While both Sony and Microsoft showed off new hardware at the 2013 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles last week, this year's show was really all about the software. Game selection (or the lack thereof) can make or break a video game platform. Both Microsoft's Xbox One, which will arrive in stores in November for $499, and Sony's PlayStation 4, which is also expected before the end of the year for $399, will feature numerous audio/video streaming and entertainment options, but these are really just "nice to have" features. If a gamer's favorite game isn't available on a particular console, then it's of little more use than a boat anchor.
As the showings at E3 proved, the latest consoles from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony are still gaming systems first and foremost. Video games have long offered a cinematic experience, but these powerful new systems are truly able to take this to a new level. What this means is that the games look and sound better than ever, with more fluid and seamless interaction. They can also become as much reference content for a home theater system as anything you'll find on Blu-ray.
Here is a look at our picks for the games shown at E3 2013 that offer that Big Picture, Big Sound experience:
We've seen the Assassin's Creed franchise take players from the Holy Land during the Crusades to the Rennaissance in Italy and even to the American Revolution. Now the franchise is going back in history just a bit to the age of pirates. The experience is always epic and this one is no exception.
This game, which offers an historical setting, will take the approach of past episodes in the franchise: the game's period story stems from the collective memories of the lead character's ancestors, stored within his DNA. Thus it is playing a game of relived memories, but either way it is a thrilling ride start to finish. This time it involves reliving the experiences of Assassin Edward Kenway, a notorious pirate and privateer who seems a bit like Edward Teach aka Blackbeard. The game builds on the naval combat of Assasin's Creed III and thus allows players to engage in combat throughout the Caribbean. What we do expect is that this wont be a Disney version of pirates!
This series has always successfully mixed extended cutscenes and cinematic sequences to build on the story. It is as much about watching the Metal Gear Solid game unfold as actually getting to play it. And from what Konami showed at E3 this is only going to look/play even better than its predecessors. This title will feature photorealistic visual quality with seamless integration of gameplay and cut scenes.
Phantom Pain will further introduce a new open-world game design featuring real-time weather, realistic passage of time and a variety of ways to navigate the vast new environments within the game. This time Kiefer Sutherland will provide the voice of Snake, the game's protagonist and seemingly indestructible hero with a bad haircut.
While we're awaiting (dreading) a fourth installment in the Mad Max/Road Warrior film franchise, Warner Bros. will roll out a game version of the original cult classic Mad Max, which is being developed by Avalanche. The game will reportedly feature a dynamic, open-world gameplay. This sounds a lot like Grand Theft Auto: Wasteland, but promises to be so much more.
In the trailer shown during Sony's press conference Max opts not to shoot a dying man begging for mercy as the Road Warrior is down to his last shotgun shell. Instead he pulls away in his V8 Interceptor and appears to run over the man instead. The waste land has been harsh to Max it seems, and this game looks quite impressive. This will certainly be one to watch.
While the Xbox One will cost $100 more than the PlayStation 4, this could be one reason to spend that extra money. This launch title puts players in the Roman Legion in the era of the late Roman Republic, where you take the role of a Roman general named Marius Titus. And this guy isn't the sort of general to lead from the hilltop. Instead you don't so much as command but participate in the vanguard with your troops.
We don't know much about the storyline, but we can tell this game seems to be more historically based, with no signs of vengeful gods or other fantastical elements that could detract from the setting. In other words, we expect good old military conquest, Roman style. This third-person hack em up has you issuing orders while also engaging in very close combat. You direct the troops and yet still get down and dirty. With detailed graphics and action that borders on overkill, Ryse: Son of Rome appears to be a game that requires a next generation console for best effect. While no PC version has yet been announced, we can hope.
In many ways this one takes it back to where it all began. The original Castle Wolfenstein 3D -- a quasi-sequel to the side scrolling platform game -- practically invented the first-person shooter genre. The series has had some ups and downs, but this one looks like it has great potential. This time, Wolfenstein ventures into alternate history with the game set in a version of the 1960s where the Nazis won World War II.
After everything the protagonist William B.J. Blazkowicz did to stop the Nazis, they still won the war, but that's too bad for them because he's back with a vengeance. The game is set in Europe and will focus solely on a single-player experience as Blazkowicz must battle countless baddies, take control of various super weapons and basically dish out some over-the-top mayhem that might make the Nazis wish they had lost the war instead!
The Order: 1886 (PS4; Sony)
If Ryse: Son of Rome is the reason to consider an Xbox One, then The Order: 1886 could be the reason to pick up a PS4. This alternate history action game is set in a Victorian-era London where technology is advancing rapidly in an effort to ensure mankind's survival.
Players take the role of a knight of an ancient order and use a variety of steampunk era technologies to battle an insidious threat all while dealing with Victorian social norms. While we dont know much more, it is nice to see a period action game and this one is shaping up to be jolly good indeed!
Bungie made a name for itself developing Halo for the original Xbox. Actually Bungie first started out developing Halo for the Mac and PC, but then Microsoft scored a serious exclusivity dea that helped to build a base for its burgeoning gaming platform. Now Bungie has moved past the world of Halo and Master Chief to the world of Destiny and if this is mankind's destiny then that isn't so good.
In this game, after reaching out to the stars and colonizing planets, humanity finds itself fighting for its very survival against an invading alien horde. As a Guardian of the City, working from a last stronghold in Russia, the player(s) must investigate and destroy the alien threat before our species is completely annihilated. Nothing like high stakes to get the juices flowing.
This game began life as a multiplayer zombie-themed mod with user-made content for the game Arma, and it was so successful that Bohemia Interactive opted to release it as a stand-alone MMPG (massively multiplayer online game). In this one an unknown virus has turned most of the population of the fictional former Soviet state of Chemarus into the walking dead and, as a survivor, the player must scavenge the world to find essentials such as food, water, weapons and medicine.
What makes this game unique is that it isn't just about fighting massive hordes of monsters and then running to complete safety. The only safety you have is what you make, and it can be tenuous at best. In this game, the threat from other human players is as much an issue as the non-player zombies. In other words this one could have everything that the official The Walking Dead game failed to deliver, and could show that maybe the best course of action in a real zombie apocalypse would be to take the bullet train out of town.
Last year The Walt Disney Company bought all things George Lucas - with the exception of the man - it meant that LucasArts wouldn't continue as its own publisher and instead the games would be licensed to other developers. As LucasArts had worked with Electronic Arts in the past it seemed like a natural fit that the two would work to bring out a reboot of Star Wars: Battlefront. The game was originally released in 2005 to coincide with the release of the movie, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
This first-person/third-person shooter is now being developed by EA DICE, the company behind the successful Battlefield series. This means epic battles in the universe of Star Wars, where players can fly a Tie Fighter, drive a speeder bike or command an AT-AT; and then wield a lightsaber and blast away with... well a blaster! Let's hope there are Ewoks, lots and lots of Ewoks and those droids from the prequels (and perhaps a Jar Jar Binks we can use for target practice?).
Tom Clancy's The Division (PS4/Xbox One Ubisoft)
While many of the games on this list are available across different platform generationss, Tom Clancy's The Division is that sort of game that requires the power of the next generation. It is set in a post-apocalyptic New York City. As a Division agent the player is there to restore order and that isn't easy as it is truly a world gone wild.
The Division offers a truly open-world setting, and combines third-party action elements with role-playing. This one can be solo but the real fun is in playing with friends - especially as it is good to have someone watching your back. What makes this one so compelling, and so disturbing, is that it is based on real initiatives put in place post-9/11. This is what the end of the world could look like and it isn't pretty, but it should make a great game because it is indeed only a game.
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