The 9 games from E3 that will set gamers' pulses racing
The biggest gaming event in the world (possibly) the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo – better known as E3 – was held in Los Angeles last week.
While E3 has been a tad tepid in recent years, 2015 saw it back with a bang.
Gamers have lost their collective minds over some of the games launched at the event.
Here are nine of the many upcoming games featured at E3 that will certainly whet a gamer's appetite.
1) FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE (PS4)
Let's start with the biggest reveal.
It's the beloved favourite that was first released in 1997 on the original Sony PlayStation (PS).
Fans of the long-running Final Fantasy series role-playing game (RPG) have been clamouring to see it remade with modern technology. Now Square Enix has finally answered their prayers.
While little was revealed beyond the fact that the game is finally happening, what we do know is that it won't be a simple HD re-mastering
Producer Shinji Hashimoto told IGN that the classic will be completely re-made from the ground up with "a lot of careful thought to meet fans' expectations".
Which sounds like a complete overhaul, and may as well be called Final Fanstasy 15 (yes, there is some irony to anything "final" having multiple installments.
But like a film remake, it will have the same characters and storyline.
Of course, PS4 owners will have first dibs when the game is eventually released, with a later wider release on other consoles and platforms.
Check out the reveal trailer that sent millions of fanboys and girls into a tizzy:
2) STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT (PS4/XBOX ONE/PC)
Coming back more powerful than before is Star Wars: Battlefront.
A first and third-person shooter set in the Star Wars universe that allows you to pilot any of its awe-inspiring vehicles like the nimble X-Wing fighter and the lumbering AT-AT walker.
Battlefront has received a new lease of life thanks to the folks at Electronic Arts (EA).
Powered by the Frostbite 3 engine, this reboot is a feast for the eyes as it recreates iconic battlefields from the movies like the Battle for Hoth from The Empire Strikes Back.
And with DICE – makers of the highly-successful Battlefield games that featured similar mechanics – at the helm, Battlefront looks to be in safe hands.
3) NEED FOR SPEED (PC/XBOX ONE/PS4)
Another game, another reboot.
Racing fans will be familiar with EA's venerable Need For Speed (NFS) series, which also gets reboot accompanied by jaw-dropping visuals.
Developed by Ghost Games, NFS is a street racing game that will have you customising cars then racing on the streets of a massive open world environment.
Fans of the Fast and Furious movie series will definitely want to check this entry out.
4) FOR HONOR (PC/XBOX ONE/PS4)
Gosh. Something that isn't a reboot.
For Honor is Ubisoft Montreal's attempt at answering the age old question that we are sure has plagued many a great mind: "What would it be like to throw vikings, knights and samurai onto the same battlefield?".
Its answer is a brutal, sprawling multiplayer game.
Played from a third-person perspective with multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) and first-person elements mixed in, For Honor pits players in four-on-four battles alongside masses of AI-controlled troops.
And this won't just be a load of hacking and slashing.
Combat moves involve use of the right thumbstick on joypad and will require players to fight with some skill and thought in their play.
You can check out some of the gameplay below.
WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC VIOLENCE
NO. REALLY. IT IS GRUESOME.
NOT AS BAD AS MORTAL KOMBAT X BUT LIMBS DO COME OFF.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED...
5) HALO 5: GUARDIANS (XBOX ONE)
The epic continues.
Even though it is into its fifth installment, Halo is looking superb thanks a brand new engine made specially for the game by Microsoft's 343 Industries.
The Master Chief has gone AWOL and it is up to a team of Spartans – Fireteam Osiris led by Jameson Locke – to track him down.
Castle and Firefly star Nathan Fillion also lends his visage and voice to Edward Buck, a character last seen as an orbital drop shock trooper in Halo 3: ODST.
6) TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON WILDLANDS (PS4, XBOX ONE, PC)
Only the uniformity of the trees lets on that this is not a actual aerial photograph.
This is a still from Ubisoft's latest entry into the Ghost Recon series.
Stepping back from Ghost Recon's recent futuristic titles, Wildlands is back to modern day. A tactical shooter set in modern Bolivia and set against the backdrop of a bloody war on drugs.
Players can dive into the lush open world environment of with friends or alongside AI-controlled teammates in a four-man team of elite US soldiers tasked with taking down the Santa Blanca drug cartel.
From magnificent mountainous outcrops to lush jungle environments, you can interact with non-playable characters... and blast several shades of crikey out of them.
WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS VIOLENT IMAGES
7) TRANSFORMERS: DEVASTATION (XBOX ONE/ XBOX 360/ PS4/ PS3/ PC)
Transformers fans tired of Michael Bay's re-imagining of their favourite robots in disguise will soon have a game that brings the franchise back to its roots.
Looking like it was ripped straight from the original '80s cartoon series thanks to its beautiful cel-shaded graphics, Transformers: Devastation is a rare single-player only experience from Platinum Games – the guys behind slick action games like the Bayonetta series.
Players get to control five different Autobots – Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Wheeljack and Grimlock – in combat against the Decepticons.
To heighten the sense of nostalgia, the game also features several of the original voice actors like Peter Cullen and Frank Welker, who voiced Prime and Megatron back in the day.
8) YOSHI'S WOOLLY WORLD (WII U)
From Nintendo (of course), Yoshi's Woolly World stole more than its fair share of hearts with its adorably unique aesthetics.
Starring Mario's cute dinosaur sidekick Yoshi and his merry band of... er.... fellow Yoshis in a universe spun from a galaxy-sized ball of yarn, Yoshi's Woolly World is a platformer in true Super Mario fashion.
The game will make use of Nintendo's amiibo line of figures to give players power-ups and new characters.
The game comes packaged with an adorable yarn Yoshi amiibo, the must have accessory for every gamer this year.
9) LEGO DIMENSIONS (PS3/ PS4/ XBOX 360/ XBOX ONE/ WII U)
Oh, Lego, how did you get to be so awesome?
Just when it seemed as if Lego had brick-ified every possible brand and franchise that it could lay its hands on, the little plastic brick leapt into a whole new realm with Dimensions.
Jumping into the world of video games by tying in with Valve's cult favourite Portal franchise, Dimensions is a typical Lego videogame that crosses into so many worlds that it will make your head spin.
The game centres around the unlikely trio of Wyldstyle (from The Lego Movie), Batman and Gandalf and will allow you to build (and rebuild) Lego vehicles in the real world and place them in the game.
While Homer Simpson, Scooby Doo and Doc Brown from Back to the Future are just some of the characters who appear in the game, gamers who love their Lego mini-figures must be ecstatic to know that Portal's main protagonist Chell will be getting her own figure too!
Just don't tell Lego GLaDOS that you want cake, Gandalf... Oops.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, Kingdom Hearts 3, Fire Emblem Fates, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, Fallout 4, Street Fighter 5, Doom, Tom Clancy's Rainbox Six Siege and many, many more...
Sources: YouTube, IGN
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