Remember demos? Releasing small sections of an unreleased game in an attempt to entice more people to buy the game was a common practice during the previous generation, the playable teaser has become more of a rarity. The advent of live streaming over the last few years has seemingly replaced the demo as part of the increasingly controlled pre-release hype cycle. And while I would never besmirch the act of watching other people play video games, it pales in comparison to actually playing the game you’re interested in. Games are an interactive medium, after all. The breadth of what games can do and be is such that it can be difficult to approximate if a game is really for you if you’re unfamiliar with the genre.

I thought about all of this while playing the Titanfall 2 tech test on my Playstation 4 over the last two weekends. I’m never had much interest in multiplayer shooters. The only shooter I’ve ever gotten sucked into was Splatoon, and the main appeal of that game was how different it was from all of the other multiplayer shooters. But Titanfall 2 looked intriguing during E3, and it’s August, so I gave it a go. And I was highly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

The movement and speed of matches really stuck out to me. It is fun to just run around in Titanfall 2. The grappling hook is super fun to use and adds an extra dimension to the movement.

I mostly stuck to the Bounty Hunt mode during the test. Bounty Hunt is a team-based mode where your goal is to shoot as many ai-controlled grunts and titans as you can to rack up the money for your team. In between waves, you deposit the earnings from the round as both teams compete for the highest score. This mode is much more welcoming to a novice player like me, who is pretty terrible when going head-to-head against human players, but is competent enough to take out some simpler opponents. I can contribute to the virtual cause without being able to no-scope a pilot out of the air from across the map.

But you can only talk about Titanfall 2 for so long before getting to the actual titans. The giant mechs felt really well balanced. They are high powered without being unstoppable, all-powerful win machines. The weapons can be devastating (especially the laser core), but the opposing pilot’s superior agility and ability to grapple onto titans to remove health-storing batteries makes those conflicts feel more suspenseful than they could’ve been. There is a real weight to each step you take in this giant piece of machinery, but the speed and evasive maneuvers that each titan comes equipped with keeps them from becoming overly lumbering. Also, punching other titans in the face feels really good.

Multiplayer demos exist for two reasons: to help a developer prepare for the game’s full launch, and to entice more people to buy the game. The Titanfall 2 tech test succeeded on both fronts. I understand why developers or publishers could be skittish about releasing demos. There is inherently more risk in letting a larger swathe of people play your game instead of just releasing edited trailers that show the game in its most ideal circumstances. But the rewards can be equally appealing. I wasn’t planning on buying Titanfall 2 before playing it. I am now. Games are capable of surprising you once you play them. Watching just isn’t the same as playing.

As much as I enjoyed Act IV of Kentucky Route Zero, I couldn’t but feel like there was something missing while I was playing it. The latest installment of Cardboard Computer’s low-key adventure game was released out of the blue last month after a two-year wait since the previous chapter. Just think about that for a second. An episodic game sold in installments went two whole years in between episodes. Back then, Donald Trump was still a joke in a “ha-ha” way, and not in an “oh fuck, he could actually become president this is horrific” sort of way. As memories fade, the basic emotions are what lasts the longest. I remember liking Kentucky Route Zero quite a bit. I remember appreciating its dreamlike Americana and that it had some sort of open world. I remember liking the game’s art style, full of sharp shapes and desaturated colors. I remember that one guy had a dog. But that’s about it. For a game that is so overtly focused on the small details and thoughts that go into creating a personality rather than a simple straightforward plot, an inability to recall what any of the various characters have done is a real blow to Kentucky Route Zero as a whole.

The episode begins on a boat, which makes sense given that the game often moves at a pace similar to a barge free-floating in the water, completely ambivalent about where or when it starts to drift somewhere. There are a lot of characters to keep track of (almost too many), and some of them have things they need to do, but they generally have the vibe of “eh, we’ll get there when we get there”. The switch to watercraft also comes with a switch in game structure. Since you’re never in control of the boat, Act IV becomes a more linear experience. You can choose whether to stop at a few locations here and there, but it still feels quite restrictive overall.

While traveling along the river, one member of your boat crew, Will, will take up a narrator-like role to describe surreal tales that may or may not have happened on the Zero that the player can help create through dialogue trees. These stories are told through inelegant walls of text that you just have to sit and read for a few minutes at a time. It’s not difficult to become bored during these moments.

