Hello everyone! I hope you all caught the Microsoft Press Conference yesterday. May I say that it was generally quite good and Microsoft walked out with a strong showing of exclusive titles and new content for their Xbox One gaming console. This article opens up a dialogue about their new games and projects, so join me as I provide some of my opinion and anticipation. We have a lot to talk about and please feel free to comment with your thoughts. Let’s cover the biggest game releases first.
Gears of War 4
I really wasn’t impressed with last year’s showing of the new Gears game. Honestly, it looked like more of the same with better graphics and a more diverse cast of characters than our famously muscle-bound protagonists. This year’s E3 showing for Gears gave me a bit more hope. It appears as though The Coalition has put a great deal of effort into crafting this latest title in the Gears franchise and much like 343 Industries and Halo 4 before them, perhaps they can truly reinvigorate a genre of games that has become a bit stale over the years.
The characters seem engaging enough and the environments have an air of destructibility to them, though to what degree you can actually modify the enemy’s cover or if we simply saw a very scripted scene during the press conference remains to be seen. There’s an impressive amount of violence and a wide variety of ways to utterly annihilate your opponents. Hopefully the story can match Gears of War 4’s powerfully dynamic combat. Oh and we can’t forget about Old Man Marcus! I’m curious to see what role he will play in this game and I very much appreciate that John DiMaggio returned to voice the character. Gears of War 4 is slated to release on October 11, 2016.
Forza Horizon 3
I used to play the Forza series of games religiously. There was something about being able to modify some of the best vehicles in the world and then race them against the AI or friends that just spoke to me. Eventually, I stopped playing Forza and focused my interests elsewhere but now that Microsoft has announced the new Forza Horizon 3 for the Xbox One, I find my interest piqued. Playground Games has clearly taken a heavy emphasis on the Australian setting and the visuals look absolutely staggering, easily the best of any Forza game so far. Now set in an open world, players can travel around and enjoy the scenery or join up with friends to engage in a variety of races.
Microsoft also announced that Forza Horizon 3 would have a four-player co-operative multiplayer campaign. I never really knew that Forza games had a “campaign” per se, but I am interested in seeing exactly what they’re talking about. Do you like beautiful graphics? How about off-road racing? What about phenomenal supercars? Forza may be for you. It is set to release on the 27th of September, 2016.
ReCore
Last year we saw a short trailer involving a dynamic young woman and her mechanical dog companion fighting off other mechanical creatures. After they won, she discovered that her friend perished in the fight. Unwilling to settle for this, the woman sets her friend’s core into another body and it awakens once again. And that was it.
Finally, we have more information about ReCore, the newest game by Keiji Inafune and Comcept. Designed as an action-adventure/platformer, ReCore takes a heavy emphasis on level design as well as gives the protagonist a wide variety of ways to get around the different levels; from rocket boots to a grappling hook to a robot companion that can climb the walls, movement and mobility seem like essential concepts in ReCore. While we don’t have any details about the story, the game mixes combat and adventure much like Metroid Prime (in fact, Comcept was formed by designers who worked on Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate). It looks like ReCore has an all-star cast of developers. Hopefully they can deliver a well crafted title worthy of action-adventure and platformers everywhere. ReCore is set to release on September 13th, 2016 in North America and on the 16th in Europe.
Battlefield 1
A few things remain constant in the gaming world: Assassin’s Creed, Call of Duty, and Battlefield releases. We will probably never see the end of these franchises and sometimes, that’s a bad thing. In the case, however, we may have a unique title on our hands. Called “Battlefield 1” by its developer Electronic Arts, the newest Battlefield game takes place during World War 1. This alone sets it apart from many other games as World War 1 hardly has any video games set during its climactic battles because a vast majority of the war (at least in Europe) saw both sides fighting along various trenches that changed quite little until 1917 when Russia’s government eventually collapsed and the Germans, now freed from the Eastern Front, launched a gargantuan Western Front offensive and were subsequently pushed back.
The trailer, however, seemed filled with intense action and the following gameplay demo during regular E3 hours had furious warfare between 64 players. EA seems to have developed a relatively unique (for a Battlefield game) addition to their franchise; players can use a variety of melee weapons, gas attacks, artillery, and even horses to wage war! Environmental destruction still exists and watching that zeppelin come crashing down into that village definitely looked impressive. EA plans on an October 21st, 2016 release for the entire world.
