The Escapist S We Love It Awards The Best Of E3 2015

Guitar Hero Live could have been an easy nostalgia cash-in for Activision, reviving the decade-old series after a long hiatus with little new to offer. Instead, the developers went their own way, and the result is a game that’s challenging (you try playing with three top and bottom buttons when you’re used to five!) and a standout in the genre. Rock on, Guitar Hero Live. I thought XCOM:EU was brilliant. But instead of relying on that foundation to do most of the work for them, Firaxis realized they could work on that formula and make it ever better. And it looks like they did just that. I found myself instantly picking out all the small and big changes alike, from the enhanced UI to new and exciting classes and abilities, XCOM 2 delivers everything that made XCOM: EU great, but in a better, upgraded fashion. Unravel is especially unique considering that this is a game being published by EA, which historically has not taken this kind of a leap of faith in trusting a small Swedish studio with a brand new IP in a genre popularized by small indie developers. It’s a gamble that I hope pays off for them, because we need more games like Unravel. But this year we also got an extensive look at a brand new multiplayer mode that was totally unlike anything else that I’ve played in any other shooter, and one that is almost guaranteed to be imitated by the competition come next year. Warzone, at its core, is essentially a gigantic game of king of the hill, but with added rules, mechanics, and strategy that you might find in a MOBA. When a legendary AI boss appears, do you send the majority of your team to try and secure the kill on it, potentially giving up control of the bases? Do you spend your energy on a weapon that counters a vehicle rather than purchasing your own vehicle and risk getting shot down yourself? All of these questions are things that you’d never have to think about before in a game of Halo, and I can’t wait to see how the competitive community receives Warzone when it releases later this year. Sure, graphics are great and gunplay is fun, but what we really love about Uncharted is how Naughty Dog brings the series’ characters and environment to life. The dialogue is natural and snappy, as well as often humorous; facial animations and voice acting add depth; and the colorful locales are a breath of fresh air compared to the usual brown and gray-toned shooters. Uncharted 4 delivers more of all of this, and we can’t wait to play more. With Sword Coast Legends, players get another campaign within the D&D rules that will bring back the nostalgia of Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale, and even most recently Pillars of Eternity. But what will set this game apart is something attempted in Neverwinter Nights, but never fully realized, a Dungeonmaster mode. The idea of being able to create your own campaigns and play as the DM with four players/friends. The ease of use of the tools demonstrated during the demo, and then the hands on time with the pre-built scenario run by the dungeonmaster (as a fifth player), already has my head spinning with the possibilities of bringing my old campaigns into the game. The possibilities this opens up for tabletop players moving their campaigns into the computer is endless, and worth giving this one of our “We Love It” Awards. When Bethesda Softworks announced Fallout 4, it created a huge stir among virtually everybody I know, both in person, and across the internet. We’ve seen the updates to character customization and the robust new crafting system in the game. Some of the details are a bit sparse, but the broad strokes we’ve seen offer the familiarity of Fallout with major upgrades to systems to keep things feeling new. Possibly most exciting for me, personally, is being able to experience the pre-destruction world, as well as the post-apocalypse, as I expect this will create a lot of depth to the world and context for your adventure. I finally got to play Battlefront this year, and, despite two full years of building it up in my head, I left the demo completely satisfied which, to be honest kind of shocked me. Despite my enthusiasm, i’ve had my reservations, but DICE has put those to rest. The variety of enemies, the in-universe tech, and the survival mode scheme all worked together expertly to offer a similar enough experience to the originals to satisfy my craving for nostalgia, but different enough to ensure that the fun of the gameplay wasn’t lost in the intervening years.