E3 2013: the show’s biggest gaming surprises

Ubisoft- With E3 almost over for another year, we’ve finally seen pretty much everything the show has to offer – meaning we feel sufficiently informed to start making sense of it all. We’ve already picked through the treats on show to bring you our selection of E3’s biggest and best games – but, let’s be honest, we’ve known about most of those for some time now. What about the real surprises of E3? The games that burst out of nowhere, stunned audiences into silence and looked incredibly brilliant while they were at it? That’s what we’re interested in here. Want to know which unexpected gems wowed us most? Then read on to find out more…

EA- Mirror’s Edge 2 Why the surprise? We’d be lying if we said Mirror’s Edge 2’s big reveal came as complete shock, given how often the much-requested sequel has been rumoured to be making an E3 appearance. What’s more, several leaks earlier this year all but confirmed that the game was finally on its way to Los Angeles Thankfully, EA didn’t disappoint – the superbly stylish, first-person parkour game is back and looking more beautiful than ever on next-gen consoles. What’s more, agile protagonist Faith makes a welcome return – albeit in a series reboot set to reveal the origins of our beloved lead.

EA- All we know so far is that Battlefield creator DICE is back on development duties – and that Mirror’s Edge 2 (or just plain Mirror’s Edge, as it’s called) is being reworked as an open world action adventure, while still retaining its first-person, free-running core. We adored the first Mirror’s Edge and – given the series’ half-decade absence so far – we can’t wait to see more from this gorgeous follow-up. What’s it on? Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.

Microsoft- Why the surprise? While the Microsoft-owned Rare studio – once responsible for the likes of GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong Country – has been the house of casual Kinect games and avatar accessories for some time now, fans still yearn to revisit the developer’s glory days. If one series is higher on people’s wish lists than any other, it’s Killer Instinct – a frenzied fighting game that first made its home console appearance on Super Nintendo back in 1995. Last seen as Killer Instinct Gold on Nintendo 64, fans have been desperate for its return – so imagine the joy as Microsoft unveiled a brand-new instalment in the series, set to arrive on Xbox One.

Microsoft- Of course, the even bigger surprise came later when Microsoft announced that its long-awaited Killer Instinct follow-up would be a free-to-play game developed by Double Helix Games – a studio known primarily for its work on mediocre movie-tie-ins. Hopefully though, the end result will be a Killer Instant game that does the series proud – despite what the information revealed so far might suggest. What’s it on? Xbox One.

Nintendo- Why the surprise? Given the barnstorming success of Donkey Kong Country Returns on Wii – a game that saw Nintendo’s premier primate revisit his beloved side-scrolling, Super Nintendo-era platform antics in spectacular style – we really shouldn’t have been too surprised to see Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze What caught everyone off-guard though was the fact that its developer – the superbly talented Retro Studios – has long been rumoured to be working on a much-requested new instalment in the Metroid Prime franchise. Needless to say, eager faces fell at Tropical Freeze’s unveiling – but that doesn’t mean we’re not expecting great things from the game.

Nintendo- Indeed, Tropical Freeze marks the return of its predecessor rock-hard yet breathlessly inventive platform action – and it looks simply gorgeous to boot. New features include a focus on twisty, turning camera action, adding another layer of depth to the glorious proceedings, plus a new playable character in the form of Dixie Kong – first seen in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong’s Quest way back in 1995. Tropical Freeze also marks a return for Kong’s classic ice and underwater levels – oddly missing from Retro’s previous game – so there’s plenty to look forward come its release this December. What’s it on? Wii U.

Microsoft- Why the surprise? Crimson Dragon has its roots in Panzer Dragoon – a much-loved, on-rails shooter that debuted on Sega’s Saturn console way back in 1995. Panzer’s dragon-piloting antics eventually hit Xbox in the form of 2003’s Panzer Dragoon Orta – garnering plenty of positive reviews before the series promptly dropped off the face of the earth immediately after. All was quiet until 2011, when Microsoft officially unveiled Crimson Dragon – a spiritual successor to Panzer Dragoon for Xbox 360 that featured familiar on-rails action designed by the original series’ creator, Yukio Futatsugi. Sadly, Crimson Dragon never made its scheduled release and no explanation for its non-appearance was ever given. Happy fan faces turned to frowns.

Microsoft- Which brings us nicely to E3 2013 and the surprise reappearance of Crimson Dragon – now with extra-beautiful next-gen gloss and set for release exclusively on Xbox One. There’s more good news too, with Crimson Dragon no longer a Kinect-only title, instead incorporating traditional controller play for those who struggle with excessive arm-waving. Sadly, Crimson Dragon is still without a firm release date but we do know that it’s set to appear as a download title ‘soon’. What’s it on? Xbox One.

Microsoft- Sunset Overdrive Why the surprise? Ratchet & Clank developer Insomniac Games has only just managed to kick its (disappointingly mediocre) Fuse out the door, so nobody quite expected to see the studio unveil its next title quite so soon. Sunset Overdrive looks pretty nifty though, offering stylised, open world, cooperative shooting action exclusively on Xbox One. We don’t, admittedly, know a whole lot about it at this point, but reports suggest that it’s a boisterous Brink or Borderlands-style blaster with a healthy dollop of high-flying, free-running acrobatics to go alongside its trigger-happy combat.

