Where’s the gameplay now – ?
by dkpatriarch
© 2010 David Hilton
With E3 2010 almost here gamers everywhere will be hoping to hear new titles announced, along with new details on already announced upcoming games.
But what of those games previously announced where we have seen very little, if any, real gameplay footage, have few details on final retail release dates, or even know if they are really still coming? E3 sees studios and publishers (sometimes even those not at E3) provide new details of their upcoming games.
Here is my Top 10 list of games for E3 ’10 which I hope to see concrete in-game footage of to either prove they are still coming or to excite me for their future release. Some of these games are way overdue or just confirmed, while some are slotted in for the vague early 2011 release period.
What games do you need to see real in-game footage of at this E3 to get excited?
Please share your comments below: these cover all 4 platforms, not just Xbox games; we want to play them all . . . . don’t you?
Here’s my Top 10 “Show Me The Gameplay” Games:
10. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (360/PS3/PC)
Yes, I know…it has now just been confirmed but we all knew it was coming. It follows the story of Ezio after the events of Assassin’s Creed 2 and takes place in Rome.
We also know it will have multiplayer and is NOT Assassin’s Creed 3, which we speculate on in this article here.
In Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood – apparently you get to “lead your own brotherhood of assassins, as Ezio, and conquer Rome”, according to the leaked game cover.
Will this one have co-op (offline as well as on)? Or will it be a muck about messy multiplayer assassin-fest through the streets of Rome, with only lip service to a single player story?
Will we see “boyz in da hood” style gameplay (a bit like the first brawl of Assassin’s Creed 2) where Renaissance Rome becomes a battlefield between Assassins and Knights Templar to retake and hold neighbourhoods, like some Renaissance version of a gangsta game like Saints Row? I hope not.
We will need to see some real in-game footage if this game is being released by the end of the year, as we are assuming, before we can really understand where they are taking Ezio and the franchise with this one.
Some discussions on the game thus far:-
- The player may be able to play as a Knight Templar, either in single- or multiplayer mode, or both.
- The single player mode will be played either as Ezio, Desmond, a created Assassin/Templar, Vidic, another Templar/Assassin that has not been officially introduced, or a combination of the above.
- Customization will be included on- and off-line.
- Weapons include bladed Templar fans, syringes, axes, daggers, the ‘claw’, crossbow, and a switchblade.
- Split-screen/Online multiplayer, including co-op and battles.
- Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood will be released this Fall on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC.
9. Hellion: Mystery of the Inquisition (360?/PC)
I was perhaps a bit dismissive of this interesting title in my previous writing about it, and I would really like to see it be something special even though being an indie developer usually means hardship getting your project to market these days.
The game Hellion: Mystery Of The Inquisition, which looks a bit like Oblivion, follows a medieval sword wielding Dominican Inquisitor battling in the 13th Century against the rising evil of heretics, possessed, witches, Templars, assassins, animals, demons (sigh) and zombies (double sigh) in a ‘historical fiction’ first person perspective hack ‘n slash.
At the moment there are a few screenshots and a couple promising videos, but I’ll have to see some real gameplay, hopefully during E3, to give me confidence that it will be released by year’s end and be an interesting buy.
Other OXCGN article on Hellion: Mystery of the Inquisition.
8. Highlander: The Game (360/PC/PS3)
Eidos announced Highlander: The Game back in 2008 and has been pushing its release date back ever since.
Last I heard it was due this year some time, but hopefully we will see more of it than the screenshots and initial enticing promotion video at E3. Otherwise I fear it is all finished for Owen MacLeod the immortal.
Highlander: The Game is a third-person action game featuring the previously unknown Immortal, Owen MacLeod, as he visits really cool locations in time and place like Feudal Japan and Roman Pompeii during the eruption.
I always have thought the Highlander universe would make a great game, but for some reason Eidos seems to have got cold feet. Let’s hope E3 proves this title is still on the way….
7. Beyond Good and Evil 2 (360/PC/PS3)
Retro-remakes like Serious Sam HD, Monkey Island and Perfect Dark have reminded many of us of the type of games we used to play way before excessive ‘realism’ (so called for very very serious modern or near future plots and over the top violence) took hold this gen.
It may now be the right time to really release some real game vision of Beyond Good and Evil 2, the sequel to the original released back in 2003 which was meant to be the first in a trilogy.
