E3: The Unknowns

Since most of what I covered in last week's E3 post was the bigger titles, I figured I should shine the light on some of the smaller or newer titles that caught my eye.  These are ones to keep an eye on. Careful, this is another Youtube-heavy post.

Bastion: This game seems to be an interesting action RPG.  I haven't seen enough to talk too much about it, but the basic concept is that as you go through the levels your actions are narrated.  It sounds annoying, but the way it is used it actually seems really interesting.  The narration either puts the player's actions in the context of the story or involves gameplay hints, such as implying whether it's wise to walk in the place you just went.  The gameplay seems to be pretty creative as well; nothing groundbreaking, but it doesn't look like you'll be facing the same simple enemies over and over again.

Metro: Last Light: If you haven't played Metro 2033, go do that right this second.  It was a really awesome post-apocalyptic shooter with some awesome survival mechanics and great atmosphere.  Rather terrifying, not necessarily because it was that scary, but that atmosphere just made it wonderfully immersive.  For that matter, it is one of the few, if not the only, example of a great game based on a novel.  It is not to be missed, and I really hope this sequel lives up.

Jurassic Park: Developed by adventure game veteran designer Telltale Games, this looks to be an interesting expansion on the story of the classic dinosaur film.  Though most of their adventure games follow a traditional point-and-click control scheme, this one looks to be taking a cue from Heavy Rain in how it functions.  The result definitely looks interesting, and I look forward to seeing how it turns out.

Trenched: A tower defense game where you also do some actual shooting on the battlefield?  Count me in.  This summer-bound game is developed by Double Fine, the studio founded by Tim Schaefer (Psychonauts, Brutal Legend).  The idea is interesting, and the style seems like the wacky, awesomely strangeness you would expect from that studio.  Speaking of Double Fine...

Once Upon a Monster: This is less a recommendation to check out a game as it is an interesting note on one.  This is a Sesame Street game being developed by Double Fine, and it was at E3.  It will be a storybook-style game aimed at teaching kids basic lessons and values, much like the show.  I imagine it will be far too simply for adult gamers to enjoy, but my interest comes from the fact that a kids' game was at E3 in the first place, and is being done by a respected developer.  I hope it's indicative of an end to the far-too-common "kids don't know a good game anyway" approach to kid-oriented game design.

Prey 2: Prey was an interesting little shooter in the early days of the Xbox 360.  It was by no means perfect, but it was very interesting and had some pretty awesome concepts that some consider to be the simplified precursor to the Portal gun.  The sequel doesn't seem to be directly connected, but I'm excited that a game that showed such potential is getting a second go when we have a better hold on the technology.

Defiance: This is interesting.  This is an MMO tie-in to an upcoming show on the Sy-Fy Channel; apparently the idea is that the events in the game and the events in the show will connect, and what the players do in the game will affect some events in the show.  The concept is really intriguing, and while it's yet to see whether the game is going to be any good, it's an awesome experiment for which I am rather excited.

Rounding out this list are two games with weird names; the first is Awesomenauts.  Awesomenauts looks to be a just-for-fun side-scrolling shooter with an art style similar to games like Castle Crashers.  We'll see if it's any good, but seriously, it's called Awesomenauts.  That has to be at least worth checking out.  And doesn't this music just sound like some Saturday morning commercial from the 90s?  Awesome.

Secondly, there is Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet.  This one looks quite interesting, with an intriguing aesthetic and some awesome-looking side-scrolling puzzle/action/shooter/platforming(?) gameplay.  I think this'll be one to keep an eye on.

Anyway, there are a bunch of games from E3 that maybe didn't quite make it onto your radar.  I hope you give some of them a look; they deserve it.

Seriously though, where the heck was Beyond Good and Evil 2?  Ubisoft, you continue to make me cry...