E3 2013 came. And now E3 2013 is gone. You lived it at home, and we lived it from the show floor. There was much to see, do, and smell, but only the very best were worth immortalising on this here website. And so it is with great pleasure we introduce Rocket Chainsaw’s very first Best of E3 Awards. To start us off…
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Runner up: Megaman in Super Smash Bros.
Words by Jarrod Mawson.
Sometimes it’s not games themselves, but words and buzz that leave the most memorable impression on the attending E3 audience. For 2013 we had many fond memories, but there was one we kept coming back to with a smile: Sony’s press conference battle with Microsoft, or more specifically, their ruthless assault on Microsoft’s unfavourable Xbox One policies. Regardless of the intention, people just weren’t happy with the idea of daily online authentication, muddled used game policies, and other flimsy obligations that seemed to stand in the way of simply putting in a disk and enjoy your game, internet or not. In there own conference, Sony went for the throat, cheekily announcing that the PlayStation 4 will not require online authentication, will support full used games policies, and on top of this will launch at a lower price point. If E3 2013 was about proving who had the best console on offer, Sony made a very good case for theirs being the one for gamers.
Trailing just behind Sony vs. Microsoft was not a corporate announcement, but the simple reveal of Capcom’s Megaman in the latest Super Smash Bros. Alongside Solid Snake and Sonic the Hedgehog for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Megaman is doubtlessly one of the most requested third party character additions. It may have taken a few years, but Megaman fans finally have their wish, the little blue hero joining the roster alongside Mario, Link, Samus, and everybody else.
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Runner up: Tom Clancy’s The Division
Words by Anthony Capone.
Breaking with the tradition of endless sequels and franchises, E3 2013 offered gamers a number of stellar new properties. To be eligible for Rocket Chainsaw’s ‘Best new IP’ award, the game must have made its proper gameplay debut at E3. One title that headlined this year’s show was Respawn Enetrtinament’s Titanfall, and was subsequently chosen by Rocket Chainsaw’s staff as our winner. The multiplayer-only title from the creators of Call of Duty features spectacular battles between towing mechs – or ‘Titans’ – and legions of pilot foot soldiers. Fast, fluid, balanced gameplay, solid visuals and a stable of talented developers look to deliver what could be the best and most innovative multiplayer game of recent years. After Titanfall, Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s The Division received our runner-up award in this category for its jaw-dropping debut and the promise of immersive online role-playing in a dystopian New York City.
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Runner up: Killzone Mercenary
Words by Jarrod Mawson.
Though the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 were generally the big new things on show at E3 2013, and thus the focus for most developers, the world of portables wasn’t totally ignored. We tried a good few titles across iOS, Nintendo 3DS, and PlayStation Vita, and ultimately came away feeling that Media Molecule’s Tearaway was the best of them all. Tearaway aims to do what so many portable games try and fail – make you, the player, part of the adventure. Tearaway is not a disembodied world to vicariously live through, but an adventure taking place within your Vita, you as the star. Channelling Media Molecule’s most creative side, Tearaway has you interacting with the Vita device itself in all sorts of ways just to engage with the game world. Drag, pull, and press this paper world and watch it come alive as if your fingers really were manipulating all the little cut-out constructions right in front of you. A lot can be said for the PlayStation Vita and its software library, good and bad, but one thing’s for sure: Tearaway represents the kind of ideas and creativity we hoped to see when the Vita was first announced, and we can’t wait to play the final build.
A close second to Tearaway was yet another Vita game: Killzone Mercenary, which could very well be the first truly home console-like first person shooter game built exclusives for portables. And it looks pretty, too!
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Words by Anthony Capone.
Titles in this in this award category reflect those that only showed only a very small snippet of things to come. E3 2013 was a good year for game teases, including a Battlefront from DICE and Sony’s The Order: 1886. It was a very tough decision awarding ‘Best Tease’, but in the end we could not decide between the rebooted Mirror’s Edge and Remedy’s Quantum Break, so we decided on a tie. Crowds of gamers have been calling for a new Mirror’s Edge for years, and EA finally promised a next-gen open-world prequel reboot, again from DICE, starring a revamped and younger Faith. The tense but spectacular teaser trailer ended with the icing on the cake – the promise the game will only be released ‘when its done’, assuring us of a properly-developed game. The equal winner in this category, Quantum Break, wasn’t the Alan Wake 2 as anticipated, but dare we say Remedy’s next game could be even better? Microsoft previewed a brief cut-scene, showing life-like visuals, subject matter involving the slowing of time and a gun-wielding protagonist intend on stopping a conspiracy of sorts. That was more than enough for us be sitting on the edge of our seats for this Xbox One exclusive.
