Since starting The Bonus World, I’ve always tried to get some sort of end of the year wrap up article together for game of the year season. Usually by this time in the year I can start constructing some loose amalgamation of a top ten list. 2019 happens to be the first year in a while where I’m having a tough time building that list.
That isn’t to say that the games I’ve played in 2019 have been disappointing or bad, I just found that a lot of what came out this year didn’t really resonate with me. Things like Kingdom Hearts III and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice were received positively, but once again, not my kind of games. Then we also had some real clunkers like Crackdown 3 and Anthem release early in the year and fade away into obscurity.
I think a lot of it has to do with developers gearing up for the next round of consoles along with the fact that early next year we’re going to be blitzed with some big titles like Doom Eternal, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Dying Light 2 and Cyberpunk 2077 to name a few. 2019 just feels like the gap year between the bombastic 2018 we had with Marvel’s Spider-Man and Red Dead Redemption II to cherry pick some of my favorites, and the swan-song, end of the generation year of 2020.
Like I said, I don’t think it was a bad year for video games, but when compared to last year and what’s coming up next year, it’s definitely lacking something. But hey, the year isn’t over yet, so I could eat my words on this. We’ve got The Outer Worlds and Call of Duty Modern Warfare dropping this Friday (10/26), and games like Luigi’s Mansion 3, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Pokemon, Death Stranding and of course, Shenmue III in the very near future, and any of those games could be great.
But let’s be real here, I’m probably just gonna play Red Dead Redemption II on the PC obsessively and let the other games just slide into the background.
Despite the fact that E3 technically doesn’t start for a few more days, we’re here to kick off the whole shebang with EA and their series of live streams. The beginning of this year for EA was met with promise and praise thanks to surprise hit, Apex Legends. Soon after though, their tent pole release Anthem, belly flopped onto the scene and continues to be a tumultuous game.
With that said though, this is some of the more interesting things that EA brought to the table this E3.
STAR WARS JEDI: FALLEN ORDER
EA kicked off the show with arguably, the most anticipated EA game this year, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Boasting 15 “uncut” minutes of gameplay footage. From the jump, I they showed off some wall running to meet up with Forrest Whitaker, presumably playing his Rouge One character. Some cool touches were things like seeing the character use his lightsaber and a light source in a dark area along with using force powers to clear platforming paths for yourself.
A lot of the combat encounters early in the demo looked like they were crafted specifically for presentation purposes, cause a lot of the basic storm troopers just kinda stood there, waiting to get stabbed.
Eventually though, a tougher enemy showed up, and there was this brief one-on-one moment that looked like something out of Dark Souls, which seems like a great way to represent and experience the gravitas of a lightsaber duel.
There was a lot of wall climbing and running, and frequent use of a time slowing power that I wasn’t aware Jedi had, but it looked cool.
Another neat thing was seeing the storm troopers face off against local wildlife. It doesn’t seem like something that will happen organically, but it was nice to know that these guys aren’t just solely waiting around for you to kill them.
There was a “high ground” joke made in the demo, so that was fun.
It seems to be implementing aspects from a lot of beloved Star Wars games, notably Force Unleashed and what little people saw of 1313. One of the cooler bits I saw was a storm trooper fired a laser bullet, the player slowed time, pulled the trooper closer to him, and put him in front of the bullet he fired moments ago.
What I didn’t get from the footage was a sense of scale in the game. The level they showed off seemed fairly linear, without much deviation from the critical path. I genuinely hope that isn’t the case and there’s something similar to how God of War handled it’s world.
The combat looked very interesting to me as well, also bringing up comparisons to God of War. Everything seemed deliberate and calculated, and the post reveal interview revealed that everything we saw was done on the fly. The example they used was when the player pulled an enemy close to them and drove his lightsaber through them, that wasn’t a canned animation, but rather the result of button inputs.
One of the more interesting aspects here is that there isn’t much in the way of variation of the story. Star Wars games typically lean into the light and dark dichotomy, but in Fallen Order, you’re playing a tailored story. That isn’t a negative or positive thing, I just find it interesting that a Star Wars game is foregoing that weird expectation this time around.
