WeView Verdict: E3 2013

Now that E3 has come to a close for yet another year, it seems like an apt time to hear what you liked from the games revealed and on show. Naturally, this week doesn’t focus on game reviews but rather what you’re looking forward to on (mostly) next-gen consoles. To make it a bit easier to digest, everyone’s thoughts are rounded up by individual publishers.

Microsoft

Microsoft went first – as they usually do at E3 – showing off a host of brilliant exclusives as well as some upcoming multiplatform games. Radboud is only excited about Quantum Break which he described as a “very nice idea” even though he won’t be buying an Xbox One and arrybags continued the theme of wanting what you can’t have by saying he’s “slightly” jealous of Dead Rising 3 and Forza Motorsport 5, while Vandix said he reckons Titanfall might be only a timed exclusive and thinks it “looks great” too.

Jakster123x enjoyed Microsoft’s exclusives more overall, with Project Spark and Below surprising him. He also loved the look of Sunset Overdrive, which almost made him “curl up into a ball and cry” with the exclusivity. Hazelam was another disappointed soul with Project Spark’s console exclusivity.

Overall, Microsoft’s conference seems to have elicited a lot of sadness at certain games being exclusive – but not much desire for the console itself.

EA

I had expected more of a response to the new Mirror’s Edge game; it only received a few passing mentions from Tuffcub, Jakster123x and Kennykazey.

Star Wars Battlefront, despite the quick reveal, garnered much more attention. In fact, Broonba listed it as his top three things from E3, though you might’ve guessed that by looking at his Stormtrooper helmet avatar.

Death_In_Flamez, who we can confirm is now in a stable condition, said that he “almost died from disbelief” when the screen flashed up, concluding “I simply cannot wait to see what they do with the franchise that really shaped my gaming life when I was younger.” Aww. wick15 went on to say that “The thought of DICE making that has got me salivating.” which is a bit of an odd image.

Moving on to the Battlefield. 4. Okay, not the smoothest transition, but that game also appeared in some comments, with ashw92 stating “when that building came tumbling down it elicited an impressed snort from me and really put it on my radar when it hadn’t been before.” So, buildings falling over make Ash snort. Remember that information, it could be crucial.

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare was a nice surprise in my opinion and a few people seem to agree, namely jimmy-google, and Vandix and Kennykazey, who has “a crush” on the game.

EA provided a lot of variety, despite their usual elongated sports segment – everyone seemed relatively happy with what they saw.

Ubisoft

There’s no denying that the new Tom Clancy title – The Division – stole the show. It appeared in most of the comments and seems to be part of the reason for many next-gen console purchases. There was certainly no division in these comments…wait, I’ve made this joke before.

Origami Killer stated that the game “ticked every box” which is reflected in a lot of other comments, with lots of “day one”s and “game of the show”s thrown about. Tuffcub highlighted just how unexpected it was brilliantly, with an anecdote about TheSixthAxis’ E3 conference Skype chat:

Watching The Division reveal with all the other TSA staff on Skype was a highlight for me, it was unexpected, we had no idea what was going on.
Skype went a bit like this “What? What the hell? Oh my god.. WHAT? WHAT IS THIS? A franchise? Which one? Splinter Cell? Who? That was so cool. Still no idea.. WTF happened then? This looks awsome!!! WHAT? ‘EFFING HELL! Tom Clancy RPG?!?!??!!”

Maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but it was really exciting, despite me constantly thinking they might actually be revealing a sequel to ZombiU (Zombi2) before the gameplay was shown.

That wasn’t the only new IP from Ubisoft to get some attention. Although revealed last year, Watch Dogs seems to still be on a lot of people’s watch list – leeroye said that it “was absolutely stunning” and I’m inclined to agree.

cam the man reckons that The Crew “could be a challenger to Driveclub” but – honestly – I think it looks a lot better. Kennykazey agrees, saying that it looks like the most “ambitious and fun” racer he’s seen in a while and wick15 said that it’s “one of the games I’m most excited about” and “almost my dream racing game.”

No one seemed enamoured with this year’s Assassin’s Creed game, however: arrybags was “quite disappointed” and there were very few mentions otherwise – could this be a sign that the series is fatigued and new IPs are ruling the show? It seems that way.

Sony

There was, naturally, a lot of love for the PlayStation titles shown at this year’s E3 in the comments, with the newly-announced PlayStation 4 game, The Order 1886, at their core; jimmy-google described it as “fresh” and is excited to see what ReadyAtDawn can do on home consoles, whereas ashw92 looks forward to seeing some gameplay as he says it “piqued my interest”.

Killzone got some love too in the comments, despite Moshbag describing its showing as “disappointing”, whereas GregHorrorShow thought the Vita one looked “especially” great. On perhaps the other side of the spectrum, Radboud gave Kingdom Hearts III some love, describing it as a “no-brainer”.

Sony seem to have done something right by showing Destiny which appeared on many commenters’ “want” lists, with leeroye describing it as a “very promising and visually striking title.” Origami Killer said that it reminded him of Resistance and Halo “with the crazy weaponry on show”.

jimmy-google also enjoyed the current generation line-up, describing Sony’s showing of The Last of Us, Beyond, Rain, Puppeteer and Gran Turismo 6 as “in some ways the best games bit” whereas rept0n thought Sony’s best moment was perhaps their indie showcase, even though he went on to say that Final Fantasy XV “made my jaw drop” and that he’s “probably looking forward to that the most”.

A few people also seemed excited that DriveClub would be getting a cut-down PlayStation Plus version and there were rumblings of hype for the all-new inFamous release, Second Son.

Nintendo

Nintendo aren’t the most popular publisher around here – I’m becoming more and more convinced that they’ve started making games for a small group of my friends and I alone. rept0n was on the case, summing it up brilliantly:

Looking back on it all, Nintendo really do have some huge games with plenty of re-playability coming to the Wii U. I know they’re all sequels, but Mario, Mario Kart and Smash Bros all looked and seemed to play like slices of golden sunshine.

Dom El was also quite excited about Nintendo, saying he’s “massively looking forward to pretty much every title they showed” and that “Mario Kart 8, X and Super Smash Bros. will be must-buys when they release.”

So, that’s E3 done for another year, it’s been fun, hasn’t it? Although we’re now all extremely tired so there might not be any articles next week. Only 360 days until E3 2014!