News - E3 Recap: The Good, The Not So Good and The Surprises

Hello everyone, 

Back again, this time for a videogame E3 recap of sorts with the latest and greatest on the digital entertainment coming our way. To start off...

The Good

Certainly what took the show by storm was the unveiling of a new Cyberpunk 2077 trailer with a "breathtaking" Keanu Reeves intro. The game looks as great as everyone would expect from CD Project Red but I do admit I have concerns. I haven't seen any gunplay or actual in-game footage that sold me on this! Most of it - to me - feels like a new take on Deus Ex Human (Eidos Montreal) with a new story and characters but, in the actual game, what you do is almost identical. Ciber-parts enhance abilities, hacking NPC's to access codes or whatnot, shoot or stealth your way through missions, first person action view, etc. Sure, you can drive cars and other vehicles but that sounds like too little for what I feel it's a kinda over hyped game. Don't get me wrong, I think me game is gonna be great but I do feel maybe I'll wait a while before jumping on all this Cyberpunk hype train.

Another thing that took the E3 by surprise was the reveal of the gameplay trailer for Final Fantasy 7 Remake (Square Enix). Here also, I had a bit of mixed feelings. The trailer looked awesome and I feel the actual gameplay is quite great (kind of reminds me of FFXII, which I really liked actually) but the problem is... I already know everything that's going to happen. And, since this is an RPG, the story should be the main appeal here but if you already know what's coming... I don't really have any other pull than being a "remake" to go back and play it again. They may have introduced new features or easter eggs here or there to complement or embellish the experience a bit more but, until the game is released, we can't really know for sure. Having said all this I do feel, as a remake, this has great potential.

Also, on Ubisoft, we saw a reveal of upcoming Episodes for The Division 2 with (what they're calling) Expeditions that supposedly will take us outside Washington D.C. to New York and, hopefully for me, even further away - Tokyo, please. As a die hard Tom Clancy's The Division fan, I was most happily surprised by this.

The Not So Good

However, it was not all fun and greatness. The reveal for The Avengers (Eidos Montreal - Marvel) was actually a great disappointment for me. I was kinda expecting it to be like that since there were so many big companies they had to cater for. Marvel for one hand had the license, Eidos the technology and the overall design and Cristal Dynamics for plot and overall feel of the game. And it just looked terrible! The characters are hideous, the gameplay basic, the story thin and the game just horrendous really. I did not had the feeling to see it, less alone play it. To make matters worse they're pushing it as a "live service game"... How? What will people grind for with Hulk? New shorts?! Thor?! New armor that always looks the same?! I didn't get it and for all those reasons, I don't expect it to be anything more that it is. An Eidos version of an Avengers game. Trial and tested features, nothing new or amazing!

Another disappointment, this time on Ubisoft part, was the hands-on gameplay of Ghost Recon: Breakpoint. The game is due to come out this year (which kinda surprised me being so soon but my feel is that they're rushing titles before PS5 hits next year) anyway, the gameplay is terrible. Basically it's a re-skin version of Wildlands, that's it. Same feel, same animation, same bugs, same blandness on sets and features and same gameplay. I will admit, I'm happy they'll keep your AI companions in the game since I had a really hard time finding anyone else to play this with me, let alone four people, so not all is lost, but still... I feel this is a very "rushed" game and I wouldn't be surprised if they just suspended content for a while after release to make adjustments for the new console(s)/platform(s) coming next year.

The Same Old Same

Borderlands 3 (Gearbox Software) and Watchdogs: Legion (Ubisoft) look pretty much the sequels that every fan wanted so, no surprises there. And, to finish things off, I'm just gonna leave with my two surprises.

The Surprises

If you weren't looking into it hard enough, you might have missed the entire Nintendo Conference but let me assure you two of the most awesome surprises were there. Fist off, Astral Chain by Platinum Games looked as awesome as I would expect any action game to be when I was fifteen and, second, Daemon X Machina (Marvelous Interactive) looked like the new thing coming to the world of flying combat mechs. It kinda reminded me a bit of Zone of Enders (Konami) and Virtual On (Sega) put together in one awesome fast paced action Mecha of a game and, for that alone, I loved it.

And there you have it guys. Hope you enjoy the reading and I'll be back with more news/reviews soon.

Thanks, and have a great one.