Overall, Xbox really dropped the ball this E3. Without their biggest rival there, they still managed to screw up. Sony didn't even have a conference and did better than Xbox. Lack of gameplay, weak exclusives, way too long. Their best showing was not even an Xbox exclusive game. And their best showing was way too early. In terms of a conference, it was okay. We saw some cool games like Outer Worlds and Jedi: Fallen Order. On the other hand, this makes Xbox/Microsoft look bad. They didn't bring the heat. They never once mentioned their partnerships with Nintendo and Sony. We didn't see the next generation, we only get an inside look of what it could be. The game pass still holds strong and the customizable controller is a big pro. Xbox showed us a conference that was okay. Nothing that we got to see was enough to make you jump Sony's ship and onto the Xbox vessel.
I am not sure if we as a website, have done a review for E3 Conferences, but just like Thanos, I’ll do it myself. In this review, I am going to breakdown what we saw and why it was good or not. Also, I will go over why it was good or bad to show this. First thoughts about the conference as a whole, it was eh. Microsoft had an opportunity to really blow us out of the water, without Sony there this year, and they didn’t. The best game that they showed us was not an XBOX exclusive. That’s a major problem and doesn’t make me think twice about switching from Sony to Microsoft. Also, there was no gameplay shown from exclusives at all during this conference. YIKES. I will talk more about this later, let’s get into the breakdown.
Skipping the montage, we first get to see Outer Worlds. Which looks incredible. Hot take here, it will be the best Fallout game and it isn’t even a Fallout game. Obsidian is making a step in the right direction and showing good cinematics, as well as some intriguing gameplay.
After Outer Worlds, Ninja Theory comes out and talks about their new game Bleeding Edge. After they finish talking, they then show us a trailer for it. Bleeding Edge looks cool and it is a game that I would give a try, but it doesn’t seem like something that will keep my attention as other online games can. The art style and graphics looked really impressive. If the gameplay looks just like that, then they have outdone themselves.
Ori: Will of the Wisps came next. The next Ori looks like another exciting platformer. It didn’t really get me going, though. Not something to really get pumped for or even buy an Xbox for.
Next, we get to see one of the best games shown during the conference, Minecraft Dungeons. Who knew pixel blocks would look that good!? The gameplay looks super solid and fun, kind of reminds me of a Zelda game in a way. The exploration and putting things on your character, aspect made me feel this way. They then showed that you could play this with others, sort of like a Diablo game. At first and second glances, it looked like everyone could have their own different character. It looked like there were a knight and a mage, we got to see some spells and different weapons. A lot of variety was shown here. Very exciting showing here.
A Jedi: Fallen Order trailer was played, but we actually got to see more gameplay the day before at EA Play. So this really isn’t that special to Xbox. Again, not an exclusive. Besides that, the game looks good. The gameplay shown at EA was alpha testing and it did look like it needed some tweaks. Hopefully, they will iron out the game for us.
The Blair Witch game was shown next. It looked like Alan Wake at first, which would’ve been so sick. That is neither here nor there. This game looks incredible though. There are plenty of scary games that are just scary to be scary. This game actually looks to have a story. Very intriguing stuff.
Game of the show, Cyberpunk 2077, came after Blair Witch. This game could be the greatest game of all time, just by the looks. I have no doubt that CD Projekt Red will absolutely blow our minds. The trailer looks fantastic. The graphics look like graphics from the year 2077, this game gets me going. The story looks next-level as well. To top it off they show John Wick himself, Keanu Reeves, in the game! He looked awesome cosplaying as the Winter Soldier. Not to be disgusting, but this was where Microsoft blew their load, and it was too soon. It made me forget about everything I previously saw and didn’t even have me hyped for Xbox because Cyberpunk is not exclusive. They should have shown this later. Big mistake in their planning. But Keanu came out and gave us the release date, thank god. 4/16/2020 mark your calendars.
The next game Spiritfarer appears to be a delightful experience. The art looked like it was hand drawn, it had a nice aesthetic to it. The concept of the game seemed pretty original, hopefully, we see more of this indie game in the future.
Battle Toads came next. Nothing really blowing my mind about it. The animation looks cool, but it is a beat em up game. Nothing really to talk about.
The next game shown was really confusing to me. RPG Time: The Legend of Wright doesn’t look like a game at all, more of something that is just telling a story and you turn the pages. MEH.
After that, we get an Indie Game montage. Microsoft always seems to make an Indie montage and they never highlight the awesome ones. For example, they just showed RPG Time, but it did not look as good as some of the games shown in this montage. It is also a shame that these games do not get the recognition the others do.
A nice woman comes out to talk to us next about Game Pass. It is coming to PC, they are giving some special prices. They are doing an Ultimate Bundle. Pretty exciting things. I think they should’ve talked about the game pass with Switch because that is apparently a thing.
