EA
The good
Star Wars: Battlefront 2 had a lot to prove, considering how
shallow and lacklustre the original was. It was a poor value product rushed out
to meet the release of Star Wars Episode VII in 2015. But since its
announcement earlier this year, there’s plenty of signs that developer DICE has
taken feedback onboard and are committed to delivering the complete package
this time around. All three galactic eras and a single player campaign are in
the box from the offset and all DLC will be completely free. EA rounded off
their press conference with a multiplayer demo, beginning with a tweet from
actor John Boyega showing how they took criticism onboard and set out to make
the sequel better. From here they launched into gameplay; Assault on the city
of Theed on Naboo between droids and clones. Making use of a class system and
battle points to call in additional weapons and vehicles, Battlefront also
looks set to deepen its gameplay and strategic options, a huge step forward
after the casualised original. While some inconsistencies and the return of
microtransactions might leave their mark, Battlefront 2 is nevertheless working
to make a substantial improvement on the flawed original.
Seemingly inspired by Prison Break, A Way Out is a nod to
those older titles that focused heavily on closed team play, particularly the
likes of Army of Two and Kane Lynch. Supporting full cooperative play both
online and off, the range of team based activities including not only the
breakout but the escape into the wilderness. Whether it can rise above the
stock clichés of TV drama is another story. The developers clearly have some
experience in cooperative games, their last title being Brothers: A Tale of Two
Sons but at the same time EA’s previous experiment with this style and tone
didn’t turn out too well. 2015’s Battlefield Hardline from Visceral Games stood
out as incredibly unimaginative, not to mention an overpriced expansion
masquerading as a full game. The developers should go beyond the standard fare
and work to create a more unique experience that makes full use of cooperative
play.
The bad
- More talk of sports games that dragged… again…
Sports games constantly drag down EA in the eyes of the
hardcore crowd and 2017 was no different. This year saw a few British
commentators drag things out on stage with a quiet audience checking their
watches to see when the boring stuff would come to an end. More jargon about
the newest FIFA, Madden and NHL games. It’s quickly becoming redundant talking
about this every year; but so long as the execs and shareholders want it in the
conference, the sports games aren’t going anywhere…
During the presentation of Need for Speed: Payback, Jesse
Wellens showed up to have a quote-on-quote “talk”. Sadly, just like the
football legend Pele, this was a pointless appearance that dragged the
conference out with a desperate attempt to appear hip and cool in front of crowds.
While getting FPS streamers in to play Battlefront 2 made some sense, here
things were incredibly awkward with both Wellens and the game design lead on
Payback stumbling over the script and taking up time that could have been
dedicated to other games.
- Little to no appearance of other Star Wars games from
the publisher
With a complete monopoly on Star Wars games thanks to a deal
with Disney, EA began laying plans to task each of its developers with creating
games that would flesh out the franchise across all genres. But outside of
Battlefront 2, we didn’t see anything else from the so-called EA Star Wars
division. This would have been an opportune time to unveil new titles,
particularly the renewed possibility of Knights of the Old Republic 3. It’s a
shame that even with their ownership of the Star Wars license, EA seems to be
trudging along, letting DICE carry all the weight on their shoulders when it
comes to delivering well-produced titles. They should include more details
about other upcoming Star Wars games next year.
In
conclusion
EA’s conference may not have been the worst of this year’s
show, but they didn’t do a whole lot to impress. Outside of Star Wars
Battlefront 2, there was very little to get excited about here. The same old
boring talk of sports games made a return and some studios such as Bioware were
nowhere to be found, instead relegated to a short teaser for Anthem that showed
up at Microsoft’s conference instead. It isn’t quite the worst conference this
year for me though; at this point, I pretty much expect the same missteps to
show up every time, thus lessening their disappointment factor.
Conference Grading: 5/10 (Mediocre)
Microsoft
The good
Microsoft’s focus on games above all else has really improved
the pacing of their conferences and they stuck with that structure again this
year. While I could have done without the endless use of the word “Exclusive”
(Which really doesn’t mean anything when all games are coming to PC as well),
there was still a lot to choose from. Bigger demos for titles like
Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, a fast and frenetic barrage of indie games to show
off MS’s commitment to fuelling new talent and concluding with the debut of
Bioware’s new IP Anthem all contributed to good pacing. It’s just too bad that
none of the software shown is exclusive to the much-touted Xbox One X.
