The best of E3 2017 (from a distance)

For gamers, the highlight of the year is June, when the industry gathers in Los Angeles to show off all the latest games at E3. I haven’t been to the show as often as I’d like… but with every passing year, thanks to YouTube and Twitch, it becomes easier to see the best of E3 without actually having to go to E3. Here’s my roundup of what looked good, what looked interesting, and what… didn’t.

Lookin’ Good

A Way Out

Swedish filmmaker-turned-game developer Josef Fares’ follow-up to the brilliant Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is just as unique as his first game. A prison break game, A Way Out is for two players only — either online, or as Fares prefers, played together on the couch with a friend. I like online multiplayer and do enjoy the convenience of it… but there’s nothing like playing games with a friend in the same room. I fear that the multiplayer-only requirement will hurt this game’s chances of success, but it’s such a good idea that you can’t help but root for it.

Super Mario Odyssey

Even by Nintendo standards, Super Mario Odyssey’s trailer is the most Nintendo thing I’ve ever seen. It’s two and a half minutes of colorful, insane, inventive madness. Mario bouncing off taxis in a city. Mario in a sombrero. Mario turns into a T-Rex. The villains are EVIL WEDDING PLANNERS. And as always, the detail is amazing:

And the whole thing is set to a bizarrely catchy theme song, which, to make it even weirder, is sung by the damsel-in-distress from Donkey Kong. Yeah, this woman:

As you can see, the years have been kind to her: Now she’s the mayor.

Spider-Man

Sony’s showing was pretty underwhelming this year, with one big exception: Spider-Man. It reminds me a lot of the Batman: Arkham series, but the template fits: Spider-Man perching on high ground, surveying enemies, dropping down to stealthily take out enemies works equally well for Peter Parker as Bruce Wayne.

New Xbox Live Avatars

Wheelchairs? Prosthetics? Non-gender-specific clothing? Good job, Microsoft. They look great, too; a clear step-up from the weirdly charmless Xbox 360 avatars.

Original Xbox games on Xbox One!

I may be the only person excited about this, but I don’t care. Just give me Project Gotham Racing 2 again, please. (One thing I’m not into though? The revival of the original Xbox’s enormous controller.)

You have my interest…

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle

It’s weird enough seeing Ubisoft’s Rabbids dressed up as Mario characters. But then we found out that the game itself is a strategic shooter, like X-COM… and now people say this unholy combination is actually… a fun game?! I’m still on the fence, but of everything I’ve seen so far, the most endearing thing about this game has to be the director holding back tears when Mario’s creator unveiled his game:

You go, dude.

Metro Exodus

I confess that I’ve never played any of the Metro games, but I’ve always been interested in it. “Post-apocalyptic shooter” is hardly the most original of genres, but the Moscow setting of the Metro games (based on a series of Russian novels) has always made it stand out.

Sea of Thieves

I really want to like this game. I still don’t know what you actually do, but it feels like one of those games where looking for the point of it is, in itself, missing the point: Just screw around and have a great time. The problem with that is it looks like it’s pretty amazing with friends… but I don’t have enough friends with Xbox Ones. Also, how beautiful is this water?

Anthem

I was ready to roll my eyes at this after it emerged that the developers code-named it Dylan, intending to make the “Bob Dylan of video games”. But… it looks pretty damn good, a bit like if Destiny was built on this generation of consoles instead of the last. I still have my doubts over how much of that demo will be in the final game, but… interest piqued, BioWare.

You disappoint me

Crackdown 3

I really wanted to like this one. The whole pitch for Crackdown 3 was mass destruction, toppling buildings with “the power of the cloud”. You may have noticed that the trailer above does not seem to have that in there. Adding to my doubts is the disappointing Crackdown 2. It’s hard to be optimistic when I’m not entirely convinced they know what made the original game good to begin with (a bit like how none of the Dead Rising sequels have managed to capture the unique feel of the original).

Skull and Bones

I was hoping this would be the a more realistic take on Sea of Thieves that I could play on PS4… but it seems this is less a pirate simulator and more a pirate SHIP simulator. Damn.

No Virtual Console for Switch (yet)

Nintendo’s near-perfect launch of Switch and the most impressive E3 showing of the three console makers obscures the one insanely maddening thing about Switch: Where’s Virtual Console? How hard is it to bring NES and SNES ROMs that you’ve already released three times on other systems (Wii, Wii U, 3DS) to the Switch? You’re killing me, Nintendo.