The Best Moments of E3 2015

This year's E3 was a legendary event. Three megatons was announced and we got an abundance of game news, gameplay, and events.

Bethesda started off the events on Sunday and gave a pretty strong presentation. One of the first out the gate from them was a new entry in the Doom franchise just titled Doom. The gameplay started off a little slow as not only the encounters came at a slower pace, but the enemies lacked any real sense of danger. The enemy projectiles came slowly and without accuracy. The enemies that attacked in close range were way too slow to attack. The next segment that took place in the hell level picked up the pace and threat. We got to see enemies coming in numbers and with ferocity. The game overall is visually pleasing despite being dark, which is suitable to the type of game it is. The weapons shown offered some nice variety and the melee take downs looked satisfying to pull off.

What definitely caught my attention however was SnapMap. SnapMap is an editing tool that allows players to make their own maps in the game for both single player and multi-player. A lot wasn't shown with it, but Bethesda confirmed that it will be deep and that you can share maps with other players.

Bethesda's next couple of announcements definitely caught my attention. They brought a new mobile game titled Fallout Shelter that is a simulation game where the player manages the lives of the survivors of the Fallout shelter. We got a a brief, but substantial look at the game before it was announced that the game would be available right after the conference ended.

Fallout 4 was the last game to be shown at the conference and  it was an excellent way to close off. Our first look gave us insight on the creation feature. From what was demonstrated it looked like creating a character took little effort and I also thought that skin tones and hair texture looked pretty decent for a change. The reveal of the weapon customization was another surprise and interest to me. You can basically build guns from the ground up in this game with over a hundred possible combinations and this extends to the power armor and houses.

With the Microsoft conference following I found only the Cuphead trailer to be entertaining. The announcement of the new controller was ok, but with the price being $150 and me not really having an interest in the Xbox One, it wasn't anything of note. The Gears of War 4 presentation was memorable only because the game was far too dark to make out anything. That was it for Microsoft.

I missed the Ubisoft conference so I can't make comment on it, but I heard I didn't miss anything. Sony's presentation was definitely a contender for best. They announced three games that have long been requested by fans: The Last Guardian, Shenmue 3, and the Final Fantasy VII remake. Three history making surprises all in Sony's conference. I have a bit of indifference to all three of the revealed games: The Last Guardian's footage looked like Ico which I found boring, I never played a Shenmue game and not to mention it was it's Kickstarter campaign announced, and while I love Final Fantasy, VII is one of my least favorite entries.

Horizon: Zero Dawn the new game from Sony's Guerrilla Studios was presented with a demo on the show floor and the game looks marvelous. It is an action-rpg game set in a post apocalyptic future. The setting is a bit different from most other post apocalyptic games. Nature has overtaken the landscape of cities, people are dressed in animal pelts, and the fauna are now inorganic. The world is filled with robotic life. In the demo we see robotic versions of antelope, a t-rex, and a bird. We can see that the game will have stealth elements in it as during the first encounter the main character Aloy hides in brush as she goes for a kill on a robotic animal. The encounter with the robotic t-rex known as ThunderJaw was the real meat of this demo. We got a good insight into the combat. Aloy was using a bow in this fight with a variety of arrows at her disposal. At one point she hits ThunderJaw with an explosive arrow that knocks off a cannon off its back that she uses to fire electrical shots at the mechanical creature. She takes it down with a well aimed shot at a glowing piece in its center with an up close cutscene triggered attack for the finishing blow. The combat and graphics in this game looked astounding and I can't wait to see more of it.

Nintendo decided to go with a digital event this year and while many found it disappointing, I found it to be among the best conferences shown. All of the games Nintendo announced and showed all featured gameplay. None of the videos were just cgi trailers which I have a problem with most of the time. We also got an interesting look into of the parts of Yoshi's Woolly World that a lot of players probably don't think about, but the creation of the amiibos. The amiibos in this game are so adorable and it was nice to get to see the creator and learn about the process of making them. Nintendo also announced a new Mario Tennis, which excites me, a new Zelda titled The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes,  two new Animal Crossing games, a release date for Xenoblade Chronicles X, and some new Star Fox Zero footage.
The Treehouse was the meat of their show as we got to see extensive gameplay of several of their games including Star Fox Zero, Mario Tennis Ultra Smash, The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes, and a new racing game called Fast. It was a pretty satisfying event for me, with the only disappointment being in the announcement of a spinoff Metroid game that looks nothing like Metroid.

