Is it just me, or does the new Call of Duty look pretty interesting?

It’s that time of year again. Call of Duty is right around the corner and the devs are starting to trickle out new information and gameplay videos. People are doing their annual “That looks terrible, stop releasing them annually!” thing, and I’m just sitting here wondering if I’ve gone crazy. Most times I find myself agreeing with people that Call of Duty doesn’t look all that interesting, but this year I’m oddly intrigued by Infinite Warfare.

The devs working on Infinite Warfare dropped a new gameplay walkthrough a few days ago that I’ve now gone through a good number of times. Honestly, I haven’t touched a Call of Duty game since Modern Warfare 2, as none of the subsequent games interested me all that much. Even Modern Warfare 3 failed to garner any enthusiasm from me, but the gameplay from that recent video (and the gameplay shown at Sony’s conference at E3) have made me contemplate actually picking up this year’s edition of the yearly shooter.

While watching the E3 demo, I wasn’t actually sure what game I was watching. I hadn’t been keeping up with the latest news and details about Infinite Warfare – save for the many stories pertaining to it’s much maligned trailer. At first I thought I was watching Titanfall 2, what with the zip-line and everything. When the Call of Duty name popped up on screen, me and the friends I was watching E3 with looked at each other, and we all basically said the same thing: we might need to pick that game up.

So what about the game has me so interested? Thinking about it, I believe what has me so intrigued is the one aspect that seems to be turning other people off to this installment: the future setting.

One of the first FPS games I ever played was Halo: Combat Evolved. I loved the setting, and the game itself was a lot of fun because of it. I wanted to know more about the universe and the different races that inhabited this fictional world Bungie had built. My favorite game series is Mass Effect, with my favorite game being Knights of the Old Republic. You might notice a pattern forming, but if you can’t tell, I REALLY like sci-fi; I just can’t get enough of it. When I saw the space battle in the above trailer, as well as heard that you control your own ship and crew, I couldn’t help but be intrigued.

Yes, there are other games in the franchise that take place in the a “future” setting, but this one has a hard sci-fi feel to it, with spaceships and interstellar – or at least interplanetary – travel. My favorite genre is sci-fi, and for that, Infinite Warfare has my attention.

The only thing that could make this game more exciting – in my opinion of course, is if the game went full Halo. Just imagine fighting the SDF (Settlement Defense Front) when halfway through the game an alien race shows up and tries to wipe out both sides. Sounds like an awesome game to me.

5 E3 2016 predictions

Hey all! It’s been a while, though the reasoning for that is complicated and vast. Since E3 is right around the corner, however, I figured I’d pick up and write a couple posts, maybe review the conferences after they finish. That said, let’s jump right in.

Prediction #1 – Playstation VR gets major stage time

Sony devotes a solid 15-20 minutes of it’s press conference to Playstation VR. I actually figured this would have happened last year, what with he hype surrounding VR at the time. Strangely, Sony spent absolutely zero time on their VR peripheral during their conference and so that leads me to believe that we’ll see a much more in depth demo this year. I suspect they bring the actual headpiece out on stage and show it off and then follow that with a quick demo and then finish it off with a highlight reel of games coming to the VR headset.

Prediction #2 – Release date for Kingdom Hearts III

We finally get a release date for Kingdom Hearts III. I didn’t want to go half way and say a release window is given, so I decided to go out on a ledge and predict an actual date is announced. I suspect this has a zero percent chance of happening considering how successful Square Enix’s release date announcement conference for Final Fantasy XV was, but a man can dream can’t he? Not to mention Square’s probable desire to keep their fans focused on the upcoming release of FFXV instead. Still, I expect at least a trailer showcasing various new worlds for the game, followed by a date, which I will predict to be November 21, 2017.

Prediction #3 – That Sucker Punch helmed Spider-Man game gets an onstage demo…and is exclusive to Playstation in some capacity

A few weeks ago, there was a rumor making the rounds about a Spider-Man game in the works. Considering how awful the last few games have been, I had little hope for this new one. My thoughts on the matter changed quickly, however, once I saw that Sucker Punch – the studio behind the inFamous games – was reportedly the one working on it. With the recent integration of Spider-Man into the MCU, I suspect now would be an ideal time to announce a brand new game for the popular wall-crawler. Marvel has fallen way behind in the gaming realm recently, lacking any standout title similar to DC’s Batman Arkham games, so letting a top notch studio like Sucker Punch have a go is a great idea. All that said, it is Sucker Punch, a Sony owned studio. Even though Activision owns Spider-Man’s gaming rights, I suspect a deal had to be worked out in order to get this done. Either limited exclusivity (think the second Tomb Raider) or full on console exclusive is what we can expect. By the way, that onstage demo? That’ll be at the Sony press conference.

Prediction #4 – EA actually shows off more than one Star Wars game

Count me among the fans who found themselves disappointed that last year we only saw the release of one major Star Wars game. In fact, I was upset at the lack of Star Wars present at last year’s E3 conference as well. I fully expected EA to take advantage of the Star Wars hype train and announce at least three other games besides the aforementioned Battlefront. In hindsight, that was probably asking too much of them considering they had just gotten the rights to the Star Wars license. After a full year of development, however, I suspect they’ll have quite a few Star Wars related announcements to make. I expect an update on the Amy Hennig project, as well as a hint or trailer for a BioWare Star Wars game (that isn’t The Old Republic MMO). In total, I am predicting at least 3 major AAA game announcements and probably a few peripheral games for VR and mobile.

