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Games of E3 2004 - Shawn's Views Favorite Game of E3 2004 Choosing a favorite game was a difficult task. There were so many I really liked, but I had to decide. Which one would I really appreciate the most and get attached to? Halo 2 was only being shown to the press, so I can't count that as it wasn't on the floor for everyone to enjoy. By all accounts my favorite game should be Gradius V, but I need something with real depth. Final Fantasy XII would fit that bill nicely since its the next Final Fantasy. Metal Gear Solid 3 could sneak its way into the top slot with its new camo system and grand story I'm just dying to know. My beloved Resident Evil with it's brand new game play and super-creepy vibe would have me freaked out for weeks. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes is a sequel to a perfect game, so this should be perfect x2, right? A decision must be made. My game of the show from E3 2004 is Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. When it comes to me and MGS, other games take a back seat. Besides Halo 2 and Gradius V, MGS3 is the game that I most want to play, mainly because I want to know the grandiose origin story of Metal Gear. The gameplay of MGS games has always been exceptional and MGS3 will not disappoint.
One of the biggest highlights of the show for me was viewing the new E3 trailer for MGS3. I just want to play the final game even more. The trailer served me up questions of the grand story, of how the relationships develop between characters, and who some of these new characters are. In the trailer the young Ocelot made his debut, sporting a military haircut and Russian Officer's uniform. Snake climbs in a stationary anti-aircraft turret and fights a big Russian helicopter. Snake also dons an eye patch for the first time. There is a character that looks a lot like Raiden. It couldn't be Raiden though, maybe he's a relative? A new sexy soldier chick/possible love interest is introduced as well. At one point Ocelot says "So this is the legendary Boss." Is he really talking to Snake? So MGS3 will be the story of Snake's transformation into Big Boss? And does he take Metal Gear for himself at the end? Oh man, wouldn't that be sweet. Kojima wasn't kidding when he said "Back to the origin." This will be the origin story of everything Metal Gear. There also seemed to be a big overlying theme of changing sides, who is on the right side, only the mission matters, and that soldiers can change given the right time and place. So more insight on life and what we choose to do with it will be probably be pertinent throughout the game. All of our many questions that will be answered this fall. As for MGS3 the game, the playable E3 demo featured part of the jungle. Trying out the different camouflage was fun and really added a new dimension to the gameplay. I can't wait. Gradius V - Konami The Gradius V demo at the show contained the first two stages, and by God was it awesome. The graphics are easily the best you'll ever see in a side scrolling shooter. There was just so much incredible detail. I can't wait for the December release. I heard there will be a password feature where the player enters a password on the Konami site to compare high scores and how they stand up to other Vic Viper pilots. At the show I was playing the two-player co-op mode with a cute Japanese girl. I whipped out my impressive shooter skills and proceeded to kick ass with a cute wing-girl. The first stage boss was a huge Bacterian style ship with some wicked new attacks (that's it on the right). The second stage started as side scrolling, where we were shooting big magma bubble rocks or something. We then slipped into a downward scrolling base which was pretty tough to get through unscathed. The demo gave us unlimited continues, but given the sadistic nature of the Gradius series I don't think the final game will be so forgiving. A sweet new feature was the different things you can do with your options. Many of them seemed similar to the option placements in the shooter Thunder Cross II, which I played not too long ago. One thing that I questioned was that Gradius V had a nominee tag for best shooter of E3. Now can you seriously categorize Gradius with the likes of Halo 2 and other FPS games? No, you can't. It's totally different. Apparently Gradius V can't win in its own category since it's the only new game of its kind at the show. It has to be categorized with other "shooters." Right.
