E3...the Complete Review.
May 17 '00
Once again, good ol' Los Angeles has played Mecca to thousands of flocking gamers and game developers as E3 descended upon us all once again this past weekend. While the show was devoid of anything big to really write home about, there were a few gems in the crop, and some definite winners and losers. Not as much free stuff given out this year, either, which was a total letdown. But if you aren't going to read any farther into my review, here's how the next year is going to shape up for the major competitors, based on the titles they were showing off:
PSX 2
PC
Dreamcast/PSX
Nintendo 64/Game Boy
The 2-4 positions are remarkably closely packed. Pretty much, if you have any of the top 4 platforms, you'll have something to be happy about in the near future. As far as the Nintendo 64 users, unless you really like Pokemon, life sucks for you. There's a new Zelda game, but it's nowhere near as groundbreaking as the first one was...although there looks to be a different cast of characters.
Here's an in-depth breakdown of the performers, in order of impressiveness:
PSX2
The show stealer. Not because of what was at their booth, either. The most impressive PSX2 games were nowhere to be found in Sony's area, you had to go straight to the developers to get a look at these. By far and away, if you ask anyone what game looks the best at E3, the answer you'll get from almost all of them will be Metal Gear Solid 2. I didn't like the first game, but the second one is just...breathtaking. It picks up where the first one left off, you as Solid Snake. Revolver Ocelot and Liquid Snake make appearances as well, but I don't know much more about it, and the horribly translated product guide is no help either. The game was shown via a huge display screen, and what was most impressive was that they showed no CG...only gameplay...and you couldn't tell. Also making jaws drop at the Konami booth was a mech-combat game called "Zone of the Enders" which has the artist from Gundam X onboard. If you're trying to imagine this game, think Macross in CG. That's what this game looked like fromthe screens shown. I'm unsure as to what was gameplay, and what was CG...but it blew me away.
In the strategy realm, KOEI's Kessen looked absolutely amazing. I'm a big fan of strategy games, and this is what I imagine I'd make my ultimate game like. They had playable versions of this at the KOEI booth, but I found it all too late into the last day of the show. Also from KOEI, Dynasty Warriors 2 is equaly impressive. Part strategy, mostly real-time combat, it's you in the midst of a huge army brawl. I was watching one gamer play, and he was spinning with a yari (long spear) in the midst of 15-20 enemies. An epic battle game. I can hardly wait.
Squaresoft was not to be outdone either. They showed off a title called, "The Bouncer" outside the booth through a series of CG only screens, and inside the theater were some of the battle sequences. Very cool. Armored Core for the PSX2 also looked very sweet if you're into giant robot games, which, as it turns out, I am.
GT2000 looked nice, as did Tekken Tag Team Tournament, but if you're like me, you're starting to grow weary of these titles and their various incarnations. The PSX2 definitely had more to show off at E3 than anyone else did. It uses the same basic controller as the original PS, so if you've adapted, you won't have any need to convert over to some retarded carpal tunnel syndrome inducing analog/digital controller. All in all, this is the console to have, come December of this year.
PC
There weren't a lot of "WHOA!" titles for the PC, but there were a lot of definite purchases. Leading the list is Warcraft 3 from Blizzard. They're going less on the resource management side of things, and more on the beating people down side. I'm looking forward to this, especially since one of my old co-workers is now working there. =) On the other hand, Diablo 2, despite all its hype looks a whole lot like Diablo 1. Sure, you've got more towns...but does that mean more gameplay? We'll find out.
X-Com is back in a big way at this year's E3. They were showing off a new first-person shooter/strategy game. Apparently, your teammates will have different skills, so you'll need to keep them alive for optimal mission results. Star Trek was all over the convention floor. It looks like there will be something like 4 new Star Trek games. ST: Away Team, Bridge Commander, Elite Force, and one I forgot. Away Team is a squad combat game in the Fallout/X-Com vein. Elite Force is a first person shooter that has you taking down the Borg first person style, and Bridge Commander was a space shooter.
Sadly, for me, no showing of Team Fortress 2. I was really excited about TF2 from last E3, but no love from the guys this year. Squaresoft also showed off a PC preview in their theater, via some really lame live action skit involving 3 actors. Apparently FFXI will be online, and they envision you being able to play from home, in an arcade, and use your saves to jump in and form parties. Could be cool, could be utterly lame...remains to be seen.