The PC conference didn't really have much to talk about. There was a bit too much tech talk and not many games shown and the ones shown, didn't catch my interest. I have to say that I did like the host better than the other ones. I was still disappointed in no reveal for Half-Life 3. That would've been the icing on the cake, but otherwise a fantastic E3.

G: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

I decided to play this game a few days after the Bloodstained Kickstarter came onto the scene. As a gamer I am well aware of the franchise, but up before the Kickstarter I never played a single entry in the series. I immediately made the decision for Order of Ecclesia to be my introduction to the series as it was the first Castlevania that came to mind for me after Symphony of the Night.

To my surprise after a little ways into the game I discovered this is an RPG. From the small amount of knowledge I had of Castlevania prior to this game I figured they were simply just 2D action-platformers. While this game can be described as that, it can also be described as an RPG as well as it contains a lot of the elements that define an RPG. First and foremost there is a heavy emphasis on stats and stat progression. You level up and manage stats such as HP, MP, ATK, INT, and LUCK and also have elemental properties to take into consideration and those have their own stats attached to them as well. Equipment, shops, loot, and side quests also have prominence that affect these stats.

It felt fresh to be playing a 2D action-platformer. I've played Kingdom Hearts which can be described as the 3D variation especially the first game, but being restricted to just 2 dimensions makes it feel like an entirely different experience. The implementation of these elements are handled pretty well for the most part in this game, but there are two elements that could've been done better. The side quests should have been more varied. The majority of them require you to collect an item or multiples of the same item. I would've liked to seen more that didn't require as much loot hunting like the quests where you draw sketches for an old woman or take pictures for a journalist. The item fetching quests aren't that bad in their own, but in later segments in the game, they become a hassle to complete and this is due to the game's loot system. Some monsters drop items when you defeat them and some treasure chests contain rare items and while this is not different from a lot of other RPGs, it is grind intensive and frustrating. The drop rates on some items are so incredibly low that even with two luck boosting items I had equipped on my character I couldn't get them to show up.

I didn't start to get these rare drop items on a consistent basis until I was towards the end of the game at level 40 with a luck stat of about 23 or 25. It wasn't fun killing enemies dozens of times to still not get the item you needed for a quest or to keep re-entering a level in order to get the right item you need from a rare treasure chest. Even with a treasure hat equipped, it doesn't mean you'll get the rare drop you'd need and this brings about another point. The info on where to acquire some of these items are not made clear either. You're just told to get the item with no mention of where it could be found. You could guess the location of some depending on the name of the item, but for stuff like onyx and cashmere thread you can't determine. I find it bad design if the player has to look online in order to find out which level I have to go to get the item I need.

The drop rates aren't just limited to items either. Enemies also happen to drop glyphs which are the game's weapons, spells, and abilities. Some glyphs are pretty common and others are extremely rare. Sometimes in the game you'll get a glyph that will let you summon a monster to help you out in battle and all of them start at level 1. You can increase the level of the monster by have it defeat enemies, but that takes forever according to a source online or you can absorb about ten additional glyphs of that same variety to level it up. This would be fine normally, but almost all of the summoning glyphs are rare and you could kill about thirty enemies and the glyph will never drop. It wasn't until the end of the game when I was finally able to level up my owl and that took a considerable amount of grinding. I'm not against rare drops, it's just when they become too rare is when it becomes a problem.

On the positive side of things, this game is thoroughly entertaining when it comes to the combat. The glyph system that the game is based around lets you equip two weapons/spells and a third special glyph. Weapons in this game are abundant and offer plenty variety. You have close range, long range, weapons that hit at an angle, multi-hitting weapons, and spell based weapons. Special glyphs offer diversity outside of straight combat. Some give you a stat boost, one increases money drop rates, you have summon glyphs, and transformation glyphs that transform your character into a monster with its own set of abilities. There's plenty of variety in this regard and it makes it exciting when you pick up a new glyph. As far as how the actual combat functions it feels gratifying. You feel the weight of your attacks due to great sound effects and hit detection. The enemies also come into great variety. They are not only interesting to look at, but plenty have you try out different techniques. Some enemies are only weak against certain weapons and you also have enemies that may fly or quick enemies that you have to dodge carefully. The bosses in this game also provide a great challenge. They are pattern based, which most of the time for me makes them boring, but not in the case of Order of Ecclesia. The bosses test your ability to effectively dodge and max out your damage output when you have an opportunity for a free attack.

