Coverage: E3 2015 – Day 1

Photographs by Daniel Boczarkski, additional reporting by Mihai Badescu.

The first few moments of E3 show floor can be a confusing, jumbled mess. After getting through massive lines of attendees trying to wade their way into the show floor, you’re barraged with bright sights and sounds from all corners of the floor. It can be intimidating and unwelcoming unless you’re familiar with the process. With that said, it was comforting to start off the show by taking a look at Wattam, a feel-good and relaxing game from Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi and developer Funomena.

Wattam places you into a world full of whimsical and odd characters, which Keita is no stranger to. The residents of Wattam have been spread out across the galaxy and as the Mayor, a green cube with a bowler hat, you’re tasked with finding and reuniting them via discovery, exploration and connection. Each of these characters have their own special actions; a mower being able to cut grass into a design, a turntable starting a spontaneous dance party, and other zany actions I don’t quite want to spoil as everyone should discover the joy of this game on their own. It’s pure fun and refreshing to see compared to a lot of the titles at E3 that don’t necessarily pique anyone’s interest quite as much as Wattam.

There is much talk of VR at this year’s E3, and we had to stop through Oculus to see what they have in store for their release of their finalized headset next year. The first thought was how incredibly light and comfortable the headset is, which is a real improvement over the previous iterations. As far as games go, it’s reassuring to see studios developing exclusive titles for the Oculus, such as Insomniac Games with their title Edge of Tomorrow. The demo sessopm however only provided one game to choose from, and after some debate we decided to go with EVE: Valkyrie. Once the game loaded, I was a bit taken aback after looking down at my body inside of the confines of a futuristic spaceship. Valkyrie is frantic, with a huge space war going on all around, you can’t help but feel the intensity within its world. 

Having its first public hands-on gameplay, Street Fighter V was definitely a title that we wanted to try out. Even with a reveal of two new characters during Sony’s conference, the current lineup is still relatively small with only 6 fighters, with Birdie and Nash being the only unexpected contenders so far. The gameplay is really solid, but it does have a similar feel to how Street Fighter IV plays, with the exception of the removal of the focus attack system. In its place are variable V-Skill and V-Trigger actions, which provide defensive and offensive abilities that are unique to each character.

Deus Ex was shown as a hands-off gameplay demonstration. Right away the game showed off larger and more detailed levels, with an emphasis on verticality. We saw Jensen approach a railing and look down; only to take the leap below, finishing into an explosive landing and then continuing the fight, seemingly skipping entire floors. Both combat and stealth gameplay was shown in our demo, giving us a glimpse at Jensen’s new toys. An arsenal consisting of gruesome new attacks with your arm blades, different types of ammo for your weapons, and new powers such as super fast movement speed to leap across and up areas, or just to slow down time.

We also got some hands on time with Rainbow Six: Siege’s attack and defense multiplayer mode. Longtime fans will appreciate the slower team based tactical gameplay missing from most shooters. This new entry in the series features fully destructible walls, with a new reinforcement feature letting you choose which places you want to protect most. Unreinforced walls can be damaged just enough to let you make a peephole for your gun or even a grenade, or large enough to take down the entire wall as you bust your way through your objective. Overall the game felt solid and fun to play.

Cuphead was one of the highlights of Xbox’s conference this year, and it was a must-see for us on the show floor. With its impressive art style which is a carbon copy of 1930s cartoons, the platformer really has you feeling like you’re playing one. The demo only provided boss battles, which were surprisingly challenging, but included unique character designs such as an angry carrot, a flying bird, and other random enemies. Xbox One has a really strong exclusive title with Cuphead, and it’s unfortunate that we have to wait until sometime in 2016 to play through it.