The game looks extremely satisfying to play. I hate to keep drumming up this comparison, but it looks like they took God of War 2018, and injected it with Star Wars. The game is set to release on November 15th, and I for one, am eager to get my hands on it.
APEX LEGENDS
People really like Apex Legends. In theory, I do too. But it just never got its hooks in me. So who better than I to talk about what they’ve announced for Apex Legends than myself?
They started by announcing a new event called, The Legendary Hunt which I guess is a ranked mode for those who want to be even more competitive in this battle royale game.
They also seem to be finally leaning into the cosmetic angles of a free to play game, by showing off what I assume are new skins.
Then they pivoted into their season 2 plans. It launches July 2nd and is called Battlecharge. Touting a new legend, a map event, a mode, a new battle pass and some balance tweaks.
For all the hype of a new weapon, it looks like an SMG that shoots lasers. I think it’s from Titanfall 2, but I can’t be sure. It seems to be very powerful and the interviewer seemed very excited for it, as is his job.
The battle pass is undergoing a lot of changes, making leveling easier and streamlining its usage. There’s also a competitive season ranked mode, in the vein of Overwatch ranked mode coming.
There’s some additional skins, but to honest, they all kind of looked lame. With the exception of the gun with a rhino head on the front of it.
And then they revealed a new character named Wattson. She’s apparently very smart and French, so that’s cool. She looks to be a defensive oriented character, capable of putting up laser fences and turrets. She looks like a tougher character to play because her powers are so interconnected to herself and her teammates.
Then they started saying some stuff that I couldn’t understand cause I don’t play Apex Legends. It’s hard for me to be excited for or properly report on what this stuff is about, cause I’m just not a huge fan of Apex Legends.
BATTLEFIELD V
In an attempt to drum up some hype for their fledgling release from last year, EA marched out a half hour of Battlefield V news. Once again, I’m not a huge fan of Battlefield these days, but here we go anyway.
They announced a new map that unsurprisingly looks beautiful and chaotic as hell and should be out sometime in July. Shortly after, they showed a sizzle reel of some other, equally pretty and chaotic maps that are due out in July.
It’s always really interesting to me that in these demos, they never show off the true gameplay loop of Battlefield. There’s always a lot of people mowing each other down in mid to close range combat, but in reality, the experience is more of you spawning in, and then immediately getting sniped.
This entire section of the presentation felt similar to the apology tour they did last year with Star Wars: Battlefront II. Not that they were apologizing, but they hammered the point home that they were responding to community feedback in crafting the new maps and modes.
It’s nice to see that EA isn’t straight up abandoning Battlefield V despite it under performing for them, but rather, supporting the community they have. It seems like a course correction in the public image issues EA has had for a while, where they appear to drop any unsuccessful game instead of supporting it. It’s a smart move, and I hope it’s indicative of a more permanent change as opposed to a temporary solution.
Anyway, this wasn’t what I’d call a super exciting portion of the presentation. It felt like they took a map pack announcement trailer, and spread it out over a half hour.
FIFA 20
Man, I don’t know. They’re doing some FIFA Street style mode which seems like it could be fun, but I really am not the target audience on this one. I mean, I enjoyed the “street” series of games they once made, but it isn’t enough to make me buy a FIFA game.
Also, I should mention, for the first half of the time slot for this presentation, they just talked about the concept of street football (soccer) instead of actually showing any gameplay. I get it, I do. There’s a massive cultural relevance for this product and mode, but it really felt like they didn’t have much in the way of additional announcements for the upcoming FIFA.
At this point I started to zone out and stare into the background of the shots. There were a lot of people with umbrella hats on, and I’m so thankful for that. They must’ve been selling them nearby, and even if they were free, they were too expensive. Also, a lot of people waving in the background and generally being a nuisance.
ANTHEM
Anthem showed up for a cool 3 minutes. Basically a short apology tour, saying things like “we’re responding to the community” and such. It was just standard stuff about how they’re fixing things and working hard.
MADDEN NFL 20
Welcome to football town folks, they have more umbrella hats here. This year in football town, there’s a career mode for your created player, new playbooks, challenges for ultimate team stuff, and something called “X-Factor abilities” which seem to be superstar specific buffs that you can unlock in-game by completing player specific challenges.
