Game Console's Darren Price reports back after day two of the E3 Expo in L.A.
Wednesday at E3 is a long day as the doors opened at 10am and closed at 6pm. I'd also somewhat ever subscribed myself with lots of scheduled demonstrations split between the halls (which take a good ten minutes to get from one to the other).
The first demo was with Sunset Overdrive and hosted by Insomniac's Marcus Smith.
Now this is a game that for me looked like so much hot air at last year's E3, with a protagonist leaping about the screen unleashing hell on a zombie infested post apocalyptic landscape.
From what I've seen (but not played due to phenomenally long queues with no press privileges), the game looks very good - game of the show good.
Sunset Overdrive is game that the developers want to be played for laughs. It knows it's a game. The idea is that drinks manufacturer, Fizzco, are testing their new product in Sunset City. After the launch party, the citizens start to mutate into nasty looking creatures. Cue the unlikely hero - you.
The game's protagonist is a fully customisable slacker who was working in his (or her) dead end job picking up litter whist everybody else was drinking the deadly Overcharge Delirium XT soda.
Sunset Overdrive sets out to show gamers that the end of the world isn't necessarily all bad and can be a lot if fun. With the "awesompocalpse" in full swing the city is cordoned of and the catastrophe hidden from the rest of the world. You play both prisoner and survivor, taking on the OD - which stands for Overcharge Delirium. You are not alone, there are other survivors;some will help you and some will not.
The star of the game is the amazingly interactive environment. All most everything does something. You can bounce on stuff, grind on stuff, even unleash a load of pickaxe-wielding garden gnomes on your enemy. The developers have not constrained themselves at all. If it's fun and it works it's in the game.
The only limit to their creativity seems to have been their legal advisors whom suggested some of the lens covert winks at pop culture where removed. Sunset Overdrive looks like a game to watch when it comes out in October.
Next it was over to Nintendo. I'd never played a Wii U before, but I was shown the ropes with the delightful platformer Yoshi's Woolly World, before moving onto Hyrule Warriors - which I'd best describe as Zelda-flavoured Dynasty Warriors.
I then moved on to Bayonetta 2. Wii U fans are in for a treat as the game offers up a similar experience to the first one that came out of on the Xbox 360/PS3. Wii U fans will get twice the thrill as Bayonetta 2 comes complete with the first game.
The final demo at the Nintendo booth was Super Smash Bros. I can see Nintendo fans going nuts for this game, even though it had little nostalgic appeal for me.
From there is was back into the other hall for a session with Bethesda, who were showing off two of their upcoming games.
Battlecry is a stylised 32-player team game set in a world where gunpowder has been banned. In this alternative history, following the Great War areas were set aside for battle do that countries could setting disputes with minimal casualties.
With no gunpowder, weapons are limited to blades, projectiles and gadgetry. It's a interesting concept which show's promise and look fantastic with its painterly art style.
The other game on show was The Evil Within, which I didn't spend nearly as much time with as I wanted to. I will say, running on the PS4, the demo looked fantastic with a heavy filmic filter over the visuals giving them a very gritty look.
The last two sessions were for Forza Horizons 2 and Fable Legends. Both games looked great, with Forza Horizon 2 coming across with the physics of Forza 5, but less serious and more fun to play.
Fable Legends takes the Fable formula and takes it into the multiplayer realm (although it can still be played single-player. Four heroes must fight their way through the holds of evil, with players taking on the role of a hero or the villain himself. It's an interesting take on the game, giving one player the role of dungeon-master setting traps for the heroes.
Well that's all for now. It's day three tomorrow followed by a fifteen hour flight home. I'll fill you in on the final day's events on my return. I'll also be expanding my thoughts and experiences with some of the amazing games that are coming down over the next few weeks.