These trailers were some of the most talked about from E3 2015 (aside from Final Fantasy VII obviously), but some of the best parts the public never got to see! We’re here to give you the scoop on what you missed from The Last Guardian, Uncharted 4, and Horizon.
The Last Guardian
The trailer everyone saw started out with the boy and catbird, named Trico we found out, on a bridge navigating some precarious heights. The trailer press was treated to in Sony’s theater on the floor started out about ten minutes earlier. The boy is navigating some very old ruins when he comes across Trico. The creature isn’t hostile to him, so it’s not clear whether or not the boy and Trico are already friends or not, but even if they weren’t, a quick rub on his face and some reassuring words have the boy on catbird’s good side.
The boy then runs around Trico and climbs on him. By the way, the feathers on Trico are so spot on, it’s incredible. Remember when you first saw LA Noire and were like “Oh god, faces can be that good?” Same thing, but for feathers. The boy notices that catbird’s been really injured, two large spears are embedded in him. Trico’s clearly tried to get them out himself with how splintered they are, but they’re at a weird angle to where he can’t pull them out himself. The boy ends up pulling both of the spears out, with small yelps of pain from our creature friend.
It’s then time for Trico to get up and eat his preferred meal, small barrels of something. Who knows. But Trico’s jonesin’ for the stuff enough that he stands up on his hind legs so the boy can enter a part of the dungeon he can’t in order to retrieve the barrels he wants. It’s very indicative of the symbiotic, caring relationship between the two, and really builds a bond the player’s mind between boy and catbird. After the boy opens the gate, both of them proceed out to the bridge where the press conference trailer picked up.
Though this extended trailer bit wasn’t terribly important, it did a great job of building the bond between the two characters and making you feel for Trico. Considering everyone thought this title was dead a month ago, it’s looking pretty damn good.
Uncharted 4
When Sony’s E3 2015 press conference trailer of Uncharted 4 last left Drake, he was being dragged by a large truck into a pile of wood while hanging off a bridge.. The trailer/gameplay continues from there as Drake is being pulled over the lake, past a pedestrian boat, narrowly avoiding wooden pillars until he finally slams in to dry land as the bridge ends. But that’s not where Drake gives up, oh no. He maintains his grip and is then unceremoniously dragged through the mud behind the truck, trying to avoid hitting things while also trying to pull himself up to the truck WHILE ALSO SHOOTING DUDES. After finally making it up to the truck and punching the hell out of some poor sap, it’s time to crank it up even further, as is tradition with Uncharted. While we’re not clear on the details, the car Drake is on catches on fire. Of course it does. So he’s forced to jump on someone else’s bike, kick off the owner, and keep driving with the caravan to get up to his brother. After two more vehicle hoppings, Drake is in a truck pulling up next to his brother, followed by a ton of troops. They both want the other to get on their vehicle. As brothers do, they start arguing about who will get on who’s vehicle.
Then Drake gets hit by a god damn truck. OF COURSE he gets hit by a god damn truck.
So as he’s getting his bearings in the flipped over vehicle, realizing he isn’t dead (a shock to us too), the damn thing catches on fire. Of course it does. IT’S UNCHARTED. OF COURSE THEY TOOK A BAD THING AND MADE IT WORSE. A few armed thugs comment that there’s no way he could be alive until he bursts the driver side door open and kills them. “Never underestimate a Drake.” He never says that, but in our fan fiction, he totally did.
His brother picks him up on the motorcycle and the chase is back on as the huge military truck is still on their asses. Nate’s shooting behind him, his brother’s driving, death is looming. Finally, they slide the bike under a large block in the road, which the truck hits and explodes. For the first time, Nate, his brother, and the audience all breathe an audible sigh of relief. Even just watching someone play this was stressful, playing it must be intense.
And just as we were ready for the demo to be over, Drake, his brother, and Sully all make it back to their hotel room, confident that they’ve found the location of a hidden treasure. Their excitement is interrupted by Drake’s wife unexpectedly showing up in his hotel room. She asks how the Monaco job is going and why he’s so off course. You can hear how disappointed she is that Drake lied to her about not being a thief anymore. It’s heartbreaking. Then the trailer ends.
GOD WE NEED THIS GAME.
Horizon Zero Dawn
Admittedly, the amount of content differing between the trailer press go to see and what the public saw is minimal. The demo we saw is functionally the same, but with a few more things shown off with combat. Aloy still comes down, hides in the grass, kills a robodino before it sounds an alarm, then shoots some of the grazing robots to take whatever green goop they’re holding. This murderous human, understandable, upsets mama dinosaur as it turns around and starts a huge fight. So in the press conference demo, it wasn’t quite clear why or how they were doing what they were doing and how to win against this huge foe, but in the private theater, they talked through the strategies that went in to it.
