Well, another E3 expo has begun, and this one brought more information that I care about than any previous year. Today's interesting news updates included new previews for Ace Combat, Battlefield 3, Modern Warfare 3, and the Halo franchise.
Let's start with the new hawtness that is Ace Combat: Assault Horizon. The first true campaign trailer is provided for you below:
Now we finally get some clues about the campaign. You'll be playing as several different characters, each specializing in different types of aircraft including fighters (duh), Bombers, AC-130 Gunships, and Apache Attack Helicopters. You'll also spend at least one mission as a door gunner on a Blackhawk helicopter (which appears to end with you getting blown up...) The badguys this time around are insurgents who happen to be Russian and who happen to be as well armed as the Russian military. They are led by a man named Makarov, who happens to be an ace fighter pilot. He is nicknamed Akula for the shark mouth painted on the front of his Su-33 fighter. The insurgents have a new weapon called Trinity, and you have to do something about it, which means you have to rain death from above on anything that you see. Should be a good game. Ace Combat has a reputation for good story lines, so I have strong hopes for this one.
Next up, the lesser of the new shooters: CoD Modern Warfare 3.
Looks good. However, my fears expressed in my previous post is confirmed. If the game had any new features to offer, and demo at E3 would be the place to show them off. Instead, we see a game that looks awesome, but loses my interest because it's only as awesome as MW1 and MW2 were. Nothing new to offer except what I hope is the conclusion of the story arc. I'll play the game... next year when I can pick it up used for cheap or borrow it. Unless the multiplayer manages to blow me away, it doesn't look like a big winner.
Now, compare that to Battlefield 3's first demo, which focuses entirely on a new freature that Modern Warfare has always lacked: Vehicular Combat. In this case, lots of Tanks...
Looks pretty... as the trailer says, it looks like it will be a good day to blow stuff up. The new engine really allows you to do that too. Take a look another trailer to explain:
As you can see, in addition to just looking prettier, you can blow up anything. That alone makes me drool. I've never found true satisfaction when shooting a rocket at a wooden door leaves everyone behind that door unscratched... The only thing I see ruining this game so far would be a crappy multiplayer set up. Our info on that is as limited as MW3 though, so we'll just have to keep our ears peeled.
Last but not least: Two surprises from the Halo franchise. First, we're going to get a remake of Halo CE, officially called Halo Combat Evolved: Anniversary, this fall. Basically it is Halo CE rebuilt in the Halo Reach engine, meaning we get the same story and campaign, with pretty new HD graphics, assassinations, and full X-Box Live multiplayer support. The Trailer below also gives us a shot of some of the reskinned multiplayer maps: included one that can only be Hang'em High!!! My favorite map ever!!!
Unfortunately, let's face it, it's still just Halo CE. A fun game for sure, but I'm not sure I'm willing to fork out $60 for a game that I beat 10 years ago... and getting to replay Hang'em High isn't quite enough motivation. However, I haven't seen anything on pricing yet. So, it's possible that it will be considerably cheaper, which may sway me to purchase. Otherwise, I'll wait to pick one up used when the prices drop. {UPDATE} Halo Waypoint just reported that the launch price for Halo Anniversary will be $40. They also announced that it will include a new and unique firefight map and mode... my bet is you fight infinite waves of Flood in the Library. {\UPDATE}
The second Halo surprise also overshadowed Halo Anniversary a bit:
Master Chief lives... at least until he gets sucked into that Dyson Sphere... For those of you that beat Halo 3 on legendary, you'll realize that this trailer picks up moments after Halo 3 leaves off. It has oft been speculated that this Dyson Sphere is infact one of the Forerunner Shield Worlds. Specifically, many fans suspect this to be Onyx. If so, Chief's new adventure will like him back up with Dr. Halsey and a few surviving Spartan IIs and IIIs. (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you need to read the Halo novels...) I'm inclined to wait before speculating... But then I did anyway.
