E3 started off with a whimper. EA had a horrible showing, they probably should not have done a press event this year. In stark contrast, the next day press conferences, Microsoft and Bethesda, were fantastic and there are way too many games that I am interested in coming out in 2018 and 2019. My bank account is not going to like me and I probably won’t have time to play them all either unfortunately.
Bethesda showcased a number of games that I was interested in and also talked about games that I have little interest in playing. To quickly run down some of those games that I am not interested in:
- Elder Scrolls Legends: I really forgot that this game was even out. I don’t really play any of the digital card games that are available. I have occasionally played Hearthstone but never bought the expansions, and I have only played Gwent in the Witcher 3. Nothing will get me to play Legends unfortunately.
- Elder Scrolls Online: Here is another game where I never got into at the start and there have been a number of expansions released now. So jumping in right now I feel would be a little daunting. The only MMO games that I really do play are WoW and GW2. There is only so many MMOs out there that one person can play.
- Quake Champions: I do miss the days of hardcore arena shooters. Halo 5 Guardians is very close to this and scratches my arena shooter itch. I still remember the days playing Quake 3 Arena, but again Quake Champions I have little interest in playing. Plus I doubt the support in early access/beta (whatever they are calling it in its current state) will have servers in Australia and I don’t fancy playing an online arena shooter with at least 300 ms ping. Maybe when the game officially comes out and there are dedicated servers here in Australia I will pick it up.
- All the VR titles: I am not sold on VR for a number of reasons which I will not go into detail here, I much prefer AR and mixed reality. I don’t have a VR headset and I don’t plan on getting one anytime soon. So as cool as the VR titles Pete Hines talked about, I will not be playing them.
- All the mobile games: Fallout Shelter (now out on more platforms) and the new Elder Scrolls Blades are two mobile games which I don’t plan on playing. As was stated in my EA impressions post, my mobile is a tool so that I can be more productive. And if I do have a tablet, PC or console to play games on, a mobile game is not one that I would be playing unfortunately.
Now with all the items that really didn’t do anything for me, time to cover what did. And boy there was a number at this press conference. First off there was Rage 2. It was the title that started the press conference off and everything that they showed was great. Before I go into more detail about what I liked, I would just like to say that could we please not have any more musical numbers at E3. It was awkward to watch the live music but it appears that the fans watching live really seemed uninterested in what was playing. Other than that, my takeaways from Rage 2 were:
- The game looks beautiful. From the landscape to the character and gun models. The explosions and fire also look really good.
- The gameplay looks significantly different from the original game which I don’t know how to feel about. I really thought that id nailed the gunplay in the original, it just got a little too repetitive. This one looks like you have more options and various ways to neutralise the enemies which is always good, but it seems to play so different to the first.
- The driving and driving combat also looks improved. Driving in the original game felt tact on, but this one feels like it is part of the experience exploring the large dystopian, post apocalyptic open world.
- Overall it looks like it is going to be a fun game which is what I am after.
“If you can see it, you can drive it” – Rage 2
From one fast paced shooter to another. Doom Eternal. They should have just called this Doom 2. The remake of Doom was down right near perfect as first person shooters go. The story was minimal (that was fine for me, the original and sequel didn’t have much of a story either and I am not talking about Doom 3) but the gameplay was fast paced, brutal and extremely addicting. The CGI trailer they showed looked like Hell on Earth and the sound track matched it perfectly. To make a Doom sequel you need the following checked:
- Doom slayer more powerful than the previous game?
- More badass demons?
- Hell on Earth?
And all three of these were checked. We will have to wait until Quakecon in August to see more about the game, but this was a perfect tease.
Prey was a fantastic reboot. With free updates and new content coming it was a pleasure to hear this news. I look forward to playing Mooncrash with the near infinite replayability, and Typhon Hunter (which I feel is a derivative of Prop Hunt from Gmod). If there is one type of enemy that I enjoy killing more than the aliens, mutants, and monsters, it is the Nazi. Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus was another perfect sequel to a a near perfect FPS game. Wolfenstein Youngblood puts you in the shoes of BJ’s twin daughters and best of all you can play the game in co-op. Now you can kill Nazi scum with your best friend, as BJ’s twin daughters. The mayhem will continue on.
The real reason why most if not all the people tuned into the press conference was for Fallout 76. And boy did it not disappoint. I have to give it to Mr Howard, he is a true showman. He knows how to excite the crowd, make them laugh and keep them interested. The main points that I got from the reveal through the trailers and clips shown (I absolutely love those Vault Tec videos) are:
- Prequel to the other Fallout games.
- 4 times the size of Fallout 4 (hopefully 4x as detailed and populated, there is no point in having a larger world with less content).
- Set in West Virginia with a number of distinct regions and home to creatures based on actual West Virginian folklore (great way to incorporate the history and location).
- New lighting and rendering techniques making the world 16 times more detailed.
- Completely online (some people are hesitant about this, but I have no real problem with it).
- The game can be played solo but it is easier to group up with friends and tackle the wasteland together.
- There will be no server options and your characters will move with you whenever you play (I take it that it behaves very similar to DayZ where there is an official hive that allows character persistence no matter what official server you are on).
- Building is now not limited to several locations and can be taken nearly anywhere with the new C.A.M.P. toolbox.
- Scattered across the wasteland there are nuclear missile sites where the players once they have the necessary codes can activate the nuclear missile causing havoc on the environment where hit.
- Coming out October 27, 2018 (really did not see this coming).
“There is no ‘i’ in nuclear wasteland” – Fallout 76
Closing the event, two trailers for what appear to be next generation games were shown. Starfield a brand new IP from Bethesda. Interested and want to learn more. And The Elder Scrolls 6. Loved Oblivion and Skyrim, so another ES game that is not an MMO is always a lovely addition. Overall I think Bethesda done a fantastic job showcasing games that interested me and continued the solid performance after Microsoft’s press event.
You can see the Bethesda event here.
Christopher Tom Kochovski 