E3 has come and gone in a blink of an eye. Here’s what I liked and didn’t like the most from the event!

Things I Liked

• Celebrities joining the gaming scene

The gaming culture has been one of those things that people seem to be afraid to talk about. Did you ever ask the cool kid in your class if he/she played Assassin’s Creed? With many celebrities entering the competitive gaming scene thanks to, I hate to say it… Fortnite, it finally feels like gaming started to get the recognition it deserved. After E3, I definitely see the trend being pushed farther with the inclusion of one Keanu Reeves, aka that guy from Fortnite, having a significant role in Cyberpunk 2077. Jon Bernthal, aka the freaking Punisher, is making an appearance as the major bad guy in Ghost Recon Breakpoint. Three cheers for video games and celebrities coming together!

• Release dates galore

If there’s one thing I love about E3, it’s the clarity we get. A lot of the biggest games had yet to be given release dates, and E3 definitely didn’t disappoint in that area. Here’s some of the heavy hitters that were given dates that I’ve been looking at..

Cyberpunk 2077- April 16, 2020 (My girlfriend’s birthday is the day after. You think she’ll get mad if I bought this as a gift for her?)

Final Fantasy 7 Remake- March 3, 2020

Doom Eternal- November 22, 2019

Star Wars Jedi: The Fallen Order– November 15, 2020

Cheers to some clarity am I right?

• Console wars

Earlier in the week, Google held a live stream to talk more about their new toy, the Stadia. During their conference, Microsoft revealed the existence of Project Scarlett. PlayStation.. wasn’t there. It’s real, and although I’m not ready to explain to my girl why I need a PS5, I’m interested to see what the “next” generation brings.

• Nintendo shining bright

The general consensus seems to be that Nintendo won E3. Announcements such as Banjo-Kazooie coming to Smash Bros, a sequel to Breath of the Wild, Luigi’s Mansion 3, and much more stole the show. Not to mention they showed plenty of gameplay (here’s a full list). You love to see it.

• Destroy All Humans 

I freaking love Destroy All Humans. I hate what they did to the series post Destroy All Humans 2. This is going to be a remake, with new gameplay additions, a bump in playability (30-40 hours of content),  beautiful looking graphics, but faithful to the original as the voice acting will be the same. Here’s to hoping this gives the series new life for the future, as this will be probing brains in 2020.

Things I Didn’t Like

• No spoilers plz

I hate spoilers. A spoiler pooped up in my YouTube recommended videos for Devil May Cry 5, and I’ve been pissed to this day (and no it wasn’t my fault I swear). So seeing all these leaks for games potentially going to be revealed disappointed me. E3 is that time of year when we should be surprised and cherish any reveal, especially if the lineup is weak (more on this later). So when I saw a bunch of leaks detailing Watch Dogs: Legion, Rainbow Six Quarantine, and Destiny 2 Shadowkeep. I was disappointed to say the least. Save your leaks for any other time of the year. Keep E3 sacred and as hype as possible.

• Releasing anything around Borderlands 3/ Destiny 2 Shadowkeep

This point isn’t as much of a dislike as the other points. It’s more of a concern. This is my own opinion, but Borderlands 3 and Destiny 2 Shadowkeep are going to dominate the months leading up to the holiday season. Releasing anything at that time of the year is potential gaming suicide a la Titanfall 2, especially if you’re releasing a game of a similar genre and Bethesda has decided to partake in this massacre. The Outerworlds is releasing October 25th right after said titles launch, and it might not be looking too good for Outerworlds. Maybe, I’m wrong, but it’s not looking good.

• Lack of content

A popular opinion I’ve seen for this E3 is the lack of content. A lot of what was shown was trailers to the public, and other gameplay was shown behind closed doors (I’m looking at you Cyberpunk 2077).

• Marvel’s Avengers

I don’t really know what I expected from this game. As we got closer to the E3 announcement, I figured the developers would make something along the line of the DC Universe Online: a free-to-play multiplayer game where you’d take the role of one of the Avengers and complete missions, etc. Well what we were shown and told wasn’t very exciting.

I think my biggest thing is the character models. I know they can’t use the likeness of the actors from the movies, but the character models just don’t look good, costume or no costume. Unfortunately, the character models won’t change either but we can expect polish to go into them as this is “pre-alpha footage“. This looks like a PS3 game, and we’re damn near close to next generation.

On top of that, the developers confirmed micro transactions will be in the game offering new skins and “customization options”. The main campaign can only be played solo ,with coop only being an option for side missions, which is a huge turn off for me. This is being made by Crystal Dynamics (Tomb Raider), and they elaborated how they wanted to make set pieces similar to the Tomb Raider series. I just don’t like what I’m seeing so far, and after how awesome Spider-Man was, Marvel video games are going to have high expectations. This don’t seem right.

• Bethesda 

This going to be a hard point to explain, but for every good thing Bethesda does, it feels like there’s a negative to balance it out.

Doom Eternal. Yes.

Rage 2. Yes.

Rage 2 content that should’ve been in the game at launch, but is being released post launch. No.

Fallout 76. No.

Fallout 76 Battle Royale. Why?

After the disappointment that was Fallout 76, Bethesda is applying some “new features” into it such as NPCs with new story, consequences, romance, and raiders to save the game. Like this is stuff that should’ve been in the game since Day 1. They also added in Nuclear Winter, a 52 player battle royale, and here I thought we were done with that phase.

I just don’t know what’s going on with Bethesda. It feels like since Skyrim, they’ve lost all capacity to function properly.

 

Overall, I feel like E3 2019 was alright. I guess Sony being absent really affected the overall experience? What were some of your highlights from the event or things you didn’t like? Let me know on Twitter or in the comments below!