_Lew** » 06 Jun 2012, 23:57

Yeah, that new Splinter Cell looks like just a giant stream of QTEs and pushing buttons to cause animations. I want to actually take out the people myself, thank you.

I'll throw up a couple impressions of other games I didn't mention earlier.

Spoiler! :

Post by **Tomenaki** » 07 Jun 2012, 00:38

Sti_Jo_Lew wrote:Yeah, that new Splinter Cell looks like just a giant stream of QTEs and pushing buttons to cause animations. I want to actually take out the people myself, thank you.

Much like Splinter Cell: Conviction, you don't HAVE to use the Mark and Execute system in order to take guys down. So it's not just a bunch of QTE's which is funny since RE6 is full of QTE's and yet you're interested.

Post by **Sti_Jo_Lew** » 07 Jun 2012, 04:12

It is? All I've seen of it is from that E3 conference. OK then.... Can I get a legitimate RE4 sequel then?

Post by **Tomenaki** » 07 Jun 2012, 13:16

RE4 had plenty of QTE's as well. lol Also, I'm not saying RE6 was nothing but QTE's, like Asura's Wrath, but they are there for the cinematic actions and such.

Post by **Cpt_Harlock** » 07 Jun 2012, 19:13

Wow, so I just watched the demo on Zombie U. All the Gimmicky controller stuff aside, this game actually looks kind of cool.

It gives me the impression of Killing Floor but maybe more of a Condemmed style where it's a survival/psychological thriller.

But this one takes it a bit furter with 1 bight from a zomie and you're dead. And they mentioned wrighting messages on teh wall in blacklight paint so your friends online can read it if they have a blacklight (demon's souls style I guess).

And once you die that character is gone forever and you lose your inventory and skills you built up. And that character then turns into one of the zombies you have to kill with your new character. There's no checkpoints at all either.

I'll probably never play this if it stays on the Wii U only unfortunately, but I'm actually kind of surprised to see this "hardcore" and dark of a concept from nintendo... It's looking pretty awesome.

=================================================================

Also just watched The Last Of Us demo... as much hating as I've been doin' on all these games, I can't find much to say against this game. Looks really well done.

But (of course!) there is one thing I was scepticle about. All of the moments in this demo seem awfully scripted or set up. Like when she throws the brick in the guy's face and when she stabs the guy in the back to save you.. I'm wondering if that is a natural occuring event throughout the game or if, most likely, they were setup to look amazing for the E3 presentation.. Hmm.

If those moments really do happen like this while playing the game at all times, then It would definitely blow me away.

Post by **Blackadder51** » 07 Jun 2012, 21:05

Keen as beans for the new Gears! Though worried about the class bullshit

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