Sony @ E3

Going into the Sony Conference this year, I didn't know what to expect.  Bethesda had already brought the house down last night with the release date of one of the biggest games this year just last night, and Microsoft had surprised everyone with the announcement of backwards compatibility with the Xbox One.  So, Sony had an uphill battle.  However, with what I saw, Sony might've easily won E3 this year.

Right out of the starting gate, they bring out the big guns.  For the first announcement of their ninety minutes, they chose The Last Guardian.  A game that's been in development limbo for close to a decade, and the projected release date is...sometime in 2016!  This was simply a massive bombshell.  Everyone was hoping for information on this game from the makers of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, two critically acclaimed games from Team Ico, but I think many people expect it to be one of the final announcements, given how long it's been since the last bit of information was gleaned about it.  The trailer didn't show much, but it showcases the interaction between the main character and his companion.  All in all, it  looked stunning, and I simply cannot wait until this game is released.

Following on the heels of that is a huge endeavour, but Sony chose Guerrilla Games to appear next.  Best known for their work with the Killzone series, Guerrilla Games announces a brand-new IP called Horizon Zero Dawn.  Not much was said about this game, but what little information we have seems to suggest that it takes place centuries after present-day civilizations have died out.  Again, the trailer doesn't explain much, but it does show off some amazing combat against..mechanical dinosaurs.  Yes, there is little explanation, but from what they've shown, the game looks spectacular and it's certainly on my list of games to watch out for.  It looked very polished, so I expect to hear much more about this one at Gamescom.

With the huge games out of the way, Sony announces a new entry in the Hitman saga.  In yet another showcase, Sony shows nothing of the story - probably for good reason, since Hitman doesn't really need story - and instead opts for showing a myriad of locales and characters, some of which will probably be targets within the game.  I'm curious to see where they go after the ending of the previous game - which appears to be chronologically before this new entry, since a character says "Good to have you back" while focused on 47's face.  For PS4 users only, a preorder nets beta access, which suggests there will be a multiplayer component, which I'm unsure about.

Sony then went on to show some Street Fighter 5 footage. After a quick set of sequences showcasing Birdie and Cammy, they mentioned that the public beta for the game will be come to the PS4 exclusively on July 23rd..

After that brief calm, they called Sean Murray to the stage, who proceeded to blow our socks off - after we had just managed to put the back on after Last Guardian! - with some new No Man's Sky footage.  After starting in a real space battle, followed by a small glimpse at the sheer size of the game universe, he jumped to a random planet closer to the galaxy center and landed.  He then announced that every planet was fully destructible.  Still, with no release date in sight, this game continues to astound.  However, he did mention that the planet he jumped to will be able to be found by players once they get the game, suggesting that he was actually playing a final build of the game, which further suggests the release date could be sooner than we all think.

Media Molecule, best known for their work on Tearaway and Little Big Planet, then announced Dreams, a pretty ambitious evolution of their previous works, in which players will be able to construct seamless 'Dreams' that can be explored endlessly.  Unfortunately, I sorta glossed out at this, since it seems directed at highly creative individuals, which I am unfortunately not.  Afterward, they announced Firewatch would be making its console debut on PS4.  It feels very survival horror, without that overt horror feel that typically comes with that territory.  I'm very curious for this one, and will probably add it to my list to buy when it comes out.

Next up, Sony trotted out their seeming partnership with Bungie with footage of the new Destiny expansion coming Septmber 15, The Taken King.  As well as adding new subclasses for the existing classes - a Void Bow Hunter, Arc Lightning Warlock, and Solar Hammer Titan - it will also pit guardians against Oryx, father of Crota, who has come inward from the outer solar system to get revenge for his son's murder.  It looks spectacular, and seems to suggest many new areas - Saturn was among what I saw, as well as possibly more Mercury.  Further, Playstation users will get more exclusive content, including a day one strike and multiplayer maps.  Given the time I've spent with this game as it is, I'll definitely be playing this one, though it has some huge expectations to fill if it intends to hold players after Fallout 4 is released.

Switching gears somewhat, we get some new footage for Assassin's Creed Syndicate, the yearly release for the franchise with so many mixed feelings about it.  We are introduced to Evie Frye, sister to Jacob Frye and the second female protagonist available in an Assassin's Creed game - the first being Aveline de Grandpré from Liberation - and the first since Ubisoft's ill-choice of words last year about it being hard to have a female protagonist.  We are shown the Cane Sword, which seems quite intuitive in use, as well as throwing knives which appear to be somewhat useful.  PS4 is also going to be getting a set of exclusive missions titled the Dreadful Crimes.  I expected this to be connected to Jack the Ripper, but apparently they're focused on Victorian-era mystery novelists.  With what is already expected this year, I'll probably hold out on this one, since I was burned very badly with Unity's gamebreaking bugs last year.

