Over the last few weeks, Microsoft has received an enormous amount of hate (Seriously, just do a Google search) regarding their Xbox One revel a few weeks ago. Some have already gone so far as to say they are going to boycott the console all together. To me this is a bit presumptuous as until today we really didn’t get to see any of the content that would be available for the console. I’m a firm believer that you can’t really judge a console without at least first seeing the content available. Does the Xbox One seem restrictive? Yes. Does it seems as if they’re waging war on every game that isn’t purchased directly from the player? Absolutely. At the end of the day however it’s the same old story; people don’t purchase a console solely on its merits, they buy it for the games, plain and simple. I’m sure there will be a few holdouts purely on principle, but now that we’ve seen the games I wouldn’t be surprised if we also see a softening of everyone’s once critical opinion of the upcoming console.
More than once during today’s Microsoft E3 event we heard the phrase “we’ve listened,” and when it comes to the games I think this is mostly true, they did in fact listen, at least when it comes to the games. This may be the first console release in a long time that has a little bit of something for everyone the day it is released.
That’s not to say that there aren’t a bunch of games we all saw coming; Halo: Spartan Assault, Forza Motorsport 5, Battlefield 4, and even to some extent, Dead Rising 3. However, there are a handful of titles that seem to deviate from the traditional role of “release title;” World of Tanks, Sunset Overdrive, Below, and the Killer Instinct reboot just to name a few.
I don’t know if anyone remembers the Xbox 360 line-up at launch, but it didn’t even come close to what the Xbox One is hoping to offer. That’s not to say that these titles are going to be any good, but at least they are hoping to hit the ground running at launch, plus the more titles they put their weight behind they more likely it is that at least some of them will be next-gen worthy.
Below is a list of some takeaways I jotted down while watching today’s E3 event. Some games only showed off some pre-rendered 15 second clips, so I’ve opted to ignore some of them.
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Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain (Exclusively for Xbox One) -I’m not really sure when “realistic passage of time” became a gameplay feature. As a general rule I don’t considering anything I have by default in real life a gameplay feature. Next they’ll be touting realistic looking oxygen as a staple of the next-gen, but I digress.
Typically, the biggest failure of these types of big-time reveals is that they tell you what to expect instead of showing it to you. We’re told about MGS5’s “unprecedented” level of tactical freedom, but the gameplay they actually showed-off just looked like your typical old fashioned open world game with a cover system. Not that those games are bad, but when you say you’ve raised the bar I want to see where you’ve raised it.
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They are planning to give Xbox Live gold members two free titles a month to download which, to be honest, is pretty awesome for those of us who haven’t had a chance to play every title released. Sure it may be a last ditch cash grab for older titles about to disappear forever as they are hoping some people will opt to purchase some newer DLC, but I still think that giving away older titles such as Halo 3 and Assassin’s Creed 2 is still a pretty good deal. Who doesn’t like free?
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World of Tanks – This might actually take off on the 360 and could be a great swansong (in addition to GTA V) for the aging console. However, I doubt that those who play WoT on the PC will jump ship to play on consoles, but it does seem like a title that console gamers would be interested in.
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Ryse: Son of Rome – The first real look at a new IP on the Xbox One. It looks like a Roman combat themed CoD which isn’t a bad thing. It does look awfully pretty as what I originally thought were carefully crafted cut scenes ended up being in-game footage. Everyone seems to be taking a page out of the Batman Arkham franchise playbook, with smoother combat against multiple enemies at once. Polygon has a really nice write up about the game here.
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Killer Instinct – Well, this is a nice surprise. Rebooting an old fighting franchise that a lot of people actually wanted is a really cool idea and is, in my opinion, a great addition to the release line-up. They also took the time to show-off some of the more social aspects of the Xbox One, by allowing players to share clips of some of their best fights or just broadcast straight to Twitch. All of these social sharing features are services that won’t get the credit they deserve now, but I’m betting they will almost certainly be used by everyone in some fashion.
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Sunset Overdrive – This was the first, “Ok this actually looks really good” title of the day, and it’s no surprise that’s it’s by Insomniac. It looks like a combination of Ratchet and Clank and Bioshock Infinite. They didn’t really show-off any “true” gameplay (although I’m starting to realize that cut scenes and gameplay are beginning to blur together), but they did mention how the will be using the Xbox One’s online connection to keep the game fresh with constant fluctuating updates. It does look like a title that has some promise. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for some real gameplay.
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Forza Motorsport 5 – I’m not a racing game guy, but it’s good to see that there will be one for fans right out of the gate.
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Dead Rising 3 – Dead Rising games were always solid titles and the third looks like it’s going to be as well. I could have written a review of this without seeing any of the press event footage, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing – More weapons, better graphics, more freedom, bigger world. Will the zombie games ever stop? Probably not, but they are always a little bit fun.
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Battlefield 4 – Looking past the fact that they had to start over due to a lack of sound, the Battlefield 4 reveal was pretty much exactly what I expected; lots of lens flare, bloom lighting, and very confusing. When are the marketing teams of these games going to realize that they should stop showing off single player footage of games that are traditionally multiplayer?
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Below – This was the first title that didn’t show something that I had expected; A sleek roguelike that shows some promise, but there wasn’t enough footage to really give me a realistic impression of the game.
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The Xbox One will be released this November for $499. That’s a lot of cash, but to be honest it’s about on par with almost every other major console release in history so take the incoming hate with a grain of salt.
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And they end with… Titanfall which looks like a new Mech based shooter from Respawn Entertainment. It seems like a cool combination of traditional FPS console combat combined with futuristic mech-based combat ala Hawken. This was their big finale, but I’ll withhold judgment until I’ve seem more gameplay from people other than the Microsoft press team.
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Fail of the day – They seemed to be having sound trouble through the whole event, but the Crimson Dragon reveal had no sound whatsoever save for the laughter from the crowd. Right now some poor intern in L.A. getting chewed out big time.
Vincent’s got a nice Live Blog going of the event itself as well, located right here.