E3 2018, Exclusive Coverage
Show: E3 2018, Electronic Entertainment Expo
Date: June 12-14, 2018
Venue: Los Angeles Convention Center
City: Los Angeles, CA
E3 2018, Exclusive Coverage
Written by Jesse Seilhan and Joshua David Anderson
Every year, thousands and thousands of gamers, press, and hot dog carts descend upon Downtown Los Angeles to see what’s new in gaming at E3. This year was no different, with hundreds of games on display both at the event and the surrounding area, as Microsoft used their own Theater in LA Live to showcase all of their games and EA continued their big EA Play event outdoors. But the press conferences set the tone early and spawned plenty of headlines before the doors even opened, giving gamers a glimpse at the future of console gaming for the rest of the 2010’s.
Each console manufacturer had plenty to show off, but Sony decided to carry on with more of a whimper than a bang. By only focusing on four games (Marvel’s Spider-Man, Ghosts of Tsushima, Death Stranding, and The Last of Us II), they conveyed more of what 2019 would look like, as three of those games aren’t coming out this year. Microsoft went hard-charging into the software lineup, announcing over 50 games, including 18 console launch exclusives & over a dozen world premieres, while also announcing a few studio acquisitions and teasing a new console. Nintendo stayed steady on their course of playing a pre-recorded video, stuffed with third-party goodies and a few proprietary gems, like a new Smash Bros, Fire Emblem, and Mario Party.
The big third-parties were there as well, with Electronic Arts updating their yearly sports rosters and charging you $60 for it, showcasing Anthem and all of its Destiny-esque goodness, and teasing the next big Star Wars game from the makers of Titanfall. Bethesda showed up strong, announcing sequels, sequels, and more sequels, for their stellar RPGs Elder Scrolls and Fallout to their action-packed shooters Doom and Rage. Ubisoft’s was as wacky as ever with no real big surprise (Splinter Cell will have to wait…) but most-baffling was Square Enix, announcing and putting on a press conference at E3 for the first time in years. But all of the big hitters you assume would follow never showed up (think sequels to Final Fantasy, that FF7 remake, the Avengers game they are working on), leaving fans to scratch their head at the third showing of the same Kingdom Hearts III trailer and little else.
We played just about everything and have some exclusive hands-on impressions of some of the biggest games of the year. Turn the page to kick off our E3 2018 preview and stay tuned for the rest of 2018 for reviews of the hottest games on the market!
Spider-man
One of Sony’s biggest games this fall happens to star one of the biggest comic book heroes of all time, one that is also not a stranger to video games. Spider-Man has graced the cover and controls of games going back to the old days, but the track record hasn’t always been great. Insomniac Games, developer of Marvel’s Spider-Man for the Playstation 4, hope that their game is on the good side of the web-slingers catalog, and so far they have been saying the right things.
When people talk about the good Spider-Man games, they always seem to be the games where the swinging felt great. The iconic mode of travel for ol’ webhead is probably the first thing people think of when they think of the character, so it makes sense that the developers at Insomniac have spent a lot of time showing off the swinging mechanics, and what they have shown off feels great. Swinging around New York feels effortless and smooth, while allowing a lot of air control and choice on how your next swing will start and end. Getting around the city looks to be a ton of fun and held up nicely during our hands-on preview at E3.
Once you stop swinging, the combat starts, and thankfully Marvel’s Spider-Man is talking the right cues here as well. Borrowing some of the best bits from Arkham Asylum, and adding in a lot of web specific moves and gadgets, Spider-Man retains all of his movement finesse while punching criminals and mobsters in their faces. The best superhero games always make you feel like the character in question, and Marvel’s Spider-Man looks to be the best outing for the famous web-slinger to date!
Control
Remedy Entertainment, the developers of games like Alan Wake, Quantum Break, and the classic Max Payne, are delving more into the world of the supernatural with their new title Control. No strangers to the weird, Remedy has always been good at layering that weirdness underneath the quaint and normal, and Control seems to follow suit. While their pedigree almost assures that the game will have an engrossing story with fleshed out characters, Remedy has stated that Control will be less linear than their previous games.
Some of that nonlinearity will certainly come from their setting. In Control, you play as Jesse Faden, a woman with supernatural powers who goes searching for answers from the Federal Bureau of Control, a secret governmental group that’s sort of like if the X-Files were given a whole building. Exploring the headquarters of the FBC, an ancient skyscraper known as the Oldest House, Jesse will find the location is bigger than she could have ever imagined, with an evil threat called the Hiss standing in the way of her answers.
Thankfully, Jesse won’t take on the Hiss unarmed. She is given The Director’s Pistol, which is a transforming gun that can shoot a variety of ways. She also has a bevy of supernatural powers to aid her in combat, like telekinesis and more. Combat in the game looks to be really dynamic, with the powers and the special gun you have all interacting in different ways, giving Jesse a lot of options when it comes to taking out the Hiss. Control looks to be a mind-bending experience when it drops sometime next year.
