After a rather lengthy video
highlighting the many new games we can look forward to, on both the PS3 and
Vita, Jack Trenton enters the stage. President and CEO of Sony Computer
Entertainment America I actually recognise Jack from last year, whilst I’ve already
forgotten the presenters of Microsoft’s conference this year. Charismatic as
always he starts things off by saying how important E3 is, and pays tribute to
the gamers, before complementing his boss, Sony President Kaz Hirai.
Next David Cage offers us the
first look at Quantic Dreams latest game since their highly successful release
back n 2010, Heavy Rain. Titled Beyond: Two Soul, the game stars Ellen
Page as the main character of Jody Holmes, and has something to do with a ghost
named Ivan. The video shows off more of the plot than game play, but Quantic
Dreams games are more like movies than games, opening with Jody in a police
station having been found on the side of a road with no I.D. After her possible
psychic powers fling a cup at a wall a SWAT team shows up and we cut to
different action sequences, including some fun on top of a moving train, as
presumably the player must escape capture. Looks good, but I’d rather watch it
than play it I think, and others have already noted the possibility of one
giant quick time event.
A very strong start to the
conference, which helps since the next game isn’t the most original. We get a
live demo of PlayStation’s Super Smash
Bros clone, PlayStation All-Stars
Battle Royale. There’s nothing to say about this game that you can’t guess,
assorted PlayStation exclusive characters, including the newly announced Nathan
Drake and Big Daddy (exclusive?), battle it out in tiny maps with their own
unique weaponry and power ups, such as Sweet Tooth’s robotic walker. The map
shown in the demo changed a few times through the level, and half way through
three headed sea monster from God of War
made an appearance. The game will also have cross-play compatibility with the
Vita.
Trenton returns for some PSN
updates, including some LittleBigPlanet 2 DLC that allows the Vita to be used as
a controller for the game, but unfortunately this isn’t shown off. More great
games are coming to the PlayStation store as well, mostly due to indie
developers, and the addition of PS1 games to the Vita. PlayStation Plus gets a
quick plug, and the audience get a year’s free access pass, and more content providers
are announced for media streaming; Amazon, facebook, huluplus. Also the Vita
gets a Call of Duty exclusive, Call of
Duty: Black Ops: Declassified, though annoyingly we get no demo seeing as
the game was announced last year.
What we do see though is some
footage from the Vita’s Assassin’s Creed
game, Liberation, where for the first
time you play as a female assassin in New Orleans, and as always connecting to
the PS3 unlocks bonus content. This segways nicely into some Assassins Creed 3 footage, as naval warfare
is added to the game. You have a great deal of control over your ship, being
able to walk about it as the character, or take the wheel for sailing. Why
Ubisoft didn’t save this for their conference I don’t know, but as the seas
turn choppy this is the coolest thing I’ve seen so far. Both games are
available as a console bundle, with exclusive content; a memory card for the
Vita, and DLC for the PS3.
To be honest I didn’t pay any
attention to the Far Cry 3
multiplayer demo, FPSs normally have multiplayer as standard anyways and this looks
no different other than being set in the Far
Cry world. It looked ok though, plus there’s more exclusive DLC, and fans
of the franchise shouldn’t be disappointed.
PlayStation move gets a quick
mention, and apparently there are over 250 titles compatible with the move
controllers, with the latest title demonstrated for us. With Wonderbook augmented reality is back
again, this time in the form of interactive books, which doesn’t sound that
appealing until they announce who the first title, Book of Spells, made with the help of Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling. Aimed at kids it’s odd that adults
are playing today, with the move controller acting as a magic wand in
conjunction with an actual book (though most likely covered in barcodes). The
basic game play element sees the player draw a symbol in the air to activate a particular
spell, then flicking the controller to use it; in the demo fire is used to kill
bugs. They finish off by mentioning Rowling again, and again, before showing a
quote from her on the project. Microsoft hired Usher to sing and dance, Sony
can’t even get a short video of the author, disappointing.
Next we’re reminded about
PlayStation suit, which now has an open beta allowing developers to make certified
games for mobile phones and tablets, including HTC who have now partnered with
Sony. Too technical for me, but it’s been renamed PlayStation Mobile.
God of War Ascension arrives next, but gain there’s little point in
talking about this, as it looks like all the other games in the franchise, epic
if not stale. But it is worth mentioning a new ability of Kratos, he can now control
time. After a sea monster throws a ship into a dock the God partially repairs
the damage, leaving some parts suspended mid air, allowing him to climb further
up the terrain. Later when attacked by goat people he seemingly slows down
their attack, surrounding them in a green glow. Everything else is pretty
standard for the franchise, but Kratos does fight an elephant man, which was
pretty cool, and the demo ends with him jumping into the mouth of the sea
monster, blades at the ready.
The final game of the conference is survival game The Last of Us, which at one point was rumoured to star Ellen Page. What strikes you first is the graphics, if this wasn’t
a live demo you would think it was a just a cut scene, though when the characters
enter a building some of the vibrancy is lost, and the decor is a little bland.
Combat looks impressive, but influenced by Heavy
Rain as enemies sneak up on you with pipes, and react to your lack of ammo (though
no quick time indicators appeared on screen). Another demo ends with an action
cut as you shot gun a guy in the face, but from what we’ve seen the story will rarely
be broken up by extended combat sections as both the main characters and foes
faced share banter.
Jack Trenton makes one last speech
and thanks everyone for coming, and I thank anyone who bothered to read this
blog post today.
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