The final day of E3 has come and gone but rest assured that we’ve saved some of the best games for last. Want to know what to expect from Aliens: Colonial Marines or Resistance 3? Well then read on! Gears of War 3 It would be a fair assessment to say that Gears of War is one of my favorite video game series of all time, so I was definitely saddened to hear that Gears 3 will be the last of the series. It’s tough to see a great story (and great characters) come to an end, but sooner or later it’s time to say goodbye and look for other new alternatives. But before I give my Gears eulogy, there’s still Gears 3! There were two different Gears 3 events going on at E3. The first event was a theater that showed off one of the early chapters of the campaign and the second was actual gameplay from the redesigned Horde 2.0. I managed to hit both over the course of my three days at E3, and both got me very excited for the final release of Gears 3. First, let’s talk about the campaign. For those of you unfamiliar with the Gears storyline, the world has been at war and humanity is losing badly. A race of enemies called “Locust” have been burrowing up from the ground and ravishing the landscape. Gears of War 1 focused on a few loyal soldiers trying to complete a single objective, to detonate a huge bomb that was supposed to try and take out the Locust threat. Gears 2 focused on those soldiers trying to win the war for good by taking the fight straight into the locust stronghold. Gears 3 will focus less on humanity trying to win a war and more on humanity trying to save the planet from a new threat known as the Lambent. Basically, it’s one huge three-way war. The Locust are fighting the Cog (humans), the Cog are fighting the Locust, and the Lambent are fighting everyone. The chapter of the campaign that I saw brought back a boss from Gears 2 known as the Leviathan (a huge fish-like creature with very big teeth), but this time it’s been infected and has become Lambent. It’s ugly, huge, and trying to destroy the entire human flotilla (the last stronghold available to the remaining Cog forces). Without revealing too many details that may be difficult to understand, the storyline is both action-packed and amusing. The characters all interact very well together and I found myself laughing (appropriately) at parts of the dialog. It should all turn out perfectly and I am definitely wondering how the war will end. Next up I managed to play three waves of Horde. Horde is a game mode that pits the player (and a certain number of teammates) against wave after wave of enemies. These enemies vary in size and strength, and as a result the player has to use some interesting tactics to try and take down every single one of them. Horde 2.0 has some new updates included. First, the game gives you money for each kill you get during a match. That money can be used to buy things around the map. Weapons, turrets, sentry guns, and barriers can all be bought by using the money earned. There were a few new enemies that presented difficult challenges. For example, one of the enemies was an “Armored Kantus”, which was basically a large walking humanoid that had heavy armor plating. The only thing it was really vulnerable to was explosives, which are few and far between. The tenth wave now features boss creatures as well. We had to fight two Brumaks (huge dinosaur-like creatures with mounted machine gun turrets and rocket pods). It was an extremely difficult battle. Some players had to face Berserkers (blind, heavily armored humanoids that charge the players) or mini-corpsers (large spider-like creatures). Either way, it was very, very difficult by the final wave. THE VERDICT FOR PARENTS: This game is full of blood and gore. Players are able to chainsaw through enemies and leave chunks of meat behind as a result. We’ve already put up a preview for this game, so I would highly recommend reading it for more detailed information. Resistance 3 Resistance 3 takes place in a post-apocalyptic war-torn world that has been ravaged by alien invaders. I don’t know much more about the storyline since I haven’t played the previous games in the series, but that should give you a good idea of what level of maturity is required to play this game. The player is set fighting with the last few human survivors who are trying to evacuate to a safer zone to protect against the alien onslaught. Everything is scarce in this world, most obviously ammunition. While playing the demo I noticed two things in particular. First, the ammunition for weapons is few and far between. It’s absolutely vital to make sure that shots count, since players will definitely find themselves running out of rounds very quickly. Secondly, and fortunately for players, the weapons are very accurate and definitely powerful. I felt like my bullets were actually making a difference when they hit an enemy, and it only took three to six rounds to take down almost every enemy (provided those rounds hit their mark). I enjoyed this game and will definitely be picking it up in the near future. THE VERDICT FOR PARENTS: This game is definitely bloody and full of gore. In one part, an alien jumps over a fence, lands on a human, then rips the human’s head off and holds it up as a trophy. And that was only the 15 minute demo version of the game. I don’t expect this game to be appropriate for anyone under 14. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations The demo I saw of AC: Revelations showed a few interesting things about this game. The game takes place in Constantinople and follows Ezio (the main character) as he tries to piece together all of the extremely confusing bits of information he has discovered in the previous games. The Templars are working hard to prevent Ezio from discovering the information, however, and they’re willing to kill Ezio to make sure the information stays secret. The game seems to handle almost exactly like the previous Assassin’s Creed games, especially like the recent “Brotherhood” game. The brotherhood of assassins is back, as are most of the previous weapons. There are two new things that have been included. The first is the “hook blade”, which not only leads to some very bloody executions, but also allows Ezio to use a zipline in an instant. The second is the ability to craft bombs. There are a few different types of bombs, but the two that I saw were a fragmentation bomb and a smoke bomb. The multiplayer is back as well. I didn’t get a chance to test it out, but from what I heard there have been some improvements to it. However, the experience I had with Brotherhood’s multiplayer left a sour taste in my mouth, so I’m not holding my breath. THE VERDICT FOR PARENTS: This game is very bloody and very violent. Ezio climbs walls and ziplines across burning ships. If you’re looking for more detailed information, read the Assassin’s Creed 2 review we have up. The game should be very similar to what is described there. