X16 Delivers The Goods
Taking place in Toronto’s artistic Distillery district, this year’s X16 showcase had tons of exclusives planned for released in the coming months on Xbox One. We got hands-on time with a lot of games including some third-party titles from Ubisoft and Square Enix as Microsoft hosted its 16th annual showcase. Outside of games, the Windows-maker also promoted their Xbox Design Lab program that allows gamers to customize a controller to their liking, as well showing off the new Xbox One S console.
But it’s all about the games, and there were plenty at X16. I made sure to get hands-on time with the console’s biggest exclusives, including Gears of War 4. I played a slice of gameplay cut from the E3 2016 demo and the first thing I noticed was the amazing attention to detail and sheer graphical quality. Lighting effects were terrifying and vicious, as dirt and grime swept past the screen limiting my visibility. But even better than that was the sheer scope of some of the structures in the demo. Massive monoliths and structures towered high above the soldiers and gave a real sense of being present in an actual world instead of another video game level. And while the gunplay seems to be similar to past iterations, the team at The Coalition have a real opportunity to deliver a great narrative paired alongside world class production value and presentation if they can extrapolate what I witnessed in that demo to an entire campaign.
Halo Wars 2 is the probably the second biggest exclusive that has been announced for the Xbox One, and I got to play a multiplayer match as well as witness some of the campaign behind closed doors. In a full game with players who know what they’re doing, the multiplayer can be incredibly fun and team-based. But what has me really excited is the campaign which 343 Industries’ Dan Ayoub lead us through. Being a big fan of the lore behind the games, I was pleased to know that Halo Wars 2 isn’t just a side-story, but will instead have galaxy-wide ramifications for the narrative going forward. And while that may turn some off into thinking it’s too complicated to follow, Ayoub made a great point in that the story of Halo Wars 2 sees a crew wake after 28 years so both the player and the characters on the human side of the game will be able to discover this new story for the first time without any prior knowledge. And opposing the humans is the newly introduced Banished faction with a Brute named Atriox at its head. Ayoub explained Atriox is unlike any villain the UNSC has come up against since he not only has the physical might of the Brutes, but is also incredibly smart. How that will play out in the game’s cut-scenes, done by the always reliable Blur Studios, is what really excites me come February 2017.
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“Being a big fan of the lore behind the games, I was pleased to know that Halo Wars 2 isn’t just a side-story, but will instead have galaxy-wide ramifications for the narrative going forward.”
Other games included Ubisoft’s Steep, which has potential if it nails its online aspect; Final Fantasy XV whose opening was equal parts great and lackluster; Forza Horizon 3 which looks to be shaping up; and Dead Rising 4 which will be a zombie slaying hit for a lot of players.
I also got to speak Senior Market Manager at Xbox Paul Harris. He spoke about the importance of X16, annual Xbox events and also talked about how the company is managing its portfolio of games saying, “We prioritize every game equally. We have studios all over the world producing content and in terms of balancing priorities, we want everyone to play the games that they want, when they want. ReCore is a great example branching outside our traditional shooters like Gears of War.”
Harris also spoke about the aforementioned return of the Gears franchise and how the developers at The Coalition are dealing with the pressure, “The studio out West in incredible. That’s one of the great things, it’s a Canadian product out of Vancouver. They’re not really trying to live up to any of the expectations of the previous franchise, but they also want to pay homage to it as well. It’s a fantastic game with a great story, great characters, and they’re looking forward to producing the best quality product this holiday season.” I also asked Harris about what Microsoft is planning with Xbox One in terms of updates and constant support with the marketing manager saying, “We really took a strategy with Xbox One’s launch to continually upgrade the experience. Since launch, we’ve had almost monthly updates that adds user enhancements to the ecosystem and the experience.”
X16 was a great opportunity to get hands-on with some of the biggest games coming to the Xbox One in the near future and Microsoft seems to be confident in their portfolio of games and the future of the Xbox One as a console. For those interested in ReCore impressions, keep it locked to COGConnected for a future piece on what I enjoyed and disliked from my hands-on time.
Which Xbox game are you looking forward to this holiday season? Tell us in the comments below.