Still, I was able to enjoy elements of Act IV. The magical reality of this world is immediately entrancing. The conversations between characters are unique both in content and framing. There’s a scene viewed through the lens of a security camera, while two new characters talk about their lives and watch recordings of your group passing through the place. A scene where Cate and Ezra pick mushrooms has you controlling both sides of their conversations, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen in a game before. A trip through an underground bat sanctuary is simultaneously unnerving and beautiful. The variety of the characters, the conversations they have, and where they have them keeps the game interesting despite the lack of forward momentum in the story.

The things I liked about Act IV of Kentucky Route Zero made the two-year wait and the faults of my memory all the more frustrating. There simply aren’t many like Kentucky Route Zero, and there was a clear moment near the end of Act IV that was supposed to be emotionally affecting, but it just didn’t do anything for me. Here’s hoping the wait for Act V is a slightly shorter span of time. But I’ll probably have to go back to the beginning before I see the end of this story.

An intricately decorated ballroom. A pristine kitchen filled to the brim with fresh food and clean cookware. A bathroom. You wouldn't expect the first game from some of the minds behind the legendary Burnout series to take place in these locales, but Dangerous Golf is a fairly surprising game.

There were many things to love about the seminal racing franchise (the blistering speed, the precise controls, the unadulterated exhilaration of the takedowns), but the crash mode was perhaps the most creative invention of all. Making a puzzle game out of the racing genre, with the goals of making the most wonderfully destructive car wrecks we've ever seen in a game, was an ingenious idea that was supremely enjoyable to play. With Dangerous Golf, Three Fields Entertainment attempts to bring that sort of chaotic fun to the game of golf. Unfortunately, this game falls short of those aims.

Dangerous Golf never attempts to hide where its influence comes from. The game has the graphic excellence typical of vintage Criterion games. If your golf ball hits enough objects in the environment, you unlock a crashbr- I mean a smashbreaker that creates a small explosion after it is activated and gives you more control over the ball so you can rack up the points. There are level-specific signature smashes that are commemorated with a photograph. Hell, one of the fonts used on the UI is straight out of Burnout 3. The game evokes the nostalgia of its spiritual predecessors (Three Fields Entertainment was founded by former Criterion developers). But nostalgia can be a double-edged sword. The history of the creators surely brought this game more attention, but it also reminds of how their previous games were better.

The game's issues are evident from the offset. The game's controls are shown during every loading screen you see. That screen quickly becomes vital, since that's the only place where the game showed me how to play it before I played the first hole. The controls are explained more clearly in an optional menu, but it's strange that Three Fields Entertainment couldn't come up with a more elegant way to explain the skillset of Dangerous Golf without throwing you in the deep end and watching you learn how to swim.

But the obfuscation of the game's controls may be a response to the fact that Dangerous Golf just doesn't feel that good to play. The way the ball deflects off of the dozens of objects seemed very random, and the detached distance of the camera made me unsure of how or why I was getting the points at times. It all feels weirdly imprecise.

My expectations may have been too high for this game. The Burnout franchise is one of my favorite game series of all time. Half of the reason I still have my Xbox 360 plugged in is so I have easy access to the Burnout franchise for the few times each year that I remember that there will almost assuredly be no new Burnout game for the foreseeable future and get really sad about it. I was sold on the game as soon as I heard that this was the next from the minds that created those masterpieces. If I didn't know the pedigree of the people making Dangerous Golf, I would just think it was a slight downloadable game that I wouldn't think about much in the future. But that pedigree does raise hopes and Dangerous Golf doesn't do enough to meet them. Hopefully, they have the resources to make another car game. That seems to be what they’re best at.

I still look forward to E3 every year, despite its decreasing significance. This year, I decided to write about the most exciting things I saw during the press conferences. And with that, here are the things that caught my eye the most:

Titanfall 2

I don’t own a Xbox One or a gaming pc, so I never played the original Titanfall. But I was super into the footage that they showed. Adding grappling hooks is always a smart design choice, and the increased mobility should lead to some really delightful chaos in multiplayer. Adding a single-player mode is a big plus, as well. As someone who is usually terrible at multiplayer in first-person shooters, having a story mode where I can play the game without dying all the time and being called racial epithets by strangers is a nice thing to have.

FIFA 17

Story modes in sports games can be spotty in terms of quality, but the upside is huge for the game that gets it right. The Be A Pro modes have always played pretty well, but adding a narrative framing to it could be interesting. Using a new engine is a smart idea, too. FIFA 16 is a good game, but it definitely feels stale in some areas. Here’s hoping the franchise makes the leap that the developers say they’re making.

