So another E3 has come and gone. This year's wasn't the best we had in terms of game reveals but it had me more optimistic about where games are heading than most. There looks to be a lot I want to play and little I disliked. However, there were two things that irked me and I need to get out of the way before I get to the positives:
2. (Potential) Sony Arrogance:
This is mostly Sony's attitude towards Fortnite MP. Now it's one thing to not allow crossplay, that's bad, but not as bad as holding gamers' Epic accounts hostage to their console if that's what they used first. A lot of gamers are going to still play on PS4 if Sony were to let them keep their progress made on Switch. It just reeks of bad business. Also the way they flat out stated there won't be any new games shown from them this year rubbed me the wrong way. Don't get me wrong, they have a great slew of first party titles coming out, I just would have liked to see something new.
1. Anthem
I've come to terms with that Bioware won't make another game I love the way I love Mass Effect or Kotor ever again. But Anthem was still painful. Right when something interesting happens and they throw a giant monster to fight, the footage stops. And something feels very off about it. The idea is solid and I may be cynical from Destiny and The Division for shared worlds and Andromeda from Bioware but I get the feeling playing Anthem won't be that much fun.
Also how they prop this up as something to satisfy single player and multiplayer gamers, yet don't have the typical Bioware party members? This isn't just because I love Bioware characters from a writing standpoint, Bioware was the only developer making AAA party based WRPGs and they're not filling that niche anymore. There's an extra tactical layer of depth from issuing party members commands and they scrapped it to keep gamers always online. They had this solution figured out in 1998 with Baldur's Gate 1 for crying out loud! If you want party members, play offline. However, if you want to go online, you can replace said party members with your friends. As is, Anthem just makes me sad.
Okay, with that out of the way, let's get to the good stuff:
5. Beyond Good and Evil 2
I know a lot of people are disappointed in the new direction it's going, but as someone who didn't really care for the original, I'm really excited for this. I liked the idea of the universe in the first game, but the game never really came together for me. And even as someone not invested in the universe, having Jade look to be in a villainous role is very intriguing.
4. Cyberpunk 2077
I'm in love with the look of this game and it looks like more my kind of WRPG than The Witcher games. The way they combined Geralt with typical RPG conventions like dialog options and moral choices never gelled with me and kept me from getting really invested. Not to mention, I'll take cyberpunk over fantasy any day. So I'm really optimistic on this game.
3. Death Stranding
In all fairness, Death Stranding looks like it could offer bland gameplay or be too weird for its own good. On the other hand, how many indie games do we get which look that weird, let alone a massively budgeted AAA game? Even when Kojima games don't work, they don't work in a fascinating way.
2. Super Smash Bros Ultimate
In a world where every fighting game has turned into a service and a third to half the roster winds up as DLC, Nintendo comes out and said, "Nah, we'll give you everyone who's been in Smash before and throw in a couple new guys for a roster of about 70." And they remembered Gamecube controller support. I can't wait to get Smash nights going again.
1. Resident Evil 2 Remake
Finally. I've been waiting for something like this since Resident Evil 4. Offering the third person perspective of that game with the older horror and puzzle elements of the older games. I could never make it through the original version of 2 so the story will be new to me as well. Then the gameplay footage only made it seem more exciting, enemy limbs will drop seconds after a shot, headshots need to be on point or they'll only blow off half a zombie's head and they can still attack. This game just looks so good.
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