Expectations were low for what Microsoft had in store for their E3 press conference, however, if you had wanted to see Usher perform or a lengthy “SmartGlass” demo, that’s what you got.
Background:
After last year’s Kinect-heavy conference, this was a time to fully assess Microsoft’s vision of the future.
Having moved closer away from core gamers and even gaming with its endless entertainment hub functionality, gamers had low expectations but were hoping for a better look at Halo 4 and perhaps a few surprises along the way.
Highlights:
Halo 4
Having closed the show at E3 2011, Halo 4 opened things this time around with a stunning mix of a live-action trailer, a gameplay demo that featured a new race of alien enemy and footage that felt like a cross between regular Halo and the recent Metroid Prime series.
Overall it was enough to sway any doubters dubious of whether or not 343 Industries could follow the lead of series creators Bungie but after the satisfying yet inessential Halo: ODST, this was a huge return to form.
South Park: The Stick of Truth
After the eye-glazing PR jabbering of “Xbox SmartGlass” (see below), South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone took the stage for upcoming RPG “The Stick of Truth” and immediately provided much-needed levity to the robotic speakers that had came before.
“How many times have you been watching an episode of South Park and thought… ‘I’d like to watch this on my television, while hooked into my mobile device, which is being controlled by my tablet device – which is hooked into my oven, while I’m sitting in the refrigerator?” asked Matt. “Well, we’re not doing that, we’re just doing this game.”
Tomb Raider
A year after its debut, the reboot of the Lara Croft franchise may involve the developers roughing up its iconic character as much as possible yet it’s difficult not to be won over by the incredible production values and of course, badass crossbow action.
Lowlights:
SmartGlass
SmartGlass was the moment when gamers worldwide realised that at this point in time, Microsoft is far more interested in unifying their home network devices than providing innovative gameplay experiences.
If you didn’t watch the interminable demonstration, SmartGlass essentially involves transferring videos between mobile and tablet devices, while watching DVD bonus content-style information and watching TV or navigating Internet Explorer (yeah, it still exists…) using only your voice.
While SmartGlass appeared pretty nifty it seemed out of place at the world’s biggest gaming event – perhaps an admission from Microsoft that they had zero games in its place, which became extremely obvious once Usher performed on stage for five bloody minutes later on.
Gears of War: Judgement
Disappointing in that it represented just a few minutes of the Xbox conference – rather than a gameplay demo or on-screen presentation – Judgement also looks near identical to the Gears trilogy. Much like God of War: Ascension at the Sony show, it seems to exist for little reason other than hey, Microsoft only has four exclusive franchises at this point in time (Forza, Halo, Gears of War and Fable) and needs a yearly update for each.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 closing the conference
After last year’s Halo 4 reveal, one was hoping for another similar first-party shocker to close the Microsoft conference yet instead the corporation relied on a third-party title whose existence was announced months ago.
What’s more, this was a surprisingly stretched demo played by someone who – perhaps due to nerves – missed an eye-opening amount of shots and killed the fluidity of the gameplay. In our view, the demo also did little to aid series fatigue and didn’t utilise the much hyped future setting of the title.
Verdict:
Despite a couple of stand-out demonstrations, Microsoft left gamers in little doubt that at this point in the console cycle, they’re far more interested in extending the cross media Xbox brand than taking any software risks.
Overall this was a bland, dull show occasionally punctuated by what gamers came to see yet as of right now, Microsoft is stretching itself very little when it comes to video games.
Grade: C-
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