This is obviously the better half of E3 :)
Sony:
I like that expression, the video game industry is part of the "cultural zeitgeist" of our time. Instantly starting strong with a much anticipated (almost vaporware) title, The Last Guardian has finally returned and is looking magically wonderful.
Representing the Dutch branch of video game development, Guerilla Games introduces a new IP called Horizon: Zero Dawn, with stunning landscapes, a large scope, mechanical enemies and you play as a prehistoric looking hunter ironically.
Street Fighter 5 remains odd because of it's controversial new way of defining exclusivity, yet consider me interested in seeing how the new features will work out for this fifth title. No Man's Sky is in a similar status for being partially exclusive, and it's hard to judge this one's potential massive scope. Carl Sagan's quote does boost the hype.
Media Molecule's Dreams is an original looking title about creating, sharing and feelings conceptual dreams, or art works. It's too late for me to be excited for Destiny because the vanilla release just simply was a repetitive grind festival as previously reviewed, so it got sold.
Final Fantasy VII remake is finally REALLY HAPPENING! But because this is still the Sony section, let's talk more about this a little more down below here. Shenmue III is another long awaited sequel of which I regrettably still have to start on, but is nonetheless another exciting announcement.
Project Morpheus is another contender for the virtual reality market which is re-opening very soon, and it's just too early to judge which of the devices will be the best one. Call of Duty might be milked to death, but at least it ain't shovelware, so yeah, I will get around Black Ops III sooner or later.
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End is a great way to end this conference, but it seems that something went wrong technically for the first round, which is forgivable. And with The Nathan Drake Collection appearing as well, I am utterly content and eager for the ultimate Uncharted experience.
Rating: A
Nintendo:
A Muppets intro, haha my puppet body is ready! Do a barrel roll meme, this was unexpected.
Star Fox Zero is looking like it just saved gaming in general, I really cannot wait to play what seems to be Star Fox 64's successor, FINALLY. The Amiibo expansion is out of control, and with having only Diddy Kong so far personally, I'm definitely not sold out on them.
So Hyrule Warriors Legends was leaked already, but Triforce Heroes seems to be a continuation on the Four Sword formula with an A Link Between Worlds art style, except that this time cooperation is encouraged, and competition is lessened. The totem mechanic is also something unique.
The Animal Crossing spin-offs Happy Home Designer and Amiibo Festival aren't sealing the deal for me, instead, people were expecting a proper Wii U edition. And although Fire Emblem Fates is looking promising, I can't say the same for Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem, as it bores me.
Xenoblade Chronicles X is truly one of the upcoming must have games from Monolith Soft and Nintendo, however it's painful to wait for it. Metroid Prime Blast Ball was previously hinted at, but Metroid Prime Federation Force first of all looks UGLY and blocky, I can't believe I just said this, but it's not looking appealing to me as some kind of Hunters sequel/spiritual successor.
And finally, the celebration of Super Mario Bros.'s 30th anniversary is not only enhanced by the fun looking Super Mario Maker(another spiritual successor, this time towards Mario Paint), but also by Mario Tennis Ultra Smash and surprisingly Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, where the two Mario RPG sub-series merge into one adventure.
So there's great stuff, but also dissapointing stuff for Nintendo this year. Or, perhaps Nintendo has yet to announce something else later on, which they sometimes do. This underwhelming feeling is caused because a real surprise or effective announcement was missing. I suppose Yoshi's Woolly World will keep me occupied and happy soon enough later this month to rebounce this conclusion.
And it was confirmed by Nintendo themselves that Zelda Wii U would be absent at E3 2015. On second thought, and to be fair, we did get a decent Smash 4 Direct earlier, so maybe Nintendo shouldn't had segmented the two events.
Rating: B
Square Enix:
With interesting bits of trivia from Square, Enix and Eidos,The press conference started with Just Cause, which I haven't touched upon yet, the same goes for Hitman. And Nier. And Kingdom Hearts. And Star Ocean. Got a lot of catching up to do.
World of Final Fantasy is a cutified tribute and celebration to what the title is saying, apparently from the preview. Similar to Dissidia or Theatrhythm, Squeenix is also having a lot of fun of commemorating Final Fantasy in general
Final Fantasy VII remade is a fan's dream come true, or a generation's dream, for all of us who played their first Final Fantasy back in 1997 on the PSX(Or the PC for me). So this is very exciting for the most popular entry that changed RPG gaming.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is another personal upcoming favorite, with the same team from Human Revolution developing this to expand upon it's design even further. Not too much information was available yet for Project Setsuna.
Rating: C+
PC Gaming:
Honesty, this was the most boring press conference. Although a PC presentation is a good idea, all of the games portrayed were bland, more of the same, convoluted in order of appearance and forgetabble. I did like the presentator being excited in general. Even AMD's graphical cards almost had me yawning. Better excitement for everyone next year. Not even Blizzard could save this.
Rating: D
Multiplatform:
As an extra paragraph, with exceptions already talked earlier about, here are a bunch of video games which aren't exclusive, yet they deserve to be written about.
Batman: Arkham Knight is having a snowball effect of announced DLC coming up, but ignoring that, I can't wait to delve into the Bat's next-generation struggle against vengeful rogues in the biggest and grittiest Gotham City yet.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain had another stunning long trailer where rather than more questions being answered, new ones have filled up the community which theorize frantically as we speak about the characters, the central theme of language, how big the scope will be and how the hell it will end and transcend over into Metal Gear.
Dark Souls III is a fan favorite because it promises content which ain't broken nor obnoxious yet, and also, people are wondering how the lore will evolve, how the online scene will be, what horrifying bosses await and of course how beautiful the game's world will be. From Software declares it to be the final episode, but just you wait until Dragon or Death Souls comes along, next towards Bloodborne 2.
And that's all folks! Unless someone decides to announce a surprise or two tomorrow at E3's final day, E3 2015 was certainly no dissapointment in general and actually one of the better ones in so far as we can remember the previous ones.
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