Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus headlined Bethesda's E3 press conference with a relentlessly stylish trailer that only gave us a glimpse of gameplay. However, I had the chance to play through an early mission, and while it felt familiar, it's exactly what I want. I didn't get a taste of power suit abilities or dual-wielding machine guns, but it set the tone for Wolfenstein's wild, bombastic nature.
Series protagonist BJ Blazkowicz had a less than ideal ending in his previous adventure, so it's no surprise to see him crippled in the opening minutes of the new game. It kicks off five months after the events of the The New Order with BJ waking up inside a stolen German U-boat, which works as a hideout for him and the Kreisau Circle resistance group. Unable to walk, BJ struggles to pull himself up into a wheelchair as they're being invaded by a Nazi battalion that discovered their whereabouts. This is when the fun began.
Beholden to the wheelchair, movement worked as expected; I would slide forward, struggle to turn around, and take precious time to lift the machine gun from my lap as I aimed down sights to fire. Enemies hounded the corridors as I struggled to survive. Even though health packs riddled the rooms, health would drain to 30 hit points, leaving me in a constant state of vulnerability. However, I quickly stumbled upon help from an old friend.
Set Roth, the genius scientist from The New Order, is concerned for BJ's health and tries to keep him from putting himself in harm's way; BJ insists on finding his now-wife Anya and fending off the invasion. All the while, an electric field is zapping Nazi pursuers into a bloody mush in the background of the cutscene. One soldier even unwittingly tiptoes across the room only to be violently met with the current events.
Set reveals an alternate method for dealing with threats in a more clever and discreet. Similar electrical traps scatter the path forward, which I could activate to thin out Nazi patrols. However, an all-out firefight is still an option. And I found myself using a mix of both, similar to the previous game, which attests to what creative director Jens Matthies said on GameSpot's E3 show:
"There's a lot of freedom in how you can approach a combat scenario. And stealth is also a little different from other [games] in the sense that if things go wrong you can always fall back on blasting."
Despite the handicap, I felt as badass as ever and the off-the-walls vibe seeped through the U-boat's walls. I felt empowered by the fact that I could still hold down the fort while relegated to a wheelchair. In this regard, it's a bold move to kick off such a wild game with a challenging, slow-paced scenario. But it's an opportunity to paint the new game's picture.
While retaining its ridiculous nature, The New Colossus keeps things grounded by contrasting the action with environmental storytelling and journal entries riddled through that contextualize the events at hand. I read through notes by the resistance fighters, who wrote about feelings of doubt about and whether or not they were going to be successful in their rebellion against the Nazis. Another journal gave a glimpse of what Nazi-occupied America was like, describing a chilling atmosphere of constant fear and oppression.
During E3, Matthies also stated, "There's a lot of room for crazy in this IP, but at the same time we always wanted to feel grounded. Even though things are over the top and extraordinary, they're also very domestic in a way. I wouldn't say realistic, but truthful or honest."
All the while, here I am as BJ in a most vulnerable state, stealthily spinning my wheels, stabbing soldiers from behind, and firing across hallways. I even had to navigate the U-boat by hopping onto rotating gears to get up a floor or sitting on conveyor belts to traverse the rooms and progress through the mission.
In the last playable moments, BJ is caught off guard by a Nazi soldier as he approaches the platform to get to deck level, but a familiar face saves the day. Anya, who's pregnant with twins, comes to his rescue and a warm embrace between the two is a moment of peace in a world full of chaos. As expected, it doesn't last long.
As you surface, above is a colossal aircraft that looks to be airlifting the U-boat in an attempt to seize the makeshift resistance base. This was when I felt humbled and dwarfed, realizing how the narrow corridors of the opening minutes contrasted with the sense scale this game seems to offer. But I was no longer in control.
In the concluding cutscene, resistance leader Caroline Becker makes an appearance to take down Nazi soldiers in her Da'at Yichud power suit (which we see BJ use in the reveal trailer). However, she's quickly disabled and the suit retracts. Both BJ and Caroline are captured and at the mercy of another recognizable character: Frau Engel, a secondary antagonist of The New Order who is now the primary villain. Frau's anxious and panicky daughter is also present, and is perpetually bullied by her mother because of her shape (and desire to eat cake). Frau hands her daughter an axe and orders her to execute Caroline. This cliffhanger concludes the demo.
Frau Engel, the main antagonist of The New Colossus.
Now I'm left with the unfulfilled desire to jump into everything The New Colossus has to offer: the character relationships, power suit abilities, and locations to explore. Based on what I played and saw from the trailer I can extrapolate a single-player campaign with a level of comical absurdity that occasionally relieves us from the bone-chilling atmosphere and frantic firefights. I'm yearning to get back to the game, and fight the Nazis to take back my country, even if it means blasting through flamethrowing panzerhunds and colossal robotic super soldiers.
