Sony E3 Recap and Highlights

If I’m being honest, the Sony Conference was okay for me personally.  There were some hype titles like the new God of War feat. Papa Kratos, The Last Guardian, Hideo Kojima swagging down the walkway, but a majority of the Sony Conference was hyping up their VR tech and titles.  I don’t even have a PS4, and with news of the PS4 Neo, I may just hold out until the “next gen” arrives.  Plus VR just isn’t my cup of tea at the moment.  However, if you’re into VR, then this conference was/is good for you: since basically every game presented included VR capabilities.

Here’s a run-down of all the presentations and demos at the Sony Conference:

God of War – Trailer

I must admit, this was an awesome way to start out the conference.  The trailer begins with a boy playing with a couple of carved dolls. Before long a deep, gruff voice calls out to the boy telling him to come over, which he does.  The voice then questions the boy on his ability to hunt, and that he should prepare himself.  Then out of the shadows steps Ol’ man Kratos, fully bearded.

Kratos soon reveals himself to be the boy’s father, and the two set off to hunt a very large deer.  Along the way Kratos teaches his son the important lesson of “gittin’ gud” and defeats several enemies, including a large troll.  The trailer eventually culminates in the Kratos and his son shooting and killing the deer, before Kratos tells his son that he is ready.  Soon after dragons and all sorts of shit come flying out of the sky.

 

Days Gone – Trailer

Announced earlier this year, Days Gone is a zombie game with a hardened, mercenary type protagonist.  Never heard of that one before.  However, there was gameplay footage which consisted of shooting a lot of zombies.  And I mean A LOT of zombies. Copious amounts of zombies.  While the overall gameplay didn’t really do it for me, the sheer quantity of enemies was something that I personally haven’t seen in many games of this type.

The Last Guardian – Trailer (October 25th, 2016)

Yes. Please.  I just played through Shadow of the Colossus again this year and I couldn’t wait for more news on The Last Guardian.  Even many parts of the trailer are pre-rendered, it looks much better than it did last year, plus we finally have a confirmed release date.

Horizon: Zero Dawn – Trailer

I’m honestly not sure how I feel about this game.  It seems like Native American Far Cry meets robots, which is an interesting premise, plus the game looks great (with some noticeable drops in fps).  The trailer introduced the “corruptor” which taints/corrupts machine animals making them hostile towards humans.

 

Detroit: Become Human – Trailer

This was probably the highlight of the night for me.  I wasn’t too sure of what to expect, but the massive potential for alternate story lines and number of choices is super cool, not to mention the game looks visually stunning.  Still, I’m being a little greedy and hoping for just one more mechanic that will make it more than simply an HD create your own adventure game.

Resident Evil/Biohazard VII – Trailer (January 24th, 2017; demo available for Playstation Plus members)

I thought it was Alan Wake or some Silent Hill knockoff at first, but apparently it seems as if the Resident Evil series is returning more to its pure horror roots in contrast to the more shooter style of Resident Evil 5 and 6.

 

Farpoint – Trailer

Honestly, I wasn’t super into this game.  It felt like a cross between Halo, Mass Effect, and any other space based shooter.  But not really in a good way.

 

Sony VR

It’s coming to the U.S. on October 13th, and it will cost$400 (I believe it was $399 to be exact).

Star Wars: Battlefront X-Wing VR Mission – Trailer

The trailer honestly didn’t really show too much aside from the player sitting in the cockpit of an X-Wing, which was probably already made obvious by the title.

 

Batman: Arkham VR – Trailer

This trailer got me really hyped actually (a trailer voiced by the Joker, yes please).  I was disappointed that it’s a VR exclusive, but it seems interesting.

Final Fantasy XV

I know that I said I was looking forward to this, but I have to bash this trailer.  Here’s my synopsis of what happened in the trailer: no real new information on the game, VR compatibility, TOO MUCH BEWBS , too many wubs, comes out September 30th, 2016.  Done. Next.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (November 4th, 2016)

To be honest, I haven’t really played any Call of Duty games since I was Black Ops II.  If I was just to watch the trailer that they showed, I would not have guessed it was a Call of Duty game.  It feels like they’re just taking a bunch of different elements of other games and incorporating it into a game that barely resembles the Call of Duty games that I used to play.  I’m not trying to insinuate that they’re being uncreative, but it just seems so drastically different than previous games (at least the ones I’m familiar with) based on what the trailer showed: using a grappling hook to fly around ships and space rubble or using it to Scorpion your enemies and have them Get Over Here, space dogfights, a vastly different HUD (which makes sense considering the more futuristic setting).  I guess I don’t know.  If I feel up to it, I might try it out, so I’ll reserve my judgments for when and if I do.

 

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered – Trailer

Again, I haven’t played any Call of Duty games post-Black Ops II, so this opinion is a little skewed and biased.  However, I have always considered Modern Warfare to be the best Call of Duty game.  If not the best, then at least my favorite entry story-wise.  So, of any Call of Duty game this

 

Crash Bandicoot – PS4

Crash Bandicoot 1, 2 and Warped will be released on the PS4.  He will also be available in Skylanders (yaaay…).  Furthermore, players will soon be able to create their own custom Skylander character.

The more Crash Bandicoot, the better.  That is all.

 

Lego Star Wars VII – Trailer

I occasionally dabble in the dark side of gaming known as the Lego franchise.  While I don’t follow the games particularly closely, I thought that the trailer was well done and humorous.  Some examples include Kylo Ren throwing one of his tantrums in his room, opening the door to reveal posters of Darth Vader plastered all over his walls, the infamous “Traitor” Stormtrooper gets Indiana Jones’d by Han Solo (I.E. getting capped while showing their moves).

 

Death Stranding – Trailer

This was probably one of the more surprising events at the conference.  Hideo Kojima showed that he was a man on a mission and that he has no time for special effects and glowing walkways. I’m not gonna lie, don’t really know what happened or what the game is about. There was CGI Norman Reedus’ butt, a bunch of dead crabs, then a baby, and then not a baby, and then a bunch of dead whales, and then a bunch of people floating in the sky.  But what’s important is that Kojima is back.

Spiderman Game by Insomniac – Trailer

I was pleasantly surprised by this trailer, as the game looked great, and Spiderman’s movements were very fluid and dynamic.  The trailer showed Spiderman busting up coffee shops, beating up people who look like they belong in Payday 2, and literally busting people’s skulls.  Looks hype.