E3 is always a time of excitement--almost like a gamer's Christmas. Each year, my excitement has risen to unprecedented levels, but sometimes that temporary high sinks faster than I can beat my grandmother in Battleship. Last year's E3 was one of those years. Games like Wii Music made a mockery of what gaming is about (okay, it's not as bad as the Spike TV awards, but it's close), and very few exciting games were announced.
This year, we actually received quite a few surprises, but the problem is--most of those are sequels. The majority of the Xbox360 sequels announced yesterday didn't surprise me, but several games today did: Super Mario Galaxy 2, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Metroid: Other M, Golden Sun DS, and most surprising of all was Final Fantasy XIV. There was always a slight possibility that Mario Galaxy would receive a sequel--I believe IGN announced it as a rumor some time ago, but I never expected Nintendo to actually go through with it. Nintendo does milk Mario, but typically, the main games in his series are original titles. We haven't really received sequential Mario games since Super Mario Bros. 3 on the NES. You could say that Super Mario World had a numbered sequel, but to me, Yoshi's Island is an entirely different game. Basically, after the NES era, Nintendo only produced one main Mario title per system (RPGs excluded).
Normally, I'd be disappointed that Nintendo is releasing another Mario sequel so soon, but with all their focus on casual games as of late, first-party games from the Big N are slim pickings. I'd accept a sequel to almost any Nintendo franchise right now--Mario, Zelda, Star Fox, Pikmin, Metroid (well actually, enough Metroid Prime), just as long as it's not another Wii Music or Animal Crossing rehash. I expected to see a new Pikmin or Zelda, but instead, I experienced a deluge of Mario footage. Mario Galaxy retains its title as my favorite Wii game two years later, so I was excited to see a sequel. I'm not that enthused about Yoshi being back, but the courses look as imaginative as ever. Sure, Mario Galaxy 2's graphics haven't really changed from the original, but when they're better than the visuals of 99.9% of the other Wii games out there, who's complaining?
New Super Mario Bros. Wii is another Mario sequel, but the original sold over 13 million copies, so I don't expect to see any major outbursts. I'm glad that Nintendo finally implemented cooperative gameplay in a Mario game without adding the ridiculous connectivity of games like The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords. If Little Big Planet is anything to go by, there could be some problems having four players on difficult platforming segments, but it should be a blast for the most part. The graphics look fairly rudimentary, so there shouldn't be any graphical slowdown or other technical problems, and I doubt lag will be an issue, since Nintendo is unlikely to include online play. I'm excited to see how this game will turn out.
The two games that surprised me the most at Nintendo's press conference, however, were Metroid: Other M and Golden Sun DS. I loved the Metroid Prime games, but they were beginning to grow stale, so it was a wise move on Nintendo's part to partner with Team Ninja to reinvigorate the franchise. Metroid: Other M looks to be an action game like Ninja Gaiden, but hopefully it won't feature that series legendary difficulty. I'm also a bit worried that the game won't feel like Metroid, but Metroid Prime surpassed my expectations, so maybe this will too. As for Golden Sun, that game has me really excited. I only experienced a few hours of the first Golden Sun, but I loved what I played. The game felt similar to Lufia and Wild Arms, and really had an old-school vibe. Everything from the music to the puzzle-based dungeons felt fresh on a portable system. The 3D graphics of the new Golden Sun look a bit ugly, but I'm sure the gameplay will be great.
What I found most surprising today, however, was the announcement of FFXIV. When I first heard the "fourteen" come out of Jack's mouth, I thought he made a mistake, but sure enough, Square-Enix plans on releasing a new online Final Fantasy in 2010. Who knows if it'll stay exclusive to PS3, but it was a surprise nonetheless. We all know how exclusivity went with the last FF (that isn't even out yet), so it wouldn't surprise me if FFXIV was also released for PC and maybe even 360. FFXIV's graphics looked impressive, but it's unlikely that any of that was in-game footage. Frankly, I'm not that excited yet, because the FF series has disappointed me ever since the Square-Enix merger and I'm still waiting on FFXIII, but it's still an exciting development nonetheless.
I'm surprised that Square-Enix made another online game part of the FF series proper. FFXI alienated the majority of the FF fan-base, so it seems foolish to repeat the same mistake. Oh well, I guess the revenue from MMORPGs must make up for it. I'd like to see an improved PvP system and an involving story, rather than another Everquest clone, but chances are that Square-Enix will ignore my pleas once again. I was eagerly anticipating FFXI three years prior to its release and was letdown when I realized it was simply an Everquest clone combined with the FFIII/FFV/FFT job system. I'd love to see an MMO where you could purchase castles and airships with a clan and engage in battles over contested territory--an MMO where you can actually influence the fate of the world. I'm sure it'd be difficult to balance the gameplay in a title like this, but it's something that might get people like me who don't normally play MMORPGs interested.
Despite the rampant sequelitus, this year's E3 has so far been a significant improvement over the previous year. I'm glad that Nintendo is still making hardcore games and it's good to see that plenty of third-parties have hidden aces under their sleeve. I'm hoping that I'll bear witness to even more surprises tomorrow.
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