The platforming I can't say much about other than it's there, but I found the Magnes implementation interesting. This game also has a lovely art style that with a great amount of colors despite this being a game in a Gothic series. The character portraits look rather nice as they're painted and have a lot of detail. My particular favorite is Laura's. There are also a few songs I like in this game quite a lot. Music is effective in creating an atmosphere and Order of Ecclesia does a substantial job in this department. The tracks create intensity, brooding, or adventure when necessary.

Overall I find this game to be pretty good, it just has one major flaw in its loot design that I find troublesome. Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia was a decent introduction to the series.

7.5/10

M: Seraphim

Today jazz-hop rapper Akua Naru dropped her second video for The Miner's Canary with "Seraphim". The song is the fourth track off the album and it features vocals from singer Fetsum. The song is just as riveting and relaxing as it was when I first listened to it. As far as the video it lays a visual story of love between Akua and a nameless man or at least that's what I would like for it to be. Actually, the interaction between Akua Naru and the man of interest isn't really conveyed as a story, it's more of them just basically having various interactions without a connection to a plot of any sort or progression. It's not necessarily bad, but it doesn't make it memorable as a music video. On the technical side, the video is well shot, but there are some odd looking lighting in some scenes, in particular around the forty-four second mark. The scenes transition well enough throughout, but overall I feel this was a by the numbers music video. It represented the theme of the song, but didn't do much else to make it stand out.

5/10


To any readers you should definitely check out  The Miner's Canary as I had written in my Best Music of 2015 So Far entry that it's my second favorite album of the year thus far.

Ratchet & Clank Trailer and Demo

Today, just a few days before E3, Sony released a trailer for their upcoming Ratchet & Clank game. Within the first few seconds I'm engaged in visuals that are up to par with a recent Pixar film. The color, lighting, and detail are spectacular. There's a bit of a hint to what the story will be about, but I have a massive lack of experience with the franchise, so I'm not exactly sure where it would fall in the timeline. We get some brief glimpses of gameplay with some gun play, a vehicle segment, and a little bit of platforming with Clank. What interests me is that this game will be a tie-in to the film that is to be released April of next year. I can only recall one game that was made based off the movie that was based off the game and that game is Street Fighter The Movie The Game and that game looked horrible and was critically received horribly. This however looks like it will measure up.

This trailer also came with an eight minute gameplay demo. Weapons like the Groovitron seem to have returned and it also looks like we have a new weapon in the Pixelizer that converts enemies into pixilized versions of themselves. It's a neat looking weapon and looks fun to use. The demo also shows us some platforming that looks pretty simple, but does its job in diversifying the gameplay. There's not much to talk about. You have jumping of course, climbing up and across railing, and some tethering to floating devices. The combat looks basically the same from what I've seen from other Ratchet & Clank games. You have your guns with various effects and your wrench for melee attacks. The battle against the boss at the end of the demo has some nice visuals, but as far as boss design, it was basically standard fair. He seemed to work on a pattern and throws out some smaller enemies. Overall it looked okay and did a serviceable job. It got my interest peaked, but I do wonder since E3 is around the corner if there will be anything new shown for this.

M: WIZZZ!

 Wizzz! french psychorama vol.3

A few days ago Born Bad Records released a French psychorama compilation album titled Wizzz french psychorama vol 3. I came across this while skimming through bandcamp and the vintage comic book cover caught my eye. This was a week before it's release date so I was only able to listen to a few songs and liked most of what I heard. Upon release I was able to enjoy it to its full extent and I have to say it's a pretty good album. Though there are some songs that don't click with me overall I find it an enjoyable album. This French rock album captures the sounds of 60's and 70's that it pulls from efficiently. The riffs and drums work in harmony and the vocalists mostly vibe with me despite me almost knowing no French. The album has range. You have the upbeat party tracks and the more serene melodies. On a few songs like "Pierre Paul jacques - Je suis Turc" and "Evariste - Les pommes de lune" I find the vocalists yelling aggravating and can't enjoy the song despite the instrumentals being tolerable. On that note I wouldn't mind an entire instrumental version of this album as I feel the instrumentals are the strongest point in this project. There isn't much left to say other than this was a nice surprise for me and it's made me interesting in listening to the other two volumes in this series.

7.5/10

Recommended Tracks: Bernard Chabert - Helga Selzer Joana Hold up inusite, Nato - Je t'apprendrai a faire l'amour,                      

What I Hope to See at E3 2015

E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) is approaching and while my interest has dwindled this year, there are still some things I would show interest in if they were to appear at this year's E3 running from June 16 to the 18th.