World of Final Fantasy came next.  Exclusive on PS4 and Vita (the first time all show they've even mentioned their ailing handheld system) the World of Final Fantasy almost feels like a pokemon-esque game.  You can shrink your character to a chibi and ride monsters, or return your chibi to normal size and have those monsters ride you for some reason.  While not much was really shown about this, it looks intriguing enough that I'll definitely pick it up for my Vita, since my PS4 will be getting a major workout this holiday season.

And then, Sony brought the house down.  I thought it couldn't get any bigger after the announcement of The Last Guardian, but oh was I wrong.  Because they announced the Final Fantasy 7 remake that's been teased for years.  The character models appear to use modified Advent Children models, and I also think the in-game engine is modified from Final Fantasy 15's, which combine to make this look spectacular.  No release date was given, but I will predict it will have a 2017 release date to coincide with the 20th anniversary of Final Fantasy 7.

After that, I blanked out just slightly.  they showed off a quartet of new games from Devolver Digital: Ronin, Eitr, Mother Russia Bleeds and Crossing Souls.  They looked fascinating, but what little I noticed caused me to ignore most of this segment, since none of those games seemed to interest me - instead, spots sickened me, which is not what I want my games to do.

Sony then started talking about Kickstarter.  I was confused at first, and then the trailer came on.  Shenmue 3 appears to be happening.  A game originally based on the Dreamcast, Shenmue 3 launched a kickstarter literally during the Sony conference.  As of writing, the kickstarter sits at 1.2 million dollars, 60% of the asking price of two million.  A direct sequel to the previous games, this kickstarts still has a month remaining.  I fully expect this game to get far more than than the asking funding, and with Sony behind them, we can be sure that funding this game will get this game released.

Next, Batman: Arkham Knight was showcased.  With the release date of June 23rd, we are shown one of the exclusive Scarecrow Nightmare missions.  With you controlling a cop, you suddenly get dosed with Fear Toxin and you start shooting everything.  It looks very fast paced, but I don't know what the final reward for these missions will be, so we'll have to see if the exclusivity is worth it.

The next bits step away from games for a bit, first talking about Project Morpheus and dropping a few names of games coming for the system (which we'll probably hear more about in the coming days after people get some hands-on with it on the show floor), and then about Playstation Vue, a tv programming system currently availabe in LA, San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Philedelphia.  They will be allowing subscribers to choose channels they want to pay for, which is huge - coming at a time when Verzion is pushing this exact thing with their Custom TV packages.  Further, Playstation Plus members will get an undisclosed discounted rate on subscriptions, which would just add to the already massive value of the service.

Returning to the games, which is far more interesting than Vue or Morpheus (though both are big for Sony, I'm sure) we are treated to a reveal of Call of Duty Black Ops 3.  The segment starts with a four player co-op mission, fighting a wave of mechanized shock troops, as well as hackable artillery walkers.  After that, they surprised by showing multiplayer footage, which felt very like titanfall without mechs - there was a lot of wall running to be had and seemed very fast-paced.  It looked very polished, though since I'm not a fan of the CoD installments, much of the excitement was lost on me.  They also announced that from here on, PS4 users will be the first to play all map packs for Call of Duty, and a beta for Black Ops 3 will appear on PS4 first in August.

Shifting gears to the Star Wars side of things, we have an announcement for Disney Infinity 3.0.  Coming this fall, Disney Infinity will add Star Wars characters to their already robust lineup with two new playsets set in the world.  Even better, Playstation will get an exclusive starter pack which includes the base, five figurines (Including the exclusive Boba Fett figurine!!!) and the playsets Twilight of the Republic and Rise Against the Empire playsets, all a month before any other platform.  It's all exciting stuff, but I've stayed away from games like this solely because the figurine collection aspect seems like an unnecessary money sink for me.

More Star Wars news, we are treated to some Battlefront co-op missions.  We see the Survival mission type for the first time, pitting two rebel soldiers against waves of Imperial forces, starting with stormtroopers but including AT-STs and possibly Sith warriors.  It looked very exciting and I suddenly began wondering if I wanted to get this one.  Playable Offline, split-screen or online, the lack of a campaign still makes me leery.  Star Wars Battlefront is slated for a November 17th release.

Finally, Sony treated us to some Uncharted 4 gameplay.  After a small hiccup with their systems - and what appeared to be a demo restart - we see Nate and Sully working their way through an unnamed city toward the tower of someone named Sam.  While I'm unsure if Sam is friend or foe, the duo moved through the crowd for a bit before a combat wave appeared.  It looks very fluid, and makes me highly excited for this game - as if I weren't already.  Many of the environments looked and felt completely destructible, which is huge for a game like this.  I'm curious to see how much of the world can be destroyed.  Unfortunately, after this demo, the conference ended abruptly, without so much as a word from anyone regarding it.

