We at Retcon-Nation are gamers and like all gamers, we looked at e3 with an ever critical eye, hoping to discover the next big thing or more information on titles on the horizon. With e3 over for another year, here is our (that's mine and Reece's) top ten titles and hardware from this year (excluding the Wii U as it was far too obvious).
Starting with mine:
10
Forza 4
After the dust settled and Gran Turismo 5 proved to be one of the best punchlines in video game history (only now toppled with Duke Nukem Forever seeing release), all eyes were on the Forza series which has suddenly fount itself the forerunner of the racing simulation genre.
The fourth in the series sees your standard upgrade of more cars, tracks and tweaks that only true racing enthusiasts will notice (which doesn’t include me, my racing games are more centred on Mario Kart), the game also adds Microsoft’s Kinect in a unique way to view cars and controller free steering but also allows the custom paint modifications from Forza 3 (the mode which you can make money from) to be imported over to the new version.
It’s one of the only titles that I as a PS3 owner look in cautious optimism. Can it truly be an actual game that has worthy Kinect features and if so, what would the future hold for the system otherwise?
9
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Before Mass Effect proved that RPG’s could have a deep, engrossing story that didn’t have anime eyed school children save the world from Satan, Bioware’s Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series was a spectacular affair.
Set thousands of years before the prequel trilogies, the game dealt with the on-going Sith and Jedi war on numerous worlds with interesting characters, surprisingly fun combat and enough shocking plot twists to keep the story engaging for all forty of so hours of play (these traits being thankfully carried into the Mass Effect series).
Well this year, Bioware attempts to topple World of Warcraft dominance with an MMORPG of its own. Set several centuries after the events of KOTOR II, The Old Republic may finally offer Star Wars fans the chance to be involved in the Star Wars universe (a decade after Sony previously failed with Star Wars Galaxy).
Incorporating the combat from the original titles along with role swapping to allow teams to balance out for future quests amongst other things, Bioware has a potential monster on its hands and I’ll be very interested to see how it plays out. Let’s just hope its more Original Trilogy then Prequels.
8
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Every year the hype train begins to gain momentum and with a increasingly more successful backlog of chart topping and record breaking titles, Activision’s Call of Duty franchise reaches a third iteration with it’s Modern Warfare series.
Whilst Modern Warfare 2 was an engorged and poorly told story with a multiplayer mode full of broken mechanics that didn’t enhance anything and simply failed to build on its predecessor, its sequel, the first not developed by Infinity Ward hopes to keep the series going and not turn the series into a dead horse.
While I remain cautious at the title (as I was with Black Ops), like an battered housewife, I see myself helplessly jumping on board to try and rekindle the fantastic time I had with the original Modern Warfare. It has a lot to live up to and a hell of a competition against one particular title on the list, but this being Call of Duty, anything is possible.
7
Super Mario 3D
Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel are modern day masterpieces and the prospect of a 3D iteration with more ties to the original NES and SNES titles is wank fodder for Nintendo fanboys.
Colourful visuals, 3D actually enhancing the title to make jumps easier rather than being a hindrance and a return of several powerups including the much loved/insane Tanuki suit, the 3DS may finally have a killer app, that isn’t a remake of an N64 title.
6
Playstation Vita
The original PSP was too early for it’s time, it lacked big titles and was mainly used as a source for homebrew and emulation. Sony’s next portable hardware plans to up the ante and well, it just might.
A slightly different piece of equipment with two analogue sticks for true 3D gaming, a high quality screen offering the best visuals for a portable system, touchscreen and augmented reality controls on the back of the system to give a more immersive control system, triple A titles such as Uncharted and LittleBigPlanet and a relatively decent price, expect big things from the Vita and hope it doesn’t lose momentum like the PSP before it.
5
Battlefield 3
Whilst MW3 has a multi million dollar advertising campaign and over half a decade of huge titles to fall back on, EA’s Battlefield series may finally become the number one FPS game to earn in 2011 with it’s third entry to the main series.
