During the past three days we’ve played hundreds of games, some that we were already excited to play before entering the E3 halls. While we expected some of what we experienced, there were a lot of neat surprises.
After leaving E3 we were left with the impression that not only is gaming in a better place than it’s ever been, but there are tons of reasons to be amped up for what’s to come. This holiday season has some solid titles, and 2015 is going to be ridiculously good.
Related: CraveOnline’s Top 5 Best Games of the Show (VIDEO)
Every publisher wants their games to be the absolute greatest, but at CraveOnline we hand out the Best Games of E3 award to only 10 titles. To make it more interesting, these games fall under different categories, so every game gets a shot at being honored. So what 10 games won our Best Games of E3 2014? Look below to find out!
Best Xbox One Game: Halo: The Master Chief Collection
We’ve seen many HD Collections over the years, but Halo: The Master Chief Collection just might end up being the best one ever made if it’s anything like what we’ve seen. Each of the major Halo installments, primarily the first three, received overwhelming praise, being honored as arguably the best console shooters of all-time. But years have passed, and they’ve begun to show age. Microsoft is going back and giving them 1080p/60FPS treatment, touching them up with the modern treatment they deserve.
Dedicated servers will host multiplayer, which runs on each game’s original engine. Halo 2 will receive anniversary treatment, completely revitalizing what some Halo fans say is the best game of the franchise. Oh, and there are tons of maps to choose from. This is Halo fan service at its absolute greatest.
Microsoft had some great games at the show, but nothing created as much applause as Halo: The Master Chief Collection.
Best PS4 Game: The Witness
It’s a shame we hadn’t paid much attention to The Witness before E3, but in a way we’re thankful; it allowed the game to wash over us like a cool, refreshing breeze on a Sunday afternoon. Well, it was actually a Tuesday morning, and the caffeine and lack of sleep had already begun to take their zombifying toll. But that’s not The Witness’s problem.
Related: The Witness Hands-On Preview
Jonathan Blow’s latest game is aesthetically gorgeous, which is quite the feat when you consider that its main innovations are largely concerned with puzzle-solving and reinventing the meaning of the word “adventure.” The game is contained on a single island, and its 11 sections couldn’t feel more open and varied, each offering different color palettes, visual themes, and varieties of puzzles and gameplay challenges. Through a blend of cleverness and dumb luck we were able to clear a fair chunk of the game’s first and second sections — where to go from there will depend entirely on the individual player.
Sony has a lot of first-party studios and partners. Jonathan Blow has managed to beat out all the multi-million dollar games to take our top PS4 game spot with The Witness.
Best Wii U Game: Super Smash Bros.
Amid absurd hype from hardcore gamers, clamoring kids, and pot-smoking roommates alike, a new Super Smash Bros. release is always a monumental event. How can the new game possibly deliver? It’s a tough question to answer, but lucky for Nintendo, the proof is in the pudding; Smash was consistently swamped with long lines and continual buzz throughout the whole of E3. Even the 3DS version had people fist-pumping like maniacs.
Related: Super Smash Bros. (Wii U) Hands-On Preview
Nintendo’s E3 demo didn’t have every character playable just yet, but many of the newcomers like Little Mac and Megaman were fully available. The game feels excellent, drawing on Brawl’s precision and defensive play while injecting an extra dose of speed for the Melee faithful. To us it feels superbly tuned, and the sooner we can get our hands on this thing, the better. Which means we’ll probably buy it twice (once for each system).
Best Racing Game: The Crew
Have you seen The Crew‘s map? If not, do yourself a favor and check out the E3 trailer. What Ubisoft has accomplished here is a huge feat. We’ve never before seen a massive world, that emulates the United States, in an RPG, let alone a racing game. I mean, it takes 90 minutes just to drive from one edge of the continent to the other.
But it’s what you can do in that huge space that makes The Crew such a stand-out game. You’ll bad together with friends for missions and try to show other crews that their driving skills and automotive machines are no match for yours. Basically, this is the next-gen racing game you’ve been waiting for.
There are going to be four racing games this Holiday season (The Crew, Forza Horizon 2, Project Cars, Driveclub), and we happen to think The Crew is going to makes the biggest waves when it lands.
Best RPG: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Games don’t have to be utterly groundbreaking to be fantastic, and from what we saw during a private demo of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt during E3, it’s poised to be one of the better fantasy RPGs ever created. Sure it has a few neat new tricks up its sleeve, but the main draw is that it takes everything you love about the genre and properly amplifies it for the power of new consoles.
Related: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Preview
Love huge open worlds? Check; The Witcher 3 is approximately 20% larger than Skyrim. How about involved, story-driven quest chains? From what we saw, a single fetch quest can evolve into a 45 minute mini-saga concerning spirits, forest creatures, and an ancient demonic force. Not only that, but as a game fully abandoning the PS3 and Xbox 360 in favor of the next-gen and high-end PCs, CD Projekt RED’s vast fantasy sandbox pulls no punches. It may seem minor, but having in-engine cutscenes that leave little or nothing to be desired compared to pre-rendered CGI is a massive step for RPGs, and games in general.
A good RPG is all about a big, immersive world, and nothing demonstrated that better at E3 than The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
<< On the next page we look at five more Best Games of E3! >>
