I did promise back in March to be better at announcing hiatuses for Silver Bit, but I honestly didn't plan this at all. After the craziness that was E3 2015, I didn't have much drive to write Best Games of E3 article because of the lack of playable demos on the show floor this year. On top of E3 fatigue, I tried to write an article on collector's editions, but it didn't pan out.
Although a lot of July didn't work out as planned, I am hoping to update Silver Bit on a regular basis in August. Fingers crossed.
Game of the Month
Two games took up most of my time this past month. The first is Radiant Historia, a turned-based RPG that has you bouncing between two parallel timelines in order to save the world from desertification. I bought the game two years ago and spent a few hours with it before putting it down until recently. I always enjoyed the gameplay and premise of Radiant Historia, but it's story and timeline-weaving quests are what will keep you gripping your DS or 3DS for hours on end. In all seriousness, I play Radiant Historia a good hour or two at a time. Sadly, I hit a grind wall around chapter four that has caused me to put the game down for the time being.
The second game and July's Game of the Month is Tearaway for the PlayStation Vita. While I planned on waiting until Tearaway Unfolded for PS4 to dive into Media Molecule's critical darling, my curiosity got the best of me especially considering I found the game for 10 dollars new. As cool as it would be to experience the beautiful paper craft visuals on a big HDTV, I am so happy that I experienced Tearaway on its system of origin.
Out of all the games on the Vita, Tearaway is the system's killer app. Unlike other titles, such as Uncharted: Golden Abyss or Killzone: Mercenary, where the use of motion and touch controls feels tacked on, Tearaway uses every feature built into the Vita in an intuitive way. Seeing your fingers pop out of the back touch screen to dispatch enemies or watching your face play a role as the ever-present sun are just magical. My descriptions don't do Tearaway justice; it is a game that you have to experience for yourself in order to understand how special it is.
Video of the Month
On July 12th, 2015, the video game industry lost a visionary in Satoru Iwata. Since the tragic news broke, many lovely tributes for Iwata-san have been made. All these tributes are amazing, but I can't showcase them all here. I choose to highlight Screwattack's tribute video because it does a wonderful job at blending Iwata's greatest quotes and the video clips that highlight his quirky personality.
Thank you, Satoru Iwata. You will be deeply missed.
Showing posts with label PS4. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PS4. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
E3 2015: Sony Press Conference Impressions
Sony started their presser by re-revealing The Last Guardian for PS4 and didn't slow down until a hour into it. Each game in that hour from the large AAA titles to the small indie titles hit it out of the park. The pace was just rapid fire one after the other with little time to rest, but that breakneck speed made everyone in the audience and watching across the globe experience an unimaginable sense of adrenaline.
Every title at Sony's press conference, except for Call of Duty: Black Ops III and its generic explosion-fest of a demo, had an impressive showing. Even among the masses of great titles, there were a few standouts. Guerilla Games' new IP Horizon: Zero Dawn could of easily closed the show with its unique premise, compelling gameplay and freaking robot dinosaurs! Naughty Dog made the Uncharted 4 delay even more unbearable thanks to a wonderful demo following Drake and Sully's misadventures through a South American town. Media Molecule's game Dreams intrigued with its ability to literally mold anything you want into reality be it a game, film or piece of interactive media.
On top of all that, Sony dropped some mind-blowing surprises that left many jaws gaping, eyes popping and tears flowing. Sony started off with a cool trailer for a brand new Hitman game followed by giving us a charming crossover in World of Final Fantasy. Then the bombs started dropping. Right after the World of Final Fantasy reveal, Sony announced the heavily-requested full remake of Final Fantasy VII, which had people going bonkers. If you didn't think that was enough, Sony made waves upon unveiling Shenmue III's existence. I will be honesty, I choked up when the Shenmue III trailer appeared on the screen; I couldn't believe what I was watching. It was a magical moment to say the least.
Although I have been singing this conferences praises, it did slow down considerably after the first hour. The clear change in pace came from an out-of-place montage that should have gone at the end of the show instead of right in the middle. Seriously, I thought the show was over when they played that montage. Sony did bounce back with some Project Morpheus updates, exclusive packages for Disney Infinity 3.0 and a new gameplay trailer for Star Wars Battlefront. It was almost all for naught when Sony ran into some difficulties connecting controllers for the Uncharted demo, but it was fixed thanks to a timely reset.
Even with a few hiccups and a generic demo, Sony's E3 2015 press conference will be immortalized for its breakneck pace, mind-blowing surprises and impressive games. While I am disappointed that Sony did nothing to bolster their offerings this holiday season, 2016's lineup will sure make up for it in spades.
Grade: A+
Sunday, June 14, 2015
E3 2015: The Big Questions
While E3 2015 could go either way, there a some big questions that the industry needs to address in the coming week. Questions that concern the video game industry's future in both the short and long-term.
How will a lack of exclusives affect Sony and Microsoft?
This question only concerns Sony and Microsoft because a console manufacturer (*cough* Nintendo) needs to rely solely on their exclusive content to sell their consoles when they have no third-party support.
The challenges Sony and Microsoft face when it comes to their lineup of exclusives are completely different. Sony has a problem when it comes to mobilizing an exclusive game to fill the void Uncharted 4's delay left, while Microsoft relies far too much on third-parties that their small roster of over-exposed exclusives are struggling to maintain momentum from year-to-year.
Yet again, we enter a Sony press conference with little to no plan for the holiday season. Uncharted 4 was suppose to Sony's answer to Halo 5 and Rise of the Tomb Raider. Now, all Sony has planned are Until Dawn and Tearaway Unfolded, two great-looking titles that sadly are nowhere close to heavy-hitters. Sony is also re-releasing the first three Uncharted games on PS4, but the Uncharted Collection's upwards of 70 dollars price point is more of a rip-off than a worthy substitute for Uncharted 4.
Last holiday season, Sony relied a lot on third-parties, especially Activision's Destiny, to move PS4s because their exclusives—DriveClub and LittleBigPlanet 3—weren't the killer apps that people wanted. These wise business decisions along with an insane wave of momentum Sony has been riding since the PS4's launch has kept the system leaps and bounds ahead of the Xbox One, but that string of good luck will eventually run out. Sony needs to start capitalizing on their huge lead or somebody else, namely Microsoft, will take advantage of their arrogance. Sony has an army of game studios at their disposal so how we don't have another huge title to replace Uncharted 4 is absurd. Slot in The Last Guardian or Guerrilla's unannounced project into Uncharted's spot because Sony cannot spend another holiday season sitting on their hands.
While Sony has a problem with capitalizing on their lead, Microsoft is having problems convincing people to buy the Xbox One. In all honesty, the Xbox One is severely lacking when it comes to exclusives, especially when you take into account indie titles and timed exclusives such as Titanfall, Sunset Overdrive and Rise of the Tomb Raider. On top of that, their small roster of first-party properties (Halo, Fable, Forza and Gears of War) have all been over-exposed thanks to yearly releases or franchise mismanagement. Gears of War may be the only major franchise that gamers are craving for since there hasn't been a new entry in the series for over two years now.
Last year at E3, Microsoft made a concerted effort to show gamers that they had a renewed interest in first-party development with a large lineup of new exclusive content including Scalebound, Crackdown, Quantum Break and Phantom Dust. Here we are a year later and Microsoft's supposed renewed interest in first-party development has seemingly gone up in smoke. Scalebound, Crackdown and Quantum Break will not be at this year's E3 and Phantom Dust is stuck in development limbo as Microsoft dropped the game's developer in February and has yet to find a replacement. Unless Microsoft has a slew of unannounced projects ready to drop on us at their press conference, they are stuck with a major problem that could plague them this entire generation.
Third-party support and exclusive DLC can only take a system so far. There NEEDS to be a consistent lineup of exclusives or the Xbox One won't have the staying power needed to compete with the more robust lineups of the Wii U and PS4.
Will the new contenders in press conference circuit sink or swim?
There use to be a time when E3 played host to a plethora of press conferences from Konami to Disney Interactive. Sadly as time went on, some publishers stopped running press conferences due to ever-increasing costs or their own corporate restructuring. As a result, five publishers were left as the flag bearers for every show: Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft, Sony and Nintendo. This time around two new challengers in Bethesda and Square Enix are entering the E3 press conference circuit to try their luck at hanging with the big publishers in the industry.
There has been a lot of speculation surrounding these new conferences because neither company would invest the insane amount of money and effort into a conference if they didn't have a stellar lineup of titles to show. Bethesda has already announced that Fallout 4 and Doom 4 will be at their presser. On the other end, Square Enix has confirmed Deus Ex: Mankind Divided's first gameplay footage for their conference along with Final Fantasy XV's absence from the show altogether. Could this mean we'll get some surprises like the rumoured Dishonored 2 or an official release date for Kingdom Hearts 3? Those questions may soon be answered as Bethesda kicks off the proceedings late Sunday, June 14th and Square Enix stands as the final press conference before the show floor opens Tuesday, June 16th.
How will Virtual Reality (VR) headsets factor into E3?
With Oculus VR at the helm, virtual reality (VR) headsets have taken the industry by storm. Game publishers and developers are eagerly jumping into the VR headset race with their own VR headset or games made for the devices.
Is VR the future of video games as we know it? Maybe in the distant future, but it's hard to say at this point in time. At this very moment, there are two key issues that can completely halt VR's forward momentum: price and input. Funny enough, price is the one topic no one wants to talk about and input devices like Oculus Touch have only been demoed through video or behind closed doors.
Since E3 will be the final trade show before VR headsets land on store shelves starting this Fall, it will be the most important show for VR as a whole. E3 is the final push for these VR manufacturers and developers to convince gamers to shell their hard-earned cash on their products. There is also a possibility that VR headsets could be a centerpiece at the Sony and Microsoft press conferences considering Sony is developing their own headset called Project Morpheus and Microsoft's newly announced partnership with Oculus.
