…but I’ll have to. Now that it’s over and I’ve had a good amount of time to digest all the information, I thought I’d write some stuff up about it. It was a hell of a lot better than last years underwhelming, down-sized event and was a return to the E3 of old. Rather than boring summaries of each conference, I’ll just talk about the games that I’m most interested in. Click below for the good stuff.

Halo 3: ODST

I’ve been interested in this one since day one. The prospect of a Halo game where you don’t play as Master Chief, but instead as an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper is very intriguing. The lack of the Spartan’s resilience and strength makes for an interesting concept which will hopefully require the use of more stealth and tactics. The way the story is handled with flashbacks where you assume the role of your team mates and discover their fate is a welcome departure from the previous games. The multiplayer is surely going to be just as good, with the Horde-like “Firefight” mode, along with the traditional Halo 3 multiplayer containing all of the map packs to date. Definitely one of my most anticipated games of the year.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune is one of the best games on the PS3. While the combat was rather shoddy, the game had a perfect blend of Tomb Raider and Prince of Persia-style adventuring and platforming. It also introduced the charismatic Nathan Drake – one of the best computer game characters this generation. The war-torn towns and slums seen so far in the sequel are a radical departure from the lush jungles and ancient ruins of the first game. Among Thieves also seems to be a bit more heavily combat focused which worried me at first given how it was what I least enjoyed in the first game, but hopefully Naughty Dog have taken the criticisms on board and fixed it. The addition of a multiplayer mode raised a few eyebrows when it was first announced, but after playing the multiplayer beta it’s actually surprisingly well put together. The whole game looks to be shaping up to be every bit as good, if not better than the first.

Left 4 Dead 2

Firstly, all the boycotting,  moaning, protesting, petitioning whiners upset that this should be DLC for the first game should just get a grip. The first Left 4 Dead was an almost unparalleled co-op experience and Valve have used the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” formula. While keeping the same fundamental gameplay elements, they have introduced a new setting in the Dirty South of the United States, as well as a new roster of survivors each with a different back story. The AI Director has been improved to alter more features such as weather conditions and lighting. New melee weapons such as the Team Fortress 2-inspired frying pan and the trusty chainsaw – a zombie-slaying classic. The new infected types, especially the “Wandering Witch”, sound interesting and are sure to keep things fresh. Despite this seeming very un-Valve in releasing a new game within a year of the last and given how much fun I had playing online co-op in the first, this is definitely a day one purchase for me.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Despite being teased pretty much leaked on the day of the show through photos of Nintendo’s booth, this still came as a surprise. I was expecting the next NSMB game to be on the DS due to the impressive sales of the first, but a version for the Wii is a clever move. The four-player co-op looks like it could offer the same thrills that LittleBigPlanet provided, but I was massively disappointed when it was announced there would be no online co-op at all, for whatever stupid reason. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the DS game and it’s fresh take on a 2D Mario so hopefully this will be just as good. I’m just hoping that it won’t be too heavily focused on multiplayer and that it won’t affect the singe player gameplay too much. A 2D Mario platformer is always a good thing.

Super Mario Galaxy 2

This came as a bit of a surprise. The first time there’s been a sequel to a 3D Mario game on the same console. For me, Super Mario Galaxy is the best game of the generation so far, and arguably the best platformer ever made. Some may mock Nintendo for supposedly churning out a quick sequel, but there were plenty of new features to be seen in the trailer – particularly the welcome return of Yoshi. There was the genuine question of “where next?” for the next game in the series after Galaxy. It was as close to perfect as you could possibly get so sticking with the same winning formula is the sensible choice for now.

Metroid: Other M

Now this one came out of nowhere and was definitely my biggest surprise of the show. Mentally crossing off Nintendo franchises as I watched the trailer. Stormy sea, a new Zelda?! No. Camera flying in the clouds, Kid Icarus?! No. Space, which obviously means Starfox! No. Blonde woman in a blue sui..ZERO SUIT SAMUS. A new Metroid game by Team Ninja, of all people. But aiding them are Nintendo’s R&D1 department who have basically made the entire Metroid series, barring the Prime games which were made by Retro Studios. This was also my favourite trailer from the show. It looks as if Other M will be some sort of “Samus Chronicles” game which revisits key moments in her past, including the battle with Mother Brain in Super Metroid as seen above, and will hopefully continue on after Metroid Fusion. It also looks like there will be a mix of gameplay styles, with the trailer showing a mix of 2D, 3D and first-person sections. It’s going to be really interesting to see what elements Team Ninja brings to the Metroid series, but going by how uncharacteristically brutal Samus is in the trailer, the game will surely be influenced by their Ninja Gaiden games. I’m a big fan of the Metroid franchise and for that reason, along with Other M looking fantastic, this is by far my most anticipated game. It’s just a shame I have to wait till 2010.

Oh, and no Mass Effect 2 because I’m trying to stay as unspoiled on that as I can.

]]> http://hegotgames.com/2009/06/10/e3-the-games-im-looking-forward-to/feed/ 1 Matthew E3 ODST Uncharted 2 Left 4 Dead 2 New Super Mario Bros. Wii This is actually a screenshot of Super Mario Galaxy 1, by the way Metroid: Other M http://hegotgames.com/2008/07/16/e3-sony-conference-summary/ http://hegotgames.com/2008/07/16/e3-sony-conference-summary/#comments Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:35:00 +0000 Matthew http://hegotgames.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/e3-sony-conference-summary/ ]]> Some of the stuff they showed:

• New Resistance 2 footage that was rather impressive
• Ratched & Clank PSN game
• More Killzone 2 footage (actual gameplay this time!)
• A Little Big Planet level showing Sony’s sales figures
• inFAMOUS trailer
• God of War III teaser

Is it just me or have Sony been showing the same stuff at E3 for the past 2-3 years?

• Wii MotionPlus peripheral which allows 1:1 motion control
• Animal Crossing: City Folk
• Wii Speak – basically a microphone that sits on top of your TV to allow online voice chat
• Wii Sports Resort – themed around beach sports and uses the aformentioned MotionPlus
• …

And thats pretty much all that is worth talking about. Nothing at all for the hardcore gamer – StarFox, Kid Icarus? Probably one of the worst E3 conferences I’ve ever seen from one of the big 3. Pretty pathetic really.

• Final Fantasy XIII on 360 as well as PS3, Sony fanboys am cry
• Online co-op in Resident Evil 5
• New 360 Dashboard including the ability to fully install games onto the HDD
• Ripping off Miis Avatars thing rumoured a few months ago turns out to be true
• Lips, a Singstar-style game which uses a motion-sensing microphone
• Fallout 3 (GOTY?) getting “substantial” exclusive DLC for 360/PC
• Rock Band 2 a 360 timed-exclusive
• Original Banjo-Kazooie coming to XBLA (meh)
• Gears of War 2 will be awesome confirmed