Forza Motorsport 7
The first demo Microsoft showed to highlight the power of their new Xbox One X was a brand new Forza. Damn those rocks look good! Full dynamic weather effects on tires, wind resistance shaking mirrors, and fully rendered drivers were all visible in their in game trailer. They announced that it would run at 60FPS in 4k on the Xbox One X, but were light on details for the standard edition of the game.
Detroit: Become Human
What does it mean to be a human? In a world of artificial intelligence indistinguishable from our own, robotic paranoia covers the city of Detroit. Take on multiple roles in a story that gives you total choice. Play as multiple characters and decide how to handle every situation. Every conversation and decision will alter your game in unpredictable and unforeseeable ways.
Strange Brigade
Take 3 of your friends into a 1930’s dime novel adventure fighting mummies and ancient curses in this co-op wave shooter. A charming narrator with a thick accent reminiscent of Orson Welles describes the trials and tribulations your team overcomes on its way to shooting through countless cursed beasts and collecting loot.
MOSS
In a lot of ways VR as a platform has been stagnant. Most of the quality releases have fallen into two genres. Jump scare horror and stand your ground shooters.
Moss is a completely refreshing and charming take on what VR can and should be. The player takes the form of a human sized being in a mouse-sized world. You help the mouse protagonist Quill on her journey across lush forests, deep caverns and battle dangerous enemies. The player is acknowledged from time to time by Quill can catch his or her own reflection from time to time through a puddle, or river. You are very much a character in this adventure and the controls work wonderfully on PSVR.
Assassins Creed Origins
Taking the series way way back, Origins claims to tell the story of the formation of the Assassins in ancient Egypt. You can control birds (like a drone to mark targets), shoot multiple arrows, and slide down the Great Pyramid.
Assassins Creed: Great Pyramid Slide comes out this October.
Agents of Mayhem
We got our hands on Agents on the show floor and it was teeming with customizability. In the 30 minutes we played the game there was more and more options unlocked. Starting with 3 playable characters of your choosing at any time, you can also customize their gadgets and weapons and special abilities on the fly. You can call for special vehicles to plow through badges and switch characters as easily as hitting the D-Pad right or left.
Anthem
Taking a page from the Destiny playbook, and adding a dash of Iron Man into the mix, Anthem is the new series from the team that made the first Mass Effect Trilogy. In their gameplay reveal the graphics were stunning (especially the facial animation) and they showcased a squad of 4 friends in their exosuits flying, sprinting, swimming and fighting their way through a lush tropical jungle and braving through storms of enemies and natural disasters. Details were light on the plot, but coming from Bioware you can expect a deeper than average story.
Sprint Vector
SV may be the first game to get locomotion in VR right. It is a tight race against 7 other players that has you climbing walls, sprinting, flying, and dodging obstacles on your way to the finish line. The controls were the real standout here with forward movement being more akin to skiing poles being planted in the ground and pushed off then they were to the teleport system most VR games use.
Call of Duty WW2
WWII is finally taking some risks and shaking up their standard Call of Duty campaign. Health no longer regenerates and players will need to be best buds with their combat medic to stay alive. Developer Sledgehammer games is going for an authentic feel and has set the default difficulty to hardcore. Bullets will be deadly, soldiers will get tired, and cover will be your best friend.
Crackdown 3
Showing off 4-player co-op, exploding buildings, and Terry Crews, Xbox re debuted Crackdown 3 with an emphasis on future weapons and future tech. Players now have jet packs to help speed the roof top jumping along. Orbs were still a big part of the process and they showed a transformation in process for a moment in their trailer.
Minit
You have 60 seconds to live, but every time you die you wake up in your bed again with everything you had previously collected. Minit is as indie as they come (the developers told me it was black and white because they didn’t have the time to colorize). Set out into an open world akin to the Legend of Zelda on NES, filled with a colorful cast of characters and puzzles just out of reach but unlocked with every new item you find. You have 60 seconds on the clock!
Metro Exodus
The 3rd in the fantastic Metro series based on the post apocalyptic novels of Dmitry Glukhovsky, Exodus is an open world survival sure to rekindle your best memories of Half-Life 2. Keep an eye on your gas mask gauge and be sure you want to take a shot since bullets are currency in this Russian wasteland.
Need for Speed Payback
Seems like someone finally got the memo that the Fast and The Furious was somewhat popular. Need for Speed PAYBACK is definitely aping the Vin Diesel series and that is A-Okay with us. Set in an open map around the Las Vegas strip PAYBACK is leaning into crashes and jumps more akin to the BURNOUT series, but is a welcome return to the series street racing roots.
Sea of Thieves
Grab a crew of your friends with the most lenient of morals and take to the seas to plunder treasure. Xbox showed off an extended sequence of treasure hunting where your team of pirates followed a full-blown treasure map with obscure clues and guarded by skeletons. You can fire yourself out of your ships cannons for quick boarding of your enemies. The cartoony look and lack of violence makes this a perfect setup for a family friendly (ish) multiplayer experience on the 7 seas.
Laser League
Why chase a ball when you can just chase a player. Laser League is a fun multiplayer sport of the future that pits you against teams of 1-4 in an effort to survive spinning machines of death. Run over a pole to activate a laser with your team colors. Use your attacks to stun the other team. Get hit by the wrong colored laser and your down until your teammate can rescue you or the entire team dies.
It plays better than I write. Coming later this summer to Steam early access and fall for PS4 and Xbox Live.
Spider-Man
The web head has a pretty mixed history when it comes to games. Swinging through the city in Spider-Man 2 the Movie the Game was a real thrill that game developers have been trying to match for more than a decade. It always seems to be a bit off though. Thankfully developers Insomniac Games know a thing or two about locomotion as demonstrated in 2014’s Sunset Overdrive.
Star Wars Battlefront 2
EA seemed to have heard the feedback on Star Wars Battlefront and have gone hard in the direction of Mea Culpa. They’ve added a full story campaign, tons of new characters, have promised DLC expansions to be free and expanded the game to include the 3 eras of on screen Star wars lore. You can take your squad of battle droids against a Gungan army now with Darth Maul at the vanguard.
Wolfenstein II The New Colossus
If you missed out on Wolfenstein the New Order then you need to do yourself a favor and make plans with it this weekend. The New Colossus seemingly picks up right where they left off only dialing up the blood and guts (and LSD) in this alternate history (Nazi controlled world) takes a trip from Europe and the Moon to good ol’ middle America. Grab some double machine guns on a quest to start a revolution and kill every nazi in your way.
Super Mario Odyssey
HE THROWS HIS HAT ON THINGS AND YOU BECOME THAT THING! DINOSAURS!
Pre-order yourself a copy of this and every other game RIGHT HERE.