The formula for Wolfenstein's new era still oozes with charisma, especially when we see this alternate history expressed in such a bold fashion. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't get a sense of catharsis when I realized that beyond the playable demo is an opportunity to rebel against a hate group on American soil through a game series I know and love.
One of the year's biggest weeks in gaming has flown by and YouTube's got the results of the most-viewed titles. Star Wars Battlefront II has taken the top spot with the most views on its trailers, gameplay, coverage, and fan-made videos.
Star Wars Battlefront II sported over 7.9 million views of its trailer alone during the week, and snagged the spot for most popular game across YouTube. In addition, three other titles from EA's press conference made the top ten list.
The rest of the top ten most-viewed games are as follows:
As far as trailers go, Star Wars Battlefront II was followed by Super Mario Odyssey with 5.5 million views. Nintendo's Super Mario Odyssey was shown during the last of this year's E3 press conferences, so all of those views happened roughly within three days. What can we say? Dinosaurs, possession? It's a gamer's dream.
The top ten most-viewed trailers are as follows:
Star Wars Battlefront II – 7.9 million views
Super Mario Odyssey – 5.5 million views
Spider-Man – 4.5 million views
FIFA 18 - The Journey: Hunter Returns – 4 million views
Need for Speed Payback – 3.4 million views
Call of Duty: WWII Multiplayer Reveal – 3.3 million views
Path of Exile has been a bit of oddity for the years it's been out on PC. As a free to play loot based action RPG, it's got a reputation for holding its own against larger titles like Diablo III, and has since built a large and dedicated following of its own. Now, they're gearing up for their largest expansion in years with The Fall of Oriath, which brings players back to where the story began, and also the launch of the upcoming Xbox One release.
During the Microsoft press conference, we caught a trailer for its release on Xbox One, which marks the first time the game is playable on consoles. While on the show floor, we had some time to speak with the developers about the recent expansion, and played an early build of the Xbox version--which will feature all content from its PC older brother.
For those not in the know, Path Of Exile puts players in the role of a recent exile from the city of Oriath. As one of several exiles, Path of Exile's take on classes, you'll find yourself shipwrecked on an island and must fight your way back to the city to dish out vengeance. But after your many battles, you find that destroying one of the island's most dangerous creators results in unleashing an ancient evil that plunges the city of Oriath into chaos, leading to even greater dangers for the world at large.
While at our session, the developers spoke about the growth they've seen over the years and what led them to overhauling a good portion of the game for the next major update. Back in December, the developers at Grinding Gear Games saw over one million players logged in for the first time at any given time. In addition to the year over year growth in players, the developers recently released their Atlas of Worlds expansion, which also brought in higher numbers. They saw this as an opportunity to bring in their next expansion.
In the Fall of Oriath update, which is the largest expansion to date, they're adding in an additional five new story acts taking players through the city and its many areas, new gear, new graphical updates and tweaks--including 4K support--an overhauled difficulty system which features more organic challenge and difficulty growth, and a brand new upgrade system called Pantheon, which allows the exiles to claim the power of the gods for themselves.
In addition to the expansion, which launches next month on PC, the developers also gave us some hands on time with the console release, which they had been quietly working on for some time. Much of the UI and general control feedback had been reworked, allowing primarily for ease of use on controllers for extended periods. While some skills had to be reworked, due to the lack of precise mouse controls, the console is largely intact with its PC counterpart. I was quite impressed with how smooth and intuitive it was. Usually it's difficult translating isometric games like this to the console, but the developers did a surprisingly solid job with the port, and it feels like it can easily stand toe-to-toe with the original.
Though cross play with PC players won't be possible, mostly due to gameplay changes and system infrastructure, the Xbox release will have all the same content as the PC version. With the Fall of Oriath expansion coming July, and the console launch being set for later this year--remaining free-to-play--the future of the free action/RPG is looking bright, and with a new player base coming in soon, the Path of Exile community is looking to increase even further.
For more information on Path of Exile and other titles from E3 2017, check back with us on our E3 2017 page.
By Anonymous on Jun 18, 2017 10:30 pm Far Cry 5 drops you into the beautiful countryside of Montana. The location is a departure from previous games, but is that enough? Jake and Kallie played an hour of the game and here's what they thought.
More than anything else, E3 is about seeing games you've never seen before. Whether you were there in-person or you got a front-row view of the action from the press conferences, you probably missed something. That's why we've rounded up all of the most-watched E3 videos by GameSpot's audience.
Note that the actual most-watched videos were the full press conferences. Here they are, in order of total views. If you want to relive the biggest parts of the conference, stake out a few hours and watch them again!
And here are the most-popular trailers and gameplay breakouts from the show! We posted hundreds of trailers and livestreamed dozens of hours of games, but here were the ones that attracted the most attention, starting at #14.