All in all, Sony brought their A game this year.  I was a bit disappointed about the lack of Vita coverage, but that's par for the course these days - and maybe there will be some gems hidden on the show floor for the system.  As for the games, what they showed was highly surprising, and everything seemed designed to bury the competition in the dust.  Hopefully, the games without release dates will come out soon, because those are quite possibly the best looking of the bunch.

Samurai Warriors 4 Review

Samurai Warriors 4 was released by Tecmo Koei for the PS3 and PS Vita on March 20, 2014, with a PS4 version following on September 4.  North America got a simultaneous release on all three systems on October 21, 2014.  This review was done utilising the PS4 version.

I'd like to make a small disclaimer for this review.  Since it follows so closely after my previous review of Warriors Orochi 3, also for the PS4, I plan to make direct comparisons to the two games, since they are different forms of the same game.

For veterans of the Warriors franchise, the menus look fundamentally identical to every other game in the series.  When booting up you are treated to a skippable introduction cutscene, and when you get to the main menu you see almost the same menu as any other Warriors game.  At the top is the Story Mode selection, then Chronicle Mode, which allows you to replay maps at will once the are unlocked.  Following that is the Free Mode, a mode I'll cover more in depth below.  The last two selections are the Dojo and the Options.  Dojo allows you to manage save data and create your own characters, which you use later in the Free Mode.

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When you choose either Story or Chronicle Mode, you're treated to the screen to the right.  There are thirteen different stages you can choose from, ranging from the one shown to others across the country of Japan, chronicling the history of the Warring States period.  Some liberties are taken with history, as is par for the course with Warriors game, but the overarching story follows history fairly closely.  Indeed, some stages require you to complete previously unlocked stages, so the history contained within the game seems to be fairly accurate.

When you choose a battlefield within a stage, you are treated to first the character select screen - where you choose a primary and secondary character - and then the battlefield info screen, where you can change weapons and items and get the overall lay of the land before you're thrown into battle.  One difference of note in this game is that the items you choose no longer appear to permanently alter your stats like other Warriors games; instead, they act as temporary buffs that you can activate within combat - some items restore health, while others increase your attack or defense for a short period of time.  This makes each item useful, as opposed to previous games where you could get by easily by stacking the highest level amulets available.

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After making your choices, you are thrown onto the map in a form that is very similar to previous games.  Samurai Warriors 4 offers far more mobility on the battlefield than previous games, as well as changing up the control scheme considerably. In previous iterations, your controls were limited to random interspersions of your strong attack within a long string of your weak, spammable attack, with sporadic uses of your Musou ability so you could empty the gauge for refilling.  Here in SW4, your typical strong attack button is instead replaced with a Hyper Attack.  This functions much the same way as your previous weak attack, with your other button acting as your new strong attack (Square, Square, Square, Triangle is one type of combo, while Triangle, Triangle, Triangle, Square does a different type of combo).  Further, Hyper Attack usually involves dashing forward a short distance while attacking, which is ideal for jumping between groups of cannon fodder a la the above picture.  Where Hyper Attack fails, however, is against enemy commanders.  In true weak attack form, commanders automatically repel Hyper Attacks, making you switch back to your normal button hammering.  However, like how Hyper Attack changed combos, there's a chance while beating on an enemy commander to proc the ability to deal considerably more damage.  If you hit a certain button at the right time - usually right after a certain combo chain - your character can go through a very fancy attack flourish that has the potential to take half or more of the target's health.

Previously I mentioned primary and secondary characters.  Well, while in battle, you can hit the Options button and switch between the two characters interchangeably.  It's a system that unfortunately was not very well explained, but if used properly, you can effectively be in two places at once on the battlefield, allowing you to control the flow far more efficiently than some previous games - though not quite as well as some Dynasty Warriors iterations where you can issue orders to every commander on the field. 

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In the course of your battles, you may be given bonus objectives.  They may require you to defeat enemy commanders with certain allied commanders, or to defeat them with a certain combo count.  The objectives vary, but they are a good source of income and items early on, which makes them worth seeking out and completing.  My only complaint about objectives and bonus objectives is that they appear to happen very frequently, and each one of them pulls you out of the combat and shows you a screen like the one shown here.  It gets somewhat tiresome, having so many breaks from combat, but it's a fairly minor complaint - and possibly one that is solved through going into Chronicle Mode over Story Mode.