Scalebound
THAR BE DRAGONS!
In development by Platinum Games, Scalebound is an action role-playing video game set in the third person perspective that takes a heavier emphasis on graphical fidelity and role-playing. You control Drew, the protagonist, and with the help of his dragon Thuban, you must go about and defeat the enemies that stand in your way. Much like any RPG, you can upgrade and gain new abilities that affect Drew, Thuban, or both and significantly alter how you approach combat. While Thuban is controlled by the AI, players can order him to do particular actions or even use Thuban as a mount and directly control him.
Scalebound doesn’t have a linear storyline so players are encouraged to explore the world of Draconis and discover its many secrets. Enemies will not scale (Get it? Because Thuban’s a dragon?) based on Drew’s level and you can invite your friends to four-player co-operative sessions. It reminds me a great deal of the newest Final Fantasy XV in the sense that its an action RPG, but it clearly has significant differences. I’m really looking forward to Scalebound and while Platinum Games hasn’t set an exact release date, they plan to release their latest title in 2017.
Final Fantasy XV
The latest title in a long running series of titles by developer Square Enix, Final Fantasy XV is yet another action role-playing game shown off by Microsoft during their press conference. Set in the world of Eos which resembles a relatively modern day Earth, the evil empire known as Niflheim has invaded the nation of Lucis. The heir of the Lucian throne and our protagonist, Noctis Lucis Caelum, must set out to defeat Niflheim and make the world right once more.
Final Fantasy XV has suffered from a troubled development. Originally set to be released on the Playstation 3 as Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Square Enix decided to rework the game and announced their latest Final Fantasy title in May of 2006. 10 years later, we finally have a release date and even more information. Set for a September 30th worldwide release, XV uses the “Active Cross Battle” system for its combat sequences. If you’ve played a game like Kingdom Hearts, then you will be intimately familiar with how this works. Instead of the traditional JRPG turn-based combat, players will be able to select particular actions for Noctis and watch as those actions are carried out. They may move and jump around the battlefield and Square Enix promises that players will seamlessly enter into combat without loading scenes.
A surprising first for the series, using magical abilities will not cost MP but instead, the player must focus on the environment around him or her in order to maximize the use of a particular spell. For example, if a player is currently fighting in the heat of day, fire spells will have a profound effect and may even harm allies. I really appreciate this change and while XV isn’t really on my personal list of hyped titles, I do look forward to its release.
Halo Wars 2
In development by Creative Assembly and 343 Industries, fans of the first Halo Wars will finally see a continuation of the original story. Set 28 years after the original game and directly after Halo 5: Guardians, Captain James Cutter and his crew aboard the Spirit of Fire discover the Ark. They run into a Covenant Splinter faction known as “The Banished” lead by the Brute warlord Atriox and must fight for their lives in order to halt Atriox’s grand plans. Just like the first game, Halo Wars 2 is a real-time strategy game set to release for the Xbox One and Windows PC.
We can look forward to seeing new units and abilities in this iteration and judging by the CG trailer, there are a wide variety of new ways to destroy your opponent’s armies. We can’t really glean a great deal of information from trailers such as these, but the overall design of the game looks solid and hopefully it lives up to the commercial success of the first game. Microsoft released a week long beta for Halo Wars 2 and I plan on playing some of that later today. I’ll report back with more information as soon as I am able! Some features we do know about:
Players can engage in multiplayer matches with up to six players or can skirmish alone or with friends against the AI. Creative Assembly also plans on adding a Deathmatch mode that involves a “Last Person Standing” type of victory and a Stronghold and Domination mode reminiscent of Company of Heroes’ control points. A new multiplayer mode called “Blitz” is also in the works. Halo Wars 2 is set for a February 21st, 2017 release.
Ok everyone! Those are the biggest titles Microsoft showed off at E3 this year. Stay tuned for part 2 where I go over some of the new indie games set to release as well as detail the Xbox One S, Project Scorpio, and Microsoft’s new Play Anywhere concept. Thank you for reading!
Happy gaming!
-Valiant
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