With the cancelation of Scalebound earlier this year,
Microsoft needed to put more emphasis on the bigger titles it had left and at
E3 2017, it definitely did so. After being missing in action last year,
Crackdown 3 returned to the Microsoft stage with a crazy appearance by Terry
Crews which went a way towards showing off the manic destruction that will take
place. Four player co-op alongside the same orb-collecting level-up system all
tied together with a great-looking cell-shaded art style. It’s all looking
every bit as fun and addicting as its predecessors, but the addition of
destructible environments powered by Microsoft’s Azure engine could push it
over the top, allowing 3 to take its place among the best Xbox titles released.
As for Sea of Thieves, developer Rare’s wit and charm shone
through in the demo which took the audience through ship battles and
exploration. Four players took up the mast, working to search for treasure and
sail the stormy seas, each holding different. While the combat looks a bit
stiff and shallow, the game still looks intriguing for all its shared world
promises. The ability to run into other players on both Xbox One and PC is a
strong selling point, and launching yourself out of a cannon to attack the
enemy is sure to be a wacky moment in online play. The burning question is
whether Sea of Thieves turns out to be another No Man’s Sky; a game with heaps
of potential that turns out incredibly lacking on release. With its release
date slated for 2018, there’s still plenty of time for Rare to flesh the world
and deliver plenty of things to do for players.
Microsoft knew it needed to create another incentive to buy
an Xbox One, so they patched in backwards compatibility to win over those on
the fence a couple years back. Slowly but surely the list of compatible games
has grown and the corporation went a step further at E3 this year with the
announcement that original Xbox games would be coming to the Xbox One. When it
launched in 2001, Microsoft’s original system had plenty of hidden gems so it’ll
be a good incentive to get more consoles off the shelves. The underappreciated
Crimson Skies was the main title on display for backwards compatibility this
year but there’s plenty others including Psychonauts, Blinx the Time Cat among
others.
The bad
- Games that are already on PC coming to Xbox
This is a trend that started last year; the slow but gradual
blend of Xbox with PC and the subsequent loss of its identity as a gaming
console. It’s questionable how long the Xbox One X, for all its power, will
last when modern PC’s often outclass it. For example, 4A Games’ Metro Exodus
looked great at the show, but a rather scripted demo and its release on PC
dampened the impact it could have had; the game looked great and all but how
does it compare to the format that Xbox has been pairing up with since last
year? And so things went for just about every game at Microsoft’s conference.
Not a single title was coming exclusively to the Xbox One X; not cross-play
with PC, just the Xbox console. It also didn’t help that several games such as
Players: Unknown Battlegrounds have already been on PC for many months already.
It ended up reducing the impact of Microsoft’s conference, despite their well
planted focus on games above all else.
After purchasing it in 2015, Microsoft has worked to refine
and expand Minecraft’s long-standing popularity. Cross-play between consoles
(With the baffling absence of Sony consoles) was announced which is a positive
benefit to bringing console communities together. But then the Super Duper
Graphics Pack was showcased putting the block graphics of the popular indie
title into a higher resolution. Showing off this pack seemed silly considering
Microsoft’s mission to make the most powerful console on the market. Plus, when
you consider how modders have already made several updates and improvements to
Minecraft’s technical presentation, this announcement landed with a dull thud.
Continuing Microsoft’s insistence on pressing on with the
same old franchises, FORZA 7 made its debut at E3 2017, only this time with the
gimmick of the real Porcshe 911 making an appearance. This gimmicky choice
alongside hardly any new features and the inclusion of two racing drivers who
weren’t really playing the game on stage didn’t do the new Forza any favours
and instead came off as a very unexciting reveal, one brought in to pander to
car companies. Does it really have any place at E3? Not really, even if you are
shooting for authenticity.
In
conclusion
Microsoft seems confident with its new souped up version of
the Xbox One but with every passing year, the console has fewer and fewer
things to call its own and that trend continued in 2017. They can toss around
the word “exclusive” all they like at their pressers but without games that can
only be found on the Xbox One X (I’m fairly sure Halo 6 will also come to PC at
this point) the system is already at a disadvantage before its release later
this year because many will simply buy Microsoft games on their computers. In
my opinion, the only reason to purchase an Xbox One X right now is if you can’t
afford a super-powered PC. Even with all its processing power, both it and the
PS4 Pro are sure to be outdated by PC tech within a year or two. Microsoft’s
conference had plenty of games just like it did last year, but it didn’t go
beyond that to make a real case for purchasing the Xbox One X.
