BurtonReviews Sony’s E3 Conference: The 4DXperience

(Image sourced from https://www.psxhax.com/threads/sony-playstation-e3-2017-media-showcase-press-conference-date.2237/)

And now, the presentation that I have been waiting this whole E3 to see, Sony’s PlayStation 2017 E3 conference.

WOW. This conference started off with a beautiful live musical performance featuring weird but elegant waterfall art and just did not stop entertaining from there.

Ever since the launch event for the PS4 in 2013, Sony has perfected the art of the conference, knowing exactly what fans have come to see. Not a 10 minute long presentation of the game where someone walks us through slides on why it is so great, no, we’re here for the game itself. Games, games, games, that seems to be the philosophy of this Sony’s conferences of late and this one was no exception.

(Image sourced from https://www.polygon.com/2017/5/3/15535262/sony-e3-2017-press-conference-time)

Shawn Layden, CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, and fan favourite since his love for Crash Bandicoot shone through his T-shirt choices, was only on stage twice, for a handful of moments in the whole presentation, the rest of the time was spent unveiling new, exciting, and jaw dropping moments from games we already knew about, and some we were discovering for the first time.

This was definitely my favourite conference of the show, it had the best pacing, best games, best trailers to excite us, and best staging. Not only was there venue unique t all the others, being in a theatre and not a standard E3 setup, but each trailer shown had a weird 4D component that just made the footage on screen feel even more epic. From zombies hanging from the rafters upside to fire shooting out of the stage and snow falling from the sky, Sony made this conference one you were sad not to be in the room for.

And with so many games being shown, it’s going to be hard to detail them all before this article turns into a novella, so I'm just going to detail a couple very quickly that didn’t really give us too much new information, but were awesome enough to deserve a mention anyway.

(Image sourced from http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/uncharted-the-lost-legacy-13-06-2017/)

1.    The Quickie Trailer Rundown

Sony kicked off their conference with a new movie level trailer for the spin-off Uncharted game coming this August – Uncharted Lost legacy. In this 4-6hour tale you will follow beloved characters Nadine Ross (Uncharted 4 badass villainess) and Chloe Frazer (seductive fellow treasure hunter) as they embark on an epic adventure that is set years before the events of Uncharted 4. The trailer looked incredible, the set pieces look to be no smaller or less explosive than you would get in a mainline Uncharted game, and the acting as always looks to continue Naughty Dogs gold standard in the industry. I was worried this game would feel like a throw away adventure, but this trailer cemented that there is no mistaking this is simply another Uncharted game.

(Image sourced from https://twitter.com/marvelvscapcom)

Another game I wasn’t too hot on was the upcoming Marvel Vs. Capcom 4. I’m more of a Nether Realm fighting game lover than a Capcom fanatic, but I do love Marvel so these games always find a way to peak my interests and pull me in. but after the first story trailer I didn’t think 4 ever would, but after this trailer, the story mode for this game looks to have a lot more personality and fun with the wacky concepts of a talking Racoon teaming up with a Nephilim than the first trailer lead on. Couple that with how lengthy the campaign looks to be, I’m definitely gonna keep my eye on this game.

(Image sourced from https://www.callofduty.com/uk/en/wwii)

Following the trend of games I wasn’t interested in, Call of Duty WWII’s first trailer didn’t captivate me nearly as much as Battlefield 1’s gameplay and trailers did the year before, so I had written off this year’s offering of COD. But the trailer shown in this conference better established this game and what it is going for, while Battlefield 1 was a heart wrenching exploration of one of the worst periods of human history, COD WWII isn’t going for that, it’s going for the action movie, heart pounding, shotgun blasting rocket propelled journey through the trenches that COD is known for, and that’s okay. The gameplay looked sharp as ever and it really felt like COD was going back to its roots with this iteration, after so long of super-jumping exo-suits, it’s refreshing to get back down into the dirt and see how a war is really fought.

(Image sourced from http://www.toonzone.net/e3-2017-highlights-sonys-conference/)

A set of games I’ve always felt guilty about not playing are Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. I’m not a big puzzle guy and when they came out I was way too young to get my head around either. But it looks like the lords of Sony heard my frustrations, well half heard them, because Shadow of the Colossus is getting remastered again. I don’t have to tell most of you how incredible this game is proclaimed to be, but what I do have to tell you is how damn good this remaster looks. The Colossi look hauntingly realistic, like they could lean right out of the TV and crush me in an instant, the texture work that has been put into this game by Bluepoint studios (THE company to hire if you want to remaster a game) is nothing less than remarkable and I can’t wait to experience the classic in its most beautiful form.

(Image sourced from http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-06-13-destiny-2-gameplay-beta-features-4747)

And finally Destiny 2. While a lot of people had problems with Vanilla Destiny, I genuinely did enjoy my time with it, but even I couldn’t overlook the huge problems with story telling that game had. Why are we attacking these Martian Turtles, aren’t we technically the invaders here? We’ll never know. But with Destiny 2, the team over at Bungie seem to be wanting to hit the ground running with the great success that Destiny has had post Taken King, and this trailer more than helps reinforce that mission. We know the great cosmic gunplay that only Bungie can do will be in this game, but now we also know that a more fleshed out and better explained story will also be included. Just from this short showing I was flung back into my Guardian gear and pumped up to show those invading ass hats why they picked the wring loot to steal.

