E3 2010 De-Brief

Not being a real journalist I stand very little chance of ever attending E3 in person, but all the media that comes out of it from various websites is quite comprehensive, so the following is my opinions of what was on show based on the reports and footage from other sources. Of course if anyone is in a position to hook me up for next year then by all means, drop me a line.


Industry Innovations

So, let's start with thing's that are moving the industry forward, and hot on the heels of James Cameron's Avatar we're now seeing video games making the move to 3D. Arguably the biggest move in this direction comes in the smallest package (see what I did there?), I'm of course talking about the Nintendo 3DS. when this was first announced a few months ago I was quite skeptical and uninterested, not really being one for hand held consoles and the concept just seemed too advanced to be real or as described, a 3D screen that doesn't require glasses. But the independent reports following the hands on opportunity at Nintendo's press conference all say that it truly is a 3D experience, with objects seemingly jumping out of the screen, which has made me really want to see it for myself, especially seeing as a port of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has been announced. On the big screen side of things Sony were very keen to push their 3D TVs by showcasing their first party title Killzone 3 on the PS3 which reportedly makes great use of 3D, and is the first real nudge Ive had towards thinking about upgrading to a 3D TV (although it's still plenty of nudges and out right shoves away yet).
The other innovation that caught my eye was the game Black Light: Tango Down, while not a technically amazing game by any standards, looking at the footage I find graphics lacking by modern standards but that's not the point of the game, nor does it have any baring on it being mentioned here. I'm interested in it on the grounds of the way it is being made available, namely a digital delivery only release which is interesting from the stand point of where the industry is heading. Digital delivery is nothing new, but this is a move towards full games from big name studios and developers being made available solely through this method of distribution, maybe by the next generation of consoles we won't have packaged products or even downloaded products on hard drives anymore, maybe everything will be played remotely. that said, I can't see me buying the finished product, I tend to rate games on their single player experience and think of multiplayer as an added bonus, but Black Light: Tango Down is just a multiplayer package, although the co-op side of things could go some way towards tempting me.


The return of the old skool

A growing trend at the minute among developers is to add a retro flavour to their games, which I believe is largely inspired by increased interest in retro games and the production of simplistic indie games. What are are now seeing though is a number of well established franchises going back to their roots, in either a full blown retro style of play or borrowing from their earlier iterations to make a hybrid in play styles and presentation, and from what I've seen this is a very good thing! One franchise that used to hypnotise me with it's bright colours and funky sound track right from the original in 1990 was Sonic the Hedgehog, but the move to 3D for this franchise has been plagued with lack luster games, so Sonic 4: Episode 1 is like all my childhood dreams coming true, a true Sonic sequel with all the same style and flare as the Mega Drive (that's Genesis to you guys the other side of the Atlantic) originals and is only 1 of 2 new Sonic games to have caught my attention. Sonic Colours has peaked my interest more than any other 3D Sonic game, which is probably because a totally new direction has been taken to the design. The game appears to be 2D side scrolling platforming like the old Sonic games (and now Sonic 4) which seamlessly transitions into behind view racing and platforming of the more recent games and this currently looks like it's been executed with much more care than previous attempts.
Next on the list of games following this trend is Donkey Kong Country Returns which is being developed by Retro Studios, and like Sonic 4, it doesn't look like a huge departure from the original DK titles, which makes perfect sense for Nintendo after their success with Super Mario Bros Wii and New Super Mario Bros on the DS.
Team Ninja seem to have taken this on board as well for their up coming Wii title Metroid: Other M. Until this E3 I was under the impression that this was going to be a combat based game with a flashy new fighting style partially inspired by the recent Ninja Gaiden games, which would have been a massive departure from the classic Metroid games and the first person action of the Metroid Prime trilogy. But now it appears to be a throw back to Super Metroid crossed with many of the play elements of the Metroid Prime games, which I think is a smart move, and has made me pay a bit more attention to this work in progress.
One more from Nintendo's offering from the old school was the remake of GoldenEye for Wii. Now I didn't think that last sentence really does my feelings on this justice, so I will reiterate: GOLDENEYE! FUCKING GOLDENEYE! Oh my god I'm pumped for this, not 100% sure about having Daniel Craig playing Bond as Pierce Brosnan was a pretty good bond in the movie (not so much in his other Bond outing though sadly) but in essence this game could make me cum in my pants.
The last throw back that I'm way too excited about is Mortal Kombat, this looks to be another nice dose of nostalgia with a modern lick of paint. I lost interest in this series when it made the transition to 3D, and I don't seem to be the only one Ed Boon, series creator, has stated this new game has been crafted out of fan feedback, and seemingly the fans want a modernised version of the original trilogy, which makes me a giddy inside!


