E3 2018 review- Year of the samurai.
E3 this year was pretty good. There was some games there was a bit of cringe but all round I found it pretty fun. This is the point I'd compare it to last year but honestly, I don't remember any specifics; I remember Bethesda was a shit show and EA was the same as every year. Never mind about last year! 2018, current year, is why we're here. So, let's start from the beginning.
I completely blanked on an entire hour of my life
EA decided to try and be different and have their conference before E3 had actually started. Meaning this is one of the few conferences I couldn't watch live because I was at work. That being said, I watched it later and... I honestly don't remember a single detail about it, I think Star Wars was mentioned, I've watched the actual conference, I've watched recaps on it and I still can't remember any little detail from EA, which honestly just kinda tells you what I think about them as a company. I'm not gonna rewatch it to tell you what happened, that's not what this is. This is a review of E3 not a run down and if EA was so bad that my mind has actually purged it from my memory then screw it. EA sucks.
Pretty good
Next was Microsoft, a show I could actually watch live, and I can't believe I'm gonna say this but it was pretty good maybe the best conference? (Devolver doesn't count here because then it'd be unfair to all the other conferences) the stuff they were talking about on the stage about the weird AI and the streaming thing doesn't interest me at all and the acquisition of Ninja Theory made me out-right sad, although there are definitely worse companies to buy a studio, but the games showed were pretty good. Plus, they still insisted everything they showed was a world premier. I'll just talk about the games in any order, starting with the ones I'm not so interested in. They showed their big franchises; a new Halo and a new Gears of War. But also! A Gears pop vinyl game. Because why the fuck not! I'll play it just for a giggle, I guess. They also showed a gears of war tactics game which sounds like a good idea. They also showed games like Forza and a skate game. But a game they showed that made me happy, not because I'll play it but because it means more people can play it, is Nier for Xbox one; which is great! It's a really good game and it's brilliant news that even more people have a way to play it, now just gotta wait for it to come to Switch. Another game they showed was We Happy Few which does look interesting but the survival gameplay would just put me off and I thought it already came out? A game called Tunic looks cute as fuck, that's all I have to say about that.
We also got the first look at the new From Software game: Sekiro Shadows die twice which looks pretty good, when it was initially shown I had mixed feelings but since the announcement its been stated that this isn't necessarily another Souls game because it apparently doesn't have any RPG mechanics, it's more of an open world game, and the level design is said to be more like that of Dark Souls 1 and honestly that's made me more excited to see what the game will do with its changes, I want to see what From can do outside of the Souls style of game. They also showed Just Cause 4, it looks fun, like Just Cause. Oh, we also got shown the Kingdom Hearts trailer, I wouldn't have mentioned of this if it wasn't for two things; out of all the conferences we saw this same trailer about three or four times and out of all of those times we saw this exact trailer the sound was always fucked and sound effects were missing and the only sound would be the music and characters grunting. Also Terry Crews the game looks really fun. There was also a new Devil May Cry and one of the characters reminds me of Matt Smith. Apart from that I don't have much to say, it seems to be following of Devil May Cry 4 rather than the DmC game. Which I find sad because DmC was the only one I've actually finished and I really did love it. Division 2 looks like the Division and it still had fake mic chat - you could tell it was fake because there wasn't nearly enough homophobic, sexist, and racist slurs said by 10 year olds. Then, for some reason they got Todd Howard to basically just tell people to watch the Bethesda conference. There was a weeb game but Metro was also shown so let's talk about that instead. I never finished the second Metro but I still really like that series, although the trailer seemed like it showed more footage from the surface; which is cool but I still love the dark cramped spaces of the metro. They also showed a new story from the Life is Strange universe and I have to say I really like this idea of different stories in a shared universe it lends the games to so much more.... Wait what.. Oh no we're being hacked aaaaaaaaaaaaaa ass. I'll admit that part was pretty cringe, well when I thought it was Watch Dogs but then... It wasn't. They showed Cyberpunk and my god, no joke, it made me moist. And that's why I liked the Microsoft conference as much as I did. Because Cyberpunk looks fucking Dope.
ARE YOU READY TO RAGE???