14) South Park: The Fractured But Whole Official Gameplay
In this gameplay trailer, take a trip to the Peppermint Hippo Strip Club, where The New Kid and Captain Diabetes uncover more information about missing cats and the evil looming over South Park.
13) Spider-Man PS4 Gameplay Demo
We got our first look at the PS4's exclusive Spider-Man at Sony's E3 2017 press conference. The gameplay reveal trailer showed us Spidey's web abilities and his combat.
12) Monster Hunter World Reveal Trailer
Monster Hunter is making its PS4 debut with Monster Hunter World. Take a look at all the dino-slaying action in the first trailer from Sony's E3 2017 press conference.
11) Assassin's Creed Origins Xbox One X Gameplay
After Ubisoft's E3 2017 press conference, we got a look at a full half-hour of Assassin's Creed Origins gameplay on the powerful Xbox One X.
10) Dragon Ball FighterZ Full Match Gameplay
Microsoft's E3 2017 press conference introduced us to Dragon Ball FighterZ, and now there's a full match of Arc System Works' upcoming fighter. It's Goku, Gohan, and Vegeta vs. Cell, Frieza, and Buu in an explosive battle that would make the anime blush.
9) God of War Story Gameplay Trailer
God of War returned for a second year in Sony's E3 press conference. It showed more gameplay of Kratos and his son, in addition to some new enemies.
8) Middle-earth: Shadow of War - Official Cinematic Story Trailer
A brand new cinematic trailer for the follow-up to the 2014 hit, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor.
7) Days Gone Gameplay Demo
At Sony's E3 2017 press conference, we got a look at some new gameplay for Days Gone, the post-apocalyptic zombie shooter from Bend Studio.
6) Destiny 2 PS4 Exclusives Trailer
Sony's E3 2017 press conference detailed more of the story we will be seeing in Destiny 2. In addition to that, we also get a glimpse of what exclusives PS4 owners can get their hands on.
5) Battlefield Streamer Proposes To Girlfriend At EA's E3 Event
One gamer popped the big question during the Battlefield 1 stream at EA Play.
4) Battlefront 2 - High Level Darth Maul, Rey, And Han Solo Gameplay
Lightsabers, blasters, new vehicles and class perks are everywhere in this pro gameplay provided to us by Darkness429 using various heroes in the game.
3) Metroid Prime 4 Announcement Video
Metroid Prime 4 was announced at Nintendo's E3 2017 Direct, but no gameplay or footage was shown.
2) Anthem E3 2017 Teaser
BioWare's Project Dylan was revealed as Anthem in a mysterious teaser.
1) Xbox One X Spec Breakdown
And the most-watched video on GameSpot: another spec breakdown of the Xbox One X. Whatever gamers reactions were to the overall system, there was still a lot of interest it's official public reveal.
We put up a a lot of content at GameSpot, but nothing comes close to E3. It's not an exaggeration to say that a month's worth of news, videos, and previews go up in the space of a single week. But, during that daunting deluge of content, what rises to the top? We dug through the numbers of the last week to find the top 17 most-read stories on the site.
And there are some definite surprises in this list. While I expected an Xbox One X announcement to be our top story, Microsoft's new console was actually beaten out by a game preview!
Despite the overall lack of interest we typically see from VR content, Bethesda pushed through the noise with a Fallout 4 VR announcement.
And, at least among GameSpot's readers, Super Mario Odyssey was not the number one Nintendo story.
17) PS4 Days Gone Trailer Showcases Stealth And Zombies
The PS4-exclusive Days Gone showed off it first gameplay look at E3 last year, but that didn't seem to quell interest in this new story about a trailer focused on the game's.
16) Destiny 2 Beta Date Confirmed, PC Version Coming Later
The headline might say it all, but this story about Destiny 2's beta showed that there's continued interest in the franchise. As much as the comments love to hate Destiny, there are obviously a lot of readers who still unabashedly support the game.
15) Where To Preorder Xbox One X
While this one about preordering an Xbox One X wasn't directly related to E3, the story did see a huge spike in interest around the show. While preorders haven't quite started yet, it seems like content that people are still keeping an eye on.
This new Kingdom Hearts info was actually posted out following a symphony concert in LA (where they played Kingdom Hearts music, but this was the only look Square provided around the show floor times.
3) PSN "Best Of E3" Sale Begins, Lots Of PS4 Games On Sale
While lots of new details came out in a very short time about the Xbox One X (including the name of the system), it was this story about the system's release date that rose above the other hardware stories.
1) We Played Star Wars Battlefront 2's Single-Player Campaign
With the wide-array of stories, it's a little surprising that the top one is for a preview of an previously announced game, but it's impossible to overestimate the power of Star Wars. The most-requested feature in Star Wars: Battlefront was a single-player campaign, so this is EA's chance to redeem itself.