The next chapter in the itchy tasty Resident Evil series comes to Gamecube later this year. Six years after the events in Raccoon City, Leon goes to a town to find clues to the whereabouts of the President's daughter. The atmosphere is very different from the usual city/sewer/underground lab bases of previous titles. RE4 takes place in a town where everyone seems to be a mass-murderer. As I played the E3 demo I noticed the whole town seemed to have a creepy cultish atmosphere. In the video there was a scene where Leon was fighting cloaked figures in a castle. In another scene of the video Leon faced off with a huge cave troll creature. There were many human skulls stacked in houses and spattered about the town like trophies. Maybe this town could be where the Umbrella Corporation originated. I suppose I would go insane and be part of an evil corporation if everyone in town looked like me, which brings me to a problem I noticed. There are only so many character models for the townsfolk, meaning you'll be shooting the same guy over and over. In the other games you had the same zombies, but you didn't care, a zombie is a zombie. Shooting the same guy could get a little old, but the game still looked great. The controls are no longer restricted the normal RE control scheme, which people either abhorred or just got used to. Pressing in a certain direction actually makes Leon go in that direction! Amazing! I think this could be the scariest RE yet, simply because regular looking people are trying to kill you, not the typical zombies. Final Fantasy XII - Square Enix Final Fantasy XII is taking a departure from previous FF games. It does not take place in it's own self-contained world, rather it's set in the FF Tactics world of Ivalice. The main hero, Vaan, looks more fey than any other FF hero. The demo was over an hour long, but I had other games to check out so I only spent a short time with it. What's interesting is that common Final Fantasy systems have been completely changed. You now see all the enemies walking around the land, no random battles here. During battle, the screen doesn't switch to a typical battle screen, it just stays right where you are. It's kind of like the battle style of a MMORPG, but without the MMO. The fighting is also like an MMORPG. Choosing the attack command made the character constantly attack until I actually switched to a new command. My party was also getting money and items during the battle, not when it was completed like it's always been done before. Square is definitely doing something new with Final Fantasy XII. The graphics were as impressive as always and I'm sure the story will be as epic and emotional as ever. Don't get too excited just yet though, it's still not coming until 2005.
The overlooked Sands of Time receives a darker, more brutal sequel. The visuals and atmosphere are noticeably darker and the Prince himself has darker hair and a new look. The Prince has more moves, combos, and can steal enemies weapons this time, adding even more to his fighting repertoire. The Prince will battle more enemies than the first and certain features not in the Sands will be in this. What makes this more brutal is that the Prince himself is now a killing machine, slaughtering all whom get in his way. Instead of killing out of necessity it looks like he enjoys it at times. The traps look more elaborate and actual bosses make their debut. The boss shown off at E3 was a huge rock golem. The Prince had to use some strategy in slicing the monster's heels to bring it down to its knees, climb up on it's back to slash the head and finally deal a death blow through the back of the skull. The Prince no longer has the dagger, but a new undisclosed artifact. The story was said that it takes place five years or so since The Sands and that the Prince is doomed. We'll find out what that means in November. That's right POP2 is coming out Nov. 2004, just a year after the first. From what I saw though it looks like this will be even better than the previous title. For the love of all that is gaming, buy this game.
Devil May Cry 3 - Capcom Something of a pleasant surprise for me was Devil May Cry 3. I loved the first game and the second was, well, it was there. Capcom has listened to gamers' complaints of DMC2 and has fixed everything that went wrong with the second game in DMC3. The difficulty has been brought back to the very tough outing of the first game. Story plays a much bigger role this time as the story, or lack of story, for DMC2 was more of an afterthought. There is more voice acting than the previous games. One scene in the video that had me laughing was when Dante was eating pizza and demons start attacking him. He proceeds to dispose of them all the while finishing his meal. Kicking ass and eating pizza, ah Dante, your undeniable coolness has returned. I played the demo and felt the harder difficulty right away. The Capcom guy I talked to said very few people have been able to complete the first stage. I was not one of the lucky few, but I did see one guy reach the boss and win the stage. The boss was a sweet looking Ice Cerberus. And hey, guess what? DMC3 is a prequel to the first game. Dante is younger, but just as cocky as ever. Capcom is currently keeping mum on the new female for the game, but we'll find out who she is for sure this December.
