The games of E3...

So E3 happened. And a lot of things at E3 happened. So this is my summary and thoughts on things that grabbed my attention. It should be recognized that I did not watch the live streams, and have merely looked over at the after-math type news. Still, if it was good enough for the internet, it's good enough to write and post about what stood out to me. Still, I have not seen everything. Also, another note is that nothing makes this list other than just the thought that I have something I want to say on it. This isn't a straight hype list, best of E3, or other nonsense. A lot of this is positive stuff, but still most of this is just "I want to talk about it" stuff.

Far Cry 5

Far Cry has kind of been one of those games I guess I quietly fanboy over. I'm not major fan, I mean there's nothing really to be attached to in the usual sense. Every game is a new character, a new place, new atmosphere, but mechanically... it's a mix of features and mayhem to a scale that make it the closest thing to a modern day Mercenaries game. You've got war torn people, can hire in stuff, all sorts of outposts and territories to capture in addition to eccentric story mode quests, and then they mix in so many other features that just feel so good. Far Cry 3 to 4 was a "re-skin" to shallow minds exhausted of surface-deep relations, but to me it was the mile between a good game, and a mastering of such work that it went towards my GOTY. Far Cry 5 is doing little to slow that down. It's another sequel, featuring most of the core mechanics and principles, and I'm happy enough with that.

I barely paid attention to it, but what I saw was essentially "we upgraded your primal pet. He's super-dog, your trusty side-kick". That's all I really saw at a surface level, but it's good enough for me. I'm essentially sold already, I know it's going to be a good time if they keep the base features. I ran a mental checklist in my mind, and everything from AI hiring, to re-breaking your hand for healing, was back in. Even my concerns with a more stale setting eroded when I realized just how good Ubisoft is at building a world anywhere, and it's honestly still looking like a great time. It might also be one of the only games that I'm possibly too impatient to wait for, it just doesn't feel like a 2018 kinda game.

...oh yeah, and because those guys are already out there, if you want Far Cry to be a different game maybe... *gasp* Go to a different game. Maybe you didn't notice it, but there's tons of other products that are doing different stuff at E3. It's kind of the point of E3. So quite expecting Far Cry to suddenly cater exclusively to your vague "change" wish. It doesn't revolve around you, and can't read your mind as to what you wish it to transform into. I'll probably have to write another article on this continuing bullshit of "ew, it's the same" all over again. ...I guess you could say the internet stays stays the same on that regard.

Metro Exodus

Like Far Cry, it's has little to do with "what did you show", and more like the fact that you did show it. Metro is a damn good series, and as long as it does it's job and gives us a fun ride, I'm fine for that trip. Metro showed us more Metro being Metro. You walk through dark places, beat up mutants, explore the outdoors while worrying about supplies, and then get attacked by a crazy set-piece monsters. It's the best scripted nonsense type of game out there, and I think they can manage to get away with releasing yet another brilliant FPS game that I should theoretically hate. The big news is essentially, Metro is back for a 3rd round, and depending on my mood during launch... I'll probably be there for it. It's supposedly open world, but I have no idea how that's going to work since it isn't shown off in any way, so we'll see for that. I'm hoping they can keep it all good under that new direction.

Assassins Creed: Origins

Here's where things get more difficult. AC is simultaneously a great and terrible franchise. It has so much clutter, dips, turns, inconsistencies, and just... it's a mess. It's become every single flaw of AAA rolled up into one. There's no focus, it's cluttered, it's too new and gimmicky, it's too "the same", etc. It's everything wrong in a box, but it's also fantastic. It also has some fantastic ideas, some of the most unique settings in direct video games, has so many cool stories to tell, so many chances for cool moments to pop up, and so many way to just grip you. Now, they're doing it in egypt. I was enchanted for all of half a minute, before sky-spy fad rolled in and started marking targets by arbitrary numbers that were whispering "you better have a matching level requirement for your blades to stab these normal people". Seconds later, and we were seeing skinner box shoving confirmed with a level up system, followed up with some of the most clunkiest combat I might have ever seen in the series, ending the last second with a magic controlling arrow mode. Following it up with an epic cinemaitc-like showing of the world, a giant snake, and real bosses, and you have a roller coaster ride of cringe and delight. This game... has my attention, but it also has my fury. It's one of those games I am so badly hoping it turns out great, but I'm lying every time I say I think it's going to turn out fantastic. Everything that is right and wrong with the AAA industry is present here, and... c'mon now ubisoft, we've been waiting on Egyptian assassins creed since Brotherhood. Do not fuck such an easily cool thing up with your focus-tested bullshit, and slopped together clumsy combat. I guess, come October, we'll see where it ends up.

