My E3 '08 Game Picks

This is a list of games at E3 '08 that caught my attention. Some of them I only found slightly interesting and don't plan to buy, but anyway here is the full list of games that caught my eye:

Warning: There are quite a lot of them.

Special Note: R******* E*** 5 is not mentioned directly anywhere in this post since it was covered in the post below this one. Anyone that visits this blog regulary knows my feelings for that game.


- Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse

Trailer
Interesting Japanese Commercial Videos

It really doesn't look to be anything new, but the Wii controls might be interesting. I'm still psyched for a new Fatal Frame though!

- Dark Void

Gameplay demonstration (13 minutes!)

I really like that jetpack and the freedom it appears to give the player gameplaywise. The shooting while climbing and flying upwards looks unique too.

- Prince of Persia

Trailer
Producer Interview

Flashy gameplay and platforming, breathtaking visuals, unique partner system... this is my pick of the show. I simply love the way the trailer was put together also.

- Bionic Commando

Trailer w/gameplay

G4 showed a walkthrough of a demo for this game but I can't find it at the moment. The gameplay mechanics involving the grapple look very awesome. Can't wait to try this one out this winter.

- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

I'm not a big fan of Star Wars games at all, but this game really stunned me when I first saw it sometimes last year. The gameplay looks to incorporate a bit of Psi-Ops and God of War from what I have seen so far.

Force Powers
A whole bunch of other videos

- Dead Space

Too many videos available!

Every time I see this game it keeps looking better and better. The story appears to be interesting and the gameplay looks quite addicting, especially for a survival horror.

- Mirror's Edge

Trailer

This game is simply gorgeous both in immersiveness and style! View some more videos of it here.

- Far Cry 2

Gameplay demonstration
Trailer

The trailer doesn't look near as interesting as the actual gameplay if you ask me. The feral powers in Far Cry Instincts were the main draw to the game for me, but I have to admit that Far Cry 2 still looks like a really good single player experience. It still seems as if stealth is hard to maintain for extended periods however judging by that demo. In the first Far Cry, the enemies could see you so very easy, and it basically ruined any steal oppurtunities.

- God of War III

In the end...

there will be only chaos!

Yeah, it's only a teaser, but just the announcement of the game had me psyched during the Sony conference. At least they made mention of it this year.

- Mega Man 9

If you have not seen this in action yet then watch the trailer below before reading on.

Trailer

Honestly, only Mega Man and a few other franchises could have a game like this and get away with it. The way I see it, the game could go either way. It could be just as memorable as Mega Man 2 or 3 or it could be just another boring trudge through 8-bit Mega Man territory like Mega Man 4, 5 or 6. Even if it does turn out to be like the latter, 4, 5 and 6 were still fun to me.

- Street Fighter IV

Trailer

The gameplay looks quite awesome in this new Street Fighter, but some of the character models don't look that great from up close. I still have faith that I'll be happily enjoying it soon however.

- Sonic Unleashed

Trailer
Interview

It doesn't look bad from the previews. Were-hog Sonic though? Eh, you never know, it might actually be interesting. Hopefully this isn't just another Sonic that looks better on video that actual gameplay.

- Soul Calibur IV

Seong Mi-na vs. Nightmare Gameplay match

Sorry, had to pick a video with at least Seong Mi-na. Only about one and a half weeks left!

- Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe

No-no-no-no-no-no... don't leave my blog just yet-

Interview and Gameplay Demo

let me explain...

The idea of MK characters fighting DC characters is not very amusing to me, but I do like some of the flashy moves incorporated. Even though I feel that the characters shouldn't look like plastic dolls and they shouldn't remain so stiff in their normal stances on a next-gen system, this game sort of looks interesting, so I might try it out on launch. It might end up being another guilty pleasure for me.

- Silent Hill: Homecoming

G4 gameplay demo

In all honesty, this doesn't look anything like the Silent Hill that I usually play and that thought continues to grow as a I see more and more of this game. It incorporates tons of ideas of ideas from the movie and just doesn't look scary. The thought of having the plane shift to Otherworld in real time is really cool (much like it was in the movie) but Otherworld doesn't look near as creepy in this one. Also, I don't like the emphasis on action - looks much more like RE4. Eh, I'll probably still pick it up, but my expectations are low.

- Tomb Raider: Underworld

Developers Interview

I really don't get that excited about about a new Tomb Raider game until weeks before its launch or when I'm actually playing it. From what I've seen so far, the long underwater sequences in this game look awesome.

- Final Fantasy XIII

Trailer

I am still completely shocked that Microsoft managed to get this for a North American and Europe release. In all honesty, I probably won't like it as much as Final Fantasy XII from the looks of it, but I'll still be gladly picking it up when it releases.