I think I went to the restroom while this segment was going on. I don’t know, it’s a shiny new Madden that I’m sure people will love.
THE SIMS 4
Rounding out the 3 hour event was The Sims 4. They started with an expansion pack called Island Living, which looks like exactly what you think it would be. Lots of beaches, jet-skis, sandcastles, and coral reefs. Cleaning up beach garbage and beach parties were also in the mix, as well as a mermaid.
You can have dolphin buddies, which seems pretty rad. And I’m pretty sure they just implied that mermaids and dolphins fuck. So thanks for that disturbing visual, EA.
Oh good, they decided to play a video from a YouTube content creator. An influencer if you will. But this person did announce that The Sims 4 was including gender neutral and LGBTQ pride items to the game, which is very cool.
And then they announced a magic themed pack that’s coming later in the year. So, Harry Potter fans, get pumped.
EA Play is a weird thing. It’s like EA is trying to do both the established E3 event thing, and the streaming to consumers thing. It isn’t a bad way to do a conference or event, but when there was so little to announce, it just felt lifeless.
I will say that I thought every host they had on the show, teetered between enthusiastic, and supremely annoying, but hey, that’s their job. Aside from that, the biggest news has to be at the very end when a man in an umbrella hat, holding a camera and an anime body pillow stood in the background and waved at the camera. Great job everyone.
After a week of careful code-breaking, decrypting and other jokes about complex preorder charts, I was able to install and play the Anthem beta (demo? Who knows anymore?) and see what this game is really all about. At least that’s what I thought until I got in there.
It’s really hard to talk about Anthem and not constantly compare it to other loot shooters like Destiny and The Division, but I’ll try to keep it at a minimum and just say that Anthem fails on a fundamental level when juxtaposed with the others. Destiny and The Division, while they have their faults, they at least have combat that feels good. Anthem lacks any impact when it comes to combat. You’re just chipping away at health bars using your really unrewarding gun-play.
As for that Bioware charm that some people were hoping to see, this demo (beta?) didn’t really leave me with the impression that you’d actually be having any meaningful interactions with NPCs. The story seems like it could be interesting, but I barely was able to follow what was going on. Take that for what it’s worth.
I only spent enough time with the demo to use one of the suits, but it left me thinking they were easily the most fascinating things in Anthem. You get to fly around in an Iron Man-like fashion, which had a weight to it that felt pretty good. What was less fun was having to manage the overly aggressive overheating meter tied to your boosters. You have to constantly find some source of water to fly through or land in to literally cool your jets. Conceptually it’s a neat idea, but in practice it’s just tedious and keeps you from having too much fun. Also the suit I used had an ultimate ability which allows you to lock on to multiple targets, and fire some badass shoulder missiles at them.
I don’t know if Anthem is going to take the world by storm or not. Hell, I don’t even know if people are going to take to it considering how utterly average it feels combined with the fact that The Division 2 releases in a month or so. But who knows? Maybe the Anthem beta showed off some of the more underwhelming aspects of the full product, maybe it has a really compelling story. I only know one thing for sure, and it’s that we have the technology to make a badass Iron Man game, and for some reason we aren’t.
With 2018 on the out, it wouldn’t hurt to take a quick look at what confirmed 2019 releases I’m interested in, and think you might be as well. Most of these are games I’m genuinely looking forward to, and some are pure curiosities.
The first part of this list is going to highlight games that I am actually excited to play. I’m not saying they’ll all be winners, but these ones are things that have really captured my interest.
The Last Campfire
Announced at The Game Awards of 2018, The Last Campfire is being produced by Hello Games, the folks behind No Man’s Sky. While my feeling on their previous release is mixed at best, I am interested to see what Hello Games does with a smaller, more focused project. Considering how much I enjoy the aesthetic of No Man’s Sky, it’s no surprise that The Last Campfire has piqued my curiosity.
Control
I’m not entirely sure what Control is or what it’s going for, but it gives me this weird Psi-Ops vibe and I’m okay with that. The game certainly has a style and looks like it’s going to do some pretty abstract stuff aesthetically.