Whilst it’s single player mode can be acknowledged for lacking the Hollywood gloss that Activision gives COD, Battlefield 3’s multiplayer mode, expanding on the previous entries in the series, could well be a trump card this winter. Vehicles, destructible environments, actual team based deathmatches that require teamwork and superior graphics, only time will tell if this can finally topple COD’s grip on the FPS and that time is a short 3 months away.
4
Assassin’s Creed: Revelations
Brotherhood ended on a huge cliff-hanger and thank Xenu that the wait for the final part in the Ezio trilogy is resolved this Christmas.
Featuring a new locale, the return of Altair from the original, enhanced multiplayer and if the game’s e3 trailer and gameplay is go by, fans will have another fantastic entry into the series, before the eagerly awaited third title arrives with in the next year or possibly in time for a new console launch.
3
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Whilst Nintendo’s big unveiling of the Wii U was the talk of e3, credit has to go to its own fanbase for not losing more of their minds in the wait for Skyward Sword.
Unveiled back in 2008 when the Wii was becoming the derided, shovelware spoilt dust collector it remained up until this day, Skyward Sword was Nintendo’s big attempt at not only demonstrating its new equipment in the form of the Motion Plus but also as an attempt to show it’s hardcore gamers that it still remembered them from the dark days of the Gamecube.
Well we’re nearing what is again promised the definitive release date with slightly more information. We know there’ll be flying, we know there’s a new villain and we know the sword fighting has been updated to be like, you know, actual sword fighting.
Much like Twilight Princess being the swan-song for the Gamecube, Skyward Sword approaches at the end of the Wii’s lifecycle and it’ll be interesting to see if the fifth incarnation in 3D can reinvent the series for sceptics and keep the fans happy. This being Nintendo, expect more of the latter and less of the former but hey, at least it’ll finally be out.
2
Uncharted 3
The Playstation 3’s darling franchise releases it’s third entry to much hype and anticipation and it’s little wonder why. The original; a short but relatively sweet debut featured relatively decent gameplay and at the time, gorgeous visuals.
Two years later, developers Naughty Dog took the imperfections of Drake’s Fortune and created a modern masterpiece in Among Thieves. A longer, more emotional story, even better graphics, touched up gameplay mechanics and a surprisingly fun multiplayer option made the title Game of the Year for many.
Two years from then, Drake returns this Christmas with the prospect of another rip roaring adventure. Plot details have remained thin but the stunning trailers have hyped up a must have title for all PS3 owners this year. Even better visuals, touched up gameplay including better hand to hand combat and more multiplayer modes including co-op, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception is a safe pick for GOTY in a year where several triple A titles battle it out in Q4.
1
Batman: Arkham City
To say Arkham Asylum was a surprisingly good title is like saying Avatar had a decent box office intake. It may have taken several years, but British developer Rocksteady did the impossible and created a great Batman game.
Two years on, they plan to deliver a sequel which truly encapsulates the idea of a sequel; make it bigger and better than the original. Taking place a year after the events of Arkham Asylum, the slums of Gotham have been cordoned off by new Mayor Sharpe who let’s the inmates run wild in a sprawling section of pure crime.
Players take control again of The Dark Knight as he battles with old adversaries The Joker and The Riddler but making their debuts to the series Two Face, Hugo Strange, the Penguin and many, many more.
Featuring a huge open world environment with new gadgets, new abilities and a side story involving Catwoman, Arkham City could well be the best Comic Adaptation ever for a home console, if it can hopefully surpass it’s incredible predecessor and is my game of e3 2011.
And last but certainly not least, Reece's list:
10. Star Wars Kinect
- Considering we will probably never get a game where we will actually hold a Lightsabre makes this game look pretty nifty. Kinect is something that I am still sceptical about but if this years E3 showed anything it’s that MS are looking to expand and bring some big titles to the platform. SW:K looks fun, time will tell but it’s the only game on Kinect that’s actually made me consider getting myself the hardware.
09. Star Wars: The Old Republic
- Another Star Wars game?! Well yes, being a huge fan of the first KOTOR I was intrigued to hear they would be turning this into a MMORPG, games that I vowed to never ever play and still retain that vow.
