Microsoft really brought their A game to their E3 2015 presser. A bevy of anticipated titles from well known series, new IP, and console upgrades really made Xbox One shine this year.
The Console
Xbox One Elite controller
Microsoft seems to have listened to fans in the past — less about what else the Xbox can do that isn’t games, more about how it can make games better. Two large console-centric announcements were made this year, the first of which being a first party Xbox One elite controller. This controller takes third party controller mods to the next level. With the new elite controller, you can switch out the thumbsticks for one with different grip, add paddles to the back of your controller (like the popular Scuf mod), and customize it the way you want. All of this is first party and fully supported by Microsoft, which is kind of a big deal.
Xbox One Backward Compatibility
The second, and definitely more important, is the announcement of Xbox One backward compatibility with Xbox 360 titles. Gamers have been clamoring for this feature in modern consoles for over a decade and Microsoft is happy to answer the call. Not unlike Sony’s solution, Microsoft now supports digital copies of Xbox 360 titles on your Xbox One. Even better news, if you already own the title on Xbox 360, you’ll get the digital copy for free, which of course made the crowd go wild. Though the feature will be slowly rolled out for specific games in the future, this solution offers incentive to upgrade consoles as well as expanding the Xbox One gaming library with very little effort on the part of game developers.
The Games
Halo 5: Guardians
Of COURSE they started out the show with some Halo 5: Guardians gameplay. The brief video led in to a gameplay demo that looked smooth as butter. We can’t confirm that it was 60fps, but it sure looked like it. Almost like a Call of Duty game in the steady smoothness of the animation. The actual combat looked like most Halo games, just really pretty. And though scale is kind of part of Halo’s levels, it’s never looked this massive or this detailed. Halo 5: Guardians is definitely the best looking one yet.
Recore
Next, a new IP hit the stage from some of the people behind Metroid Prime. There’s not many details beyond the short video showing a girl and her robot dog hiding from a sand storm, then fighting other robots. The dog self destructs, which bummed everyone out, but left behind its glowing blue core. She inserts the core into one of the now-dead robot husks and it fires to life. She greets her companion again and the title flashes. Recore. No gameplay was shown, but the art style and possibilities of recoring your companion make it very exciting.
Indies and Xbox Preview
Microsoft also invited a number of smaller game developers on stage to show off what they’ve been working on. They featured small videos and brief presentations of Ashen, Lunar Transfer Station Takoma, Beyond Eyes, and Cuphead. This segued perfectly in to the addition of Xbox Preview, with acts almost identically to Steam Early Access, letting you download and play unfinished versions of games before they come out. The main difference with Xbox’s program is that you can also try out the game before you commit to buying it, so it sounds like demos are a requirement to get listed with Xbox Preview.
Rare
Rare made a brief appearance to talk about Rare 30, a collection of their best games over the last 30 years in one disk. They then went on to talk about a new title they’re working on called Sea of Thieves, which appears to be an open world action game about pirates.
Minecraft on HoloLens
I wasn’t sure whether or not to put this under games or hardware, but it doesn’t matter, this one demo blew my damn mind. Minecraft running on Microsoft’s HoloLens system was insane. The demo starts off with traditional Minecraft on a screen on the wall, but the world then opens up on the table, building, in virtual 3D, the game both presenters were playing. While one was playing on console, he was able to also join her server, build things, and watch her move around in real time. He zoomed in and looked through a building in virtual 3D space to see her avatar moving about. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. He then was able to pull the world up from the ground to see what was beneath her. This act is questionably cheating, but who cares because HoloLens. They then showed off calling lightning strikes in specific positions, and like that it was over. Absolutely incredible hardware and software.
Gears of War
To wrap it up, Gears of War Ultimate Edition, which features updated versions of the first three games, was announced along with its beta being launched during the press conference. That was followed up by the announcement of Gears of War 4 along with a rather lengthy demo, which made it look as if the game is already far along in development. The level had us tracking down a beast with a Lancer through an old castle, culminating in a fight between three of these hell beasts. Looked very much like a Gears of War game, but prettier. No word on release or anything else, but Gears fans have many reasons to be stoked.
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Halo 5 Guardians Arena Multiplayer
Yup, that’s right, Halo 5 Guardians has a demo-able multiplayer and I got to play it. And guess what? I’m still as bad as I remember.
In this version of multiplayer, you’re playing 5v5 last man standing with the magnum pistol and assault rifle/battle rifle. Essentially, the rifle is full auto when you’re not aiming with the scope, but burst fire when aiming, which is a nice settlement to the age old question of which rifle was better, Halo 1’s or Halo 2’s .
