E3 2011 Discussion

Heh, thanks. I noticed IGN's image at the time was incredibly small.

 

SO! I hath returned from E3, having played some good games. I'll go through a list of what I played with comments on each, and I'll talk about a few games I didn't get to play and why.

Here's some of the stuff that I did play (all that I can remember)

Deus Ex: Human Revolution- I enjoyed it, although graphically it wasnt as good as I expected and it was pretty hard. I like the concept, it works like a first person Splinter Cell that is focused on stealth and you will die easily if you are seen out in the open. Ammo isn't very plentiful, which is realistic, so its best to go about stealthily. Looking forward to this.

Anarchy Reigns- Another awesome game for fans of brawlers and beatemups. They had 4 player FFA going and were showing off 8 characters. You've got your standard light attack, heavy attack, throw, jump, and a weapon modifier button that pulls out your weapon of choice and modifies the attack buttons. This game was just plain fun, even though I was getting my ass kicked. I kept coming back for more, and kept ending up in last every time. Still a crazy, unique, fun game that I am really looking forward to.

The Darkness II- Probably one of the better things I played today. I really enjoyed the first game and this one is in the same vein with enhancements to everything. I had some reservations about the new cel-shaded graphical style but it looks great in person. Looking forward to this one too.

Dead Island- I have mixed feelings about this. I was hoping the game was more about survival but turns out its more like L4D and Dead Rising had a baby. There are never more than a few zombies at a time on screen, so things can get a little boring. When you do come across zombies though, it is really fun to attack them in whatever way you see fit. The whole game felt pretty similar to a game like Oblivion. So I guess Dead Island=L4D+DR+Oblivion. I have my reservations about this one, I might pick it up.
*Little Story* I pulled out my iphone to film some stuff to show friends for this game, and the guy told me they werent allowing any photos/vids of the game, which I found strange because a vid of this exact demo is on the internet already...

Ninja Gaiden 3- Hmm. As a fan of the first 2 games I had high hopes for this one, and was a little let down. I don't know if the demo was on an easy mode or whatever, but the enemies provided little to no threat. There are a lot of QTEs thrown into the fighting that end up in a lot of cinematic kills and Im not sure I like that. The gameplay is the same, which is good, but I feel like there is a lack of innovation. Hopefully this had more to do with the level I played than the game itself.

RE: Operation Raccoon City- Alright, this is probably the best game that I played at E3 today. I just had so much fun with this game. They had 4 screens lined up and you played 4 player co-op, which is always awesome. The game plays like a tactical Gears of War, like Gears mixed with a bit of traditional RE. That makes for one hell of a fun game. You pick a character class and can customize their weapon and special ability to fit your playstyle. The game is really focused on teamwork and has a good mix of everything, action, horror, etc. Can't wait for this one.

Bodycount- Decent Bulletstorm-like shooter. Don't have too high of hopes for this game, nothing too unique to separate it from every other arcade shooter out there.

Inversion- Ehh, I'm not sure about this one either. It too was decent, probably above decent, and I like the concept but the execution could use a little more work.

Gotham City Impostors- Was looking forward to this, and just happened upon their game set up at the end of the day and got into the last game. They had a cute girl dressed up as a sexy Jokerette, so that helped too. This game was fun. The gameplay and controls were tight, almost CoD-like, but this game is wacky. You've got weapons like boomerangs, megaphones, grappling guns, etc. When I first heard about it I was expecting a more serious game, but I like the way this turned out. The gametype was like a CTF/Sabotage hybrid and it played well. My team was getting dominated and it was still really fun. You can customize your loadouts and the appearance of your Bat or Joker, but when I went to go mess around with that stuff the guy yelled at me . Overall this was a fun game that I will definitely pick up, especially for the 15 bucks that they are asking for.

 

On to Nintendo...

For the 3DS I played Star Fox 64 3D, which was good and had a decent 3D effect, and Mario Kart 3DS which was really really awesome. The 3D on this game was great, and everything just worked well: controls, graphics, etc. Can't wait for this one.

And here comes the new system. Surprisingly, the line to play this was very short, and I was a little confused by this. I looked at the end and there was a sign, VIP access only. Not knowing exactly who they were letting in, I talked to the guy by the entryway and he decided to let me in. In a few minutes I was let into the Wii U area, and I had free reign of whatever games I wanted. Lets talk about the hardware itself. The system is only one or two inches wider than a standard disc on all 4 sides. It looks a lot like an older model 360, although it is much more compact and is honestly smaller than the controller. Now that baby... wow. Just going from approximation, I'd say it was 8-10 inches wide and had a touchscreen somewhere between the size of an iPhone and an iPad. There are 2 triggers and 2 bumpers, like on the 360. Judging by the look of the controller you think it would be uncomfortable, but to my surprise it felt nice in your hands.

Games: I started with Ghost Recon Online, a supposed launch title for the system. On the controller screen you could see a sort of 3D map of the playing area, similar to something found in most FPS's today. On that you could see yourself and your teammates, and you could scroll around the map and actually send out controllable UAVs while playing the real game on your TV. The actual game was rough, but that is to be expected for something coming out late next year. Graphically it isn't much better than Wii, but this will be fixed, I'm sure of it. It was honestly hard to play with the two little analog nubs, and finding the buttons without looking at them was tough too, but I guess stuff like that just comes with practice. Overall this was a good game that utilized some cool features of the controller.