The Surge 2
The Surge made a splash on the scene in 2017 as a sci-fi infused, robot filled take on Dark Souls, and developer Deck13 did a pretty good job of making the game feel like a brutal version of the Souls formula, while adding some unique mechanics. Deck13 is planning on continuing that feel with The Surge 2, while improving the combat even more and adding some new surprises.
The first game took place on a mining industrial complex, and the environment was well done, but pretty bland overall. There were occasional highlights, like corporate offices and a showroom for this mining rig, but a lot of the game was set in dirty worksites. With The Surge 2, Deck13 takes players to a large, sprawling city, with green vegetation and more color than before. Don’t get too comfortable though, as the city has been devastated by some unknown calamity, and it is your job to get killed by vicious robots and mutilated humans alike.
Thankfully, The Surge 2 is not going to leave you helpless. The combat system is getting upgraded, with more weapons, drones, and implant power ups than before. The dismemberment system from the first game, which let you chop off arms, legs, and even heads to craft equipment, is getting some new features, though the developers were keeping some of that a surprise. They have also added new things, like being able to block in any direction, which will certainly come in handy as you get attacked from everything and everyone. The Surge 2 looks to deliver on what the first game did, and more.
Forza Horizon 4
Every year, Microsoft flip-flops their proprietary driving franchise and this year we have another new Forza Horizon. But instead of just moving locations (they did that) and adding more cars (yup, that too), Forza’s living, breathing world takes center stage, creating an ever-evolving landscape that deserves to be driven every day for the rest of 2018. But what’s actually under the hood this year?
The biggest change is actually the weather. Sure, plenty of driving games have had realistic weather conditions and gameplay shifts due to the wind, the rain, and the mud along the tracks. But this year’s Horizon goes hard on seasons, four unique driving situations that not only modify every road, field, and lake across jolly old England, but new are timed seasonal events that are only available for that week while it’s the appropriate season for that event. Deep ponds become driftable ice rinks, snowy mountains become lush pastures, and your vehicles respond as they should with those changes, as well.
Visually, there are few games as flashy, fluid, and focused as Forza Horizon 4. The entire menu system got an overhaul, as did the post-race presentation and level progression. Now, you gain XP for doing just about everything: races, tricks, jumps, speed cameras, and more. Each bucket has 20 levels to climb and hands out cash, cars, and more for ascending the ranks. The car variety makes this even more fun, as you can grab some top tier speedsters to smash those speed trap records then switch over to a souped-up import for the drift zones. While prior Horizons have been stellar outputs, this was is built to take the lead when it comes out in October.
Project 1v1
In a world dominated by battle royales, chicken dinners, and Blackouts, Gearbox is looking to the past for inspiration. Arena Shooters used to rule the internet much like the Fortnites of today did, save with fewer players and way slower download speeds. Still, those who remember dialing up to play Quake or Unreal back in the day definitely had a salty combatant type “1v1 me bro” in the chat and that is precisely the vibe Project 1v1 is going for.
The premise is very simple: two avatars enter, one avatar leaves. The arenas are small-ish, but usually possess some verticality to keep them from becoming spawn camping nightmares. You head into each battle with a class and their special ability, but you also apply some collectible card battle techniques to build out your full loadout. Once enough mojo has been earned in battle, you can deploy some awesome moves like a turret or even summon a sword that allows for one-hit kills while it lasts.
It’s hard to see how this is going to fly given the current state of gaming. Bigger is perceived to be better, everyone is tripping over themselves to shove as many combatants onto a single field as possible, and unless your character has a silly dance and wacky weapons, you may as not even attempt to sell your game. Still, Gearbox’s honest approach to old-school fun is well realized, as the controls felt great, the balancing was tight, and the card aspect created more depth than most modern shooters. A beta test is going public live this year, so go check it out!
SouL Calibur VI
Fighting games are enjoying a bit of a renaissance right now, with Street Fighter V finally shedding its early release woes, DragonBall Z taking everyone’s lunch money right now, and Tekken showing that old dogs can certainly have new tricks, giving that franchise the biggest boost it’s had in well over a decade. Bandai Namco wants in even more on the craze, dusting off Soulcalibur for the new consoles so a whole new generation can find out why the soul still burns. And while the franchise has always trucked in guest characters, only a single one (Geralt from The Witcher) has been shown off thus far.
This is a tried and true SC game: each character has their beloved weapon by their side, 8-way running gets you moving all over the place, and a costly mistake near the battlefield’s border will result in a ring out. But the game is also getting some modern systems, like a defensive parry system akin to Injustice’s Clash system, allowing players who are getting smashed the opportunity to turn the tables with the press of the button. Supers are now here, as well, and pulling them off only requires a single pull of the trigger.
Fans of the series will applaud the return of perhaps the wackiest character creator this side of the WWE games, as are a few story modes. One sees you taking a created character throughout the land, battling foes and uncovering more info about the game’s backstory in the process. The other is more traditional, having you take the role of various established characters in hopes of gaining the Soul Edge yourself. The game felt great at E3 and we can’t wait to give it a spin this fall!