This year’s E3 is now behind us and all the talk about what games people liked is continuing. So it is only fair for us here at SEGAbits to have a Round Table telling you which games we are looking forward to getting our hands on! After the break, find out what our writers liked most from SEGA, as well as their favorite non-SEGA E3 titles.
Ben Says
E3 2013 has certainly proven to be an eventful one.
Over the past several days, we have seen the reveal of two new next gen consoles. We’ve seen promising-looking games for the struggling Wii U, and we’ve gotten a major idea of where the industry will be heading in the next console generation.
Depending on who you ask, SEGA may have gotten lost in the shuffle a bit. If you’re a Wii U fan, you’ve seen two SEGA franchises have their moment in the spotlight. Sonic Lost World and Bayonetta 2 look like they’re going to be major crowd-pleasers for fans of the series’; SEGA’s work on the Xbox One and PS4, however, remains a mystery.
Regardless, Sonic Lost World has gotten enough attention to keep their name visible throughout E3 this year, and for good reason. I may have mixed feelings about the art style, but SEGA has done with their latest Sonic title what I’d been hoping they’d do; revolutionize the formula. Giving Sonic multiple speeds and increasing the focus on platforming as opposed to boosting are two design choices which I feel will set Sonic Lost World apart from its three immediate predecessors. The villains look cool and I’m intrigued by the world upon which Sonic’s next adventure will take place, even if I’m not so sure that a candy-themed level is entirely necessary.
Sonic Lost World is my choice for most highly anticipated SEGA game at this year’s E3. As far as non-SEGA titles that have gotten me most excited, my pick would definitely have to go to Monolith Soft’s (Xenosaga) next big RPG, which looks to catapult the Japanese RPG into the next gen…on the Wii U of all systems. Still code-named simply X, little is known about the game, aside from its open world setting, gorgeous visuals, and the idea that mechs will play a major role in the proceedings.
I can’t wait to learn more.
Overlord says
Sega’s showing at E3 this year was fairly low-key but still interesting to me, though it has to be said it’s basically just the new Sonic title, Sonic Lost World. What was shown was bright, colourful, and 60fps – something that’s been sorely missing from a lot of games the last console generation. It’s a nice mix of old and new, from little things like the Peel-Out and the animal friends being a focus, to the parkour system and different speed levels. I look forward to being able to get my hands on it later this year and put it through its paces.
As for the rest of the show – it’s been an utter delight watching how horribly the heavily DRM-infested Xbox One has been bombing, something that Sony used to their full advantage during their show, where the basic message of “the restrictions on PS4 are basically the same as PS3” took 2 and a half minutes to deliver due to the audience cheers. Sony also showed off titles that look to have far more variety than the seemingly endless parade of shooters on Xbone. Nintendo, while suffering from sizable numbers of games getting kicked to 2014, nevertheless showed some stuff I’m personally looking forward to – the new Donkey Kong game, Game & Wario and Super Mario 3D World being some high points.
Will be interesting to see how Holiday 2013 pans out, but it looks like it could quite easily be Sony’s to lose.
Nuckles87 says
I’m still trying to wrap up some E3 work, so I’m going to keep this brief.
The best SEGA game on display was Bayonetta 2. Why? Well, you can read my hands-on here, but simply put: it’s Bayonetta and Bayonetta is awesome. The rest of SEGA’s line up was pretty solid, and Lost World looks to be very promising, but none of it can really stand up to a triple A Platinum title.
As for non-SEGA games, well, I admit I didn’t play too many this E3. Atlus’s Dragon Crown was a lot of fun, as was Sony’s Tearaway. Due to the number of SEGA games present at Nintendo’s booth, I found myself spending quite a bit of time there. Super Mario 3D World was probably my favorite non SEGA experience at the show, largely thanks to the incredibly fun multiplayer mode.
Will says…
SEGA didn’t have that great of an E3 in my opinion, they could’ve been much better, but hopefully TGS makes up for the lackluster E3. I’m disappointed that Phantasy Star Online 2 wasn’t at E3, really makes you think it’s never going to make it over. I’m also disappointed that SEGA had absolutely nothing to show on next gen consoles.