Wolfenstein: The new Colossus

Do I need to justify why this is amazing!? It's a new Wolfenstein, doing more of what made it amazing! Dual weapons, lots of guns blazing, nazi stabbing, but it takes place in american now with some crazier new characters, further developed relationships, and a lot of new crazy enemy types. Yes, yes, yes! Love it all! I still haven't heard anything about the mechanics, but I don't see why they'd change it up. Since then, they got two answers that were both in their favor: People loved the first. And then, people loved Doom perhaps even more. So yeah, old-school mechanics are amazing, they have zero reasons to ditch them, I think I'm justifed in hyping on this train. ...and then they have the nerve to tell me it'll be at the end of this year. Bethesda, you're trying way to hard to win E3 with just this one game.

Shadow of The Colossus

Turns out Wolfenstein wasn't the only big attention grabber with Colossus in the name. Now that word, almost always spawns yet another game in mind, and it is exactly that game... again... remade on PS4. I didn't quite expect this, but yet nodded my head, understanding that there was a clear demand for such a game. SotC is a classic that people still compare a few other games to, and think about when talking amazing PS2 quality, or just great art and indie-like products. It was a strange boss rush adventure concept that just worked, and I can still remember my friends in middle school talking about how weird but cool it was. When I got it with PlayStation Plus, I would get these weird moods for a lonely adventure, and SotC was one of the sole best things to itch that scratch. However as a general rule, it ain't my thing. I'm not all too into just an entire game dedicated to boss rushes, and empty gaps of searching and wandering in-between. I have to be in a special mood for that. Disconnected, concentrated, time on my hands, lonely adventure mood, the will for patience and trials, etc. I needed to essentially be in such a mood that would require me to go on a real adventure. Be willing to test my patience, have my gear, and be ready. If I wanted that, SotC was the best thing there is, and I welcome it's presence back. Depending on the price, I might have to pick this up and go at it, excited to return. However, it ain't normally my cup of tea, so my hype is a little waned. I... don't know. Still, awesome of Bluepoint games to go behind this game, and I wish them luck. It's going to make some people very, very, happy.

Spider-man

I'm going to come right out and say it, this was my biggest disappointment out of real feelings across the E3 show. I didn't have a whole lot of hope behind it, but still... it managed to hurt a slight bit. I remember seeing the original tease to this, and thinking "...yeah. Yeah! Yeah, Insomniac and Spider-man, yeah! This could work! Spider-man and Insomniac both love attitude, it's new and bold grounds for a great company, I love almost all their work, and just look at all this energy behind it. This is going to probably be fun, and maybe it'll bring out that inner-kid of me that used to love this superhero." Now jump to present day. I was distracted almost instantly, as the web slinging was damn button prompts on corners as if it were hacking from Watch Dogs rather than YOUR BEST METHOD OF MOMENTUM! Then insert dry and overused arkham comb combat, half-assed stealth, and then a glimmer of hope as you could sandbox the environment, right before the entire second half of an 8 minute trailer wound up falling into the grips of rapid QTE chase script sequence. Oh boy, so exciting to press the shoulder buttons at the right time, I'm totally spider-man here guys! It was overscripted, cliche among one of the formulas I hate the most, and then there's the fact that it just plain didn't appeal to me. Not a second I spent thinking fondly of anything I saw, it all had me kind of either in Okay or lower territory.

