E3 2015 Wishes and Expectations

This year, E3 is bound to become bigger than ever, as for the first time, when looking at the press conferences, there are 3 new ones attempting to conquer the audiences, live and worldwide. The Electronic Entertainment Expo has been going strong for almost 20 years, and I have been an enthousiastic reader since at least 2002.

And with the latest years, I have watched live streams of the conferences, arguably the biggest part of the expo, with expectations and wishes. Now that Sony's PlayStation is also part of the "family" personally, I am even more excited than usually anticipating Nintendo and the PC scene.

Speaking of which, the PC scene will have it's own press conference, alongside Square Enix and Bethesda, who will all no doubt talk with passion about their projects and the industry itself, and I'm sure that everyone will have at least 1 surprise waiting.

With upcoming top promising video games like The Phantom Pain, Arkham Knight and Xenoblade X already coming up later this year, 2015 continues to be worth watching. And with that said, let's take a quick look at what I am expecting and what I am wishing for to appear at E3:

 Expected:

-Dark Souls III-

I'm still quite shocked how soon this is about to get announced just after Bloodborne's March release, but it seems according to the leaked screenshots that it's really happening again. Miyazaki returns as the father of the franchise to direct this highly anticipated title.


-Paper Mario Wii U-

Again, the rumour wheel has been spinning, and voices are whispering that Paper Mario Wii U is a likely candidate. In order to rejuvenate the sub-series of Mario RPG's, it could potentially go back to the formula of the first two and make it even better with paper physics, new features and the functionality of the Gamepad.


-Banjo Threeie-

Even without the recent surprise kickstarter project of Yooka Laylee, which arguably is even more anticipated by Banjo Kazooie fans themselves, a part 3 of the actual series is still a likely possibility, what with the recent revival of Killer Instinct and Microsoft plus Rare looking for ways to make the Xbox brand stronger.

Wishes:

-F-Zero U/F-Zero 3D-

This is actually in my opinion the number 1 Nintendo franchise which desperately needs to return. I already dedicated a whole blog towards creating a hypothetical F-Zero U and/or F-Zero 3DS, so please, take another look at that post why it should finally get announced already.

-Advance Wars-

The brethren series of Fire Emblem, otherwise known as the militaristic multiplayer alternative for Nintendo handhelds, Advance Wars is another series that deserves another shot, either with the style starting with GBA, or the one with Dark Conflict, or perhaps something entirely new.

-Resident Evil 7-

First of all, the Revelations sub-series are very good, keep them up! As for part 7, Capcom should either go straight survival horror with it, turn a new direction, or give Shinji Mikami his seat back so that he can deliver again like he exceptionally did with REmake and Resident Evil 4, the two most important titles in the series if you ask me.

-The Last Guardian and Half-Life 3-

Two highly anticipated vaporware titles which should get cancelled if they don't get announced at E3 if you ask me. It's a terrible thing to not deliver with these two, but at the same time it would be even more terrible to have been hoping for them for so long, and then to find out that there wasn't any kind of development going on at all.

-Any Mega Man game-

Mega Man, excluding Xover, has gotten his break for over 5 years. It's been long enough, and with the recent news article of a new producer overseering the portfolio now, fans including me are hoping for any kind of either a new, original title(not the Legacy Collection), OR a must needed sequel to the X, the ZX or the Legends series, for they all have currently ended with cliffhangers, of which the most massive one is easily Legends.

Splatoon

 

First of all, two things must be said upfront about this new intellectual property from Nintendo. Yes, it doesn't have enough multiplayer content yet, and yes, voice chat is missing. Both of those "negative" factors in the eyes of many can be dismissed for now, because more content is coming very soon, and voice chat is not a necessity for tactical reasons as you wil eventually climb the ranked matches ladder, and the game is very much fun on itself without it.

Splatoon is a flashy cartoonish third person arena shooter with squid human hybrids being present as the player's persona's, and the main objective is to spray as much ink as possible in the area so that in the end, your team will have more than the opponents.

Splattering your enemies(or killing them in normal first or third person shooters)is a secondary objective that could delay the first one for the opponents to achieve, and the available arsenal is varied, entertaining and they fulfill different roles for the players to take.

A roller for instance is a melee based tool that can quickly cover much ground while simultaneously defeat enemies if they get too close to them. A splattershot on the other hand is a ranged based tool that has a wide range and a good fire rate.

