Take It Or Leave It – E3 2014 – Microsoft

Welcome to Take It Or Leave It, where each week I pick out new comics and tell you if they’re worth the price and you should take them, or if you should just leave them on the shelf. Nope! This time, we’re looking at the big press conferences of E3 2014, ranking not only the shows themselves, but also the best, worst, and generally weirdest of the games that were shown during them.

Microsoft kicked off the whole event, as usual, but how did they manage this time around?

Microsoft Press Conference Surprisingly enough, they nailed it this time around. Making it only about games, games and more games, it finally felt like a showing that was truly focused on making us gamers happy. The only drawback to their turn on the stage is that although they had some good information on features and content, they didn’t bring a whole lot to the table in terms of real, big surprises. Still, we were told of some very good reasons to make the jump to the new generation of platforms soon, and that’s always a good thing. Verdict: Take It

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Call of Duty‘s take on the future of war seems . . . well, let’s face it, this series is at the point where people already know whether or not they’ll be picking each one up. They could make the next game about pretty much anything, and there will still be the dedicated bunch who pick it up and the people who won’t even touch a system that’s playing it. Still, coming from someone who has been sick of the series ever since Modern Warfare 2, I thought it looked okay. The trailer was entertaining enough, at least. Verdict: Maybe Take It

	Forza Horizon 2 There’s not much else to say about this that I didn’t already mention in the original report. If you enjoy racing cars that most of us will never be able to afford outside of gaming at a higher level of realism than most, then the Forza titles never disappoint. Verdict: Take It

Evolve I’ve been pretty skeptic of this game for some time now, but after seeing it in action, I’m starting to change my mind. It’s being made by the original creators of Left 4 Dead, so the “4 humans vs 1 monster” multiplayer concept should play out wonderfully. The developers have been smart with how they’re handling the game as well, letting people play it at public events on a regular basis and announcing an Xbox exclusive beta for this Fall, so hopefully the finished product will provide well balanced fun and potentially change how future games approach their competitive modes. Verdict: Take It

Assassin’s Creed: Unity While a new Assassin’s Creed doesn’t surprise anyone, the developers at Ubisoft still managed to get people more than excited for this one. Taking place during the French revolution, players will once again put on their hooded coats, hidden blades and all kinds of other tools for murder and take on the Templars in a new time period. Sounds like par for the course, right? Sure, up until the announcement that the game will feature 4 player cooperative play and be exclusively on new gen platforms. Verdict: Take It

Dragon Age: Inquisition Dragon Age is back and looking absolutely gorgeous. While not a whole lot was said about the title, we did see some interesting and entertaining gameplay. However, we also got a look at some of the potential partners that players will be able to have in their party, and even though we were told their stories were fascinating, the ones they talked about just sounded so . . . cheesy and typical, especially for a game centered on fantasy. I couldn’t help thinking the mage shown stole her wardrobe from Maleficent too. You might as well just bring a neon sign with you saying “I’m going to betray someone!!” if you’re going that far. Verdict: Unsure

Sunset Overdrive This third person shooter feels like what would happen if Borderlands and Crackdown had some kind of weird, messed up baby . . . and it looks fantastic for it. An energy drink has caused people to mutate into all kinds of creatures, and you with up to 7 friends (that’s right, 8 player coop) get to blast them away with a flat out wacky arsenal of weapons and maneuvers. This has some serious potential. Verdict: Take It

Dead Rising 3 – Super Ultra Arcade Remix Hyper Edition Ex Plus Alpha Capcom shows that they find the jokes about themselves rather amusing with this downloadable content pack for Dead Rising 3. Released the moment it was announced, it allows 4 player coop (and the return of Frank West and Chuck Greene to make that happen), where players can choose from the 4 characters in all kinds of Capcom themed, nostalgia filled costumes and slaughter the undead together. It seems like a hilariously fun time, and is filled with references to everything from more well known titles like Street Fighter and Mega Man, to the classics like Dino Crisis and Resident Evil 2. Verdict: Take It

Fantasia: Music Evolved Harmonix, the creators of Rock Band, once again had more to show for their Disney licensed rhythm game where you are the controller. Featuring music from Disney classics and licensed hits alike, players orchestrate the music with their own body movements using the Xbox’s Kinect sensor. I must not be enough of a Disney fan anymore, because I just don’t get the draw to this. I know people are in love with the Fantasia movie, but are the overplayed pop songs that most people got sick of a long time ago really necessary? Verdict: Maybe Leave It

Dance Central: Spotlight Harmonix then said that they had heard the fans, and are now giving us what we want. They followed that statement up with Dance Central: Spotlight. “Funny,” I thought, “I could’ve sworn there were more fans begging and pleading for Rock Band 4. I mean, it has been years since we’ve had a reason to use our now hard to find and expensive instrument peripherals.”  Still, I guess developers believe the world needs more dancing games, because this is happening . . . whether I like it or not. Verdict: Leave It

