Microsoft Press Conference – E3 2014

Here’s a run down of the big announcements from Microsoft at E3 2014.

Call of Duty: Advance Warfare

Microsoft started off with one of the staples people expect at a Microsoft presser, the new Call of Duty. And of course it started with something going wrong, explosions, and the protagonist’s vision going blurry.

So it’s basically the same thing as last year.

You now have rockets in your boots to slow your descent when falling and provide a double jump, your allies drop in large bods, and there’s a battle mech walking around. Are we sure this isn’t Call of Duty: Titanfall?

Drones are swarming about and it looks really cool, especially if you’ve researched swarm theory.

Other than that, it’s just a standard Call of Duty.

Assassin’s Creed Unity

Assassin’s Creed Unity takes place during the French Revolution. Before today, that’s about all we knew about the game. We still know very little about the story, but huge new feature was revealed at the Microsoft presser – four player co op. That’s right, you and three friends/strangers can take control of a group of assassins to take down targets as a group. You can easily tell your assassin friends by the icons over their heads, and it seems like a fresh opportunity to have a fun, group experience with Assassin’s Creed without having to kill each other.

Of course, that is if your friends are intelligent enough to not ruin it for you (not likely).

Sunset Overdrive

And just when you thought new life couldn’t be breathed into much more, Sunset Overdrive comes in and skewers modern warfare games while delivering fun, cartoony gameplay all at the same time. In this game, you take control of one of the last surviving humans after a disastrous energy drink transforms millions into monsters. You’ll be fighting off bandits and hoards of monsters while grinding on rails, bouncing off roofs, and looking good while you do it.

Remember how fresh TF2 felt when it was first introduced ten years ago? Think that and you’re on the right path. Though the movement looks a little slower than I’d like and it seems nowhere near close to done, it looks interesting enough to keep a close eye on.

Dead Rising DLC

Though there isn’t much to tell here, I just thought this was hilarious. The new Dead Rising DLC allows you to take control of all the Dead Rising protags who cosplay as other characters doing arcade-style minigames. The name of the DLC?

Super Ultra Dead Rising 3 Arcade Remix Hyper Edition EX Plus Alpha.

Glad to see a self-referential skewer at their money grab expansions.

Fable Legends

A new Fable game is coming and it seems to be abandoning the narrative structure of previous entries. This time, instead of building a character from the ground up, you’ll take control of one of four heroes that are questing together. You can also play as a “dungeon master” type character who throws monsters and traps at the adventurers. It’s a wild departure from the traditional structure, but it looks interesting. Think Dungeonland, but expanded.

Project Spark

Project Spark showed off a plethora of creators and worlds. Nothing terribly new, except that they’re adding space stuff and Conker from Conker’s Bad Fur Day, which is bittersweet. Why not just a new game instead of making him promote another title out of nowhere? Bleh.

Ori and the Blind Forest

Child of Light enchanted gamers with its visuals and this game looks to follow in step with that. Looks like two creature friends who meet by chance and help each other out, so maybe a platformer/puzzle game? It also looks like it’ll make you cry. I teared up in the trailer alone. Very excited about this one.

Halo: Master Chief Collection

Well are you happy now, Halo fans? You complain long and loudly enough and 343 Studios will listen. They’re now releasing the four numbered Halo games all on one disk! Halo 1-4 including their multiplayer components is coming to Xbox One. Halo 2 is also getting the anniversary edition-treatment that Halo 1 got. They’re also claiming 1080p and 60fps for the games and their multiplayer plus dedicated servers. Also there will be a Halo 5: Guardians demo later this year, so that’s neat.

Inside

Limbo developer Playdead is working on a new titled called Inside. It looks to be in the same exploration/platformer genre, but this time with color. Color me interested.

Rise of the Tomb Raider

The new Tomb Raider game seems to explore the PTSD and road to recovery for Lara after what happened in the previous game. Also she shot a dude with a bow and arrow, which is pretty badass. Also I distinctly remember seeing some tombs.

The Division

I’ve been anxiously awaiting new details about this game since last year. It still looks great and though they didn’t show off many new features, the gameplay looks to be in tact since last year’s demonstration. A team of 4, one person being on a drone, made their way across a city, showing off drop in/drop out coop, and the interesting drone features. At one point our player 1 shot a guy through some paint cans and the paint splashed pretty realistically, which I thought was a nice touch.

No real details on it yet, but the demo is still looking promising.

Scalebound

Platinum games is making a game which looks kinda like monster hunter, but with a mount and the main character acted like Dante from the new DMC. Very little detail beyond a prerendered cinematic, but I’ll be watching with wary hesitation.

Crackdown

It’s been a long while since Crackdown was on the scene, but diehard fans got their wish today when a new iteration in the series was revealed. Did it consist of putting a vehicle full of bombs into a building, blowing it up, and making the top of the building hit another building just to kill a guy on the top floor, causing millions of dollars in collateral damage and injuring/killing thousands? Yes. That’s Crackdown. Prepare yourselves.