After Microsoft's mediocre showing, it was Sony's turn to flex their muscle, was there enough to impress gamers across the globe?
As usual, Sony started off with the usual thank you to PlayStation fans, and then pushed ahead with the unveiling of Quantic Dream's (Heavy Rain Producers)new IP, entitled Beyond: Two Souls. Beyond looked impressive with great visuals and a great lead character in Jodie Holmes. Her face was almost instantly recognisable as the character is played by Ellen Page. A big scoop by Quantic Dream and a blow to Naughty Dog as will be discussed further along this article. A cut scene showing Holmes being interrogated by Policeman and then showing her using telekinetic powers by moving a coffee cup and smashing it against the wall. Nothing was given away in terms of gameplay, will it have the same gameplay style as Heavy Rain? Quantic Dream's head David Cage promises that this will be the first time in a video game that you will be "living the life of the character". What does that mean? Will it be as immersive as Heavy Rain was?
Things then got a little less serious, moving onto PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. For those in the unknown, this is Sony's version of Nintendo's highly successful hit, Super Smash Bros, which pit many of Sony's famous faces into one game to slug it out. Characters such as Kratos and Sly Cooper from PlayStation's history are in there, while two more characters were announced at the conference, in the forms of Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series and Big Daddy from Bioshock. Sony also showed off the cross platform capability of the PS3 and PS Vita, allowing PS3 players to play with PS Vita owners and vice versa.
Speaking of the PS Vita, Sony decided to leave the Vita out of the spotlight with only brief mentions of cross platform play, announcement of indie games and a new Assassins Creed bundle. The big announcement from the Vita being a new Call of Duty game in the form of Black Ops:Declassified.
Playstation Move did not get left out, with the unveiling of Wonderbook. Wonderbook utilises AR technology by bringing books to life. Working with many authors across the world, Sony claimed that Wonderbook will reinvent story books. A collaboration with the one of the most popular; JK Rowling is not a bad opening statement for Wonderbook with the Rowling's first book "Book of Spells" to be the first title for the Wonderbook. A demo on stage showed being able to learn and cast spells in front of their TVs and see them come to life.
Sony ended strongly by showing off two of their biggest upcoming titles, first up was God of War: Ascension. Ascension will be a prequel to the first three games. The demo shown had great visuals and as expected from God of War games, massive action sequences and even bigger bosses. With a March 2013 release date, it looks like Sony has a massive hit already planned for the next year.
Ending the show was the highlight from last year's conference, The Last of Us. From Naughty Dog the creators of the Uncharted series, The Last of Us follows Joel and Ellie, two survivors of an as yet unknown apocalypse which destroys Pittsburgh. As mentioned earlier in the article, Naughty Dog has changed the look of their main character. Although Naughty Dog deny that it is because Ellen Page's likeness is being used by Quantic Dream and that they wanted the character to look like the actress who was playing Ellie instead. hmmmm... As with all the games on show in the Sony conference, visuals were superb and Uncharted style game play was prominent, but the violence on this was raised to the max. The game has a very gritty and hardcore style to it which is the main difference from Uncharted, with graphic scenes like the man being shot with a shotgun and an enemy being set on fire with a Molotov showed a move away from the Uncharted tone.
Unlike Microsoft, Sony did not dwell on non-gaming issues. Much emphasis was placed on what was going to appeal to the people watch the conference, the games. Games are what keep people at E3 on their toes and excited. But the severe lack of Vita coverage was disappointing and could be reflecting the lack of success it has had so far in its short life.
The same can not be said about the PS3, with great games like The Last of Us, Beyond:Two Souls and God of War coming soon it could be a great year for PlayStation fans and a fairly successful E3 for the Japanese technology giants.
Next up will be my analysis of Nintendo's E3 showing. With much riding on the Wii U, will it deliver or will it leave gamers disappointed?
Feel free to leave comments below!
No comments:
Post a Comment