Prediction #5 – Sony and Microsoft offer upgrade options for current console owners

This is definitely the one prediction that is the least likely to happen. This would actually be more of a desire than a prediction, but I’m going to go ahead and throw it in here anyway. In any case, what I am predicting is that the new editions of the Xbox One and Playstation 4 will be announced at E3 2016 and both Microsoft and Sony will offer an “upgrade” option. What I mean by that is that both companies will allow you to trade in your old console in order to upgrade to the new one – though not for free of course. The idea is that you trade in your old console and get the new and improved one at a discounted rate.

So there we have it, my predictions for E3. I hope to talk to you guys again soon! Let me know what you think is gonna happen at E3.

-GG

Why Middling Reviews for Star Wars Battlefront is a good thing

With the release of Star Wars Battlefront, reviews are in from the various game review sites around the internet. Most of the reviews agree that the game looks gorgeous, and having played it, I agree. It is easily the best looking game on the market, and will probably be the best recreation of the Star Wars universe we have ever seen — at least until an open world RPG is released. The maps are incredible and the detail work is spot on, and yet something is missing. Once you realize that underneath all those pretty graphics is a fairly boring experience, you are left wondering just what you payed sixty dollars for.

For the most part, reviews are hovering right around a 75, a fairly average score. While the developers at DICE are probably unhappy with the reviews, we consumers should not be. In fact, we should be ecstatic. Star Wars Battlefront is continuing a recent trend in gaming where developers are releasing multiplayer only games at full price. Evolve tried it, as did Titanfall, and both titles have fallen by the wayside. Star Wars Battlefront has the best chance at succeeding, but should we want it to? Given the choice between a Battlefront with some type of campaign combined with having to wait a few extra months or what we have presently, the choice should be obvious. For sixty dollars, we should not settle for half a game, but expect a game that is worth our time and money. According to the reviews, we are not getting that.

From the beginning, people have voiced their doubts for the game, many fears revolving around the apparent lack of content the game would have at release. As you read the reviews, many of the negatives do in fact have to do with the lack of anything beyond the generic multiplayer experience. Only adding to that feeling of playing an incomplete game was the announcement of a fifty dollar season pass set to include items such as maps, characters, and emotes. Microtransactions were expected, but the season pass basically encourages the customer to pay $110 to get the ‘whole’ experience. It’s a ridiculous business model in place for what is, in fact, a multiplayer only game.

It is at this point that I hope the game does not sell as well as EA and DICE hope. This trend in gaming needs to die and should this game fail to live up to expectations, it might just be the one that breaks the camel’s back and cause this whole trend to finally go away. Hopefully these middling reviews warn potential customers that the game might not be worth a buy right now and we can hope for a better attempt with Battlefront II.

-GG

Spectre Review

Hello, it’s been a while! I have been absent lately due to various circumstances — mainly Grad School — but I wanted to get back into the swing of things with the blog. I’ve set a schedule that I will attempt to maintain (no promises), and since this is my first post in a long time, I figured I’d start out with something easy: a short review on the latest Bond movie that released this past weekend! Well, without further ado, I hope you enjoy my thoughts on Spectre.

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James Bond is a cultural — if not historical — icon. Were you to say ‘Bond,’ you would more than likely receive a response of ‘James Bond’ from a friend trying their best to impersonate Sean Connery. It comes as no surprise then that we find ourselves looking at the 24th James Bond film to be released, and the fourth in the Daniel Craig-led series. The first three films had it’s ups and downs, but they were fairly enjoyable as a whole. Throughout each movie, the foundations of a larger plot were slowly revealed to the viewer, ultimately leading to the latest iteration in the Bond franchise. Unfortunately, this film comes across flat and uninspired, but does have a few bright spots.

Spectre starts off with a spectacular opening set piece that takes place in Mexico during El Dia de los Muertos. The setting, the aesthetic, and the film’s score perform an admirable job at setting the mood and raising the tension of the scene. What starts off well, however, slowly devolves into a chase sequence that culminates with an idiotic battle inside a helicopter. While the scene played well, the helicopter scene was too jumpy to make much sense of what was happening and left the viewer wondering what the hell was going on.

This is followed by the typical opening bond sequence. I only mention this because after some initial trepidation, I have come to enjoy Sam Smith’s contribution to the library of Bond openings. Not to mention the sequence sports some incredible visuals.

We then jump to the headquarters of British Intelligence and it is then revealed that, once again, the British government is intent on shutting down the Double 0 program. This time, they want to replace it with a surveillance system that would keep an eye on the entire world. If at this point you hazard a guess at the main villain’s plan, I am almost certain you are spot on and have already figured out what the bad guys are up to. The rather bland and straightforward plot line end up becoming a major hindrance to Spectre’s success, since the villain’s plans are revealed almost right away. Instead of presenting a mysterious organization whose goals are unknown until the climax, the screenwriters fell back on a well worn script from countless other spy movies.

The rest of the film follows the generic Bond formula: hunt next clue, meet woman, have sex with woman to gain information, leave to find next clue, et cetera and repeat ad nauseam. It is during this sequence of events that the movie most drags. Standing at 148-minutes, a lot of the scenes felt excessive and unnecessary. One sequence that comes to mind, took place in a train and was inexplicably long and probably should not have made it past the cutting room floor.

