This year’s E3 has come and gone, and in its wake it has left many gamers feeling negative over the number of games which revolve around shooting. Particularly when you look at the big press briefings, shooting was all over the place — without naming them all, Microsoft had Halo 4, Splinter Cell: Blacklist, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2; Sony had The Last of Us and Far Cry 3; Electronic Arts had Crysis 3 and Medal of Honor: Warfighter; Ubisoft had ShootMania Storm; and even Nintendo had some shooters with brief appearances by Mass Effect 3, Aliens: Colonial Marines, and ZombiU.
That is inarguably a lot of shooters, and they ended up coming across as the show’s main attractions due to their positioning in the briefings. The response to this from many gamers and a number members of the press has been to bemoan the lack of originality on display. However, before succumbing to this pessimistic point of view, it’s worth noting that this was really only true of the press briefings themselves. And there’s a reason for that — these showcases are not geared toward fans of Lumines, nor is the intended audience the type looking for platform holders to convince them with graphs, charts, and sales numbers that they are doing great, thank you very much.
The games shown at the briefings, and the way they were demoed — Tomb Raider‘s showing at Microsoft’s briefing portrayed the game in a different light than it had been previously — revealed it was a very mainstream audience being catered to. This has rubbed many people the wrong way, leading to proclamations of what a poor show E3 was this year. But, again, what’s important to remember is these briefings are not a portrayal of everything the industry has to offer. The big publishers may be competing to have the next Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty-sized success — something they feel is most likely to be achieved through the release of games which mimic aspects of those franchises — but there is still a lot of creativity to be seen on the E3 show floor. Just look at how Nintendo’s briefing disappointed many (albeit for reasons other than it being shooter-heavy), and then we promptly found out about Platinum Games‘ Project P-100.
So rather than dwell on the number of shooters in the spotlight, we thought we would highlight five of the other games being shown at E3 which are worthy of your attention — even if they were not as heavily featured as some of the show’s more violent games.
Project P-100: Our own Marty Sliva has already made the argument for why Nintendo needs to get behind Platinum Games‘ new game for Wii U. Okami director Hideki Kamiya is at the helm of this Pikmin-like project, and while it may not be the game that convinces you the Wii U GamePad is the amazing concept Nintendo would have us all believe it is, it is looking like a solid game. Its colorful, The Incredibles-like visual style make it stand out from the sea of browns and grays featured in many of the shooters at the show. The idea of aliens attacking earth doesn’t ring of originality, but the blend of humor, action, and strategy do make P-100 a game worth keeping in mind as you debate a Wii U purchase later this year.
Rayman Legends: That Rayman Origins was ever made seemed miraculous; a gorgeous 2D platformer in high definition? It did not turn out to be a major success from a sales standpoint, although it had already become profitable by February and Ubisoft felt confident enough in the brand early on to commission a follow-up. Unlike Origins, however, which has ended up coming to a wide variety of platforms, the beautiful Rayman Legends is a Wii U exclusive — one that actually makes some interesting use of the system’s GamePad tablet controller. The asymmetrical play Nintendo is touting for Wii U is realized here by having up to four players playing with Wii Remotes/Pro Controllers while a GamePad user lends support by cutting ropes (thereby dropping logs to create bridges), lifting items or enemies out of the ground, slingshotting other players to other sections of the map, and so on. Even if we ignore these Wii U-specific features, it’s the sequel to an excellent 2D platformer. What more do you need to know?
Quantum Conundrum: Once you’ve had your hand in the development of a game like Portal, whatever you then go on to make is going to attract some attention regardless of what it is. Such is the case with Portal lead Kim Swift and Airtight Games’ Quantum Conundrum, although the game appears to be plenty deserving of the attention it has received. As we learned this week, it was a conscious decision to create a game that could be played by adults and children alike. Just as Portal was, it’s a first-person game — without any shooting! — where you solve puzzles as you move from room to room. Players shift between four different dimensions, each of which will have some impact on objects in the room (such as making them lighter or move slower). What’s most interesting about the game is the potential for puzzles to be solved in more than one way, something that should help to make each room worth a second playthrough even after you’ve already discovered one possible solution.
The Unfinished Swan: This, too, is a sort of first-person puzzler, but it has an entirely different take than Quantum Conundrum‘s — one which is more difficult to describe. Unlike the other four games in this list, this one is completely devoid of color; everything in the world, save for footsteps of the titular swan, is an identical white color, and only by launching blobs of black paint are you able to see your surroundings and forge your way ahead. Both visually and from a gameplay standpoint it looks distinct from most everything at E3, and that is most assuredly a good thing in this case.
South Park: The Stick of Truth: There have been South Park games before, and they have almost all been terrible. Things are shaping up differently this time around, both because The Stick of Truth has a quality developer (Obsidian) behind it and because series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are penning the script and voicing their respective characters. The game looks a great deal like the show it is based on; there wasn’t any attempt to make this a stellar-looking game, nor should there have been. If we accept that the look and story have been nailed — and after 16 seasons and a movie, I have faith in the duo to come up one at least one more adventure for the boys to go on — it will all come down to how well Obsidian can execute. Whether turn-based combat being combined with the show’s sense of humor will be enough to lure in even non-fans is unclear; for those who are already devoted fans, they’ll be excited to hear Parker and Stone have finally mapped out where everything in the town of South Park is located and that Crab People appear to be making a return. ‘Nuff said.