It will be interesting to see how much of a factor VR will play into E3 as a whole. VR could either end up being the new input device for games going forward or go the way of 3D and motion gaming.
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Early Reveals Killed the E3 Surprise
Let's take a trip down memory lane. What E3 moment made you fall in love with following the event from beginning to end each year? It certainly wasn't for leaked/revealed games like Titanfall, Gears of War: Judgment, Beyond: Two Souls or Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. It was surprises that made your jaw drop, got you to sit back in disbelief and possibly left your crying tears of joy. Some moments that come to mind include Shigeru Miyamoto appearing onstage wielding both the Master Sword and Hylian Shield at the Twilight Princess reveal, the legendary Metal Gear Solid 4 trailers, the return of Kid Icarus and Sony's PS4 reveal. Everyone has a moment that stands out in their mind, but they all have one thing in common: the element of surprise.
By revealing games early or making these secrets vulnerable to leaks, these companies are hurting the show that serves as a massive marketing push for their products. Seriously, a product's showing at E3 can make or break it. Case in point, look at the success of Watch Dogs and Destiny or even the continued struggles Microsoft faces with the lagging sales of the Xbox One.
Speaking of Watch Dogs, nobody knew anything about the game or even the fact that Ubisoft would unveil a brand new property at the end of their E3 2012 press conference. The surprise of the game's reveal coupled with the scarcity of information about it started a frenzy surrounding Watch Dogs. In the end, it lead to one of the biggest disappointments of 2014, but not before selling millions upon millions of copies.
Now look at Fallout 4. Yes, the game's existence has been one of the worst kept secrets in gaming history, but that is beside the point. Fallout 4 was all but confirmed before Bethesda dropped the trailer earlier this week.
Now, just imagine if Bethesda waited until their E3 press conference this coming July 14th, where hundreds of journalists and millions eyes around the world would be focused on this one event, to reveal the Fallout 4 trailer. It's not hard to image the audience, both live and at home, would have lost it and Bethesda would have seen a dramatic spike in interest for the game. By trying to get ahead of third-parties, Bethesda has missed out on a golden opportunity and took a great surprise away from the biggest event of the year for the video game industry.
As much as E3 is about impressing investors and marketing products to a worldwide audience, it is about the gamers. We are the audience that tunes in every year hoping to be surprised, entertained and ultimately excited for the future of this industry. Taking the surprises out of E3 only leaves people feeling disappointed. My advice to game developers and publishers: resist the urge, keep your secrets close to your chest and make E3 2015 an event we will never forget.
Monday, December 15, 2014
First Byte: Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
The biggest thing to come out of the PlayStation Experience was the 15 minute gameplay demo for Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. Sony revealed the new Uncharted over a year ago at the launch party for the PS4. Sony followed up that reveal with a brief cinematic teaser at E3 which revealed the game's subtitle and setting. While these two teasers got many excited for Uncharted 4, I personally needed to see more to get behind the hype for this game especially since so many games have fallen short of their hype in the past year. After the gameplay trailer from the PlayStation Experience, my doubts over Uncharted 4 are now nonexistent. Although it was a 15 minute snippet of gameplay, Naughty Dog packed a lot of information about Uncharted's PS4 evolution into this demo.
The demo starts with protagonist Nathan Drake standing on a cliff overlooking the dangerous terrain the island setting has to offer. This view and the following movement of the camera shows off Uncharted 4's gorgeous graphics and great water effects. Drake then enters a nearby cave which provides ample opportunities to see that the game's platforming mechanics in action. In short, the platforming looks to work just as great as they did in previous entries in the series. More platforming sections follow once Drake exits the cave, but with an added twist. He finds a spike which can be used on certain rock formations as an anchor point in order to grab out-of-reach ledges and cervices. The demo showed a few exciting instances where using the spike while jumping is necessary to reach new areas and save Drake from falling to certain death.
As Drake makes his way around the island, he eventually meets up with some hostiles. While this encounter lasts rest of the demo, it perfectly showcases Uncharted's next-gen evolution. Since Drake is usually placed against insurmountable odds, stealth has played a huge part in the Uncharted series. It certainly takes centre stage in Uncharted 4 as Drake can use the large patches of flora and fauna to get the jump on enemies and for hiding when spotted. In addition to the stealth mechanics, combat has received some retooling especially the hand-to-hand combat. These hand-to-hand fights look a lot more fluid and dynamic as Drake and his opponents can use the environment as a part of their offence, transition to different positions like belly-to-back and throw grapples such as an arm drag. These new combat scenarios can even occur when platforming around a firefight. During a particular moment in the demo, Drake is trying to climb up a cliff only to be cut-off by a boot to the face. Drake takes the boot in stride, punches the enemy and throws him off the cliff in a similar fashion to ledge takedowns from past Uncharteds. Instead of falling to his doom, the enemy grabs onto Drake's foot thus leading to more input in order to escape the enemy's grasp. Moments like these should make Uncharted 4's combat unpredictable and exciting throughout the entire game.
The last thing I want to touch on from the Uncharted 4 demo is the grappling hook. While it is only used two times throughout the entire demo, it leaves one amazing impression. The first time we see it is in the heat of battle as an enemy throws a grenade at Drake's feet. With only a few seconds to react, Drake jumps to the right and throws out his grabbing hook at a nearby branch with the press of the R1 button. In that brief instant, he sours through the air directly toward the grenade-throwing enemy to deliver a devastating punch to the face. In my opinion, this sequence is one of the most exhilarating parts of the demo and perfectly shows the combat capabilities of the grappling hook. Aside from its use in combat, the grappling hook adds new dimensions to Uncharted's exploration and platforming as it gives Drake more versatility in maneuvering around the environment.
All-in-all, this 15 minute demo has completely sold me on Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. It looks like a spectacular showcase of the PS4's power and solidifies Naughty Dog's position as one of the elite developers in this industry. Now sitting upon my list of most anticipated games of 2015, I really look forward to playing Uncharted 4 next holiday season. If you do not agree with my analysis, the gameplay video of Uncharted 4's demo is included below so you can see for yourself.
Monday, October 13, 2014
First Byte: Fan Expo 2014 Gauntlet Part 2
When I initially conceived this two part series, I did not anticipate how busy school would get this early into the semester. Although things are crazy as I seem to have a test or project every single week, I am committed to finishing this gauntlet up before any of the games in this final part are released. If you did not get a chance to read the first part of the Fan Expo 2014 Gauntlet, it focused on the likes of Driveclub, Forza Horizon 2, The Crew, The Order: 1886, Far Cry 4 and Mortal Kombat X. If you want to read my impressions on any of those games, click the link. This part will preview the four games that I got over ten minutes of hands-on time playing.
While the majority of the games I played at the Sony Booth left me disappointed, the LittleBigPlanet 3 demo had me excited for more. The demo was split into two levels, Tutu Tango and the Crypt. Tutu Tango was a Toggle-centric level that focused on using Toggle's switching abilities to manipulate momentum in different ways needed to advance in the level. On the other end of the spectrum, the Crypt was a level made entirely for Oddsock that had the dog companion of Sackboy bouncing off of walls and performing precise jumps at a frantic pace perfect for those who love speedrunning. While both levels were completely different in pace, the controls were responsive and the platforming was spot-on, which are two mechanics not normally associated with previous entries in the series. Even though the levels were made for specific characters, there were multiple hidden areas that hinted at in co-op play in both levels. Without creators Media Molecule at the helm, I did not have much faith that LittleBigPlanet 3 could surpass its predecessors. After playing this demo, LittleBigPlanet 3 has caught my full attention especially when it comes to the single-player portion of the game.
Unlike any game on the show floor, Bethesda pulled out all the stops to engross you in experience of The Evil Within. The booth consisted of over 20 demo stations all equipped with noise-cancelling headsets and black dividers to keep your attention solely focused on the game. Thanks to Bethesda's excellent booth design, it felt like I was playing The Evil Within during the middle of the night, which made all the scares that much more frightening. Unlike any game on the market today, The Evil Within demo brought some true scares as I explored the eerie halls of a derelict mansion. The atmosphere of the game was perfect as the expert audio design made you feel uneasy at all times and the unpredictable enemy AI, which changes every time you load the game, kept you looking over the protagonist's shoulder constantly. Much like early entries in the survival horror genre, The Evil Within does not hold your hand as you are free to explore the mansion as you wish. It also creates tension in a similar fashion by restricting ammo and the use of melee weapons. From my 20 to 30 minutes with the game, The Evil Within felt like a return to true survival horror rather than the Michael Bay-like action games that some companies are trying to pass as horror these days. If you are in desperate need of a game that gives you nightmares like the original Resident Evils did over 15 years ago, The Evil Within will certainly fill that void.
Out of all the games at the Microsoft Booth, Sunset Overdrive was the only one I wanted to play no matter. Ever since I saw the game in action at Microsoft's E3 press conference, I was in love with the absolute insanity developer Insomniac is trying to pass off as gameplay. Insane is the perfect word to describe the chaos of Sunset Overdrive's gameplay. The game flows at an incredibly smooth clip that may be to smooth, in fact, as it can be easy to get lost in the swarms of enemies and explosions. Like all Insomniac games, the guns are always the highlight of the show with their creative designs and expert handling. Switching between guns is quick as a flick of the right analog stick, which adds to the chaotic pace of the game. Apart from the chaotic gameplay, Sunset Overdrive exudes humour and style through humourous character designs, funny one-liners, and unique respawn animations. All-in-all, my time with Sunset Overdrive was easily one of my highlights at Fan Expo as it was just pure unadulterated fun, and nothing can beat that.