Microsoft- Whatever it is though, it’s hard to ignore Sunset Overdrive’s impressive art style – a vibrant, brilliantly detailed, cartoon aesthetic, suggesting that Fuse’s personality-free facade was a one-off for the studio. It’s still early days for the game, admittedly, but Sunset Overdrive is definitely looking like one of the more interesting offerings in Xbox One’s rather shooter-heavy line-up. What it’s on? Xbox One.

Ubisoft- Why the surprise? E3 2013 has hardly been short of racers, but Ubisoft’s The Crew managed to surprise through sheer, refreshing ambition. It’s an open world driving game that promises to deliver thousands of miles of North American landscape to explore – from cities to suburbs and everything in between. You’re free to cruise across the country, taking in the beautiful sights, but there’s plenty of action to get your gears around should you so choose. There are cop chases and road races, to name but two – and the game’s dynamic environmental effects, from weather to light, ensure a different experience every time.

Ubisoft- More impressive still is that fact that The Crew offers an entirely persistent online world, with each and every car you encounter being driven by a human being somewhere else in the world – and it’s your choice whether to team up or lay down a rubber-shredding challenge. There’s some real talent behind The Crew  members of its development team having previously worked on the likes of Need for Speed, Driver and Test Drive Unlimited – so we’ve got high hopes for some top-quality racing come its release in 2014. What’s it on? Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.

Ubisoft- Why the surprise? Ubisoft wowed the crowds at last year’s E3 with its surprise ‘just one more thing’-style Watch Dogs unveiling. With that particular game mere months away now though, the publisher needed another big moment for this year’s show – and its The Division reveal fitted the bill nicely. Tom Clancy’s The Division (to give the game its full, rather unwieldy name) is an open world, third-person cover shooter that looks set to deliver far more than its overly familiar genre trappings would suggest.

Ubisoft- A flu pandemic, originating in New York City, has swept across the United States – and you, as a member of the Directive 51 response team, must cut through the chaos left in its wake. What that amounts to in game terms is a frantic drop-in-and-out shooter designed very much with online play in mind. It’s entirely possible to experience The Division solo, but its open world nature lends itself to mass combat on an epic scale. It looks stunning, as you’d expect from a game designed specifically for next-gen consoles, and some fancy 3D HUD trickery gives The Division a distinct visual style. The Division is set for release some time in 2014 and, based on its boisterous E3 unveiling, is looking pretty special indeed. What’s it on? Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

Microsoft- Why the surprise? We’re huge fans of game director Hidetaka “Swery 65” Suhiro’s cult hit Deadly Premonition – a big-hearted but distinctly rough-around-the-edges take on the surreal, small-town murder mystery formula. Deadly Premonition’s low-budget status and relative obscurity puts Swery roughly a million miles away from the kind of big-name developers wheeled out to showcase Xbox One at this year’s E3 – so it was something of a shock to see that he’s been enlisted to develop a new Xbox One exclusive, known as D4.

Microsoft- There’s still much to learn about D4 – but we do know that it’s an episodic noir mystery, following the exploits of a time-hopping detective as he attempts to solve (and stop) his wife’s murder. It sounds as fascinatingly deranged as Swery’s previous work – only, this time, with a notably bigger budget if the game’s sublime cell-shaded visuals are anything to go by. Hopefully, more news is forthcoming – but D4 is already high on our watch list. What’s it on? Xbox One.

Nintendo- Why the surprise? We’ve known that a new instalment in the superb Super Smash Bros series is on its way to Wii U and 3DS for some time now – and the highly anticipated brawler’s E3 2013 unveiling was equally well-telegraphed. No, it wasn’t the appearance of the game itself that raised jubilant whoops and open maws – rather, three new additions to the franchise’s ever-burgeoning character roster. Of course, Super Smash Bros has always bought Nintendo’s beloved mascots together for some chaotic fighting action – but the likes of Mario, Link, Metroid’s Samus and Kirby have been joined by outsiders, including Metal Gear Solid’s Snake and Sonic the Hedgehog, in recent times.

Nintendo- One character that fans have been clamouring to see in the series is Capcom’s much-loved retro hero Mega Man – and, finally, that wish has come true. That’s not all though – this latest Smash Bros features Animal Crossing’s Villager as a new plant-tossing, axe-wielding combatant (hopefully we’ll be able to import our 3DS characters, but who knows!) and, most unexpectedly of all, Wii Fit’s female Trainer. The latter stunned audiences in a hilarious reveal trailer that saw the faceless fitness freak causing havoc with an explosive rainbow of deadly yoga poses. We were sold on the game already, but now we really can’t wait. What’s it on? Wii U and 3DS.

EA- Why the surprise? Given the popularity of PopCap’s Plants vs Zombies game, we were hardly surprised to see a new entry in the series appear during EA’s E3 press conference this year. Instead of the expected sequel though (which, it turns out, is also coming), jaws fell as EA unveiled an action-packed, third-person shooter outing for the mega-selling franchise. Don’t despair though – Garden Warfare actually looks pretty good, with its third-person shooting action perfectly suited to the series’ theme of plant-lead defence against the undead. It’s a gorgeous game, too, bringing PvZ’s charismatic characters to wonderful, three-dimensional life, and retains the original game’s strategic edge with a host of tactical elements beneath the carnage.

EA- Each of the game’s familiar characters – including Sunflower, Peashooter, Cactus and Chomper – has its own unique abilities for players to exploit during the fierce backyard combat and co-op plays a big part too, with a four-player horde-like mode making an appearance on the show floor. Early word on Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare is surprisingly positive, so consider us eager to learn more. What’s it on? Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC.