God of War
Being one of many PlayStation 4 exclusives revealed, God of War opened Sony’s press conference at E3 and the rumors of a reboot focusing on Norse mythology were confirmed. The on-stage demo opened with a young boy playing alone when he is called over by a mysterious voice. A figure emerges from the shadows, clearly a bearded version of the titular Kratos, and gives a knife to the boy before the gameplay begins. This is where we see all the changes that are coming in this new God of War.
The setting, which is the middle of a forest, is the first obvious change. Nature has consumed everything and the pathways are covered with snow, making it very reminiscent of The Last of Us. The interplay between Kratos and the boy, which sees them talking constantly and reacting to each other’s movements, also conveys the influence Naughty Dog’s game has had on Sony Santa Monica’s game. The tone is also vastly different from the God of War games that have come before. Kratos is a far more reserved character that seems to have control over his anger and players have relative freedom to explore the world with Rise of the Tomb Raider-styled areas. The move away from the style of the original God of War games and the beauty of the new world are what makes this so intriguing. The changes will hopefully expel the problems with the originals and reinvigorate the franchise.
Horizon: Zero Dawn
One of Sony’s most exciting upcoming exclusives, Horizon: Zero Dawn from the creators of Killzone, is continuing to impress with its gorgeous visuals, interesting story, and varied RPG influenced combat system. Since it was initially announced, its premise has been intriguing, but E3 was the first time we got a deep look at the gameplay and mechanics that make up the majority of the game. The crafting, combat options, and RPG elements seem to be well-integrated into the open world setting. Horizon could also tell a fascinating story. The background of how the robots came to be, their role in society throughout time, and how they became a threat could be an incredibly deep and meaningful story. Horizon: Zero Dawn has the potential to be one of Sony’s best ever exclusives and could take over Uncharted as a flagship series for Sony. We’ll find out when it releases next February.
Gears of War 4
Gears of War 4 is the biggest of Microsoft’s upcoming exclusives. After our demo on the show-floor of E3, we thought, “Gears of War 4 is just as gritty, gory, and badass as its predecessors.” The demo during Microsoft’s press conference was equally as impressive. The new weather physics look incredible and appear to have a substantial effect on the gameplay that could make different parts of the campaign seem fresh. We left our demo wanting to know more about the squad, each of their backstories, and each character’s relationship to the rest of their team. We’ll inevitably find that all out when the game releases this October.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Most of Nintendo’s focus at E3 was on their new Legend of Zelda game, now called Breath of the Wild. The hours of time Nintendo spent showing us the game during their Treehouse presentation showcased how different BotW is to every Zelda game that has come before. The seemingly huge open-world of Hyrule has given the series a much-needed fresh coat of paint and the new features add depth to the impressive gameplay. Graphically, it didn’t look wonderful, but hopefully it’ll improve by release but as we said in our preview: “if you’ve ever enjoyed a Legend of Zelda game, you really should be keeping an eye on Breath of the Wild.”
Forza Horizon 3
Microsoft seems to be alternating the main Forza Motorsport series and Horizon each year and 2016 is the open-world spin-off’s year. This time, Horizon Festival is heading to Australia with off-road races, new terrain, a huge open world, and the largest vehicle roster in any Forza game. Four player co-op that allows friends to race each other and explore the open world will also make Horizon 3 “the most social Forza ever.” The beautiful new trailer shows off the open world and cars and you can play it on September 27.
Detroit: Become Human
Detroit: Become Human, the next game from Quantic Dream, was announced at E3 last year and we haven’t seen much else about it since. Although we didn’t see it on the show floor, its trailer during Sony’s press conference confirmed that it is among the most exciting of the upcoming PlayStation 4 exclusives. Detroit will continue the structure of Beyond and Heavy Rain, which saw players play as various characters with branching storyline. The E3 demo showed that there will be many more ways in which a situation can play out – any characters can die at some point in the story. There is potential here for one of the best games in any video game to be told.
Spider-Man PS4
A new, PlayStation 4 exclusive, Spider-Man game is not a surprise after rumors were circling before E3 about one being in production at Sucker Punch, the creators of the Infamous games. What was surprising is that it is actually Insomniac that are working on it. We saw no gameplay at E3, but the cinematic trailer showcased the potential the game has for raising the bar for traversal in an open world game. The trailer saw Spidey leap from table to table in a restaurant before crashing through a window and disappearing, which is something that would be thrilling to re-enact in-game. Insomniac is also a safe pair of hands for a game like this, considering their experience in the genre after Sunset Overdrive. The Xbox exclusive mastered fluid movement that allowed players to cross the entire map without touching the floor. Movement is a big part of Spider-Man and it would be great to see Insomniac carry over systems from Sunset Overdrive to their new game. We haven’t seen a huge amount from Spider-Man PS4 but it has the potential to be a fantastic open world adventure.
ReCore
In our hands on impression of ReCore, we said that it “has an interesting story for players to get sucked into,” and that, “ReCore could be something special.” Its combat and platforming is nothing groundbreaking, but it feels good and it is intriguing to see how the various cores and frames will be mixed into ReCore’s gameplay. Coming from Keiji Inafune and Retro Studios, ReCore is in good hands and will hopefully be great when it comes to Xbox one this September. Also, at only $40, it shouldn’t drain your wallet before the hectic fall period.
Let it Die
Let it Die wasn’t shown at Sony’s press conference and it is very different than most of the other exclusives. For those that are unaware, Let it Die is a PlayStation 4, free-to-play, hack and slash game. We came out of our show floor demo impressed, saying: “Let It Die is looking really promising right now. It’s got a very dark, gritty kind of humor to it, but it’s also quite the departure from the hack and slash gameplay in Killer Is Dead and Lollopop Chainsaw you might’ve been expecting. Even so, it’s a good change of pace, and it’s essentially Suda’s own take on the Souls genre.” Hopefully it will be just as impressive when it comes to PlayStation 4 later this year.
Gravity Rush 2
The original Gravity Rush is one of the best exclusives on the PlayStation Vita but since the second game is coming to PlayStation 4, expectations are much higher. Before it releases, we saw it in action at E3 and it does everything just as well as the original, but it’s even prettier. For fans of the first game, you couldn’t hope for much more from a Gravity Rush sequel. The gameplay has been polished and visuals have been upgraded, improving the whole experience. “Everyone else, keep this game on your radar if you want to add a gorgeous Sony exclusive to your roster,” as we said in our E3 preview.
Published: Jun 24, 2016 09:57 pm