The honour of being the very last game I got to play at Fan Expo belonged to Evolve. The demo for Evolve was one of the main reasons I wanted to go Fan Expo 2014 in the first place, so there was no way I would leave the show without playing this game. While I got to play Evolve for a good 20 minutes or so, you definitely need to play the game more than once to get a true feel for its mechanics, controls and subtle nuances. My first impressions are positive, but just a little tainted due to getting beat before seeing the full potential of the game and the lack of helpful advice provided by the developer/tester advising me. I played as the Kraken and almost evolved to its ultimate form before I succumbed to the strength and teamwork of my opponents. The Kraken was very unique to control due to its sheer size in the game world. Much of my time was spent on the defensive as I avoided combat with hunters and focused on feeding on enough wildlife to evolve. I felt extremely vulnerable as a level one monster, but became much more competent as I grew in level. As a whole, Evolve was an incredibly tense game of cat and mouse that was very enjoyable to play. Hopefully when the game comes out next year, I can get more time with Evolve to hone my skills and possibly avenge my embarrassing loss at Fan Expo.
Thursday, September 18, 2014
First Byte: Fan Expo 2014 Gauntlet Part 1
A few weeks back, yours truly made the long trek to Toronto for Fan Expo Canada. My main reason for going to Fan Expo this year was the plethora of upcoming games available to play at the event. In total, Fan Expo had well over 30 games to play including Middle Earth: Shadows of Mordor, Halo: Master Chief Collection, Assassin's Creed Unity and Destiny. While I was hoping to play every game on the show floor, that ambitious goal did not come close to happening. In fact, I only got to play ten games. Although that number might not seem like a lot, I got to play the games I was most interested in trying, and those with the shortest lines. Considering I did not get a whole lot of time to fully experience each demo, I will be doing brief impressions on the games I played instead of doing separate first impression previews for each one. As I cannot fit all ten games in one article, there will be two parts to this Fan Expo Gauntlet. The first part focuses on the demos I got less than ten minutes with while the second part previews the games that I got much more hands-on time playing.
First things first, I learned a valuable lesson at Fan Expo: I am horrible at racing sims and that's a fact. I played three different racing sims on the show floor in Driveclub (exclusively for PS4), Forza Horizon 2 (exclusively for Xbox 360 and Xbox One) and The Crew (available on all platforms), and each game had a unique take on simulation racing. Driveclub was solely focused on providing an experience that expertly replicates the nuances of driving. With crisp graphics and precise controls, Driveclub seems to be tailored for a gaming steering wheel and throttle. While Driveclub focused on a pure simulation of driving in a pristine environment, Forza Horizon 2 took the similar precise controls and crisp graphics and threw it in an open world. The race I played in Forza was very interesting as the race dynamically moved from tarmac to dirt to grass causing me to think on the fly about how to control my car through the constantly changing terrain. Even the great grip of the tarmac can be easily erased by a downpour, all thanks to Horizon 2's dynamic weather. Although I ended up last in both Driveclub and Forza Horizon 2, I enjoyed my time with each game. The same cannot be said about The Crew. Ubisoft's unique street racing sim with a focus on team-play did little to impress due to the incredibly loose control of the cars and the complete lack of direction. It may be nice to have an open world to drive around and explore, but when the only person able to initiate anything in the demo is the Ubisoft rep, there's a big problem.
Coming out of E3, The Order: 1886 looked like a promising new IP from Sony, but I still had some reservations due to the lack of demos on the game. Once I saw that the game was going to be at Fan Expo, I was ecstatic to play it. In fact, it was the first game I played on the show floor. My ecstasy for The Order subsided when the demo ended after a mere three minutes. You are dropped in the middle of Chapter 3 of the game with the objective to escape the alleyway. Using the termite gun, you fire off a few rounds, try the special bullet time-esque pistol move, jump from multiple points of cover, activate a quick-time event and the demo is over. Three minutes is nowhere close to enough time to form an opinion on the game other than hoping there is much more in the final product. With only six months left until release, I hope Ready at Dawn has a lot more up their sleeve than this three minute disappointment.
Much like The Order: 1886, Far Cry 4 had a really good showing at E3 so again I was excited to get my hands on the game. Very similar to my time with The Order, Far Cry 4 left a lot to be desired. While The Order's problems stemmed from showing barely anything, Far Cry 4's problems stemmed from ridiculously long load times and severe pop-in. You can give the benefit of the doubt to Ubisoft, but to show a game to the public in such a poor state does not help push pre-orders. It will cause exactly the opposite to happen. Despite those issues, Far Cry 4 gave you three scenarios in which to siege an enemy fortress: sneak, ride and fly. I chose the ride option which allowed me to ride an elephant to siege the fortress. While the destruction the elephant caused was a sight to behold, I found attacking the fortress to be ill fit for one person as I was easily swarmed and overwhelmed by the enemy AI on multiple occasions. In my opinion, the demo would have greatly benefit from having two people cooperatively siege the fortress. Due to the poor quality of this demo, my expectations for Far Cry 4 have lowered quite a bit.
In light of the small amount of time I got to play Mortal Kombat X (a mere three minutes, in fact), I am going to keep this short and sweet. Mortal Kombat X was a lot of fun. The controls felt responsive, it was a lot more approachable than past entries as I put together some unique combos with ease, the interactable elements were well integrated and the game has more than enough blood, gore and violence to keep any Mortal Kombat fan happy. Although my time was short, I came away impressed with how Mortal Kombat X is progressing. Finishing foes with fatalities cannot come soon enough.
Monday, August 25, 2014
Bit by Bit: August 2014
As the weeks pass, we continue to inch ever so closer to the end of the summer. For most including yours truly, the end of summer means the beginning of school. With a new school year, I move from the craziness of managing two jobs, this blog and life to insanity of managing four university courses, a volunteer position at the university newspaper and a co-op job search on top of everything else mentioned above. Before all that awesomeness becomes reality, there are two more weeks to relax and make the most of the summer. Among the large list of things to do in these two weeks, I am going to Fan Expo Canada this coming Friday, August 29th. It has been four long years since I last went to this event and things have really changed especially on the video game side of things. Expect plenty of impressions on Fan Expo and all the games I get a chance to demo at the event in the weeks to come. While all that amazing content is going to coming to Silver Bit in the near future, it is that time again to take our monthly trip down memory lane in Bit by Bit.
Game of the Month
License games do not have the best reputation among gamers. Most of these projects do a poor job in translating the properties they represent to the video game medium that many have soured to license games altogether. Every once and awhile, there comes a diamond in the rough to show us the great potential of coupling a huge license, be it a movie, comic or television show, with this interactive medium. The latest diamond comes from the fusion of Broforce, a side-scrolling action game made by Free Lives that honours and parodies 80s action films and unabashed American patriotism, and the Expendables, Sylvester Stallone's action movie franchise that plays with nostalgia for a bygone age of blockbuster action movies and their larger than life stars. From this match made in heaven came the Expendabros.
Expendabros is a free standalone expansion to Broforce which gives players a taste of Broforce's hectic gameplay with bro-ified versions of the Expendables 3 cast. To describe Expendabros' gameplay as anything short of insane would not do the game justice. Destructible environments, bombastic weapons, buckets of pixelated blood and enough explosions to bring a tear to Michael Bay's eyes kept a grin firmly planted on my face throughout my time with the game. As much fun as I had with with the Expendabros, I did run into a good amount of slowdown especially when there were lots of explosions on screen and while loading new levels or cutscenes that took away from my experience. While Expendabros has a few problems, the game has put Broforce on my radar of games I need to play and I highly recommend those who own a PC to give this free game a try because it is loads of fun.
Most Anticipated Game of the Month
I try not to have many repeats for Most Anticipated Game of the Month, but Azure Striker Gunvolt is the exception especially considering the game is less than a week away from release. Comcept and Inti Creates' spiritual successor to Mega Man Zero will be available to download from the Nintendo eShop this coming Friday, August 29th for 15 dollars. Those who purchase Azure Striker Gunvolt within the first three months of its launch will receive Mighty Gunvolt, an 8-bit side-scrolling crossover between Gunvolt, Mighty No. 9 and Gal Gun, free of charge. From the brief gameplay trailer, Mighty Gunvolt looks to be modeled after the NES era Mega Man games with some new gameplay twists such as character specific abilities. Seeing as Capcom will be sitting on Mega Man aside from re-releasing past games on new platforms for the foreseeable future, I am glad that Keiji Inafune, Comcept and Inti Creates are taking it upon themselves to fill the void with quality successors to the Mega Man name. I cannot wait to get my hands on the fruition of their hard work later this week.
Video of the Month
When was the last time a game legitimately scared you? For me, it was BioShock. The dark, unsettling setting of Rapture combined with its disturbing residents caused me to debate whether or not to venture further into the level or shudder over the haunting screams that echoed through those halls many times.
While I personally hate horror movies due to their predictable plots and over reliance on blood and gore, I find survival horror games and games with significant horror elements very engaging because I am directly involved in the horrific events rather than a passive observer. With the drop in quality among survival horror games (Resident Evil and Alone in the Dark) and the need to give players an overabundance of firepower and strength in action games with horror elements (BioShock Infinite and The Last of Us), games that truly scare are few and far between.
Konami looks to change that situation with its new additions of Silent Hill, which will be developed by Kojima Productions with the help of horror movie aficionado Guillermo del Toro and starring The Walking Dead's Norman Reedus. With a lot of big names behind these projects, it seems like Konami is finally taking the Silent Hill franchise serious once again, but that is not all Konami did. To show the new direction for these Silent Hills, Konami released P.T. (Playable Teaser) as a free download on PS4. The one-two punch of the announcement trailer and playable teaser has generated an incredible amount of excitement for these new installments in the Silent Hill franchise. I strongly encourage everybody to try out the unique yet incredibly scary P.T. for themselves or watch a walkthrough online if you do not own a PS4. While P.T. may be more of an interactive experience than a game, it is something that all gamers mature enough should take the time to experience.