Bethesda had an okay press conference. Definitely better than last year, and it certainly wasn't hell on earth. Hehe. They started with a performance from Andrew W.K, he came out and asked the important question. "Are you ready to rage?" Which surprising was the cringiest part of the performance. The song they played actually would fit Rage quiet well, by the way this part is when the showed off Rage 2, and it was a really good performance but the audience still didn't seem into it. I know people complain about live performances at E3 but I really don't mind them; as long as they: 1, are competent performers; 2: are playing music that actually fits the style of game; and finally, 3: as long as there is actual gameplay being shown and not just a lone performance. Sadly- the Andrew W.K performance just showed a few characters and the colours of the game, if they showed gameplay like they showed after the band had stopped then it would have been a really cool way to show off Rage 2, which does actually look pretty fun and certainly better than the first. I noticed Bethesda were trying to do a more light-hearted event and they did poke fun of themselves and even Todd Howard acknowledged his meme status, even if all the jokes didn't land it was still a nice try and made the whole conference more pleasant, although I did find the joke about the Walmart leak quite funny. Then they talked about Elder Scrolls online which I will go to the grave. defending that game, it's pretty good and people keep saying it's dead but honestly it ain't then they announced new stuff in Black Marsh which I'm looking forward to, gotta love those lusty argonians. Oh, then there was a new Doom announced but I was the only who didn't really care about Doom 2016 so, cool. Hey at least it'll mean I'll get another Mick Gordon album from it. I've just noticed that Bethesda seemed to be talking more about DLC and games already out rather than new games, which is fine if you like the games, but I didn't like Quake, I didn't care for Prey, I thought Elder Scrolls Legends was alright but I never went back to it. They also talked about a new Wolfenstein which feels more like a small spin-off rather than a new game, it's called New Blood an is centred around Bj's twin daughters an it's a co-op game but they didn't say if you have to play it co-op or not or very much about it at all, I mean I still haven't played Wolfenstein 2 yet; I might get it when I eventually get a Switch. Then they confirmed the rumours about Fallout 76, and I might play it but definitely not at launch, why? It's an online game they always suck at launch; like ESO for example. If I'm honest, I'd play Fallout shelter on Switch, that seems like the perfect place to put it; and the Elder Scrolls mobile game looks like it could be alright but I hate playing games on my phone, I'd try it on other platforms though. And that's it. That’s all the games they showed. Oh yeah, that's right they showed logos for Starfield and Elder Scrolls VI which means absolutely nothing. If anything, they are proof of concept and nothing more, those games might get cancelled, become Vaporware, or just might be shit but the internet still lost their minds anyway. Don't get me wrong I really like Elder Scrolls an would love a new one but a Logo means absolutely nothing.
Meh
Square Enix had a press conference that reminded me of old cold piss; it wasn't awful but it wasn't mind blowing, however at least it was short. For me they I start on a positive with extended gameplay of the new Tomb Raider- which looks like Tomb Raider except Lara is definitely the Predator now, I do really like the Tomb Raider games as a whole, not just the reboot so I'm definitely looking forward to this one. What I don't understand is why they keep saying the new Tomb Raider is the game when Lara "becomes the Tomb Raider she's destined to be" isn't that the point of the first game of the reboot? They’ve said this with all three of these games and I'd say she's already became the Tomb Raider; I'm still looking forward to it though. Then they went into the JRPG games that I'm personally not interested in, but they also teased something called Babylon's Fall, which looks like the sort of aesthetic that I'd be more into and then it said it was by Platinum Games which got me even more interested. After that the only game that hadn't been shown before was a game called The Quiet Man, which seems to be a game where you switch from live action to gameplay, which might be a bit off putting because when you put your graphics next to live action it really shows you how far off your graphics are. Also; is that an actor from the Netflix show Dark? Cause that's all I can think when I see that trailer. It's a good show though you should watch it. Then thy just played the same Kingdom Hearts trailer with the missing sound.
There were two things that interested me
Ubisoft had a pretty good conference, they started with some weird panda dancing but the music was nice so I didn't mind so much, then they went straight into a really gorgeous cinematic trailer for Beyond Good and Evil 2, they did show a bit of gameplay but only on the scream at the venue and not actually on the stream, but it looked pretty alright anyway, then they asked fans to make content for the game for them; which I found weird and I don't think you'd get paid for it or even get anything from it so it seems pretty off putting actually, almost sketchy. Then they talked about Rainbow Six Siege and announced a documentary, which I found weird but hey it'll probably appeal to some people. Who am I to judge? I liked the man on the bike, and the Division looks like the Division, cool. And then we got another musical performance but done right because they showed gameplay at the same time, it was a game I don't care about but at least the music was good. I'm so glad Ubisoft are making an Assassins Creed game without the Assassins, Skull and Bones is just Assassins Creed Balckflag without the Assassins, for so many games I've been saying that Ubisoft should just ditch the Assassins story and just make historical games, I'm glad they’ve taken the first step. Then Elijah Wood came on stage, I was pleased, I like Elijah Wood; he has a nice relaxing voice, I find. Transference does look cool, I'd definitely play it, I think it's VR though and I don't own VR. But, after this I finally watched Over the Garden Wall because seeing Elijah Wood made me remember I need to watch that, it's a really good film; I know it's more of a series but I just say it's a film cause it is just better watching it all at once; the music is great in it too, the soundtrack's on Spotify an I keep listening to it. What? Oh, yeah Ubisoft. (Watch Over the Garden Wall). Personally, I think Starlink doesn't look good, mainly because I don't want to balance lumps of plastic tat on my controller when I'm playing a game. Also; I'm not so fond of space and ships and stuff. Then the other game that Ubisoft showed that I actually like came on; For Honour, but it was just DLC, the new game mode looks cool and the new faction honestly worries me a little bit, because For Honour has really just became everyone play as Samurais in the later levels and I just really don't like fighting them, I hope the new Chinese faction aren't like them. But if I do play them I will constantly shout "can anybody provide me with a decent challenge" or "do no pursue Lu-Bu" Then they finished with the new Assassins Creed, which is in Greece, it's apparently more of an RPG and it looks like Origins which was good. I just hope they learn how to write a main plot that doesn't revolve around the death of a relative.
