The third day of E3 definitely held far less excitement than the previous two, though most probably appreciated time to get acquainted with all that E3 has to offer for 2013. The highlight of the day was the ability to experience the new releases, updates, installments, demonstrations, demos, presentations, and even the atmosphere. Attendees overwhelmed by sensory overload were grateful for a chance to sit back and chill. (Literally. Finding a spot with no bodies and lots of air conditioning is an achievement in and of itself.)
Games ranged from gory to cutesy to revolutionary to downright copycat. Titles such as Kingdom Hearts 3, Total War: Rome 2, Killer is Dead, Company of Heroes, Witcher 3, and Fantasia: Music Evolved are merely a handful of those presented at E3 this year. Gamers were able to enjoy live demos and game trailers of many of the upcoming games.
Dead Rising 3 was one of these. The trailer showcased the graphics for the Xbox One. The lighting effects that had reportedly been a problem in the previous games were brought to a phenomenal standard. If Dead Rising sets the standard for the graphics on this console, the price may not be too unreasonable (considering graphics alone, that is). It has also been confirmed that this game will implement the use of SmartGlass. How, exactly, has yet to be revealed.
Puppeteer also made an appearance, but there’s quite a bit of controversy concerning its likeness to other games. The game holds a shocking resemblance to LittleBigPlanet in both style and content, but developers assure that the game holds its own. Staged as a play, it holds more of a Tim Burton feel as far as looks are concerned, and is held together more as a story.
The long awaited trailer for Destiny left many Bungie fans with huge smiles and eager hearts. It looks like Halo, sounds like Halo, acts like Halo… but is that necessarily a bad thing? The multi-billion dollar franchise was popular even among those who wouldn’t call themselves “gamers”. Destiny will be available for Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, and PS4 next year.
Quantic Dream is coming out with Beyond: Two Souls this October. Its predecessor, Heavy Rain, won several awards and the hearts of many. Heavy Rain based gameplay on the choices a player made throughout the game. It is unclear if that element will be carried over into Beyond, but several other elements will. Graphics continue to improve along the line of Quantic Dream releases. In Beyond, the main character bears a very accurate resemblance to its voice actor, Ellen Paige, blurring the lines further between the gaming world and the world of movies and television shows. Beyond will have more emphasis on story line than Fahrenheit or Heavy Rain. While this was presented as good news, it poses the question of whether or not there’s any room left for decent gameplay.
There weren’t too many updates from Sony or Microsoft. Sony’s slowly revealing more about the PS4; though, by now, people are fairly sold on which console they’re looking to purchase. Microsoft spoke up to give their opinion on offline gaming, stating those who were desperate for it could stick with the Xbox 360.