This year marked the first year that the E3 Expo would be in Santa Monica and not at the Los Angeles convention center in LA. The switch came at the request of game publishers and developers who felt that they were devoting too much of their time and money trying to one-up each other at each event and not spending nearly as much time focusing on finishing the development of their games. This year’s event would mark the first of many future events which would be more subdued and not as flashy or spectacular as in year’s past. This would mean no booth babes, no flashy lights or loud noises and tighter restrictions on who would be allowed to attend the event. Based on the compilation of opinions that we’ve read from insiders in the gaming industry; they felt that this year’s event was better for publishers and developers to market their games which were a little more polished than in previous years but were annoyed about having to walk long distances to get from game booth to game booth which were separated between a Santa Monica airplane hangar and the hotels surrounding it nearby.Others still wish that the event went back to its roots and kept all the things that were mentioned above which made the event such a success. Of course, games will always be the focus at an E3 Event and this year was no exception with some truly groundbreaking games. If you read our 2006 recap, you will have already noticed that a lot of the games from last year returned again this year in an almost completed format then what we saw from them before. Rather than repeat ourselves, we’ll show you a few of the games that weren’t previously shown on the floor from last year’s event and give you our opinion on what we’ve thought about those games so far (This year’s list is in no particular order).
Killzone 2
-We included Killzone 2 in our 2006 list but didn’t talk much about the game since all we had was a movie trailer to speak of. Well, that movie trailer was no movie and from all indications is the actual game play footage which is looking pretty sweet at the moment. The opening demo level features the same game play footage that was featured in the trailer where you and some army buddies get thrown into a hot zone to start the game off with explosions and killings all around you. It seems that weather will be a big focus in this year’s game with either rain/snow playing a factor during game play but we still don’t have many details to go on just yet. Seeing as this is one of Sony’s big titles we expect big things from this game when it finally makes its way to the PS3.
Starcraft 2
-It’s taken nearly a decade for a sequel to this game to finally be in development. We don’t think that the fans will mind at all since they’re still loving the original with millions of fans lining up to play the original at Blizzcon every year. The game features human Terrans, the Zerg aliens, and the Protoss in a battle for space supremacy. Many fans consider this to be the greatest Real-Time Strategy game of all time and while the stakes to repeat that success are pretty high; we feel that the game will meet the fans expectations as Blizzard has yet to pull a stinker with one of their famed franchises so far.
World in Conflict
-Starcraft may be considered one of the greatest strategy games ever but the team behind World in Conflict hopes to change that. Buzz has been great about this game which depicts what would have happened if the Soviet Union expanded their destruction into Western Europe and then on to U.S. soil. You get to play as the United States resistance while fighting in 13 campaigns in areas like New York City, Paris and Moscow. Although the game is a strategy game; what differentiates itself from other RTS games is the fact that it plays more like a hybrid of an action/RTS game rather than a straightforward strategy game. This game features some of the best sound/graphics of any real-time strategy game to date and we look forward to playing this game in the fall.
The Legend of Zelda : The Phantom Hourglass
-It’s hard every year not to include a Zelda game in our list. The Phantom Hourglass is no exception as it blends The Legend of Zelda: Windwaker’s cell-shaded graphics with The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past game play and throws in some DS Stylus functionality in for good measure. The Stylus also hasn’t hindered the game play experience in any way but has only made the game play better as far as we can tell. The storyline takes place shortly after the conclusion of The Windwaker storyline where Link’s boat gets wrecked on to an island and must restart from scratch. While The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was a fun next-gen title, we’re still looking forward to playing some more old school Zelda this fall.
Rock Band
-We must admit that the idea of playing as an entire band with a video game system is a very odd yet very appealing idea. Ideas are one thing but implementation is another and we’re still uncertain whether the development team can put the same fun into this game as with the Guitar Hero series. If they can get that same level of satisfaction though, it will mark the first time that a whole band can duke it out on Xbox Live against other bands in a virtual setting and we think that concept truly rocks!
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune
-Developer Naughty Dog has left Jax & Dexter behind to give us this brand new adventure in a jungle-setting. We noticed in the footage that the main character is some sort of a treasure hunter who was hiding behind walls and rocks gears of wars style fighting bad guys. If we were to describe the game right now we’d say it’s a mix between Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider, Prince of Persia and Gears of War and with a combination of any of these games together can only lead to good things for gamers.
LittleBigPlanet
-You’d think that with the PS3 capabilities, you’d be seeing some humongous hardware-capable games; yet Sony’s best kept secret is a little game called LittleBigPlanet. The game reminds us of a new aged Lemmings title where these little creatures must create blockades or avoid obstacles in order to reach their final destination. The twist comes with the PS3’s ability to create unique physics that will enable players to get through the obstacle courses in various ways. The other great part about this game is Sony’s full support in making this title one of Playstation Home’s (Playstation Online Gaming Model) first fully supported titles where gamers can create their own levels and share them with the network. We fully expect this title to be one of the more surprising offerings in the upcoming year and hope that it doesn’t get swept up in all of the first person shooter/massive war games that will be out around the same time as LittleBigPlanet.
Haze
-Haze is created by the same development team that created the Timesplitters series so right away we knew that we were going to have a good title on our hands. The game is based off the idea that MegaCorporations now rule the world and have private armies to do their bidding for them. We’re not quite certain about the plot of this game but we’ve been led to believe based off of gamer websites that this title will have the same first person shooter mayhem as previous Free Radical titles. The title was recently announced to be a PS3-Exclusive game at launch so hopefully this will help PS3 gamers get out of the gaming slump they’ve been in and enjoy a great exclusive game for their system.
Fracture
-LucasArts has been joined at the hip with Star Wars but some of their better games like Grim Fandango have been great games that haven’t involved the Star Wars universe. That’s why when Fracture was announced we were more then impressed to see LucasArts try their hand at a new franchise of games. Just because LucasArts is attached to Fracture doesn’t make the game an automatic success but so far we’ve been more then impressed with the game play so far. The storyline is about a divided United States where Civil War has divided the East and West coasts because of genetic engineering on humans. The name Fracture also means that during game play, you’ll be able to re-create the terrain as a weapon in real-time against anyone that may think otherwise. You’ll be able to shoot the ground and create mountains or shoot it to create holes that your enemies will fall into. It’s a pretty neat concept that we’ve yet to see explored in any game as of yet. We hope to see Fracture at a store nearby sometime in 2008.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
-The development team behind the Call of Duty series has finally moved on from creating World War 2 first person shooters and now have theirs sights set on a more modern day war game. The game isn’t in the future but in a more realistic setting similar to the present day war in Iraq. While the game doesn’t include any mention of Iraq in the story; it does include a fictional portrayal of a Middle Eastern country ran by a dictator with whom you must take arms and go up against. The development team has put a lot of research and development into making this game as realistic as possible and are even getting feedback from Iraq war veterans to make this game the most realistic war game ever.Once again, there’s our list for the top 10 games that wowed us at this year’s E3 event. You can check out an extended list of games not mentioned in our list from last year’s article as most of the same games we mentioned last year were back again at this year’s event in a more polished and near-completed stage. Stay tuned for our three-year Review of past E3 events where we’ll take a look at which games ended up succeeding on the market, which games surprised us the most and which games fell flat on their faces.
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