E3 2014 Review: Microsoft Interests, Doesn’t Excite

After a pretty lackluster showing at E3 2013, then launching a new console last holiday season that was being under sold versus its competitors over at Sony, Microsoft had a lot of work to do to make the Xbox One stand out more. So at this year’s E3, Microsoft had to showcase some new games to its audience, and keep the interest level in its new console high.

I am happy to say that at this year’s E3 they did just that — however it wasn’t a very exciting conference. When I say exciting, I am referring to the overall excitement that the games made me feel. Last year’s games such as Killer Instinct, and Titanfall had me on the edge of my seat, and made me excited to play them. I didn’t feel that they had that this year.

Not saying it was horrible — Microsoft had some great games to showcase, but only a few of them really stood out that made me excited, and nothing that made me scream “I NEED TO BUY THIS GAME!” I think that feeling will change when I see gameplay of those games shown, and/or I get my hands on them myself.

For the most part, however, Microsoft announced some amazing games such as Crackdown 3 and Phantom Dust, and showed off gameplay of Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare. But for what it needed to do, Microsoft did it. I just hope it showcased these games enough to satisfy fans, and the gamers it wants to rope in. Also what I liked the most was that the speakers only mentioned Kinect for a total of a few minutes. They realized the Kinect was a good endeavor but not something the fans wanted to see. So they announced a Dance Central game but that was it, they did go into an obnoxious dance number, or Kinect stage demo. It’s there if people are interested but they learned what the fans want.

The amount of exclusives coming to Xbox One impressed me, not to mention that the majority of them are scheduled to come out by the end of the year. Microsoft learned that Halo, Gears Of War, and Forza could not do it by themselves, they need more exclusive support, and now that they have it, things can start looking up for them.

Microsoft definitely accomplished its goal for E3, which was to showcase some exclusive titles for the Xbox One, and while most of the games may not have been very exciting for me, overall I was pleased at the fact that the games were the main focus. I can see a future for Xbox One, and with titles such as Sunset Overdrive, Halo 5, and the Master Chief Collection coming out, looks like I’ll have to get my hands on a Xbox One sooner than later.

Microsoft Highlights

• New gameplay shown for Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare
• Forza Motorsport 5, and Forza Horizon 2 gameplay and mechanics revealed
• New trailer for Evolved introducing new monster “The Kraken”
• Assassin’s Creed Unity four-player co-op gameplay revealed
• Dragon Age: Inquisition trailer released
• Sunset Overdrive story trailer revealed, also it showed off new gameplay, and details of it eight-player co-op mode
• Super Ultra Dead Rising 3 Arcade Remix Hyper Edition EX Plus Alpha DLC revealed, available now
• Dance Central Fantasia, and Dance Central Spotlight revealed
• Fable Legends, a four-player co-op game revealed
• Project SPARK, user-generated game created coming to Xbox One, featuring Conker the Squirrel
• Ori The Blind Forest, a new visually interesting game coming to Xbox Live
• Halo Master Chief Edition (The Complete Master Chief Saga, with revamped Halo 2 Multiplayer, with Halo 5 Guardians beta as well)
• New trailer for Halo 5 Guardians
• Rise Of the Tomb Raider, sequel to Tomb Raider revamp
• New gameplay shown for The Witcher 3
• Phantom Dust remake announced
• New IP from Platinum Games, Scalebound, announced
• Crackdown 3 announcement