Fable: Legends The Fable series is borrowing from the “dungeon master” style of gaming this time around, as a team of 4 heroes navigate various environments where the enemies, traps, and their locations are all determined by a single enemy player. In concept, it sounds like a great idea and a much better direction to go in than The Journey was. On the other hand, I keep thinking that the problem with Fable games these days is that they’re far too easy, and the gameplay shown made it look like the heroes can blast through just about everything while barely breaking a sweat. If that’s the case, then they need to seriously tweak the balancing and give the villain some more power if they hope for this to succeed. Verdict: Leave It (For Now)

Project Spark Finally, some real competition for the likes of Little Big Planet. Project Spark promises players the ability to make their own games from scratch and with ease. Using a massive amount of tools, players can create worlds, then place all kinds of challenges in them, including enemies, allies, obstacles and more. If it can live up to the promises, then this is going to be a huge step in gaming. Oh, and then we were all teased with a little bit of Conker, the infamous squirrel from the original Xbox days who apparently has a set of his own content to use in Spark. Doesn’t seem to fit very well considering Conker doesn’t exactly provide the family friendly entertainment that the rest of this game portrays, but it should at least help bring in a wider audience. Verdict: Take It

Ori and the Blind Forest This neat little indie title was revealed for the first time during the event. We currently know next to nothing about the title, aside from its watercolored art style and potential to be just as dark as it is cute. The indie games scene seems to be on a constant overload of artistic 2D platformers though, so only time will tell if this one manages to stand out from the many others that have already either found great success or failed. Verdict: Unsure

Halo: The Master Chief Collection The rumor that I reported on a little while back is now reality, and a massive collection of Halo titles 1-4 is coming to the Xbox One. Featuring Anniversary editions of both 1 and 2, along with the original mechanics and multiplayer for each title (along with every multiplayer map released for them and the mention of every hidden thing in each game being unlocked), it’s hard to deny how huge of a deal this will be for anyone who even slightly enjoys the series. Verdict: Definitely Take It

Inside The next title from the makers of the indie smash hit Limbo, this 2.5D puzzle platformer continues their trend of interesting art and creepy feelings, while having what seems to be a dystopian prison theme to it all. If the massive success of Limbo is any indication, this one will be another title worth keeping an eye on . . . or in this case, a robotic searchlight on. Verdict: Maybe Take It

Rise of the Tomb Raider The sequel to the recent reboot of the Tomb Raider series seems to be coming a bit sooner than I expected. Hey, Lara’s actually raiding tombs this time, too! . . And seeing a shrink for her experiences in the last game too, apparently. Still, this looks like another adventure worth going on. I just wonder if we’ll be fighting more than the usual humans and animals in this one . . . Verdict: Take It

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt While we’ve known about this title ever since last year’s E3, we did finally get to see some real gameplay, and it looks fantastic! We saw how players will be hunting down a griffon at a later point in the game, from tracking its blood stains caused by an arrow to carrying its decapitated head back into town. At this time, I’m a little more than skeptical about the graphics we saw though . . . they just seem a bit too good to be true. Still, the gameplay itself looks like a ton of fun, and that’s really what counts. Verdict: Take It

Phantom Dust After the success Microsoft found in reviving the classic title Killer Instinct, it seems the trend is continuing into even more obscure territory – to the point where even I had never heard of this game before this announcement. From what I can gather, it seems like a mix of fighting and card games. I’m not much of a fan of card games myself, but it must have some kind of a following to warrant a return after all this time. Verdict: Unsure

Scalebound A mysterious trailer begins showing a young guy with short blond hair being chased by a giant creature. Then, a dragon lands in front of him, and it’s unclear what’s going to happen next. Suddenly the guy starts riding the dragon and commanding it to attack the creature . . . and that’s about all we see of this game. Riding dragons, huh? Cool, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of it looking a lot like a more grown-up version of How to Train Your Dragon. I’ll need to see more of this one before I can make a solid judgement on it. Verdict: Unsure

Crackdown (3) Microsoft closed out their conference with one more surprise up their sleeve: the return of Crackdown. The story of super powered agents taking down criminal organizations remains, along with all of the crazy and over the top action that the title has been known for. The trailer showed a criminal leader resting in his tower overlooking the city, while the agents (players) set up and sent an 18-wheeler covered in explosives flying into that very tower. Most people would’ve just shot the guy, but hey, whatever works. If the actual game is as ridiculous as the trailer was, this one will not disappoint. Verdict: Maybe Take It

Jeremy Harrison has been into gaming and just about everything nerdy or out of the norm for as long as he can remember. He likes to keep an open mind about things, but also has a strangely high amount of fun getting into a rant or good debate. . . which is probably why he was recruited to this site in the first place. You can Email Jeremy or follow Jeremy on Twitter @NightmareAsylum or Facebook