June 8, 2009

The E3 2009 Hot Or Meh List

This highly scientific grading scale was developed by some random Joystiq comment from here that was since deleted.  I don’t really know what ‘creepy hot’ means either.

Creepy Hot:

  • Warioware: DIY – No demo and little to no buzz.  If they called it Mario Paint DS, there would’ve been a fanstorm.
  • Tatsunoko vs Capcom – Casshern vs Jun the Swan… that’s some childhood fantasy stuff right there.  Reinvigorated my interest for Capcom fighters.
  • Sin and Punishment 2 – Holy hell yes, a sequel to a great and underappreciated game.
  • Fat Princess – As one friend put it “this is a reason to own a PS3″.  Very fun, addictive gameplay
  • Oboromuramasa – Gorgeous.
  • New Super Mario Bros Wii – 4 Player Coop
  • Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Epic
  • Mod Nation Racers – One of the most impressive demos all show.  This is gaming 2.0
  • Star Wars: The Old Republic – Ok, now I’m starting to drink the kool-aid too
  • Scribblenauts – Could be one of the most ambitiously creative games ever
  • The Last Guardian – Games are art
  • All Points Bulletin – Last.FM streaming, mass customizing mayhem
  • Front Mission Evolved – F@#! yeah
  • Torchlight – Many agree this is one of the great surprises near the back.  Quite possibly more enjoyable for longer periods of time than Diablo 3

Hot:

  • Little Big Planet on PSP
  • PSP Go – Most comfortable feeling handheld device ever.  Though getting people to switch is going to be super hard.  Seems like they’re targeting new owners.
  • Quantum – Wasn’t expecting much but it looks really great.  Good multiplayer ideas too.
  • Metal Gear Solid Rising
  • Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth – I cosplayed as him so you can bet I’m excited
  • A Boy and his Blob
  • Assassin’s Creed 2
  • Golden Sun DS
  • Alpha Protocol
  • Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story
  • Battlefield 1943
  • Bayonetta – Looks WAY more fun than I predicted
  • Beyond Good and Evil 2
  • Bioshock 2 – Wasn’t a huge fan of the first one (blasphemy I know), but the multiplayer looks fun – you can BE a big daddy
  • Brutal Legend
  • Brink
  • Borderlands – the new art direction took some getting used to but I think it makes the game stand out on its own far better
  • deTuned – .theprodukkt
  • Food Network Cook or Be Cooked – looks like it might actually teach generation Y/Z gamers how to cook, increasing the chances of civilization as we know it surviving
  • Fate Unlimited Codes – wished this was available to play
  • Lost Planet 2 – though I did like the cold setting of the previous, the multiplayer fights look quite fun for this
  • Katamari Forever – how can you not love more Katamari goodness?
  • Heroes of Telara – the trailer for this is unimpressive, but the concept art and monster design is really quite awesome
  • Gravity Crash -
  • Fragile – XSEED always makes good games, and this one looks to be no exception
  • Metroid Other M
  • Mini Ninjas
  • Saboteur
  • MAG
  • Order of War – Looked amazing, and I’m normally not a huge WWII kind of strat-gamer.
  • Persona
  • Sing Star Queen – finally a music game that contains only songs I know
  • Zombie Apocalypse – Looks like a really well polished Smash TV style shooter
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled – a true multiplayer classic
  • Trauma Team
  • Trine
  • Trials HD:  Looks pretty fun in that the bloopers will undoubtedly be awesome
  • Tales of Monkey Island
  • Singularity
  • Shadow Complex
  • Split Second – Such a great idea, universal studios tour plus racing.  Also the HUD / dials under the car is one of the best UI designs in all of racing.
  • Splinter Cell Conviction – Some very impressive cinematic feel to this one
  • Wet – a lot of cool flair and possibility here, but the trailer seemed kinda bad
  • Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks

Meh:

  • White Knight Chronicles – I love Level 5 but something about the demo just didn’t ‘feel’ right
  • DJ Hero – If a real life DJ got that wicky with it for that long, I’d punch them in the face
  • Natal – Seems to promise more than is capable.  I love that it will advance culture, but I feel that it will take at least 5 years after its release for it to catch up/on
  • Pixeljunk Monsters on PSP – not because it isn’t awesome, but why can’t it also come out on PS3?
  • Final Fantasy XIV – Final Fantasy 12+2.  Everyone I know’s heart sank when they heard it was going to be an MMO.  Square hasn’t proven it has learned the genre lessons.
  • New Samurai Showdown game – Why oh why make this 3D.  I gains nothing from it.
  • Batman: Arkham Asylum – Seemed like a lot of style and little substance
  • Dragon Age Origins – Don’t see anything new or inventive here.
  • Dissidia Final Fantasy – Gameplay felt really shallow
  • Pop’n Music – I love this game to death… why give it the Wiimote treatment?  Hard as I try, I can’t imagine that being fun
  • Left 4 Dead 2 – Feels weird that this isn’t just DLC and the daylight setting somehow takes something away from it
  • Saw – seriously why publish a movie game so late after the movie?
  • Spore * – Milk milk milk