((Disclaimer: Before getting started, I just wanted to say that many of these trailers contain violence and/or strong language. May be NSFW.))

Here it is (FINALLY)…my post on E3. Buckle up, because this is going to be a long one!

E3 is my favorite week of the year for good reason. All of the major game publishers come out of the woodwork to showcase upcoming games – some for release in the  near future and others not even close to being ready.

This year was no exception.

Personally, I thought there was a lot to like at this year’s E3. And while some stuff was just alright, I never felt like anything was just downright bad. Though there were a few weird things, but weird isn’t necessarily bad.

That being said, I’ve put together a rundown of some of the great things, alright things, and downright weird things that were shown at E3. Hope you all enjoy!

 

The Good

Sony’s Press Conference

Sony showed up to E3 this year with a lot under its belt. Between the new games and technology, they swept the show. From the reveal of a new God of War game, to Playstation VR, Sony kept a brisk pace, making the press conference fly by. When all was said and done, I was glad that I have a PS4 at home, just waiting for all of these new games…

God of War

GoW is finally back and this time, it’s doing Norse Mythology. This game is meant to be a reboot of the series and the 10ish minute game play trailer shown at the Sony press event was nothing short of stunning. Take a look:

Honestly, I haven’t been excited about a God of War game in years. I played – and loved – the first game in the series, but never finished the second one. I did get about half way through, but by that time, everything felt too familiar for me to maintain interest. Needless to say, that feeling crept back when I watched the trailer for the two sequels. I never played them. Now, however, I’m very interested to get my hands on the game when it comes out. The new direction of the series seems familiar, yet fresh. There still isn’t a set release date for the game yet, but keep an eye out next year. Maybe even this Christmas if we’re all lucky.

Horizon Zero Dawn

After watching the game play trailer that Sony aired at their E3 press conference, I have to say that this game looks fantastic. It’s been in development for a while and seems to have been flying under the radar since the first time Sony showed it (I think it was last year…maybe even 2014). This trailer, however, really does a good job of building the excitement for the game’s release next February. Take a look:

While there still isn’t a very good indication of what the underlying story might be, everything else about the game looks fantastic (except maybe the voice acting…we’ll see how that plays out when the full game drops). Even though open world games are nothing new, robot dinosaurs ARE. Having a strong, capable female protagonist is also a major plus. Can’t wait!

Detroit: Become Human

Though I haven’t really ever talked about it on my blog, I’m a huge fan of Quantic Dreams. Heavy Rain was a surprising offering that impressed me every step of the way – especially playing it with a group of friends and finishing it in one sitting. Then THIS trailer was shown at the Sony E3 event:

I am a HUGE fan of sci-fi (especially anything that has a Blade Runner/Ghost in the Shell/Deus Ex type vibe). This hits all the right buttons for me. After watching the trailer, I was sad to see that the game had no solid release date, but I’m super excited about diving into a world like this. Especially when Cyberpunk 2077 is still so far off…

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

It has been a LONG time since the last Zelda game (ok…not that long…the last one was Skyward Sword in 2011, but still…). For a while, Nintendo has been promising a new one, but it has been delayed year on year now since the Wii U came out. Now, finally, a new Zelda is on the way. This one is set to release on both the Wii U AND the new NX platform that Nintendo has been pretty tight-lipped about. The trailer for the new game is actually impressive. Nintendo has added quite a bit to this new game and, hopefully, that translates into a Zelda title that is wholly different from what we’ve seen before. Honestly, after watching the trailer (and reading about additional details from E3 play tests), I can only assume great things.

Dishonored 2

Since the first game came out, I’ve been waiting for the second. And it seems we won’t need to wait much longer. Bethesda shared game play footage at their conference this year and Dishonored is looking better than ever. I could gush about this game for days, but I’ll just give you a video instead. Enjoy!

 

The Not so Good

I feel like this section deserves a preface. There was plenty of stuff at E3 that was just amazing, but there was plenty of stuff that just wasn’t. All of the stuff on the following felt underwhelming. That doesn’t mean it will be bad, just that it was given a lot of screen time and hype, but didn’t feel deserving of it. With that said, here’s the list of stuff that felt the most underwhelming:

For Honor

This game looks super interesting, but I can’t help but feel like it just won’t live up to the hype. I’ve spent plenty of time outside of E3 looking at this game and even signed up for the Alpha that’s set to being soon. All that being said, I just can’t seem to feel like this will work as a full-blown game. As a concept, or a tech demo, it sounds fantastic. But a full game? I’m just not convinced. Here is a videos:

The wow factor of this game is supposedly in the battle system. According to the video (and numerous claims made by the developers) this system is supposed to make you feel like you’re holding a weapon in your hand. I think this claim is a stretch. I’m sure that the developers have crafted a unique combat system, but I can’t help but feel like there are other games out there with interesting combat systems that also tell an extremely compelling story. Since I can’t seem to get a good vibe of the story here (or how the combat system feels), I get a very underwhelming impressing of the game. I hope I’m pleasantly surprised when I get a chance to play it…

Call of Duty: Infinite

Call of Duty hasn’t really been fresh for a while and with this new game, I can’t say that I’m particularly impressed. The trailer is definitely blockbuster quality, but it just doesn’t wow me. There are plenty of other games already doing the same thing. And my guess is that they’re probably doing them better. That being said, I’m sure that this game will sell a TON of copies and do very well. But even if it does, the game is still just a CoD game – sold more for the multiplayer component than the single player story mode that I’m sure will be short…

Prey

I was a big fan of the original Prey. When it came out, there was a lot to like about the game. Unfortunately, it just didn’t get the traction it deserved. At one point, there was a second game in the works (a sequel of sorts) and it got fairly far along before being scrapped. Sad thing – that game looked like it was shaping up to be a fantastic sci-fi game.