(Image sourced from http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-06-14-its-a-biker-post-apocalypse-in-sony-bend-studios-days-gone)

2.    Days Gone: Let Them Fight

So, now into the big reveals of the conference. Starting off the list and adding another feather to PlayStations illustrious exclusive cap is Sony Bend’s Days Gone. It was one of my top 5 highlights of E3 last year, and it continues to be an interesting and fresh take on the zombie/survival 3^rd person action genre, even if at a glance it just looks like a Last of Us clone.

And to be honest, it really did look and feel like a Naughty Dog impressionist I the early minutes of this gameplay tease, but after those minutes, Days Gone showed us why this is a game that will stand rightfully apart from the zombie games before it.

While Clickers are scary, seeing a horde of these fast moving, even faster chomping, freakers blasting after you, even from a distance, is enough t send chills running through my body as my flight or fight reaction centre is screaming “RUN, GET THE ACTUAL FU*K OUT OF THERE NOW”.

Layer on top of that the ability to make the zombie population fight your battles against the worst of human kind for you, and some zombie animals, a concept weirdly more than often kept out of most zombie stories, and throw in a cool bike just for kicks, then you don’t have a clone of anything on your hands, but an interesting new take on a genre that just won’t die.

(Image sourced from https://www.polygon.com/e3/2017/6/12/15788122/sony-playstation-e3-2017-announcements)

3.    VR: Continued Support

After the releases and success of PSVR last year, many of the first adopters have been scared that support for the new and untested technology would fade away with a whimper. But if this conference has anything to say about it, support for PSVR is still alive and kicking with some really interesting and unique titles that make me wish I had a PSVR of my own.

Titles such as Inpatient, yet another horror game that looks to want to mess with your mind in ways only VR can. Star Child, a cool looking Sci-Fi game that’s giving me great Iron Giant feelings. And Moss, a cute as hell game where you are the protector of this adorable warrior rabbit who is equipped with an epic gauntlet, sword, and precious smile, you must help him make his way through various puzzles and enemy encounters as he makes his way through a forest teaming with danger. And lastly, Bethesda makes their way into my articles once again with Skyrim VR, as if the Switch and HD remastered versions weren’t enough.

(Image sourced from https://www.comicbookmovie.com/video_games/video-games-god-of-war-kratos-must-teach-his-son-to-be-a-god-in-this-new-epic-gameplay-trailer-a151769)

4.    God of War: Godly Kombat

Another reoccurring title from last year’s top 5, the relatively sombre continuation of God of War had a few fans worried that the constantly shouting Spartan had lost his edge and been weakened by his fatherhood. Well this trailer did not only show those fans they had nothing to worry about, but it also proved that God of War isn’t forgetting its roots.

The combat in this game looks as fierce and varied as ever with your son even factoring into combo chains now as you hurtle your hammer through a crowd of molten lava goons all to catch the still sparking with uncontained energy hammer and ground pound it into their commander’s skull.

On top of that God of War hasn’t lost its sense of scope, with more than one scene in this trailer evoking the dictionary accurate feeling of awesome from me as Kratos was made to look like nothing more than an ant in comparison to how epically huge and monstrous some of the beasts in this game will be.

So, to those worried fans I say have no fear, God War is not only back, but as fierce as ever.

(Image sourced from http://kotaku.com/everything-sony-showed-at-e3-2017-1796039206)

5.    Spider-Man: OMFG

And finally, to the game that had be leaping up on my bed last year, Spider-Man was this conference show stopping, one more thing moment, and OMFG does it look perfect!

From the strange but appropriate mix of almost Pixar graphics but real world dialogue that doesn’t shy away from saying these thugs are going to kill people if Spidey doesn’t intervene, to the awesome combat that makes perfect use of Spidey’s iconic web to incapacitate and hold goons, and Uncharted level set pieces that had my eyes wanting to pounce out of my sockets in shock and awe, these 10 minutes of gameplay were pure fanboy bliss.

And on-top of all that, this game doesn’t forget that he’s a, ya know, Super hero. In an age when reducing a city to nothing but dust is just a Tuesday for Superman, it’s so refreshing, and exciting to see not only a superhero always be trying to save any bystanders caught in their epic battle, but to have that act mixed so effortlessly into engaging and edge of your seat moment to moment gameplay, is a truly novel concept that I’m shocked more superhero videogames haven’t incorporated into their games already.

I’ve already watched the gameplay twice and honestly I’m probably going to watch it again after I finish this sentence, it was just so damn good.

(Image sourced from http://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/gaming/816326/Sony-E3-2017-Bloodborne-2-Destiny-2-beta-PS4-price-drop-Last-of-Us-2-God-of-War)

So overall Sony smashed it out of the park once again. With perfect pacing, actually making entertaining use of the stage, showing just enough games to keep us always entertained but not too many to overload us with titles, and incredible trailers that had me smile get bigger and bigger until the end of the conference where my face could barely take it and I couldn’t stop screaming OMFG. Yeah, this was THE conference of E3, hands down.

Thanks for reading, and hey while you’re here why not check out my YouTube channel, BurtonReviews, where I upload awesome gaming montages put to badass songs or scores every Sunday. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbUfnyezvQsVsDgN3TGRh1Q