There was a lot to see at E3 2010. If you’ve read my recollection of the show, you’d know that almost every publisher brought at least one great title to the show. It’s hard limiting the list to just one selection for every genre, but we tried our best.
Now – our E3 2010 awards.
Best Action Game – Dead Space 2 (PS3, 360, PC)
Dead Space 2 brings protagonist Issac Clarke to the Sprawl space station to investigate a necromorph infection on the station. To put it bluntly, like the the first game, Dead Space 2 looks amazing. Everything about it is exactly what both fans of the series and action gamers could want in a game. If you’ve seen the Sony press conference gameplay and the EA conference gameplay, you’d know why Dead Space 2 wins our best action game of E3. Simply stunning. See the debut gameplay for yourself here.
Best Adventure Game – Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (PS3, 360, PC)
Ezio was first introduced in Assassin’s Creed II as Desmond’s Italian assassin ancestor and we were instantly attached. Not only did he show more character than Altair, but he had a more personal story to experience. Now, he’s back in this new Assassin’s Creed and bringing along a brotherhood of new allies. Ubisoft only showed off a glimpse of the single-player mode and had a multiplayer demo available on the show floor – but it looked fantastic. While it’s not Assassin’s Creed III, we have all the reason to look forward to Brotherhood.
Best Fighting Game – Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (PS3, 360)
Ten years after Marvel vs. Capcom 2, the highly anticipated sequel is finally in development. After personally playing it on the E3 show floor, I can say the hype is to be believed. It’s one of the best looking fighters out there and the best looking fighter on the E3 floor. While I only got to test out a few characters (of which I fell in love with Dante), the final game will have over thirty to play. That with a deep storyline and online multiplayer promises an exciting arrival for a game we’ve been waiting ten years to play.
Best Driving Game – Gran Turismo 5 (PS3)
Gran Tursimo 5 has been in development for at least eight-four years now (/sarcasm). During E3, Sony finally announced that the PS3 racing sim will launch on November 2, 2010. The game has over one-thousand cars, tracks that could easily be mistakened as the real thing, and an array of gameplay modes that we haven’t really seemed to touch the surface of yet. It’s finally going to arrive (for real, this time) and we couldn’t be more excited for Polyphony’s next entry in the racing series.
Best First-Person Shooter – RAGE (PS3, 360, PC)
What’s so fantastic about RAGE? Damn near everything we’ve seen of it at the show. Huge world, stunning (*sizzle*) visuals, diverse environments (which can be rare in a post-apocalyptic game such as this), enemies that can read the environment, engineering tools, the beautiful town, and of course, the Godzilla mutant that ended the demo in Dead City. I had an urge to steal the controller and take him on, but unfortunately the demo ended. Wouldn’t want to get in id Software‘s bad side, either. RAGE was amazing – ’nuff said. See it for yourself here.
Biggest Game Not At E3 – The Last Guardian (PS3)
Most definitely two of PlayStation 2‘s biggest and best games were Team ICO’s Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. Last year, the team announced their first PlayStation 3 game – titled The Last Guardian. The trailer showed us a boy and his beast, named Trico, solving various puzzles and taking on soldiers in what can only be described as a magically enchanting world. The connection between the two felt strong. We were sure Sony would bring the game to E3 this year, considering it’s one of their biggest upcoming titles, but it looks like they might be holding out for the Tokyo Game Show in September. We’ll await you, Last Guardian.
Biggest Letdown – Motion Control
Easily our biggest disappointment of E3. While it’s a cool concept, we’re simply not the type for motion control. Mentioned earlier in Sal’s E3 recollection, Kinect aims way too high at the casual audience. Move, on the other hand, can have a presence in the hardcore gamer’s life, but we’re still not fully convinced. We’ll see how both platforms hold up come their release later this year.
Best MMO – Final Fantasy XIV (PS3, PC)
Final Fantasy XIV looks great. With its beta phase in the near future and a release date set for September on PC and March on PS3, Square Enix‘s new MMORPG launch is that much closer to reality. The game features many much needed improvements from Square Enix’s first MMO, Final Fantasy XI. Improved character classes and more solo-based progression look like they’re truly expanding the player experience. Not to be forgotten, we’ve never seen an MMO that looks this good visually. This was easily our favorite MMO of the show.
Blurb contributed by Erren Van Duine.
Best Motion Control Game – Child of Eden (PS3, 360)
Child of Eden is as simple as it is confusing. Technically, the game can be played with a controller, even though its was demoed through Kinect at E3. They haven’t yet announced if it’ll be compatible with PlayStation Move. It’s an on-rails shooter that has players firing at enemies on-screen by highlighting them with the on-screen cursor controlled by their hands. It plays to some funky music and packs a lot of action and movement. A couple of gestures players can make include a grabbing gesture, which loads up on ammo, and a clapping gesture, which shifts weapons. Looking as beautiful as it does and coming from the creators of Rez, I think this is easily our favorite motion control game of the show.