The map was rather boring and looked more like an American Gladiators map than Halo. Glassy polygons with ramps and a few hallways punctuated by laser edges in space doesn’t really scream Spartan to me. That aside, the combat feels better than it did in Halo 4, but still a little slow. The controls are the same millenium-era FPS controls of B for grenade, but that’s for sake of legacy and kind of gives it a nostalgic feel. Speaking of nostalgia, this game mode didn’t let you select your starting weapons and there were no loadouts. I’m not sure if that’s how the rest of the multiplayer will be, but that was almost a welcome restriction. The last thing I need is Call of Duty in space.
Overall, it seems Halo multiplayer is still intact. A little different than before, but then again it always is. What I really want to see more of is Master Chief in the desert with that chip necklace that makes me tear up. You know the one.
Platforms: Xbox One
Release Date: 2015
Splatoon
One of the most exciting new IPs coming to Wii U is the competitive third person shooter title Splatoon. The objective is simple — over a map with more of your team’s paint color than the other’s. It’s a third person shooter featuring humans/squids.
That’s a weird sentence.
Your human form has your ink gun, which you use to splatter the field and shoot your enemies, and your squid form can travel quickly through your ink color and recharge your ink gun. Since you’re hidden inside the ink while in squid form, this adds another layer of strategy so you can lie in wait to surprise the enemy. Your squid form can also traverse ink that’s on walls, and go under barriers, allowing for more maneuverability and varied terrain play.
The concept and ideas behind this game are great, but I found myself getting killed a lot. And I mean a lot. It was only toward the end of my second round that I realized why — I kept screwing up my aim. The demo I got to play set up aiming with the gyro controls on the Wii U gamepad, with the second joystick acting like a slow camera. This strange waggle motion was incredibly disorienting for someone who’s used to camera being on the second joystick and having it be responsive. I’m kind of a panicky Pete in games like this, so when the fighting starts, I lose all thoughts and just try to shoot as much at the other person as possible. Accuracy is not my forte. As a result, I was pointing down with the gamepad, but moving the joystick around so I could focus on the top screen instead of the map on the bottom and I ended up dying almost every time (or at least that’s what I tell myself).
Overall, the game is incredibly fun and fast paced. The sneaking elements on it, surprise attacks, power ups, and quick gameplay make it an awesome game to play with friends either online or in the same room. I just hope they realize some of us are very disoriented by gyro aim so I can go back to flailing about and shooting wildly a little better.
Platforms: Wii U
Release Date: May 2015
Together
Local multiplayer puzzlers seem to be making a bit of a resurgence, diversity also seems to be growing as the internet understands what it means to be an inherently global community and its members request more representation in all media.
Together is the story of a mother and child on a quest through the mysterious forest to find the cure for an illness that has befallen one of their loved ones. The story of the game was written by Arab-American author Saladin Ahmed, known most recently for his novel The Crescent Moon Kingdom.
The game features an overworld system kind of like Super Mario World in that you walk around a world map, choose a puzzle to solve, and are warped to the puzzle. Once inside, your objective is to collect all the white, glowy butterflies in each level to proceed onward. The transition between world map and puzzle is a little jarring, and the game’s style of narrative delivery, standing on a circle on the world map and reading text, also leaves something to be desired. Unlike Chariot, there’s no real flow between levels or areas, and everything seems pretty well separated.
The puzzles themselves are pretty interesting, featuring standard mechanics like pushing something to one area or pressing a button to allow another, but there’s also things like poison projectile immunity for both mother and son if they are standing together. It’s a bit like Goof Troop on the SNES or Legend of Zelda Four Swords in that both players have to work together to enable the way for each of them.
Together is an interesting game that offers up to five hours of gameplay and provides perspective of a culture not often explored in this medium.
Platforms: PC
Release Date: TBD
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9) Halo (5?) on Xbox One
The most alluring trailer of Xbox One’s presentation had to be Halo’s. For a full minute we’re treated to a cloaked wanderer in the desert, going nowhere in particular. Then
suddenly, a giant figure emerges from the sands, taking the form of a giant mech. At a minute and a half in, eagle eyes can spot Cortana’s chip on a necklace in an armored hand. The cloak is pulled back and there is Master Chief in all his glory. The game’s title simply said Halo, though due to certain plot-y elements, it appears to be 5. Chief is back and he’s lookin’ good.
