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'Doom Eternal' is guns, gore and sophistication
The 2016 remake of Doom reinvigorated the series. It added new gameplay quirks and systems that rewarded your aggression as humanity's savior, the slayer. Depending on how you maneuvered and ended the lives of demons and other threats, you'd pick up health or ammunition. Doom (2016) made you a far more active hunter -- it was not a game where you could hide and wait out your enemies. So when it came to the sequel, Doom Eternal, the challenge was to build on this bold new play style. This has meant a lot of changes aimed at ramping up the urgency and franticness even further.
‘Shenmue 3’ is more Shenmue, for better and worse
"Is this what I wanted?" I must have asked myself this question three, four, possibly five times during my 15-minute demo of Shenmue 3. The experience, to be clear, was definitively and unashamedly Shenmue. I steered the series' protagonist, Ryo Hazuki, around a beautifully-crafted village filled with charming villagers and side-activities. I talked to people. I played a game of Lucky Hit, the notoriously tricky gambling game from Shenmue 2. I bought some colorful "gacha" toys from a capsule machine. I even practiced my martial arts at a nearby dojo. But I wasn't happy.
Where ‘The Outer Worlds' gets its sense of humor
In The Outer Worlds, there are specially bred swine called "cystypigs." You find them in a factory farm near Fallbrook, a smuggler's town on a distant planet. Maybe you climbed through the sewers and emerged face to ass with one, or entered through the front door for a sweeping view of their pens. But there they are: swine coated in bulbous, meaty tumors that swell up, drop off and are ground and canned to be sold commercially as "boarst wurst." As one in-game ad says: "You haven't tried the worst until you've tried boarst wurst." Megan Starks was part of the team that authored this sick scenario. A senior narrative designer who holds an MFA in creative writing, she pens plot-lines, dialogue, characters and even item descriptions at Obsidian Entertainment. After writing for dense RPGs like Tyranny and Pillars of Eternity II, she's now working on the developer's latest ambitious universe, set in a hyper-capitalist dystopia run by competing corporations. You'll roam frontier space colonies covered in wild flora and fungi as well as wilder humans. It lands October 25th on PS4, Xbox One and PC.
‘Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order’ is a delicate balance of light and dark
"Are you sure you want to plug into this thing?" Cal Kestis, a Jedi Padawan asks nervously. His partner, an adorable droid called BD-1, bleeps confidently and plugs into a nearby computer panel. Immediately, the enormous 'cutter' drill starts burrowing through the wicked Empire's base. The machine's movement reveals a secret passageway which Kestic then rushes toward enthusiastically. "That's why you wanted to move this thing," he exclaims. BD-1 boops again. "You had no idea that was there, did you?" Kestis chuckles wearily. "You just wanted to turn that cutter on."
I’m worried about this ‘Marvel’s Avengers’ game
When Square Enix finally unveiled its big Avengers project, the reception was mixed, to put it politely. While Marvel's Avengers looked appropriately triple-A, all the familiar Avenger heroes looked a little too unfamiliar. The developers have gone for relatively realistic character designs. Unfortunately for them, we've seen truly "realistic" Avengers already, courtesy of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). This means that the in-game Avengers lineup looks more like a group of cosplayers acting out their fantasies. It also wasn't entirely clear from the initial trailer exactly what kind of game Marvel's Avengers will be. Behind closed doors at E3, however, the team walked me through a gameplay demo that demonstrated what Marvel's Avengers is. If you're expecting cinematic set pieces, superhero quips, fluid combat and plenty of goons to punch and blast, you'll get all of that. But why am I still so worried about this game?
'Control' is nearly a fantastic supernatural action game
Control comes out on August 27th. That gives developers at Remedy Entertainment less than 80 days to spit-shine their code before the whole thing goes live on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and the Epic Games Store. Control is nearly there: An hour-long slice of the game, not a tailor-made demo, is playable at E3 2019 and it's a stylish, eerie, action-packed experience. However, it feels a little rough around the edges.
How 'Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey' wants to simulate evolution
One challenge with creating a game about the arc of human evolution is that the subject matter is almost limitlessly broad. With Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, creator Patrice Désilets is narrowing the time period down to between 10 million to 2 million BC. And boiling down the challenge to this: "Basically, I'm asking players the question: Hey homosapiens, think you're smart? Think you're the top? Can you survive like our ancestors did?"
'Journey to the Savage Planet' is surprisingly relaxing
When I first heard the name 'Journey to the Savage Planet,' I tensed up. I've played tons of space exploration games that put a heavy emphasis on survival. They're brilliantly tense affairs, but I wasn't sure that my sleep-deprived body and mind were ready for that kind of onslaught at E3. Thankfully, the first title by Typhoon Studios is nothing of the sort. In fact, it's the complete opposite -- a relaxing and consistently funny adventure that's perfect for people who don't want to feel stressed out.
'Final Fantasy VII Remake' feels ambitious and different
After a long wait, and three trailers in the last month, Final Fantasy VII Remaster was in playable form at E3. The early, 15-minute demo answers a lot of my questions and concerns regarding the remake's battle system and game dynamics — suddenly all that talk of active time battle gauges, abilities, staggering and player switching made much more sense. Square Enix laid up the demo in a smart fashion, kicking things off with a video to explain how the aforementioned combat system, all led by one of the game's minor characters. FF7R attempts to straddle the sudden battle dynamics of Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy XV and the slower paced menu-led "active time battle" system of earlier FF games and the original FF7. I was a little confused by Square Enix's explanation during its E3 showcase last night. The system seemed overly complicated; as if I would be pressing several buttons nearly all the time. Yes, it's more involved than the game it's based on, but once you get down to it, it begins to work together pretty well.
Gooigi is the best part of ‘Luigi’s Mansion 3’
It's been a long time since Luigi, the brother of Mario, last starred in a ghost-busting adventure. Too long, in fact -- Luigi's Mansion 2, better known as Dark Moon, came out more than six years ago on the Nintendo 3DS. In 2019, I was worried that its sequel, Luigi's Mansion 3, would offer little more than a visual overhaul for Switch owners. A charming adventure, but one that leant on the same puzzle solving and ghost-battling mechanics as its predecessor. Well, I'm happy to report that these fears were completely misplaced. Based on a short demo, I can already tell that Nintendo has plenty of fresh ideas to reinvigorate the series' formula.