By Anonymous on Jun 18, 2017 05:30 am Think of Skull and Bones as Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag—but with multiplayer. Editors Tamoor Hussain and Alex Newhouse talk about their impressions on Ubisoft's PVP multiplayer pirates game.
Announced back in 2015, Rare's online shared pirate adventure game Sea of Thieves made another apperance during this week's Microsoft conference, giving a more detailed view of what players can expect with the game. Set on the high seas, players will embark with a crew of other players online and get into all sorts of mischief as they loot, pillage, and battle other pirates in order to stay on top in high stakes game of piracy.
As a bit of a departure from their past games, this is Rare's largest title in years, and looks to be a bit of a return to form after working many years on kinect and other micro-titles. Currently in closed alpha, Rare has been steadily cranking out updates and new features for the few players in closed alpha, which has helped the game evolve further. Speaking with studio head Craig Duncan, he spoke about how working on Sea of Thieves has been a bit of a refresher for the studio, and how it allowed them to come out of their shell and reconnect with the fans that have stuck with them for the decades they've been in business.
GameSpot: In the last generation, it seemed like Rare refocused their efforts to work more on titles directed more at Kinect and other titles. With this one being a rather ambitious take on the shared online world concept, and easily the biggest game you've made in a long time, do you view this game as a sort of statement in your shift in vision to work on more larger and ambitious games?
Craig Duncan: Back in 2015, we announced the Rare Replay at the E3 presentation, and we said 'hey, Rare is celebrating its thirty year anniversary as a studio, here's all this awesome stuff we did over the years'--and then we announced this new IP with Sea of Thieves. Looking back on our history, we've done several new IPs over the years--but to me, the big change here is that Rare was notoriously a very secretive studio, a very closed studio. And as you can see how we're bringing Sea of Thieves to market, we are so open and transparent in how we work with our community.
The people that have signed up for our Sea of Thieves insider program have become really invested in the game and they're very interested in how we're approaching new features on our developer road map. We actually talk with them about the order in which they want certain features to release, we're actively polling them on new mechanics, checking the forums, and listening to everything they say. [...] The real link between Rare's internal community and the Sea of Thieves community has never been stronger. And that's a real pivot for Rare, and the way we work. It's been super liberating, players are the most important people, and just allowing them to be actively involved in the way they want. It's an ambitious game, and they understand our vision.
GS: The big trend we're seeing now is this focus on titles that have a large, shared online world to explore with other players. Can you talk about what it's like developing a title like this, and how your past titles may have had an influence on this game?
Sure. Even before it was pirates, the bit we were all really excited about was just allowing players to create stories for themselves. And that was our vision for when we were initially going around coming up with our IPs. We wanted to create a game that let people make their own stories. Players socialize about games in many different ways. Either on twitter, Facebook, instagram about what they did or what happened to them in their games. [...] It's just people making videos, talking about what they did and sharing that with others. The thing we really wanted to make was something that absolutely played into that, where they get to create unique stories and share them with other players.
If you think of that as the high goal, so we wanted to do that and work with our community in more open and transparent ways--which was one of our chief pillars--and then it was really about what theme of game or what 'wrapper' of game would allow us to have our players have these shared stories. And that's how the pirate setting came in, which was this rather genius and clever way of presenting those aspects. When you give players a ship, a map, and a treasure to find, then generally they know what to do. We can really take what's familiar for people, and present it in a new way.
GS: Considering this game is a very much an open ended experience with a lot of different systems happening at once, have you seen any moments where things occur and you end up being surprised by what players can do in the game?
It's interesting, really. We know what the world is, what's there and the kinda loops and structures that are there. We have something called 'guided emergence', which is what sets up the goals and things to do for players, but it's actually more meta than that. Because when the players go and play, it's really them doing all the things that different and unique. It's really their story. We have one fan named Jeff, a long time fan and even visited the studio once, and he told us a story about how he boarded a ship and started playing his musical instrument. The other crew members just looked at him and then they started playing music together. It sounds like a silly thing, but really it allowed them to form a band and go on an adventure together.
When I think of what surprises, I don't think of all the moments where people attacks other ships, I think of players joining up together, forming a crew, and organically go out and collectively solve riddles, and other challenges. I think when you give players a world to explore, then they'll do things that are really inspiring. I can't wait to take the NDA off and allow people to post videos and stream the game, that's when I feel the game will really open. I guarantee we'll have people in full pirate dress up during a stream. I really like seeing people embrace the setting the crew they find themselves with. And that's what makes our game so enjoyable and watchable.
Far Cry 5 drops you into the beautiful countryside of Montana. The location is a departure from previous games, but is that enough? Jake and Kallie played an hour of the game and here's what they thought.
Think of Skull and Bones as Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag—but with multiplayer. Editors Tamoor Hussain and Alex Newhouse talk about their impressions on Ubisoft's PVP multiplayer pirates game.
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