• Ubidays ’08 Trailer
The sequel had a promising video for it seen in 2009, but since then has been reported to be delayed and then put on indefinite hold.
However, Ubisoft France’s Geoffroy Sardin told Gameblog.fr in November 2009 that the game was still being worked on and would be released on next gen consoles (this gen? or next?).
• Could this be BG&E2 – Or Mirrors Edge 2?
An official announcement with in-game footage would be very welcome at E3 to clarify that the game hasn’t been ‘retired’.
6. L.A. Noire (360/PS3)
This film noir mystery game set in 1940s L.A. and being developed by Australia’s Team Bondi for Rockstar has been the subject of much discussion over the last couple years, mostly over reports of its PS3 exclusivity and its mysterious lack of released details.
March this year though, those of us who subscribe to Game Informer magazine discovered that the game is very much alive and well, and multi-platform.
With a big focus on narrative, lighting, jazzy period music and huge amount of voice-work, this game could be something a bit different and certainly very cinematic.
However, there needs to be some in-game footage shown beyond the screenshots and video already released to really understand what their vision will look like in game form. How open-ended will it truly be? E3 is the time to show us.
5. Gears of War 3 (360)
Gears Of War 3 announced only recently, (but actually known about as early as 2003) is the sequel everyone knew was coming and has only given us an excellent video taster and fascinating details of a 4 player co-op mode, but there can be no holding back demands to see in-game vision and it is confirmed as being at E3.
I myself preferred the first game’s environments and overall feel, but loved the second’s Horde mode (which provided offline and online bot fun)- which will apparently make a return in the third game.
The game has an “April 11th 2011” release date (direct quote from Cliff himself), but this is still a game that Xbox 360 owners will be keen to see and hear more of at E3.
OXCGN had the good fortune to catch up with Cliff Bleszinski (he’s dropped the ‘Cliffy B’ tag) while he was here in Australia for the release of GEARS 2, and we’re hoping that he’ll return for the much awaited third game once again.
4. Max Payne 3 (360/PC/PS3)
Another Rockstar game, this time from Rockstar Vancouver, Max Payne 3 sees poor world-weary Max employed in Brazil as a private security guard to a wealthy family 12 years after the second game.
Yay…no more New York, the most overused environment in video game history! Boo…Max looks nothing like his old self and instead looks like someone out of “Mercenaries Digest” (which I guess is the point…).
I was a huge fan of the first two games, especially the second one, but am not sure how the harder edgier Max in Sao Paulo with multiple chips on his shoulders will play.
Another standard third person shooter? That would be a downer for a series that put 3rd person gaming as a genre into our consciousness in the first place. Will Max still be popping pills and doing slo-mo dives as he blasts his dual pistols?
We really need to see more than some screenshots that don’t really look ‘Max Payne’. We need in-game footage! E3 should clarify things.
3. Zelda (next) (Wii)
Has this Zelda game really been in active development for 5 years? That’s the claim, as is the supposed 2010 release date. If that is so, we’ll definitely be seeing this baby at E3 this year.
This Zelda is going to use Wii Motion-Plus for greater accuracy of movement, but other than that we don’t really know much about it. Zelda is one of those game series that some gamers just adored, and others like me got a bit ‘meh’ about.
Still, the Wii can sure use some sort of console seller right now, with console sales apparently slowing and very few big ‘hardcore gamer’ titles being released on it.
The Wii’s graphics are definitely looking very dated now, but gaming isn’t only about looks as those of us with portables can attest- gameplay can often be way more important.
With Microsoft’s Natal motion sensing system and Sony’s Move motion controller going to be given huge attention at this E3, the Wii needs to grab back what attention it can get, and a Zelda game will do that.
2. Gran Turismo 5 (PS3)
Okay enough is enough. Enough teasing. Enough promises. Enough pseudo demos. Enough crap. Time to get this game OUT and stop showing videos with flashy cars driving down roads.
It was announced way back in 2006, and its main competition, Forza 3 on the 360, has been out awhile now and still there is no firm release date. It is supposed to be ready by the end of the year.
Prove it! Give the media the chance to play the near retail version at E3 and demonstrate to the rest of us that this $60 million game is really coming for the long suffering fans, finally.
The game is also supposed to feature 3D gaming and maybe even some PS Move action!