So, I guess Sonic Lost World gets my vote as most interesting SEGA game at E3. I really don’t like how it’s got so many Mario elements, I mean the font is Mario, the timer is Mario, the speed is Mario, the simplified art style is Mario, but I digress. The game still looks fun, just disappointed with the Mario-like elements. Hopefully Sonic Lost World can still retain its identity as a Sonic game, but I got my doubts at the moment. I am excited about the game being 60 FPS though.
Another SEGA game that I’m really looking forward to that wasn’t at E3 is Hatsune Miku Project Diva F. I never played a Hatsune Miku game before so when I first tried the demo on PSN I was blown away. The game is just so much fun! I can’t wait for the full version to come out later this year.
As for non-SEGA game, well… there are a lot of current generation games this year that I want to play such as Puppeteer and Super Mario World 3D. At first I thought Super Mario World 3D looked like a cheap Nintendo cash-in but after seeing some gameplay of it I think it looks quite fun, I really like the cat suit power-up.
As for Next Gen, I am so blown away by the graphics! There are a lot of next gen games I want to play too. But the graphics, the fidelity, the detail, it’s all so amazing and mind blowing. A lot of these games are going to be running at 1080p 60fps too, that good of graphics with that good of framerate is just wow! Next gen games that caught my eye include but is not limited to Mirrors Edge 2, Final Fantasy XV, Watch Dogs, Assassins Creed IV Black Flag, Need for Speed, and Kingdom Hearts 3. There are just so many games that caught my eye with their mind-blowing graphics, it would be too hard to list all of them. I can’t wait for the PS4!
TimmiT says…
SEGA didn’t really have a huge presence at E3 this year, I don’t think they’ve really had one in the past couple of years. They just kinda seem to lay back while the other big publishers try to get as much attention as possible. Once again their main game of the show was a Sonic game, Sonic Lost World. I’m pretty excited for it, as it seems like it’ll have a good mix of both classic and modern Sonic elements while also introducing some new and interesting elements. The new control system (holding one trigger to run fast, the other to spindash) and the return of the smooth and silky 60fps do actually make it sound like Sonic will be easier to control in a 3D environment. It looks like this new wall run ability will be fun to use and I quite like the new stylized look. I actually think the game looks better than Sonic Generations, even though the latter is more graphically demanding.
One of the other SEGA games there I’m interested in is Castle of Illusion, which looks like Castle of Illusion with nicer graphics. Can’t really complain about that. I’m also excited for Bayonetta 2, which really just looks like more Bayonetta. Not that that’s a bad thing as that basically means “more incredibly ridiculous shit happening all the time”. I don’t really care that much for Company of Heroes 2 and Total War: Rome II, but seeing how the background of it’s respective developers consists of “RTS games that people find pretty friggin awesome” those who care about these games will probably find them pretty friggin awesome.
As for non-SEGA stuff, it looks like my favorite genre: the platformer keeps going strong. Super Mario 3D World, Rayman Legends, Puppeteer and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze all look like they’ll be excellent games by having either great ideas or just plain good level design. I’m probably most excited about the Playstation 4 in general though. Games that run at 1080p becoming the standard rather than the exception is something really exciting on it. Watch_Dogs and Destiny both look like interesting takes on their respective genres and Final Fantasy XV is the first FF game that looks interesting to me. Mostly because it doesn’t look like a typical JRPG and more like an action game. More Smash Bros is also never a bad thing in my opinion.
Oh, and Mirror’s Edge 2 is one of the sequels I’ve wanted for a long time now. And MGSV as well. Really it was just a great E3 in general and I find it hard to pick my favorite games from everything that was shown.
George says…
I think SEGA has a pretty solid line up of games that will sell a a lot and win awards. It seems that Sonic Lost World is getting really positive press. I mean, I could talk about that game but it seems that everyone here has already talked your ears off about it. You want it, I want it. But what else do I want? This might seem like a big surprise, but I’m really looking forward to Total War: Rome II, the first game was absolutely awesome and this one is looking to top it by miles. Not to mention their YouTube trailers have been getting me pumped as the game reaches closer to release.