The next game I played was NSMB Mii, which was very similar to NSMB but with much higher res graphics. This was a good game, although it wasnt very different from a traditional Mario game. They actually said that this game was just a little demo, and that it wasnt an actual game in development.

The final game I played, and probably the best use of the new controller, was Catch Mii. Four players armed with Wiimotes are on the hunt for a player with a Wii U controller. The four chasers are splitscreen on the TV, while the runner is only on the controller so they cant see you. The runner also has a map that shows the positions of all players to form a better getaway plan. It is pretty much just hide and seek tag, but implemented in a very fun way. I really liked this.

Games I didn't play because

1. Not playable at the show (as far as i can tell)- Rage, Skyrim, Prey 2, Saints Row 3, Bioshock Infinite, Hitman Absolution, DMC

2. Too long of a line- Arkham City, Aliens: Colonial Marines, Duke Nukem Forever, anything Activision, Uncharted 3, and oh yeah, the PSV. Line was nuts.

3. Games that slipped my mind- Battlefield 3, Ghost Recon Future Soldier, Metro:Last Light

Wow that was a lot of typing. Feel free to ask any questions, I actually saw many more games being played than listed here, so if you are wondering about a certain game just ask me. Also I'm probably going back on Thursday and will hopefully get to play all the games that I missed.

 

As did I, as did I. I'm going to go back on Thursday and ask around if it is playable anywhere. The whole bethesda booth was this massive building basically that was completely blocked off. There were a few doors that I'm pretty sure you had to have an appointment to get in to. I think they are only showing it to the press and arent allowing any photos or video besides the stuff they release. Thankfully November isnt too far off.

Im not really sure what game I would consider the best, I played around a dozen and they all had their positives and negatives. Other best game I played... ok well lets do it like this. If I could have one of those games right now, besides RE, I'd probably take Dead Island. It wasnt mind-blowing, nothing at the show was really amazing, but it was a very solid game that was like Oblivion with zombies.

I think overall I'd rather have Arkham City, Battlefield 3, Skyrim, or Hitman, but I didnt get a chance to play those.

Also I'm 90 percent sure that they only have BF 3 on PC there, so if thats true I wont be able to give it a decent shot.

 

Me too

 

I just watched the Sony press conference I'm a bit late no doubt but some of their upcoming stuff looks fantastic. I really like the look of Resistance 3 and DUST. They actually have me contemplating buying a PS3, their new 3d monitor and I was already set on buying their NGP/Vita.

I've never been a huge fan of 3D but Resistance 3 just looks like it would be an great experience and almost worth the price alone.

I'm intending to watch the Nintendo one as well today and hope they don't have the same effect on me.

 

Nintendo admits that the Wii U reel included footage from the XBOX 360 and PS3 versions of games; justifies it by saying the Wii U will support 1080p gaming and that games will look at least as good as 360 and PS3 versions.

 

The game don't exist yet because the system is long from being released (at least a year away, probably more) and I imagine 3rd party devs haven't really been able to do anything with yet. Presumably they've agreed to develop those games. Not that it isn't embarrassing anyway.

 

Skyrim has been nothing but awesome so far from the two videos. So much new info was revealed in these. I really want to play it now.

 

Rocketman919, how I wish I could be at your place at E3. Still, this year presentations didn't really awe me, like in other years, I'm probably getting old, lol. Anyway, I kind of excited for Skyrim!

 

Honestly I think Nintendo is overselling the graphics capability of the WiiU. Now it is a while away, so obviously graphics havent been fully implemented in games yet, but from what I saw they were just above Wii graphics. I played Ghost Recon and the first Gears of War game that came out in 06 had better graphics.

I did see the little "tech demo" they had of Zelda, which was pretty much just a video playing. It looked good, not better than the graphics we have today on 360 and PS3, but it was good. The thing is, it was just that: a tech demo. I have serious doubts that games will look anywhere near as good as that demo did.

 

It just screams gimmick to me, even more so than motion controls. It's like a bunch of Nintendo execs sat around a table and said "what's the craziest thing imaginable?" then abandoned the idea of a flying controller and went with the second most pointless option.

...and if they expect us to use regular batteries in that thing the way they did with the Wiimote they can shove it.

 

And with all the talk of "winning" e3, my vote goes to ubisoft. Their conference was brilliant. Plus who could not love "did I ever tell you the definition of insanity".

 

Man, I never gave Far Cry 2 enough of a chance... FC3 is gonna be out of this world.

 

I love Far Cry 2, in fact I've just started a new game and it feels almost like it was released this year. The graphics don't feel outdated and even puts games that were released last/this year to shame. And while the gameplay may look generic, it really is unique in the number of different ways you can attack your enemies.

So yeah, Far Cry 3 is gonna be awesome. It's probably the game I'm most excited for (shortly followed by BF3 and Dead Island).