The saving grace for the film falls on the set pieces, which were incredibly breathtaking. One in particular that stands out, is a car chase between Bond and one of the film’s secondary villains. What sets this apart from the others was it’s blend of comedy with tension, as well as a few well handled callbacks to the history of Bond films. The next few action scenes range from incredibly gorgeous to gaudy and unexplainable, as sometimes explosions are seemingly added for visual purposes only. Despite that, those scenes are some of the most enjoyable in Spectre.

Perhaps the largest fault of Spectre was the wasted talent of Christoph Waltz and the overall failing of the film’s villains to leave a lasting impact. Waltz’s villain is among the weakest of the Craig era, second only to Quantum’s Dominic Green. By no fault of Waltz — who acted the hell out of what he was given — his character suffered from a lack of ferocity and presence. He is built up throughout the beginning of the film as this seemingly all powerful man, which comes to a head with a scene where the Spectre organization holds a meeting that Bond has infiltrated. Waltz’s Blofeld comes across as sinister and shows how much weight he carries in Spectre, only for there to be no meaningful followup to cement that status throughout the rest of the film. Instead he is portrayed as a comical dope, whose big idea for getting rid of his main foe is strapping Bond to a chair and torturing him — a scene that feels out of place and more fitting of one of the classic and sillier Bond films.

Continuing along with the villains, Dave Bautista is easily one of the best parts of the movie. His introductory scene is visceral and leaves a lasting impact, however, the writers once again bungled the story and had Bond take him out for the sake of a joke. Keeping Bautista in the film for longer, perhaps as a final confrontation would have been a much better idea than what we received. Andrew Scott’s character (from Sherlock fame) was also a bust, and served almost no purpose except as a villain for M and the other non-Bond heroes to take care of.

All in all, Spectre was not a great movie. In fact, an argument can be made that it is not even good, but I did enjoy myself to a point. The action set pieces were incredible, the acting was spot on, but the by the books plot and a lackluster villain keep this film from being anything more than a serviceable action flick. I’d give this movie a 6.5/10.

-GG

5 Anime to watch during the Summer 2015 season

1. Gangsta

I cheated with this first one, as I have already seen the first episode, but it did nothing to change my opinion that this looks like one of the best anime of the summer season. Set in a gritty reality, this particular anime follows Worick and Nicolas, two “handymen.” They are known for getting the job done and are hired to do jobs for both the police and the mafia. What interests me about this show is that the characters aren’t your typical anime heroes. They are ruthless and work both for and against the law. It seems like whoever pays the most is the one that wins their services as they do not seem to have a moral code that they live by. While this is no where near the first series to make its main characters morally ambiguous, the setting, beautiful art style, and the engaging soundtrack equal a show that is sure to be among my favorites by summer’s end.

2. Dragon Ball Super

This was expected right? I mean how could I possibly not list this show? After what seems like an eternity, we are finally getting a sequel series to Dragon Ball Z. Picking up soon after the ending of the Buu Saga, we actually join Goku before the events of the last two movies. That is to say that the first few episodes will take place before Battle of Gods, introducing Beerus to us once again, as well as set up the Super Saiyan God storyline. I assume it well then jump past the movie and show the events leading up to the second movie, Resurrection of F. Following that, it’s up in the air as to where the franchise will go from there. Either way, the animation has gotten quite the upgrade from the old shows and looks incredible and I believe all of the original voice actors are returning.

While I am looking forward to this show, I am debating whether I should wait until it is released in English. It is one of the few anime where I prefer the English voice actors and music. I doubt Bruce Faulconer will be back to make the music for this series, but I can dream. Bruce’s Perfect Cell Theme is still one of my favorite soundtracks from the old show. I can’t wait to start this one!

3. God Eater

This show is animated by the same people that brought us Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works and that should be all you need to know. Considering Fate/Stay Night is one of the most beautiful pieces of anime I’ve ever seen, I am looking forward to this one a great deal. Taking place in a  post apocalyptic world, our heroes are doing there best to stop monsters known as “Oracle Cells” from devouring all life on the planet. They use weapons made from these monsters (think Tokyo Ghoul’s quinque) as a deterrent and these warriors have become known as “God Eaters.” While not the most original idea, just the thought of getting another anime as beautiful as Fate/Stay Night is enough to cement this firmly on my list. I know next to nothing else about this show, and will look forward to it’s pilot episode later this month.

4. Ranpo Kitan

I always love a good murder mystery, so this anime immediately caught my eye when I saw it in this summer’s lineup. Taking place at a high school where various murders have taken place, Kobayashi meets a genius detective and volunteers to help him solve the gruesome crimes. If well done, a mystery TV show can provide some of the best entertainment. Sudden twists, unexpected deaths, detectives finding that one clue that breaks the case wide open; all these things create an enjoyable murder mystery, and if the show can deliver on those points, it is sure to be a standout show. It doesn’t hurt that from what I’ve seen, the animation is above average.

