With this year’s show, and my sleep deprived state, drawing to a close I have highlighted 11 games (because 10 just wasn’t enough!) which were personal highlights for me, and games I firmly believe should be on your radar too. These are in no particular order, barring one title which I will highlight as my game of the show.
Cuphead – StudioMDHR
Cuphead was only briefly glimpsed in the Microsoft press conference as part of an indie sizzle reel, but it certainly stood out. Of all the indie titles glimpsed in the collection Cuphead was the game I immediately wanted to know more about.
Sporting a remarkable 1930’s Fleischer/Disney hand animated style, and 2D sidescrolling shooter gameplay influenced by 16bit era Treasure titles, the game looks astounding. Showing as another benchmark for the growing influence and impact of indie titles, Cuphead is an exciting looking title that you should certainly keep an eye on.
Dead Island 2 – Yager studios/Deep Silver
Deep Silver and Dead island have a history of fantastic trailers, in 2011 they announced the first Dead Island with a magnificent slow motion trailer that not only peaked gamers interest, but garnered mainstream attention. While the final game may not have lived up to the promise, or indeed the sombre tone of the trailer, the trailer served to create a palpable sense of expectation for a game that previously had none.
Introducing the sequel, Deep Silver has again produced a top notch promotional trailer that sets a more irreverent and fun tone for the sequel. Though no gameplay has yet been shown, it has been confirmed the development duties have shifter to Yager studios (the team behind the excellent Spec Ops: The Line) and with the new tone and accomplished development team behind this sequel, this trailer succeeded in making me excited for a sequel I didn’t know I wanted.
Grim Fandago – Double Fine
What the hell!? That was pretty much my reaction to the stunning announcement that cult classic Grim Fandango is getting a remaster and rerelease on PS4 and Vita. As someone who missed out on the original, I have had to endure years of reading about how great a game it is and also how difficult it is to get working on modern PCs. I had more or less resigned myself to never playing a game held in such high regard.
Despite showing no trailer of any kind or game footage, the comedic reveal featuring Tim Schafer was a massive surprise, and further evidence of Sony’s renewed efforts to listen to the gaming community. For a whole generation who missed out on the twisted adventures of afterlife travel agent Manny Calvera, Sony’s reveal is as welcome as it is surprising.
Mario Maker – Nintendo
File this under ‘Games I didn’t expect to care about’. Given that the reveal of Mario Maker was somewhat spoilt by a leak before the conference, I knew it was coming and I wasn’t too interested. That was until I saw it in action and realised what it meant. Mario Maker is an incredibly exciting proposition; it is a gift to the millions of passionate Nintendo and Mario fans and more or less ensures that fans will have millions of Mario levels to play in the future.
It’s a genius move by Nintendo essentially allowing the community to sustain and create fun for itself for years to come. Sure littlebigplanet got their first and the community for that game is evidence of the ceaseless creativity of gamers, but marrying that with the beloved characters and world of Mario is certainly something to look forward to.
Sunset Overdrive – Insomniac Games
LOOK.AT.ALL.THE.COLOUR. Sunset overdrive was admittedly revealed last year by way of a pre-rendered trailer, but this year the cover was firmly taken off and the glorious technicolor world of Sunset Overdrive was revealed in all its glory. In what is seeming to be quite a coup for Microsoft, insomniacs barmy open world title is an xbox exclusive that could very well be exactly the kind of system seller the Xbox One needs.
Insomniac games are known for their crazy weapon designs, with this in mind Sunset Overdrive appears to be operating with the brakes off, expect to be fighting crazed mutant hordes with firework guns and vinyl record cannons. Deliberately poking fun at the more stagnant and restrictive cover based military shooters that flood the market, Sunset Overdrive looks to be a refreshing slice of straight up colourful fun. Given the track record Insomniac have, hopes are high, and given that it is one of the few AAA next gen titles actually releasing in 2014,Sunset Overdrive is shaping up to be one of the best games this year.
Uncharted 4 – Naughty Dog
Despite the reported high profile departures from Naughty Dog in recent weeks, most notably series creator/writer Amy Hennig, hopes remain high for the next instalment of Uncharted. With the game now being helmed by Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann – the brains behind the exceptional ‘The Last Of Us’ – it seems Uncharted is going down a notably darker path for Nathan Drake’s latest adventure.
Naughty Dog are of course a studio now renowned for their exceptionally high quality output and their run seems certain to continue. Although the trailer is brief, it has been confirmed to be running in engine and that the game will look like the trailer, which is quite frankly, amazing. Given the incredible results they were able to get from the Playstation 3 hardware, it’s a safe bet that Uncharted 4 will be a benchmark title for the Playstation 4 and with Druckmann and Straley at the helm a darker, more mature narrative seems certain to be on the cards.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection – 343 Industries
Although this is a collection of games that I have already played to death, the sheer value of this collection is unbelievable. There had been rumours leading to cast iron expectations of a Halo 2 Anniversary revamp, then a leak suggesting that a 1-4 collection was on the way, even so this reveal is an incredibly pleasant surprise. Containing the recently remastered original Halo CE, the newly remastered Halo 2 and optimised versions of Halo 3 and 4, this collection contains literally hundreds of hours of gameplay all for the price of one game.
