Hey everybody, Ultimate Oddball here. This week on the blog I’ll be discussing a few games shown at E3 and giving my reaction to them. First up: Spiderman for PS4.

So, I’ve been a huge Spidey fan since I was a kid. This game looks very good, though nearly all of the footage seems to be pre-rendered cut-scenes. Hopefully the camera isn’t that close in on Spidey in-game, as having a clear view of buildings around is pretty important for him to get around. It’s being developed by Insomniac Games, who also made ‘Sunset Overdrive’. In an interview which I will post below, the Creative Director of the title says that this project has “the biggest game production team we’ve ever had at Insomniac”. It seems to be a very ambitious game, and hopefully they will do a level of quality assurance testing sufficient to make sure it’s not a buggy mess. I will be very happy if this turns out well, but I won’t get my hopes up just yet.

Another interesting piece of information is that the game will have an original story. It confuses me how common it is for adaptations to write new stories rather than pull from the treasure trove of stories, characters, and material which come from decades of comics. I’m not against rewriting some elements of the old stories, but the core of these comics are what got people interested in the first place. From the interview it seems the game will be narrative heavy, so I’m hoping the writing is solid and it fits thematically with the established canon.

 

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands from Ubisoft (TW: video game violence):

This game looks pretty interesting. I really enjoy games like this, especially with a good squad using teamwork. I do think it’s strange that it’s a Ghost Recon game, as it looks closer thematically and mechanics-wise to Grand Theft Auto than Ghost Recon. The world seems to be good sized, and the missions action-packed. I’m curious to see how much of the open-world aspect is utilized. If it incorporates mechanics like those in Far Cry involving outposts, mixed with the ability to earn money to buy guns, add-ons, ammo, special weapons, support, mortars, and other usable items, it will likely have a higher level of replayability. Hopefully microtransactions are minimal in this and don’t ruin the in-game balance.

Competitive multiplayer would also be great on this, as game modes wouldn’t be limited to simply team deathmatch or capture the flag type games. Ubisoft can get some great ideas from how Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain utilizes things like in-game currency, taking risks for the potential to capture resources, AI guards, base invasions, and dynamic online gameplay. If this game is done well and is as dynamic and player-driven as developers have stated it will be, I expect it to be very good. Only time will tell whether Ubisoft does enough QA testing to make sure it’s not a buggy mess at launch, especially with it being an online focused game.

 

State of Decay 2 by Undead Labs (TW: video game violence)

 

I played a decent amount of the first State of Decay and really enjoyed its sandbox mixed with group management third person action in a dynamic open world style. The sequel looks great and will have drop-in multiplayer, which is a great addition for an open world game focused on survivors trying to make it through a zombie apocalypse.

I hope to see a bit more backstory from the characters, as well as an increase in the variety of interactions and missions. I would also love a construction system for building bases, and a crafting system which can be used to generate weapons over time at facilities which can be upgraded and improved with blueprints, new machines, certain types of material, and defenses. Being able to take multiple AI survivors with you on missions would also be great, especially combined with the ability to assign basic tactics and give simple orders (wait here, cover me, attack, etcetera).

 

Well, thanks for coming by, and have a good day.