10. Command & Conquer Rivals
Top 10 Biggest E3 2018 Surprises
Command and Conquer is one of gaming’s legendary franchises but it hasn’t seen a release since the ill-received Command and Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight back in 2010. EA took the stage at their E3 2018 press conference and announced to the world Command and Conquer: Rivals, a mobile game for IOS and Android.
The reception has been lukewarm at best. It probably has less to do with the mobile gaming looking good or not good, but the inevitable disappointment of seeing mobile devices get a new C&C game before PC. There hasn’t been a mainline Command and Conquer in eight years, and this new project drifts the series further from what people fell in love with to begin with. Regardless of how you feel about it though, it certainly was a surprise!
9. Jump Force
Top 10 Biggest E3 2018 Surprises
During Microsoft’s E3 2018 Xbox Briefing we were bombarded with a ton of world premiere game trailers, but one that stuck out to us the most was Jump Force. The trailer starts with panning shots of iconic anime environments and characters with an eventual battle erupting between Dragon Ball Z’s Frieza, Naruto, Luffy from One Piece, and Goku.
If you couldn’t already tell, Jump Force is a mashup fighting game of a myriad of different Shonen Jump manga. Nobody quite knew what to expect when the Bandai Namco logo flashed on the screen, but last year at E3 they rocked the house with Dragonball FighterZ and this year was no different.
8. From Software’s New PSVR Game
Top 10 Biggest E3 2018 Surprises
The legendary team from From Software never ceases to disappoint with their cryptic teasers and trailers that have fans always wanted more. At The Game Awards in 2017 they had a six second trailer that ended with the words Shadows Die Twice, which had the internet going wild with speculations for months.
During Xbox’s E3 Briefing it was later revealed that game was Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, but what we didn’t know is that just 24 hours later they would surprise us again. After the curtains were drawn on Sony’s big E3 press conference and they transitioned into their post show they said they had one more game announcement. Deracine a PSVR game about a spirit discovered by a young girl in a boarding school. We would have been totally fine with just getting Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, so a second From Software game was certainly a pleasant surprise.
7. Battletoads
Top 10 Biggest E3 2018 Surprises
Yes, you read that correctly, Battletoads is getting a brand new game in 2019. Announced at the E3 2018 Xbox Briefing, the trailer states it will include “body morphing genre mashups” and “4k hand-drawn graphics in 2.5d.” Battletoads, originally released on the NES in 1991 has had a few teases of making a return in recent years, but it was never a known quantity until now. Back in 2014 Battletoads was re-released as part of the rare Replay collection for Xbox, and just a year earlier in 2013 Rash was released as a playable fighter in Killer Instinct. It was a huge surprise to finally see a confirmation that Battletoads would make a return, and that we would only have to wait a year to get our hands on it.Â
6. Unravel 2 is Announced….and Out Now
Top 10 Biggest E3 2018 Surprises
You may remember Unravel from EA’s 2015 E3 press conference where a very nervous developer came on stage to talk about this cute little yarn man appropriately named Yarny. It was a touching moment, and while at the time we didn’t know if the game, Unravel, was going to be any good, regardless, Yarny stole everyone’s hearts that day.
Unravel released in 2016, and apparently sold well enough to earn a sequel, but we didn’t hear much from Coldwood Interactive over the last few years, that is until this year’s EA press conference. Not only did EA announce Unravel 2, but shadow released it right in the middle of the event. As far as surprises go, it is hard to top a simultaneous announcement and release.Â
5. Microsoft Acquires Five New Studios
Top 10 Biggest E3 2018 Surprises
Phil Spencer took the stage this year at the E3 2018 Xbox Briefing and talked about their dedication to delivering top-tier first-party exclusive games for their fans. Microsoft put their money where their mouth is by announcing the five new studios they have now added under their first-party umbrella. First up is Playground Games known for the Forza racing series, this isn’t exactly a surprise since they are already developing annual releases for Xbox and Windows 10. Phil Spencer also stated they are working on a completely new game as well, but gave no hints to what that could be. Next up is Undead Labs who just launched State of Decay 2 for Xbox and Windows 10, again this is unsurprising since they already have an extensive relationship with the Xbox brand.
