E3 is a great event filled to the brim with great games, but there can only be one game of the show. For me, that game is Bayonetta 2. I have been excited for Bayonetta 2 since that wonderful day in September when Nintendo had announced they had saved the game from its long-rumored cancellation. I’m happy to say that if the E3 demo is anything to go by, Bayonetta 2 is not only set to live up to the legacy of the original, it’s set to surpass it.
Let’s take a first person walkthrough SEGA’s booth at E3 2014! On the way, we’ll encounter SEGAbits/The Sonic Stadium writer Shigs playing Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric for the Wii U, check out the Sonic Boom, Hatsune Miku, and Alien: Isolation booths. We even run into SEGA of America Community Manager Julian Mehlfeld for the shortest SEGA interview ever. Enjoy!
Our E3 coverage continues with an interview with Sonic Boom Producer Stephen Frost! Stephen was nice enough to sit down on the final day of the expo to answer our questions about the upcoming Wii U and 3DS games Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal. Developed by Big Red Button Entertainment (Wii U) and Sanzaru Games (3DS), both titles are due out November 2014.
I’m not really all that experienced with the world of mobile gaming. Though I’ve played my share of Angry Birds and a handful of SEGA games, most of my portable gaming is done on proper handheld systems with buttons and analog sticks. Needless to say, I was a little out of my depth at the SEGA Network party, which was showcasing several upcoming mobile SEGA games to the press, including Super Monkey Ball Bounce.
Our work at E3 this year would have been cut short if it had not been for Sega’s acquisition of Atlus Games. (It also would have given us more time to have some fun. Kidding, kidding.) Still, this allowed us to check out some quality titles we might have passed up otherwise. Games like Citzens of Earth (which Nuckles87 recently did an extensive view of). I took up the quest to try Rollers of the Realm. A very different take on your average pinball game.
Some games just have this irresistible charm about them. The moment you see it, you just know you want to play it and see if it lives up to just how awesome it looks. At E3, Atlus’s Citizens of Earth was one of those games. As a man who is interested in politics and is always open to some political satire, and the concept on display here is way too hilarious to ignore.
This week we are chatting all about SEGA/Atlus’ presence at E3 2014. We talk all about the SEGA software including what we thought about our hands on with Sonic Boom video games, Alien Isolation and even the Nintendo published Bayonetta 2.
On the Atlus side we talk about playing Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, Citizens of Earth and much more.
Want to catch all our E3 2014 coverage? You can by clicking here.
Nuckles87 and I have been at odds with the Sonic Boom games at E3. While he was more forgiving of Rise of Lyric on Wii U, I found it a dull and mediocre experience overall. However, for Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal on 3DS, I really enjoyed this platformer while Nux was not as pleased. Surprisingly, I agreed with most of his complaints, but it didn’t affect my enjoyment of the game. So what’s in this game that makes me not only enjoy it much more than Sonic Boom on Wii U, but might be my favorite Sonic game on 3DS? Read on.
While at E3, Nuckles87 and I were invited to a party hosted by SEGA’s mobile division, SEGA Networks, that was dedicated to mingling and showing off SEGA’s mobile titles. It was a great chance to relax after a hard day and to get some free food and drink. Those pretzel bun sandwiches with the roast beef and bacon were out of this world! But mostly, we where there to check out these games that have only been available to the lucky few… million in the Great White North. The one I’ll be talking about in this preview is Sonic Jump Fever, a sequel to the 2012 game that is both harder, easier and more fast-paced than its predecessor. It even has Chao. Yes, Chao are back!
Until a week ago, I had never owned a Hatsune Miku game. Until two days ago I had never played one. What I’m trying to tell you is I am extremely new to this franchise, so I would like to ask you to please excuse some of my noobish glee as I acknowledge several years after everyone else that Hatsune Miku Project Diva F is a really fun rhythm game and I am glad to have finally played it, even if it took the prospect of an E3 write-up for me to finally play it.
After you’re done reading, get a second opinion from Jason Berry over at Sonic Stadium!
Sonic has been reinvented countless times over the years, to the point where the character has time and time again become unrecognizable in every way except his name, speed and trademark attitude. Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric represents the latest of these reinventions and is one of the most radical re-imaginings since Sonic made the transition to 3D fifteen years ago. Nothing has been held as sacred here, with Sonic Boom effectively acting as a near complete teardown of what past games were.
For one, this game isn’t just about speed and platforming, but also features a variety of brawling-centric levels. Though very few speed areas were on display, the final game will apparently feature a mix of speed areas and brawling areas, rather than keeping them segregated from one another as they were in the demo. Since there were no real speed areas on display, this preview will be focusing mostly on the game’s combat areas.
This is going to be an interesting year for us here at SEGAbits, as we try to get accustomed to covering Atlus games. I’ve been trying to familiarize myself with the company, but I haven’t truly begun to introduce myself to their catalog until today, when I played several of their games on the showfloor. I’m going to do my best to provide coverage of this company, but I am somewhat out of my depth here. First on my docket? Abyss Odyssey!
I had a fun time with this game. It’s essentially a Smash Bros game with rogue-like elements. So pretty much a side scrolling brawler that can be really, really hard and brutal. Allies can hit and damage each other in this game, the labyrinth quickly becomes much more difficult the deeper you go, and dying will result in you going back to your previous checkpoint, sans all of your equipment and items. Death in this game carries a serious consequence! For a rogue-like this game is actually pretty generous, as you get to keep all of your collected experience, skills and gold.
Do you like the humor in Sonic Boom, but you don’t want any of that “having to put effort into playing a game” stuff? Well, this new trailer for the tv show shows off plenty of that. While part of this trailer was already seen in the first trailer, it does show plenty of new plot and funny jokes from seemingly the first episode.
It also has Eggman standing on a tiny hoverboard. Yes, Eggman on a tiny hoverboard.
Official trailers for Sonic Boom on Wii U and 3DS have arrived. Lyric, the new villain for the franchise, has been broken out of whatever prison was holding him and says he has unfinished business with Sonic who seems to not have any idea what he’s talking about as this is their first encounter. Graphics look much better than recent footage shown, which may indicate that it was an earlier build that we’ve previously seen. You can also out the 3DS trailer after the break.
We’ll have more coverage of Sonic Boom as me and Nuckles87 get our hands on the game later today!
The Alien: Isolation news continues to pour in, as SEGA has released five new screens and a trailer dubbed “Survive”, just in time for E3. The trailer, which can be seen here, highlights the game’s survival gameplay and creepy atmosphere. The fire effects are looking phenomenal, and the game itself is shaping up to be very true to the original film. Expect our hands-on impressions and a developer interview soon as we continue to report live from E3.