Game of the Month
License games do not have the best reputation among gamers. Most of these projects do a poor job in translating the properties they represent to the video game medium that many have soured to license games altogether. Every once and awhile, there comes a diamond in the rough to show us the great potential of coupling a huge license, be it a movie, comic or television show, with this interactive medium. The latest diamond comes from the fusion of Broforce, a side-scrolling action game made by Free Lives that honours and parodies 80s action films and unabashed American patriotism, and the Expendables, Sylvester Stallone's action movie franchise that plays with nostalgia for a bygone age of blockbuster action movies and their larger than life stars. From this match made in heaven came the Expendabros.
Expendabros is a free standalone expansion to Broforce which gives players a taste of Broforce's hectic gameplay with bro-ified versions of the Expendables 3 cast. To describe Expendabros' gameplay as anything short of insane would not do the game justice. Destructible environments, bombastic weapons, buckets of pixelated blood and enough explosions to bring a tear to Michael Bay's eyes kept a grin firmly planted on my face throughout my time with the game. As much fun as I had with with the Expendabros, I did run into a good amount of slowdown especially when there were lots of explosions on screen and while loading new levels or cutscenes that took away from my experience. While Expendabros has a few problems, the game has put Broforce on my radar of games I need to play and I highly recommend those who own a PC to give this free game a try because it is loads of fun.
Most Anticipated Game of the Month
I try not to have many repeats for Most Anticipated Game of the Month, but Azure Striker Gunvolt is the exception especially considering the game is less than a week away from release. Comcept and Inti Creates' spiritual successor to Mega Man Zero will be available to download from the Nintendo eShop this coming Friday, August 29th for 15 dollars. Those who purchase Azure Striker Gunvolt within the first three months of its launch will receive Mighty Gunvolt, an 8-bit side-scrolling crossover between Gunvolt, Mighty No. 9 and Gal Gun, free of charge. From the brief gameplay trailer, Mighty Gunvolt looks to be modeled after the NES era Mega Man games with some new gameplay twists such as character specific abilities. Seeing as Capcom will be sitting on Mega Man aside from re-releasing past games on new platforms for the foreseeable future, I am glad that Keiji Inafune, Comcept and Inti Creates are taking it upon themselves to fill the void with quality successors to the Mega Man name. I cannot wait to get my hands on the fruition of their hard work later this week.
Video of the Month
When was the last time a game legitimately scared you? For me, it was BioShock. The dark, unsettling setting of Rapture combined with its disturbing residents caused me to debate whether or not to venture further into the level or shudder over the haunting screams that echoed through those halls many times.
While I personally hate horror movies due to their predictable plots and over reliance on blood and gore, I find survival horror games and games with significant horror elements very engaging because I am directly involved in the horrific events rather than a passive observer. With the drop in quality among survival horror games (Resident Evil and Alone in the Dark) and the need to give players an overabundance of firepower and strength in action games with horror elements (BioShock Infinite and The Last of Us), games that truly scare are few and far between.
Konami looks to change that situation with its new additions of Silent Hill, which will be developed by Kojima Productions with the help of horror movie aficionado Guillermo del Toro and starring The Walking Dead's Norman Reedus. With a lot of big names behind these projects, it seems like Konami is finally taking the Silent Hill franchise serious once again, but that is not all Konami did. To show the new direction for these Silent Hills, Konami released P.T. (Playable Teaser) as a free download on PS4. The one-two punch of the announcement trailer and playable teaser has generated an incredible amount of excitement for these new installments in the Silent Hill franchise. I strongly encourage everybody to try out the unique yet incredibly scary P.T. for themselves or watch a walkthrough online if you do not own a PS4. While P.T. may be more of an interactive experience than a game, it is something that all gamers mature enough should take the time to experience.
Sunday, August 17, 2014
First Byte: Destiny
Before launching right into the game, the Destiny beta starts off in a character creation screen. In this screen, players choose their class (titan, warlock or hunter), sex (male or female), race (Human, Exo or Awoken) and other physical features. As I am not the most adverse at character creators, I only spent a few minutes creating my unique Exo warlock. Those interested in tweaking every little feature of their character to perfection might be disappointed in Destiny's focus on using preset features and colours for character creation; however it does keep players from spending an unnecessary amount of time in these menus and moves them into the action right away.
After finishing the character creation, the first cutscene plays setting up the conflict between the Traveler and the Darkness and the players' need to bear arms against the threat of the Darkness. The first mission starts as my character is resurrected by a Ghost (your character's robot companion played by Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage) and it plays out much like your standard fare tutorial introducing the core mechanics of the game. Considering you gain one level every mission in the early stages of Destiny, the four other introductory missions are very similar as each one introduces a new element of the game such as special moves, vehicles, public events and new enemy races. Once you complete the first mission, you are given access to the Tower, Destiny's social and non-combat hub. While at the Tower, players are able to view messages, buy new weapons, armour and ship upgrades, decode encrypted items, store items in vaults, take on single and multiplayer bounties and interact with fellow guardians. Exploring the Tower offers players a peaceful distraction outside the intense firefights of missions and multiplayer matches. The Tower is not the only place guardians are able to roam as players can explore each major setting of the game at their leisure. In these "explore" areas are loot caches to find, enemies to fight, secret areas to discover and side missions that come in the form of beacons to complete. Considering I did not get a chance to play the multiplayer portion of the beta, Destiny's open world areas are where I spent most of my time and I spent most of my time exploring Destiny's open world areas and they were a fun way to kill some time.
Although I am not a huge fan of first-person shooters, Destiny got its hooks in me. Even with the limited selection of missions and activities to do, I kept on coming back every chance I had and I believe it had to do with Destiny's excellent hybridization of expertly polished FPS gameplay with the empowering abilities and skills found in many RPGs. The gun play is very reminiscent of Bungie's entries into the Halo series as each gun has its own strengths and weaknesses in effectively dealing with different situations from long distance shootouts to up close and personal brawls. The RPG elements are excellently implemented as players gain levels independent of learning new skills such as hovering, draining health when using your melee or supercharged special moves. Gaining levels never feels like a grind because there are plenty of opportunities to earn experience through missions, explore mode, multiplayer matches and public events. Another impressive element of Destiny comes from the enemy AI. It floors me how well the enemies react to your tactics by moving from cover to cover, flanking when you are busy fighting another enemy or swarming when you make a mistake. Destiny's enemies are unlike the regular FPS grunts as they offer a considerable yet satisfying challenge for players of any skill level.
While I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Destiny, there are still a few issues I ran into during the beta. The most prevalent issues came with the side missions and public events in explore mode as I ran into far too many missions and events with the exact same objectives. The randomized nature of these activities is definitely a factor in this repetition, but Bungie should make a large enough pool of side missions and public events in order to avoid repetition of missions and events altogether. The other issues I found were more graphical glitches like a enemy teleporting through objects, errant collision boxes the level designers forgot to remove or stuttering during loading screens, which are not that serious. Hopefully, the beta helped the programmers and designers at Bungie find all the bugs and balancing issues needed to make Destiny a better game come launch.
Skepticism best describes my opinion of Destiny before taking part in the beta. Due to the incredible marketing might Activistion is putting behind it, there is no doubt that Destiny will be a success upon its release, but would it actually be live up to the hype is whole other question. The excellent quality of the Destiny beta has completely changed my opinion on the game. In a year with a significant lack of triple A titles, Destiny will shine brighter than any game on the market this holiday season, possibly challenging Call of Duty in sales. We will only know come September 9th if Destiny is the revolution in console MMOs that it is being hyped to be, but I do believe we are on the cusp of something special regardless.
Monday, August 11, 2014
2014: Year of the Delay
Delays are a natural part of any industry. Nothing ever goes exactly to plan as issues and problems can occur at anytime during production to negatively affect the estimated time of arrival. In the video game industry, delays come about regularly as developers run into game-breaking bugs that need additional time to receive the necessary attention or publishers search for the perfect release date for their game to succeed. While there are quite a few games that slip past their original release date each year, 2014 has seen a large amount of major releases delayed until 2015. So many delays, in fact, each one seems to make 2014 feel more like a barren wasteland for major releases.
The whole of 2013 was solely focused on launching two brand new systems in the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the heralds of the next generation of video games. With those brand new consoles, the promise of games to justify their cost and hype was not too far behind. After experiencing many console launches, a drought of games immediately following the release of these systems was to be expected, but to have this lack of major releases extend the majority of 2014 cannot be overlooked. Although the good amount of downloadable releases may satisfy the most dedicated gamers between major releases, the vast majority does not scour the PlayStation Store, Xbox Marketplace or Nintendo eShop regularly for games to buy. Sadly that vast majority focuses on the larger retail titles such as Call of Duty, The Last of Us and Watch Dogs over downloadable games like Child of Light, Shovel Knight and Transistor. The games being delayed until 2015 (Batman: Arkham Knight, Evolve, The Division and Witcher III) are the system sellers for these next generation consoles and delaying these games until following year will cause more people to hold out on buying a PS4 or Xbox One for the time being. Each time a major release is delayed, it adds more fuel to the argument that the next generation came a year before it was actually ready.
Despite all the negativity surrounding game delays, they are necessary and beneficial part of the video game industry. Delays offer developers more time to fix bugs, polish mechanics, balance features and refine a game's content, which all result in making a better product. Rushing a game to market, especially in an unfinished state, to meet a deadline can do a lot of damage to a company's image than actual good. While the extra time benefits a game, there are some current trends involving delays that can have an averse effect on a game. These trends include delaying a game just a few weeks before its release (Rayman Legends), over-hyping a game before its delay to go completely silent on it afterwards (Watch Dogs) and setting a release date for a game in order to push pre-orders before delaying it (Batman: Arkham Knight). These trends alienate the loyal fans that look to support these games through pre-orders, buying collector's editions and paying for season passes by literally pulling the rug out from under them. Playing with the emotions of the most passionate fans is an easy way to sour their opinions towards a certain game or game company. Developers and publishers need to let delays be for the betterment of the games and learn to keep their audience's emotions in mind when announcing and handling these crucial situations.
