E3 2011: Top 3 Games

A roundup post from the Gamers of Metanorn, discussing their most anticipated games from E3

Jrow: E3 concluded sometime ago, so let the debates begin of who had the best press conference, which games took home Best of E3 trophies and which booth had the hottest booth babes! Your Metanorn gaming enthusiasts have gotten together to talk about their Top 3 games from the event and overall thoughts on this year’s E3. Let’s have Cool kick us off…

This year’s E3 revealed two new consoles and a torrent of great games that will keep your thumbs stuck to your controller and your bank account fixed at zero. It was a pretty impressive year with a little bit of everything for everyone. You’ve already heard us harping on and on about the individual press conferences, let’s get into the nitty gritty of fanboying/fangirling over which games have caught our eye.

1. Dragon Crown

While this game didn’t get a huge spotlight during E3, I did manage to catch a news post about Vanillaware’s latest game coming out for the PS3 and the Vita during the event. I’m a big fan for Vanillaware’s jaw-droppingly gorgeous visuals (as seen in Odin Sphere and Muramasa), and soul-tuggingly sincere narratives, so of course I’ll eat up whatever bone they toss my way. It looks essentially the same as their previous games in that you go around using an ample mix of tactics and brute force to hack through mobs of enemies. It’s the perfect combination for a huge tactics/strategy game fangirl such as myself. The best part? I get to force my friends to play with me. CO-OP, BABY.

2. Super Smash Bros.

The extent that this game was mentioned at E3 was a few sentences during the conference and then some vague hand-waving as they just transitioned into the next subject. While it’s still only in the rough development stage, they PROMISED us this game. You don’t want to know how many hours I’ve spent playing either Melee or Brawl at my house. I host Brawl PARTIES every now and then. It’s one of those games that you play forever and never get bored of, and introducing a new game to the sequel just makes the whole multiplayer experience more fresh. I hope they have another well-developed one player campaign as well, because that was surprisingly fun for a game that’s usually just a two player affair. In short, I am pre-ordering this game to hell and back.

3. Bioshock Infinite

Bioshock is one of those magical games that actually causes my crystalline heart to FEEL something. I’m the type who watches horror movies deadpan without any resulting nightmares afterwards, and yet my heart rate practically thriples while playing Bioshock. Combine that with an immersive, deliciously twisted world with an equally twisted story and you’ve got me sold on the series. However, now the dark palette is swapped with that of a bright, sky high city. It’s a nice change of scenery, and will probably prevent me from curling into a fetal position at the end of my couch whilst playing. I can’t wait to see what this game has in store~

E3 2011 was a pretty fine showcase of great games and intriguing pieces of hardware. PS Vita came out to much applause as Kazuo Hirai announced the $250 price tag for the Wi-Fi Model, and the Wii U really was something else and while it looked neat, leaves a lot to be desired in terms of online capabilities and processing power for the console (not to mention that it’s 3rd party footage montage was really just 360/PS3/PC footage). I was disappointed that Beyond Good and Evil 2 did not show up, and I think Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3 might have sabotaged themselves at the show with mediocre showings of their titles with plenty of press on the subject of “Are We Tired of Modern Combat?”

1. Tomb Raider

It’s crazy how Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix wanted to make this game so nitty gritty and get away from the usual, sometimes misadventures of Lara Croft. They focused on her origin story and her ability to survive the many trials she’ll be facing and wanted to leave out the sexy factor and the model search mess, but they managed to make the most attractive Lara yet, and one that it’s difficult not to feel for her and root for her to get out of this alive. The demo shown at Microsoft’s conference was a great display of what hell Lara will have to go through her first time being on an adventure, all alone looking for anything and anyone to keep herself alive. A behind-doors demo mentioned that she was fighting a wolf and they actually showed her die in one case and it must of been friggin brutal knowing the game’s direction. As I said in my MS review, do buy Guardian of Light on XBLA or PSN, and then wait with anticipation for this game in Fall 2012.