The big hype games

Before we get into the run down of the big name games which, while not really breaking any new ground or trying anything too far removed from the proven formulas, I first want to cover a couple of titles that have really caught my eye. First up is Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, which I'm suddenly hungry for due to the epic cinematic trailer that was put on display which, if representative of the ingame action, could make this game very special. I wasn't really paying attention to this title until I saw the trailer but I'm now thinking and praying that this could be the Jedi game we've always wanted. The original Force Unleashed was a move in the right direction towards that lofty goal but it suffered from loose controls which caused the player to feel a but detached from the action. And speaking of giving us what we've always wanted, we're brought nicely onto Metal Gear Solid: Rising, which might possibly be the MGS Ninja game we've always wanted. Konami showcased their sword cutting game mechanics and amazing visuals, but not too much else, so time will tell and it's unlike Kojima to let us down... after all, we already know Raiden is the main character this time around, which in the past was the biggest failing they've made.


The best of the rest

Moving onto the assortment games that aren't breaking new ground but still look good enough to bust out the credit card for. I'm going to let my fanboyism for this series break through to get the ball rolling with Halo Reach which we finally got to see some campaign footage for. I wasn't too hyped about the space battle section which everyone seems to be creaming over, but it does look like it has all the super soldier comic book infantry action fun of the Halo series intact, so consider me signed up.
Returning series Medal of Honor are busting out a blatant Modern Warfare rip off, but you know what, who fucking cares, they're not the first to do it and won't be the last, and most importantly it looks good so I'm keen.
Trayarch are taking their bi-annual stab at the Call of Duty series with COD: Black Ops, taking a page out of Infinity Ward's book (quite probably their last ever book) they are making an overdue departure from World War Two setting, and offering up more of the same well executed first person shooter action but in a selection of scenarios spread out over the cold war era. That's pretty new and intriguing on it's own and if it has the zombies mode like World at War I'm sold.
Gears of War 3 is looking, not too much new stuff from what we've already seen, new enemy characters and 4 player co-op are new aspects but essentially it's still the well realised 3rd person shooter it's always been. that said I'm hoping for more out of the multiplayer this time, I never really found much to enjoy in the last two Gears on that front.
I enjoyed Assassin's Creed despite it's short comings, and I really enjoyed Assassin's Creed 2, so I'm very much looking forward to Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, essentially this looks like more of the same but with expansion on the villa upgrade gameplay of AC2. The new recruiting and levelling mechanics for building your brotherhood look like a nice new layer of gameplay mechanics and multiplayer component appears to be quite a different type of experience from anything else currently on offer.
As far as new IP's go, Spec Ops: The Line looks like a solid third person shooter with an interesting setting and unique gameplay mechanics around dynamic changes to the environment as you play and Rage from id Software is something that I'm super pumped for. It just looks like a really awesome FPS with a fallout type setting and stunning visuals, I want to get my hands on this little beast sooner rather than later.


The ones that failed to inspire

A couple of key announcements failed to deliver in my opinion, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword left me quite underwhelmed after so much hype leading up to the announcement. It doesn't look like any kind of step forward visually than the last game, in fact I thought it looked worse with drab blocky textures and clunky character models, if it wasn't for the motion plus controls I would have felt totally dejected by this. And speaking of motion controls, the Kinect is without doubt amazing technology, but it has nothing in the way of software that interests me, and the same can be said of Sony's all too familiar offering to the point and waggle market, the so called PlayStation Move. I can't help but feel these thing's are out there just to test the market for what is to come a couple more years down the line.



Where are they now?

It may have been the biggest video game event of the year, but a few games were strangely absent, both the sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum and the PS3 exclusive The Last Guardian were nowhere in sight which I found bemusing. Batman already has the engine and mechanics in place so I at least expected to see a few environements and character teasers, and The Last Guardian is something that I'm starting to think was just an illusion.
One other disappointing no show, although not at all surprising was Aliens: Colonial Marines, I mean where the hell is it? It's in development, it's out of development, will we ever fucking see it? Is anyone working on it, I gotta say, I've lost track of what is meant to be happening with this game, if anything at all.


One to watch

Before I wrap up I want to give special mention to Devils Third, we only got to see a brief reveal trailer, but that trailer contained nothing but gameplay, which consisted of big guns and samurai swords being used generously in chaotic fast paced third person action, which are things that rate very highly with me. this is something I want to see more of and will be watching the development of this potential gem closely.


Conclusion

To sum it all up, Microsoft are making a nice move with their Xbox 360 Slim and have a nice line up of forthcoming games that I want to play (a lot of which will be available on the PS3 as well) but none of which are especially innovative, however I'm totally not into the Kinect and the same goes for Sony's Playstation Move, but I do like that they are starting to push for 3D games on the PS3 (although I don't have a PS3 yet and sure as shit won't be getting a 3D TV for quite some time). But ultimately Nintendo wiped the floor with both of them for cool upcoming games and technological innovation, so well done to the oldest player of the big three.