Although it may be a tough pill to swallow, delays are an inevitable part of the video game industry. They are needed to handle the unpredictable nature of game development, but gamers, publishers and developers all need to find better ways of dealing with them especially as development costs rise and the ability to connect with one another becomes more available. As a gamer, it is disappointing to see the list of major releases in 2014 dwindle every month as many get pushed to 2015, but all hope is not lost. There are many other options for gamers to spend their valuable time with than just the larger triple A titles including a wide selection of value-priced downloadable games or a vast backlog of games missed out on from previous years. While 2014 may be a soft year for major game releases, best use the extra time to discover brand new experiences or rediscover those you missed out on from years past. The games we are all excited about will eventually see the light of day; we just have to be a little more patient.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Bit by Bit: July 2014
July has been an incredibly busy month. Funny enough, it has been busy for every reason except gaming. Once the final article for E3 2014 went up at the end of June, my life has consisted of endlessly working on a large report for an online course, picking up numerous shifts at my two jobs and volunteering for the university newspaper. The little free time I had was spent away from the keyboard and either with friends trying to make the most of the summer or in front of a television re-watching Gundam Wing (one of my favourite animes) in its entirety. To sum things up, Silver Bit has been the least of worries for the past month, but those priorities change now as I have a lot planned for August in order to end this summer as strong as it started. Stay tuned to Silver Bit as the best is yet to come, I promise. Before we get ahead of ourselves, let us look back at the month that was July 2014.
Game of the Month
When I snuck in some time to play games, there was one game which dominated my time. If you paid attention to Silver Bit at all during July, you would have seen the review of said game posted a couple weeks ago. Yes, Shovel Knight is the Game of the Month and rightfully so, the game is phenomenal. Even after completing the game on Normal, I return to play a few levels in New Game+, search for hidden music sheets and maximize my treasure count. I can rant and rave about Shovel Knight for hours on end, but I highly recommend reading the review to get my full opinion on the game. If you are already enjoying Shovel Knight especially the music, the soundtrack and arranged album for the game are both available on composer Jake Kaufman's Bandcamp for any price you would like to pay. Both albums work as excellent accompanying pieces to Shovel Knight and are highly recommended to anyone who enjoys video game music. With that all said and done, I cannot stress how wonderful Shovel Knight is. It is a game that needs to be experienced and at the low price of 15 dollars, there is no excuse to miss out on this adventure.
Most Anticipated Game of the Month
July 17th marked the start of the most anticipated beta in years, the Destiny beta. The last time a beta was so highly anticipated was way back in 2007 with the Halo 3 beta and coincidentally the Destiny beta comes from the studio that originally created Halo-- Bungie. A mere pre-order for Destiny gave you full access to the beta upon its release. Even with that extremely low barrier of entry, those already in the beta received two addition beta codes in order to encourage others to play the beta and gain access to all the content in the beta including the cooperative strike mission (Destiny's equivalent to raids found in other massively multiplayer online games). If you owned any Microsoft or Sony console, there was no reason not to play the Destiny beta during the last two weeks of July. While I will be going into much further detail in an upcoming edition of First Byte, I want to share some of my initial thoughts on Destiny here. Considering my youngest brother hogged the PS4 almost day and night to play the beta, I enjoyed the limited time with Destiny I snuck in between his long sessions. It blends the expertly polished gameplay of Bungie's entries in the Halo series with the unique RPG elements of Borderlands to great success. Nowadays, the FPS genre is full of shallow experiences that aim to imitate the latest Michael Bay action movie rather than create a compelling game with actual depth that Destiny feels so refreshing. While I do not have a high opinion on the current direction of the genre, Destiny stands out as a first-person shooter that I am actually excited for and in all honesty that does not happen often. I cannot wait to spend some quality time with Destiny come September unless my brother decides to commit every waking moment to playing the game.
Video of the Month
Another month, another Smash Bros. reveal. This time around we did not get just one new addition to the roster, Nintendo dropped three. Newcomers Robin and Lucina from Fire Emblem Awakening join the returning Captain Falcon as the newest members of the Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U roster. The reveal trailer blends the anime-style graphics of Awakening's cutscenes with gameplay footage from the new Smash Bros. in a way that makes both art styles compliment one another. Much like the other reveal trailers, the video speaks for itself. So sit back, relax and let Mr. Sakurai take you for a ride.
Game of the Month
When I snuck in some time to play games, there was one game which dominated my time. If you paid attention to Silver Bit at all during July, you would have seen the review of said game posted a couple weeks ago. Yes, Shovel Knight is the Game of the Month and rightfully so, the game is phenomenal. Even after completing the game on Normal, I return to play a few levels in New Game+, search for hidden music sheets and maximize my treasure count. I can rant and rave about Shovel Knight for hours on end, but I highly recommend reading the review to get my full opinion on the game. If you are already enjoying Shovel Knight especially the music, the soundtrack and arranged album for the game are both available on composer Jake Kaufman's Bandcamp for any price you would like to pay. Both albums work as excellent accompanying pieces to Shovel Knight and are highly recommended to anyone who enjoys video game music. With that all said and done, I cannot stress how wonderful Shovel Knight is. It is a game that needs to be experienced and at the low price of 15 dollars, there is no excuse to miss out on this adventure.
Most Anticipated Game of the Month
July 17th marked the start of the most anticipated beta in years, the Destiny beta. The last time a beta was so highly anticipated was way back in 2007 with the Halo 3 beta and coincidentally the Destiny beta comes from the studio that originally created Halo-- Bungie. A mere pre-order for Destiny gave you full access to the beta upon its release. Even with that extremely low barrier of entry, those already in the beta received two addition beta codes in order to encourage others to play the beta and gain access to all the content in the beta including the cooperative strike mission (Destiny's equivalent to raids found in other massively multiplayer online games). If you owned any Microsoft or Sony console, there was no reason not to play the Destiny beta during the last two weeks of July. While I will be going into much further detail in an upcoming edition of First Byte, I want to share some of my initial thoughts on Destiny here. Considering my youngest brother hogged the PS4 almost day and night to play the beta, I enjoyed the limited time with Destiny I snuck in between his long sessions. It blends the expertly polished gameplay of Bungie's entries in the Halo series with the unique RPG elements of Borderlands to great success. Nowadays, the FPS genre is full of shallow experiences that aim to imitate the latest Michael Bay action movie rather than create a compelling game with actual depth that Destiny feels so refreshing. While I do not have a high opinion on the current direction of the genre, Destiny stands out as a first-person shooter that I am actually excited for and in all honesty that does not happen often. I cannot wait to spend some quality time with Destiny come September unless my brother decides to commit every waking moment to playing the game.
Video of the Month
Another month, another Smash Bros. reveal. This time around we did not get just one new addition to the roster, Nintendo dropped three. Newcomers Robin and Lucina from Fire Emblem Awakening join the returning Captain Falcon as the newest members of the Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U roster. The reveal trailer blends the anime-style graphics of Awakening's cutscenes with gameplay footage from the new Smash Bros. in a way that makes both art styles compliment one another. Much like the other reveal trailers, the video speaks for itself. So sit back, relax and let Mr. Sakurai take you for a ride.
Monday, June 30, 2014
Top 10 Games of E3 2014 Part 2
Welcome to the second part of Silver Bit's Top 10 Games of E3 2014. In the previous article, we took a look at the games that just barely made this final five. E3 2014 saw some great games grace the show floor, but only a handful can walk away as the most impressive games of the show. While all the games on this list are among the best of E3, the games in this top five could easily walk away with top honours depending on one's opinion. To reiterate, the only games eligible for this list are those available to play on the show floor. Now with that reminder out of the way, it is time to count down the final five games in Silver Bit's Top 10 Games of E3 2014. Hope you enjoy and feel free to share your favourite games of E3 2014 in the comments.
5. Sunset Overdrive - XBONE
There are only a select few Xbox One exclusives that really get one hopeful for first-party content on the machine and Insomniac Games' Sunset Overdrive is champion over them all. All of Microsoft's offerings nowadays seem to fall under the same experiences they delivered last generation, but Sunset Overdrive is the shining example of what happens when you give a team of creative minds full control over their vision. Sunset Overdrive is pure unadulterated fun wrapped into an open-world third-person action game. Stuck in Sunset City during the Awesompocolypse, the player is tasked with cleaning up the mess made by the launch of FizzCo's Overcharge Delirium XT, an energy drink that turns anyone who drinks into mindless mutated creatures known as the OD'd. Sunset Overdrive gives players tons of options to tackle their task through fully customizable characters, a slew of creatively designed weapons and plenty of solo and multiplayer missions to complete throughout Sunset City. Traversing Sunset City is incredibly fluid as players are able to wall run, grind rails and wires, instantly switch between grinding and zip-lining, bounce off of any surface and use other crazy acrobatics. Although Microsoft will not push Sunset Overdrive as heavily as Halo or Forza, it is a game that Xbox One owners should not overlook this holiday season.
4. Valiant Hearts: The Great War - PS3, PS4, XBONE, XB360, PC
The UbiArt engine has proven time and time again that the most beautiful games do not need to have the largest polygon count. In fact, the art in 2D games can be just as beautiful or even more than their 3D counterparts; just look at Rayman Legends and Child of Light for proof. Valiant Hearts: The Great War is the next title to use the UbiArt engine and the game looks spectacular in terms of its visuals and gameplay. Valiant Hearts follows the story of four individuals as they try to survive the horrors of World War I. Starting in different locations and allegiances, the stories of each character interconnect with one another through a common companion--a dog named Walt. Throughout the game, the characters are thrust into various situations from sneaking behind enemy lines to blowing up bridges. Valiant Hearts offers players plenty of puzzles to complete through interacting with the environment and other characters or sending Walt to reach areas the characters cannot normally reach. The interplay between using the characters and Walt to solve puzzles and the mature tones of the story have me very excited to venture into the world of Valiant Hearts in the near future.