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Lastly, we have Free Mode.  After choosing your created character, you are allowed to choose a region in Japan.  This region is where you begin your Free Campaign.  There's no real story, and you are free to play however you like.  At intervals, you have interactions with fellow commanders that you've encountered and swayed to your side, and your choices in these interactions can increase your relationship level with them - previous games have had a similar system, though it seems to be far more obvious this time around.  Each node on the map screen above counts as a different location, and each move counts as a day; after your move, the other models on the map have a move of their own, so you can encounter them on a node randomly after moving.  Meeting them on a map either takes you to the shop screen - in the case of traveling merchants - or to a battlefield screen with randomly generated objectives.  It's a mode in which each playthrough can return vastly different results, so it's always an exciting mode to play through.  I have yet to complete a game so I'm not entirely sure what happens when you complete it - or even if there *is* a completion to it - but it's quite an engaging way to pass the time.

My Verdict: despite being very similar to many other games in the Warriors franchise, Samurai Warriors 4 is a very solid interpretation, with enough changes to make it feel very fresh.  I would definitely recommend this game, even over Warriors Orochi 3.  Being a seasooned veteran of Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors gives a refreshingly different area of history to explore, one that I am very interested in learning more about.

Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate Review

Sorry for the length between reviews; Destiny stole my soul for the month of September - a review is forthcoming for that as well - but I managed to wrest control of my soul from the maw of Destiny and make a triumphant return.

Anyway, Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate was originally released on the PS3 and Vita on September 26, 2013, with the PS4 version released on September 2, 2014.  This review comes based on the PS4 version of the game.

A bit of backstory on this series.  The Warriors Orochi series is a cross-over of the Dynasty Warriors and the Samurai Warriors franchises.  As such, it features popular characters of both, as well as very similar gameplay elements.  Not having played the WO series prior, I wasn't too familiar with the storyline of the series, but they give you a short introduction before the first mission to bring even veterans of the series up to speed.  However, despite my lack of background with WO, I knew about what I was getting into when entering this game due to my history with the Dynasty Warriors property.

If you've played any entry into any of the three properties involved here - DW, SW or WO - then you're familiar with the gameplay.  You play a main general whose sole job is to cut swathes of enemies apart.  The PS4 entry is especially sweet, due to the sheer processing power of the system, bringing untold hundreds of AI enemies onto your screen at any time.  Also, WO uses the weapon system from previous games in a unique way: Instead of switching weapons, you switch between generals, each with their own moveset and flair.  This allows you to keep combos moving nearly indefinitely, only failing to continue when you run out of fodder to destroy. 

The story for WO3 follows years after the events of WO2, in which the titular Orochi is finally killed.  The opening mission in WO3 is based on the Hydra, a megabeast destroying its way through the warriors in the world.  You are a leader in a coalition army that attacks the Hydra's base of operations, and your job is to kill it.  Unfortunately, it further massacres your army, and you are forced to flee.  When all seems lost, the remnants of the army are rescued by the goddess Kaguya, who uses her powers to allow the heroes to travel back in time and save their comrades from their deaths.

Your Camp

The above screenshot shows the camp, your base of operation during Story Mode.  Here, you can chat with the other officers you have access to, and you can also use the Blacksmith you can see in that picture to upgrade your weapons and buy more to further upgrade them.  Adding in Sockets and Attributes to fill those sockets, the relatively simple system becomes somewhat more complicated.  There may be special weapons and attributes, but I have yet to encounter any just yet.

After leaving the camp, you are able to choose your mission and are taken to a very familiar screen for veterans of the series.  Here, you can change weapons and accessories on your characters, take a look at each army's members, and accept side missions that are are to be completed during the mission.  It also shows a map of the battlefield and you are free to begin planning your route of attack, if you so choose.

Finally, hitting Begin Battle takes you to the actual battlefield.  Again, for veterans of the series, this comes as nothing new.  The map from the Preparation Screen appears again - and is very helpful in thwarting the opposing army's movements, since it shows every move made by any member of any army and will end up being one of your main weapons against the enemy.

The battlefields each have their own win conditions, but I've always been partial to the 'kill all of the things' condition which, while it may take a while, is not only satisfying but also ensures optimum experience gain for the team you took into the mission.  It's rare, but enemy commanders can drop an item that puts you in a state called "EXP Fever" in which every enemy killed drops an EXP satchel, which vastly increases speed of leveling and becoming stronger.

Verdict: If you are a fan of the Dynasty Warriors franchise, Warriors Orochi 3 is a very solid entry to the genre.  It's quite satisfying to rack up thousands of kills in the span of a battle, and the harder difficulties are challenging enough to make even the highest level characters sweat in the course of each battle.