First off, Aloy has many different types of ammo with her bow. There’s explosive, electric, and armor piercing, among others, and they all have their place. First, after rolling around and dodging attacks, you slow down time to get a good shot with the armor piercing arrows to one of the mounted guns on the side, knocking it off. Then that weapon is used to knock off more of the armor plating around the dino’s weak point, somewhere around its upper thigh. This process is repeated for the other size, then you shoot cables to tie the beast down to get in a good shot and hit the weak point with an explosive shot. Boom, creature’s down.
Though it may not have been radically different, it’s at least interesting to get a peek into how Horizon Zero Dawn’s combat will function after its intriguing world roped us all in.
My new years resolution was to play fewer video games.
I realized this wouldn’t be impossible unless I simply loaned out my game consoles. So I did. I got a lot done. And now I got my stuff back because the holiday bum rush of triple-A games are upon us and I couldn’t resist. My gold membership has expired since that time obviously so I am just playing single player games at the moment.
I recently got done playing Assassins Creed Brotherhood, followed by Batman Arkham City, and finally a little Gears of War 3. There was a constant theme I noticed throughout the games that has been coursing through games the past few years, so to most of you this won’t be any great revelation.
1) Since when did every hero, assassin, adventurer, etc learn parkour.
If you aren’t familiar with parkour go ahead and watch this video (or any other one) and catch yourself up a little.
Please enter the url to a YouTube video.Seriously. I know parkour blew up a few years ago in the states and then what? Game developers saw it and said, “Well since everything else in our game is complete fantasy and entirely impossible, we should at least make them move realistically. I mean come on… the fans will absolutely tear us to pieces if we don’t give our billionaire superheros and ancestral-dna-time-travelers parkour to ground them in reality“???
Prototype, Infamous, Prince of Persia, Uncharted, Red Dead Redemption, Saints Row, Just Cause, Assassins Creed (1,2, Brotherhood, Revelations, and 3), Mirrors Edge, Crackdown, and even upcoming games like Resident Evil 6 and Prey 2. I swear if the next Mario game trades in the Tanooki suit for parkour I will be done. Just done.
2) When did the game industry decide ripping off Hans Zimmer and John Williams was the way to go with soundtracks now?
Remember when you could hum your favorite video game tunes. Try humming a new triple A title. Unless you can hum with the might of the Transatlantic Orchestra you are probably out of luck. And I can’t even say that all games rip off Hans Zimmer. Some games like Crysis 2 are actually composed by Hans Zimmer.
I get it. I think… Our games need to have the same dramatic tension in them as movies.
WE ARE DEFINITELY ON THE CUSP OF GAMES BEING SEEN AS LEGITIMATE ART. Definitely…..
….As we beat people with dildo bats.
Split people in half with samurai swords
Teabag each other in Halo
And score bonus points for shooting up an anus
Step aside F. Scott Fitzgerald. Video games are here to show you real art.
Look, I’m not saying games shouldn’t have dramatic music ever, but what I am saying is that it shouldn’t be the standard. Use it when necessary, which is not all the time. Taking a crappy melody and playing it with a violin doesn’t make it good. It just makes it a crappy melody on a grand scale.
3) TAKE COVER!! TAKE COVER!! TAKE COVER!!
Look. When Gears of War hit the scene it changed the game. Even though the change was the most obvious thing in the world. Should I stand in front of my opponent as we both unload a machine gun into each other or take cover. Duh. Now… Time Crisis did the cover system wayyyyyyyy before Gears of War, but Time Crisis was also an on rails shooter. To some degree Metal Gear Solid and Killswitch helped push the cover system even farther, but not until Gears of War came out did every game and it’s dog decide it too wanted a highly polished cover system.
Problem being, most games that aren’t Gears of War have a polished terd cover system. Most of these cover systems are terrible. And on top of that, cover systems are kind of a broken mechanic in third person, giving advantage to those behind cover by letting them see around corners without actually exposing their characters and penalizing mobile characters. I would list a game with a cover system, but hell, you are probably playing one right now. Developers just stop… please? And use the money you saved on a sub par cover system and design something that will really separate your game from the flock and make it memorable. Innovate a little, ya know?
As much as I liked the Mass Effect series, it’s cover system was a steaming pile of poop. For all the novelty of the games they couldn’t come up with something more interesting? Batman Arkham Asylum/City found a way to incorporate it in its stealth segments without it being needed for the majority of combat. Comparing apples and oranges I know, but still, I really feel the cover system is becoming a crutch and a cash in to certain games.
Some games do it right I feel, like Uncharted 2 and 3 and the above mentioned Batman. It might not be the most inspired cover system, but it fit with the game and didn’t take away from it.
When all is said and done, it feels like I am playing the same hero over and over again in these games, just re-skinned. I’d love some new game heroes =/
RANT MODE: DEACTIVATE.
The VGA nominees for 2011 are in, so who will win this year? Visit Spike’s site to cast your vote, make a difference and your voice heard by clicking here. The Video Game Awards will air on Spike TV on December 10, 2011. Don’t forget to cast your votes! The nominees for each category are as follows: (more…)