Natsume
A Japanese publisher perhaps best known for the Harvest Moon series, Natsume had 3 games playable at E3 2016. Harvest Moon: Skytree Village is yet another title in the venerable series that looks to continue playing it safe on the 3DS platform. Meanwhile, Wild Guns: Reloaded will try to capitalize on SNES era nostalgia on PS4. While the Wild Guns demo was entertaining, there wasn’t much of a wow factor making the game stand out from more fully fleshed out contemporaries. There was, however, a single game that piqued our curiosity more fully.
River City: Tokyo Rumble
Released in Japan in 2013 and based on the NES classic, River City: Tokyo Rumble is part 8 bit beat-em-up and part portable friendly RPG. In our demo, we played as high school martial arts badass Kunio, who embarks on a quest to take various districts of Tokyo back from evil gangs. It’s a simple story, but the game is surprisingly addictive – the simple act of punching fools in the face or throwing them around is hilariously fun. The added wrinkle of RPG-ness takes the form of traditional leveling up and the purchase of skill books from vendors. In any case, River City: Tokyo Rumble is a solid candidate for passing the time on a bus or train, and has a shot at presenting a competent story too. Although the release date is still a vague ‘2016’, there’s a lot to look forward to with this retro-inspired title.
Bigben Interactive
Not a name that many are familiar with, Bigben Interactive has actually been around since the early 80’s. After several years spent releasing more fringe products, the company is stepping into the spotlight a little more. This year, the French publisher showed off several very promising products at E3, one of which caught our eye specifically. The ones that came close include a much improved WRC 6, the recently released Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter, and the awesome looking and pro-focused Nacon GC-400ES Controller.
2Dark
As a grizzled detective who is teetering on the edge of insanity (or anyone really), what could be more terrifying than serial killers that prey on the innocent? From the mind of Frederick Raynal (Alone in the Dark) comes a story about saving the children (think of the children!). 2Dark is a top down, voxel-based, stealth title that chooses to mess with your head rather than cheaply jump scare you. The hands-off demo we saw was tense, with extremely limited resources and pattern learning to navigate the dimly lit environments. Lighting and atmosphere will be a big part of the game’s success, and it succeeded in generating a mood even on the show floor. The translation was still rough around the edges, and admittedly we have no idea how the game feels, but there’s a lot of promising things going on with 2Dark. It’s slated to hit this year, and we look forward to saving the children in spectacular fashion.
Rebellion
Similar to Maximum Games, the folks at Rebellion (a UK based studio) had a smaller sized booth at the show with only a couple of games to showcase. Yet, both games made positive impressions with our staff. In addition to Rebellion’s Sniper Elite 4, a series they are most famous for, the development team also had a new game to demo at their booth. Not just any new game but a playable VR game. The game is Battle Zone, and it’s a PSVR exclusive based on the classic Atari arcade game of the same name. This PSVR title puts you in the cockpit of a powerful tank as you navigate a dynamic campaign with plenty of explosive combat and endless replayability. It’s a throwback to the original and it’s awesome.
Battle Zone VR
While Sniper Elite 4 is shaping into a solid game, Battle Zone’s futuristic tank battle game is one that will be stuck in our minds for quite some time. Stepping into the cockpit is a pretty cool feeling as you can scan the entire area from left to right and up and down just like you are actually inside the tank. It is trippy! You control your tank using a standard DualShock controller. Moving the left stick moves the tank and the right stick aims your gun. It is remarkably easy to pick up and play.
Once you launch into the map at high speeds you encounter waves of enemies in a score attack tribute to the original Battle Zone game from the 1980’s. The controls felt responsive and controlling the tank was simply fun. You have the option of shooting standard rockets but it is far more enjoyable unleashing a swarm shot. It is not a deep game by any stretch but the short time we had with the Battle Zone was nothing short of a blast. This retro-style game delivered an impressive demo and it is one we’ll be keeping our eyes on moving forward.