EA’s Untitled Star Wars projects

Sure, the Star Wars part of Electronic Arts’ press conference was mostly just people talking about how awesome the games we’ve never seen are going to be when they come out in two or three years. But the few seconds of the Amy Hennig-led game looked really, really cool.

Prey

I was still holding out hope that the space bounty hunter version of Prey 2 would be repurposed in some way if Bethesda was really going to revive this series, but this Prey seems enticing in its own way. Since EA’s probably done with Dead Space for a while, it’s good to someone else try to make a psychological horror game set in space. It’s tough to say what the actual gameplay will entail, but the aesthetic and mood seem spot on.

Dishonored 2

I really loved the first game, and the sequel looks even better. The new city that acts as the game’s setting looked amazing during the demo. The new time travel powers looked great and fun to mess with. It was really nice to see someone just play their game for fifteen minutes after the deluge of teasers and sizzle reels at EA’s press conference. I’m really excited to run around and explore that universe again.

So it’s that time of year. The weather sucks, it’s dark at 4pm, and all of the video games have come out. Looking back on this year, I was actually surprised at how many awesome games there were. Narrowing my list down to ten was pretty difficult, and I didn’t even play most of the pc exclusive games, since my laptop is kind of terrible for playing games. These games aren’t in any particular order. Happy new year and whatnot.

Grand Theft Auto V

Rockstar North’s latest game still has a unique style that no other developer can match. Driving around the superbly crafted Los Santos while listening to the excellent radio stations will probably never get old for me. The game’s use of multiple characters, with their own stories and side missions, added variety and should be utilized by other developers. The heist missions are fantastic, thrilling and provide a level of strategy and planning that most big action games don’t attempt to have. Sure, the writing is getting a little stale. But Rockstar still manages to create a vibe that feels like nothing else.

Bioshock infinite

Few games create the sense of wonder that Bioshock Infinite does in the first hour or so. The audacious level design and art style immediately introduces you to the world gives you a great sense of place. The game touches on a number of themes that most big-budget games don’t really talk about. Traveling through this Super-America theme park in the sky with Booker and Elizabeth helped add to the excellent sci-fi story. That ending, man.

Devil May Cry

Ninja Theory got a lot of undeserved crap when they were announced as the developer for the Devil May Cry reboot. They responded to the angry nerd rage in the best way possible: make a really awesome game. The combo system is excellent, the level design is smart and ever-changing, and the boss battles are some of the best of the generation. Nerd rage isn’t always directed in the right direction.

Saints Row IV

It’s crazy to look back on the first two Saints Row games and see where this incredibly bizarre franchise has gone. This game is ridiculous in the best way. It’s not quite as funny as the last game, but it makes up for that by being the ultimate power fantasy. Saints Row 4 is the best Crackdown game ever made. The superpowers feel amazing, and the variety of the powers help keep the combat entertaining. The excellent soundtrack makes the time you spend collecting upgrades more enjoyable. Riff Raff makes everything better.

Last of Us

Everytime I say think I’m done with the whole zombie apocalypse setting, somebody makes a game that makes me take it all back. Traveling through this dying and decrepit version of America with Joel and Ellie was one of the most tense and gripping stories I’ve ever seen in a videogame. Both characters are written and animated so well that that you can empathize with whatever their feelings are at that moment. Even the completely optional things you can find exploring the environment can tell a fascinating story that rounds out the fiction. It feels like a game that was built around the story they wanted to tell, and not around whatever cool set piece they had designed.

Also, that game is damn pretty.

FIFA 14

Given the relative troubles of the rest of EA Sports’ games this year, it was a relief that FIFA continued to be excellent. The subtle improvements to the control of the ball greatly add to the realism. The difference between what the best players can do with the ball, and what the worst players can do with it feels much larger than it has in previous iterations. The changes to the career mode aren’t where they need to be, but the game on the pitch is still the best out there.

Rayman Legends

The color palette of most games is pretty similar, i.e. hella brown. Dark and gritty stories, usually set in some embattled middle-eastern country, have become a bit stale. Rayman Legends is the complete antithesis of that. Each set of levels has a fresh and vibrant feel to them that compels you to see each one. Even the cave levels look nice. Since when do caves look nice? Almost never! The game’s a little easy, but that doesn’t get in the way of how fun the platforming is.

Hotline Miami

Yes, I know this game came out on the pc in 2012. But my laptop is old and terrible, so I didn’t get to pick this up until it was on the Vita. This game feels like a really bad (or really good) medicine-induced fever dream with a really dope soundtrack. There isn’t really anything about this game that could be defined as normal. From the Miami Vice art style, to the strange and murky story involving Russians and ultraviolence, you are never quite sure what the hell is going on while you’re playing it. But you don’t want to stop.

