E3 The Hype Engine Part Two

ALL OF THE GAMES! (Third Party)

Ubisoft

A lot of people, myself included, believed that these French-Canadian daredevils stole the show last year. Watch_Dogs was so out of left field that I thought it would end up nothing more than a tech demo that would never see the light of day as a final product, but alas, it appears to be real deal. But what other tricks does Yves Guillemot and his company have up their collective sleeves this year? More of the aforementioned sandbox title is assured. After a disappointing romp on the American Frontier, will Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag be able to garner enough interest from myself and other uh-uh-uh-uh-uh enthusiasts. I thoroughly enjoyed the naval combat portions of AC3, so perhaps a pirate themed Assassins is what the plague doctor ordered. Rayman Legends should also be making an appearance, though Ubi have done their best efforts to suck the wind out of that game with the delays and platform whoring. I never got around to playing Origins because.....errrrr.....I have no valid excuse. Maybe one day I will reunite with the man-thing with no arms or legs. Another thing that has been brewing is a new title from Reflection, the minds behind Driver: San Francisco, yet another key title I missed out on. Will we get a megaton reveal like last year? Will Mr. Caffeine return (hopefully a resounding no)? Will there be more laser tag shenanigans? Sooner rather than later, we will find out!

(Who is this man and why was he at E3?)

Electronic Arts

EA always do their best to squeeze in as many titles in as little time possible. This includes the regular installments of sports games and Battlefields and Need for Speeds etc. I expect another by the numbers conference from them this year: around 8-10 titles shown in succession with no real shocking revelations and hopefully no more on The Old Republic. It is likely too early to see anything from the Star Wars camp since their recent acquisition of the franchise on the gaming front, as well as Mass Effect content. However, there are 2 games that are looming on everyone's minds: Mirror's Edge 2 and Dragon Age 3. Sadly, I have no real connection with either of these franchises, so I can't comment on my shock levels if one/both of them make an appearance in any capacity.

(You got to have Faith, EA!)

....and the rest!

When all the pressers are said and done, it's on to the show floor, where the following titles will no doubt have space to breathe and impress me. First mention obviously goes to Dark Souls 2, which I am anxiously awaiting more scrumptious gameplay footage. Why anxious you ask? Well, since the project was handed over to two new directors as the Demon's/Dark Souls one, Hidetaka Miyazaki, stepped down, I have been cautiously optimistic on where this franchise is going. Thanks to what can be perhaps be attested to as mistranslations, Souls veterans believed that these new heads wanted to dumb down the experience to appeal to "the Skyrim audience." I was worried. Dark Souls should stay as Dark Souls and not go chasing after a demographic that may not want what it has to offer. Anyway, once the debut gameplay footage was out there, most of our fears were stamped out. I still need to see more of what the game has to offer to decide whether this is the next evolution in the franchise that I want.

Speaking of new blood being injected into existing franchises, Batman: Arkham Origins is being made by a new studio other than Rocksteady. I expect that the latter have left behind enough existing foundations to be built upon to make a solid game, but I need to see the Dark Knight and Deathstroke in action. Hopefully they also show some new voice work, since the VA changes could impact my decision to purchase this at year's end.

From developer changes, to leading role changes now. Metal Gear Solid V is now starring Kiefer Sutherland as the biggest of bosses, Big Boss (!). Or is he? Fans have already began crafting crazy theories, perhaps out of denial and desperation, that may link series veteran David Hayter back to Snake. Seriously, just look at the man's Twitter feed this past week. Either he's going insane or playing a game. Back to the meat of the project, I wonder if we'll see the Phantom Pain running in real time, or whether it will merely be a crazy Kojima cut trailer that leaves a ratio of questions to answers at 1000:1. I'm still in a coma, flying flaming whale eater?

Of course, I could go on at length about a lot more titles set to appear at the show. Honourable mentions include Saints Row IV, The Evil Within, Destiny, The Witcher 3 and the new Thief. And that's just what we know will be there? Surprises might be the best part about E3...speaking of which?

Wild Mass Guessing

My biggest hope for an E3 appearance is among not the usual suspects like Half Life 3, Beyond Good & Evil 2, Last Guardian etc. You ever hear of a little game called TimeSplitters or its two sequels? In short, they are essentially the GoldenEye/Perfect Dark formula attached to a goofy setting which covers a multitude of settings. And they were fucking awesome. I'm willing to bet that you have more chance of the three games mentioned beforehand making a collective appearance than a TS4. This crushes my spirits. At the very least, a HD remastering of 2 alone would go along way in them getting me to buy about 5 copies for myself. Instead, Crytek would rather have the former Free Radical team slave away on Crysis multiplayer, which is, you know, great for the 20 people that play that.

(Whilst some of you were kicking Covenant ass or scanning Space Pirates, I was helping Vin Diesel Sgt. Cortez save time or something)

The next best thing is a game that has even less chance of returning. When you think old school survival horror, Resident Evil, Alone in the Dark and Silent Hill spring to mind. Well, there was another cog in the system at one time. DINO CRISIS! I imagine a new Dino Crisis game wouldn't even be good, depending on what team at Capcom you handed the project to, but a part of me just wants a Dino Crisis 4, for history's sake.

And that was E3.....