I had heard bad things about the new Conker for Xbox, but it looks like Rare has turned things around because Conker LaR was a complete blast to play. The graphics were very detailed, letting players see all the tiny stands of fur on the deadly little mammals. The demo I played was a team multiplayer frag fest with Squirrels on one side and Tediz on the other. There are six main character classes each with their own abilities and weapons. These classes are Grunt, Sharpshooter, Demolisher, Sneaker, Thermophile, and Sky Jockey. Each class can also drive certain vehicles. The vehicles are a mix of super-deformed cuteness with death dealing power. Perhaps the best news with Conker is not only will it include the new game, but also the original Conker's Bad Fur Day (for the N64) redone with Xbox quality graphics and sound. How awesome is that? Cute yet fierce woodland creatures brutally killing one another, how can you not love it? Keep your pants on though, it won't be out until March 2005.
Donkey Kong
Jungle Beat - Nintendo The most unique game of E3 was easily Donkey Kong Jungle Beat. The game uses a new pair of bongos controller. Beat the right bongo and DK runs to the right, left bongo for left. do some fancy tapping on the bongos to make the big hairy ape jump and clap to make DK do a variety of moves like grab vines and dodge attacks. It may sound like a complex task to move a game character through a platformer using a pair of bongos, but I quickly got used to the control scheme and was doing fancy jump combos in no time. When I was done I walked away completely satisfied, except my hands were sore from all the clapping. DK Jungle Beat is a truly unique and fun experience. Check this one out 2005.
MK Deception (the sixth MK) is the follow-up to MK Deadly Alliance. It features many returning characters from DA and previous games, but will also have many new ones. The E3 demo featured Sub Zero, Scorpion, Ermac, Mileena, Baraka, Sindel, Nightwolf, Li Mei, Kenshi, Bo Rai Cho, and newcomers Ashrah and Hotaru. The stages are now multi-tiered and feature instant deaths. I was lucky enough to be sent falling into the new Pit when my life bar was less than a third depleted. The Konquest mode from DA returns, but is much more involved this time and almost seems like an RPG/fighting hybrid. Instead of just having to successfully perform moves and combos to proceed, you still fight people, perform other tasks, and find secrets not in the Krypt. Deception will feature some crazy cool new modes such as Chess Kombat, a MK style chess game, and Puzzle Kombat, which looked similar to my favorite puzzle game, Super Puzzle Fighter II: Turbo. Mortal Kombat: Deception will be pounding your Xbox and PS2 this November.
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
- Nintendo Metroid Prime was an example of a perfect game and I'm sure Echoes will follow suit. At E3 there were two types of kiosks for Echoes, some featured the single-player game, while others had the multiplayer. I went straight for the multiplayer. I had to see how well multiplayer worked in the Prime control scheme. It works great. The controls are just like the first, so I was easily able to get right into the fray. Each player was a different color Samus. The match was exciting and never really let up. Random power-up generators gave players abilities such as invulnerability, mega damage, and invisibility. In the other multiplayer mode, Bounty, players had to collect as many coins as they could from defeated foes. It was a very interesting change to the usual death match. The match was a lot of fun, but things could get tiring if the only character players can be is Samus. Perhaps Nintendo will put in some Space Pirate choices for multiplayer before Echoes' release in November, though I doubt that will happen. As for the single player mode, a couple new weapons were shown off called the dark and light beams and the world was said to have a dark and light side. Enemies also left behind dark and light crystals. Their purpose will apparently be revealed later. This is certainly a game I'm looking forward to.
