Square Enix
Square Enix’s E3 show followed on from Microsoft’s and was actually pretty solid when it came to news, despite some fans’ disappointment.
guardians of the galaxy, a new Marvel bonding game from the team behind the Deus Ex series, has gotten the longest run and looks promising. contrary to Marvel Avengers, Guardians is a solo, story-driven affair with an emphasis on decision-making and relationships.
The fall of Babylon, a long-awaited collaboration between PlatinumGames and SquareEnix, was also unveiled. Unlike the couple’s last project together, Nier: Automata, this is a game-as-a-service-only online offering, which is extremely difficult to achieve. PlatinumGames has a solid history of creating fun stuff, so we’re intrigued to check out the beta when it releases.
The first big E3 meme was “mayhem.” That is, the trailer for the Final Fantasy spin-off (deep breathing) Stranger From Heaven Final Fantasy Origin. The internet has had a lot of fun with both the protagonist’s normcore outfit and the fact that he was seemingly obsessed with repeating “chaos” over and over. To make matters worse, a demo of the new game dropped after the show, and it was … broken. Very broken. It wouldn’t be playable for almost two days, and then when it did, we were intrigued but overall not impressed. You can read UK bureau chief Mat Smith’s opinions on this experience. here.
Close the show quickly because, wow, do we have a lot to do: Life is Strange: True Colors tried to explain that empathy is definitely as cool as time travel; there are owls “pixel-perfect”Remakes of Final Fantasy I, II, III, IV, V and WE on my way; and… that was pretty much it. No Final Fantasy XVI and no sorry; no Dragon Quest, no Tomb Raider, no Deus Ex, no Just Cause, no Kingdom Hearts. No no no.
The lack of Final Fantasy XVI and sorry could potentially be due to the exclusivity of their platform. The former is a PS5 exclusive, while the latter is PS5 and PC only. This makes it a good choice for a Sony PlayStation event, which may or may not be in the near future.
Nintendo
Nintendo is still the last of the major players to host an E3 showcase, and this year has been no different. Mario + Rabbids: The Spark of Hope was obviously a known entity of the Ubisoft show, but there was still a lot to announce. (However, E3 didn’t see any new Nintendo Switch, despite various pre-show press reports insisting there would be.)
Direct’s presentation began with the usual announcement “there is a new Smash Bros. fighter.” – this time Kazuya from Tekken, which ruined our E3 by knocking Kirby down into a volcano. And came Terror Metroid, the fifth main Metroid game and very few Metroid Prime 4. Editor-in-chief Aaron Souppouris took a closer look Fear and left impressed.
The return of the classics was a bit of a theme. WarioWare: unite! is a new title in Intelligent Systems’ long line of minigames, and the first on a home console since 2013 Game and Wario on the Wii U. Another staple of smart systems is also back: Advance Wars 1 + 2 Reboot Camp is a remake of the two classic turn-based tactics Game Boy Advance, produced by WayForward Technologies, which was behind the excellent Duck Tales: Remastered.
Even if Metroid Prime 4 did not make an appearance, the long awaited sequel to Breath of the wild did it – after a few quiet Nintendo trolls. The company said it had time for “one last thing” and started showing very good Zelda Game & Watch Handheld, before finally dropping the trailer that everyone was waiting for. There wasn’t a lot of gameplay, and we still don’t know what it’s called, but the 100 second trailer had just the right mix of plot and (we think) time travel clues to blow fans off their heads. The proud “2022” release window at the end of the trailer was tempered somewhat by language after she said she was “targeting” that window. Nintendo is never shy about delaying games, so keep in mind that you might not be able to get your hands on them next year.
At the Nintendo show and elsewhere, the intriguing case of the “Cloud Version” continued. Square Enix guardians of the galaxy arrives on Switch in a cloud wrapper, just like both A story of plague: innocence and A Plague Tale: Requiem. This trend started in Japan with Resident Evil VII and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey exits, but we saw Control and Hitman 3 come west this way too. This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise: Aided somewhat by shortages elsewhere, the Switch surpasses worldwide sales of the Xbox Series and PlayStation 5 combined with an install base approaching 100 million, the Nintendo’s platform is just too big to ignore. If there is a way to introduce a game to these players, expect publishers to do so.
There have been a lot of other announcements. Exclusive switch Shin Megami Tensei V has a release date; there is a new Mario Party game, this one with online multiplayer from the start; the Life is Strange series, including True colors, arrives on Switch; and the Danganronpa games, once the PSP and Vita staples, are also on the way. Outside of Direct, OlliOlli World, the sequel to another Vita classic, is in good shape, and will arrive on Nintendo Switch this winter.
Of course, Nintendo couldn’t please everyone, and the lack of Metroid Prime 4, Bayonet 3 and Splatoon 3 was a source of some complaints after the show. Another exclusive to the Switch console, Silk Song of the Hollow Knight, was also absent, although the developers at least made it clear before E3 that this would be the case. In the case of Bayonet 3, a sufficient number of people complained to PlatinumGames founder Hideki Kamiya that he took to Twitter to clarify his thoughts. Development is going well, Kamiya said, and to suggest otherwise is “nothing but annoying pollution … which is why the guy who says” Tell me if you develop “is a human trash waiting. mouth open on the remaining conveyor belt. Beautiful.