There are many others available, of which several of them are variants, but pretty much all of them seem to have their advantages and disadvantages depending on the area's being played and the matchmaking itself.

This Wii U title also has a lengthy single player campaign that is more reminiscent of traditional Nintendo games rather than the absurdity that they have pretty much finally developed an online multiplayer shooter, although with innovative features, and the first inspiration that came to mind was Super Mario Sunshine's F.L.U.D.D. physics.

Innovative features include the ability to change into a squid, allowing you to traverse below the ink of your own kind so that you can hide and regenerate your ink fuel for examples. Upon respawning, you can also launch towards your teammates in a strategic manner, which sometimes can make or break your current match.

Splatoon is also equipped with an addictive soundtrack which embodies the teenage kid culture it represents, and I was pretty much instantly hooked with the online battles on my first playtime evening, especially after I turned off the motion controls for the camera.

Nintendo has most likely released the 3rd most popular multiplayer Wii U game at this moment, behind Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, as there are pretty much no other kart, fighting or shooting games that come close to these 3.

Because more content is coming very soon, the rating for Splatoon will for now stay on pending, however if this was the final game I would give it about an 8.3 just for replayability alone and the fact that there are plenty of different roles one can take with matches.

Bloodborne

From Software delivers again on their successful action role playing hack and slash game with Bloodborne, a spiritual successor to the Souls franchise, which was a spiritual successor to the King’s Field franchise. Play as a customized hunter, and uncover the dark gothic city of Yharnam, where an evil curse has plagued the townsmen and horrifying creatures occupy the streets now too.

The artstyle of Bloodborne is awesomely detailed, and the methodical combat has been fastened and improved because although the category of weapons has lessened, they all have 2 styles of using them now, such as letting the standard axe turn into a two handed halberd, or a standard holy sword turn into a bigger two handed holy sword.

Some features which were fine before have been lessened and are actually quite dissapointing. Covenants for instance are minimized into 3 different ones, and NPC quests have the same issue of quantity. Traveling between the new lanterns replacing the bonfires means you need to warp to the HUB location each time before you can move on to the next area.

PvP options are also way more limited because the conditions have gone higher in order for opponents to appear even in the first place. The same more or less goes when you want to summon allies using the beckoning bell. Many times there would be no allies to help me out, it's actually a rarity when contact could be placed. Even after beating Bloodborne for a second time, this issue persisted despite thinking that server intensity would be either lessened or higher depending on the amount of people playing the game.

 

Once again is the soundtrack minimum in quantity, but more than enough makes up for it during intensified boss battles and it’s just engrossing. The difficulty remains unforgivable even after beating Demon’s, Dark and Dark Souls II before, and I was most of all impressed with the enemy designs and their animations.

It remains utterly satisfying however to progress through these games, and Bloodborne is simply the best exclusive PS4 game at the moment. It is perhaps a little bit shorter and even dissapointing than the Souls games, but it more than enough makes up for it with optional content, the art style, the improved combat and the intact challenge which becomes truly brutal with the new game plus option like always.

Since the sales have been positive, I think that DLC is unavoidable when looking at the improved Dark Souls II with it's DLC, and even Dark Souls before that which also had an expansion pack, otherwise known as DLC nowadays. Both of those DLC's will be talked about soon enough, because thanks to Bloodborne, I have been on another Souls ride.

Rating: 8.5

Azure Striker Gunvolt

Inti Creates has released a somewhat spiritual successor and alternative towards Mega Man Zero and ZX in the form of playing as a lightning based hero who is able to tag enemies utilizing his electric field so that damage output is spread across the fields.

Azure Striker Gunvolt, having been released only on the Nintendo 3DS, has become commercially successful enough to permit the developer to create a sequel which was not too long ago announced, it only was recent though that it was released in Europe.

It's your familiar side scrolling action game with many elements returning from Zero and ZX returning such as the aesthetics, the mission/boss selection, the similar story and of course the gameplay, which is now focused on indirect combat instead of using a cybersword.

Automatically being able to damage enemies in the surrounding area, while being able to boost Gunvolt's health using special chips made the game quite frankly easy for me as a seasoned hardcore Mega Man player, except for the final boss's 2nd form, which had an annoying OHKO to be bothered by.