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 We managed to get a private preview of two levels from Modern Warfare 3. The first was the level seen at the Microsoft Press Conference. The player is set in the middle of New York Harbor scuba diving through a completely flooded Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. The player emerges from the tunnel and soon sees a huge submarine flow past. To make a long story short, this game looks and handles just like Black Ops, Modern Warfare 2, and Modern Warfare 1. It’s the same game but in a different setting. I didn’t see a single innovative feature in the game. It’s more of the same formula simply in a new location with a new setting. We’ll see if it goes beyond that, but out of all the sequels I saw at E3, Modern Warfare 3 was the only game to fail to effectively differentiate itself as “better” than the previous games in the series. THE VERDICT FOR PARENTS: I don’t expect this game to be as violent as Black Ops, but keep in mind that it is a shooter. Violence is a key element to the gameplay. I doubt that the game should get much worse than the average shooter, and the other elements should play a minor factor at worst. Saints Row 3 Saints Row 3 is an open-world sandbox game. This means that the player is placed into a city and given the freedom to do almost anything he wants. The developers have decided to take that freedom to an absurd extreme. It’s really, really difficult for me to describe quite what I mean by “absurd”, so I’ll sum it up like this. The player has the opportunity to buy a full-sized purple space suit, run around town, and beat up random civilians with a giant purple dildo. I’m not exaggerating. I could talk about the storyline or the gameplay, but it won’t make a difference. It’s an awesome looking and playing game for a more mature audience that is able to understand the over-the-top satirical humor of pure freedom. THE VERDICT FOR PARENTS: You can beat up random civilians with a giant purple dildo. Honestly, what more do you expect? Aliens: Colonial Marines Those fans of Ridley Scott’s famous sci-fi horror movie series may have heard of this game. It’s been in development for years now and is due to be released sometime in Spring of 2012. The game follows the player, a human marine, who is sent on a mission with a squad to investigate what happened at a human colony that has been “dark” (out of contact) for quite some time. Very quickly the player discovers that the colony was completely annihilated by aliens, and now you’re stuck on the planet with almost no hope of getting home. I managed to see a short demo of this game and while I was impressed with the cooperative capabilities of the game, I was not particularly impressed with the game itself. The game felt very, very scripted and linear and definitely needed a lot of polishing. For the amount of time this game has been in production I think that the result could have been a lot better. The developers were touting their new game engine (which is the software designed to make the game work), but it didn’t seem necessary considering the look and feel of the game. I’ll probably still play it, but it wasn’t nearly as good as what I was expecting. THE VERDICT FOR PARENTS: This game is bloody, violent, and slightly scary. It wasn’t as scary as some other games at E3, but the concept of aliens that pop out of ceilings, floors, and vents to grab humans and rip them in half will definitely be scary for younger kids. Vita We got a chance to test out Sony’s new hand held device, the Vita. Overall I was impressed with the technology, but not so impressed that I want to go out and buy one. But first, let’s talk about the good things. The controls are obviously designed to feel familiar for veteran console and handheld users as well as those who are new to gaming. The screen is fully touch enabled and the games looked great and felt very smooth. The Vita also had a “back touch”, which was basically a touch enabled backing that was used in a number of the games that I tested. I was definitely impressed with the games that I was shown. Some were very basic (such as a tennis game) that would probably get old fairly quickly, but some were a lot of fun to try. There was a music game in particular that was very interesting and allowed for players to create their own maps which infinitely increases the possible maps that the player would have available. There was also a version of Uncharted available that made me want to test out that series as well. On the other hand, I was simply not sold on the idea of spending hundreds of dollars on a new handheld. My phone (the Droid X) is currently capable of playing a large variety of touch-based games. It’s definitely no Sony Vita, but it’s good enough to keep me entertained for the hour or two a day that I’m out away from a computer or console and at a much lower price. Part of the whole idea of seeing and testing out the Vita is it’s supposed to make me want to buy the product. I don’t really feel that what I saw accomplished that. THE VERDICT FOR PARENTS: If your kids are looking for a slightly more mature alternative to the Nintendo DS, this will definitely be it. I was very impressed with the amount of new technology that Sony put into this and the games that I tried were a lot of fun. However, if you’re not in the market for a new handheld, you can probably avoid this and not miss out on too much. Although when it does come out in the states, give it a test run and see what you think. It’s definitely worth trying even if you don’t buy it.
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The Legendary Carmine
Andrew Clayton (a.k.a. The Legendary Carmine) is SSG's Executive Editor. He toils at the stone to make sure this site brings its readers valuable content on a daily basis. Like what we do? Want to see more? Donate to the site using the button below!
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