So E3 this year has begun early, with multiple new titles all being unveiled in the weeks prior to the event. The thinking behind all of this is that the games won’t be lost in the crush of the main conferences, or get overshadowed by bigger, more entertaining announcements. So in that respect, let’s look at this crush of games that all hit at once and that I’m gonna lump together.
First up, Ubisoft have finally confirmed, after multiple leaks in the last few months, that Watch_Dogs 2 exists.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixDxJ_X1pfo&w=560&h=315]
Set in San Francisco this time, the game has ditched the utterly forgettable Aiden Pearce for a cast of punk/subversive/scary teen hackers led my Marcus Holloway. Honestly, I’m wanting to be optimistic about this. Watch_Dogs was a real mess of wasted potential as Ubisoft promised the moon and delivered very little. So the news that all they’ve really doubled down on is the things people wanted from the first game? That’s good. So opportunities for cool hacking, non-lethal options and even just a more interesting protagonist leave me watching for more. Until we see a downgrade in gameplay and graphics of course.
Injustice 2 next. Time for the Royal Rumble of the bright and happy stars of the CW against Batman V Superman’s “heroes”.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX0WA6yIZ7I&w=560&h=315]
Only a cinematic trailer and an announcement date for this one. And otherwise, while still nominally in the Injustice Storyline, the decision to show Batman v Superman, Aquaman and then Supergirl and The Flash suggests they are going to be taking cues from their TV counterparts.
Also, armoured suits seems to be some sort of thing that’s being added to the game, and a voice-over talking about the Pit suggests that Ra’s Al Ghul is probably going to be involved in the game’s storyline in some fashion.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGT9PrwRHdY&w=560&h=315]
Lego Dimensions 2016 releases.
This is… dense. And more releases and licenses than I expected. We have:
Harry Potter (including Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them)
The A-Team
E.T
Teen Titans Go!
Adventure Time
Ghostbusters 2016
Sonic The Hedgehog
The Goonies
Gremlins
BeetleJuice
Knight Rider
Mission Impossible
And sets for Lego Batman and Lego City Undercover.
Wow.
I don’t even really care about Lego Dimensions all that much. I’m just kinda staggered by how many licenses they got for this thing. And how old some of them are. I mean Knight Rider, The A-Team and Gremlins? Seriously? Though I know many people who will leap at the chance for Adventure Time Lego sets.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6yxP-VMA9E&w=560&h=315]
X-Com 2 has been confirmed for both Xbox One and PS4 releases on September 6th. Welp, this is just positive all around. X-Com 2 was great on PC, It’s fixed now, this game will probably come with all the DLC (though no mods I would expect) and you don’t need a Mouse and Keyboard to play turn based strategy. Excellent news.
And finally Volition shows off Agents of Mayhem.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfBOHGWsJWQ&w=560&h=315]
Seemingly set in the same universe as Saints Row and Red Faction, this appears to be a comic themed shooter based around heroes. That isn’t called Overwatch or Battleborn. Or Lawbreakers.
But anyway, there is some neat stuff to work on here, the universe being the main draw for me. What is a concern though is that the game seems to be very set in being character based, but when I played the Saints Row games, I loved using the character creator. Making a ridiculous nonsense character and sending them through an equally ridiculous story? That was cool. So I’m going to hold my breath till I at least see gameplay.