5. Bikini Warriors

Yep, it’s an anime about an RPG like world and everyone wears bikinis for armor. That’s it, that’s the description. Sounds awesome right? No? Yea, it sounds terrible. Here is the real number five:

5. Charlotte

Last on my list is an anime about high school kids that have special powers. Only a small handful of people have these powers, but how they are used is a big deal. Our main hero has the ability to take over the mind of another person for five seconds at a time. Naturally, he used his powers to help others and do good deeds and…oh wait, no he doesn’t. He actually uses it to cheat on tests, get into a great high school by cheating, and starting fights. He is approached by others that have powers and they reveal that they make sure people with powers don’t abuse them. From here I assume he turns his life around and becomes a good person, but I guess I’ll have to watch and find out for myself! On the animation front, this comes from the studio that brought us Angel Beats! and looks just as good. There may be a few hiccups here and there, but overall it should be of the highest quality.

E3 Press Conference Reviews: Nintendo & Square Enix

1. Nintendo

I will give Nintendo credit, I was disappointed when they announced they would no longer be appearing at E3 a few years ago, but I do sort of enjoy these digital events better than the live shows. They allow Nintendo to focus on exactly what they want, stay concise, and let’s them have fun with it. This year’s event began with a puppet show of sorts. It was kind of dumb, but strangely enjoyable. I love that Nintendo just seems to have genuine fun with what they do. When they finally got to talking about the games, they opened up with Star Fox Zero, the new Wii U exclusive. While one of the games people are looking forward to the most, the demo did not impress. The game looks severely outdated. I understand not wanting to ruin the old aesthetic and keeping the original look of the game, but it just looks too old. Not to mention the combat looks outdated. Count me as one that is skeptical this will be a good game.

Nintendo then talked about some new Amiibos that can be used as Skylanders, but I could care less about those. They then showed a trailer for a new Zelda for 3DS! Guess what? More multiplayer! That’s right, even Nintendo is getting into the multiplayer mode with this new game. I’m sure you know my feelings on this issue by now so I’ll move on. Nintendo then showed a trailer for Hyrule Warriors, the 3DS version. It looks fairly interesting, and I could be talked into giving it a try. Wait, what’s that? Is that a new Metroid game? It is? That’s awesome! Wait, you’re saying it looks nothing like Metroid, doesn’t have Samus, and has some sort of 3v3 sci-fi ‘sports’ battles? I hate you Nintendo.

Fire Emblem was shown next and that is easily one of my favorite game series, so that game looks incredibly awesome. I look forward to getting my hands on it. Then we were shown an all Japanese trailer. At first I thought they just hadn’t subbed it, but I’d still be able to find out the name of the game at the end. Nope! The name of the game was in Japanese too, thus leaving me wondering what awesome game this is and wondering if I’d have to learn Japanese to play it. I found out later that it was Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem, which just makes me want the game more. Nintendo then showed us an extended look at Xenoblade Chronicles X and revealed the release date to be 12/4/15. All I have to say about that game is that I can’t wait.

Blah blah blah Animal Crossing blah blah. Then we were treated to an in depth look at Yoshi’s Wooly World, a game that I am extremely excited for. I love the yarn aesthetic and I enjoyed Kirby’s yarn game, so this game seems right up my alley. Yo-kai Watch was announced for a North American release, though I know nothing about the game. It looks like some sort of Pokemon type of game and is supposedly really popular so I may have to look into it. Either way, it makes the list of games to keep an eye on.

Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam and Mario Tennis were next on the list. I love both series and will probably pick up both titles at some point in time. Lastly, we were shown Mario Maker, the Nintendo game that looks the most promising. The idea of being able to build your own Mario levels is highly intriguing, and it sits as my top game coming from Nintendo this year.

Unfortunately, this year brought little in the way of surprises from Nintendo. Most of the games shown were ones we have known about for some time now. The puppets were weird, but gave the event a little bit of flair. That said, the games they did show were still pretty fantastic save a few flops here and there. Final grade: B-

2. Square Enix

Please never let this company do another presser at E3 ever again, or at least get someone in to consult about how one should be handled. This was easily the worst presser of the conference. Not because of the games — the games we actually got a look at were outstanding — but because it was so slow. The pacing was horrendous and the inexperience was easily seen throughout the conference. The only thing that saved Square from total failure was the showing of one game: Kingdom Hearts III.

At the beginning of the event, Square took way too long to show any gameplay. The people talking were so heavily scripted and unamused by the whole thing that it felt like an eternity before we finally got the trailer for the first game. That first game was Just Cause 3. This is a game about blowing stuff up so you’d think the trailer for that type of game should be easy, but instead of just showing a bunch of explosions and new gameplay, they had a narrator explain all the new things as they happened. I don’t mind that per se, but I much prefer the show don’t tell method.

Nier 2 was announced next, but we got absolutely no information on the actual game whatsoever. I fail to see the reasoning behind announcing a game without anything to show. Even a small battle sequence would have gone a long way, but instead we were left with more questions. Oh, and Yoko Taro took the stage with some sort of strange mask, so that happened.

We were then shown a develop diary of Lara Croft, which was stupid. Once again, no new gameplay was shown. Of course, we got a trailer for a new mobile Lara Croft game, because why not. Then the exciting stuff started happening. Shinji Hashimoto took the stage and showed us the FF7 remake trailer again. No new information was given so that was a waste of time. He then mentioned Kingdom Hearts, but the translator forgot to do his job and we were left wondering if this was the moment we had all been waiting for. It wasn’t. We got a trailer for Kingdom Hearts X, a mobile game that has been released in Japan for a while now and will now be making its way over to North America. Mr. Hashimoto then said he was going to show us KH3, but then said he had something else to show first; he’s such a tease. It turned out to be a video announcing that the Disney movie Tangled was going to be in the next installment to the Kingdom Hearts franchise. Finally, after the long wait fans were treated to the glorious new gameplay trailer for Kingdom Hearts III. I am super excited for this title and this trailer was amazing. We got a real good look at how the combat is going to be improved as well as the beautiful new visuals. Surprisingly, no release window was given, so we still have a ways to go before we can get our hands on this game.