3. Batman: Arkham Knight - PS4, XBONE, PC
In recent years, The Dark Knight has become an incredible force within the video game industry thanks to the folks at Rocksteady. One can argue that the Batman: Arkham games are single-handedly the greatest licensed games to grace the market. As the final entry in this acclaimed series, Rocksteady looks to pull no punches with Arkham Knight as Batman and his world are being supercharged with new abilities and content. The moment from the E3 demo where Batman steps out onto the balcony of his hideout and peers out onto Rockstady's Gotham City will make anybody's jaw drop. The expansiveness of this open world is breathtaking and I can see myself drowning hundreds of hours exploring every nook and cranny of Gotham City. With how vast Gotham City will be in Arkham Knight, Batman needs another way to traverse the city than just his trusty grappling hook and cape. For this final installment, the Batmobile has been added to The Dark Knight's arsenal. Aside from the vehicles primary purpose, Batman can summon the Batmobile at will, use it to immobilize enemies, have it clear obstacles and launch himself into the air. The Batmobile is not the only addition as Batman's combat and stealth abilities are receiving considerable upgrades in speed and precision. Although Batman: Arkham Knight will no longer be gracing consoles this year, the game looks to be on the road to surpassing its predecessors' legendary quality.
2. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS - Wii U, 3DS
Arguably the most anticipated game of 2014, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS had one of the best showings of the show. Nintendo went out of their way to make Super Smash Bros. the most important game of the show. They gave fans three character reveals in Mii Fighters, Palutena and Pac Man, an incredible live tourney held in the Nokia Theatre and multiple kiosks to play on the show floor. Seeing the two versions in motion is a thing of beauty. The Wii U version flows at an incredible clip and all the new characters, stages and items look to fit in with the polished gameplay. While the 3DS version may take some time to get use to the controllers as I have heard from many video impressions on the game, it looks just as polished and refined as its Wii U brethren. Much like Far Cry 4 in part one, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS are both hard to sum up in words. I highly recommend watching the Super Smash Bros. Invitational or one of the live demos from Nintendo Treehouse Live at E3 to see how great these games play.
1. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - PS4, XBONE, PC
There are only a select few Xbox One exclusives that really get one hopeful for first-party content on the machine and Insomniac Games' Sunset Overdrive is champion over them all. All of Microsoft's offerings nowadays seem to fall under the same experiences they delivered last generation, but Sunset Overdrive is the shining example of what happens when you give a team of creative minds full control over their vision. Sunset Overdrive is pure unadulterated fun wrapped into an open-world third-person action game. Stuck in Sunset City during the Awesompocolypse, the player is tasked with cleaning up the mess made by the launch of FizzCo's Overcharge Delirium XT, an energy drink that turns anyone who drinks into mindless mutated creatures known as the OD'd. Sunset Overdrive gives players tons of options to tackle their task through fully customizable characters, a slew of creatively designed weapons and plenty of solo and multiplayer missions to complete throughout Sunset City. Traversing Sunset City is incredibly fluid as players are able to wall run, grind rails and wires, instantly switch between grinding and zip-lining, bounce off of any surface and use other crazy acrobatics. Although Microsoft will not push Sunset Overdrive as heavily as Halo or Forza, it is a game that Xbox One owners should not overlook this holiday season.
The UbiArt engine has proven time and time again that the most beautiful games do not need to have the largest polygon count. In fact, the art in 2D games can be just as beautiful or even more than their 3D counterparts; just look at Rayman Legends and Child of Light for proof. Valiant Hearts: The Great War is the next title to use the UbiArt engine and the game looks spectacular in terms of its visuals and gameplay. Valiant Hearts follows the story of four individuals as they try to survive the horrors of World War I. Starting in different locations and allegiances, the stories of each character interconnect with one another through a common companion--a dog named Walt. Throughout the game, the characters are thrust into various situations from sneaking behind enemy lines to blowing up bridges. Valiant Hearts offers players plenty of puzzles to complete through interacting with the environment and other characters or sending Walt to reach areas the characters cannot normally reach. The interplay between using the characters and Walt to solve puzzles and the mature tones of the story have me very excited to venture into the world of Valiant Hearts in the near future.
In recent years, The Dark Knight has become an incredible force within the video game industry thanks to the folks at Rocksteady. One can argue that the Batman: Arkham games are single-handedly the greatest licensed games to grace the market. As the final entry in this acclaimed series, Rocksteady looks to pull no punches with Arkham Knight as Batman and his world are being supercharged with new abilities and content. The moment from the E3 demo where Batman steps out onto the balcony of his hideout and peers out onto Rockstady's Gotham City will make anybody's jaw drop. The expansiveness of this open world is breathtaking and I can see myself drowning hundreds of hours exploring every nook and cranny of Gotham City. With how vast Gotham City will be in Arkham Knight, Batman needs another way to traverse the city than just his trusty grappling hook and cape. For this final installment, the Batmobile has been added to The Dark Knight's arsenal. Aside from the vehicles primary purpose, Batman can summon the Batmobile at will, use it to immobilize enemies, have it clear obstacles and launch himself into the air. The Batmobile is not the only addition as Batman's combat and stealth abilities are receiving considerable upgrades in speed and precision. Although Batman: Arkham Knight will no longer be gracing consoles this year, the game looks to be on the road to surpassing its predecessors' legendary quality.
Arguably the most anticipated game of 2014, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS had one of the best showings of the show. Nintendo went out of their way to make Super Smash Bros. the most important game of the show. They gave fans three character reveals in Mii Fighters, Palutena and Pac Man, an incredible live tourney held in the Nokia Theatre and multiple kiosks to play on the show floor. Seeing the two versions in motion is a thing of beauty. The Wii U version flows at an incredible clip and all the new characters, stages and items look to fit in with the polished gameplay. While the 3DS version may take some time to get use to the controllers as I have heard from many video impressions on the game, it looks just as polished and refined as its Wii U brethren. Much like Far Cry 4 in part one, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS are both hard to sum up in words. I highly recommend watching the Super Smash Bros. Invitational or one of the live demos from Nintendo Treehouse Live at E3 to see how great these games play.
As great as Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS may be, there is one game greater than it this year. That game is The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Not much has been shown of Witcher 3 since its reveal back in early 2013, but CD Projekt RED let the floodgates loose at E3. The Witcher 3 gives players a living, breathing open world to explore. In fact, the map is 30 times larger than the previous Witcher games. Plus the amount of freedom in The Witcher 3 is incredible as players can venture to any part of the map at any time and pick up and put down story and side quests whenever they choose. On your way to a quest objective and feel like helping a traveler in distress along the way or starting up a whole other quest, you are free to do that without penalty. The world is shaped around the player's choices in combat, regular conversation and pivotal story moments. Every piece of media for The Witcher 3 from E3 has been nothing short of phenomenal from the blood-pumping pre-E3 trailer to the show floor demos. While The Witcher 3 may not earn the same amount of money Elder Scrolls, Dragon Age or Mass Effect rake in, this game and its ambitious scope prove why anybody should spend close to 600 dollars on a next generation console. The next generation of video gaming truly begins on February 24th, 2015 with the release of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Top 10 Games of E3 2014 Part 1
Silver Bit's month long coverage of E3 2014 comes to an end with the annual Top Games of E3 list. This year yours truly is going to switch things up as this list will be a Top 10 list instead of the Top 5 lists from previous years. Due to the change, it will be hard to contain all these games in one article. To solve the problem, I will be splitting the list into two parts with part one covering numbers 10 through 6 while part two covers numbers 5 through 1. As I could not physically go to Los Angeles to experience E3 in person, efforts have been made to watch as much gameplay footage available online to narrow down the best games for this list. Like in years past, the only games eligible for this list are those available to play on E3's show floor. Without any further stipulations, let us count down the first five games in Silver Bit's Top 10 Games of E3 2014.
10. Mario Maker - Wii U
If there is one Nintendo property that people have grown tired of over the years, it is Mario. Mario releases may come at an accelerated rate these days, but you cannot blame Nintendo for sticking with what sells especially when they need it the most. I will admit that Mario's 2D platformers have not added much to the formula since New Super Mario Bros. for the DS. Mario's recent stagnation in two dimensions makes Mario Maker such a breath of fresh air. Giving the player full freedom to create whatever 2D Mario level their heart desires in such an official form is a dream come true. Mario Maker allows players to build levels using classic Mario assets such as blocks, warp pipes, goombas and koopas, two different styles of graphics (original NES graphics and the New Super Mario Bros. graphics) and the ability to instantly switch between editing and playing levels at any time. Mario Maker is the next logical step in taking 2D Mario games to a whole new level. There is an incredible amount of potential in placing the creation of new Mario levels in the hands of the players and this writer is excited to see what crazy contraptions come from it.
9. Evolve - PS4, XBONE, PC
Coming from the minds that brought us classic cooperative shooter Left 4 Dead, Evolve looks to take competitive and cooperative shooters in a brand new direction. Evolve is a four vs. one multiplayer shooter where the team of four has to work together to beat the one. It might seem very unfair if the one was not a gigantic monster. With this unique dynamic, matches involve much more than straight-up firefights. Playing as the monster involves taking advantage of the moment-to-moment action to decide between striking the opposing team or avoiding combat in order to eat roaming creatures needed to evolve into more powerful stages. On the other hand, the hunters need to work effectively as a team in order to track down and kill the monster before it becomes too much for the team to handle. Matches in Evolve become hectic games of cat-and-mouse as both sides wrestle for control of territory and resources while contending with the unpredictable computer-controlled creatures that inhabit each map. Since Turtle Rock Studios announced the game this past January, Evolve has been nothing but impressive especially with its showings at this year's E3.
