So, the start of E3 2012 is almost upon us. Over the years, we have had console announcements and surprises, game reveals, trailers, and general larking about. This year, it seems important. Why? Many people say the WiiU, and I am left wondering why.
This console from Nintendo needs to be the very best. Last year’s reveal left us all hoping for more, and what’s better, gave us some slight announcements for games, chief among them LEGO City Stories and Super Smash Bros. This year should bring a lot more on board for the WiiU, and I am hoping that LEGO City Stories gets a full reveal.
Why, you might ask? The reason is that this looks to be one of the best LEGO games of the lot. Full free roam in the style of GTA, with a setting of a full city based on the popular LEGO series. That is all we know, apart from the fact it is Nintendo exclusive and will appear on WiiU and 3DS.
What do I want? Full customisation is a given, and looking at the City sets, we will have that in plenty. And also, from the sets, we will have plenty of things to keep us occupied. The point of the game is something I’d like to be like GTA, but in different sections, almost like those emergency minigames but in full. In other words, you work at a police corps, you have to chase bad guys. But only being a low-level worker, you don’t have a lot of help. By completing missions, you gain ranks and get more help and better vehicles for the job.
You also earn the LEGO currency – studs – from these jobs too. And a lot of them. The money, I have no idea what purpose it could be put towards, other than looking to GTA and other LEGO games for inspiration. That being houses and other customisation pieces.
Onto other 3DS games, Animal Crossing needs a release date and full info around about now. This is fact. And with Kid Icarus doing well, now seems like a good time to revive other old franchises as well as unveiling that one wild card that is the new IP. Luigi’s Mansion 2 should also get some of the limelight here, and also receive a release date.
Onto the WiiU, and also talking about reviving old franchises, it would be great to see HD versions of old favourites like F-Zero. And while on the subject of old franchises, give us a full version of Pilotwings, with a fully explorable no limits [that’s time limits] free flight mode. And also give us a Mario Kart early, with boosted features and more cups.
Looking at Microsoft and Sony, it is already a fact that they won’t be showing any consoles at E3, so it will be all about the games for them. But that doesn’t stop them from playing to their strengths. Microsoft has Forza, Sony Gran Turismo. Forza Horizon will be revealed at E3, or so it might seem, so how will Sony come back from that? Not with LittleBigPlanet Karting, that’s for sure. So the only way they can do that is with another Gran Turismo game. One that is better than the PSP and PS3 versions. But, if they were to reveal it, it would either mean unveiling that they are working on the PS4, or release it on the PSV.
Now revealing it on the PSV might not be such a bad idea. One of the best racing games of the old times [PS1/2] were the Gran Turismo games, even if they were a pain to wait for. Since GT4 and GT5, four Forza games have been unveiled and released and the fifth one is on its way. This means Polyphony Digital need to rack up a better production schedule. With the PSV already confirmed to be one of the easiest consoles to develop for, this means that a new Gran Turismo game could be out by Christmas this year if they started working on it secretly after GT5’s eventual release.
Onto other games for the two, Kinect and Move really need to get a move on in terms of proper games, and not some silly overstretched minigames made into full games. And as unlikely as this seems, I want a full HD remake of the Midtown Madness games from Microsoft. These games are the perfect mix of core racing games and those of free roam stature – and to remake them, or even revive the series with a new game, would make me finally invest in an Xbox 360. These games are perfect fun, and with PC graphics cards becoming too powerful to run older games [we’re talking about 2000 and before here] it would be better to bring this series back.
Not to go on too much more, but with SEGA to unveil more on games such as Sonic All-Star Racing Transformed, and other companies unveiling shooters and action games, I think the 3DS could get some better games for it, and the WiiU a better launch title list. For EA and Konami, FIFA and PES are musts, as they are every year. Codemasters going racing games only need to impress us with new racing games in order for us to accept the change was worthwhile.
Now, I am including this in here because it isn’t part of the big three, but LucasArts really should listen to their fanbase on this one. We’ve all been crying out for Star Wars Battlefront 3, and yet we get games like the half-asked Force Unleashed 2 and Star Wars Kinect. Now we’ve got the announcement of Star Wars 1313, a game set in the underbelly of Coruscant with you playing as a bounty hunter. As far as I and the rest of the world can tell, this isn’t listening to the fanbase. Everyone loves Star Wars Battlefront 1 and 2, and the more daring of the lot like the PSP versions [even more daring if you liked the DS one], a full number 3 on the series would be everyone’s favourite. But I expect you to wait for next-gen consoles to really wow us.
And so that concludes this article. But all I have to say as a last is Pokémon WiiU. Now that would be really great. Oh, and tell Square-Enix to get on with the new Dragon Quest game, and at the same time give us an announcement of a HD remake collection of Kingdom Hearts, then announce number 3.
Images Taken From:-
Nintendo Press Conference E3 2011 | GameSpot
Forza Motorsport 4 | Xbox Marketplace
Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron | Amazon
