E3 Expo - Sony Announcements

The final press conference I will be talking about (Because who gives a crap about Ubisoft) is Sony, who didn't unveil much in terms of new content, but what they did show us, is definitely worth talking about. The first one being The Last Guardian, developed by Team ICO, the same people behind Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. This is a game that has been in development hell since 2007 and many believed the game to be dead in the water. With this announcement we have now been reassured that the game is back on track for a 2016 release date for the PS4 along with new footage of the gameplay. While I am dying for this to be a reality, my scepticism is holding me back. They did a similar announcement back in 2009 for the game where they said it would be released in 2011 for the PS3. Until we get a specific release date, i still remain weary on whether or not we are going to see this game come to fruition, but god i hope it does.

The next game featured is Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, where we received 7 minutes of gameplay, where we see Nathan Drake and Sully travelling through a market, followed by an attack by this games enemies, to Nate and Sully driving through the city trying to escape an attack from a truck attached with a .50 cal. The gameplay was obviously scripted and I doubt it would go down that smoothly in real life, but nevertheless, it looks excellent. It still has the over the top and exhilarating action that Uncharted is known for, but the driving mechanics are new and look fun as hell, the destructible environments are more detailed than ever before and it looks like every environment can be destroyed, just like in real life. The graphics look amazing, the bickering between Nate & Sully is still strong. We received very little in terms of plot, but we don't really need it at this point, gameplay and technicals is what's needed to draw the audience in at this stage. It looks to be improving on Uncharted while carrying over the qualities that made the franchise so successful in the first place. Uncharted 4 is due to be released in early 2016, rumoured for March or April as a PS4 Exclusive.

Dreams is a new IP from Media Molecule, the same developers that made Little Big Planet 1 & 2 as well as Tearaway. From the trailer we can see that...well I have no idea what we can see, the game seems very artistic and unique, but in terms of story or gameplay, we know almost nothing. It looks amazing and I'm very excited to learn more about it, but as of right now we know almost nothing, including the release date or if it is a PS4 exclusive, considering that Media Molecule is a first-party developer for Sony, it most likely will be.

They also announced a new game from Project Morpheus called Rigs, a multiplayer first person shooter in the style of a sports game, while the trailer was entertaining, Project Morpheus has such a small library of games as of right now, it's hard to imagine this game convincing anyone to buy one. Nevertheless, Project Morpheus is to be released in early 2016, will this game most likely being released at a similar time.

Firewatch is a game that I have been keeping my eye on for sometime now, the style and mystery behind the story is what made my interest and this new trailer continues that. We know nothing about the story except our two main characters and basic set-up, but it looks as if some big mystery is playing out that I'm excited to learn more about. As for the gameplay, that is where I still hold back my anticipation because they haven't shown us any of it, making me think it'll be less than impressive. The release date is yet to be confirmed but is expected to be released in late 2015 on PS4 and PC.

Horizon: Zero Dawn is the new game developed by Guerrilla Games, the team behind the Killzone series and this is their first new IP in over a decade. The game takes place in a dystopian era where technology advances while humans have reverted back to cavemen. From what we can see the game's protagonist is a cavewoman hunting robot dinosaurs, making a combination of future tech and primitive equipment. This looks like it could be a fun and unique game, let's be honest, have we ever seen cavemen go up against robot dinosaurs? No specific release date has been set but it is most likely to be released in 2016 (getting a sense of de ja vu here) most likely a PS4 Exclusive.

The final game that I want to talk about is No Man's Sky, a game that was announced a fair bit ago but more information has been revealed now. No Man's Sky is an open universe adventure game where you can travel throughout the galaxy to multiple solar systems and explore, fight, scavenge and go on all sorts of adventures. The art style in colourful, but a little too saturated for my taste, but what has got people talking is the size of the game. They have said that you can travel to every star seen on the map, and on that map are hundreds of stars, literally hundreds, they've made the claim that at some point while playing it, you will land on a planet that no other player has landed on yet and you will be the first to explore it. The missions and possibilities on each of those planets is different for each one and basically, this game looks absolutely massive. The game will be released later this year for PS4 and PC.

Overall this was a good press conference for Sony, the only big reveal is The Last Guardian been back on track, but even that i'm still not 100% sold that it's actually happening. Apart from that, we got some more information for games already announced just as expected and some of the new IP looks promising. It was a satisfying press conference, not too good, not too bad.

-Danny