Look, I'm not trying to burn the hype train here. Insomniac seems to show a lot of respect for the character, and I know this is giving you a lot of things spider-man deserves. There's some nice winds and nods at play, great care in the polish and presentation, and it genuinely does seem spider-man-y. If that's all you want, to play spiderman, you're looking at one of the best games in a long while. However as a gamer, and Insomniac fan, who was merely hoping by chance to be pulled into spider-man from loving a just plain great game, it failed in every way. I'm not thrilled at all, and I can only hope future trailers will show me a better side with the promise that set pieces don't fill 1/3rd of the game, and it actually fixes Arkam's style by actually being fun. I'm not holding out for that kind of high hope though. Some people lost their shit and called this their darling child, but I'm stepping back cringing a bit like I wound up in the room by accident.

Dishonored: Death of the outsider

Look, I'm thrilled about this somewhere in my mind, especially after discussing Spider-man that can't do web-swinging right, while Dishonored has shown us how momentum powers are done right. However, the space requirements are a bitch, and I just haven't even been enjoying Dishonored 2 itself quite as much as I should because other things are consuming the memory, and rotating out. That, and we have absolutely no gameplay to be excited about. I love the idea, the plot, and the fact that anybody can jump in with it as a standalone, but I can't be excited for anything else. I know Arkane will do well though, so I'm sure I'll get around to visiting it, and I'm sure some of it will be fantastic. I'm looking forward to seeing what they bring, especially with the weird cyborg-looking style. I was beginning to be worried Dishonored was done at 2, but it looks like they came up with a follow-up to the original DLC plan they pulled with the original. I'm glad about that, just... not as much as I feel I should be. But on the other hand, Prey is amazing and current GOTY for me, so still good on you Arkane!

Beyond Good & Evil 2

Oh yeah, it happened. Finally happened. I don't have a lot of attachment to this franchise, but damn does it still feel good. I respect it for what it was, and I love this insanely creative type of world, and with this reveal... they just slapped you in the face with it, over and over. It was fantastic. A crazy British monkey with a giant metal grappling claw, a pig with a Fu Manchu type mustache passing deals, crazy hover craft police mobiles, space warp drives, diesel punk color pallet, and they all swear like sailors. It's fucking amazing nonsense that reminds me of why games are awesome! I'm going to keep my eye on this, cautiously optimistic.

Anthem

Hey look, it's not Destiny! That's the vibe I got from this one for the most part. It's trying hard to be it in a lot of ways, sounding like another online only looter adventure with cheesy clean mic buddies having a good time about playing co-op together on a mission. It's, like Destiny, a game that would look so cool and appealing to me if they just made a traditional fun adventure shooter with it. Instead, it looks like you're going to be comparing weapon variables, number crunching, and running back and forth with chore work quests, while hoping your internet stays connected to bullshit forced servers just in case you wanted to play with your friends. IF under the chance it comes out honoring single players, I might give it a rent and see where it goes there. I'll give them this credit, it didn't look as slow, dull, boring, or predictable as the other Bioware things they usually touch. It looked like a genuinely normal sci-fi action game made by whoever else, until the co-op crap slapped itself in the way and instantly felt more Destiny inspired. I guess what I'm saying is, I've got a heavy skeptical eye on this one, but it stands out just enough to actually put here and talk about. I can't really say Bioware did right or wrong, just that they didn't do so wrong that I continue to shun them in a corner with a giant "overrated" stamp like they usually deserve.

A new Bubsy is freakin' genius!

No, I swear, that title is not sarcastic. Bubsy is back, and it's actually a really cool thing. Holy fudge-nuggets, this was a crazy announcement, yet I am entirely in love with. Partially because the internet is melting, and it's hilarious to read the comments, but the other part... because this is absolutely insane enough to just work. Still... I can't believe it's actually coming back! This... is... real.

Okay, let's take a step back here for a second, and pretend you've never heard of Bubsy. He ain't exactly up there, competing with COD, WOW, or LOL (man these popular games have some stupid acronyms). So maybe you haven't heard of him. Well, he's sort of infamous for just how terrible of an old "mascot" he was. He's one of those classic games that are a ton of fun to simply beat up on, because of how his consistently bad design, cheesy humor, and even the lengths at which they went to sell him on, all combined for the perfect storm to make him simultaneously memorable and hateable. This ain't another cheetah-men or Action 52 where a in-the-know crowd tells you how terrible it is, it's more like a reject that fell out of the same school as Sonic and Mario, where you just kinda know him as soon as a part of the gaming culture ride. His career ended in 1996, upon his third attempt at a video game: Bubsy 3D, which is essentially argued as one of the worst games to ever exist in the history of... ever. It's so bad, there's been one or two guys I've seen name their lowest score "Bubsy". I'm serious. ...and after decades of just being reflected on as a classic horror (where people actually challenge themselves to play his games), he's actually coming back! The "What can possibly go wrong" memes borrowed from a pilot of his own failed TV show, could not be better placed.