This game however looks decent, the rendered cut scenes they have been showing us for months have all looked impressive, E3 was a good chance to see some game play and it didn’t look all that bad, I was impressed with the scope and the attention to the Star Wars universe, but at the end of the day it really is just more money in the beardy gits pocket isn’t it?
08. Playstation Vita
- Portable gaming isn’t really my thing, I’ll leave the 3DS to the 12 year old Japanese girls and their Nintendogs but the PSP was a great portable when it was first released and I had some really great train journeys with it. This new incarnation of that device looks brilliant and some of the game play footage shown for games such as Uncharted looks utterly brilliant. 3G models are on the way also so portable gaming looks like it is going into the future in a big way.
07. Uncharted 3
- I don’t own a PS3 myself, but if I did buy one it would be for the Uncharted series, they always look good fun and when I saw what’s coming up for UC3 well I was very impressed. It will certainly be a GOTY contender if not winner, but I think it will be trumped by a few other games.
Not taking away from this game and the series, they are top notch games that I will be playing properly one of these days instead of sitting in some ones bedroom getting used to the PS3 controller again. If I was a PS3 user chances are this would be my #1 but I’m not so live with it!
06. The Legend of Zelda: The Skyward Sword
- Ah Zelda, since OOT hit us for 6 on the N64 the games have taken a great turn and they are always good fun, I wasn’t a huge fan of Twilight Princess but it had its moments. This game however looked great in the footage shown, they don’t seem to be straying too far from the 3D view that was birthed with OOT but the visuals looked great and hopefully they can do some better with the Wii motion controls than TP did.
Zelda still has a lot to offer us gamers and with the Wii-U coming soon I think this could be the start of some good titles for the series.
05. Hitman Absolution
- The Hitman franchise is a personal favourite of mine, now I know little game play was shown to the public at E3, there was however some very detailed accounts of the private showings so this still counts! Also there’s bit and pieces on youtube. Since Blood Money we have heard hardly anything about a new addition to the HM series, a series that in my opinion is fantastic. Well now we have news, Agent 47 is back and looks like he’s had some changes to his mechanics, more emphasis on the action and it looks like 47 is much more of a hunted man this time around.
The game play shown of him being hunted by multiple police officers looked great as did the new cover system. The visuals don’t look all that much improved over Blood Money (which still remains one of my favourite games) but there is a lot of work to do and I think we have a great game on our hands. I can’t wait.
04. Bioshock: Infinite
- The Bioshock games so far have been up and down, the first game developed by Irrational Games was nothing short of a masterpiece.
Ken Levine who writes and develops the story knows his onions and the man who created Rapture has now created Columbia, a city in the sky. Bioshock 2 was a respectable addition to the series but to some hardcore fans Infinite is the real successor to the first game considering Irrational had nothing to do with BS2.
The visuals look great, the game play looks intense; an important part of the BS universe. Not much on the story has been revealed and only small tidbits about the new incarnation of the Big Daddies have surfaced but the game looks utterly brilliant at the moment. The new tonics look fun and it looks like we will be waiting for a while longer for more big details.
They announced this game last year with a 2012 release date, which for me was too soon considering they had trailers and game play to show us last year already, but the hype is building and this game has GOTY contender written all over it.
03. Assassins Creed Revelations
- When it comes to games I only ask for a few things, have a great story and great game play, not much to ask I think.
The story of AC1 was great, it hooked me in but the game play was never quite there, that all changed with AC2 and then AC: Brotherhood came along as added even more to the mix. It seems the same can be said for Revelations, the next instalment in a fantastic series. We are on a cliff-hanger from AC:B and we are told that this game will reveal the end for Ezio AND Altair, our elusive hero from the first game.
The game play footage shown so far doesn’t look like it’s the total engine overhaul many fans expected but the action looks great and it looks like there is going to be some serious customization on the weapons front, something that really does intrigue me.
