Sony had a lot live up to because of the fantastic, mind-blowing, and unforeseen surprises from last year’s conference. Happy to report that they did not disappoint this year either. Previously announced titles had more information revealed to the audiences, but lots of new IPs announced as well. There is a lot to cover, so I will be brief with each announcement.
First, can we just agree that it would be Sony to have a live orchestra playing the scores to the games on screen and playing music as announcers walked on the stage. Amazing!
Sony came out strong with the unveiling of the God of War sequel which they are simply calling God of War. This marks a brand new story for the vicious Spartan for he is now (or again) a father. The trailer, link here, was captivating , and the emotions conveyed from the innocence of Kratos’s son really had me misty-eyed. Cannot wait to see more.
Days Gone is the name of Sony’s new action-adventure zombie game. A biker versus hordes of zombies sounds and looks very cool. I will have my eye on that one.
The Last Guardian finally, finally, finally has a release date. That is right. The epitome of a game going through development hell will be released on October 25, 2016. That’s right, this year. I do hope it’s going to be good. Fingers crossed. Link here if you have not seen this masterpiece yet.
Seeing a new Horizon: Zero Dawn gameplay trailer reassured me that this is going to be a contender for game of the year in 2017. It’s beautiful, the protagonist is tenacious and quick own her feet, and the enemies are robotic animals! You have me sold. Hopefully, many others are sold on this new IP as well.
Detroit: Become Human made an appearance at last year’s E3 which starred a character named Kara. This time around we got a lot more information about what the game may have in store for it’s players. The cinematic trailer revealed some detective and choice-based mechanics, of course your decisions have consequences in-game as well. To what extent remains to be seen. The trailer is quite bad ass, so keep your eye out on this one. Watch the trailer here.
Resident Evil 7 showed itself in a very spooky cinematic trailer with a release date of January 24, 2017. I was never into Resident Evil, but with the strong fan base this franchise has I am clearly missing out.
With the Playstation VR headset releasing this October, Sony revealed some information about PSVR games that are in the works. 50 games are being worked on for the PSVR which includes a StarWars Battlefront game called X-Wing VR mission. Farpoint is Sci-Fi FPS VR game where you and your crew must fight for survival on a treacherous planet. Final Fantasy 15 VR Experience was also unveiled on the main stage, but the biggest surprise was the announcement of Batman: Arkham VR. It is one thing playing as the caped crusader, but actually becoming him is a whole other level.
The controversial, highly disliked, Infinite Warfare showed off some very cool outerspace FPS action. We will see how much fans will like it or dislike it once it launches on November 4, 2016.
It was announced on Sony’s main stage that Crash Bandicoot will be getting not one, not two, but three remasters. Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot 2, and Crash Bandicoot: Warped are all being remastered for a 2017 release.
Lego StarWars Episode 7 made an appearance just getting the fans of the lego games hyped for its June 28 launch.
Probably the biggest story of E3 2016 was the grandiose return of Hideo Kojima. The profound developer was plagued by all kinds of controversy last year with the removal of his name from Metal Gear Solid 5 and his separation from Konami. However, Kojima proudly stated on stage that “I’m Back!” with a thunderous applause from the audience. He then debuted his new game called Death Stranding. It’s hard to describe what is going on in the trailer, so here it is. Yup, it’s weird!
The last new IP revealed was definitely a surprise to everyone. Insomniac Games is creating the next spidey-swinging adventure game entitled, Spider-Man. Sony showed an awesome gameplay trailer. I was never a big fan of Spider-Man games, but this has piqued my interest.
So the winner of E3 hands down goes to Sony. They put the other conferences to shame last year and this year was pretty strong as well. New exclusives, new experiences, anticipation of previous announced games, PSVR, and Kojima, Kojima, Kojima! Save up your money for we all be broke into a good portion of 2017! I really need to learn how to filter feed, so I can save on food costs.
Javon "Jaystonee" Goard 