For many halo fans however, multiplayer is where it’s at and this collection doesn’t disappoint. The collection will feature ALL the maps ever released for each of the titles meaning over 100 maps are available with Halo 2’s legendary multiplayer untouched and as it was 10 years ago. The Halo franchise is incredibly important to Microsoft and a legion of fans who grew up with it (myself included), so while this package is all stuff we have seen before, it is an exceptional entry point a much loved series. The sheer wealth of content in this collection should also make this an essential purchase for a whole new generation of fans who were too young to get involved the first time round. Hail to the chief!
Batman Arkham Knight – Rocksteady
Rocksteady have proven themselves to be the perfect custodians of Batman’s video game adventures. After the brilliant Arkham Asylum and City the reins were handed to WB Montreal for Arkham Origins which left many Batfans a bit cold. Thankfully Rocksteady are back in the driving seat, and seemingly concluding their trilogy in bombastic fashion. Speaking of driving, the big new gameplay addition is the Batmobile, and lordy does it look fun.
With all the additional horsepower of the new consoles at their disposal the scope and scale of the game appear to have increased dramatically. Presentation wise the game has taken a significant graphical leap and the Arkham Knight looks spectacular – with the dark, rain drenched city of Gotham looking better than ever. With further tweaks to the already superb combat system and a whole city of criminals to tackle, Batman Arkham Knight is shaping up to be an superb debut on next gen for Bats.
Assassins Creed Unity – Ubisoft
So yep it’s the French revolution, after months of rumours, the lid has been lifted on where exactly you will be stabbing people in the back of the head in the new Assassins Creed. Since the series has gone annual, accusations of fatigue and repetitive gameplay have been thrown at Assassins Creed, but Unity looks to be a significant evolution of the series in many ways.
Though early days in terms of what has been revealed, co-op gameplay has been pushed front and centre, you can now team up with friends to become a stab happy gang of acrobatic hitmen. Naturally this will change how the game plays significantly, aside from that the visuals have been given a significant bump and revolutionary Paris looks positively gorgeous. More fluidity has been promised in the free running and less emphasis on tail and eavesdropping missions has thankfully been promised, and no more insta-fails for getting caught. As a fan of the excellent Assassins Creed 4: black Flag, and even the much Maligned Assassins Creed 3, I am hugely excited to see how further additions and refinements will improve the franchise.
No Man’s Sky – Hello Games
Of all the games on the show this is probably the most impressive, given that it is being produced by a team of just 4 people. Ostensibly the game is a procedurally generated universe there to be explored by you, if you can see a planet you can fly to it. The game will be driven by its community planting metaphorical flags in the planets and sharing discoveries. If you have ever dreamed of jumping in your very own spaceship and just jetting off, then No Man’s Sky looks to be the game for you.
Visually the game is stunning, the locations shown have had vibrant and varied colour palettes, so space is far from a dull repetitive place it would seem. Combat and co-operative play will feature and supposedly you could put in hundreds of hours exploring and only scratch the surface of what is there. It really is remarkable to see a title with such scope, ambition and high production values from 4 people whose previous game was Joe Danger. Keep an eye on this one, this could be huge.
Game of the Show
The Legend of Zelda Wii-U (title TBC) – Nintendo
The reveal of the new Zelda left me in stunned silence, having defiantly proven doubters of Wii-U’s next gen credentials wrong with the exceptional Mario Kart 8, expectations were high for Zelda’s new game on Wii-U. Despite my lofty expectations, the short reveal exceeded them and made me immediately want to play it more than anything else.
Remarkably the footage revealed has been confirmed by director Eiji Aonuma to be, not only in game engine, but actual gameplay. With the Wii-U floundering at retail, the arrival of Nintendo’s marquee franchises in HD is sorely needed, given the bump the console received from Mario Kart it’s safe to assume a new HD Zelda title will be similarly successful. Nintendo may be, broadly speaking, out of the console wars but when Nintendo brings their A game, there really aren’t many studios that can match them.
The game promises to be a revolution for the series not just in the transition to HD but in terms of gameplay – the rigid and more linear dungeon to dungeon progression is gone, to be replaced by an open world to explore, more akin to the likes of Skyrim. I can’t wait to see and hear more about Zelda, I’m in love with the art style and the prospect of exploring an open world Hyrule has me more excited than any other title in development. Unquestionably my game of the show.
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