Tribes 2 looked nice, nothing strikingly new, but the graphics looked pimpin'. I might have been able to tell you what gameplay was like, but the jerk hogging the machine wouldn't leave, and he had no game, either, so I'll never know. Maybe if he'd stayed alive more than 10 seconds...before having to respawn. Like I said, nothing really super cool, but enough to make you glad you tripped out your PC.
Dreamcast
This is 3rd only because of alphabetical order. Sega did a lot to make sure you were aware of their games. They had a huge stage that would be occupied with rollerbladers, dancers, and one really loud and annoying female MC. It was good they grabbed your attention with live people though, because the games they were hyping up were utterly lame. Space Channel 5 (Which had dancers in skirts on 30 foot raised platforms...directly above the crowd...you do the math.) is a game that is basically a rip-off of Bust-A-Move. You take control of ULaLa and you have to execute a sequence of dance moves you're given through audio cues. Lame. Jet Set Radio was the other game they were trying to hype via the stage, and that one was abysmal, too. The premise: You're part of a blading, tagging crew. You have to escape from The Man. (No, you're not "Working Undercover" for him, either.)
Some of the DC games did look nice, though. ESPN made a strong showing to save Sega from itself. They're making a bunch of new sports games based on their TV shows. Expect to see NBA 2night, and crew sometime soon. Virtua Tennis looked good, too, which is great because there haven't been any cool tennis games ANYWHERE for far too long.
The highlight of the Sega booth for me was "Samba De Amigo". It's the latest in a long line of games designed to make you pay money for humiliating yourself. The premise for your self-effacing hinges upon maracas this time. You've got to shake your individual maracas at any of 3 different heights depending on the cues given to you. At random times in the song you will be prompted to POSE! and you have to do the pose on the screen. Highly amusing, and the chicks dig it.
Capcom's "Onimusha" looked kinda nifty, although I'm sure it's not my thing. A lot of Sega RPGs were showcasing these great looking FMVs of their games, and then you'd get around to see gameplay and your heart would sink. Sigh...some people never learn.
Playstation
The original PS holds ground with the DC. Good thing there's no home-court advantage at E3, eh? It had its share of lame games, either wrestling or UFC related, or just utterly inexplicable, like Super Magnetic Neo. Games like that make a gamer cry. Squaresoft, as usual, was the Sony flagship, which was showing off Chrono Chross and Parasite Eve 2, both of which are necessary additions to any gamers libraries. They showed a glimpse off FF9 in the theater which looks as if the Square guys have pretty much maxed out how impressive the PS gets. Vagrant Story, Threads of Fate, and Legend of Mana were there too. Good, but not great. For some reason, not too many games on the PS stood out my mind...maybe it's because they blurred with all of the PSX2 games. But just about as much on the PS impressed me as stuff on the Dreamcast impressed me, which is to say, nothing jaw-dropping, but plenty to keep my drive spinning. In addition, most of the Sony stuff was focused on promoting the PS2, so no big stage for the PS like the DC got.
Nintendo
Bringing up the rear in a BIG way is the N64. Solidly establishing the bottom of the barrel, they didn't even have anything about the Dolphin, apparently feeling smug enough to trot out Pokemon Vs. Your Mom, or whatever the heck the next iteration of the game is. Apparently, their new big thing is having you talk to your Pokemon. Their next Pokemon non-game has you telling your Pikachu what to do via a microphone connected to your controller. The only good thing about the Nintendo booth was that they gave me a "Cool Porygon" card that I promptly put up on ebay to sell! It's at $20 right now! The Nintendo people said that they weren't showing much, but it was quality. Hmm...is that why the Turok 3 station was entirely empty? Oh yeah, there's a new Zelda game. Woo. It looks nearly entirely the same as the last game. There's nothing on the N64 at this E3 that you could take back in time 2 years and impress people with. That really says something about a system when the games from launch until 2 years in are of equal quality. Kirby 64, Paper Mario, sure they'll sell, N64 owners need something to play, but there's nothing good out there. If you're looking to auction off your N64...wait until just after they announce the new Zelda will go on sale, then try and find a sucker.
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Member: Clayton Chan
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