Fist up: I doubt this is the Onyx Shield World. The novel describes Onyx as being entirely made up of interlinked Forerunner Sentinels. The Dyson Sphere portrayed in this trailer shows no such structure. I could be wrong though... The past Halo games have all changed or contradicted some details from the books, and in the end, the books are based on the games. As far as I'm concerned, if the game portrays something one way, and the books another, then the book is wrong. Beyond that, my biggest question is who chief will be fighting? The Covenant is broken, the Prophet Hierarchs dead, the Brutes scattered and without leadership, and the Arbiter his Elites enjoying a newborn friendship (well, a truce at least) with humanity. Let's not forget that you finally blew up the flood for good on the Arc. So, that seems to indicate that the Chief will have a whole new (probably more dangerous) enemy to fight in this new trilogy (Yes, it will be a trilogy according to the E3 press conference.).
Next up, a bit of gameplay speculation. The trailer shows Chief making use of some never-before-seen thrusters built into his Mjolnir Mk.VI armor. Since he hasn't stopped by a human outpost while he's been drifting aimlessly though space in Cryosleep, we can assume he's had these all along. My canonical explanation stems from the fact that the Mjolnir armor systems were intended to be just as deadly in zero-G environments as in normal gravity. Naturally this would necessitate at least a basic thruster system to assist in zero-G maneuvers. However, these thrusters are probably to small to give any benefit to a Spartan in normal or low-G environments, so the Chief hasn't had a reason to show them off before now (though this could explain how Spartans can turn around in mid-air with such physics-breaking ease).
Now, this may seem trivial, but it could be a big clue to a new gameplay feature. This could be a small porting of the Reach armor abilities to the classic Halo environment. While I doubt that the Chief will suddenly gain access to active camo, armor lock, drop-shields, or jet-packs, Sprint could easily be integrated into his gameplay (and, in fact, almost was in both Halo2 and Halo3, but was dropped for some reason both times.) But wait: it's possible that this mega-structure could house many low-G and zero-G environments for Chief to shoot his way out of. What good is Sprint going to do you in a Zeor-G fight where your feet aren't touching anything? The answer: thrusters. In a Zero-G fight, the sprint button would activate your thrusters instead, giving you a boost of speed in whichever direction you're pointing. Hey, I can dream can't I?
Weapons will also be different this time around. While Chief might be able to scavenge some human weaponry from the wreckage of the Forward Unto Dawn's aft section, he won't find a lot of ammo for his assault rifle laying around this place. He'll have to take the weapons of his fallen foes... whoever or whatever they turn out to be.
Now, it's obvious I'm excited... but I have my fears as well. Halo is my favorite shooter franchise of all time. While I'm glad to see Master and Cortana continue their adventures together, I'm also afraid that 343 Industries (which manages Halo now that Bungie has moved on to Activision) will simply whore out the franchise for all it is worth, bouncing from developer to developer, and creating massive hit-and-miss quality issues with the games. This is exactly what is happening with the Call of Duty franchise under Activision. They got lucky with the Modern Warfare series, but the fact is that CoD was almost dead beforehand as a result of this behavior. I fear my beloved Halo will suffer a similar fate. Time will tell, but this new trilogy will probably suck up the next 4-6 years of 343's focus, so there may be hope yet. It all hinges on Halo 4's success. If it is a good game, then the franchise will probably survive this next trilogy. If Halo 4 falters, then the entire trilogy is likely to fall right with it. Time will tell...
In other news, X-Box TV is due to be launched this fall. Details are thin, and no prices have been announced. The rumors indicate that a new level of subscription above Gold, known as Diamond, will be how one obtains this service. All we know is that local TV, many Cable networks, and Pay-per-view shows will be available streaming live via XBL. If the price is right, and the shows I want are available, it might give me the option to avoid paying for cable when I'm up at school. Price will be the big key. If it doesn't cost significantly less than a normal cable'satellite subscription then it won't be worth it. Again, we'll just have to wait and see on this one.
I'll post more tomorrow for E3 2011 Day 2 if they announce or show anything I care about.
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