The game will be a sure-fire hit and will again probably boost sales of the PS3, such is the reputation this series has. That is, if it ever gets released…
1. Thief 4 (360/PC/PS3)
Eidos Montreal announced the next in this fantastic medieval stealth game series in May 2009, but we haven’t seen anything since other than the official website of course. Along with Highlander (above) this has me concerned, though if they are taking their time with it to get it right I’m all for it.
What we need are some new details announced either at E3 (I’ve yet to see Eidos listed as being there?) or around this period.
Ideally we’d see in-game footage to get an idea of what they are doing, but I’d be happy even with a series of screenshots and a promotional video to prove it is still coming soon.
Thief 3: Deadly Shadows was one of my favourite games on the Xbox last gen and if you haven’t played it, I recommend finding an old copy as it is reverse compatible on the 360, or trying it out on PC.
It had an amazing atmospheric feel and a huge variety of game environments and gameplay which made it a pleasure from start to finish. It allowed for a bit of exploration and choice in how you completed your mission, something that is now celebrated more often in games this generation like Assassin’s Creed 2.
You had blades and bows, but you often used your tools for stealth, like shooting water arrows at flaming torches on walls to kill the light so you could sneak around a guard. It did require a bit of patience and planning, but it always paid off. The mysterious story and quality voice-work were all top notch.
With the usual line-up of shooter games with names like Bulletstorm and Bodycount to be shown this E3, it would be very nice to have a different style of game like Thief 4 demonstrated for those of us who are suffering “shooter fatigue”.
So there’s my list.
What do you think I missed?
What other games must “show us the gameplay” this E3 to keep our interest?
Comment below.
© 2010 David Hilton
xxxxxx
Filed under: 1st Party Titles, 3rd Party Games, Console gaming, E3 2010, Editorial, Events, Game Impressions, Game Industry News, New Game Information, New Xbox 360 Games, Oxcgn Special feature, Racing, Software News & Updates, Wii News, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 3rd Party Games, Xbox 360 Game Previews, Xbox 360 News Tagged: | 360, Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, Assassins Brotherhood, Beyond Good & Evil 2, Beyond Good And Evil 2, boyz in da hood, Cliff Blesenski, E3, E3 2010, E3 2010 game wishlist, Eidos, Eidos Interactive, epic, Ezio, Gears of War 3, Gran Turismo, Highlander Owen MacLeod, L.A. Noir, L.A. Noire, LA Noir, LA Noire, max payne 3, Owen MacLeod, PC, PS3, Renaissance, rockstar, Sony, Thief 4, Ubisoft, Unreal Engine 3, Zelda, Zelda wii
I love Assassins Creed, and the gameplay is very well.
Btw nice information about Gears of War 3. Im waiting for this game.
I would love to see something on the supposed reboot/remake of the Syndicate franchise by Starbreeze. I absolutely loved this game back in the day, and I hope it hasn’t been shelved.
Also the next Deus Ex is a game I’d like more info about. The first was brilliant, and the second was alot of fun IMO.
Great call on Thief 4, LA Noire, and Gears 3. I hope AC:Brotherhood is good too, and not just some attempt to cash in.
Deus Ex 3 anyone? Ive been waiting for that game since 2 came out on the original x-box!
I want it, no i need its shiny disk in my tray
Agent, The Agency, DC universe, last guardian, and The list of current games that will receive a patch for the PS Move.
I actually would like to see the new SSX game… I know it hasn’t been confirmed but it has literally been teased left right and centre in Burnout Paradise. So it’s coming at some stage… just let us see SSX in HD and I’ll be a happy person! And also Persona 5, I know they only just started so it is probably wishful thinking.
great list, half of them i did not even know were coming!
im REALLY! worried about assassins creed brotherhood though.
im really worried there rushing the game and are going to turn it into crap like they have with their other series.
i really enjoyed assassins creed 1 and 2, especially 2 its one of my favorite games of all time!
i mean assassins creed is a massive game, its not one of those things you can finish in a years time.
hopefully im wrong and ACB turns out to be as good, if not better than AC2.
but, eh, i just could not stand this series go down the drain!!!
This side of Assassin’s Creed has been , as they say – “in the works” for some time, and they usually only make such things public well into the development phase.
One must remember, while the game is being made by Ubisoft per-se, different studios across the world work on different titles belonging to the same franchise. They have just opened a brand new huge studio in China and another in Europe last year, all with the aim of moving more games across the board.