The somewhat short length of this digital only release is compromised by the game's relatively low price, which actually gives it more than enough content, it's just that in this industry, almost every game released is overpriced in so far as how much content is provided, but that is another future topic I can talk about.

While Keiji Inafune has been busy with post-development of the upcoming Mighty No.9, Comcept and Inti Creates have been collaborating in order to create Mighty Gunvolt inbetween as well, which is another retro throwback to classic Mega Man gaming, featuring the main characters of both new establishing intellectual properties. It's a free bonus which is fun while it lasts.

Azure Striker Gunvolt is a modest alternative approach to familiar side scrolling 2D action, and it shows promise, but I felt that it's similar towards Mega Man Zero 1 in the sense that it's not greatly polished yet. I'm sure that the sequel will be an improvement.

Rating: 7.4

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D

 

Last february, Majora's Mask was finally enhanced and re-released, fifteen years since it first appeared on the Nintendo 64 and when I was 12 years old. Packed with touch controls, an improved interface as well as visuals, it is unmistakenly the best version available.

Having only beaten the game twice before, playing through it for a third time is of course both a nostalgic ride, but also a refreshing experience. A few differences such as an extra empty bottle, a new Twinmold battle and a more convenient map system make this an easier yet a more enjoyable experience.

Of course, I already talked about Majora's Mask with much love previously five years ago(http://flow-rush.blogspot.nl/2010/12/retro-blog-legend-of-zelda-majoras-mask.html), and pretty much all of what was said there still applies over this new edition.

This time, I once again got all of the masks, the best sword, all of the faeries in the 4 dungeons and did pretty much everything except for several heart containers/pieces which I wasn't bothered to collect this time because frankly for me the game isn't difficult anymore.

I still am dissapointed that Nintendo didn't have the time during this longer development period of certainly 3.5 years to include at least a bonus dungeon of some sorts instead of fishing spots, similar to A Link to the Past's GBA version.

Because out of all the Zelda games released, Majora's Mask could benefit from one more. And I don't really count Ikana Kingdom or the Pirate Fortress either way.

Now that Nintendo has more or less remade Ocarina of Time, the Wind Waker and Majora's Mask, alongside rumours that Twilight Princess could be getting a New 3DS version, I wonder what's next for Zelda as far as handheld gaming goes.

Cinema of the 70's

The seventies of the last century have in my opinion some of the most interesting cinematic experiences in all of it's history. Many favorite movies of mine hail from this decade, and I'm sure that I will discover more sooner or later.

Critical acclaimed titles such as The Godfather, A Clockwork Orange, Star Wars and Apocalypse Now filled the decade so that at least every year in it, one would be released. And of course these titles remain highly watchable, are memorable and simply defined generations of fans.

One of my most liked genres also simply had some of the best movies released here, which is the horror genre. Examples like The Exorcist, Black Christmas and Alien fill up the 70's with brave new directions for the genre to take, and the transition from the styles of the 60's and before to the 70's and beyond is stunningly visible.

Experimental movies in the sense of trying out new idea's and directions such as Taxi Driver, The Holy Mountain and Eraserhead also make it a decade of pretty much a zone of weird pictures whereas anything can happen on the silver screen.

Bruce Lee, James Bond, Dirty Harry and other famous franchises are also present, and the blockbuster phenomena was created in 1975. What I really like whenever I revisit this decade is noticing that distinguished style of the 70's that simply sees to be all over the place.

Things like cultures, behaviors, clothing, acting and even experimenting is what keeps this all fresh despite that we are halfway into the 2010's now, or twenty or two thousand ten's both can also work.

It's just wonderful to be able to jump into any previous decade or film generation and see all of these different kinds of movies. I'm glad that I started watching black and white movies back when I was really starting to dig into this industry while I was 18.

Cinema of the 70's remains the stand out decade for me, however. I guess that in the future, I will talk a bit about other decades as well, or in the end all of them will be briefly written down by my typing hands.

BioShock Trilogy

Amazing immersion is the greatest thing BioShock has to offer for gamers. BioShock's second great feature is the player's activity with Rapture and its many, many objects to collect and manage. It reminds me in a way of Metroid Prime's scanning mode, but this is even more fun in my opinion. Next to these incredible things are the enemies and weapons which both are above average. In overall, BioShock is a modern classic PC game.