Depression Quest

Depression is never easy to explain to people who have never dealt with it before. Mental illness isn’t something that most people are adequately educated to understand it, or to help. What makes Depression Quest special is the fact that it’s a videogame. The interactivity allows the player to seamlessly fall into the character and empathize with the character, as well as just how debilitating the condition can be. You’d like to go to sleep, but your mind is racing too much to do so. You go to a party, but you feel way too awkward to actually talk to anyone. You know you need help, but actually telling someone is incredibly difficult. I didn’t think a video game could encapsulate those feelings so well.

Tearaway

I bought this game when I was sick and generally feeling down, and it ended up being the perfect thing to cheer me up. From the paper craft art style, to the typical Media Molecule charm, I’m pretty sure it’s impossible to be in a bad mood while playing this game. I actually played a lot of games on my Vita this year, but Tearaway is one of the few that really feels like it was built for the platform. I had kind of forgotten that the Vita had a touch pad on the back before I played this game, and it becomes crucial while playing this game. Combined with much improved platforming, this game is well worth buying a Vita for.

I absolutely loved The Last of Us. The act of taking out the infected while trying to survive another day in the apocalypse was tense and engaging. The story of Ellie and Joel’s journey was incredible, and kept me going during the occasional times where the game drags. Unfortunately, the game’s final sequence squandered a lot of my goodwill for the game.

I understand what Naughty Dog was going for, but that just makes it more frustrating. The idea of Joel fighting his way through the hospital to save Ellie is okay, but the gameplay just dissolves into being a third-person shooter where you shoot a bunch of dudes. The Last of Us is not at its best as a shooter. The sheer number of people you kill during the last hour also goes against what the game is really about, and makes their deaths less meaningful.

And after you shoot everybody comes my least favorite part of the game. Again, I understand, and in someways appreciate, what Naughty Dog was trying to do here. In an age where choice in games has become almost mandatory, I kinda like a game ardently saying that you have no choice in the ending. Joel destroys possibly the last chance of creating an antidote for the virus. Joel is his own character, not yours. But my problem is that they do give you control. You have to pull the trigger on those doctors. It gives you the illusion of choice where there is none. As the player, I really did not want to pull the trigger for Joel, since I didn’t have any input into his decision in the first place. Joel’s decision was clearly not mine. The Last of Us is an excellent game, but like many games before it, it struggles with the final chapter.

I thought that the demo was very disappointing. While the graphics and gameplay seem to be improved, the options the demo gives you are minuscule. The demo has 2-minute halves (way too short!) and only 2 teams (Italy and Spain). Given that every country in the world is in the game, EA should have put more teams in the demo.

Here are some of my thoughts on E3:

Microsoft:
Best Trailer:
 The Beatles: Rock Band. I don't like the Beatles or play music games, but that animated trailer is awesome.
Best Demo:
Splinter Cell Conviction.
I'm interested in a Splinter Cell for the first time.
Biggest Game Surprise:
Left 4 Dead 2. Valve releasing a sequel after only a year? Hell has frozen over.
 Biggest Hardware Surprise:
Project Natal. Possibly a revolutionary announcement.
Most Disappointing:
Alan Wake. After all of the hype people have given it, the demo didn't look too interesting. Also EPL matches streaming only in the UK? F U Britain!  
Overall grade: A
Almost every game looked cool and Natal looked liked it actually worked.

 Nintendo
Best Trailer:
Super Mario Galaxy 2. More Mario Galaxy is always a good thing.
Best Demo:
Wii Sports Resort. Wasn't great but it was better than New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Biggest Game Surprise:
Metroid: Other M. The remnants of Team Ninja have to prove themselves.
 Biggest Hardware Surprise:
The Vitality Sensor. WTF?
Most Disappointing:
Style Saavy getting that much time
Overall grade: C+
Mario, Metroid, and Wii Sports saved it for me.

Sony
Best Trailer:
 The Last Guardian: I don't know what you do in the game, but it looks amazing.
Best Demo:
God of War 3. The only bad part was that it doesn't come out until 2010
Biggest Game Surprise:
Final Fantasy 14. They're not even done with 13 or versus 13 yet!
 Biggest Hardware Surprise:
The motion controller. Looks like a better version of the Wiimote
Most Disappointing:
No LA Noire. Cancellation Confirmed?
Overall grade: B+
Tons of great games, a few "meh" games, and an overpriced new PSP