Afterparty
Maybe you remember Oxenfree, maybe you don’t, but the folks at Night School are making another intensely charming game, yet this time it has an even more unbelievable premise: You have to beat the devil in a drinking contest to come back to life. Regardless of whether you think this game would be for you, you have to admit that it has a pretty amazing premise.
Sable
I have no idea what is going on in Sable, but I know that I love everything about the way it looks already. It’s pitched as a “coming-of-age tale of discovery through exploration across a strikingly rendered open world desert.” and I think that sounds pretty exciting. Plus, just look at it.
Cloudpunk
You know what would make 2019 an infinitely better year? More cyberpunk themed games. Cloudpunk certainly nails the aesthetic, but I’m genuinely curious if it delivers on more than the cyberpunk standard tropes that talk about how evil the corporations are. Like, yeah, we know they’re evil, but tell me about your cool robot arms. Hopefully Cloudpunk delivers a fresh take on this well-worn territory.
Tunic
Every time I see Tunic, I’m reminded of just how impressive it looks. I really like the style it’s going for, but the game-play looks like it’ll hold up it’s end of the bargain. But first impressions can be deceiving. We’ll find out soon, I suppose.
My Friend Pedro
Just look at this darn game. It’s absolutely bananas and I don’t actually believe that it’s going to be anything more than a “cool moment” generator, but just look at some of the stuff you can do. I don’t think anything else has been said about the game, but I’m super interested in what’s been shown off so far.
Ooblets
Ooblets looks like the beautiful lovechild between Harvest Moon, Pokemon and Animal Crossing. It’s such a delight to look at and it just seems like it’s gonna make you feel good to play. I’m always up for a game that charms me so much that my cheeks hurt from all the smiling.
Body of Evidence
I’ll be the first to admit that Body of Evidence doesn’t necessarily look like a game that’s gonna take the world by storm, but I just really like the pitch that it puts forward. Cleaning up the evidence from a crime scene? Count me in. I already have a weird fascination with these simulation games, so this just seems like a fun spin on one of those.
Untitled Goose Game
Yeah, you know this game had to be on the list. I aspire to be a horrible goose prankster everyday of my life, and soon there’s going to be a game that allows me to do that? Yeah Untitled Goose Game, I’m picking up what you’re putting down. And I sure hope they never change the name of the game.
Animal Crossing
Animal Crossing is so good. It’s such a wonderful and pleasant game that I wish had a better mobile version than it got. While in my mind I’ve envisioned a fully realized version of Animal Crossing existing on my iPhone, having on the Switch is the next best thing. Here’s to hoping it lives up to expectations.
The Zone of Curiosities
Whereas everything you’ve seen up till now are games that I’m actually pretty excited for, the next few are games that I’m still not entirely sure how to feel about.
Anthem
The first game I’d like to highlight in The Zone of Curiosities is Anthem. I was not a very big fan of Destiny, and I know this is a different thing, but that’s the comparison that EA has opened themselves up to with Anthem. I would love for Anthem to be it’s own unique thing and really impress me, but I’m just so weary of multiplayer focused games these days.
Crackdown 3
I want Crackdown 3 to be good, I’m just afraid that the Crackdown formula doesn’t work in modern games anymore. Even when Crackdown came out on the Xbox 360 it felt a little archaic. I would love to see a modern take on the franchise, but somehow Crackdown 3 doesn’t seem like it’s doing much to innovate. But I guess I don’t really know anything about it.
Shenmue III
Even if you aren’t a fan of the Shenmue games, you have to be curious right? I have no real issues with the Shenmue games, but I haven’t played them in years so who knows how I’d feel today. But damn, I am so curious to see how this thing pans out.
In the Valley of Gods
I loved Firewatch and that alone is reason for me to be excited for the next game from Campo Santo, but I just feel like I know literally nothing about this game. It sure looks like it’s got the Firewatch vibe nailed down, but I want to know more.
Psychonauts 2
Psychonauts is one of my favorite games, and for years I’ve wanted a sequel. It’s actually happening and I’m eager to take a look at what the sequel to a game released in 2005 actually looks like. Psychonauts was a good platformer that won so many people over because of it’s charm, but I wonder if they can replicate that in a a sequel over a decade later.
According to the loot tables, this conference only comes out once a year!