World of Final Fantasy was up next, but I could care less about that. Hitman made a brief appearance but little is known about the game right now. On the bright side, a new Star Ocean was announced! It’s been a while since the last installment, so this new one looks really good. To end the show, Square talked about Deus Ex. They talked about some of the new things that they were working on for the title, but then showed a CG trailer with no gameplay.

Basically, this conference was a mess. They had little to show and most of what we saw was rehashed or CG. The people presenting were awkward and obviously had no idea what they were doing. Hopefully, should they decide to have another conference in the future, they’ll be better prepared. Final Grade: C-

-GG

E3 Press Conference Reviews: Ubisoft & Sony

1. Ubisoft

While not the worst conference of the week, Ubisoft’s was probably the most cringe-worthy. Aisha Tyler returned as the host for the conference once again — much to my dismay. I have nothing against her, and I actually enjoy her very much, but most of her jokes feel very forced and it seems like she is trying way to hard. I can tell she cares about the games she’s showing (which is great), but her delivery needs some work. It seems like every year she has been the host, there have been multiple embarrassing moments and unfortunately this year is no exception.

As most conferences this year have, they started everything off by giving us a trailer for a brand new game. In this case it was a sequel to the awesome RPG South Park: The Stick of Truth. This was quite the unexpected surprise considering the South Park creators have said on multiple occasions that they were never going to make another videogame after the hardships they faced making the first one. This was easily the funniest game of 2014 and the RPG gameplay was actually very well done. You can consider me among the crowd that is eagerly waiting for this to be released.

Following this, they revealed another new IP called For Honor. This game looked incredible until I found out it was another multiplayer based experience. I mean can’t there be one game where multiplayer isn’t the main feature? I just think the overabundance of multiplayer is becoming a problem, but I’ll give credit where it is due and admit he game does look entertaining. Ubisoft then announced a few expansions, but they didn’t appear that interesting.

The big game I’ve been looking forward to from Ubisoft is The Division, however I’m starting to wonder if that game is ever going to be released. We were treated to another gameplay demo and I have one thing to say: people don’t talk like that. I mean normal people aren’t that calm and composed during a firefight, and these people sounded more like a trained team than a group of friends. Another thing I despised was this new feature that allows you to leave your group and murder your friends. How thats a good idea I’ll never know. You won’t be able to trust anyone and that will make for a poor multiplayer experience. Hopefully that feature won’t make it into the final game.

Next was shown Just Dance 2016, complete with a musical performance from Jason Derulo. It might have just been me, but I thought he sounded absolutely awful. We were then treated to a gameplay demo of Rainbow Six Siege. While the game looks good, once again, the dialogue was forced and as scripted as you could imagine. Other than that small gripe, the game was rather enjoyable looking, though I would like to hear more about a singleplayer campaign. Another racing game was shown and Assassin’s Creed was given a trailer, but surprisingly no gameplay was shown. Lastly, we received what has now become the yearly ‘one more thing’ that Ubisoft does at their press conference. This year we were shown a brand new Ghost Recon game, but I was not impressed by what was shown. It looked like a departure from past games and I’ll need more details before I decide whether that is a good or bad thing.

Ubisoft’s show was full of games that were both interesting and new, but the bad presentation hurts them in the end. Final Grade: B

2. Sony

Sony’s press conference was easily one of my favorites. In fact, I would make the argument that Microsoft and Sony had the best conferences of the entire event. They kicked things off with a bang as they reintroduced the long awaited The Last Guardian. Did the game look good? Not really as it looked exactly like it did six years ago, but just the fact that they finally showed us the game is a huge deal. While the PS4 is selling extremely well, the lack of first party games have been a point of contention among many fans. Seeing a long awaited game being re-shown as a PS4 exclusive is a great sign for the future of the system.

The second game that we were shown was perhaps the best game of E3 — at least in my opinion. Guerrilla gave us a first look at their brand new IP Horizon Zero Dawn. Set in a post-apocalyptic future, our main protagonist is a female warrior and we watch as she sets out to hunt giant robot dinosaurs. I mean if that sentence doesn’t at least make you curious then I don’t know what would. If I could choose my ‘Game of Show,’ then this would be it. The visuals are gorgeous and the gameplay looks fun and exciting.

Square Enix takes the stage to show off a new Hitman, though all we receive is a CG trailer and get no details regarding the actual game. I just want to say that I hate when all we are shown is a CG cutscene that isn’t indicative of actual gameplay. I mean it looks cool but we know the game won’t actually play anything like that. It’s just frustrating.

Street Fighter shows up briefly and announces two new characters and No Man’s Sky shows us some more of their intriguing gameplay. As far as the latter game goes, I am interested, but have to wonder what exactly we’re meant to do on these planets. I believe just walking around would probably get boring after a while. Either way, the sheer scope of the game makes it an interesting concept. Media Molecule showed off their new game, but it looks to be a niche game that will only appeal to a few people. We got a look at the Destiny expansion as well as another Assassin’s Creed trailer. I have no comment on either as Destiny is a bore to me and Assassin’s Creed has yet to show me a reason to expect anything different from Unity at this point.