Total War is just one of those games that really grabs my attention due to me always liking history. It’s an interesting subject, especially Roman era with its backstabbing politics. So, if I skip Sonic Lost World and the others mentioned, Total War: Rome II takes the cake on the SEGA side of things.
So what about the rest of E3? What am I looking forward to? Well, first of all I already pre-ordered a Playstation 4, so I did like ‘some’ of the games Sony showed off for the system. If I had to choose one that made me turn my head, it definitely has to be Infamous: Second Son. I have been a big fan Sucker Punch Productions since they did their Sly Cooper series on the Playstation 2 and always thought they were an underrated developer. I’m happy that they finally got a franchise off the ground that millions of gamers enjoy, they totally deserve the success. Infamous is one of those games that really captured me, I’m a comic book collector (sometimes it feels like I dabble in a little of everything, huh?) and since Infamous is comic book based (but its own universe), it’s the setting that interests me. Second Son looks like a great launch pad for people that never played the past games and the graphics shown look awesome. Did you see those fire effects?
The other game that has me interested is Knack, totally love the art style. Sony’s Japan Studio has been a big part of a lot of hits, most of which I actually enjoyed. It has been announced that Mark Cerny (Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Dexter, plus many more) is involved. I have written a few articles on here about Mark Cerny, so I’m totally looking forward to playing this title on launch day.
The other big game that caught me by surprise was Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. I was totally done with the Metal Gear Solid franchise after I played Metal Gear Solid 4, something about the ending of the game didn’t sit right with me. Then Hideo had to drag me back in with this badass trailer. The new open world system was very needed in this series and even though the horse riding looks like the developers took a bit of inspiration from Red Dead Redemption, that couldn’t be a bad thing. I mean, Red Dead Redemption I think is one of Rockstar’s best games last generation. If Konami and co pull this game off right, this might be the best Metal Gear Solid game yet. That is saying a lot, I was one of those gamers that heard every byte of codec data and read every single bit of information in Metal Gear Solid’s Playstation One discs. If this one is even close to being that good, I’ll be indulging quite a bit of my time on this one.
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is totally a welcomed surprise from Nintendo, I love the Donkey Kong Country franchise and am glad it’s continuing. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt looks awesome and a great way to start the new generation and end the Witcher story, Titanfall looks like it could be great fun with friends, Tom Clancy’s The Division had some incredible graphics and premise for being a MMO. Feels like I’m missing a few games, but that is how it is when you start listing games.
As far as SEGA goes, I have to say I was a bit disappointed. Sonic Lost World looks fine, but I’m as I’m not a Wii U owner I’m really waiting for the first Sonic title on X1/PS4. I was also hoping for some announcements from SEGA, like the HD remakes of Shenmue and Skies of Arcadia that had been rumored a while back.
Outside of SEGA…I’m going to have to be that guy, OK? I mean, someone has to, and it might as well be me, since I don’t think anyone else here is going to be. I was very impressed by the games Microsoft showed off for the Xbox One. Sunset Overdrive oozed with style and Quantum Break looks to have a very intriguing story. Project Spark was also really cool; I’m not a creative guy, but I know that many people are, and I am eager to see what others can make using Spark’s robust toolkit. Obviously the price point of the X1 is steep, and multiplatform games won’t look as good as on PS4, but the must-have titles make it worth the cost to me. I might wind up getting a PS4 in 3-5 years once the price has gone down and it has picked up a few more exclusives that I want (right now the only one is The Order 1886).
The Witcher 3 definitely looks phenomenal (like Skyrim, but with a good melee combat and a worthwhile story), and I’m intrigued by FFXV (which is really saying something, as I’ve not been a fan up until now).
The best part of all this, though? It’s not over yet. There are still more games to be announced by both 1st and 3rd parties, likely at both Gamescom and TGS. Sony still has Naughty Dog’s next project and probably other Japanese titles to show off, and Microsoft has projects going on at Lionhead and Osaka (as well as a potential Crackdown 3 announcement, which I would guess would be made by a different studio, though which one I don’t know). It’s a really exciting time to be a gamer.
Xbox One has a good lineup. I agree that I found myself thinking it looked more unique than PS4’s. Though the price point and Used Game/DRM features are a huge turnoff for me.
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