The Comics Console: E3 2012

E3 happened this week. So let’s not waste any time. Let’s get to the games!

Injustice: Gods Among Us

A Legion of Doom game? No, not exactly. But the title for this DC fighting game is very unique, if odd. But I can appreciate that. Ever since my youth, popping Justice League: Task Force in my SEGA Genesis, have I dreamed of the next DC fighter, and while Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe was fun, it lacked the finesse of the perfect fighting game and focus on DC that I craved. Thankfully, NetherRealm Studious, the guys behind Mortal Kombat, are giving their rub to the newly rebooted universe, pitting their top stars against each other in some of the most intentionally ridiculous action ever seen in a superhero fighting game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClsHDVFmNi0

Though a personal dream-come-true of mine, I’m still curious about details on the story, and I’m a bit put off at the crazy amounts of armor our heroes are sporting. In one light, these costumes make sense since all of DC is apparently at war with each other, but in another, they look freakin’ silly. But with Ed Boon (Mortal Kombat creator) overseeing the project and confirming a roster of 20+ characters, I can’t help but be ecstatic about this game. I just hope Earth 2 Alan Scott makes the final roster cut!

Avengers: Battle for Earth

Sorry PS3 owners, this one’s only for Xbox Kinect and Wii U. With no Avengers game hitting consoles along with the mega blockbuster movie, the pressure is put on Ubisoft to deliver an amazing Marvel experience, a burden I don’t think they expected. With Activision’s Avengers title getting canned, this game version of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes (dropping near the release of the Avengers DVD) is sure to have a lot of eyes on it. Eyes that I dare say would have normally not have even glanced at such a motion gimmicked game.

What I like so far about this game is that the developers are stretching into Marvel Comics’ usage of the Avengers brand instead of Marvel Studios’, and the cameo by Spider-Man serves as a great hint that anything goes in this game. And that’s extremely exciting, but the real speculation of this game will begin once we get our first glimpse at the actual gameplay. The game industry isn’t use to major releases being a Kinect game, and though some may not consider Battle for Earth a major release, given the success of the Avengers film, it’ll be interesting to see how well Battle for Earth does this fall.

Batman: Arkham City: Armored Edition

Earlier I wrote about how silly the DC heroes look in such beefy armor, and lo and behold, the Nintendo Wii U edition of Arkham City is all about wearing lots of padding. While pretty much nothing about the story of this game has been revealed, the gameplay features using the Wii U’s innovative new controller system were featured in Nintendo’s keynote; and though I personally have my reservations about the Wii U, the Batman mark inside me still can’t help but feel tickles in my soul for this game.

Assassin’s Creed III

We’ve know about the next Assassin’s Creed for months now, but what struck me about this game was during the Sony keynote when we got a demo of the franchise’s most ambitious new gameplay feature…naval combat. See it for yourself to believe it.

LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes

This game is less than two weeks away from sitting in our disc trays, and we didn’t see much from it at E3, but we did get this first look at Superman gameplay within the first LEGO open world environment with Gotham City. I was genuinely blown away by this footage.

The Amazing Spider-Man

Beenox’s big sandbox movie tie-in drops merely seven days after LEGO Batman 2, and E3 offered a great new trailer highlighting the return of a Spider-Man boss battle classic with their new version of Scorpion!

Star Trek

We didn’t see see too much from this game at E3, other than a new trailer and a few new screen shots, but what we have seen is Chris Pine and Zachry Quinto reprising their roles as Kirk and Spock, and there will be some drop-in-drop-out co-op. See the new trailer below.

Resident Evil 6

As big a fan of LEGO Batman and Beenox’s Spider-Man as I am, hands down the game I’m looking forward to the most is Resident Evil 6. With a strong effort to combine the recent action influence with the traditional survival horror elements, and both new and old favorite characters returning to the story, Resident Evil 6 is going to be a video game event that is not to be missed. See it for yourself here.

Gone are the mind controlled villagers of the previous games, as the traditional zombies invade Resident Evil once again. And I’d have no other hero than Leon S. Kennedy to help me put some walkers on their asses. I couldn’t be more of a school girl.

That does it for another E3. This year was fairly impressive. And that’s saying something from a comic book gamer’s perspective. The next 12 months have a lot of exciting content to offer. I just hope the world doesn’t end in December before we get to experience it all.

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Andrew Hurst
andrewhurst@comicattack.net

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. Kristin

    I found this E3 incredibly boring. I got excited over maybe 2 or 3 games, and that was it. I grew bored watching Sony’s keynote and quit halfway through, and I barely watched Nintendo’s snore fest. The only thing that got me really excited was all the new Assassin’s Creed 3 footage. Watch Dogs piqued my interested, and Beyond looked interesting (though they didn’t really say much about the game itself), and there was some new footage of Dishonored. That pretty much summed up the E3 excitement for me.

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