However here's the thing, I am in full support of Bubsy happening again. I'm not one of those guys who have an attachment to just hate him on sight. Furthermore, as I thought of it some more, I realized it was actually hidden genius buried in absolute stupidity. If you just made a random 2D platformer now, that's just it. Nothing else, maybe 8 or so people would spot and talk about it, then forget it's happening. You bring back this crazy bullshit absolutely nobody asked for unironically, parade it's infamous corpse around as a new game, people will all be talking about it. Bubsy is coming back to town, no warning, reason, or logic, it's just happening. Bam! Instant marketing access. Say what you want about infamy, but this is just at it's absolute best! It's even still loudly cheesy, with the one-liner spewing cat going as far as to even say the title and company name. It's almost like he's egging you on to hate him, while still truly just wanting to sell you a brand new game like anybody else. It's... stupid crazy genius! Everyone is truly talking about it!

As a matter of fact, I'll just stop for a bit and quote some of my favorite comments:

"That's one way to exploit nostalgia I guess"
"We move further from God's light everyday."
"E3 is saved!"
"You see internet this is what happens when you misuse the word irony"
"Half-Life hasn't made a comeback but Bubsy has"

Finally, I guess I'll address the real skepticism that's surely present. On top of that, some people seem almost genuinely mad that Bubsy is getting a new game when ___ doesn't. I get the weirdness of that, but it's not like Accolade Games had access to Spyro, Gex, Beyond Good & Evil, etc. ...though that Half-life one kind of cracks me up. I know Bubsy's name means about as much as dirt to most people, and it's not what you had your money waiting for, but at the same time... it ain't really that hard to forgive a bad franchise. It's actually much worse if a good one gets mediocre. A bad one always has a chance to do better somewhere down the line, and the only people that should be worried are the ones making it, or some weird minority that loves it and craves a sequel. It's been 20+ years since the last Bubsy, and I think that's plenty of time to have it communicated that we DO NOT like the weird mistakes of the former games. With a responsible dev in hand, I think they're more than capable to make a solid and cheesy return for Bubsy.

...and if not, well hey, that's just another bad Bubsy game and we can all look back and laugh at this event. I'm actually strangely excited to see how this turns out. I kind of have a soft spot for colorful, crazy, and humorous games. I'd rather have a new Gex, but heck, I'll keep an eye on Bubsy here.

A new audience doesn't need an overhaul

So recently the Crash trilogy remake became an amazing discussion point, for something I've wanted to say for a while. During a discussion where they had some unique questions, and even teased the possibility of a future with new games, this little bit was found in the conversation:

We wanted to broaden Crash’s appeal, so we had to keep in mind the new audience that might’ve never played these games before. It was important for us to consider that audience and how they might react to any decision we make. As a result, whenever we made a decision, we had to constantly ask ourselves: “But who are we making this decision for?”

Here's my very simple answer to such a question: You're making this for gamers that want to have fun. At least, that's my hope.

You see, when people usually pose this sort of situation, they mean to shift it to "streamline" which is often just a buzzword for making it trendy, generic, and match the current fads. They do something absurd to it, like how the new thief decided they needed an unlock system, special vision, and button prompts instead of intelligent level design. This was all in the name of "appealing to new audiences" while cynically hoping the old would just buy it because it was inspired and named after the game they were hoping to see again. People don't understand that what made the game fun for them (so they had fans to begin with), was in the game itself. But supposedly we're told to believe that can't possibly be true, and we have to carve the gameplay out, and fill it with trendy modern conventions you can get from any other game on the market. It's stupid, and so phony to the game itself that mere months away from Thief's launch, they listened to feedback and throw the entire XP system out the window, and implemented a customization system to help fix problems regarding other features. However the damage was done, and a corporate mindset overruling the actual heart and soul of the game carried through to it's very core. Not many people talk about the game that just came out a few years ago, but a die-hard fanbase still passes on words about how amazing the classics were, how well they were designed, and why they should be experienced.