I played Xenosaga religiously and I'm sure I'll do the same upon the sequel's release. The subtitle translates to "Beyond Good and Evil" and will delve deeper into the games theology and answer questions that remained from the first. I'm sure it also serve up new questions not to be answered until part three. Namco had a long trailer playing and saying the game looked epic would be an understatement. Everyone is a little older, wiser, and for some, sexier. There was a massive space battle that looked very cool. We'll have to wait until early 2005 for this beast of an RPG. Ace Combat 5: The Unsung
War - Namco Being an Veteran pilot of Ace Combat 3 and 4 it was easy for me to get into the demo of AC5. I took out bogeys left and right and completed the mission in no time. The controls felt the same, except this time I could actually order my wingmen around. The always impressive graphics of this series were more realistic and detailed than ever. This could really be more of the same, but that wouldn't be a bad thing. Besides, the inclusion of wingmen could mean larger scale battles then before. Plus, you have to keep track of how your guys are doing in their skirmishes because if a pilot dies, then he is dead for the rest of the game. Watch your buddy's back. Unless he tries hitting on your girl that is. AC5 is said to have over 50 planes and 30 missions. Ace Combat has always been a great series and 5 looks to be the best yet.
Heihachi Mishima is dead!!! That's right, that biggest badass of the Tekken universe has been killed. Namco had a big video showing new CG and fighting between the characters. In what looked like part of the opening cinema, a squadron of Jacks, fully equipped with bombs in their heads, blew Heihachi and his mansion to bits. It looked like the Jacks were controlled by one of the new characters, Raven. Raven looks just like Blade (from the Blade movies) with blonde hair. So much for an original character design. Two other new characters join the Tekken crew: Asuka Kazama, obviously the daughter or relative of Jun, and Feng Wei, some martial arts master. While the new characters look fine, well, I'm not so sure with Raven, it looked as though they just used previous characters' moves. It's too early to tell if any of the three will be completely new. While I'm excited about it, the game could be similar to Tekken 4 and give me that big bad feeling of disappointment when it finally comes out in 2005.
Speaking of Tekken, Death by Degrees stars Tekken's sexy assassin Nina Williams. This is a game of stealth action with guns and fighting. If you've played Jet Li: Rise to Honor then the control system will be familiar. Pressing the right analog stick in the direction of an enemy makes Nina do her moves. Maybe it was just me, but the controls in the E3 demo seemed a little slow and clunky. We'll see how everything turns out this October.
We've been down this road before. Turning the greatness of 2D Contra into 3D has only met with horrible results. What makes Neo Contra different is that it's made by the same guys that worked on the amazing Shattered Soldier. I tried out the game's two stages and the controls felt decent enough. It'll really take some practice with this game though, since you have to worry about fire from all around, not just in a 2D plane. The game looks to be more over-the-top than previous titles, as one of the levels had our muscle bound saviors riding dinosaurs into battle, in a similar style stage to the speeder bike stage of SS. The difficulty is right up there with the previous titles as the Japanese guy in the business suit and I failed to win. The monsters continue the grotesque Contra style as one of the first stage's creatures was a ginormous alien lizard creature with a huge baby head inside. As with Shattered Soldier's artwork being handled by Ashley Wood, Neo will feature the artwork of Jim Lee. How cool is that. Neo Contra arrives on the PS2 in November. Doom 3 - id/Activision I had an opportunity to play Doom 3 and man, was it creepy. The playable stage was very dark, as enemies were hidden among walls and behind objects. The sound only added to the foreboding atmosphere as you could hear enemies moaning, but you didn't know where the hell they were. Using a flashlight was the only way to really discover their hiding spots, aside from just waiting for them to sneak up and kill you. And get this, D3 will have a two-player co-op mode, a feature that only helps great games become greater. Doom 3 reaches the Xbox this fall.
Yes, another TimeSplitters game! This was another pleasant surprise for me. Future Perfect is the third game in this excellent series. I played in some kind of future prison at E3 trying to blow up a bunch of robot guys with my team. The gameplay was as fast and solid as before and the graphics were better than ever. Sadly, with EA and their idiocy of not doing Xbox Live (the tides are changing on that), the PS2 is the only version to support online play. Since the game won't be released until sometime in 2005 though, there's still a chance that Live play could be added to the game. Let's hope it does, because if there's one other FPS that needed to be on Xbox Live, besides Halo, TimeSplitters is it.