8) New Xbox 360 redesign
To fall in line with the Xbox One’s design, Microsoft unveiled a new iteration of the Xbox 360 that looks more like the One. This release will presumably trigger a
price reduction on older models and the new model will take the price points of current models. Oh and they also released on Monday, so you can pick one up right now. I like that they do that with redesigns. Good on you, Xbox
7) Playstation 4’s online multiplayer is through PS+ only
The days of free online gaming with Playstation have ended. No longer will Sony try to entice gamers through their free PSN multiplayer. The good news is that PS+ still comes with all the features it’s known for (cloud saves, game collection, free titles, early beta access), and that they’re not hiding streaming media services behind the PS+ pay wall. That’s right, you don’t have to pay an extra fee just to watch season 4 of Daria on Amazon Instant. Nice.
6) Megaman is back! Kind of!
Please enter the url to a YouTube video.Well it’s not the game we were all hoping for, but if Pit making an appearance in Brawl could revitilize his series, there’s no reason the Smash Brothers colossus couldn’t do the same for the Blue Bomber. At the very end of the new Smash Bros. Trailer in the Nintendo Direct, Megaman make his presence known with rock remixes of classic Megaman jams, toting some heavy artillery, and all the squeals fans could muster. I wish they would have chose the Megaman Legends version, in which he looks more like a person instead of a tiny dollman, but at this point I’ll take what I can get.
5) Microsoft stuck with their DRM guns and Sony took full advantage of it. Directly.
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| Image from IGN/Reddit |
The gents at Xbox did a commendable job of not mentioning their strangely restrictive DRM issues we’ve all heard about by now. From having to authenticate your game once every 24 hours to effectively eliminate game borrowing through the use of user registration, the Xbox One offers an unexpectedly tight control on games and it’s leaving gamers asking whether they really own the games they buy. So of course you’d rather not make gamers more angry by mentioning the sore subject again at E3 right?
Well Sony sure did, and they didn’t do so lightly. Direct comments like “And it won’t stop working if you haven’t authenticated within 24 hours” to a room of screaming fans shows Sony more than willing to poke the Microsoft bear. Subtlety may not be Sony’s strong suit, and fans love it.
4) Final Fantasy Versus XIII = Final Fantasy XV
Please enter the url to a YouTube video.Amid rumors of the rebrand, Final Fantasy fans finally had their hopes substantiated by Tetsuya Nomura himself. A new trailer for Final Fantasy Versus XIII was revealed, showcasing incredible graphic and playstyle not before seen in a Final Fantasy game. The most surprising aspect is the gameplay. As Noctus is zipping around in the game with his invisible swords, you can see commands in the corner that seem to point to inputs from the player, ala Kingdom Hearts. Perhaps they’re finally departing from turn-based combat in favor of faster gameplay. The final surprise was revealing it was rebranded to Final Fantasy XV, making it a numeric title, and thus symbolically more important in some way. I just want the game. Come on Squenix, throw me a bone here.
3) Kingdom Hearts III FINALLY GEEZE
Please enter the url to a YouTube video.IT’S HERE. IT’S FINALLY HERE. KINGDOM HEARTS III. THE GAME TO TIE TOGETHER ALL THE NONSENSE GAMES THAT HAVE BEEN COMING OUT FOR THE PAST 8 YEARS. OH AND THE GRAPHICS LOOK LIKE KH1 COLORS, BUT FAR BETTER DETAILS AND I WANT TO CRY IT LOOKS GREAT SORA’S FIGHTING HEARTLESS WHERE’S MY TISSUES.
2) FFXV and KHIII are not console exclusive
Okay, this isn’t really number 2, it should be somewhere around 7, but that would have spoiled 3 and 4. In a rather substantial blow to the exclusive titles for Sony, both Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III are going to be multiplatform. For the first time in history, Xbox owners will get to experience the Disney/Square combo powerhouse that fans have been enjoying for years. And for only the second time, Squenix’s flagship series Final Fantasy will also enjoy a release on the Microsoft console. Though Final Fantasy’s multiplatformship wasn’t very surprising, Kingdom Hearts is eliciting almost as bad a reaction as FFXIII from die-hard fans.
1) Star Wars Battlefront
Fans have been begging and crying and sweating and gnashing teeth and kicking walls and screaming at the top of their lungs. And finally, after Disney shut down Lucas Arts studios, Star Wars Battlefront is back in the limelight. Its trailer was only slightly better than the Duke Nukem trilogy trailer from E3 2008.
Please enter the url to a YouTube video.Come on EA. You can’t dangle a new entry in one of the best Star Wars Series of all time in my face, but only show me one T-47 airspeeder, an AT-AT, and some snow. Look at this.
Please enter the url to a YouTube video.That being said, this news makes me warm inside, even though it shouldn’t since it’s using DICE’s Frostbite 3 engine.
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