Like a lot of you, I miss E3. There was something really nice about its organization, which in turn fed into the seriousness of it all. Let’s centralize the entire industry for a week and gather together to share upcoming games, make big announcements, and compete for the hearts and minds of gamers everywhere. It was the Super Bowl of gaming, and frankly, things have felt a little lost since it’s gone away. Thankfully, though, there seem to be enough people who miss it to keep it alive spiritually, and Sony just kicked things off with the biggest bang I can remember in some time.
The June 2 State of Play from Sony blew me away from start to finish. With massive announcements and promises of interesting games to come, it feels like there’s palpable excitement for console gaming, despite market conditions that buck the trend and make the devices we love more expensive than they were at launch for the first time in video game history.
Let’s break down what made the State of Play so successful.
Games games games
Sony showed up in force with two dozen game announcements from first-party, second-party, and third-party developers that covered a wide range of genres, art styles, and IPs. From Wolverine to Silent Hill: Townfall, Marathon: Nightfall to Gitaroo Man, Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis to God of War: Laufey, there’s something in development for every kind of gamer coming to a PlayStation near you soon.
Release dates
Not only were mega-games announced, but nearly every title also had a release date or at least a release window, with most titles shown releasing later this year. Only 4 of the 24 games shown were labeled as “Coming soon” or “In development,” which is fantastic. When you watch game reveal shows like this, nothing is more deflating than seeing a game you’re hyped for with a release date that’s years down the road.
Gameplay
The second most deflating thing when you watch a game reveal show like this is a gorgeous, cinematic trailer that actually looks nothing like the game you’re going to play. Dead Island’s 2011 reveal trailer remains one of the most beautiful game trailers I’ve ever seen, but it was ultimately nothing like the game we got 7 months later. This State of Play went out of its way to show you what the game you’ll be playing really looks like in fluid motion, with several games getting extended gameplay demos like Wolverine and God of War: Laufey.
Now, as much as I enjoyed this presentation of games, there were a few things I didn’t love. Let’s talk about the parts where the State of Play fell short.
Holy Remakes and existing properties, Batman
I’m being a little dramatic here, but the amount of remakes really stood out to me. Rayman Legends: Retold, Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, Dynasty Warriors 3, and Onimusha: Way of the Sword all look fantastic, but they’re based on old games we’ve already played. I know there are fans of these games specifically who have to be amped about seeing these classics with modern design, but I’m trying to imagine the excitement if they were either new entries or outright new properties that took these time slots instead. I love my retro games, but if new IPs aren’t coming out at a regular clip, then what are we going to remake 15 years from now? Kemuri, The Lost Wild, No Rest For the Wicked (a 1.0 release, but still), and Ill were the only fresh new IPs for PlayStation in the whole show.
It was a very serious show
I don’t think every game was rated teen or mature, but it felt like a lot of them were, especially the games from Sony proper. I like mature, bloody, violent games, but video games are such a big tent; it would’ve been nice to see more variety in the games shown. Thank goodness for Rayman: Legends Retold. Bancho the Chef was a standout because its tone was so different from everything else shown; its casual tone was genuinely refreshing. Stuntman: Hollywood, while being one giant reference, was cool to see because there was no blood or dismemberment.
Games preservation on the back burner, again
I’ve been a PlayStation Plus member since the service launched, and I was really happy to see that with this new generation, there would be an emphasis on adding older games to the service, especially those that launched with trophy support. This show had the annual bone to toss to fans of older games, but it was three games announced over three months. Gitaroo Man, Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy, and Onimusha Dawn of Dreams are great additions, but it feels like the service is becoming an afterthought rather than an initiative.
Even with those three takeaways where I felt like the show could’ve improved, it’s clearly still a great time to be a PlayStation gamer. I really enjoyed the show and look forward to most of the games being released. I’m especially hyped because, as I mentioned earlier, most of these games are coming out in the near future. Heck, Marathon: Nightfall, and a demo for Onimusha Way of the Sword came out today. Sony really knocked it out of the park today, and while I look forward to the rest of the announcements that will be happening this week, the bar has already been set incredibly high.
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