E3 impressions
Well, seems E3 has come and gone, in a new form than from previous years. Most of the coverage I've seen has been from the lovely GameTrailers, and after watching most of the 1000+ (!) videos, I thought I'd share what games I'm most excited about, regardless of whether or not I'll own the system. :)
- Mushroom Men: The Spore War: No gameplay footage, but I quite like the style (which could quickly change when said gameplay footage does come out).
- Grand Theft Auto IV: I don't need to explain this one, although it's a shame we didn't see anything new.
- Bomberman Live: Yet another reason to get a 360. I've always loved the frantic nature of Bomerman games. :)
- Assassin's Creed: With the gameplay footage I'm now worried that it's just an old-timey Hitman that only brings a climbing mechanic to the table, but I still have high hopes for this game.
- Godzilla Unleashed: I'm pretty sure this is just going to be an at-best-average fighter with incredibly clunky controls, but it might surprise me.
- Boogie: Yet another game that I'm worried will just be average and shallow instead of revolutionary. If they nail the controls on this though I'm certain it'll be something special.
- Stranglehold: What looks to be the closest to another Max Payne game we'll ever see. Not only is John Woo working on it, but your character is named Inspector Tequila! ^_^
- Dungeon Hero: Like Mushroom Men there was no gameplay footage, but the trailer - on top of being halarious - shows promise.
- Haze: I haven't been impressed by an FPS in awhile, finding them to be more of the same with slightly prettier visuals, but I like this one.
- NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams: I love the first NiGHTS (it's really the only reason I still have my Saturn systems), and can't wait for this to be done with Wii controls. Hopefully this will also mean that the original NiGHTS will be released on the virtual console. ^_^
- Gears of War (PC port): I've wanted to play this game for quite awhile now, and soon (assuming I have the rig for it) I'll get my chance. :)
- Rock Band: It's Guitar Hero... except with a bass, drums and vocals... Plus you can play it online. Concerns about the price aside, this will be huge.
- Guitar Hero III: I finally get to play Guitar Hero for the Wii. ^_^
- BioShock: The face that this is the spiritual successor to System Shock is enough for me. Shame I won't have a computer able to play it. :(
- Super Smash Bros. Brawl: All the goodness of Melee plus more characters, more stages, more modes... pretty much more everying. Plus (AFAIK at least) it will be online!
- Mario Kart Wii: I presume a better name is pending, but I'm quite looking forward to the online section. Maybe this means they'll implement a better vs. mode all around, as I've found it in previous versions to be lacking.
- Metroid Prime 3: Corruption: I've already been marked as a Metroid fanboy, so this should be no surprise. Frankly I couldn't care less about the online functionality being removed. Plenty of other games would probably do it better anyways, and I'd rather have 100% of the effort going towards an amazing single player experience.
- Super Mario Galaxy: In addition to some neat multiplayer options in the single player campaign, this will be a nice replacement to Super Mario Sunshine which I'm regretting selling.
- Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass: A portable Zelda that is played entirely with the stylus? Hell yes!
- Metal Gear Solid 4: Watch the 2007 trailer and try to tell me you didn't find yourself uncontrollably drolling. ^_^
- Wii Fit, Brain Age 2 and Flash Focus: All three have the same goal: to help gamers improve their fitness, mind or eyesight. I recently bought the first Brain Age, and love the idea. Hopefully they're all done more like that game though instead of Big Brain Academy, which didn't have nearly the replay value of Brain Age. Plus I could see the board for Wii Fit fitting with other gaming genres.
- Contra 4: A nice throwback to the old-school Contra games, which rank as some of my favourite NES and SNES games.
- LittleBigPlanet: I'll refrain from using the "Gaming 3.0" catchphrase, but I agree that if the creation tools and the ability to share one's creations are made simple this game could be HUGE. Go figure that with all the graphical capabilities of the PS3 this seems to be one of the most talked about games.
- De Blob: It looks simple, yet very stylish and fun. Exactly the kind of game I like. ^_^
- Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party: Finally a DDR game for a Nintendo system that presumably won't be as rare and expensive as the GCN version was. I will admit that after hearing about all the other music games listed above I'm less excited about this, but it's still DDR.
- Echochrome: Almost Lemmings like, this unique take on perspective is giving me visions of Escher art.
- Half-Life 2: Orange Box: The complete Half Life 2 collection (I'm assuming episode 2 is the last one), with Portal and Team Fortress Classic 2 all in one box? Hell, yes! I'm all of a sudden quite glad I waited to buy a copy.
- Dragon Blade: Wrath of Fire: Looks like the closest a non-Sony system will ever get to God of War, and it looks pretty fun. Of course it might just wind up being a easy, simple game marketed for kids.