The iconic Big Daddy and Little Sister combo alongside the special currency known as ADAM made it all even more memorable, and added towards the game's overall lore and underwater setting. All of those special powers like freezing and flaming up enemies, setting traps and deflecting and moving objects added to the entertainment factor.

Alongside those delicious ingredients, BioShock also had fun hacking puzzles to solve so that you could turn turrets and flying bots towards your side. And I always was interested into picking up those audio tapes and listening towards those citizens about the stories they had to share.

Rapture is an underwater city with extreme capitalisic ideals as foreseen by it's founder Andrew Ryan, and BioShock is simply unforgettable because of this setting which pretty much never had been done so effectively in video games as before.

The high production values continue to uphold here, as BioShock 2 looks and plays even better than before, and this time, the story takes a new opposite direction in regards to the central antagonistic view of Sofia Lamb's communisic family ideals, instead of Ryan's capitalist stance.

With a different new protagonist as well in the form of a prototype Big Daddy, you are equipped with a very satisfying drill arm, allowing you to kill enemies very smoothfully. It's still Rapture you are residing in, only ten years later and arguably even more worse and insane than before.

Rapture is even more delightful to explore, with new strong enemies, more items to collect and manage, a better puzzle game and still the amazing atmosphere and detail to the underwater world, including great dialogue. 

I have  respect to the developers regarding the polish of these two titles. It also has multiplayer for the first time but I am easily satisfied with the single player already. A new remote hacking tool is also introduced allowing the player to hack from indirect distances.

Out of this trilogy, BioShock 2 is my favorite for the more personal story between Lamb, Eleanor and Delta as well as the gameplay and level design being the most fun to experience.

With a new setting, storyline and events, Infinite does many things right, but is becoming weary when looking at the mechanics that haven't changed much, making the game feel repetitive at the basic layer.

Booker DeWitt is on a mission to rescue a girl from a prison tower high in the sky at the floating city of Columbia, where the American vision continues to give rise to exceptionalism. The Founders follow the prophet known as Comstock, who rules over them.

Promoting ultra-nationalism, jingoism, militarism and xenophobia, The Founders are on top of Columbia and are besides hunting down the False Shepard(Booker) also having a war against the Vox Populi, a resistance group of common folks with a political position of anarcho-communism.

Rather than being insane like the enemies found in the previous games, the enemies are this time are more fanatical and full of bigotry, for they would gladly sacrifice themselves in order for destiny to come upon them all.

For the first time in the BioShock series will you have an A.I. partner to support you through the game. Elizabeth, an important character, will look for loots to throw at you, help with lockpicks, offer her role into the overall story and most interesting is able to open up tears.

Tears are like mini wormholes, spontaneously letting you warp back or forward into time, or during combat sequences, objects or even people who aren't present in present time, are able to be "brought" into the current age by the strange quantum powers of Elizabeth.

These include tear covers for you to hide behind, tear turrets for assistance, tear hooks for additional mobility and supply tears such as medkits, ammo and several more.

Next to the tears is another innovative feature found back into the skylines. Not only do they provide for more exciting sightseeings of the city of Colombia, as well as adding a large chunk of transporting, they are also tactical and essential into gaining victory over the most difficult battles.

Vigors and Gears are replacements for getting equipped with magical powers and skills enhancing you at certain levels. These range from crow attacks to inflicting more critical hits at your opponents. The A.I. of the enemies is pretty straight forward.

The enemy design is impressive and fitting for Columbia. Aside from your average police men, soldiers and civilians, there are Firemen, pyromancers armed with armor suits and explosive attacks, Crowmen, capable of warping and pesking you, Patriots, spitting out propagandas with his mini gun and Handymen, the most challenging enemy.

Facing these last guys was a pain on Hard Mode and even worse on 1999 Mode, but you are able to exploit them. I's okay, otherwise these guys have way too much stamina, agility and strength for you to handle.

I was expecting Songbird as a recurring enemy, but it turns out he is exclusive towards cut-scenes instead.

The ending towards BioShock Infinite is a clever one, although not the most mindblowing as other certain videogames or movies, but it added more depth and afterthoughts after finishing it. I won't talk about it, but I can tell you that it has to do with the theme of time.

As far as the future of the BioShock franchise goes, it seems that it will continue at some point despite the departure of Ken Levine and his team of developers. There are enough stories to explore in either Rapture of Colombia, or they could always introduce towards us a new subterranean setting.