New Mirror's Edge
Rise of the Tomb Raider
After her traumatizing trip in 2013s Tomb Raider, Lara Croft is back for another adventure. The trailer showed us Lara sneaking through dark caves, picking off soldiers with her bow in the shadows of a campfire. Meanwhile, a therapist guided her through ways to deal with her current mental state, suggesting walks and seeing the outdoors. Shes gone through a lot emotional pain since her last outing.
We dont know how Lara is going to deal with these troubles, or where this therapy will take her. What we do know is that were excited to see how Lara gets over the horrors of the first game--this post-traumatic recovery is something games rarely cover. Well find out more about this active therapy as Rise of the Tomb Raider news unfolds.
Crackdown
The open-world series started as one the Xbox 360s earliest titles, and now Crackdown is back for the new console generation. This time, the Agents are maintaining order the Crackdown way in Pacific City, which looks more futuristic than the series previous towns. The trailer showed a team heading to take out the kingpin of the Los Muertos gang.
One team member drove a van covered in explosives toward the base of the kingpins highrise. Another flew a large air vehicle toward the penthouse, but was gunned down by the array of miniguns along the roof. The madness continued as a third member blew up the block surrounding another tower, allowing the explosive truck to drive up the side of the collapsing building. The craziness climaxed as the driver leapt to safety, a fourth member sniped the truck, and the explosion brought down the Lost Muertos tower. If the trailer was any indication, the new Crackdown is going to be pure adrenaline.
Fable Legends
The latest from Lionhead is a fresh take on the Fable series. Fable Legends is driven by action and co-op; the town of Brightlodge is home to adventurers Sterling, Winter, Rook, and Inga, as well as others. These heroes embody the classic dungeon-crawling classes, armed with swords, shields, and all manner of weapons. They sling spells and drive swords into enemies in a more action-oriented way than previous games.
But most interesting is the ability to play as a villain. This asymmetrical multiplayer allows one player to set traps and summon enemies--theyre the master of the dungeon, if you will. The cooperative players at ground level will have to work together to survive the challenges dropped onto them from the villain above. The outcome of each adventure is determined by whether or not the co-op team can overcome the villains challenges.
Phantom Dust
How's this for "most obscure reboot" ever? Phantom Dust was a Microsoft Studios game that took a half a year, a new publisher (Majesco), and a drastically reduced pricetag ($20) to find an American release. When it did come out, however, it was pretty critically acclaimed, even if it was damned to obscurity with the Xbox 360 on the horizon during its 2005 release. Despite all that, a new Phantom Dust will be coming to Xbox One.
Even with Microsoft able to reimagine anything, the teaser trailer remained pretty true to the OG Xbox game's roots. It looks like it will still focus on magic-wielding survivors of an apocalyptic event, with the action taking place as classical music plays in the background. Will this new Phantom Dust retain some of the original's more complicated elements, like card-collecting and deck creation, as well as strategy-based combat with various elemental attacks, or will it just be a game where angry people shoot balls of magic at other angry people? Here's hoping the new Phantom Dust keeps some of the originality while still remaining accessible to modern audiences.
Scalebound
We know Platinum Games can add style to plenty of contemporary genres. Pit Bayonetta against Devil May Cry pre-Ninja Theory or Wonderful 101 against Pikmin, and you can see how the developer can be trusted to make even the most tired of genres fresh with a single game. Scalebound faces a tougher fight, as fantasy and monster-hunting genres, continually deluged with new releases, need even fresher blood.
The first trailer for Scalebound showcased a cocky hero on par with DmC's Dante. He's got a short haircut, a long sword, a sweet set of headphones, and a cocky attitude in the face of certain death. Even with enemies like a giant enemy crab or a hydra so large it can block out the sun didn't seem to faze the hero (though having a giant dragon and an army of cohorts on his side probably helped). It's still tough to tell what kind of battle will be waged, though. Is this new attitude being applied to the Monster Hunter-style genre that still enraptures Japanese audiences, or is it a more American-friendly fantasy RPG. Regardless of how this game actually plays when we first get our hands on it, we can be sure it will have Platinum's trademark attitude.
Games we expect to see at E3 2014
There's still plenty of games to see at this year's show. Check out all of the titles we expect to see.
Final Fantasy XV
Why we're excited: Seeing another entry in this legendary JRPG franchise is exactly what gamers pine for at E3. All we got from last year's combat reveal was a quick trailer for Final Fantasy XV, but it was still enough to get us excited. Battles take on a real-time combat system having players actively dodging enemy blows, parrying heavy sword swings, and using team attacks to overcome outrageously huge monsters.
Will it be there? Square Enix's corporate executive Shinji Hashimoto hinted at Thailand's Comic Con that Final Fantasy XV would be shown at future gaming expos in June (which would mean E3), Comic Con, and Tokyo Game Show. Not the most clear of confirmations, but it might be safe to say we'll see FFXV next week.
Fallout 4
Why we're excited: It's been far too long since we've trudged through the wastelands of the nuclear apocalypse shooting overgrown mutants and swiping bottle caps out of NPCs' pockets. We want to do it all again, and this time with some shiny, new-gen visuals, a larger open-world, and maybe even another nuclear bomb to set off.
Will it be there? As much as we wish it'll be at E3, it seems highly unlikely a new Fallout will appear. Bethesda just announced its new game. It's called Battlecry, a free-to-play online brawler that's a gameplay mix of Team Fortress 2 and Dishonored. Granted, Battlecry doesn't really scratch the same itch that Fallout 4 would, but it's unlikely Bethesda will overshadow its new IP with the giant that would be a full Fallout 4 reveal. Still not convinced? Well, Bethesda's Pete Hines tweeted that the developer would not be talking about the next Fallout game "for a long time." Looks like we'll just have to wait.
Deep Down
Why we're excited: From the first look of the game back at E3 2013, we've been waiting to get our hands on this Dark Souls look-alike. Players explore dungeons filled with intimidating monsters, like sword-wielding trolls and fire-breathing dragons, then fight them off with weapons such as spears, and swords as armor-clad knights. The PS4 exclusive is definitely one of the most visually impressive titles we've seen on the new hardware, and we'd very much like to see a localized version.
Will it be there? Capcom has been rumored to be bringing its next major title to this year's E3, but we're still unsure whether this will be the localized Deep Down or possibly Resident Evil 7 (crosses fingers). So far, Deep Down has only been announced as a Japan-only, PS4 exclusive, so a reveal saying that the game will be coming outside of Japan could be a big deal.