While sitting on my high horse and offering my opinion, showing Flight Simulator was a monumental waste of time. Yes, the graphics looked great but other than that. Why show this at E3? This is Xbox’s time to shine and they are shooting themselves in the foot by showing us this!
Age of Empires II came after Flight Simulator. That is all I have to say about that. I am still thinking of Cyberpunk.
A trailer for Wasteland 3 followed. This game looks like another turn-based game, didn’t get me hyped. It had too much of a silly tone to it. Next, please.
Booty, booty, booty, booty, rockin’ everywhere. I found you Mr. Booty, and you announced the acquisition of Double Fine Productions. Tim Schaefer came out too and then we got to see a trailer for the new Psychonauts game. Looks positive. I feel like if you’re a fan of the series, you will enjoy it.
All nine Star Wars films will be in the new LEGO Star Wars game, The Skywalker Saga. Looks like a remaster of the old LEGO Star Wars games in addition to putting in the new films as well.
A Dragon Ball action RPG was shown. It’s hard to really say anything about it. Looks like you will be replaying iconic scenes from Dragon Ball Z.
12 Minutes, an indie game came up. This looks like a really exciting story. Something that you would like to see in an indie game. Looks like a Groundhog Day with murder.
Next, we got to see a new game called A Way to The Woods. Seems to be a positive indie game experience. Very cute looking.
After we got to see deer in a video game, we were shown Gears 5: Bound by Blood. We got to see a trailer, no gameplay. The Gears series is a huge staple for Xbox, and we did not see any gameplay for it. A huge missed opportunity here, especially since the game is coming out this year. Gears Escape was also shown. Again, no gameplay. How are you going to show us this supposedly new awesome game mode, but don’t demo it for us? The trailer for Escape wasn’t even that good. This was way too much time spent on Gears. It was so unnecessary how much they showed us, especially with the addition of Terminator in the game.
One of the best things about the conference came next. A customizable controller. Everyone console should offer this. This allows you to tailor your controller to the game you want to play. That’s an extremely innovative idea. The controller even let you create different profile settings. You could have 3 different profiles on the controller. So potentially one for FPS or one just for RPGs and whatever you want. Very creative.
A short Dying Light 2 trailer was shown. Looks good, but goes back to my main gripe, no gameplay here. I need to know what I am getting into.
I have no idea why Xbox leans so heavily on Forza but it does. Xbox loves gimmicks, and they did one of the biggest gimmicks, making Forza into LEGOs. This felt so out of place. The LEGO games are actually quality games, but the demographic for LEGO games probably is not watching E3. Seems a bit of a waste of time.
Speaking of gimmicks, we then get to see the Funko Pop Gears of War Mobile game. Which seems like the biggest gimmick of all time. Next game, please.
If you are a State of Decay fan, this trailer probably got you super hyped. Adding a story with the whole element of survival and building is smart. Good move here.
I don’t know about you, but here is when I am like just end it already. This has gone on for too long and for what.
Up next, we are given Phantasy Star Online 2. Cool.
Crossfire X is shown. We don’t really know what it is. Just another FPS, probably.
Tales of Arise is up. If you like the Tales Series, I bet you got excited. It looks really beautiful.
The Borderlands trailer shown was pretty exciting. As always with Borderlands. also with this, they announced a free DLC for Borderlands 2. A nice little addition to get you pumped for the third coming out soon. Good shit really. The issue here is that we already saw so much more from the announcement of the game months ago.
We are then shown The George R. R. Martin game from From Software. Elden Ring. This was already leaked a couple of days before, no surprise here. It will 90% be a Soulsborne type of game. The trailer looked beautiful but we have no clue what it is all about.
Console Stream is announced for Xbox. Pretty lame though because Remote Play has already been a thing for Playstation.
Here we get to see Project Scarlett. We actually see the console, or a name reveal or gameplay. We just get told from the makers what its probably going to be like. Even then we are told when it is going to be released, Holiday 2020, and that is late. All the specs that these people have just told us have already been revealed in the PS5. A huge miss here for Xbox. They should’ve given us the name and design. But I guess we will see that next E3.
Lastly, we get to see Halo Infinite. Something we have already seen before and no gameplay from it. And we are told it’s going to be a launch title for Scarlett. YIKES. Holy crap that is too long.
Overall, Xbox really dropped the ball this E3. Without their biggest rival there, they still managed to screw up. Sony didn’t even have a conference and did better than Xbox. Lack of gameplay, weak exclusives, way too long. Their best showing was not even an Xbox exclusive game. And their best showing was way too early. In terms of a conference, it was okay. We saw some cool games like Outer Worlds and Jedi: Fallen Order. On the other hand, this makes Xbox/Microsoft look bad. They didn’t bring the heat. They never once mentioned their partnerships with Nintendo and Sony. We didn’t see the next generation, we only get an inside look of what it could be. The game pass still holds strong and the customizable controller is a big pro. Xbox showed us a conference that was okay. Nothing that we got to see was enough to make you jump Sony’s ship and onto the Xbox vessel.