Mirror's Edge 2
This came to me as a surprise when it was revealed at last year's E3. Something I thought was going to be a standalone game got the sequel it deserved. The first Mirror's Edge was unique as it is one of the few first person platformers in the industry, it was certainly the first one I had played. The game had a simplistic, but pleasing art style composed of basic geometric shapes and bright colors. On the gameplay end it was like playing a Prince of Persia in a modern setting, but with some shooter segments instead of hack and slash combat and puzzles. The game's platforming felt refreshing, but it also could've used some tweaking in level design and the shooting mechanics integrated needed to be refined. We got a glimpse of those segments coming back with the trailer last year, but we didn't get any full length gameplay shown and this year would be a good year to show off how Mirror's Edge 2 can outdo the original.

Beyond Good & Evil 2
Beyond Good & Evil ended on a cliffhanger so naturally players expected a sequel to the game. Ubisoft announced the game back in 2010, but there hasn't been any more info on the game since then except for the company saying that the game is still coming. Beyond Good & Evil was an overlooked action-adventure game in the 6th generation with a strange, but familiar artstyle, a political storyline with some quirky characters, and some serviceable gameplay. I'm eager to see where this game goes in terms of story and how it could improve some of the rough gameplay in the original. This would be an unexpected surprise at this E3.

A new fighting game IP not from Netherealm, Arc Systems, Capcom, or Namco Bandai
I love some fighting games, but just one thing that irks me a bit is that there isn't much diversity when it comes to developers in the genre. There are a ton of fighting games out there, but I'm more specifically talking about what ends up on consoles here in the states. I'm also or at least was a competitive fighting game player and from my experience with following the genre and competing in it, indie fighting games are hardly played. Games like Skullgirls and Divekick gained some initial popularity, but had soon dwindled. I would like to see another large company tackle the genre and bring something that could be the new Tekken, Street Fighter, or Dead or Alive in terms of popularity.

Project Treasure
Yesterday Nintendo held a micro direct in which they showed off a few games and made some new amiibo announcements. In that direct they finally showed off footage of the new Project Treasure currently in development by Namco Bandai. From the short footage shown the game looks like a 3D team based action game. I'm all for new IPs and I enjoyed the little footage I saw so I'm eager to see more of this Wii U game at this E3.

Star Fox Wii U
I have not played a Star Fox game myself, but when it was announced that Miyamoto is bringing back this franchise that's been absent for a while, I was intrigued. I'm not completely oblivious on Star Fox though. I used to watch my older brother and one of my neighbors play the original back when I was a child and this new game could possibly become my first to this type of game.

The Legend of Zelda Wii U
There's not a whole lot I can say about this except that it's a new Zelda and it's going to have the largest map to date.

A North American Release Date for Xenoblade Chronicles X
Xenoblade Chronicles X is already available in Japan, but there is still no word on the North American release. This vast JRPG from Monolith Soft features action combat, mechs, and MMORPG styled quests and exploration. I haven't played any modern rpgs in a while, so I'll be more than eager to find out when this game will be available for purchase on my side of the world.

A new JRPG for home consoles
I haven't had much interest in JRPGs in the last generation. There were a few that caught my attention such as Lost Odyssey, The Last Story, Blue Dragon, and Dragon's Crown, but that is significantly less than the amount that peaked my interests in generations prior. It appeared that the JRPG genre was steering towards the handheld market last generation and for this one so far we only have Xenoblade Chronicles X, Persona 5, and Bravely Second announced. That's a good start, but I'd like to see more of these and preferably a western studio develop one for the home consoles like Ubisoft did with Child of Light, but I'd like a retail release. JRPGs are my favorite genre so the more of them I can get the better and if a western studio could add some different flavor to it then all the better. That would make my E3 just a little bit better.

Cyberpunk 2077
This sci-fi game was announced back in 2012 and we were given a gorgeous cgi trailer. While cgi trailers showing no gameplay usually bothers me, especially at E3 conferences, this peaked my interest enough to have me waiting for more info and gameplay. What we know so far is that is based on a pen and paper RPG called Cyberpunk 2020, so this will likely be a RPG and that the game will be released "When it's ready". This game also has a black man by the name of Mike Pondsmith who is the creator of the source material as co-creator which is notably rare to see in the industry. Unfortunately, there hasn't been much shown since 2012. This game is under the development by Witcher 3 Studio CD Projekt RED and now since The Witcher 3 is released, this game will likely start to show surface again in gaming news and maybe even make an appearance at this E3.