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Runner up: Frostbite 3
Words by Jarrod Mawson.
To say E3 2013 was a big year for technology would be an understatement. Microsoft and Sony were out in full force, showing off the rendering capabilities and enhanced features of their next generation consoles. nVidia was there too, demonstrating their proprietary PhysX software, for example enhancing hair and fur in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Yet despite all of this, and more, there was one piece of technology that stood above all others: Oculus Rift. What started as a simple Kickstarter by a handful of folk with a passion for head mounted displays has ballooned into the water cooler technology gossip. Plug it into your PC, strap it on, and you’ll find yourself transported to another world. Oculus Rift utilises two LCD screens, one for each eye, to produce a natural stereoscopic 3D effect, and takes it all to the next level with gyro-based motion controls that accurately read head tilt and position. To put it simply, Oculus Rift could very well be the emerging consumer-level virtual reality-like peripheral gamers have been dreaming of for most of their lives. And our hands-on experience at E3 2013, especially with the EVE-VR software demo, has made us believers.
We’d like to give a shout out to our runner up technological show-piece: Frostbite 3. DICE’s new in-house developed engine, powering Battlefield 4, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Need for Speed: Rivals, Mirror’s Edge 2, Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, and the distant Mass Effect 4, did an excellent job of showing us how amazing next generation games can and will look. Exciting times ahead.
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Runner up: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Words by Jarrod Mawson.
Before deciding on a winner for the best game of show, the Rocket Chainsaw crew knew readers would have their own opinions on what does and does not deserve time in the spotlight. After a good and thorough quizzing, ya’ll have chosen none other than Battlefield 4 as the best game of E3 2013. Successor to Battlefield 3, Battlefield 4 is DICE’s next big foray into the world of cinematic single player campaigns and huge multiplayer shooter carnage. Though DICE is keen to promote Battlefield 4‘s campaign as an emotional thrill ride, we’re hedging our bets on the 64-player multiplayer as the major draw card for military shooter fans around the world. Battlefield 4 looks to both retain and one-up the massive multiplayer battles essential to the series’ identity, keeping an assortment of weapons, classes, and vehicles, while enhancing battles with deeper procedural destruction and a return of Battlefield 2‘s commander mode. Best of all, a target of full 64 player matches, along with 60 frames per second at 1080p on both Sony and Microsoft’s next generation console, ensures that nobody from the next wave of consoles will be left out of the authentic Battlefield experience.
Closely trailing Battlefield 4, readers selected Kojima Productions’ Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain as their second best game of E3 2013. Speaking of Metal Gear…
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Runner up: Watch_Dogs
Words by Anthony Capone.
One title was the clear winner for Rocket Chainsaw’s game of show at E3 2013. First, a nod to our runner-up. Watch_Dogs claimed a stunning debut at last year’s event, and continued its amazing showing in 2013 with truely next-gen visuals and engaging subject matter. Nevertheless, there is only one winner: Metal Gear Solid V. The opener at Microsoft’s conference left us picking our mouths off the floor, and whenever we trooped past Konami’s booth, crowds seemed immobilised over and over as they viewed the astonishing E3 video. Granted, we only saw a trailer, but we viewed authentic gameplay and entirely in-game visuals – the two essential criteria for this award. In Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, classic and compelling Metal Gear stealth gameplay is integrated with an open-world environment, featuring real-time weather and day-and-night cycles. The game delivers stunning graphics through the FOX engine and is sure to be a classic mind-tearing Kojima story, but this time with real-world themes. Big Boss also returns as the protagonist, this time with the ‘Punished Snake’ mantra. The trailer conveys an exhilarating Metal Gear adventure, with the most captivating soundtrack of recent memory reminding us of Snake’s plight. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain cannot come soon enough, and is Rocket Chainsaw’s choice for best game of E3 2013. Kojima, you genius.
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Special thanks go to our readers, who followed us throughout E3 on Rocket Chainsaw, our Facebook, and twitter, as well as those who took the time to enter our Readers’ Choice category. Stay tuned to Rocket Chainsaw for more E3 2013 coverage over the next few days.