Back into the shadows you go...

I like Thief to, and tried to congratulate it's customization as accessibility in the right direction. However, the game itself just didn't leave a lasting impact, and upon further revisits I've come to the conclusion it's just fun for virtual kleptomania. Just about any other stealth game short of MGS4 is a better choice for the genre, and Thief's influence, and you're better off playing Dishonored for a successor. You know, Dishonored, the new IP that came in a time where new IP's weren't supposedly possible, but it took sales because it won over people with it's charm, options, and it's clear path as a damn good stealth-action assassination game. It actually knew what it wanted to do for fun, Thief had a frame and filled it with a bucket list of mainstream features. It didn't need to do that. All they needed were to make a new story, make some interesting and complex levels, follow up on and improve all the options to the gameplay, and learn from areas that don't hold up such as the bland sense of direction from within those convoluted levels.

The thing people don't get, even some gamers repeating this sad excuse, is that games are played, remembered, and loved for a reason. New people of today aren't some foreign alien entity, they're human beings who also want to have fun, and can have fun under similar game designs. However games fall apart and go into obscurity faster than any other medium. A game like the original Doom is still amazing for so many reasons. People love it's exploration, it's horror and influence, the combat and monsters, and all the secrets. However this was before 3D was even a real thing in games, the level layout had little to no consistency, and you couldn't look up or down. People can still enjoy Doom on a freakin' calculator if they wanted to, but not everybody wants to do that. However whether they want to or not, we can all still find the fun value in Doom, despite it being old and needing emulation just to run. You could give a kid today the old NES Super Mario Bros, and they'll still get it and enjoy it the same way. They can run, jump, find secrets, and challenge themselves to try and try again. However they might not be able to tell if the character they're playing as is even human, because they're such horrible pixel blobs on the old systems. So you redo that gameplay, add to it, fix what was broke, and improve it on newer systems. You do not need to ditch the secrets, inject a half-hearted crafting system, and give Mario a dramatic edgy anti-hero backstory, just because you think this is what the kids dig today. These games were fun once, because they were fun period. They age badly in physical hardware, but have timeless elements of gameplay that are great entertainment.

All you need to do to get a new audience, and succeed in keeping your old audience, is give them a fun and faithful game that is truly entertaining. I don't expect the Thief guys were running around, pondering how to wreck their game, but they sure didn't seem to be treating the game with it's integrity. They took short cuts in level design, and then implied it was because newer players don't like open-ended levels. That's just plain stupid, and the fact some gamers buy into this idea and start blaming newer games just makes it all the more ridiculous. People will still seek out those challenges, complexity, or advanced design, it wasn't something that just died with one generation. Not every potential fan was born during the original release, had the access to it, nor has the will to go backwards and play it on it's old retro format. So, give them a new release. Give them newer graphics, new extras, new things that are full feature improvements, fix the obvious mistakes, and make ti a nice shiny deal they can't refuse while also showing the old fans how great their game was. That's how you do it right!

...and so far, despite the silly statement, I'd say Crash Bandicoot absolutely nails this lesson. They went above and beyond the call to give us the entire trilogy, seem to match the levels design and crafty sensibilities perfectly, are giving us updated cut-scenes, graphics, and fixing issues like the first game's physics. They're letting Crash be Crash, and are letting that fun speak for itself. Guys, Crash doesn't need to do anything stupid just to appeal to a new audience. Those people are out there, and can enjoy running, jumping, a humorous cartoon bandicoot, and mastering techniques for the best of secrets. They're out there, and I'm certain some of them are watching Crash with great curiosity, and they're going to finally pick it up and see just what the Nostalgic fans have been drooling over. Then... both nostalgic and some new comers, will be having fun. Not because you threw Crash Bandicoot out the window and replaced it with XP systems, Detective mode, and killstreak multiplayer palooza, but because they still enjoy the Bandicoot's wacky shenanigans on the most brilliant and up-to-date adaptation yet.