Not because they want to cash in on a franchise and run it blind, but because the wait period of gamers in todays gaming world is a great deal shorter than in the past. Where a wait of between 2-3 yrs or even 18 months was acceptable and expected. Now it’s between 12 – 18 mths tops. And if the developer does not show what they have coming up, punters move onto something else. Because there’s now a huge list of AAA title games available to gamers/
Assassin’s Creed 3 is still underway, while “Brotherhood’ is aimed at addressing the Multiplayer aspects which many gamers have asked for. This was noted back in Assassin’s Creed 1, and Ubi have followed on with that, and been working on something still within the storylines of the franchise, yet giving the gamer something bigger to play with.
I think you’ll find Brotherhood great if you’re into multiplayer, and yet it still has a half decent Single Player segment to keep us SP fans happy.
But then again, gamers are fickled individuals, and while they scream for new ideas, when they come, they backpedal like crazy and say “what have you done to my best game…” ..(cough – Splinter Cell: Conviction – cough)
ahhhhhhh i thought the same guys who did 1 and 2 were working on brotherhood.
so its going to be more of a spin off than a sequel?
i hope they still pick up from where AC2 ended, im dying to find out who the girl was you spoke to at the end, and what she was talking about the temples.
i do not want assassins creed to change in the slightest way, assassins creed 2 besides the controls was perfect!
nothing needs to be changed, just a little more polish to eliminate bugs and refine controls and it will be perfected!
as for splinter cell conviction, while i loved it its one of my favorite games this gen!
with that said i was extremely disappointed they turned it away from hardcore stealth and into more of a action game.
yes you can still use stealth but its no where near as deep as previous games, and its actually really hard to spot where you can use it.
allot of times i would clear a room one way and not even notice i could of done it several ways, thats poor level design.
i wanted more hardcore stealth levels like the first level just as you enter FE.
creep in the darkness, prey on your enemies, be patient and plan your attack.
thats what splinter cell is all about!
not run in and blow everyones bloomin head off!!!
i hate it when developers change a series genre, or its style.
perfect example would be battlefield bad company 2.
i loved BFBC it was my GOTY 2007, it was such a great game, level design was near perfect!
BFBC2 is a completley different game, BFBC was open world sort of, BFBC2 is as restrictive and linear as possible.
DICE focused on MP WAY! too much, and just copped MW2 with the SP.
honestly if it was not for the name, and the characters you would not even know BFBC2s a sequel to BFBC they honestly feel like 2 completley different games!
i buy sequels to games expecting the game to be more of the same, just better.
look at uncharted 2 its almost exactly the same as uncharted, yet its one of the most awarded games in the history of video games!
if i wanted something different, than i would buy something different thats just common sense!
if you want a banana you buy a banana not a apple
cant wait for alan wake though, only 7 more days, the wait is killing me!!!!!!!!!!!!
Re SPlinter Cell, you have to remember, Sam is no longer the man he used to be. He’s bitter, angry, no longer a stealth killer if he doesn’t have to obe.
He’smotivated by hate and revenge, not patriotism any more as he once was. A story changes as it moves forward, it can not stay as it is, otherwise the character makes no progress into his storyline or career along his ‘time-line’ throughout a series.
If you were Sam, and they had done the things they had done, supposedly killed your daughter, made you murder one of your closests friends, and then hunted you down more than once.
Would you lurk in the shadows if you didn’t have to. WOuld you not use whatever means you had at your disposal to remove the threat and avaenge the losses you have suffered.
Actually, not showing you that there are many ways through a level is good level design. Things need not be so obvious that they are – well – obvious. In real life, you’d have to look around, make choices, suffer the consiquences for what you do choose to do etc. I went through pone section exceptionally quietly without being noticed, so it is possible in the places needed to do so. But at the same time, you also have very different ppl you are dealing with now than in the past, again, adding a different element to the overal gameplay.