Arguably the biggest acquisition from Microsoft during this announcement was Ninja Theory. Known for their recent success Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, which was well-received by many in the industry. What makes this deal surprising is that Hellblade was on PlayStation for a whole year before it made it’s way over to Xbox. Compulsion Games is next on the list of acquired studios announced by Phil Spencer. We Happy Few has made two appearances during the ID @ Xbox segment of their briefings, and now Compulsion officially joins the Xbox team.
Finally, Microsoft announced an entirely new studio called The Initiative, which is headed by Darrell Gallagher the former studio head at Crystal Dynamics, and former senior vice president at Activision for the Call of Duty franchise. Phil Spencer stated they are still recruiting talent for this studio, but it further cemented their commitment to bringing exclusives for their console.Â
4. Starfox Appears in Starlink: Battle for Atlas
Top 10 Biggest E3 2018 Surprises
Starlink: Battle for Atlas is the toys to life spaceship adventure game being developed by Ubisoft Toronto. The hook to this game is mixing and matching parts on a real-life toy spaceship to get those parts in the actual game. This year, Starlink shocked everyone by revealing that Fox McCloud and his iconic Arwing spaceship would be playable. Immediately after Ubisoft revealed Fox they invited Miyamoto to join the stage and presented him with the prototype toy Arwing players will be able to get both physically, and in-game. While Ubisoft and Nintendo have a close relationship, there probably aren’t many people who would called this one.
3. Resident Evil 2 Remake Trailer and Release Date
Top 10 Biggest E3 2018 Surprises
It has been almost three years of complete silence from Capcom after the announcement that they would remake the beloved Resident Evil 2. Every year fans have been waiting for a trailer, screenshot, or even a whisper of this game, and finally, this year fans got more than they could have ever hoped for.
During the E3 2018 Sony press conference Capcom debuted the Resident Evil 2 Remake trailer, but it wasn’t immediately obvious to everyone. Starting the trailer from the point of view of a rat as it scurries up a set of shelves hiding among boxes and cans of food.
After a fight breaks loose between a cop and a figure, the rat falls and get smushed by the falling shelf and that is where the figure is revealed to be a zombie and it becomes clear what this is: it is Resident Evil 2 Remake. Leon Kennedy bursts onto the scene, and then the trailer picks up, showing off more gameplay, the other protagonist Clare, and some of that famous Resident Evil gore. The trailer ends with a release date too of Jan. 25, 2019 which was icing on the cake.Â
2. Bethesda Announces Starfield and The Elder Scrolls VI
Top 10 Biggest E3 2018 Surprises
During the Bethesda press conference, Todd Howard came out to talk about Fallout 76. After wrapping up, Howard shifted the focus to something we were not ready for. A trailer begins, showing a planet as seen from outer space, a space station, and a ship that flies by. The word Starfield appear on the screen and the trailer ends. That would have been enough, but Howard wasn’t done.
He followed the Starfield announcement with another bombshell. A camera pans over a grassy landscape, you see a distant city, and in gold text the words The Elder Scrolls VI appear on the screen. It has been seven years since Skyrim launched but we finally got a (short) glimpse of the highly anticipated next installment in the Elder Scrolls series.Â
1: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s Roster
Top 10 Biggest E3 2018 Surprises
The main focus of Nintendo’s E3 Direct taking up more than half of the entire Direct was Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Announced in a previous direct just a few months ago, fans have been speculating endlessly on which characters will be included in the roster of this new game.
Masahiro Sakurai, the lead director of the Smash franchise, decided that the first day of E3 was the right time to finally let people know who was, and wasn’t going to be in the game and that’s when he blew everyone’s mind. Every single character who ever appeared in a Smash game made the cut. No exclusions. Nintendo used the tagline “Everyone is Here” multiple times throughout their Smash coverage. On top of the inclusion of every character ever, Nintendo also showed off three new fighters Daisy, Inklings, and one of the most requested characters since the Melee days, the Metroid antagonist Ridley. What a reveal, indeed.
Published: Jun 14, 2018 02:57 pm