- I Am Alive

Teaser/Trailer

We're not really shown anything apart from prerendered material, but the setup looks interesting here.

- Wii Remote MotionPlus

Hopefully some third party developers will make use of this within the coming months and I'd like to see if it makes the experience on any older Wii games any better. Really, I was completely disappointed with Nintendo's press conference except for this announcement. Didn't really care about the software showcasing this new enhancement either.

- Siren: Blood Curse

Trailer

This game looks to be like an absolutely fantastic survival horror game. The demo on PSN is really good but there is no sight-jacking available on that version, which I'd really like to try. I found the first Siren to have some very frustrating gameplay due to the stealth gameplay and sight-jacking but from what I have seen, this one looks to change all of that. It will be first be released on PSN next week (7/24).

- Banjo Kazooie

One of the developers announced that the original Banjo Kazooie would be released on Xbox LIVE Arcade shortly before the release of Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts. I honestly have never played the original but have always wanted to.

- Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

Gameplay Video

In all honesty, I don't really look forward to 2-D Castlevanias that much anymore. I would like another 3-D Castlevania actually. The character design looks much more stylish in this one than some of the previous handheld Castlevanias though.

- Dead Rising (Wii version)

This was not announced at E3, but I wanted to throw it in here anyway, since I'll more than likely pick it up with how much I enjoyed DR on Xbox 360. It's probably going to be toned down graphicswise somewhat for the Wii console but the Wii controls might make up for it.

THIA posted up some scans of it here and the release date is sometimes this winter.

I think it's awesome that Capcom keeps rereleasing games for the Wii (maybe not in the case of that Biohazard 0 version, but I haven't played it so I don't know what it's like). Sure they aren't very different, but I enjoy playing the game with different controls. I'm sure a bunch of Sony and Microsoft fanboys would strike me down for saying this but that game that I said that I wouldn't mention anywhere in this post is a very likely contender for a Wii release, even if it has to be watered down quite a bit for the console, and if it is released, the more the merrier. :D

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Well, that's it. Those are the games that caught my eye during E3 '08. I'm definitely not saying that I have plans to buy all of them (oh, hell no - I'm not that wealthy), but they did catch my attention in some form or another.

Resident Evil 5 at E3 '08

Release Dates

JP - March 12, 2009
EU - March 13, 2009
NA - March 13, 2009

The Three Different E3 Trailer Variations

Sheva and Guy in Humvee

The Woman(?) in the Iron Bird Beak Mask and Mysterious Woman with Syringe

The Truck

The trailers start out the same but lead into a new scene per trailer. After the opening scene it all switches to the same gameplay clips. The first is available on Xbox LIVE and the last is available on PSN. The second was shown at by Capcom themselves. THIA said that they would post up a better quality version of the PSN (Truck) trailer soon.

Official Site Updates

JP Biohazard 5 site
NA Resident Evil 5 site

More pics, icons and trailers... and one more developer scribbled wallpaper.

High Quality Pics

Capcom Press Asset Pack Pics courteousy of THIA

They're also up on Gamespot, though smaller.

Jun Takeuchi Interviews

Jun Takeuchi interview 1
Jun Takeuchi interview 2

Text Interview and Impressions + Other Stuff

IGN text interview
Gamespot text demo impressions
Kotaku - Different controls for RE5? "Gears of War"-inspired?

Full Video Walkthrough of E3 Demo

Gameplay Video 1
Gameplay Video 2
Gameplay Video 3
Gameplay Video 4
Gameplay Video 5

The demo is based on single player co-op from what I understand, so what you're seeing there is an AI controlled Sheva. I think the whole co-op gameplay whether offline or online will bring a unique feeling of tension for the player(s) while having to worry about your partner, especially since if one of you dies then the game is over for both. The offline will obviously be dependent on how well the AI is implemented but so far, I'm very happy with what I see in those gameplay videos.

I also really really enjoy how everything is in real time. Healing, weapon switching, inventory, reloading (once again), item grabbing... so very awesome. I realize it was implemented mainly for the online co-op but if you have ever played RE Outbreak then you know how much more tense the gameplay is when everything is real time... and you also know how dumb CPU partner AIs can be - hopefully that won't be the case here, which it doesn't look to be.

Epilogue

This is really just a quick rundown of the info available. There is SO much more if you look around the various gaming sites. Gametrailers has up a bunch of RE5 gameplay videos and interviews that I didn't list.

I'll have up something for my picks of other E3 games in a few days. Just had to get the RE5 stuff out of the way first.

*finally breathes* Ah, that felt good. :D