Wow folks, so, the dust has settled, the day of pressers is over, and frankly, I think my head may burst from fullness. Over all I’m left with a feeling of awe at how much is going on, and just how far gaming has progressed… however, I digress. We have a long time to sort through all the goodies we got to lay our eyes on and start with the last conference of the day… Sony. Last year was definitely Sony’s year, after Microsoft’s colossal misstep, they walked in and said ‘hey guys, we’re with you’ to a thunderous response from the masses. This, the next year after such a big move for them, and you had a lot of folks very curious about what Sony would do. Poised as we are at the very beginning of this hardware generation, their approach this time around could do very big things for the PlayStation 4 and Sony in general. So did they deliver? Yes and no.. I will admit I was hoping for a little more loosened necktie and a little less corporate housekeeping, but, that isn’t to say that Sony didn’t bring some goods. Lets get into it.
Destiny – Opening on something everyone has been waiting to see more of is always a good move. Shedding some light on the games lore, it turns out that mankind underwent an incredible renaissance with the help of an alien life form known as the Traveler, but the Traveler had itself an ancient enemy who eventually turned up to spoil the party. This is where we come in. The last stand of Man, the player is a ‘Guardian’ the last of the suped up humans. Though not as graphically impressive as much of the next gen stuff, they’re building a world of multiplayer. I was pleased to get a look, and can’t wait to see more.
They capped it with news of a glacier white PS4 Destiny bundle (available now at Best Buy for pre-order) and news that PS4 owners will have access to the Beta as early as July 17th, and get a chance at their ‘first look’ at the Alpha next week Thursday through the weekend.
Dead Island 2 – an easy highlight. Though it was just a pre rendered cinematic, it was packed with a humor and a touch of charm (a long shot from their first big trailer) but still on the theme of a story playing out to music… just a lot funnier and less tragic.
The Order 1886 – Though it was only a sliver, we got to see the game in action and it looked spectacular. Very cinematic, this game owes some of its framework (not the actual game, but how we interact with it) to Uncharted. Though most of it was cutscene the game play kicked in a few times, and if that is indeed what the game looks like when its not a cut-scene? We should all be fairly excited… if you like killing horrible monsters in creepy places that is.
Little Big Planet 3 – Sackboy is back and as charming as ever, he’s also brought some new friends. Clearly the focus of this iteration is cooperative play, each of the new members of LBP – Oddsock, a ‘dog’ like character with speed, Toggle, a character switching between being really big and really small, and Swoop, who flies, have something different to ad to environment navigation and puzzle solving. It feels bigger and contains more screen depth than previous versions and is still just as genuinely sweet and heartwarming.
Entwined – A new Digital Download game available now, as of the conference. It is a beautiful looking indie style game about two souls in love who are kept apart. Both characters are controlled at the same time separately by the thumbsticks in avery artful style that fans of games like Flower should recognize. The game team happens to be comprised of recent game school grads.
Infamous First Light – Being presented as Infamous: Second Son DLC, it’s a standalone and doesn’t require the original game (but will somehow reward those who have it). Notable for being a Infamous game, but also for a female protagonist that seems compelling. I’ll be waiting for more news.
Mortal Kombat X – Gameplay revealed a few new characters and some impressive graphics… the video revealed that yes, this is a Mortal Kombat game and as gruesome as ever… I’m pretty NetherRealm go out of their way to make it as over the top violent… you’ll see what I mean.
Far Cry 4 – No surprise here; it looks awesome and very Far Cry, but in the mountains. Vertical Traversal and mountaineering seem to be big mechanics (wing suit!), and you have some evil jerks taking over a beautiful vista and a buncha firepower to do something about it, sound good? Thought so. A second player was called in at one point to fly around in a gyrocopter that looked like something I would like to get my hands on. Though they didn’t say that the support character was Co-op rather than AI, the player screen could be seen. After the footage was over, they dropped the announcement that your PlayStation friends can jump into your game without actually owning the game themselves, over the network. That, my friends, is a beautiful thing, and only works to their favor since dipping into Far Cry is a sure way to want to buy Far Cry. Also, there’s elephants.
No Man’s Sky – Easily my best of E3 as it stands, this one is speaking directly too me. Wonderful to behold, the art style is fantastic and they boast an infinite universe to explore. Procedurally generated, every character gets his or her own unique starting world and from the footage they were showing, what a world it will no doubt be.
Batman: Arham Knight – Wow… so Arkham looks fantastic, and even after a trio of games it seems like Rocksteady have found some more cool stuff for Batman. Built with a twist, the trailer was very good and should be seen to be appreciated.
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End – Purely cinematic, this was an announcement trailer, but considering Nate washes up on a beach to the sounds of a classic ‘one last job’ conversation with Sully, the name of the game, and the fact that the beach shot pans out to those horrible hanging cages they used on pirates and thieves back in the day (complete with the bleached remnants of said pirates) things aren’t looking so hot for Nathan Drake.
There was more. Overall the Sony press conference felt a little bloated and overlong, but amidst that were some great games. We should all be keeping our eyes peeled in the days ahead as gameplay footage and trailers are released but if I have any closing thoughts at this epic day of gaming news, it would be that regardless of the ‘winner’ so far, its clear nobody is losing.
Stick with Bestbuy and the Plug-in Blog’s E3 Hub for all your E3 coverage, and don’t forget folks, we’re just getting started.
You can find all of the latest information about E3 and the latest discussion topics on gaming at Best Buy’s E3 page.
