It’s the week of E3! With that we have tons of news regarding the status of new and upcoming games. Here is a rundown of the Xbox media event and some of the fun new games Xbox One users can look forward to seeing starting this fall.
The media event was dedicated exclusively to games, with essentially no talk about the Xbox One hardware or software. The first game we see was Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Some quick facts that I saw from the video included: rocket packs, human pods similar to Titanfall, new types of mobile weapons, laser guns, and multi-function grenades. Some other things to note was that the map was set in Korea, and is set quite a bit into the future.
The next studio up was Turn 10 Studios to talk about Forza V and Forza Horizon 2. The first thing discussed was the free DLC track Nürburgring. This new track for Forza V is now available to download. Afterwards they jumped right into Forza Horizon 2, which looked to be a more open world arcade like version of Forza V. The demo video looks stunning, and the inclusion of weather looks great.
Then we saw a video for the game Evolve. This game will have an exclusive beta on Xbox One. The game is based on the idea of four players facing off against a monster. You can play as one of the four players or the monster. They showed the four different player classes in the video: Assault, Trapper, Medic, and Support. Beyond that their wasn’t much else, I”m curious to see how much depth this game will have as at this point it seems a very simple concept. The graphics and the feel seem to be a combination of suspense and then full-on action.
Next, was Ubisoft and Assassin’s Creed Unity. The highlight of this game demo was that you will now be able to play multiplayer in the campaign with up to four other players. I really liked the choice of using the French Revolution as the setting for this game, and the game looks great at this point. The gameplay seems to not have changed much, and the multiplayer seems to basically just include more players into the mix, rather than dynamically altering the gameplay.
After that, we see Bioware and Dragon Age: Inquisition. This game looks stunning and I’m really excited for it to come out this fall. In the video we saw quite bit more about the characters we will be playing and that there is a new type of Chaos magic that will have a part in the narrative. This game releases on October 7th, and I can’t wait.
Another game I’m looking forward to is Sunset Overdrive, Insominiac Games, the makers of Ratchet and Clank; which is the next game that came up. The video they showed in the beginning of this part of the presentation I thought was quite funny as the character was basically breaking the fourth wall the entire time while talking about the game. This game is not as graphically impressive as the other games we have seen so far, but because of the art style it isn’t supposed to be. Where this game shines is in the unique gunplay and the really fluid movement around maps. The gameplay demo looked great and got me really excited to play.
Next studio up was Harmonix. They talked about their next two upcoming games Fantasia: Music Evolved, and Dance Central Spotlight. Worth noting, there was no video for either game, so there wasn’t too much to talk about with these titles.
Lionhead was up next to talk about Fable Legends. The gameplay demo showed off four of the available characters to play in the game. Players will be able to play as the four characters or as the villain who will play more of a Dungeon Master type role. It was great to see both sides of this gameplay in the demo. I’m curious to see how easy it is to play the villain, as from the video it looks quite complicated. The beta will be out this fall, and you can sign up for it now at http://www.fablelegends.com.
We then saw two more videos for new and upcoming games. First, we saw a video for Project Spark which has been in beta for a while now. Coming up we will see space theme material as well as in my opinion the best cameo of the show: Conker from Conker’s Bad Fur Day, will be a part of the game. Then, we saw a video from Ori and the Blind Forest which looks like an interesting platformer that will be Xbox One Exclusive.
Halo Time, next we see 343 studios come out to discuss the future of Halo. First off they introduce Halo: That Master Chief Collection which will include Halo 1,2,3, and 4 on one disc and with a single interface for Xbox One. Halo 2 has been given the HD treatment for the 10 year anniversary. This collection will also include Halo Nightfall, which is the new digital series leading up to Halo 5: Guardians. Finally, this collection will also include beta access to the Halo 5 multiplayer set to come out in December.
Next was the Indy Game Showcase. Many new games will be coming out throughout the year from indy developers. Games of note included INSIDE, from the developers of Limbo, and Mighty No. 9 which has received quite a bit of hype from the Kickstarter campaign, including a write-up here at DFAT.
The remaining games came in rapid succession and included: Rise of the Tomb Raider, The Witcher 3, Phantom Dust, The Division, Scalebound, and Crackdown 3. Of note here was the gameplay demo of The Witcher 3 which showed a cool tracking system and stronger battle mechanics. Also, The Division, which was a more modern third person shooter, which in the video included characters using non-military jargon, which I found refreshing. Finally, we saw a brief sample of Crackdown 3 which after the lukewarm reception of Crackdown 2, it looks like they are going back to their roots and that this game has the potential to be a lot of fun.
There were some notable absences from this briefing as well including: Quantum Break, and no new Gears of War game. It has been mentioned that we will see more from Quantum Break this fall, but after seeing the GoW logo at the end of the media event, I’m curious to see if we will be seeing any new GoW game in the near future.
~LastUrsa
