E3 2015: Analysis and Highlights

The biggest games conference of the year is over, but who won? We, the gamers won!

In no particular order, here are my post-E3 thoughts on some specific games and conferences:

Fallout 4: We got loads of in-game footage and details. We also got a release date and a mini-game for Apple devices. Fallout 4 looks to be exactly what everyone wanted and more. It’s most people’s game of the show and most anticipated game. More developers and publishers should take note: don’t rush your game, reveal it when you’re ready. Having a game be released in less than a year after it’s public reveal should be a standard in the gaming industry. Interest in a game can be lost over a longer period of time, hurting sales. Flooding the industry with beta’s and game-play trailers exhausts the market before the product is even released. I predict Fallout 4 will be the biggest GOTY contender, followed by The Witcher 3.

Battlefront: Battlefield, re-skinned as Star Wars. I’m not disappointed because I didn’t expect anything more. Although a little more would have gone a long way. The whole thing feels like a much smaller scale Star Wars battle than the films or even the previous Battlefront games. It would be fun to play for a while but seems as if it would get repetitive and boring quickly, like many of the other multi-player shooters of the last few years that have seen their player-base drop exponentially.

The Last Guardian: The presence of this fabled game is wonderful to witness. The game had been relegated to the likes of Half-Life 3 in terms of development stage, but now it’s finally confirmed to be in full production with a 2016 release. The game seems slow and relaxing, a welcome change of pace to other triple A games.

A Review of The Guest (2014)

“My name is David, Mrs. Peterson. I knew your son. I was with him when he died.”

The Guest is an action thriller that seems to be partially inspired by Drive- even the main character is played by a Ryan Gosling knock-off. Fortunately, Dan Stevens is more than just a knock-off, he can act. The film was very different and drastically better than I thought it would be, going into it.

A Review of Avatar (2009)

“…you throw a stick in the air around here, it’s gonna land on some sacred… fern, for Christ’s sake!”

This review is in honour of James Horner, the composer of this title and many others.

Avatar is one of the most expensive movies ever made and the highest grossing film of all time (currently). James Cameron’s sci-fi epic advanced movie-making and began a new age for 3D movies. But it is any good?

E3 2015: PC Gaming Show

Killing Floor 2: This game is dumb fun with friends, with its crazy updated gore and slo-mo. I look forward to the full release.

Rising Storm 2 Vietnam: Finally, an FPS set in Vietnam. I haven’t played much Rising Storm, but I hear good things.

Star Citizen: On paper this is one of the greatest games of all times. However I refuse to make comment on this game until it is an actual playable game.

Dues Ex Mankind Divided: The clutter does look impressive, making each environment feel like a world, not a level. Game-play looks smooth, the shooting aspect improved from HR.

E3 2015: Square Enix

Just Cause 3: One of my currently most anticipated games. Just Cause 2 was one of my most played games last gen. The graphics look really nice, a huge step up from JC2. Multiple tethers and a retract function will be fun. The action looks as over the top as ever. The wingsuit is a nice addition. A newer, updated and better JC2 is what JC3 looks like- I am excited!

A Review of Lucky Number Slevin (2006)

“The reason I’m in town, in case you’re wondering, is because of a Kansas City Shuffle.”

This movie is bursting with talent; Josh Hartnett, Lucy Liu, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Ben Kingsley and Stanley Tucci all star. Lucky Number Slevin is an action comedy- it takes inspiration from films like Pulp Fiction. Full of witty dialogue and comically extreme characters, this film is a fun watch.

The film’s action is bloody and impactful. As a first time viewer you may instinctively flinch or jump at the outbursts of violence and the direction of those scenes. At other times the action and story feels Bourne-esque, like you’re a witness to a crime. The comedy is similar, sometimes very Tarantino-like and other times like a rom-com.

E3 2015: Sony

The Last Guardian: The fact that this fabled game still exists is news in itself. Game-play seems to be a thoughtful platformer/ puzzler. The game is lacking in the graphics department but, if they’re immersion is as good as Shadow of the Colossus, that won’t matter.

Horizon Zero Dawn: Mechanical dinosaurs? Check. Amazing environments? Check. Fun looking Game-play? Check. Colour me intrigued. Very intrigued.

Hitman: Probably find out more in the Square Enix conference but the CG trailer was good.

Street Fighter V: It’s street fighter, there isn’t really much else I can say, even as a fan of Street Fighter.

No Man’s Sky: The game has a huge scale and colourful planets but my burning question is this: is it fun to play?

E3 2015: Ubisoft

South Park The Fractured But Whole: Unexpected because the creators of South Park said they would never do another game. The trailer was hilarious, I will get The Stick of Truth at some point.

For Honor: An entertaining CG trailer (but there is no way one can move that fast in a full suit of armour). Game-play looked interesting but could get repetitive quickly.

The Crew Wild Run: A fairly irrelevant game gets irrelevant DLC- that does come with a graphical overhaul however.

Trials Fusion Awesome Level Max: The Blood Dragon to Trials Fusion.

E3 2015: Electronic Arts

Mass Effect Andromeda: I’m a fan of ME 1+2, looking forward to this one.

Need for Speed: I’m a huge fan of NFS. I like the night time/neon aesthetic but the game-play will probably feel like the last few that Ghost Games have developed or co-developed. Their style of racer isn’t bad just very arcade-y, still excited to play this one though. I don’t like the extreme camera angles while drifting, you can’t see what’s ahead of you on a corner. The graphics are some of the best right now- some in-game screenshots look photo-realistic. And of-course customisation is back (and a story too).

E3 2015: Microsoft

(Hans Zimmer’s Man of Steel soundtrack over the introductory trailer. Nice!)

HALO 5: I’ve never completed a Halo game but I get the gist of it. Halo 5 seems like another great instalment for fans of the franchise.

RECORE: The CG trailer has a cool wall-e vibe to it.

Backward Compatibility: Bomb dropped. This is huge news. We’ll see how well it’s implemented and how many games are available but this means less remasters and a huge boost in the console’s catalogue of games.