Standout Games From E3

Here are my top 3 Triple A Games from E3 that made me drool:

Evolve 

Created by the original Left 4 Dead team, Evolve promises me more solid online co-op gaming. What stuck out about Evolve was it's potential for high-level competitive play. The game is rich with strategy and takes subtle cues from MOBAs and various FPS juggernauts. It also speaks to my inner desire to be a giant oppressive monster. My original worry was that while the monster offers players a different play experience, the hunters would play like generic FPS avatars. After seeing the game-play demo, Turtle Rock Studios promises to give the hunters the seems depth of strategy offered to the monster. Players can choose one of four classes, and then choose one of four characters within those classes. This allows players to find their own play-style within the various roles. For example, the game has a medic class similar to that of Team Fortress 2--he shoots a beam of healing light that allows the medic to actively heal players during battles. There are also chooses for battle medics and paladin type classes that fall within the "Medic" umbrella. We've also seen only two of the monster classes--the Goliath(show above) and the Kraken-- which hints that Hunter teams might have to choose their characters to counter pick the chosen monster. Evolve seems ripe for a meta game and a spot in E-Sports. Check out the interview with Turtle Rock here.  

Sunset Overdrive

Sunset Overdrive looks like the perfect amount of obscure and high-flying game play. To be honest the launch trailer felt like the Deadpool game we should have gotten. The movement system is reminiscent of Jet Set Radio, and shooting masses of mutants feels like the gory fun of Dead Rising. As players grind across the map and string together combos of kills and hardcore parkour moves, they will gain Style Points which allows players to unlock more abilities. It feels like Tony Hawk Pro Skater, but Insomniac gave Tony a mow-hawk and a samurai sword. Players are actively encouraged to explore the world and find one of the many ridiculous weapons the game has to offer.  The whole game reminds of playing ridiculous games like Vectorman on the Sega Genesis. Games that weren't concerned with anything more than "Do cool stuff and get billions of points. Why? Because video games!"  It's also hard not to fall in love with the neon colors and rockabilly style. My only worry is that the quips of the protagonist--who I'm pretty sure is voiced by Nolan North--will get old, and that the over-the-top game-play will eventually get old. Here is some game-play footage here. 

Little Big Planet 3

I'm pretty sure I've dumped like a lifetime into the first two games, so it wasn't a far stretch for me to be grinning like a dumb idiot during this announcement. LBP3 offers players more of what they love and some well needed additions to the game. With the addition of an expanded field of depth, craft players can now utilize five sections of depth for their levels. Sackboy also has new tools to play with, like the hand-fan titled the Pumpinator. The developer team hinted that players can expect more tools like the Pumpinator, which gives players options other than the two tools players can currently access. In addition to new costumes, stickers and music, Sackboy actually has new friends to help him explore. Joining the patchwork world is Toggle, Oddsock, and Swoop. Toggle--a larger blog like character-- can switch between a large or a small form. This opens up spatial puzzles, but it feels like Toggle will mainly be used for his heavy lifting abilities. Oddsock looks like a sock puppy and boasts incredible speed and wall jumping abilities. Swoop is a tiny bird that can pick up other characters, allowing them to reach new heights. These other characters--in addition to Sackboy's new climb ability--open up a slew of new puzzles ideas that potential creator's can use. To the put the cherry on top, the 8 million levels that have been created between the first two games will be playable in the newest iteration of the game. Check out the trailer here.