8. CounterSpy - PS3, PS4, PSV
Not much has been seen of Dynamighty's PlayStation exclusive outside the trailer found on PS4 demo kiosks across North America. Considering CounterSpy is being published by Sony, one would have thought the gaming giant would make mention of it at their press conference. In fact, the only footage available of CounterSpy at E3 is from the demo on the show floor. It is a shame because of how great CounterSpy plays. CounterSpy is a side-scrolling stealth game that has players sneaking through enemy bases in order to prevent nuclear war between the United States and Russia. Trusted with a silenced pistol and stealth know-how, the player jumps between cover, shooting and taking out enemies on the fly. In particular, the cover mechanics for the game are very interesting as the camera changes from a side view of the stage to slightly tilted view of the player and their sight from cover. Overall, CounterSpy looks like a delightful downloadable that deserves a lot more attention than it is currently getting. Watch some gameplay for it, CounterSpy might just surprise you.
7. Mortal Kombat X - PS3, PS4, XBONE, XB360, PC
Mortal Kombat has seen its fair share of ups and downs over the years especially during the PS2, Xbox and Gamecube years. With the success of Mortal Kombat 9, things have gotten back on track for the franchise. Not to rest on their laurels, Ed Boon and NetherRealm Studios are making big changes to series while expanding on successful mechanics introduced in Mortal Kombat 9 and Injustice: Gods Among Us. Mortal Kombat X's biggest departure comes in its roster and story as the game takes place 25 years after the events of the previous game. Since 25 years have passed, the roster will consist of brand new characters such as Cassie Cage (daughter of Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade), Kotal Khan (a blood god) and D'Vorah (a human/insect hybrid) along with some returning favourites like Scorpion and Sub-Zero. Although gameplay remains very similar to past Mortal Kombats with the return of fatalities, special moves and x-ray moves, there are some interesting additions in the form of fully interactable environments and combat variations. Much like Injustice, combatants can use parts of the environment to launch themselves into the air, set traps for opponents or use as additional weapons. Speaking of combat variations, each fighter has three different variations to choose from which changes their move sets, strengths, weaknesses and weapons. With all the new additions and refinements to Mortal Kombat X, gamers all around should be excited to dive back into this fighting game franchise come 2015.
6. Far Cry 4 - PS3, PS4, XBONE, XB360, PC
Far Cry 3 surprised everybody back in 2012 with its excellent gameplay and vibrant open world. Two years later, Ubisoft is at it once again with Far Cry 4. To sum up Far Cry 4's showing at E3 in one word, it would be jaw-dropping. Instead of having an entire island at your disposal, you now have an entire country in Kyrat. On foot, in car and through the air, Far Cry 4 gives the player an incredible amount of choice to explore Kyrat however they want. Gameplay gives the player the same amount of freedom as you can play solo or with a friend, use items and animals found in the environment to your advantage and freely move between modes of travel at any time. It is hard to describe everything that makes Far Cry 4 such a standout among the sea of shooters releasing this year. It is best to watch some gameplay footage of Far Cry 4 and see the awesomeness for yourself.
Well, this marks the end of part one. Hope you enjoyed the list up to this point and feel free to share your favourite games of E3 in the comments. If you want to continue reading, click this link to see the conclusion to Silver Bit's Top 10 Games of E3 2014
If there is one Nintendo property that people have grown tired of over the years, it is Mario. Mario releases may come at an accelerated rate these days, but you cannot blame Nintendo for sticking with what sells especially when they need it the most. I will admit that Mario's 2D platformers have not added much to the formula since New Super Mario Bros. for the DS. Mario's recent stagnation in two dimensions makes Mario Maker such a breath of fresh air. Giving the player full freedom to create whatever 2D Mario level their heart desires in such an official form is a dream come true. Mario Maker allows players to build levels using classic Mario assets such as blocks, warp pipes, goombas and koopas, two different styles of graphics (original NES graphics and the New Super Mario Bros. graphics) and the ability to instantly switch between editing and playing levels at any time. Mario Maker is the next logical step in taking 2D Mario games to a whole new level. There is an incredible amount of potential in placing the creation of new Mario levels in the hands of the players and this writer is excited to see what crazy contraptions come from it.
Coming from the minds that brought us classic cooperative shooter Left 4 Dead, Evolve looks to take competitive and cooperative shooters in a brand new direction. Evolve is a four vs. one multiplayer shooter where the team of four has to work together to beat the one. It might seem very unfair if the one was not a gigantic monster. With this unique dynamic, matches involve much more than straight-up firefights. Playing as the monster involves taking advantage of the moment-to-moment action to decide between striking the opposing team or avoiding combat in order to eat roaming creatures needed to evolve into more powerful stages. On the other hand, the hunters need to work effectively as a team in order to track down and kill the monster before it becomes too much for the team to handle. Matches in Evolve become hectic games of cat-and-mouse as both sides wrestle for control of territory and resources while contending with the unpredictable computer-controlled creatures that inhabit each map. Since Turtle Rock Studios announced the game this past January, Evolve has been nothing but impressive especially with its showings at this year's E3.
Not much has been seen of Dynamighty's PlayStation exclusive outside the trailer found on PS4 demo kiosks across North America. Considering CounterSpy is being published by Sony, one would have thought the gaming giant would make mention of it at their press conference. In fact, the only footage available of CounterSpy at E3 is from the demo on the show floor. It is a shame because of how great CounterSpy plays. CounterSpy is a side-scrolling stealth game that has players sneaking through enemy bases in order to prevent nuclear war between the United States and Russia. Trusted with a silenced pistol and stealth know-how, the player jumps between cover, shooting and taking out enemies on the fly. In particular, the cover mechanics for the game are very interesting as the camera changes from a side view of the stage to slightly tilted view of the player and their sight from cover. Overall, CounterSpy looks like a delightful downloadable that deserves a lot more attention than it is currently getting. Watch some gameplay for it, CounterSpy might just surprise you.
Mortal Kombat has seen its fair share of ups and downs over the years especially during the PS2, Xbox and Gamecube years. With the success of Mortal Kombat 9, things have gotten back on track for the franchise. Not to rest on their laurels, Ed Boon and NetherRealm Studios are making big changes to series while expanding on successful mechanics introduced in Mortal Kombat 9 and Injustice: Gods Among Us. Mortal Kombat X's biggest departure comes in its roster and story as the game takes place 25 years after the events of the previous game. Since 25 years have passed, the roster will consist of brand new characters such as Cassie Cage (daughter of Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade), Kotal Khan (a blood god) and D'Vorah (a human/insect hybrid) along with some returning favourites like Scorpion and Sub-Zero. Although gameplay remains very similar to past Mortal Kombats with the return of fatalities, special moves and x-ray moves, there are some interesting additions in the form of fully interactable environments and combat variations. Much like Injustice, combatants can use parts of the environment to launch themselves into the air, set traps for opponents or use as additional weapons. Speaking of combat variations, each fighter has three different variations to choose from which changes their move sets, strengths, weaknesses and weapons. With all the new additions and refinements to Mortal Kombat X, gamers all around should be excited to dive back into this fighting game franchise come 2015.
Far Cry 3 surprised everybody back in 2012 with its excellent gameplay and vibrant open world. Two years later, Ubisoft is at it once again with Far Cry 4. To sum up Far Cry 4's showing at E3 in one word, it would be jaw-dropping. Instead of having an entire island at your disposal, you now have an entire country in Kyrat. On foot, in car and through the air, Far Cry 4 gives the player an incredible amount of choice to explore Kyrat however they want. Gameplay gives the player the same amount of freedom as you can play solo or with a friend, use items and animals found in the environment to your advantage and freely move between modes of travel at any time. It is hard to describe everything that makes Far Cry 4 such a standout among the sea of shooters releasing this year. It is best to watch some gameplay footage of Far Cry 4 and see the awesomeness for yourself.
Well, this marks the end of part one. Hope you enjoyed the list up to this point and feel free to share your favourite games of E3 in the comments. If you want to continue reading, click this link to see the conclusion to Silver Bit's Top 10 Games of E3 2014
Monday, June 23, 2014
Bit by Bit: E3 2014 Wrap-up
E3 has come and gone for yet another year. While the event may be over, the analysis of the show and all the games shown off has just begun. All over the net, you see all the podcasts, reviews and awards dedicated to every aspect of the show popping up in the next couple weeks. Here at Silver Bit, the month of June usually is solely focused on E3 from the previews to the conference impressions to the wrap-up articles. In fact, I am watching all the gameplay footage that I can get my hands on to put together the annual Top 10 Games of E3 article which will conclude the month of June. Before we move onto bigger and better things, let us look back on the show that was E3 2014 in this special edition of Bit by Bit.
Winner of E3 2014
As a whole, E3 2014 was an entertaining and ultimately safe show. Aside from a few unique experiences, not many gambles were taken to infuse some innovation into the industry. Although there were a plethora of familiar games showcased, all of them looked incredible. With the amount of detail and fidelity in the coming wave of next generation titles, I can understand the current lack of new properties as a trade-off to getting a handle on the new hardware. There were still new properties shown at the event in Evolve, The Order 1886, No Man's Sky and Sunset Overdrive, but they have not been put on the same pedestal that Assassin's Creed, Gears of War and Uncharted were early in the previous console generation. Apart from the focus on familiar franchises, E3 2014 did an excellent job in showcasing how great 2015 will be compared to the rest of 2014. All of the games people eagerly desire except Destiny or Super Smash Bros. comes out next year and that fact is just a little upsetting considering there is still no killer app for this generation yet. Guess it will come with everything else releasing in 2015.