Conference Grading: 6/10 (Fair)
Bethesda
The good
After a surprisingly great return in 2014, Machine Games have
taken up the reins once again for the next title in the rebooted Wolfenstein
series. This time B.J Blaskowicz is heading to a United States firmly under the
control of the Third Reich and based on the extended debut trailer, everything
we enjoyed about The New Order is here and accounted for; likeable characters
to root for, fast and ferocious FPS combat alongside the addition of new
facets. B.J hopped aboard a reprogrammed dog to torch Nazi troops with a
flamethrower, before delivering grisly justice to an SS officer with help from
a fire axe. It’ll be interesting to see just how twisted the US has become in
an alternate history 1960s.
The Dishonored series has made a great impression over the
last five years and that trend is looking to continue with “Death of the
Outsider”. This one is likely to be very lore-heavy, homing in on the titular
stranger who bestows chosen individuals with unparalleled powers. The idea of
this figure meeting his end is enticing enough, but a new leading protagonist
alongside the possibility of more creative powers adds even more intrigue. Much
like Daud’s tale in the original Dishonored, Death of the Outsider looks set to
fill in missing gaps of the story as well, providing a strong value incentive
when it finally releases on the 15th of September.
The bad
For the second year in a row, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
made an appearance at Bethesda’s show. It’s a great game but does it really
need to show up every conference? Last year was already tired enough with the
release of the Skyrim Special Edition and its remastered graphics but now six
years after it originally launched, Bethesda is really pushing it. It’s great
that the game is coming to Nintendo Switch and VR but is it worth dedicating a
whole chunk of your press conference to such an old game? A skin for Link from
The Legend of Zelda that could easily be modded in? These announcements all
rang hollow at Bethesda’s show this year and stood out in all the wrong ways as
Bethesda continues to milk a six-year-old game, rather than pushing forward
with new ideas.
Back in 2015, both Bethesda and Valve took a lot of flak from
their communities for attempting to implement a side of the Steam Workshop for
paid mods, claiming it was a means to pay the modding community for their arduous
work and creativity, especially for Skyrim. After an intense backlash, the
system was quickly taken offline and the mods remained free to download and use.
Now in June 2017, the controversy is making a comeback with Creation Club for
Skyrim and Fallout 4. At the press conference, Bethesda announced the new
feature which will allow content creators to upload their mods and sell them
through an application or website. Some might say that the mods won’t be paid
and that the scheme is merely a way for Bethesda to engage with the modding
community, creating a seal of quality as it were. But this quickly went south
from one of the final shots in the announcement trailer. A small box saying:
“Purchase credits” all but confirms that Bethesda will implement a paid system,
exploiting the community and take a portion of the profits for themselves.
Whether Bethesda will fully engage with Creation Club as a service is unclear,
but the decision to make paid mods will undoubtedly divide the modders,
especially on the PC scene.
- Very little in the way of fresh new titles
After their break-out debut at E3 2015, many hoped that
Bethesda’s standout showing would keep going in the years to follow, but
despite having enormous success with their resurrection of classic FPS titles
their creative juices are starting to run dry. The return of Quake with the
arena based champions already made an impact last year and was expected this
time around. Bethesda needs to do more to keep surprising audiences or it won’t
have much to stand up to the larger gaming publishers anymore. There was a
general lack of excitement from everyone this year, both in the audience and
the presenters on stage. Without much to show in the way of new titles,
Bethesda could only manage to fall back on its older games, drastically
limiting the excitement of its new titles.
In
conclusion
Sadly, Bethesda’s third offering at E3 was their most
disappointing show by far. There was little in the way of new games, but it was
the Creation Club and paid mods rearing their ugly head that really let people
down. Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus was the best title they had on show but
outside of that, things didn’t get much better. Bethesda’s focus on continually
remastering old games, putting others in virtual reality then charging full
price for them and offering little to progress made them easily the weakest of
all the companies in 2017.
Conference Grading: 4/10 (Disappointing)
(Images used for the purposes of review and criticism under fair use)
