Joshua R - Editor
E3 is one of my most anticipated events of every year. It's when all the big guns come out and try to blow us all away. This year there didn't seem to be very many big things that stood out to me. There were the games we all expected to see: Halo, Gears, Call Of Duty, Fable. But those are the ones we all know are going to be announced...same as every year.
That's not to say there's any new games that caught my attention. I think the biggest of these was from Ubisoft: Watch_Dogs. This seems to be the biggest "wow" game of this years E3 and rightfully so. In a world where gamers are always looking for something different, I think Watch_Dogs is the answer. From what I can tell, the ways to go about solving missions seem limitless. From shutting down redlights to cause a wreck, to raising a drawbridge to aid in an escape, or even just hacking other peoples' phones to gather information to further your mission. Sure it looks like GTA with a technological Assassin's Creed mixed into it...but how can that really be a bad thing? The developers stated that this game will be out on this generations consoles. I think when this game releases it's going to be a big canidate for Game of the Year honors.
One of the big things that really disappoints me, as it always does, is that Rockstar is a no-show at E3. Rockstar has made it clear that they don't need E3 to hype up their games and rightfully so they are correct. That still doesn't mean that gamers, like myself, want to see what they are working on. I'm sure they are busy working on GTA V, Bully 2, etc etc, but you can't tell me that they don't have the time to put up some kind of brief video of one of their games in action.
Lastly, I know we all have seen the first demoed version of Tomb Raider from last years E3. This year, they pulled off the curtain a little bit more and it makes me want this game so much more. I am a huge fan of all Tomb Raider games, but I'm glad to see that Square Enix/Crystal Dynamics have gone back to the origin of Lara. A lot of times when games are rebooted they end up failing or not living up the the expectations of the originals. I think they have hit the nail on the head here. The visuals of this game are beyond belief. But to do what they are doing to her...to break her down mentally, physically, emotionally, I just think it will make us connect to her so much more. Not only that but they are adding an XP system in which you can upgrade your bow and other abilities. One of the big things about previous Tomb Raider games is that they were all pretty linear. While the story in this game is pretty linear, the game world is supposed to offer you huge areas to explore to make it feel like you're actually...you know..."tomb raiding". It's a shame this game got pushed back to March 2013, but I'm 100% it will be well worth the wait.
I know there were lots of games that were shown at E3 this year, but these are the ones that I feel really are worth mentioning.
Jeff Wade - Editor
This year's E3 left me fairly conflicted, no surprise considering I went in the same way.
There were two ways I looked at the annual mega conference this year. The first was with knowing
realism. It's the end of a console cycle, and Microsoft was set to have something of a quiet year
regardless of what gamers want. The big, impressive, exclusive games are being held for the next
generation of consoles, a smart move considering that those sort of games are always going to play
best to early adaptors. It's also fairly obvious that Microsoft values the Xbox brand as more than just
a games console, and are going to push the 360's multimedia functionality to get into the homes of
middle America. And hey, that new dashboard glimpsed in the conference moves games over to like,
the third option at the top. Progress!
Even in the parade of sequels there are pleasant surprises: Far Cry 3 is coming into focus rapidly, Need
For Speed Most Wanted shows the typical Criterion touch and Metal Gear Revengance will hopefully
let Platinum Games have at least one game that has the sales it deserves. On that hand, successful E3.
The half of me that bought into the spectacle of the event, the one that had the first week of June circled
on the metaphorical and literal calendar since the year was young, was of course disappointed.
Sure, Halo, Gears and Forza all look great. That's what we expect of them. But it doesn't hide the fact
they are all the fourth entry of those series on the same hardware. This sense of homogeny isn't exactly
confined to Microsoft, as third parties seem to be hedging their bets too.
Splinter Cell: Blacklist straddles the weird line between committing to the stealth series more action
oriented evolution in Conviction, while dangling the carrot of the too long absent Spies Vs. Mercs
multiplayer mode to interest purists. Tomb Raider is also doing it's best Uncharted impression, and
the attempts at an exhilarating set piece a moment ends up being more exhausting then anything else.
Even my beloved Resident Evil series looks to be falling into the same trap in Resident Evil 6, as Leon
Kennedy does his best John McClane.
But hey, there's always next year.
So there you have it - the expert opinion of some of our new staff here at TeamXbox. What do you all think about the show as a whole? Please feel free to give us your $0.02 in the comments section below. Thanks so much for reading!
