Final Fantasy XV
The Final Fantasy series holds a very special place in my heart as being some of the best games I played as a kid. However, as more and more key developers left the beloved franchise over the years it began to become apparent that the series would suffer greatly.
With the release of the fairly tedious, linear and frankly boring Final Fantasy XIII, I had begun to lose hope. Thankfully it appears that Square Enix is trying to clean up its act with Final Fantasy XV. Originally being developed in tandem with FF XIII as Final Fantasy XIII Versus with developers from the Kingdom Hearts series, the flashier, and more action packed game grabbed a large amount of attention at its original reveal. However, as the years progressed, news about the title quickly stopped coming until fans assumed it was stuck in an indefinite limbo.
Thankfully the work that had been done wasn’t put to waste as the rebranded Final Fantasy game was shown on at this year’s E3 both on the expo floor and at Sony’s press conference. From what was shown, the development team has switched the series ATB battle system to something that is similar to both Kingdom Hearts and The Last Story with players controlling one character in a real time fight. The game also seems to sport large and semi destructible environments with enormous creatures for players to face off against.
Following long time series character designer Tetsuya Nomura’s style, the main character and two party members showcased looked like something that you would see on a fashion runway or a boy band music video. While this normally would be a problem, this specific title appears to be based in a modern world that also happens to be mixed with traditional Final Fantasy monsters and magic. Hopefully as more footage is shown, fans of the series can start to get excited that this slightly darker and edgier Final Fantasy XV will be enough to get Square Enix out of their creative rut.
The Division
A newly revealed title by Ubisoft, this ambitious multiplayer game looks to reinvent the way players experience online shooters. From what was shown, the open world title is set in a devastated New York City after a viral attack. Keeping in line with the rest of the semi-realistic and military focused Tom Clancy series, this chemical outbreak does not seem to include any sort of zombies or mutations, unlike popular trends in games today.
In The Division, players are a member of a secret agency whose main goal is to help restore order to the chaotic city after the attack. Armed with highly sophisticated technology, the game allows you to choose from a variety of classes allowing for multiple play styles. The seven minutes of gameplay presented at Ubisoft’s press conference showcased an impressively detailed New York street, lined with deserted cars and littered with trash. Despite all the modern day look of the title, the characters’ holographic heads up display and map look like something straight out of a science fiction movie.
As the team in the video headed to free some imprisoned police officers in a station, we were given a glimpse at some of the weaponry of the game, such as a motion tracking portable turret – a tool that heals your teammates – and a grenade that tracks a nearby enemy’s heat signature. In addition, people who own a tablet can come and assist their friends by controlling a flying drone, able to target and pin down enemies with short bursts of machine gun fire for the rest of the team. It’s good to see that Ubisoft is attempting to blur the lines between console and tablet gaming.-
The most interesting feature of The Division is the fact that it is a persistent open world shooter. While this does mean that users cannot play the title offline, the idea of mixing single and multiplayer together is a fascinating concept that is shared with the upcoming Bungie title Destiny. The team in the video was mainly facing a group of enemy AI for a large portion but is ambushed at the end of the presentation by a group of other players. The inclusion of cooperative and competitive multiplayer makes the world feel much more alive and spontaneous when players will always have a different experience each time they play, which in turn also means that The Divison will likely be a highly replayable title.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Hideo Kojima continues to impress as the trailer for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain showcased a new take on the series that helped defined stealth games. For the first time ever, the iconic Snake will be put into an open world and given a large number of ways to approach mission objectives.
Staying true to spirit of the long running series, the game deals with a number of very mature and real military issues, such as blood diamonds and child soldiers, but also has a mix of supernatural phenomenon at points. This title in particular seems to focus on Metal Gear 2’s main villain Big Boss’s transition from hero of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Peace Walker to tyrant.
Running on the newly built Fox Engine, the game wowed crowds as they watched the solider infiltrate a terrorist facility in Afghanistan in the dead of night, leaping across rooftops and taking out enemies with a brutal new close quarter combat system. While it’s nice to see Snake back in action, it is a little heartbreaking to not see David Hayter reprise his role, especially since he has done such an excellent job as the iconic guff voice of the character for over fifteen years.
Still, this is shaping up to be a truly spectacular game and I cannot wait to get my hands on it.
So there you have it, those are the games that impressed us most at E3 2013. Let us know in the comments which games you were excited most by.