Emotional Investment of the Virtual

Having just seen the new, 7 minute, Japanese trailer for Final Fantasy XIII (http://www.gametrailers.com/video/tgs-09-final-fantasy/56840) I find myself wondering how important a story is to a video game. In this trailer alone I find myself sucked in by the drama of the events, the way the characters speak and interact with each other with complex body language and facial expressions. Various emotions are carried in their voices and it is all very clear that the world in which this takes place is breathtaking and awe inspiring place to be. Most of the trailer seems geared towards pulling someone into the story rather than the game play, but how important is a story to a video game?
Over the years, the Final Fantasy series has been a treasure trove of imaginative story lines, sub plots, archetypes, and characters that captivate the imagination. I first fell in love with the series, with Final Fantasy VII, and to this day I consider it to be one of the best video games I have ever played, if not 'the' best in fact. I didn't play it when it first came out, in fact I already owned an N64 when I finally got my hands on a PSone and a copy of the game, a good 3 years after it was released, so standards of video games had gone up. The character models were blocky, the animations had a low frame rate, most of the game took place in 2D pre-rendered backgrounds, some of game mechanics were fiddly, there was no voice acting, and some of the menus were confusing... but none of that mattered, simply because the game oozed character, imagination and charisma. The story was one of the most fantastic epic tales of good and evil (and the shades of grey in between) that I consider to be more imaginative and awe inspiring than anything modern cinema has thrown at us. The characters within the story were all so well written that even by reading their dialogue on screen you could almost hear their individual voices and personalities in your head, and you quickly grew to love all of them in their own way, causing explosive excitement whenever a piece of back story for any of them was revealed. As the story progressed and the lines of friendship, love, and heroism became blurred, you become so involved in the story and the fate of the characters, that anyone who claims not to have shed a silent tear for the pure and innocent Aries (Arith to Americans) when she met her untimely end, half way through the game at the hands of the game's misguided and disillusioned antagonist, can be nothing short of liar.
Obviously all final Fantasy games are story centric, which is no surprise as series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi is famous for saying "I don't have what it takes to make an action game. I think I'm better at telling a story" at the time of the first Final Fantasy game in 1987, however none of the others that I have played have ever been as engrossing as FFVII, despite most of them being technically more proficient. after VII I played VIII, which, despite two separate attempts, I never finished. this had nothing to do with difficulty, I just didn't care enough about the plot or the characters, not totally surprising for a follow up game to one of the most successful RPGs of all time, although there is debate among fans as many believe it to be superior to VII. Personally, I consider VIII to be more generic, less mature, and akin to a Hollywood plot. A better game that I played following VIII was IV, and despite going back to the 16 bit graphics of the SNES, this for me was a very good game, as complex, if not more so than VII, and I did see it through to the end despite a crippling level of difficulty, but ultimately I didn't care as much about the story or characters, the whole thing just seemed a little fragmented. XI is a game I finished, but again, didn't find it as engrossing and it almost seemed sparse in places. X was very different take on things and heralded the evolution to the next gen of consoles for the series, and while the characters felt more real and caused the player to become more emotionally involved in them and their relationships, the main story arch wasn't as dramatic as the almost opera like VII.
If we were to take a look another long running story driven franchise, you don't have to look very far to find the Metal Gear series. The metal gear games have always been based on stealth action in a world the resembles our own much more closely than the worlds presented in Final Fantasy. I came into this series at Metal Gear Solid, which was the third installment in the story, but that didn't leave me at a loss. The 4 'Metal Gear Solid' games happily stand on their own as a story and fill int he blanks for anyone that missed the earlier 'Metal Gear' games. the Metal Gear Solid games play much like an interactive action movie, and draw many elements from Hollywood action films. I only actually played Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2, but the story line is so enthralling and exciting that I have watched the cut scenes of Metal Gear solid 3 and 4 without bothering to play the games! doing this was actually a pleasure, they are well constructed cinematic sequences and the voice acting is totally top notch. And while it is a shame that I missed some of the finer details that would have cropped up during actual play sequences, there was still enough rich story and action content in the cut scenes to keep me on the edge of my seat throughout... and that actually says a lot when you consider that there was over 5 hours of cut scenes in Metal Gear Solid 3, and 10 hours in Metal Gear Solid 4! (which to be honest is something I didn't know when I sat down to watch it one Sunday morning). for this series in particular, the story was actually more important to me than the game itself, but had it been presented in any format other than a game, I believe many elements would have been dropped to fit the medium, and as such it would have lost some of it's charm and suspense, and had these elements not have been dropped, the production costs would have been either too high or corners would have been cut, causing it lose it's edge.