I'll be honest I didn't watch the PC gaming show because I did last year and it bored me to tears, so I watched over the Garden Wall instead, have I mentioned how good that film is? Like at first, I didn't really like the characters that much but you really do grow to love them, and Tim Curry is in it! Which them made me go watch Clue for the first time and again; that film is great! It's so funny and just stupid and a lot of it does come from Tim Curry but even the other characters have great moments! And I really like the idea of the three different ending but my favourite is probably the first, what was your favourite? Oh, yeah E3.
Ok, that was pretty bad
Sony killed it this year, and by that, I mean they gathered up any excitement viewers might have had; took it out back and put a bullet in its head, but they're so incompetent they accidently shot the excitement in the shoulder- then they somehow shot themselves in the foot and while they hopped on one foot shouting a variety of colourful curses the excitement ran into the forest to live a life in a treehouse and living off the land. When Sony's conference started they were in a nice cosy looking hut that looked like it fit right in a music video for a local indie band. At this point the stream was already a shit-show, there was audio issue; connectivity issues, and so on. I'm guessing it was probably the venue because it was fine when they moved; I'll come back to that. Then they showed The Last of Us 2 and the hut the audience was in; was in the game! I'm guessing if you were there you probably looked and said something along the lines of "Aw, ye cool man." But for us at home it was much more of an "ok." The trailer itself was pretty good, I really liked that transition from the party scene to the 'not so much of a party' scene. I know people are complaining that Ellie is gay, I'm not gonna complain about that because there's nothing wrong with it, but I will complain about the kiss. Not because it was 'wrong' or that it looked bad, but because you could hear the wetness, it was horrible, it sounded like someone had a microphone in their mouth as they tongued a sloppy watermelon; if it was Kingdom Hearts there would be no sound of the kiss, you'd just hear the characters breathing heavily. After the Last of Us showcase Sony did nothing for about 20 minutes, there were three guys having a chat. Why? Because Sony used that venue just to show the Last of Us, after that they just got everyone to stand up and move the ACTUAL venue, where the ACTUAL show will take place. Honestly it was an absolute waste of time. Oh, and since I mentioned music performances before, Sony decided to outdo everyone this year with not one but two performances, which sounded good but they weren't interesting to watch and there was no gameplay. After the guy on woodwind they showed Ghost of Tsushima, it looks amazing but honestly; I'm not really into the Samurai aesthetic and setting, which means that it is a bad E3 for me then, with this From's new game and Nioh 2; it is the year of the Samurai, I'll at least give them a go. They then showed a very brief trailer of a game called Control which I think was the most appealing game to me during all of Sony's show, it looks like it could be really fun and it looks very surreal which is right up my back alley. Then I got disappointed that we weren't getting a game about being a rat, and I felt sorry for said rat. Then they did their obligatory showing of Death Stranding, a game that I've honestly just gotten sick of hearing about so I'm just not really interested anymore. Then they showed Spiderman which looks like a lot of fun but I don't care for Superheroes. Oh well. I'm just so tired now.
Do you like Smash?
Nintendo was Nintendo, the first half of the show really cemented the idea that I do want to get a Switch, it showed that the Switch is still going strong. There show is how it always is, short, to the point and Daddy Reggie was there. Then the second half was for Nintendo Fans with the rest of the Direct being solely about Smash, I'll admit I did find it interesting to see all the characters in the game but I'll never play it. But, I'll say it was a good direct just cause I want a Switch. And it is nice to see people react with pure joy to Smash.
E3 was fun, it always is, no matter if the conferences are good or bad, full of games or full of cringe. But who won? Well I do categories of winners:
Who said the most curses? Winner: Devolver Digital (I know I haven't talked about this conference but there's nothing to say other than Devolver apologised for it beforehand. Just go watch it. On an unrelated note, make sure you watch the original Robocop beforehand though).
Who had the most awkward/cringey show? Winner: Sony (that change of venue just killed the entire show and I just seemed more interested from games at other conferences).
Most forgettable show? Winner: EA (what needs to be said? I can't remember anything about the show. Not that I'd even want to).
My most favourite show: Devolver Digital (I love absurdist comedy).
E3 as a whole
I am a stinking -bug-fuck-shit-minion/10
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