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spilledmilkfactory

I spent all day playing Titanfall and uploaded my first GB review in forever

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My 10 Favorite Games of E3

It's been a little while now since E3 2014 closed its doors, and after being sentenced to 10 days of bed rest immediately following the close of the conference I've had plenty of time to watch all of the demos and trailers that spawned from the show. Even after absorbing everything this year's show had to offer, I'm hard-pressed to disagree with the sentiment that it was an oddly shallow affair. Taking into account the fact that I couldn't care less about the sixth Assassin's Creed sequel or yet another half-baked Battlefield game, my eyes were cast strictly towards new and resurrected IP during the show, and sure enough many of my show highlights ended up falling outside of many of those established franchises (not that the Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty demos weren't impressive, but I'm beginning to feel burned out on them).

As I had hoped before the show, this year's E3 marked a sort of turning point in the games I'm looking forward to over the next few years. While last year's show placed me firmly in Sony's camp, Microsoft and Nintendo easily took the show for me this year, while Sony failed to display the drive that propelled them to the top in 2013. As a side note, looking back on my list of most anticipated games of E3, it's interesting to see where everything ended up (and which titles didn't show at all). Honorable mention goes to Bloodborne for the absolutely grim (but in a really, really good way) reveal trailer. If I enjoyed the Souls games more, that game would easily have made this list.

Anyways, that's enough talk. These were my ten favorite games of this year's E3.

List items

  • Evolve was one of those games that was hardly a blip on my radar until E3 began. Starting with the Kraken reveal, each subsequent piece of coverage contributed to an avalanche of hype that seemed to sweep up the majority of the industry by the end. The class-based shooting looks smooth and deep, the game itself is gorgeous, and that Kraken looks nasty in a great way.

  • On the opposite end of the spectrum we have Yoshi's Woolly World, a game which made me squeal in glee the instant it came onscreen. The yarn aesthetic belies some truly impressive graphics, and co-op looks like a blast. Yoshi fan or not, you'd have to be downright inhuman to deny the cuddly appeal of Woolly World.

  • The Witcher 3 was easily one of the most impressive games at last year's show, so it's hardly surprising that CD Projekt's demo at the Microsoft conference turned as many heads as it did. It's hardly a secret as to why this game looks so promising - incredible graphics, a massive world, involved monster hunting and complex combat contribute towards The Witcher 3 feeling like one of the first true "next-gen" games.

  • Splatoon is remarkable simply for being a new Nintendo IP, but look closer and this colorful shooter has plenty to offer beyond novelty. The traversal system, by which you transform into a squid and ride along splatters of paint on the floors and walls, seems truly innovative and fresh. Furthermore, the game looks to make use of the Wii U GamePad in some really smart ways. A real-time map is always displayed on the screen, and with a simple touch you can send your character flying across the map to join your allies in combat. It's a remarkably clever premise that hides layers upon layers of potential strategy, and while the Wii U's traditionally small online community could be cause for concern, I'm confident that Splatoon will offer up something wholly unique when it launches next year.

  • Bright, crass and colorful, Sunset Overdrive is another game that caught my eye first for its traversal mechanics. Grinding around Sunset City looks like a blast, and powering up your characters and weapons should prove absurd fun. Insomniac's trailer early in the Microsoft event marked just the beginning of what I found to be a conference that focused squarely on fun games. Games like...

  • Okay, so barely anything was actually shown of Crackdown. But man, did that CG trailer have me salivating. I've always loved the freeform goofiness of Crackdown, but if the game's destruction reaches anything near the scale teased in the trailer... well, consider me excited.

  • I have fond memories of every Smash game, but like many dedicated players I hold Melee in the highest regard. Brawl sort of left me cold on the concept of another Smash, and while I still doubt the studio's ability to match the masterpiece that was Melee, I've finally given in to excitement for the Wii U sequel. I really appreciated how the Treehouse stream went into detail about how the team plans on re-balancing characters like Pit and Bowser, and the Villager and Wii Fit U Trainer seem to fill the quirk quota with aplomb. I was more excited about the reveals of Pac-Man and Palutena though, as the roster is starting to look truly incredible. I may have my doubts about the game's ability to match up with Melee, but there's no question in my mind when it comes to the 100+ hours I'll likely dump into this with my friends.

  • Like Jeff said in one stream or another, Mario Maker is a concept so elegant it's shocking Nintendo hasn't done it before. The three-screen limit has me worried, but even in these early stages I've seen levels that defied all my expectations of what a Mario game should be - something that I couldn't say about any proper Mario game since Galaxy.

  • This one was another trailer-only affair, but I'm generally a big fan of Platinum's character action games. From what they showed at the Microsoft presser, Scalebound looks like a mashup of Devil May Cry and Panzer Dragoon, which is totally alright with me. It's almost uncanny how closely the lead character resembled the Dante of old, but I'll let it slide as long as that Hydra battle ends up being as crazy as I picture it in my head.

  • I guess Ubisoft technically showed gameplay of Rainbow Six: Siege, but I'm going to hop on the bandwagon of skeptics and take that as more of a target video (even IGN admitted in their preview that the actual game looked much less polished, if still really neat). Even so, the return of tactical shooting to consoles felt like a breath of fresh air to me. I've always been big on destruction mechanics in shooters - a firefight should FEEL like a firefight, right? - and to that end, Siege looked absolutely incredible. I'll reserve final judgement for when I can play it, but right now I'm very excited to see Rainbow Six back in the mix.
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