It's fairly obvious from my review of the new Halo game that I am a fan of the series, and the story there of, but it isn't as necessary to the the game as Final Fantasy or Metal Gear, but it is a sci-fi epic in it's own right. What I find interesting about it is the different way in which the story is presented, in the Halo trilogy the player takes the role of the Master Chief from a first person view to run a bloody assault against an alien army (or two), and for the most part this is the perspective that you assimilate the story from as well. The Chief doesn't have a lot to say, so it is very easy for the player top layer the Chief with their own personality and play through your mission almost as yourself, or how you would be if you were an armoured and fearless cyborg tasked with saving humanity. where the emotion comes in is through the characters you meet and fight along side, how they all depend on you to save the world and the sacrifices they make in order to help you accomplish your mission. The other very clever element is the character of Cortana, a female computer AI who spends most of the series plugged into the chiefs computer components, meaning she almost lives inside you and talks directly into your head. But she is also written with a very human, caring personality, and while her main purpose is the survival of earth, you get the feeling that she actually cares about the various characters and their well being, including you, the Chief, which makes her presence sorely missed throughout most of Halo 3 while her whereabouts and and condition are unknown, a time during which the Chief displays his most determined and human side throughout the entire series. Without all of these components, Halo would really have been the stereotyped mindless and violent video game so many non-gamers seem unable to release their mental grasp on, albeit a very playable one.
Some games only really have a story out of necessity, or even in some cases, habit. the legend of Zelda series has been using almost the same formula for all of it's games, where by a Hero dressed in green (often called Link but this is left up to the player) has to set about saving the world of Hyrule (occasionally another place) by adventuring around the world and into various dungeons or temples to vanquish evil, find magical items and tools to help him proceed with his quest, and sometimes save a princess (almost always named Zelda). Most of the series seemingly is unconnected despite these similarities, and while the story has become more developed in later installments, it never really ventures too far from this formula. Because of a few small elements that do seem to connect the stories of the various games, there are a number of fan theories connecting them, which include ideas of alternate time lines, parallel universes, and reincarnation, which if nothing else goes to show how video games can actually encourage the imagination.
Similar to the Zelda series are the, one time rival, Mario series and the Sonic series. these were both simple platform games, but given basic story lines to give some small element of sense and purpose to the player, but over time with more installments and associated fiction, the story arches and lore evolved until both series' had their own rich worlds for players to become engrossed in, so much so that books, comics, and in Mario's case a poor Hollywood blockbuster, all spawned from them. Would either of these series's survived if the fantasy world in which these loveable little characters existed had not been solidified around them and left to be utterly unexplained?
Coming back to more modern times, one in-development game that has recently caught my attention is Heavy Rain, a game set in a real world setting with a gritty tale of murder and various other adult themes. From what I can tell, the story has been written for this game with the actual game play being more of an after thought, the catch is that depending on how the player influences events, the story will unfold very differently. the game appears to have many possible paths for the story to flow down, with each 'scene' having multiple ways of playing out, all of which will alter the events to follow.
what about games that do not have a story, well these days they usually only come in the form of sports simulations, even other types of simulators have a story that develops, but they just happen to be stories built by the player. The Sims series is a rather obvious example, where by the player is given a canvas world to fill with what they choose, then place in the characters of their choice, just to watch the story unfold in it's own way, which must be very much like the way soap opera writers imagine their worlds, and that comparison alone explains why so many girls enjoy the Sims series (risky comment!). going back to sports games, even these have an element of story in the modern world in the form of a career mode, where the player writes their own story from the stand point of an athlete, or even a team of athletes, and is a simple easy to identify with, story of challenge and glory.
Before I wrap up, I want to quickly suggest the notion that a bad story can ruin a game, the same way a bad story or poor acting can ruin a high budget Hollywood movie. If a game is perfect to play, in that it is utterly, sublimely enjoyable to perform what ever tasks or challenges have been set, but the story makes no sense, or the acting, certainly with today's increasing standards, was so bad that cerebrally I couldn't stand it, I would have no choice but to turn it off. The same however would also be true if the story was superb and well acted, but the game itself was diabolically crafted with bad controls, terrible visuals, and frustrating level design.
I believe that video games are like any work of fiction; books, films, cartoons, comics, etc, they are worlds and characters created in someone else's imagination and presented in a form that allows others to experience to a level that is not possible with other mediums. and this is why I love video games, because you actually get to enter and explore someone else's world, to live there for a short time, and the more fantastic the world and events, the more interesting and believable the characters that exist there, the richer the whole experience becomes.