Street Fighter Anniversary Collection - Capcom To celebrate the fifteen ass-kicking years of Street Fighter, Capcom is releasing this compilation which includes Hyper Street Fighter II and Street fighter III: Third Strike. Hyper SFII is a an amalgam of the original SF2 and all the variations through Super SF2. This means you can fight every version of each character against one another in some freakishly cool Street Fighter action. Third Strike is the third version of SFIII. I never really got into SFIII. There's no question that the animation and moves are great, but I just didn't like a lot of the characters, so I'll be buying this mainly for Hyper. SF Anniversary arrives on the PS2 and Xbox this summer.
Finally, after fifty years, OutRun receives a proper sequel. Ok, it hasn't actually been that long since the first OutRun game, but its certainly been a long time since. The E3 demo let you choose between four Ferraris and play through the first course. If you're an old-school gamer like me than you know how the course is laid out. Race to the checkpoint before the timer runs out and choose between a harder or easier section of the course upon reaching the fork in the road. This may not sound like much compared to the more complex racing games of today, but man, is it fun. All the traffic seemed to be moving at a very fast pace, faster than normal traffic of other racing games. Not a bad thing, it just seemed everyone was in a hurry to get somewhere. I had to "test" the crash system and it was just like the first. The crashes don't affect the car, they just slow you down a little and flip you crazily through the air. OutRun 2 also features a multi-player mode and comes to the Xbox in Oct/Nov. Viewtiful Joe 2 - Capcom The viewtiful Gamecube platformer gets a sequel this winter, but not just on the 'cube, it'll also appear on PS2. This time Joe's girlfriend, Silvia, is playable and it features two-player simultaneous action. Silvia wears a light blue cheerleading outfit and carries pom-poms. I played the demo and it felt just like the first one, which means Viewtiful Joe 2 is going to rock. The first VJ is also coming to the PS2. Why should you care? It features a new cameo appearance of Dante from Devil May Cry and other little nifty things. Sonic Mega Collection Plus - Sega Sonic Mega Collection has already been released on the Gamecube, so what does the "Plus" mean on this upcoming PS2 release? "...Extra content not in the Gamecube version." It will include Sonic 1, 2, 3, and Sonic and Knuckles. The other games are still being decided on. And that's the extent of the info we could get on this. Well, if the Plus just means extra pics, promo movies and comic book covers then I can pass. However, if the plus includes more games, like Sonic CD, which was mysteriously absent from the first release, then it would be worth picking up again. We'll find out what the Plus contains this fall.
DOA Ultimate, formerly known as DOA Online only had a trailer for itself, but from what I saw l can tell this game will definitely be worth picking up. If you don't already know, DOA Ultimate is DOA 1 and 2 redone with Xbox graphics, an updated fighting system to match DOA3, tons of new costumes, and some new stages and new interactivity within the stages. The graphics looked great and seemed to surpass those in DOA3. One of the new stage interactions was in a new safari stage where one of the fighters threw the other into a nearby elephant. The elephant reeled back on its hind legs and mightily trumpeted its displeasure of being smacked on the ass. Dead or Alive: Ultimate should hit store shelves later this year. The Legend of Zelda (working title)- Nintendo Now for the game that every Gamecube owner has been waiting for. A Legend of Zelda game where you play as adult Link. Seeing the trailer had me feeling all tingly inside. Although Wind Waker was an incredible game, this is the game I really wanted. 2005 shall be a glorious year for Gamecube owners everywhere. Other Notable Titles SNK has some great games coming out this year. The next Capcom Vs. SNK title, SVC Chaos was playable at the show. It featured even more characters from each camp in this genius fighting franchise. The always entertaining Metal Slug series plops Metal Slug 3 on your Xbox very soon, and there's a brand new King of Fighters game coming out. That's right, it's not a re-release of a previous tournament, it's brand spanking new. Titled KOF: Maximum Impact, it's the first KOF game in 3D. Lastly, Konami's Rumble Roses is a wrestling game featuring only hot wrestler chicks. Paul an I played a match where our women were wrestling in a ring of mud. It was kind of fun in a dirty man sort of way. |
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