Assassins Creed is known for its story, I don’t think there are many games out there that rival it, the concept was brilliant from the get go and if anything the only thing the games have lacked is more new characters and maybe some more odd and exotic locations. In Revelations we will play as Desmond, Ezio and Altair, it sounds very varied this time around and I can only see this game setting up AC3 next year with a big bang.
The series has sold millions upon millions of copies and I doubt AC3 will be the end of the franchise but this game has all the hallmarks of a classic: bigger and better than all of its predecessors, something the franchise can boast they do regularly.
02. Battlefield 3
- I don’t say this as a fan boy (HA I totally do…) but if you want a proper war game then Battlefield will always be the best choice. For some reason Call of Duty has taken over and for some unknown reason it’s considered to be a good franchise, well call me a BF fan boy but the COD games are awful. 6 hour storylines with cramped multiplayer levels full of glitches and people taking advantage of overpowered guns just doesn’t do it for me.
Battlefield 3 looks insane. EA (I know right?) know that this franchise is better than COD; of course they will never out sell the COD franchise because most gamers are idiots but Battlefield 3 looks nothing short of immense. You see, the guys who develop BF like to change stuff, make it as realistic as possible but not just throw stupid gimmicks at it for the sake of it looking cool in the trailer.
Bad Company 2 was a fantastic game that had immense Multiplayer, because that’s what we are looking at really isn’t it? Who can honestly say they bought a COD game for the storyline alone? Multiplayer is where these games make or break and Battlefield will win every time with anyone who knows what they are talking about.
Battlefield 3 has improved visuals over the last Bad Company outing; the immense Frostbite engine has been improved to 2.0 so guys who like to camp? Well sorry fellas’ you will not be able to hide for long. Buildings can be destroyed, walls can be knocked down. This is the closest you will get to a real battlefield scenario without actually signing up.
The maps are huge and the game modes have more going for them. The weapons are always a joy in the Battlefield games and the unlocking system is always far more challenging. The story mode looks like it has been well thought out with game play as its main focus, not where and who you shoot. Battlefield 3 will not need a controversial mission to get it in the headlines, you won’t need to kill civilians nor do things that are strangely linked to real life terrorist acts, because we don’t want to give them any recognition do we? This game is going to be brilliant; the game play shown at E3 was both intense and more importantly showed NEW features.
This game will be a COD killer, maybe not in the sales market which is the important one sadly but in the minds of real gamers.
01. Batman: Arkham City
So here’s my number 1, Arkham City looks nothing short of breathtaking. Whether you are a comic book reader or a fan of Batman this game will be brilliant.
Arkham Asylum was a stunning debut for the series and Rock Steady teased us about the plans for the sequel at the end of the game. So here it is, Arkham City is nearly upon us and at E3 we saw a demo being played and by lordy does it look immense! Batman is now out of the confines of Arkham Asylum, where the baddies of Gotham reside after getting their ass kicked. The governor of Arkham has decided to give the villains more space and has turned Arkham Asylum into a small scale city.
Good plan or is it likely to give our caped crusader another reason to pop in and kick some more ass? The latter it seems! The demo showed us Arkham city in all its glory, a massive open world where Batman can glide around at will, swinging between buildings and dropping down to smash a gang of bad guys who have innocents cornered. We saw some of the mission game play and a small section of the plot. Catwoman is a surprise playable character and fans of the Batverse have been very pleased about that, I know I am.
Arkham City sees the appearance of some of the high profile villains that didn’t feature in AA, Two Face is going to be a big bad as is the Riddler and Penguin, with some notable returns from the first game I would assume. Detective vision was shown off again and this time it has been dumbed down slightly, no more spending the whole game with it on. The main story line will last up to 15-16 hours which is good for today’s standards, more impressive is the 10+ hours of side missions and riddles that have also been announced.
This is going to be my GOTY and I think a lot of other places will be saying the exact same thing. Rock Steady has upped the stakes and the scale, AA had its faults and if those are addressed then AC is going to be a classic. Boss fights in AA were a big disappointment most of the time, I can see this being the make or break of AC, the setting, characters and story all look like winners, lets just hope they can get the small bits and pieces that really do make a great game spot on.
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