Hiya!

Well, we’re Not E3 is done and dusted. I will say I’m kind of nostalgic for the days when gamers would lock horns and discuss who won E3 and, as there are 3 big shows this year, namely, Sony Playstation‘s State of Play, Geoff Keighley‘s Summer Game Fest and Microsoft‘s Xbox Games Showcase, it seems it would work this year. Alas, this isn’t the case as Summer Game Fest is always going to be the show for really big announcements. That doesn’t mean the Sony PlayStation State of Play was a total wash as well. I will say it was a pretty good show for the most part. Then again, I’m kind of a PlayStation gal so I just might be a smidge biased.

However, like with every year, there were good moments, some bad moments and some moments I really couldn’t care about. So, while I won’t be tackling each and every single thing shown during this year’s State of Play, I will be giving my opinions one what worked, what didn’t and moments which I wish I could have been more excited about.

The Good:

Marvel’s Wolverine looks like bloody good action

They definitely started the show with a bang by showing off more gameplay of the upcoming Marvel’s Wolverine. When the game was initially announced a good 4 years back, I was a little concerned as Insomniac Games had already done the Marvel’s Spider-Man games. While they were good, I was afraid they were going to wuss out and make Wolverine a “family-friendly” game. Thankfully, they’ve proven me wrong! As shown during State of Play, it looks like this will be a much more violent game than the Spider-Man games they made. Thank you!

Besides the really gory visuals, I do have to admit the combat looks really good and fluid as well. I mean, what good is a violent game if the gameplay sucks, right? Probably the only thing I was disappointed in was the lack of stealth as Wolverine would sneak up on an enemy and them maul them in such a brutish fashion which would alert all the other enemies around him! Have a little more restraint, Logan! Even with this minor gripe, this is definitely looking like a must buy when it’s released later in September.

Green Goblin and Carnage join Doctor Doom and Magneto in Marvel TOKON

For once in my life, I was right!

When Marvel TOKON was first revealed, everyone had their own speculations on who should join which team, including myself. As Doctor Doom was shown in the reveal trailer, it was obvious there was going to be a team filled with Marvel villains. It was obvious Magneto was a shoo-in but who were the others baddies joining Doom’s team. My pick was Carnage and, as shown during State of Play, I got it correct! Sure, the rest of my picks didn’t pan out but 1 out of 4 ain’t that bad!

Now, I’m very excited for Marvel TOKON. I know I’m going to be crap at playing it since I’ve never been good at any tag fighters. Then again, it doesn’t matter to me because the gameplay looks incredibly good. I do love how Green Goblin uses his glider for mobility and using it as a projectile. I love Carnage’s animations and his Ultimate Skill, where he grows into this big blob with teeth to try to gobble his opponent looks awesome! I can’t wait to suck at Marvel TOKON when it gets released this August!

Yes, a female lead in God of War: Laufey shouldn’t matter if the game is good

As someone who intentionally plays as a female character when given a choice, I have never understood why there is still a contingent of people who can’t seem to fathom the idea of playing as a girl in a video game. However, for God of War: Laufey, there is an argument to be made here as you don’t control Kratos this time around. You know, Kratos, the protagonist of every God of War game? Heck, I myself was skeptical about the game… until I saw the gameplay and how Laufey can kick all sort of butt.

Now, I can’t deny I’m going to miss controlling Kratos when I do play God of War: Laufey but, at the same time, I don’t think it really should matter all that much since, if the gameplay reveal is any indication, this is still going to have the same bloody hack-and-slash energy of the previous games in the series. I do wish her jelly cube was given a little more, I don’t know, panache as… well, it’s a jelly cube! Maybe it’s a Norse mythology thing I’m not familiar with but it looks like a placeholder for a character than an actual character. Still, gameplay looks great so I’m definitely looking forward to it when it’s released sometime in 2027.

The Bad:

Control Resonant‘s main character looks super bland

I am far from the best person to be giving a critique on anything Control related as I haven’t played the original. I have no idea who the characters are, what the setting is or what the heck is going on in the story. What I can say is the main character in Control Resonant looks very bland.

I’m not saying he’s ugly. What I’m saying is there’s nothing to note about his overall design that makes him stand out. He’s just a guy with a stubble to me. It certainly doesn’t help how he has the same blank stare on his face, even when he’s expressing tough emotions like being forgotten and the like. Even when he’s standing in what looks like a lightning storm, he has a look on his face like he’s just bored! I get Control Resonant still has a few months for Remedy Entertainment to give the game some more polish but they really have to do a lot more with this dude’s design when September rolls along.

Until Dawn 2 looks like retro game… in a worst way

I was a fan of the original Until Dawn way back when it was released on the PlayStation 3. While I’m not a fan of slasher movies, I did appreciate the trope-y storyline of a bunch of teenagers getting stalked by a monster while also trying to solve a mystery. I also love how your actions actually influence the story and how characters can die but the story will still continue. So, I should have been excited for Until Dawn 2. The problem is Until Dawn 2’s characters looks a little too much like the first game… when it was released on the PlayStation 3!

All of the characters have this plastic doll look to them. This is especially true with the hair as it looks like each of them dumped a tub of hair gel, styled it and let it all harden so each strand will never move despite them swinging their heads all around. I’m sorry but, in this day of age and with the graphic computing power of the PlayStation 5, you would think developer Firesprite would use it to, at the very least, make the hair droop down when the characters tilt their heads forward! I’m sorry but I don’t think I’ll be playing this game until dawn or for any significant time unless they make it look better by the time it’s released in 2027.

The Meh

ILL looks like just another horror game

I’m sorry but I had to put the game’s title in all caps because it would look like I just typed in 3 lines and not spell out the word “ill”. Then again, that’s the least of Mundfish‘s problems because, if this is the best they can come up with the trailer, I am hardly enthused.

Overall, ILL looks fine but there was really nothing from the trailer which caught my attention. The dialogue from the cutscenes felt like they were either written by AI or a teen who thinks he can write dialogue as it’s that generic. It looked like they recycled the same enemy over and over again but with just a few modifications. Even the really gigantic one just looked like the regular enemy but just scaled up to huge. It wasn’t bad but I felt no reason to give this a second look.

Silent Hill: Townfall is lacking the creepy factor

I’m glad they’re making more Silent Hill games now. The problem is the more recent ones have been rather hit-or miss. Silent Hill 2 Remake was great but Silent Hill: The Short Message sucked. Silent Hill f was pretty awesome but Silent HIll Ascension was a failed experiment. So, we have 2 good games and 2 bad games. Where does Silent Hill: Townfall fall? Well, I can’t really say from the trailer they showed during State of Play.

To be fair, I am being a little bit cautious about this game because of Silent Hill’s quality inconsistencies. The problem is the trailer doesn’t really give you much to work on to judge its quality. Some things looked really good, like the character models. Other things, like the backgrounds textures, looked unpolished. The game still has time to get better as its slated for release in September but, as of right now, the mishmash of good and bad I saw in the trailer leaves me unsure of its overall quality.

Byee!

What were some of the good, bad and meh moments from this year’s State of Play? Let me know in the comments section below!