Microsoft’s E3 2014 event has just ended, and the news on the Xbox side of things are all fantastic! Scroll down to learn what happened.
What an exciting time to be a gamer. After the lackluster event Microsoft had at E3 2013, they had an uphill battle to remind gamers why it is that Xbox matters at all. Since the beginning of their 2014 press conference, they made it loud and clear: Xbox as a brand, and Xbox One as a console is all about games, and they had 90 minutes of uninterrupted games, creators and studios to show for it. TV wasn’t mentioned once, letting the games take the spotlight they should never have missed, and Microsoft didn’t just deliver the same old FPS games with exclusive, timed DLC, but a bunch of exclusives that make a serious case for the Xbox One to be a gamer’s console of choice.
What they had to show went as follows:
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
The latest Call of Duty looked fantastic, and seemed to have more of a focus on atmosphere and ambiance instead of being the same shooter of every year. This gives us some hope that they might be up to something cool, although we don’t doubt for a second the frantic multiplayer shooting will be there just the way we remember it.
Forza 5:
Microsoft’s driving simulator looks sharper than ever. The creators thanked the fans for their continued success, and spoke of the great things to come.
Evolve:
Evolve is a game by the creators of Left 4 Dead, and it shows: the game is a co-op shooter where 4 players with different classes traverse a stage looking for a monster, controlled by a 5th player. The action looks simply frantic, and the monster reminds us of Cthulhu.
Assassin’s Creed Unity:
The new Assassin’s Creed game looks like will finally address the issue of allowing players to co-operate when it comes to carrying out the missions. The world (well, Paris) looks huge and populated, and as long as they fix the combat to adapt for the many potential players, this looks like a serious entry for the best title in the series.
Dragon Age Inquisition:
The latest Dragon Age really does look like a return to shape for the franchise, with an incredibly fluid an attractive combat. Time will tell if our prediction holds or not.
Sunset Overdrive:
Microsoft’s answer to Sony’s Infamous comes from a former Sony studio. It was created by Insomniac Games, the team behind Ratchet & Clank, and promises to have a lot of action but being quirky and funny instead of serious.
Super Ultra Dead Rising 3 Arcade Remix Hyper Edition EX Plus Alpha
Are you having trouble pronouncing that? We do too. This is a DLC for Dead Rising 3, which tributes many of the other Capcom franchises, Street Fighter being king among them.
Fable Legends:
The new entry in the Fable series has the blessing and the curse of not having Molyneux behind it. It looks like this entry is a bit on the light side, being a co-op based, relaxed 3rd person hack-n-slash. The cool addition, though, is a “Villain” mode where players take a role analogous to that of the Dungeon Master in classic D&D, and places mobs and traps for the player to fight.
Project Spark:
This is an interesting one: Project Spark lets players create their own mini-games and play with friends. It’s not restricted to one genre, though, and players can try their hand at tabletop games, dungeon crawlers, arcade shooters, and more. Furthermore? It marks the return of Conker, from Conker’s Bad Fur day, and this alone is something to celebrate. The game will be releasing for Xbox One and PC.
Halo 5: Guardians & Halo: Master Chief Collection
It wouldn’t be a Microsoft conference without a million news on the Halo front, but this time they’ve outdone themselves. We saw a Halo 5 teaser which was expected, but also a deep look at the Master Chief Collection. This is a a single disc including Halo 1-4 with their respective multiplayers mode. Halo 2 Anniversary has the ORIGINAL Halo 2 multiplayer, in particular, the one everyone loved, with the same engine as 10 years ago. Players will be able to switch between modern and classic graphics with the touch of a button. Pretty exciting, really, but furthermore, the collection includes Halo: Nightfall, the live action series coming out that connects Halo 4 & 5, and a Halo 5 Guardians Beta.
Inside:
This game looked fantastic. It seems like we’re looking at the next Limbo/Portal, a post-apocalyptic mechanical future, and gameplay based on puzzle solving and stealth. Count us in.
Showing off indie games published to Xbox 1
They showed a bunch of indies, as if in order to contest Sony’s dominance on that field. Microsoft did great, although the footage was really short, they really did showcase a lot of variety.
Rise of the Tomb Raider:
We only saw a short teaser without gameplay, but it seems like this game will gap the transition between the Lara we saw in the last Tomb Raider, and the classic Tomb Raider games. We’re glad to see they’re still focusing on her human side.
Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
We got to see some gameplay of the latest game in the Witcher series, and it frankly looks fantastic. It looks like it will build on the strengths of the previous 2 games, and give players the freedom to hunt, track, and take on quests with incredible graphics and enhanced gameplay. This was our favorite game from the event.
The Division:
Tom Clancy’s games are back! In the trailer for The Divison we saw a 3D map of the city which we assume encompasses the playable area. Apparently, this tactical shooter has massive, sprawling buildings that can be traversed as well as environments that respond to being shot at. Could this game really deliver, or are we seeing the next Watch_Dogs?
Scalebound:
The concept of Scalebound seems to be small guy fighting big monsters in a very stylish way. Let’s not forget, this exclusive is a game by Platinum Games, the people behind Bayonetta.
Crackdown: (No really, just Crackdown)
Crackdown is back! We seem to have seen a pre-rendered sequence, hinting at the possibility of co-op. Despite the lack of actual footage, the return of the franchise alone should delight everyone.