The LA Convention Center opened at 10am this morning, and since our first appointments didn’t start until 11, we had an hour to goof off. Tim’s phone was still functioning so I had him take pictures of me in front of the Revenant from Doom, Mr. Handy, and Vault Boy. Since we were already in the Bethesda booth area, we took a shot at one of the very few playable games that the Mighty Beth had on the floor at E3.
I’m pretty sure that Bethesda had showcased Battllecry at QuakeCon, but today I could play it with a console controller. The multiplayer demo was a domination scenario where teams would secure and protect three points on the map. Character classes range from the Brawler and Enforcer melee types, Archer and Gadgeteer ranged types, and a sneaky stealth type.The animation style is cartoony, but the combat was tight and fast. I played the sword-wielding Enforcer, and was the bedrock that held up the rest of the team. Tim’s eagerness to disassociate himself from the loud Texan played against him this round as his team was mercilessly pounded in a devastating loss.
I made my way to the Activision booth for a little face time with the new Call of Duty: Black Ops III multiplayer demo. I was surprised that there were a few new character types. I played as a lightly armored stealth type with a suppressed assault rifle and rocket launcher secondary. Her armor included a hood and she reminded me a lot of the Hunter from Destiny. The first match was a team vs team deathmatch in an urban environment. The second was a hardpoint match where teams had to secure and protect a single area on the map, but that point did not remain in one place. This was in a shitty office building in a slum area. The last match was Domination in an area that reminded me of a park. There was a cave, a small waterfall, and a few buildings that look like they were made of straw or grass...maybe it was in Africa or something: I don’t know. I do know that I was able to swim underwater and perch on a rock in that waterfall and shoot the shit out of anyone trying to hold the area below me. Like the Destiny demo, the game was played on PS controllers so it was a little weird but not unplayable. It looks like another solid COD game to me.
I have never played a music game before in my life, despite being a lifelong fan of metal. My introduction to Guitar Hero happened today on a stage in front of hundreds of convention goers: not the quiet private demo I was hoping for. Guitar Hero Live has done away with the cartoonish band from previous entries and instead utilizes real band people and live audiences who react to your performance: cheering when the player performs well and booing the shit out of stage failures. My handler was aware of the fact that I have never played a Guitar Hero game before, and set me up with an easy Fallout Boy song to perform. Despite my unfamiliarity with the material, I caught on very quickly. Vets needn’t worry: the new guitar peripheral allows for more complex playing and player can grow into the more complicated songs as their skills grow. I can see the appeal in the series after only one song.
I made my way through my adoring fans to catch my Deep Silver appointment with Mighty No. 9. This is a Kickstarter funded continuation of the Mega-Man series, but without the Mega-Man name. The Blue Bomber is still up to his old tricks and has a wild array of weaponry to use on his robotic foes. If the previous games are any indication, these weapons were salvaged from vanquished foes. Mighty No. 9 is a side scrolling shooter/platformer. Despite having a handler present for a portion of the demo, I found some of the controls to be a little counterintuitive and I felt that some of the weapons took longer to access than they should have, but maybe that’s the way it’s supposed to be: it’s been awhile since my last Mega-Man game.
We saved the best for last, and the folks at Wargaming were certainly the most interesting meeting of the day. We were introduced to their newest project: Master of Orion. This was an older turn-based space exploration series that Wargaming has acquired and is rebooting. The game is still turn-based and players can choose from twelve different space races to represent. Scoring is handled very similar to Civ Rev. Winning conditions can be financial, technological, or you could just kick the shit out of everyone in a domination situation. Wargaming, as usual, is focusing on PC first, but did not dismiss the possibility of console versions to come later.
World of Tanks is getting an XB1 version mid July, but the beta will hit a couple of weeks before the full launch (weekend of July 11th), with beta participants getting a rare tank in their arsenal as a thank you. World of Tanks will be a true cross-platformer, and XB1 players will be able to play their friends still playing on the 360. Naturally the XB1 version is superior in graphics, physics, and environmental destructibility. This game, as with the 360 version, will be free to play.
World of Warships is getting ready to depart its closed beta and launch on the PC as a full game, and it looks cool as shit. One of the game vids showed torpedoes being shot from a ship over the deck and into the water. Flags can be acquired from completing objectives and consumed as boosts for a limited time: the rarer the flag, the bigger the boost. The dev team gave us a live demo of the game, and hunting down battleships and carriers has to be one of the coolest game concepts ever: eat your heart out Black Flag. This one, like World of Tanks, is set in WWII, so expect a lot of naval warfare with Japanese ships of the day. Keep your eyes peeled for Kamikazes! If you are up for it, there is an open beta planned for the end of June.