- Jam Sessions: Now this is an original use of the DS hardware! Plus you can output the audio to an amp! Definitely going to be a niche product, but it's probably the closest I'll ever get to playing the guitar. :P
Wow, that's a lot of games. I'll be lucky to play a quarter of them. :(
- Mushroom Men: The Spore War: No gameplay footage, but I quite like the style (which could quickly change when said gameplay footage does come out).
- Grand Theft Auto IV: I don't need to explain this one, although it's a shame we didn't see anything new.
- Bomberman Live: Yet another reason to get a 360. I've always loved the frantic nature of Bomerman games. :)
- Assassin's Creed: With the gameplay footage I'm now worried that it's just an old-timey Hitman that only brings a climbing mechanic to the table, but I still have high hopes for this game.
- Godzilla Unleashed: I'm pretty sure this is just going to be an at-best-average fighter with incredibly clunky controls, but it might surprise me.
- Boogie: Yet another game that I'm worried will just be average and shallow instead of revolutionary. If they nail the controls on this though I'm certain it'll be something special.
- Stranglehold: What looks to be the closest to another Max Payne game we'll ever see. Not only is John Woo working on it, but your character is named Inspector Tequila! ^_^
- Dungeon Hero: Like Mushroom Men there was no gameplay footage, but the trailer - on top of being halarious - shows promise.
- Haze: I haven't been impressed by an FPS in awhile, finding them to be more of the same with slightly prettier visuals, but I like this one.
- NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams: I love the first NiGHTS (it's really the only reason I still have my Saturn systems), and can't wait for this to be done with Wii controls. Hopefully this will also mean that the original NiGHTS will be released on the virtual console. ^_^
- Gears of War (PC port): I've wanted to play this game for quite awhile now, and soon (assuming I have the rig for it) I'll get my chance. :)
- Rock Band: It's Guitar Hero... except with a bass, drums and vocals... Plus you can play it online. Concerns about the price aside, this will be huge.
- Guitar Hero III: I finally get to play Guitar Hero for the Wii. ^_^
- BioShock: The face that this is the spiritual successor to System Shock is enough for me. Shame I won't have a computer able to play it. :(
- Super Smash Bros. Brawl: All the goodness of Melee plus more characters, more stages, more modes... pretty much more everying. Plus (AFAIK at least) it will be online!
- Mario Kart Wii: I presume a better name is pending, but I'm quite looking forward to the online section. Maybe this means they'll implement a better vs. mode all around, as I've found it in previous versions to be lacking.
- Metroid Prime 3: Corruption: I've already been marked as a Metroid fanboy, so this should be no surprise. Frankly I couldn't care less about the online functionality being removed. Plenty of other games would probably do it better anyways, and I'd rather have 100% of the effort going towards an amazing single player experience.
- Super Mario Galaxy: In addition to some neat multiplayer options in the single player campaign, this will be a nice replacement to Super Mario Sunshine which I'm regretting selling.
- Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass: A portable Zelda that is played entirely with the stylus? Hell yes!
- Metal Gear Solid 4: Watch the 2007 trailer and try to tell me you didn't find yourself uncontrollably drolling. ^_^
- Wii Fit, Brain Age 2 and Flash Focus: All three have the same goal: to help gamers improve their fitness, mind or eyesight. I recently bought the first Brain Age, and love the idea. Hopefully they're all done more like that game though instead of Big Brain Academy, which didn't have nearly the replay value of Brain Age. Plus I could see the board for Wii Fit fitting with other gaming genres.
- Contra 4: A nice throwback to the old-school Contra games, which rank as some of my favourite NES and SNES games.
- LittleBigPlanet: I'll refrain from using the "Gaming 3.0" catchphrase, but I agree that if the creation tools and the ability to share one's creations are made simple this game could be HUGE. Go figure that with all the graphical capabilities of the PS3 this seems to be one of the most talked about games.
- De Blob: It looks simple, yet very stylish and fun. Exactly the kind of game I like. ^_^
- Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party: Finally a DDR game for a Nintendo system that presumably won't be as rare and expensive as the GCN version was. I will admit that after hearing about all the other music games listed above I'm less excited about this, but it's still DDR.
- Echochrome: Almost Lemmings like, this unique take on perspective is giving me visions of Escher art.
- Half-Life 2: Orange Box: The complete Half Life 2 collection (I'm assuming episode 2 is the last one), with Portal and Team Fortress Classic 2 all in one box? Hell, yes! I'm all of a sudden quite glad I waited to buy a copy.
- Dragon Blade: Wrath of Fire: Looks like the closest a non-Sony system will ever get to God of War, and it looks pretty fun. Of course it might just wind up being a easy, simple game marketed for kids.
- Jam Sessions: Now this is an original use of the DS hardware! Plus you can output the audio to an amp! Definitely going to be a niche product, but it's probably the closest I'll ever get to playing the guitar. :P
Wow, that's a lot of games. I'll be lucky to play a quarter of them. :(