Enough of my analysis of E3 2014, let us get down to which company won at this year's show. Winning E3 really comes down to personal opinion and how the showcased games appeal to each individual. This year, the three console manufacturers were neck-and-neck in their showings. Everybody did a good job in providing gamers with the games they wanted to see and the information they wanted to hear. As close as this arms race was, Sony impressed me the most at E3 2014. While I am in the minority, Sony's winning performance last year only came because they did the exact opposite of Microsoft and built their hype for the PS4 around that plan. On the software side, not much impressed last year. However this year Sony delivered with the games and content to compliment their highly successful system. I came out of the Sony Press Conference knowing that I need a PS4 to get the most out of this new generation. Even though the press conference had that excruciatingly boring thirty minutes, I would take this year's great three quarters over last year's excellent one fourth any day. Sony could have lost some ground at E3 2014 with a lacklustre showing, but they delivered and solidified their place as number one this console generation.
Surprise of E3 2014
In the last few years, E3 surprises have become few and far between. With the internet now, the few surprises actually planned for E3 might not make it to the show itself as they are leaked in the months, weeks and even days in advance. For a surprise to stay a surprise right up until the moment of its revealed makes the moment feel like an event especially on this stage. There were a slightly more surprises this year in Phantom Dust, Rainbow Six: Siege, Splatoon and Codename S.T.E.A.M., but one stood tall over the rest. That surprise came at the Sony Press Conference from Adam Boyes along with some help from a girl named Sally. It would turn out that Sally was not a girl, but renowned adventure game designer Tim Schafer. Sally's wish for a return to a classic Tim Schafer adventure game came true when Boyes announced the Grim Fandango HD remake exclusively for PS4 and PS Vita. As niche as adventure games may be, this news got me very excited because I have never played the original and heard so many great things about the game. Funny enough, I was actually wondering if Double Fine would re-release Grim Fandango on Steam or remake the game for this generation a few months back. After thinking about it, to actually see Grim Fandango HD become reality was like Sony found a way to read my mind. It was an incredible reveal that easily was the highlight of the Sony Press Conference and the entire show.
Trailer of E3 2014
The only thing more prevalent at E3 than the plethora of demos that line the show floor are the trailers. Each game at the event has a trailer to get gamers excited and to permeate the hundreds of screens covering the E3 booths. Ranging from multi-minute vignettes to short little teasers, the trailers at this year's event varied in quality. Some tried to be incredibly dramatic while others went lighter in tone and heavy with the humour. There were quite a few standouts such as The Witcher III's epic story trailer, Sunset Overdrive's hilarious parody of modern shooters and Super Smash Bros.'s Mii Fighter reveal which saw Reggie and Iwata duke it out in spectacular fashion. Out of those great trailers, The Legend of Zelda for Wii U reveal trailer was the best. While short in length, the trailer captured key details for this new adventure in the world of Hyrule. The beautiful cel-shaded anime-inspired graphics and the grand vistas will be the first things to catch the eye, but there are much more to dig into with this trailer. The confirmation of horse riding, more options to fight on horseback, the blend of modern technology and medieval fantasy and the dynamic open world were among the amazing features revealed through this trailer. While early in development, The Legend of Zelda for Wii U looks absolutely incredible and this trailer is just the beginning of all the great media we will receive in the near future.
Winner of E3 2014
As a whole, E3 2014 was an entertaining and ultimately safe show. Aside from a few unique experiences, not many gambles were taken to infuse some innovation into the industry. Although there were a plethora of familiar games showcased, all of them looked incredible. With the amount of detail and fidelity in the coming wave of next generation titles, I can understand the current lack of new properties as a trade-off to getting a handle on the new hardware. There were still new properties shown at the event in Evolve, The Order 1886, No Man's Sky and Sunset Overdrive, but they have not been put on the same pedestal that Assassin's Creed, Gears of War and Uncharted were early in the previous console generation. Apart from the focus on familiar franchises, E3 2014 did an excellent job in showcasing how great 2015 will be compared to the rest of 2014. All of the games people eagerly desire except Destiny or Super Smash Bros. comes out next year and that fact is just a little upsetting considering there is still no killer app for this generation yet. Guess it will come with everything else releasing in 2015.
Enough of my analysis of E3 2014, let us get down to which company won at this year's show. Winning E3 really comes down to personal opinion and how the showcased games appeal to each individual. This year, the three console manufacturers were neck-and-neck in their showings. Everybody did a good job in providing gamers with the games they wanted to see and the information they wanted to hear. As close as this arms race was, Sony impressed me the most at E3 2014. While I am in the minority, Sony's winning performance last year only came because they did the exact opposite of Microsoft and built their hype for the PS4 around that plan. On the software side, not much impressed last year. However this year Sony delivered with the games and content to compliment their highly successful system. I came out of the Sony Press Conference knowing that I need a PS4 to get the most out of this new generation. Even though the press conference had that excruciatingly boring thirty minutes, I would take this year's great three quarters over last year's excellent one fourth any day. Sony could have lost some ground at E3 2014 with a lacklustre showing, but they delivered and solidified their place as number one this console generation.
Surprise of E3 2014
In the last few years, E3 surprises have become few and far between. With the internet now, the few surprises actually planned for E3 might not make it to the show itself as they are leaked in the months, weeks and even days in advance. For a surprise to stay a surprise right up until the moment of its revealed makes the moment feel like an event especially on this stage. There were a slightly more surprises this year in Phantom Dust, Rainbow Six: Siege, Splatoon and Codename S.T.E.A.M., but one stood tall over the rest. That surprise came at the Sony Press Conference from Adam Boyes along with some help from a girl named Sally. It would turn out that Sally was not a girl, but renowned adventure game designer Tim Schafer. Sally's wish for a return to a classic Tim Schafer adventure game came true when Boyes announced the Grim Fandango HD remake exclusively for PS4 and PS Vita. As niche as adventure games may be, this news got me very excited because I have never played the original and heard so many great things about the game. Funny enough, I was actually wondering if Double Fine would re-release Grim Fandango on Steam or remake the game for this generation a few months back. After thinking about it, to actually see Grim Fandango HD become reality was like Sony found a way to read my mind. It was an incredible reveal that easily was the highlight of the Sony Press Conference and the entire show.
Trailer of E3 2014
The only thing more prevalent at E3 than the plethora of demos that line the show floor are the trailers. Each game at the event has a trailer to get gamers excited and to permeate the hundreds of screens covering the E3 booths. Ranging from multi-minute vignettes to short little teasers, the trailers at this year's event varied in quality. Some tried to be incredibly dramatic while others went lighter in tone and heavy with the humour. There were quite a few standouts such as The Witcher III's epic story trailer, Sunset Overdrive's hilarious parody of modern shooters and Super Smash Bros.'s Mii Fighter reveal which saw Reggie and Iwata duke it out in spectacular fashion. Out of those great trailers, The Legend of Zelda for Wii U reveal trailer was the best. While short in length, the trailer captured key details for this new adventure in the world of Hyrule. The beautiful cel-shaded anime-inspired graphics and the grand vistas will be the first things to catch the eye, but there are much more to dig into with this trailer. The confirmation of horse riding, more options to fight on horseback, the blend of modern technology and medieval fantasy and the dynamic open world were among the amazing features revealed through this trailer. While early in development, The Legend of Zelda for Wii U looks absolutely incredible and this trailer is just the beginning of all the great media we will receive in the near future.
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
E3 2014: Sony Press Conference Impressions
To answer that question, Sony killed it again this year. While last year's conference only came together in the last thirty minutes, Sony kept people excited and interested throughout their two hour presentation. There was a good thirty minute chuck that almost killed the pace of the entire conference as Sony took time to talk about Free to Play titles, PlayStation Now, PlayStation Plus and the PS Vita. Although it may have been a dry thirty minutes, it was necessary portion of the conference because it gave important information on the PlayStation Now Beta coming this summer, announced the PlayStation TV for 100 dollars or 139 dollars with a controller and the Lego Movie video game and gave a little life to the PS Vita with games like Tales of Heart R and Minecraft. The portion of the conference that felt completely unnecessary was the presentation of the PlayStation exclusive show Powers and the Ratchet & Clank movie. It may have lasted close to ten minutes, but it added nothing to the conference other than a lot of eye rolling. Aside from that forty minute portion of the conference, Sony hit everything else out of the park. There were tons of great gameplay demos for The Order 1886, Entwined, Far Cry 4, LittleBigPlanet 3, Mortal Kombat X and Batman: Arkham Knight. Each demo made this writer and the company watching gasp, laugh, pump their fists and get excited. These gameplay demos sold a lot of these games as must owns to yours truly. Along with the great demos, Sony dropped a lot of surprises at the conference like a remastered version of Grim Fandango exclusive to PlayStation, From Software's Bloodborne, Dead Island 2, Magika 2, Giant Squid's Abzu and Devolver Digital games coming exclusively the PlayStation consoles. Sony also made a big effort in pushing exclusive content and benefits for multiplatform games on their consoles such as the Destiny Alpha and Beta coming first to PS4 and exclusive missions or enemies in Batman and Diablo III respectively. Sony ended the show in style too as they showed off the first trailer for Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. After all the controversy surrounding The Last Guardian's false cancellation announcement, this writer thought Sony had to make an effort in showing the game is still alive and kicking. Although The Last Guardian would have brought this conference to legendary levels, Uncharted 4 did its job in ending the Sony press conference with a bang.
After the end of every conference leading up to Sony's, this writer felt underwhelmed with the lack of legitimate surprises and games that truly captured my imagination. Apart from the dull forty minute information dump, Sony's conference was a breath of fresh air. Everything showcased at this conference are the reasons people play and get excited about video games. Due to Sony's efforts on Monday, this writer is finally feeling much more optimistic about the next generation of video game consoles. Last year Sony dropped the mic, this year they stole the show.
Grade: A
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