E3 is well and truly over now folks, with many new titles released for all of the gaming consoles, from the current-gen consoles to portable consoles to even next-gen consoles with the new PS Vita and Wii U having announcements. Whilst this was not my favorite year of E3, there were a number of titles that took my fancy and I would like to share them with all of you. This is but Part 1 of this series, so if a title you think would be great on here hasnt been mentioned and opinionated, do wait for Part 2 as there is a chance it will be mentioned on that. Remember, that I don’t usually do individual posts for games unless it is of great interest to me, as I like having as much content easily available to you guys as possible, so be sure to consult to list below to see if the title you are after is on the list:
Game List #1
Cave Story 3D – Nippon Ichi Software America
MangaGamer – EU Distribution
Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny – Natsume
Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns (DS) – Natsume
Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns (3DS) – Natsume
Dead Rising 2: Off The Record – Capcom
PlayStation Vita – Region Lock or not?
Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword – Nintendo
Final Fantasy XIII-2 – Square Enix
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Title: Cave Story 3D
Published By: Nippon Ichi Software America
Whilst I am actually not sure if the title was previewed at E3, but as I am working on the assumption that it was, NISA kindly provided me with some new screenshots for their upcoming 3DS title. Whilst it looks like an ordinary side-scrolling platform game, similar to the old Mario games, from what I can tell, it has a very nice design that should go well with the 3D capabilities of the console. Plus, according to the blurb provided by NISA, it involves helping rabbit-like creatures, need I say more? Now if only the 3DS was not region locked….
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Title: N/A
Published By: MangaGamer
Another announcement that I am not sure was made at the E3 Expo (Don’t worry guys, this IS the last one of these), is that the Visual Novel sales site, MangaGamer, is now starting the sale of hard copy games within Europe. Currently, through their new portal: http://mangagamer.shoxl.com/, you will be able to purchase their Da Capo Limited Edition set with all the contents mentioned above for €39.95. All purchases are shipped from the Netherlands and only VISA and Mastercard are acceptable payment methods.
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Title: Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny
Published By: Natsume
Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny, is the first game in the series which is making its way to the PlayStation 3 and has all the normal charms of the Rune Factory series…. Farming, Adventure, Relationships and all that. The screenshots are showing that it will have the same design charm as previously shown in the series, but at the same time are improved for the HD console well. This will remain a first day purchase for me.
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Title: Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns (DS)
Published by: Natsume
Essentially, Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns are the game game regardless of whether the gamer purchases the normal DS or the 3DS version of the game. Here is a blurb of the game provided by Natsume:
Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns features a great new cast of characters, fun-filled new festivals, and a new request system that lets player take on hundreds of mini-quests to earn extra rewards! Players choose which of two feuding villages to live in, then they’ll build a thriving farm, compete in challenging culinary contests, and befriend townsfolk, all in hope of bringing these fighting villages together once again!
This, unlike Rune Factory, is more around the village and farming life over the fighting. Therefore, if you only liked the Rune Factory series for the fighting, or never been a fan of Harvest Moon, I am not sure if this would be the sequel for you. The design is of a standard I would expect for both DS and 3DS, although I do question how much of a benefit having the 3DS intergrated in the game would have.
Title: Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns (3DS)
Published by: Natsume
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Title: Dead Rising 2: Off The Record
Published by: Capcom
I will admit, out of all the zombie horror games that have become popular over the years, it stands that Dead Rising 2 would be my favorite, with the whole likable but ever so suspicious main cast, a really interesting online mode and it wasn’t brutally hard unlike the previous game in the series, Dead Rising which was available on the XBox360. I surprised me that they were making this game in the first place, after all, they have already made three games surrounding #2, however it seems like they wanted to give Frank West time to shine, after all, he is the only person to survive a zombie apocalypse by just taking photos of zombies to gain skills. This is not supposed to be a realistic story, therefore it seems like whilst most of the settings are correct, and some of the characters are the same (Although will their allegiances remain the same with Frank as they were Chuck?), they have also previewed a new area to visit, Uranus Zone. Whilst I would have preferred more of a shopping mall experience as the previous game, this does look like a hell of fun.
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Title: Playstation Vita
Published by: Sony
One of the biggest demands it seems nowadays is relating to the Region Locks surrounding game consoles. In the past, most consoles remained locked to the specific region, which depending on your country, caused either a mild inconvenience to a heavy blow to your games collection or wallet. IGN editor Cam Shea at the following link (CLICK HERE) posed this question to Michael Denny, the Vice-President of Sony Worldwide Studios Europe who stated that to at least the best of his knowledge, the console will be region free. This is another strong point for the new Playstation Portable console, especially as Nintendo recently added a region lock to their 3DS console, and complaints have been strong on gaming forums surrounding the common practice of region locks on the XBox360 console.
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Title: Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Published by: Nintendo
I, like almost everyone most probably has, enjoys a good Zelda game, in my case, especially the Gameboy Oracle series, which still to me remains a high point in the series. Whilst the most popular Link has still not had his story surrounding his disappearance after Majora’s Mask, a storyline that is well overdue, we have greeted with yet another Link who has to no doubt rescue another Zelda who appears in this trailer (From what I can make out). To get this out of my system first, the cut-scene designs are of a detriment to the trailer clip, and to me these sequences look really shoddy. However, after the first half where link dons the normal Green Tunic and sets out on his quest, the gameplay design actually looks very good, and the dungeon designs are some of the better ones I have seen in a long time. Even if I still haven’t completed Twilight Princess (I have almost however), I still eagerly look forward to meeting this new silent protagonist Link and seeing what storyline will unfold around him.
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Title: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Published by: Square Enix
To be openly honest, Final Fantasy XIII was the biggest disappointment in the series to me, and the one numbered title that I hope they would have let die in favor of at least Final Fantasy XIII: Versus, the Playstation 3 exclusive Kingdom Hearts-esque game which is most probably their first step into the exclusively modern day world environment. Instead, we get XIII-2, continuing the story of XIII with new characters, new storyline but from the trailer, the exact same thing that ruined the game in the first place…. the battle system. RPG’s are supposed to have a level of complexity to them, trying to work out strategies which will ensure victory, however Final Fantasy XIII replaced all this strategy with an ATB system that had you essentially mashing auto-attack. This battle system seems to have carried on over, which is disappointing, however it should still have the same high quality design and music. I will still be purchasing this title anyway, I can’t ignore a Final Fantasy title.
and that is it for Part 1. Keep an eye out for Part 2 which will hopefully be released in a day or two. The next one will be longer, as it is getting late as I post this.