Best New Game Announcement – Silent Hill 8 (PS3, 360)
We’ve been waiting on a good Silent Hill for a while now. Silent Hill: Homecoming didn’t do the job right so Silent Hill 8 has a lot to make up for. Luckily, the four-minute debut trailer debuted at Konami‘s press conference showed a lot of promise. The game’s in development at a brand new studio named Vatra Games. There’s something about these new studios that apparently know how to make good games. Look at Media Molecule, United Front, and PlatinumGames, for example. We have high expectations for Silent Hill 8 – so hopefully Konami will deliver.
Best PlayStation 3 Game – inFAMOUS 2 (PS3)
By far the most impressive game, out of all the sequels shown at E3 would have to be inFAMOUS 2. Not only does it look ten times better than the first game, it also seems to have addressed a lot of issues people had with the original as far as… well, everything goes. Yes, they did change main character Cole’s design and voice, but in my honest opinion, it was for the better. He is a lot more relatable now plus he has hair! With obvious influence coming from the Naughty Dog studio (confirmed, actually), it looks like inFAMOUS 2 is shaping up to be one of the best games of 2011.
Blurb contributed by Erren Van Duine.
Best Press Conference – Nintendo
I bet this one surprised you. We only cover PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 – this I know. However, Nintendo truly deserves the best press conference award this year. They came on stage with one thing after another and didn’t stop the crazy train of announcements. The Nintendo 3DS, its lineup, the Wii‘s Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Kirby’s Epic Yarn, Goldeneye 007, and more made their press conference the best possible at this year’s expo.
Best Puzzle Game – Portal 2 (PS3, 360, PC)
Portal 2‘s E3 presentation offered a new way of thinking. Not only are players thinking with portals, but there thinking with a brand new variety of elements. That includes funnels that move players in down a one-way street, plates that propel players across the room, vents that act as huge vacuum cleaners, gels that change make players bounce and slide, and much more. Watching the presentation, which was pre-recorded gameplay that solved each puzzle perfectly, I began to worry about how the hell I’m going to solve these come its release in 2011.
Best RPG – Deus Ex: Human Revolution (PS3, 360, PC)
In the thirty-minutes I’d seen of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, it had me. The game sends players on a mission to find out who’s responsible for the attack on an augmentations company that protagonist Adam Jensen is a security guard for. Choice is a key option in the game, allowing the player to take any route they prefer to get from place to place or to get information. In a preview we saw where Jensen broke into a warehouse, there were five different ways Jensen could get inside, each having a different effect on enemies, etc. It’s looks fantastic both graphically and gameplay-wise and is fully deserving of the best RPG of E3 award.
Biggest Surprise – Portal 2 announced for PlayStation 3
Portal 2‘s PlayStation 3 announcement was easily the most surprising announcement of the show. Valve CEO Gabe Newell has expressed his dislike over the Sony year after year, even back in the days of PlayStation 2. PlayStation fans of Valve titles have given up hope as to whether or not any of their games would come to the console. Then, at E3 2010, Gabe Newell came up on stage and shocked the world by announcing his new-found love for the platform. The crowd went wild.
Best Third-Person Shooter – Vanquish (PS3, 360)
If Vanquish could be described in one word, it’d be “awesome”. It’s coming from the developers of Bayonetta (PS3, 360) and MadWorld (Wii), explaining the game’s level of high-quality. It plays wonderfully fast and is a welcome change in the shooter genre. Not only that, but it’s a Japanese shooter. We have a thing for Japanese over here. The game’s high-tech Augmented Reality Suit and fast-paced action (including instant slip-n-slide) make it one to definitely look forward to come its release this winter.
Best Xbox 360 Game – Fable III (360)
This time, Lionhead boss Peter Molyneux has chosen to appease both Xbox 360 and PC fans alike, which is great. The game itself looks a lot more interesting than its predecessors in both story and graphic style. Fable III is also said to have some sort of Kinect support, but details on that have not been shared as of yet. Gameplay looks a lot more refined, and hopefully, this will allow the game to reach a broader audience than before.
On top of that, you get to wear an awesome chicken costume.
Blurb contributed by Erren Van Duine.
And finally…
Best Game of E3 2010 – Portal 2 (PS3, 360, PC)
Yes, Portal 2. It was close (Deus Ex 3 and RAGE were this close), but Valve’s sequel to the 2007 Orange Box title stole the show. It could’ve been the pulse-thumping trailer or the twenty-minute gameplay presentation that had us, but somewhere along the line, Portal 2 took the title of the best game at E3 2010. There’s plenty to want in this sequel: a single-player campaign promised to be at least twice as long as the first game’s, a separate cooperative campaign, and plenty of new puzzle elements to make solving Portal 2‘s puzzles look eighty times as difficult.