The second day of conferences was a big step up. My thoughts.....
Microsoft:Shame some things leaked previously, as it took something away, however nonetheless I felt MS did really well.
The Xbox One S looks really sleak; I'd be tempted to use it as my entry point to the console if not for Scorpio being on the Horizon.
Gears of War 4 looks great; the trailer at last year's E3 was poor, lft me thinking you were fighting some weird giant insects or something. A live demo, fighting actual locust with Laura Bailey.......perfect. And Marcus is back. Love it. I bought a 360 for Gears of War but towards the end Judgment almost killed my love for the series. Seems we may see a return to form.
Forza Horizon 3 showed off some nice graphics as racing games often do, but I'm not really into racers anymore.
Recore isn't at all what I expected, seems cheaper for starters. Don't get me wrong, I still think it's intriguing. Just not the level of game I expected, however no it's been announced it has a $40 price tag, so that all makes sense now.
I always like the indy sizzle reels and
We Happy Few looks cool, very much reminds me of Bioshock, definitely something I'd like to try out.
Dead Rising 4 isn't for me; I tried the second game and couldn't get into it at all. However I know some people like those games and it is notable that Microsoft kept hold of the exclusivity.
Didn't need to see
Battlefield 1 yet again nor anything on
The Division but hey they love those exclusivity deals.
Scalebound looks a lot better than last time it was shown off, has me interested again.
State of Decay 2 is a big announcement, never played the first game but I know many who did and they all loved it.
Halo Wars 2 looks impressive; I can not wait to get my hands on it, really enjoyed the first game.
Scorpio is impressive; from what they revealed. Could very well be my entry point for XONE. As someone said MS have admitted Sony won this battle but Scorpio is like pressing the reset button. Heard a few Playstation affiliated people in the industry speculate that Sony pulled Neo from their conference as they want to go back to the drawing board having discovered how powerful Scorpio is.Overall I thought it was a very good conference. Plenty of games shown off; mainly gameplay. Although plenty of people came out to speak, they didn't speak for too long.
Yes they only revealed two games; however they dated games that hadn't been dated and showed off new stuff. Also what they did show is generally out in the next 12 months, whereas others showed games that won't be out well beyond that.
Best Microsoft conference in some time.
Ubisoft:Very strange opening, at least they got Just Dance out of the way early.
Ghost Recon: Wildlands looks really good. Yes the demo was a bit cheesey with them overplaying it. Mind I've witnessed people honestly play games like that
The game reminds me of Mercenaries; yet it has co-op. I'm with people that you always have to hold off on Ubisoft games, however if it can deliver, it'll be really good.
Southpark: Fractured but Whole was my most anticipated game of E3 and it didn't disappoint. Hilarious bit, I'd have had them talk all day. I can not wait for this game
As I said earlier I've jumped off
The Division train by this point so not too interested in DLC reveals, especially when it's just teaser trailers.
I liked the look of
For Honor last year, however now I'm wary of it. It looks so much like a Ryse clone, and obviously that game disappointed. Also I mean why show the trailer if your have a full level to show off, just jump straight into the level.
The
Star Trek VR game really appealed to the nerd in me, getting to captain a ship. I'm sold
They lost me at the
Eagle Flight bit; I don't care about that game so for them to play a full match.....really?
The we had
Assassin's Creed; I mean SOny took a lot away from a good conference last year when they had this big lull to talk Powers Season 2, Ubisoft needed something big to raise things back up after the VR lull, yet they hit us with Assassin's Creed? EA hit us with behind the scenes stuff for games, so why would we want it for a movie? Ugh.
Then we get the announcement of another movie.....Watchdogs........what? Who the hell wants that? I must say
Watch Dogs 2 was intriguing; although do was the first game and it didn't really deliver.
And when we all expect them to finish strong with a Splinter Cell or the return of Prince of Persia.....we get....
Steep. What looks to me like a tech demo more so than a game. It looks great aesthetically, for sure, however how will it play?
Overall the conference wasn't the best. Too much talking and things that shouldn't have been in there like the
Eagle Flight match and the
Assassin's Creed stuff.
Some good stuff in there though; Southpark was arguably the best part of all the conferences.
Sony:Sony had to go big to beat Microsoft. I 100% believe that the Scorpio had them running scared over Neo. And they went big.
God of War never been my thing and I likely won't play this game. However credit where credit is due. It no longer seems a straight Devil May Cry clone. Seems they've taken plenty of inspiration from Dark Souls; slower combat and an interlinked game world. Nice features. A clear evolution for the series. Also it looks gorgeous.
Days Gone looks like a poor man's Last of Us to me....with bikers. However that isn't necessarily a bad thing. No one can out Naught Dog Naughty Dog, however if you can even deliver 80% of Naughty Dog, it's still a great game. An impressive amount of zombie on screen at once I must say.
Nice to finally get a release date for
The Last Guardian; game looks super sad though
Almost makes me skeptical to play it. ha
Horizon: Zero Dawn looks very good and I'm happy they showed more off. I still think it's being over hyped though. people talking like it could be a 9/10 game and spawn a series. My prediction; it;s a 7/10 game, sells well due to the hype, gets a sequel but the sequel falters and hits a 6/10, series dies. Still a [potential 7/10 game is still something to look forward to.
Detroit: Become Humanis starting to remind me a lot of Heavy Rain, which was a masterpiece, so I'm starting to get really excited about that.
Resident Evil: Biohazard seemed like a PT rip off to me, mind if they rip it off well, it could be really good. I haven't played the demo yet, so will post my thoughts later. Risky move to change Resident Evil to first person, hopefully it pays off.
Not too interested in all the little VR experiences. I'm still waiting for actually VR games to peak my interest.
Batman Arkham VR sounds daft to me.
Oddly I didn't know what the Call of Duty demo was, I thought it was some sort of VR experience at first, seen as it came on the back of other VR stuff. I think Call of Duty looks to have made it's biggest leap in quite some time, nice to know they;re making changes. Don't think I'll jump back in for this, a step in the right direction though.
Death Stranding....worst name ever. Weirdest trailer ever. .......but I love it. The idea of Norman Reedus being in it, just seems right to me. I'm a little cautious as I feel Hideo is going to go uber crazy with this game, everything the leash at Konami prevented him doing, will likely now come out in this game. And could it be too crazy? Time will tell I guess.
Spider-man on PS4. My god. Only think that comes close to Southpark for me. I love Spiderman. The Nerversoft game was one of my favorite games on PS1 and the first two movei adaptation were two of my favorite games on PS2. And this game could combine the best aspects of both. Shame it's not Suckerpunch, however Insomniac are great in their own rights. I can not wait for this game
Oh and Crash....how could I forget Crash. Ha tbh I was always more of a Spyro guy, however it's still great to see people get what they want and if it sells well, perhaps we'll see a new Crash game in the future. Ha maybe Activision will do aSPyro collection for me too if this sells
Overall a fantastic conference. Virtually no talking, and nearly every game shown off was actual gameplay.
It's funny, following the first two games I thought "they've rvealed two big exclusives, can't expect many more. Maybe one more or a couple of indy games. Still won't complain. I expected them to then go on and cover the likes of Detroit: Become Human and The Last Guardian, which we did see.However also Gran Turismo Sport, No Man's Sky, Dreams, Uncharted 4 DLC, Final Fantasy VII Remake. Yet those things were completely absent, yet we still seen so much. Crazy.
My ranking of the conferences:
1. Sony - Excellent
2. Microsoft - Very Good
3. Bethesda - Decent
4. Ubisoft - Poor
5. EA - Terrible