Games can not stay as they were if they are to succeed otherwise they stagnate and become nothing more than cerial-box cut outs of previous games. There’s a story arc to consider, and along that arc, things change. So did Sam.
id rather lurk in the shadows and play with the enemies head, kinda like what batman AA lets you do.
play cat and mouse with them, mess with their mind its so funny throwing a batwrang at them and listen to them freak out.
stealth is your best weapon!
do you have a better chance of survival concealing your identity, or barging through the front door like Silvester Stallone in a rambo film?
splinter cell conviction needed more environmental hazards, and more stealth positions.
like the poles running across the roofs and generators hanging off the roof.
in some levels almost every area allowed you to climb a pole and slowly pick them off one by one, some did not.
every level needed that.
prime example the level from E3 there are so many ways to clear out the enemies, theres like 4 different doors you can take, you can take the windowsill, you can use the polls and use the chandelier to take them out.
it needed way more levels that allowed you to do that.
it had some levels that had 10 ways to clear the room, than it had the rest as sorry you can only do it this way.
they should of made it that every single level has multiple ways to take everyone out.
they blew allot of chances, i thought when you first fight the upgraded soldiers that have NV, it would force you to change up your tactics and use your environment to your advantage because they can see you and they have much more powerful weapons..
thats the thing with SPC, they made it that your a tough guy run and gun, but than you get shot once and your dead!
there are a million and one cover shooters out there, the last thing we needed was another and thats what conviction kinda was..
sequels dont need to be different to be good, look at bioshock 2, MW2, GOW3, R&C ACIT ME2, forza 3.
all sequels to one of the industries most famous games, and at the same time EXACTLY the same as its predecessors.
if i want a different type of game, why would i buy that game.
stealth games are so rare these days, and sadly it looks like ive lost another.
sometimes changing a sequel to a well known IP can seriously destroy the series.
perfect example resident evil 5.
that is by far the most disappointing game of this generation!!!
RE4 was such a good game, RE5 feels like a jappanese version of left 4 dead to be honest!
or even F.E.A.R 2.
fear was so ahead of its time, it was a brilliant game, it was so scary it made me paper my pants every 5 minutes!
F.E.A.R 2 was nothing but a mindless shooter!
another prime example, devil may cry 4.
im the biggest DMC fan, DMC3 was such a bloody good game!
i was heartbroken when i found out dante was replaced by nero, and once i finished the game i wanted to fly over to capcom and strangle the guy who thought of that.
same goes for horror games, RE, silent hill, F.E.A.R.
these all use to be nail biting tense horror games.
now there just mindless action games.
this is whats destroying the industry!
its now far to focused on sales, who cares about quality as long as it brings in the cash thats all that matters.
developers are trying to change their games to cater to more gamers, to bring in more cash.
a prime example of that is final fantasy XIII.
that use to be a hardcore JRPG, they have turned it from a JRPG to a normal standard RPG.
they tried to “westernize” their game, to bring in more sales, and in doing so completley destroyed their game!
i wish games would go back to the good old days, and be made BY GAMERS, FOR GAMERS!
not by wallet heads, for stockholders.
i wish this industry would be less about stockholders, and more about pushing the envelope and delivering the best game possible!
prime example, remedy with alan wake.
now there is a proper developer, creating a game for us gamers.
there a small studio, there almost bust but did that stop them from taking their sweet time making the best time they can?
they spent 5+ years creating alan wake and BOY WAS IT WORTH IT!!!!!!!!!!
only complaint, they missed allot of opportunities.
the game creates suspense very well, but it never gives you the fright.
the enemies just walk out of the bushes, instead of jumping out at you.
just feels like a missed opportunity!
only if there were more remedys in the industry and less capcoms! or ubisofts, or $Es there all the same.
sellouts!!!!!!!!
There won’t be any BGE2 showcase in this e3, nor will there be one in 2011.
Ubisoft France is onto something else with Rayman, but you won’t see anything on BGE2, project has been delayed. Geoffroy Sardin doesn’t know a shit about what’s in the pipe.
So stop hoping
Good list, but seriously, just because this is an Xbox site doesn’t mean you have to ignore great PlayStation 3 exclusives like LittleBigPlanet 2, Killzone 3, Resistance 3, inFamous 2, SOCOM 4, Final Fantasy Versus XIII and The Last Guardian.
I did have to cut the list down, and wanted a variety of big games and lesser known games in the list. Many of the games are multi platform and Gran Turismo is PS3 exclusive.
Resistance 3, SOCOM 4 and Killzone 3 do not inspire me in the least, and as this is a personal list, I left them out. There’s only so many shooters you can have. Yes I have Gears there, but imo it’s more interesting than those 3.
You’ll notice I also missed Halo: Reach…an Xbox exclusive.
It’s great that you have added them in the comment section though!
Little Big Planet 2 could have been in the list though.
Test Drive Unlimited 2 and Criterion NFS.
The Last Guardian
No Agent? Biased.
HOW ABOUT criterions NFS for crying out loud!!!