E3 2014. With all this media, there’s just about too much to go on. What hardware? What games? Where to go? What to think? It’s been an emotional E3. If you are as hype as I am, you’re probably raring to go with a new console, but which? Well, today I’ll make a compelling argument for the Xbox One with ten good reasons why it should be your next.
Sunset Overdrive – One of my favorite things to come out of E3, gaming needs these unabashedly fun and cheeky titles to puncture some of the over inflated self importance that builds up if we aren’t careful. Plus, what’s wrong with fun for its own sake? Not a gosh darned thing, particularly when it involves shooting mutants.
Fable Legends – Are you a hero, or a villain? Either way you’ll should be entertained. Fable always had a certain charm unique to the realm of Albion. After a brief affair with a Kinect on rails… thing, I assumed it was dead and gone. I was wrong. An asymmetric 4 on 1 Good vs Evil extravaganza, this long standing staple has found its way back.
Ori and the Blind Forest – After all was said and done, this little 2.5D metroidvania style game still has my attention over all the next gen superstars with their graphics, flash, and innovation. Something beautiful in a small package, it’s a formula that gets me every time.
Halo The Master Chief Collection – I think you might just hear COD servers shriek with withdrawal when this bad boy comes out. If you’ll excuse the pun, this is a ‘Master’ stroke. Halo wasn’t the first game to bring multiplayer into our hands and hearts, but it brought LAN parties into my life, and the idea of multi-shooters to the mainstream. Subsequent releases just kept expanding and improving and frankly, given the sheer amount of content for the price of a standard game? And that’s ignoring the hype train of having a live action series, to say nothing of the impetus of a the next Halo. You have to give it to Microsoft, this is like a comet we can see coming, it’s going to own the attention of a lot of people. I just hope those ‘dedicated servers’ the conference kept going on about are as sturdy as they claim… they’ll need to be.
Crackdown 3 – One of the remnants from the bad old days of ‘open world’ gameplay of the early 2000’s, it was tenacious, but never my favorite cup of tea, though its chaotic super cop brand of gameplay was a blast. This time we have but a trailer to go on, however, the dev’s hinted that the destruction mechanic they’re working on would be something interesting. Given the trailer brought a tower block down on a hapless city for the sake of one uber criminal? Well, they set the tone at any rate.
Forza Horizon 2 – The open world car thing is fast becoming a standard, it would seem, and woe betide those that can’t keep up. Sure, race tracks are cool, if you like the same circuitous route and over and over. I know many of you do, but the thing about cars that’s appealing (aside from sexy, sexy lines and horsepower) is freedom. I’m not sure there is a more natural expression for the Driving Game than lots and lots of roads.
Phantom Dust – Ok, ok, there wasn’t much to go on here, but do you remember Phantom Dust? Me neither.. that said, since the conference I looked it up. Have you seen this? It’s for the original Xbox, WAY ahead of its time, and there’s clearly more of a following than I would have realized. If they’re backing a lesser known cult hit that broke some fairly interesting ground, and are putting folks specializing on bringing back old IPs, this one bears watching.
Dance Central Spotlight – While not everyone is moved by the spirit of dance, I’m not sure there are many of us who haven’t waggled our nether regions to one of these or another. A popular hit, better expect to find living rooms filled with silliness come fall.
Call of Duty Advanced Warfare – Advanced Bro-fare or not, COD might have been one of the first heralds of gaming’s ownership of the media dollar. After several iterations that were just expanding on the same thing, the new generations tech has brought life back into the series, too a rousing chorus of fist pumps from the 12-30 something male demographic. Multiplayer aside, and based only on first glimpses, we may actually have gotten a legit campaign back in the mainstream shooter.
Super Ultra Dead Rising 3 Arcade Remix Hyper Edition Ex Alpha– This one didn’t quite make it into my best of Microsoft Conference, and that’s only because there was so much goodness, some things had to be left by the wayside. Forget that this is Dead Rising, which earns it points anyway, but a tongue in cheek poke at Capcom and probably the first game to embrace cosplay the way cosplay has embraced gaming… this made my heart swell. Just watch the trailer, you will either get it instantly, or you never will.
There you have it. Ten good reasons why you might consider the Xbox One as the newest member of your family. It’s been quite an E3, and given the content, I’m not sure there’s a wrong choice… though, after all I have seen, there might actually be too many.
Though its all wrapping up, theres more, so check back in with our E3 Hub for more info
