E3 2018 Recap

From reading my last blog post, you might be able to tell that I was pretty hyped for E3 this year. I had high hopes and still wanted to be wowed. EA started off… well… not great, at least in terms of presentation. Microsoft came up next and looked like masters in comparison, but then through Bethesda, Ubisoft, Sony and Nintendo I felt that they were all good not great. Without any further ado let’s get deep into some reveals and thoughts.

Like I mentioned, EA started out with a blah. While there were a few games and reveals that I was intrigued by, the presentation aspect lost me, and left me not feeling into it. Separating the presentation from the announcements, however, I am into the Battlefield 5 story mode as well as the battle royale mode which was announced. They also went out of their way to mention that no loot boxes or premium pass will be coming. While I don’t have a problem charging for a season pass, I think they made the right choice because of the backlash they’ve received from previous ones. Until the last showing of the conference, they went over many games that I don’t really care about (FIFA 19, Battlefront 2, Unravel 2, Sea of Solitude, NBA Live 19, and Command and Conquer). This left Anthem, a game similar to Destiny or the Division. Bioware gave a decent amount of information without really answering any questions I had about the game, so I hope to see more information on game length, end game content, and world exploration soon. Regardless, I am pumped up and ready to go when Anthem comes out February 22 of next year.

Microsoft killed it in terms of presentation this year. They showed game after game that are my kind of experience, but the argument can be made that for the most part I’ll end up buying these all on PS4. Since they talked about so many games I’ll just mention the ones interesting to me. That would be the Division 2 (which I’ll talk about more later on with Ubisoft), Devil May Cry 5, Dying Light 2, Gears of War 5, and Halo Infinite. Devil May Cry is a series that has intrigued me for a while but never hooked me enough to jump in. This could be the one to do it, since the action and tone look awesome. Dying Light was a fantastic game, and more of that sounds like just what I need, not to mention they are adding in more RPG type mechanics where your choices affect the world around you. Gears looked awesome, and it’ll force me to go back and play 4 to see if I like where the company is headed, while Halo Infinite looks reminiscent of the good old days when Bungie used to make Halo. They didn’t show much at all, but it looks like they might know what they’re doing this time, and that’s a relief. Other games that were mentioned that don’t interest me much are Ori 2, Sekiro (by from softeare), a new iteration on Life is Strange, Crackdown, Metro Redux (which I would be willing to give it a chance if it didn’t come out the same day as Anthem and Days Gone), Kindom Hearts, Forza Horizon 4, Tomb Raider, Session (which I might give a chance, I just need to see a bit more), Jump Force, Battletoads, and Just Cause 4. Like I said, they showed a lot of games. The stinger that ended the conference was a new trailer for Cyberpunk 2077, from the makers of Witcher 3. This trailer looked ridiculously good. I know the game is still far out, and I don’t have much information on what the story or gameplay is like, but damn am I ready to play this already.

Bethesda came out to Rage 2 and a performance by Andrew W.K. and while it had good intentions, the crowd wasn’t into it, and it kind of made for an unexcited conference. Rage 2 looks interesting, and having no idea what the first Rage was about, I’m curious to learn more. The combat looked fun, the graphics looked beautiful, but the thing that worries me is the car combat. It seems like car combat will be a big aspect in the game, and it’s not something I’ve ever really enjoyed in any game to date. Next we found out more from Fallout 76, which turned out to be a shared universe, multiplayer version of Fallout on a map 4 times the size of Fallout 4. Having set expectations low, I feel like this game went above what I was ready for, and so when it arrives this year on November 14, I’ll be ready and waiting at midnight to play. Nothing else at this conference blew me away. They announced Elder Scrolls phone games and card games, Fallout Shelter for PS4 and Switch, a new Wolfenstein co-op game and teased Doom Eternal with no real information.

Ubisoft I would argue had the second best conference behind Xbox, and like Bethesda they came out to a performance, only this time I think it worked. In past years I always looked at my phone during the Just Dance segment, but this time whether it was the song choices or best dancing panda I’ve ever seen, but I was hyped for this conference off the get-go. We saw Beyond Good and Evil 2, which still seems far away and still has me wondering what the hell this game is about, but they want to give a chance for people to add art to the game and be paid for it through Hit Record, and that seems cool. Trials announced a new title labeled Trials Rising, and it looks like more Trials. I enjoyed what I’ve played of Trials in the past, and if you can get a few buddies to join it’s a fun time. The Division 2 came out swinging as well, showing the game and giving a plan of what’s to come post-launch. Free DLC for year 1 has 3 updates, there are 8 player raids for end-game content, and the story and gameplay looked as good as ever. Next we went to Skull and Bones, a game that everyone but me seems excited for. If you liked the boat mechanics and combat in Assassins Creed Black Flag, you’ll probably enjoy this, but I never even finished Black Flag because I didn’t enjoy getting on a ship one bit. Finally they showed Assassins Creed Odyssey, and to its credit I had checked out during the Skull and Bones trailer, and when I looked up and thought it was still going on I said to myself maybe I should give this a chance it looks awesome. Set in Sparta, you have the choice of the male or female protagonist, and you make choices that affect gameplay and love interests, in the same vein as Mass Effect so it seems. Bringing this to Assassins Creed could be what brings me back, not to mention the skill trees and progression system that I seem to have missed seeing in previous years.

PlayStation won the show to many people, but I simply don’t get it. I love my PS4 and consider myself invested in the ecosystem, but this just didn’t do it for me. To me an E3 showcase needs to wow you, show you something new and cool to get you excited for the future of PlayStation. They showed off mainly 4 games that were already announced, being Death Stranding, Spider-Man, Ghost of Tsushima, and The Last of Us Part 2. I don’t know what to say about Death Stranding other than “What the hell is this”. Spiderman looks very much like the Batman Arkham games that I never really liked because of the combat, although I admit the swinging from rope to rope mechanic looks pretty cool. Ghost of Tsushima puzzles me, because I don’t know anything about the plot really, but it looks beautiful and I trust Sucker Punch from their work on Infamous. The Last of Us showed me exactly why I’m excited for this game, and I can’t even begin to describe it as well as it was shown, so if you missed the new trailer and gameplay footage, just go watch it. Aside from this, they showed a few games that are either not at all for me (new game from the maker of Rick and Morty, a few very Japanese style games) or irrelevant at this point (they showed Black Ops 3 DLC and mentioned it’s a PS Plus game).

Finally came Nintendo, and while they did a good job, I don’t think I’ll be taking the plunge and purchasing a Switch soon. A new Mario Party is perfect for the console, and Smash Bros looks cool, bringing back every character from every previous game, and announcing a couple others. If I was unimpressed by the rest of the E3 showcases, I might be willing to hop in, but with games like Assassins Creed Odyssey, Call of Duty Black Ops 4, Battlefield V, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Fallout 76 all coming out this year, I think my gaming budget will be spent.

Looking back on what I saw and what games are coming out soon, I can’t say I’m really disappointed in this E3, but I am a little sad that no real game was announced that is coming any time in the near future to excite me. Maybe it’s for the best though, because in addition to the 5 games I mentioned already for this year, there’s a ton more in the early stages of next year with Anthem, Days Gone, Trials Rising, Division 2, Rage 2, all in the Spring of 2019. On the distant horizon I can look forward to Halo Infinite, Dying Light 2, The Last of Us Part 2, and of course Cyberpunk 2077. I expected to leave this year’s E3 excited about the future of gaming, and looking at that list of games I’m not sure how I could feel anything but sheer excitement and enthusiasm.

Phil Spencer (head of Xbox) speaking during this year's Microsoft showcase.