Our E3 2009 Overview

The Sony presser opened up with an immediate presentation of Uncharted 2. The first Uncharted was somewhat of a success and the sequel has a decent amount of hype surrounding it. The game looks gorgeous and runs smoothly. The gameplay seems rather solid, however some of the core mechanics came off looking rather sloppy. I'm not sure if it was the guy who was demoing the game just being awful or an actual reflection of the game, but it looks like it still needs some time in the oven.

One of Sony's larger announcements of last year was the introduction of MAG, a massive 256 person online first person shooter. The game was finally shown in a playable demo form and in a live 256 person match. There was no lag to be noticed, but I'm sure precautions were taken to avoid such a thing happening. The game looks decent enough, but the gameplay appears rather flat. The alure of a massive match might also be its downfall. Coordinating teamwork and the like is a great challenge with so many people, and I see being easy to get swept up in all of the chaos that will ensue.

The other half of Kojima's mystery website was the reveal of the PSP title Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Peace Walker is set in the 1970s and is the third game starring Big Boss as the protagonist. The game revolves around the creation of Outer Heaven, and essentially is the missing link of the Metal Gear saga. The trailer was rather lengthy and showed a good deal of gameplay. It seemed to be very close in appearance to MGS: Portable Ops and even showed some new tricks. The most interesting part of the demo was at the end when it showed four Big Bosses all working together. Most certainly hinting towards a multiplayer or cooperative mode. Nohing was confirmed, but this is sure to be an exciting one.

In a completely left-field announcement Sony announced that Squenix's new online chapter of Final Fantasy would be exclusive to play on the PS3. While this was later corrected as being incorrect as the game is also available for the PC, it was still a rather large announcement. I know FFXI had a pretty decent following, so this is sure to make some noise. However, the PS3 exclusivity doesn't really seem like that big of a deal, as I doubt many players played FFXI through PS2 and 360.

I'm going to be honest, I haven't played neither Ico nor Shadow of the Colossus, but I'm sure a lot of people are excited for this. I'll give it a three. Yeah that sounds good.

Ubisoft showed a quick trailer at their press conference on Monday night, but we actually finally got to see a demo played live at the Sony event. As a huge fan of the first game, this second one looks even better. The graphics looked very tight and the game control looked identical to the first. They displayed some new moves and means of travel, but the demo was rather brief. The worst part is that it just left you wanting more. Definitely look for this one laster this year.

The PS3 couldn't be left behind in the motion control world, so they had some demos of their own to show off. Basically two black WiiMotes, they control in a very similar way. The tech demo was rather interesting, but once again, basically showed nothing concrete. It was nice to know they're working on it, but it seemed like they just tried a demo at the last second to let everyone that they're still with the times.

God of War 3 was actually demoed for the first time on stage and it looked fantastic. The graphics were absolutely unreal and took great advantage of the lighting effects. The game played identical to other God of War games and even showed off some platforming elements. The demo also spotlighted a couple of larger enemies with a minotaur and some other gigantic beast which was part lion and part something I don't even fucking know. The demo ended before the gigantic boss fight that the game was culminating towards, but it was still rather breathtaking. God of War 3 won't make it this year, but will certainly be one of the most anticipated games of 2010.