The GAMbIT team has been busy all day covering the E3 convention. If you are not ready following us on twitter (@Gambit_Magazine) make sure you are for exclusive content throughout the day, or catch me on Instagram (@Retroguy1985) to stay up to date. Tomorrow we will also be doing a Facebook Live on the Facebook fan page so make you are following us over there at: www.facebook.com/gambitmagazine.
After getting our badges and spending some time talking with the Super Beard Brothers team (wicked name drop) we jumped right into the thick of things. As this was day 1 er figured that checking out what the big three were offering seemed like the best course of action. The fun began over with Xbox and a number of really cool things that were happening.
The first game that we got time with was Ghost Recon Wildlands. The game was one of my picks from last year for most interesting looking title, but a they only showed it behind closed doors in a very hush, hush manner so as to not overshadow their other Clancy game Rainbow Six. This early demo showed off a lot of what we can expect and Xbox even put us into teams of 4 to complete the mission. It was a lot of fun and when real people play and talk (not that scripted crap from the Ubisoft conference) things really get interesting. We did manage to break the game twice, but we’re assholes that don’t play by the rules. M. Hamilton will have a full breakdown of the game in a full article.
Cuphead has been on our radar since the show last year and we finally got some hands on time with the game today. Needless to say the game looks amazing running on real hardware, so much so that Tim Schaffer (name drop #2) was with us checking it out. No doubt he was getting some ideas from the magic that was Cuphead. Our contributor M. Hamilton will have a full recap of Cuphead in a solo article.
A photo posted by J. Luis (@retroguy1985) on
Last year we got to see Deus Ex Mankind Divided behind closed doors in a very early form. Even then things looked really good so it was nice being able to play the game over at the Xbox booth. Everything looks slick and the gameplay is a lot of fun. If you were a fan of Human Revolution then you already know you are getting this one and it won’t surprise us to see it score a number of awards come that season. Then again I’m a huge Deus Ex mark and happily admit it.
Another nice surprise was getting to play Bloodstained with Koji Igarashi right there (name drop #3 baby). It is a sort of surreal experience to see a legendary developer look on as people play his work right in front of him. Heck, I’m almost positive that most people trying out the game had no idea that he was looking right over their shoulders. But enough patting myself on the back for hanging out with bigwigs, although I will say that we don’t hod back we asked about game, even by their creators. Probably why we don’t get a lot of review copies. Anyhow, Bloodstained looked fantastic in motion. The art style is very Castlevania inspired while taking on a life of its own. A cool female protagonist and a lot of those classic vania bits of action and RPG elements and this one may be a winner. It’s refreshing to see a Kickstarter game come around so quickly unlike that other cough Mighty No. 9 cough game. This is one fans of IGA and the Vania series are going to like.
With Koji Igarashi watching people play his own game #Bloodstained at #E32016
A photo posted by J. Luis (@retroguy1985) on
One of the biggest surprises of the day was The Turning Test. This game had gone completely under my, and the rest of the crews radar, so it was really cool to get time with it. In fact, we spent a considerable amount of time hogging the consoles trying to work the game out. The game is a first-person puzzle game much in the style of Portal, but with different mechanics. Games contributor B. Simmons will have a larger rundown of the game as it deserves more attention than I can give it here.
We didn’t get a lot of time with PlayStation today, but we did get so check out some of their PSVR plans and accessories. What’s interesting, I guess you can call it that, is that Sony is using a lot of the Move controllers that they must have stockpiled since nobody bought the damn things. It looks like most Move things are compatible, so if you want in on the PSVR action no would be a good time to scour eBay or you local game shop for some cheap Move controllers. Unless Sony decides to manufacture new controllers that on work with the PS4 NEO, but that wouldn’t be a smart Move (nailed it).
A photo posted by J. Luis (@retroguy1985) on
Nintendo once again had a huge space on the floor, but it was blocked off to regular attendees. That’s right, even the press and people in this exclusive show couldn’t get into the even more exclusive Nintendo section of the show. Inside there were huge Zelda displays and people from Nintendo were showing people through The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Out side there was a small stage where their Treehouse Live event was going on, again showing of the new Zelda. It’s a little sad that you needed tickets just to see and play Zelda, but Nintendo is weird like that and likes to play things close to the chest. They probably don’t want a Star Fox Zero situation where people complained about the controls. The game itself looked great and it has a cool art style that looks like a cross between Wind Waker and Twilight Princes. Our resident PlayStation person even commented on maybe having to get a Nintendo console because of how it looked and ran. He also mentioned that it was the first Nintendo game this generation that looked to be pushing the Wii U to its limits.
Natsume, who always have a charming booth, had a number of titles on display. While there are a few we are keeping an eye on, one title that stood out this year was Wild Guns Reloaded. This is a strange title for a number of reason. The game keeps the classic look of the original arcade release, only with updated and cleaned up visuals. It;s in HD and the sprite work here looks great. These remake always worry me because they often hand draw everything and that sort of fluid animation just doesn’t work for me. I always call to Street Fighter 2 HD as that game looked amazing, but weird because of the animations and art style. Natsume really kept the original intact and has added a 4-player option that makes the game pretty insane.
#WildGuns Reloaded at #E32016 #Natsume
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A game that isn’t getting a lot of buzz, but really should be is The Technomancer from Focus Home Interactive. The game takes place on a very brutal Mars. You play as a Technomancer in this action game, but unlike your standard “hit x a lot to win” everything has RPG elements to it. It’s an action-RPG that isn’t from Japan and it really shows. That game feels fresh and unique and will definitely be on out list of Best of Show for this year. Contributor M. Hamilton will has an article on the game getting much more in-depth with it. What’s great is that the game launches this month!
Tech wise the one thing that caught out eye was the Smartboy at the Hyperfine booth. There is very little information online, even during E3 on the device, but it looks darn impressive. Sure, tossing your smartphone into a dock to play your GameBoy and GameBoy Color games on the go is silly, but it’s a good kind of silly. For those that don’t know this Smarboy was originally an April Fools gag that took on a life of its own, to the point where the team actually made it real. The thing looks ready to go and we hope to have more information on it as the show continues.
#Hyperkin #SmartBoy at #E32016
A photo posted by J. Luis (@retroguy1985) on
And that’s it for day 1 here at E3 2016. There is so much to cover still and be sure to check back throughout the day tomorrow for articles on many of the games that we are featuring, as well as some of our award picks for 2016. See you all tomorrow!
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