At this point, we received the biggest surprise of E3: a Final Fantasy VII Remake. No, not a remaster, but a full on remake for the PS4. One of the most talked about and most requested games in history, the dream is finally a reality. We were again — and to my annoyance — not shown anything substantial about the game, but just knowing it is happening is a positive sign. We’ll get more information on this title later this year.

Just when you thought Sony couldn’t announce anything as looked forward to as FFVII, Shenmue III shows up on the screen. Sony basically asked what games fans wanted most and said ‘Yea, we can do that.’ Technically, Sony announced a Kickstarter, but as it was revealed later, it was just to gauge interest in the title as Sony is going to be footing most of the bill.

Sony slowed it down as they talked about their TV service, which was followed by yet another bombshell. Sony announced that they had taken over exclusivity rights For Call of Duty. All maps and DLC would be making their debut on the PS4 first from now on. This is a coup on Sony’s part. This might not seem like that big a deal, but considering Call of Duty is constantly among the best selling games in the world, this deal should help sell a lot of Playstation systems.

Star Wars Battlefront made an appearance, but I’ve shared my thoughts on this game already. The press conference was brought to an end with Uncharted 4. Despite an embarrassing death of a controller, the demo went perfectly and did a great job showcasing just how powerful the PS4 is. With this demo alone, Naughty Dog has shown us that this game is going to push the system to its limits and are going to give us the closest thing to a blockbuster movie experience as they can.

While the PS4 still has no games slated for this coming fall (which is not a good thing), they announced quite a few games for the future that we can all look forward to. It made the conference exciting and showed that Sony could take a punch from Microsoft and retaliate accordingly. Final Grade: A-

-GG

E3 Press Conference Reviews: Microsoft and EA

After the first three days of E3, the press conferences came to a close with the PC presser wrapping everything up. It has been quite exciting these past couple days as surprise announcements were abound, and I’m here to give my thoughts on each one. Unfortunately, I did not see the Bethesda conference, so I will be watching that one later today so as to formulate my thoughts on what many consider to be the best presentation of the bunch. So, without further ado, let’s get started!

1. Microsoft

Microsoft had quite the fantastic conference, I must say. They mixed in a little bit of everything with new games, hardware reveals, demos of announced games, as well as perhaps the biggest bombshell of the entire event: backwards compatibility. Though they should have included this feature at the very beginning — and it’s something that Sony still refuses to institute — Microsoft deserves major credit for this announcement. The launch of the Xbox One was one of the rockiest launches in recent memory. Fan backlash was enormous against some of their non-consumer friendly stances, as well as the price point being so much larger than anticipated. Since then, they have pretty much turned the entire situation around. They’ve backtracked on many of their positions, lowered the price, and have now opened their gaming catalog to the hundreds of games in the Xbox 360 catalog. This announcement was Microsoft basically throwing a haymaker in Sony’s direction.

Halo 5 made an appearance as expected. The game looks like what you would expect from a Halo game, no real surprises there. That said, it doesn’t mean I am not excited for it. Forza also made an appearance, but the car coming down from the ceiling felt like a touch too much. It was there for maybe five minutes total and was then pulled back up. The game itself looks as incredible as ever, however its getting to the point where I have to ask how much more real can it get and why do we need another racing game? Tomb Raider made an impressive appearance, though the gameplay shown didn’t reveal much about the actual game since it was more of a set piece. Finishing out the major Xbox franchises, Gears 4 was announced and had what I assume was a promising demo; I’m not sure because the blasted thing was so dark I couldn’t tell what was going on.

One of the more promising looking games was Recore, a new project from Keiji Inafune, but we were shown a CG trailer with no actual gameplay, so I have no idea what the game is like. Still, it looks promising and should be kept an eye on. Garden Warfare 2 was announced by EA, but it failed to pique my interest, though I’m sure there are those out there that will enjoy this game quite a bit. Hollolens provided an impressive demo of Minecraft but the demonstration was far shorter than what I was anticipating. It looked cool, but I don’t know how it will work with games that aren’t similar to Minecraft — basically the build your world type of games. Indie games have become a staple in modern gaming, so it comes as no surprise that there were quite a few present at Microsoft’s conference. The one that looked the most promising is Cuphead. If you don’t know what it is, look it up now. It is easily the indie I am looking forward to the most. Last, but certainly not least, Rare showed up to reveal their new game which was severely disappointing — at least to me. I was excited at first until I realized it was some type of MMO and it left me wondering why everything has to be multiplayer based nowadays.

They also showed off their brand new, awesome controller. It looks fully customizable to how you want to set up your control scheme. You can get your dads on it for the low low price of $150 (sarcasm by the way). Its a great looking controller, but the price needs to come way way down before I would even consider it. Microsoft also announced an early-access type of system. It seems like it will work similar to Steam Early Access and I can’t argue against anything Steam does — seriously I can’t, the internet would tear me apart. In all seriousness, it looks like a good deal I suppose, but more information is needed before a decision can be made.