2. Bioshock Infinite

Like OC, I love the bright skies of Columbia and really love everything of what I’ve seen so far. The story between Booker, Elizabeth and Songbird is really interesting and has an engaging sort of fairy tale like element to it. Booker’s (and Elizabeth’s) powers look awesome and using the skylines to travel around the city looks like a ton of fun, though possibly confusing since there’s some sort of player interaction with the lines. Bioshock Infinite has so so much going for it. We’ve seen some, but I think Irrational has only scratched the surface and there’s lots left to be revealed; I really hope that their behind-doors demo becomes available soon because I’d love to see even more! Irrational Games is an awesome development company, and they did a great job bringing Infinite into the spotlight during Sony’s conference. Side note: Move support for Infinite is nice and also a Bioshock game would be coming to Vita!

3. Kid Icarus Uprising

A big reason why I bought a 3DS was for this game. Kid Icarus Uprising has been an exciting game for me and it managed to show only a little bit more in the way of 3-vs-3 multiplayer. I would not have expected multiplayer inclusion from a game that I thought was primarily an action, single-player title. Although we really know little more aside from 2010 and 2011’s E3 trailers, I’m really liking the very fast-paced, frenetic action that looks to drive Uprising. I believe the 3D graphics will be a showcase of the system’s true power. Dammit, I want a date on this game!

E3 2011, eh? I was looking forward to this years show, I really was. I was pleased with the news and footage that came out of it, especially to do with the Vita and what Sony had to offer. In my personal opinion, I would say Sony ‘won’ this years E3 with their impressive handling of the PSN issues and the PS3 and Vita support. However, it’s just an opinion. Depending on what company you back and what you love from gaming, you’ll think different things. Take the WiiU, for example. In my opinion, it looks pretty shit. I mean, motion controls are gimmicky enough, but that weird ass controller thingy? That’s too far. The games were the main thing about the show and they didn’t disappoint. It was a good year, but it wont be remembered for any megaton announcements.

Well, except for that stupid name.

1. Journey

Journey looks awesome. I first heard about it over a year ago and the desire to play it has been brooding at the back of my mind for the whole time. Developed by the same people who made Flower and Flow, Journey is a game about, well, a Journey. You begin the game waking up in a desert and there is a mountain in the distance. Ominous and calling you. And that’s it. The entire game you’re making your way towards the mountain through beautiful and desolate landscape, occasionally meeting another player in a simple online system. We haven’t seen much of the game, and we don’t have a solid release date, but my God. My body is ready.

2. Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

Well yeah. It was the biggest game for a lot of people this year, but can you blame them? No, you can’t. Developed by Naughty Dog, the people behind Crash Bandicoot and Jak, Uncharted 3 is the, uh, third installment in the Uncharted franchise following good-looking treasure hunter Nathan Drake. And why was it an awesome game and why does it deserve to be on my top three? Did you watch the demo, people? It’s been said time and time again, especially after Uncharted 2, that Naughty Dog is actually made up of a team of wizards. We know consoles are powerful, but clearly PC’s are the master race. But to make a console game that runs that smooth, looks that nice and to top it all off, has amazing writing and acting and voices and production values and character and story and… I should stop. I might blow a valve or something.

3.  Tomb Raider

Now this is most certainly relevant to my interests. I’ve never played a Tomb Raider game. Do you know why? Because from the moment Lara Croft unleashed upon the world, for some reason, unbeknownst to me, she was hailed as a gaming sex icon. And I thought that was pretty weird. But that that a full franchise reboot is on its way, including loot, open-world gameplay, a whole new combat system and a Lara design I actually like (let’s be realistic here. NO ONE needs breasts like the old Lara), this looks like it could be an awesome game. Pair it with the sexy CG trailer that we saw pre-E3 and an awesome advertising campaign, I think we’ve got a bloody good Tomb Raider game on the way. And don’t complain that your precious Tomb Raider game has changed. Things change. Get used to it.

Jrow: And with that, we must shut the doors on E3 coverage here at Metanorn. E3 was a blast, I hope you enjoyed our commentaries of the main conferences, and hopefully we’ll be back next year to bust this thing open even more! But if you know Metanorn, you know it never sleeps. All of the bloggers here are working hard to get out posts for Ano Hana, Steins;Gate and C and several more great animes, and there’s some more exciting stuff right around the corner, so us gamers will now return you to regularly scheduled Metanorn programming! Thanks everyone for tuning in!

About Tag Team

We live, laugh, enjoy and strictly believe on "more the merrier". When together, we usually come up with very chatty, conversation-based episodics and interesting posts.