Gamescom rolled around like a mini-E3, with conferences, game reveals and gameplay trailers a-plenty. Here’s a quick primer on all the gaming news and announcements from there:
Halo 5: Guardians’ multiplayer was shown off. For those not keeping up, Halo 5 will have two distinct multiplayer modes: Arena and Warzone. Warzone is the traditional Halo multiplayer experience while Arena is an all new e-sports mode. And Microsoft is betting big on e-sports: they announced a prizepool of One Million Dollars. And they streamed a match to the showfloor between the top teams of Europe and US. The Halo 5 Edition Xbox One was also shown off. Halo Wars 2 was also announced
Remedy’s Quantum Break is also incoming, and has a novel new idea: a tie-in in-game TV show. Microsoft announced that “your in-game choices will affect the outcome of the fast-paced fusion between game and show,” adding that you’ll “play the game to understand the heroes… and watch the in-game show to discern the villains.” Besides which the gameplay looks novel and fresh. Almost as fresh as Max Payne looked in 2001.
Crackdown 3 also got a trailer and gameplay. Like the first two Crackdowns, this game is a semi-structured sandbox: players will take down the bosses throughout the city in any order, but unlike the first two Crackdowns, the city is fully destructible now! Happy fun carnage time!
Scalebound also got a trailer and gameplay demo. But it was… underwhelming to be honest. It lacked the Platinum Games flair, and it did not look like something Platinum Games is making.
Just Cause 3 was at gamescom with all it’s explosions and silliness. If you were any doubt as to what it was at this point, the fact that the trailer is called “Burn It!” should cue you in.
Dark Souls III was revealed in Microsoft’s press conference out of the blue. I mean really, it just came and went.
Mirror’s Edge Catalyst was shown off too. It looks amazing since they cut off all the chaff like the horrendous gunplay and replaced it with high speed momentum based combat.
Star Wars: Battlefront showed off it’s dogfights and they’re Battlefield pedigree, but way, way cooler because you’re not piloting a Mk V Flying Tub Gen 16 but the Millenium Falcon and X Wings and TIE Fighters along with 20 other people in the higher bits of the atmosphere.
Unravel, EA’s pseudo indie game, also got a new trailer:
MGS V: The Phantom Pain got a goofy new trailer (the comedy is unintentional). It’s visibly not directed by Kojima and lacks the ‘WTF did I just watch?’ feel of MGS trailers. Which takes something away from the experience, as MGS trailers typically make more sense after you finish the game. Yes, fans know this is ass-backwards and don’t care a bit.
And that wraps up over three quarters of gamescom. For more news and updates from Cologne, stay tuned to Gaming Central. Auf Wiedersehen!