All in all, it was a great conference. Microsoft seems to have finally figured out what their consumers are looking for and how to please them accordingly. There were some missteps throughout the presser, such as the new controller that is going to cost $150…..which is ridiculous. Another would be the announcement of Fallout 4 mod support for the Xbox One. The way they presented it seemed like it was an Xbox exclusive, yet what we know now says that they are actively trying to do the same for Sony’s system. It begs the question of why make it a part of your presser if there isn’t anything exclusive about it? I digress. Those are minor gripes and I have to admit that I was surprisingly entertained by Microsoft’s conference this year. You may have noticed that I didn’t mention Fable Legends. I don’t care because it looks terrible. Final Grade: A-

2. EA

My word, what a mess of a conference that was. It was absolutely one of the worst pressers of E3 this year. The whole thing felt disjointed and it felt almost like EA didn’t know what to talk about until they got to Star Wars Battlefront. They started off the conference with a bang as they revealed the next Mass Effect, then proceeded to pretend like it never happened. I understand that the game is still a year away, but you mean to tell me there was no way to get a gameplay demo ready for your presentation? We knew another Mass Effect was coming, so why did they feel the need to show a trailer with no gameplay announcing the next game? It makes me angry that they just swept it under the rug as soon as it was announced. Need for Speed was the next title shown to us. They explained how they were going to go back to their roots, and it looks like that means back to the Underground series. That is a smart idea considering those were the best games in the series, but again, it’s another racing game. What sets Need for Speed apart from other racing games is the story, so it has to deliver there to catch any interest from me.

They followed that up by talking about the next expansion for Bioware’s Star Wars MMO The Old Republic. They told us it would serve as a return to the old Bioware with an emphasis on story and decision making. Then they showed a beautiful CG trailer…and moved on. No gameplay, no screenshots, nothing. Alright then. Moving on, they showed us Unravel. Wow does this game look great. It was one of the few pleasant surprises at the EA presser and I must say that I was extremely pleased. The man that introduced us to the game was honest and you could tell that he really meant what he said when he talked about wanting to share this dream with us gamers. This also shows a willingness by EA to step out of its comfort zone and try their hand at something other than a huge shooter game, which is a huge step in the right direction for the company.

Unfortunately, EA killed any good will with another Garden Warfare 2 appearance, starting with a man dressed as a zombie taking the stage. It was just a terrible choice overall. We then are subject to 15 minutes of sports related information, the most of which is spent of NBA Live 16 — which looks horrible. NBA Live has been terrible for a while now, but at some point you have to wonder why they keep making games to compete with 2k since they are just so far behind in every aspect. Following that presentation, we are subject to the most mind-numbingly idiotic decision to focus on mobile gaming. They announce a Star Wars card game app as well as show off a new Minions (yes the yellow guys from Despicable Me) based app game. I have no words to describe my hatred that they spent time showing us a mobile pay-to-win freemium mobile game and didn’t show us Mass Effect. Who in their right mind thought that showing us gameplay of a mobile app was going to appeal to their audience. After they moved on though, you have to think it could only get better from there right? Nope.

They then made the head scratching decision to go back to sports. They brought out Pele, who talked for a while. I have nothing but praise for the man and he deserves respect, but I don’t know how this was thought to be a good idea. He slowed the event down and brought any momentum for EA to a screeching halt. This all lead to FIFA 16 obviously, which looked good. EA then showed one of the games that most people were there to see: Mirror’s Edge. They showed a trailer as well as revealed that it is a prequel to the first game. While we didn’t get much gameplay shown to us, from what we did see, it looked really amazing. Im looking forward to this game down the line.

THEN EA WENT BACK TO SPORTS. WHY? I’m calm, I swear. They brought out Madden 16, showed us an app for it, showed us their ‘Ultimate Team’ card based mini-game, and highlighted the improvements they are making. As a whole, I’m not a fan of the various sports games or their development schedule. They come out every year when they could just release an update and release a new game every couple of years so that each iteration is actually fundamentally different. They especially need to update all the graphics engines, because I don’t know if that’s been changed since they first debuted on the last generation of consoles.

Finally, they ended with Star Wars battlefront, or in other words, the game we were there for. It looked incredible. I still hold my doubts towards the game, what with the no single-player, iron sights, or space battles. The game looks pretty and plays well, but I don’t need to be sold on a Star Wars game, I need to be sold on the fact that it is going to work at launch. Battlefield 4 still doesn’t work as intended and I refuse to buy this game until I know what the quality is like. I will probably end up playing this game solely because it is Star Wars, but I have to be one hundred percent sure I’m getting a product that will work.

In conclusion, EA had a pretty terrible show. Decisions were questionable throughout the presser, and sometimes you have to wonder if they even understand their consumers. I came away unimpressed. Final Grade: D

-GG

Five predictions for E3 2015

I know it has been a while since I have posted, but with E3 right around the corner, I figured now would be a good time to jump back in. Since it seems to be a tradition around this time, I decided to throw out some predictions on what I think could happen at this upcoming E3. Hopefully at least one of them will be correct.

1. Continuation of the Year of Star Wars.

Since EA has acquired the right to make Star Wars games, they have announced Star Wars Battlefront along with various other mobile games set in the Star Wars universe. I believe that, including Battlefront, we will see at least three AAA Star Wars games shown to us. During EA’s conference, I believe they are going to have a ‘Star Wars section.’ This will be where they show Battlefront and talk about SWTOR, but I also believe they will show us two more major games that they are working on. Will they be full gameplay trailers? I suspect not, but perhaps more along the line of a brief cutscene followed by the name of the game. One will probably be an RPG while the other could be an action/adventure game in the vein of Uncharted — think back to the canceled 1313 game. Maybe we’ll see a spiritual successor to that very game, who knows. Either way, with the release of Star Wars later this year, I expect EA to take advantage of that excitement to announce some new games in the series.