A “new” Prey was showcased at the Sony E3 conference this year, but from the look of it, is similar in name alone. While the showcase seemed to piggyback on the nostalgia of the old game, the trailer shown has nothing to do with the previous game.

I’ll admit that the trailer is interesting and I can’t wait to see exactly what this game is all about. Regardless of whether it has anything to do with the previous Prey game, I’m always down for a fresh scifi IP.

EA’s Star Wars Trailer

I am a GIGANTIC fan of Star Wars and have been playing SW games for a LONG time. In the past, LucasArts has always been the steward of SW gaming, producing plenty of good (and bad) games over the years. More recently, however, EA has managed to take over most of the SW gaming IP space. DICE developed Star Wars: Battlefront (which was super fun when I played the beta) and have many more things planned. Unfortunately, their video at E3 didn’t have as much impact as I would have liked. There was a lot of talk about mobile games and throwbacks to Bioware games of yore (like Knights of the Old Republic). That being said, there wasn’t enough NEW stuff to really get me excited about the future of Star Wars gaming. Out of the entire video below, only six seconds was devoted to something that looked overwhelmingly cool and that was just prototype footage. Unless EA comes out with something pretty big (other than an announcement for Battlefield 2 that I’ve been hearing rumors about), I doubt I’ll be impressed. Check out their E3 trailer below:

Days Gone

There isn’t too much to say about this game. Sony showed a trailer for it during their press conference. It felt a lot like The Last of Us, but without anything more than what they showed, there wasn’t a lot to get excited about. That struck me as strange considering how much emphasis they put on this trailer (it got its own spot and everything). Until we get to see more, I’m calling this a solid “meh”. Take a look for yourself:

 

The Strange

Kojima Productions’ Death Stranding

So…last year, Hideo Kojima was suddenly let go from Konami. This resulted in his name being stricken from the final Metal Gear Solid game and lots of strange publicity stuff while everything was very publicly/privately sorted out. While this was a blow for many, it released Kojima into the wild where he could, once again, make video games on his own. The result of that was a very strange trailer starring Norman Reedus (of The Walking Dead fame). I can’t really describe it to you…you’ll just have to watch it for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI8goBqqRTo

I know, right? If you’ve played any MGS games, you’ll definitely recognize Kojima’s influence, but I’m not sure how this is going to pan out. Kojima has always been tempered by a big studio, but on his own, I’m not sure how much weirdness will wind up seeping into his work. Watching this trailer, I’m guessing “lots”…

 

My High Hopes

 South Park: The Fractured But Whole

The first South Park game was an absolutely fantastic RPG. I was extremely worried when it was announced because I immediately remembered the TERRIBLE N64 game that was released way back in the day. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised when the game was hilarious AND super fun. I have pretty high expectations for this one, which is why I’ve decided to place it in THIS list. Of course, I wouldn’t be surprised if the game was actually great (and I expect as much from Trey Parker and Matt Stone), but there is always a first time for everything. Until then, we can only watch the hilarious trailer released at E3:

Spider-Man

So…Spider-Man games have always been hit or miss. While there have been a few good ones, there have many more bad ones. Of course, we can say the same for lots of game franchises, but it seems like our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man always seems to get the worst of it. But Sony has decided to grant Insomniac Games the express honor of attempting to make a Spidey game. And I’m excited. Take a look:

Wasn’t that great? Yes…yes it was! I know you’re thinking that it looks too good to be true – and you may be right about that – but I’m hoping it isn’t. Insomniac Games is best known for the Ratchet and Clank series exclusive to the Playstation, but also released a fantastic Xbox exclusive called Sunset Overdrive. With the mechanics of SO and the humor that’s a part of every game they produce, I feel like the studio just might be able to pull it off. Here’s hoping!

Final Fantasy XV

I SORELY want FFXV to be good. After playing through most of FFXIII…TWICE (my PS3 got stolen and I had to start over), I couldn’t help but be overwhelmingly disappointed in the direction Final Fantasy has been going in recent years. FFXIII forced players along a fixed route for the first 30 hours of game play or so, not really giving the player full reign of the characters or game world until a wide open area near the very end of the game. Because of this, I’ve never finished it…

FFXV is supposed to change all of that. And Square Enix has placed a lot of faith in this game, expecting it to save the future of the Final Fantasy franchise. So far, I’m not too thoroughly impressed. The recent demo that Square released felt very underwhelming. I’m very much hoping that the full game delivers an experience that feels right. The prospect of a new Final Fantasy game is extremely exciting and I hope beyond all else that it is good. I grew up with Final Fantasy games and I need this one to be great. And I’m sure many other gamers need that, as well. I’m including a trailer below, but not the one they played at E3. I like this one better…because “Stand by Me”:

 

And that’s it.

I KNOW that I missed a lot, but there’s just so much shown at E3, that it would take me FOREVER to talk about it all. For now, take time to look at the stuff above – there’s more than enough to take up an hour or two of your time.

Past that, if there’s anything that I didn’t mention here, please feel free to bring it up. I’d be more than happy to take a look at it and give my impressions.

Thanks again for reading!