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Xbox Focus Best of E3 Awards

by Dick Ward July 22nd 2008 12:37 AM CDT2 Comments

E3’s over and what was only days ago a manic rush of activity here at Xbox Focus has returned to work as usual.  Still fairly manic of course, but with a hint of sadness that the largest event in gaming has past by and been so, well, uneventful.  Surely there will be reflections later this week about the state of E3, where it is and where it should be, but let us not mourn for fire breathing booth babes, let us instead celebrate what E3’s really all about.   I’d like to present the Xbox Focus “Best of E3 Awards”.

 Unless otherwise noted, all awards are Xbox 360 specific.

Project Origin, the follow up to 2005’s F.E.A.R takes this one by leaps and bounds.  If just for the enemy AI, this game gets it.  F.E.A.R’s AI was amazing and Project Origin improves upon it amazingly.  The game looks great and the design has stepped up significantly, adding a bit of color to the greens and greys of the next-gen era.  Adding to that, this is the only game that managed to give me a scare during the demo.

Runner Up: Left 4 Dead -This cooperative zombie shooter is the next great thing coming out of Valve.  Half Life 2 was amazing, but controlling it on a 360 just wasn’t up to par, so we’ll have to see about Left 4 Dead.

Runner Up: Gears of War 2 - What we saw of it was cool, but there’s still a lot of mystery.  Sure riding Brumak’s is exciting, unless it’s as annoying as the vehicle level in the original.

Simply amazing.  Fallout 3 provides the endless possibilities of Oblivion and the fast paced action of Gears.   An intriguing story, some great humor and a very rich gameplay history, Fallout 3 has a lot going for it.  I talked to everyone I met about this game, and while some people had similar experiences, no two demos were the same, and no two play throughs of the game will be either.

Runner Up: Fable II – The combat might be a bit too simple, and the game seems to be focusing more on activities outside of the action than the action itself.  As with every release from Peter Molyneux, we’ll have to wait and see.

This is a seriously sick, twisted and oh so gory game for the Wii.  Impaling enemies with street signs, slicing them in half with trash cans, and of course, chainsawing them in half never made Wii gesturing seem more worthwhile!  Though I have to admit, while watching the demo I could only think “this would look so much better on Xbox”.

Runner Up: Chrono Trigger for DS - A faithful repackaging of the original with a new translation.  While Square Enix taps the Final Fantasy and Secret of Mana wells nearly dry, Chrono Trigger remains in it's purest form.  For now.

Okay, so it’s not coming out for the 360 in Japan, and that took a bit of wind out of the sales, but who could have expected that the fabled Final Fantasy series would finally make its way to the Xbox 360? Of course, being the only real surprise there wasn’t a lot of competition.

This is going to blow people away when they get their hands on it.  It’s got a smart story with intelligent dialogue, but it doesn’t skimp on the booze and violence.  It’s got deep roleplaying elements, but  FPS fans won’t feel left out.  It’s built upon a rich history of great (and one terrible) games, but people who never played them won’t be missing out on anything.  I have no hesitation in my mind about awarding this game Best of E3 2008.

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