BATTLEFIELD V
They opened up the show with Battlefield V, which by all accounts was one of the more interesting things at the EA briefing today. There was a big emphasis on destruction and mobility. A lot of houses getting bowled over by tanks while other tanks were towing mounted guns around.
EA made a point to say that this was their vision of World War 2. Basically a final clarification to the people complaining about historical accuracy on the internet. Being the first game shown, Battlefield V started the trend of touting “no lootboxes” throughout the presentation.
I also get the impression that there will be some focus on building things in the multiplayer. There was a shot of someone holding a hammer, followed by soldiers stacking sandbags, which was followed by a tank hitching up a mounted gun and driving away with it. That might be a reach though.
Also there’s a battle royale mode, because it’s 2018.
Origin Access Premier
It seems like some sort of hybrid game streaming service that incorporates the existing Origin Access games and subscription. It invokes the Xbox Game Pass in some ways, especially with them saying it will include all PC EA games going forward.
Actual in engine render of Jedi: Fallen Order.
Jedi: Fallen Order
A wild Vince Zampella (Head of Respawn) was spotted in the crowd and gave some vague details about their upcoming Star Wars game, called Jedi: Fallen Order. No details aside from it taking place between episode 3 and 4 were given, except for Zampella emphasizing it was the “Dark Times” and it would release in Holiday of 2019.
Star Wars Battlefront II
Battlefront II was brought out on stage again to mostly apologize for the loot boxes debacle and to explain that they have improved that system greatly. That was followed by the announcement of some new modes, both competitive and cooperative, as well as announcing that future content will revolve around the Solo movie as well as the Clone Wars era. Now we can all act out our favorite moments from the Clone Wars, when we get to play as General Grevious.
Unravel Two
Unravel Two is deliberately spelled out rather than numbered, because its a cooperative game now. You play as 2 yarn boys who use each other to solve puzzles in this gorgeous world. The experience can be played solo, or via drop in coop. Also, it’s out right now for $19.99.
Sea of Solitude (SOS)
Continuing the trend of having very excited and earnest indie developers on stage, EA introduced us to Sea of Solitude. SOS as they intentionally refer to it, is a game about balancing your emotions, both good and bad. Also it’s about helping a girl transform back into a human because she got too lonely and turned into a monster the way all humans do. It is slated to be available early 2019.
Command & Conquer Rivals
EA brought out the Shoutcasters and had them commentate over a game of Command & Conquer Rivals, a mobile game that looks to speed up and simplify the C&C experience. I’ve never been a C&C guy, but this seemed interesting for what it was. A “pre-alpha” version of it is available now on Android, with a full release coming to iOS as well sometime in the near future.
Talking Points
Right before we dipped into the Anthem experience, we took a moment to hear about how EA values you, your time, your money and your gaming experiences. They followed that with an apology for their bad monetization practices, and hard pivoted to the Play to Give Foundation which promotes exclusivity and acceptance in gaming spaces. They donated a million dollars want you to know that.
Anthem
So this Anthem presentation was weird. It was more or less a round table discussion about each of the core aspects of Anthem. They explained their design process as well as story stuff and mechanics, but did it while the same 4 clips of gameplay kept looping over and over with repeating shots of concept art sprinkled in for good measure. It had me really worried that they had nothing to show on Anthem.
There was a weird moment where they basically called out Destiny, claiming that other games in a similar vein dropped the ball on the story experience. Then came a totally real, Q&A segment with questions from Twitter. One question asked about customizing your appearance. The answer was obviously a yes. The next was about loot boxes and micro-transactions. There will be no loot boxes, and you’ll always know what you’re paying for. So paying for cosmetics is almost a guarantee. Up till right about here, this Anthem presentation was insufferably dull.
Then they showed some gameplay of the classes and gun play. There are some neat abilities and weapons that were on display, but the core loop of the game is you shoot things to make numbers pop out of them. There’s a combo system that appears to inflict more damage when players use powers correctly simultaneously, and a lot of flying around like Iron Man. You have the equivalent of a ghost, he is British and snarky. Aside from that, they once again emphasized the story by saying if you’re a solo player, you’ll have a lot to experience here, but it might be a bit more challenging.
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The Bonus World 