2. Mass Effect 4 gameplay will be shown for the first time…at the Microsoft press conference.

Bioware is riding the waves of Dragon Age Inquisition right now, so it would be in their best interest to take advantage of all the good will being flung in their direction right now. They are going to do this by showing us the first gameplay demo for Mass Effect 4. It is going to be at least 15 minutes long and show all the new things they will be integrating into the next game. It’ll probably start on their ship, they’ll land on a planet and look around in the Mako, then finish out the demo with a rather large and complex gun fight. Unfortunately, Bioware will then ruin all the good will they have garnered by then announcing they have made an exclusivity deal with Microsoft, which is why the demo will be shown during the Microsoft conference instead of the EA show. I actually hope I’m wrong with this one.

3. Kingdom Hearts 3 gameplay will be shown and a release timeframe given.

Square Enix announced that they would be having their very own press conference this year, so they have to have something big to show. They’ve already announced Final Fantasy XV will not be showing up this year (ugh), so that leaves only one logical game. Will they probably show Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, as well as announce a Sleeping Dogs 2? Most likely, but I believe their main announcement will be to show us Kingdom Hearst 3 in action. I don’t think it’ll be a demo like Mass Effect 4, but more of a trailer showcasing some of the new features that are going to be included in the new game. At the end of the trailer, I believe we are going to get a release window. Something along the lines of ‘Coming in the Winter of 2017’ or something like that. Maybe we’ll just get a year, but either way a timeframe will be given. Given Square Enix’s past, however, this may the prediction that is least likely to come true.

4. Microsoft will have the better conference.

As a great fan of Sony, it pains me to say this, but I honestly think Microsoft will have the better conference. They are set to showcase Halo 5, Tomb Raider, some Gears of War project, Forza, and perhaps Mass Effect 4, as well as many other indie games. What I think will make the biggest difference, however, is the Hololens. Just like in 2009 when Microsoft announced the Kinect, people are going to fall head over heels to try to get their hands on the Hololens. Yes, Sony has the Morpheus, but the Hololens seems more promising at this point in time — similar to how the Kinect was more promising than the Move. Now this prediction does not say that the Hololens will be successful, but I think that Microsoft’s presentation of the Hololens will be better than Sony’s presentation for the Morpheus. As far as Nintendo goes, this all goes out the window if they reveal their next console. Should that happen, Nintendo will blow the competition out of the water.

5. The Last Guardian will be shown bigger and better than ever.

Yep, I’m throwing my name into the ring among those that think this year will be the one where we finally get a re-reveal of The Last Guardian. It has been in development hell since making it’s debut, and details have been nonexistent. The only thing we know for sure is that Sony has come out and said that they are still developing the game. I think this will be the year where Sony shows the world that the game is still alive. With the success that the PS4 is experiencing, but the lack of major games making many question their purchase, the one thing that could really get people excited about owning a Sony console could be a game that people have been looking forward to for years now. Will it happen? Hopefully this year, the answer is yes.

-GG

Jaws of Hakkon DLC Thoughts

The first DLC to be released for Dragon Age Inquisition was made available to Playstation owners this past week, with this new piece of content set to introduce a whole new area to explore. New enemies, new weapons, and new quests can all be found in the Frost Basin, the newest addition to the world map.

This piece of DLC will run you $14.99, and will easily provide 3-4 hours of gameplay. Unfortunately, that price is no where near justified if you are looking for more story content, however, if you are looking for nothing more than another chance to pop in your Dragon Age Inquisition disc then this is the DLC for you.

While the add-on is pretty good as a whole, some of the complaints I had regarding the main game still apply. Music is scarce and was only noticeable during the “main story” part of the DLC. Many of the mini-quests felt like jobs for people that weren’t busy running a continent spanning organization trying to rid the world of an ancient evil, and the lack of new companion conversations left me hearing the same lines over and over again. The largest negative is the fact that this whole story felt pointless. There was no effect on the grander scheme of things, and this DLC has no impact on how the story ends. Again, this points to a lack of some kind of feedback system that lets you know how big your forces are and what the consequences are for having such a large army. As I said in the review of the main game, Mass effect 3’s Galactic Readiness bar was a good thought that was implemented poorly. This is a case where a more refined “Galactic Readiness” system could make it so acquiring this DLC and it’s perks would present a visible advantage to your character.

Despite all of that, there were some things that I did enjoy. We finally gained some more insightful knowledge into how the Avvar people operate and were given a much more in depth look at their belief system. Bioware has always done a splendid job of world-building, and this piece of content is no different. The battle system is still top notch, and the final two battles in particular added some flair and pizazz by changing things up a bit. Also, this new area is just as gorgeous as the rest of the game. The team at Bioware really put a lot of care and detail into the Frost Basin, and the team showed off the diversity in environments particularly well. The contrast between the vibrant forest and the darker bog was stark, but still blended in a way that made you believe these places could form next to each other.

In summary, Jaws of Hakkon offers little in the story department, changes little in regards to gameplay, and feels utterly pointless in the grand scheme of things, but even with that said I would still recommend it. It was enjoyable and I had a good time wandering about Thedas again. Dragon Age is a personal favorite of mine, so any reason to jump back in is welcome.

-GG