Activision is keeping it tight at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo. The publisher has a few games on an annual cycle and those three will appear on the floor and most likely during more than one major press conference. Here are the heavy hitters that should draw plenty of attention at E3 2014.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Developer: Sledgehammer Games
Release date: TBA
Platforms: Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3, PC
In Advanced Warfare, private military companies rule the battlefield and the most prominent company, Atlas is putting the United States in their cross hairs.
Advanced Warfare has the voice and likeness of Kevin Spacey who will play Jonathan Irons, CEO of Atlas. Details regarding the player’s role or roles are unknown at the moment. More details on the battlefields and characters will probably be revealed during a press conference.
Advance Warfare marks the first new Call of Duty story since Black Ops released in 2010. Advance Warfare takes place in the year 2054 where the largest and most powerful military force is not funded by a government, but by a company.
It’s no surprise Call of Duty will be returning to the expo and probably one of the big press conferences.
What to expect from Call of Duty will probably be predictable based on previous E3 showings; a single player demo at a major press conference and possibly multiplayer behind closed doors.
It will be interesting to see how developer Sledgehammer Games puts their mark on the Call of Duty franchise. This is their first stand-alone Call of Duty development after aiding Infinity Ward with Modern Warfare 3 in 2011. Infinity Ward implemented the now bar-setting multiplayer and Treyarch included the popular zombie mode. Whatever Sledgehammer Games shows will be buzz inducing, for better or worse.
Destiny
Developer: Bungie
Release Date: September 9, 2014
Platforms: Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3
Destiny is a sci-fi first-person-shooter set in the future that promises a massively-multiplayer-online-esque experience, but Bungie is still focusing the story down to an individual level where actions can affect all who play the game. Think of it as taking the best parts of Halo and Borderlands and creating an expansive world to shoot things with your friends.
Call of Duty is big, but Activison will probably go all out to convince FPS fans Destiny is the future of gaming. It’s also one of the few new franchises to kick off with the new consoles. A lot is riding on this game’s success and Activision knows it.
Activison has reportedly spent $500,000 million on Destiny’s marketing. Activision is not just trying to sell consumers one game, but sell them a world and a franchise.
It’s a tall order to fill and the creators of Halo, Bungie, have proven to have a keen eye for developing expansive action on large battlefields. Halo’s story was intriguing enough to warrant a book series and various other expanded universe narratives. It goes to show Bungie can tell an engaging story.
The big question is when people will get to play it. A release date for the public beta is expected to launch in July. Hopefully, the folks at Bungie will give people a glimpse of what the beta holds and a few other surprises related to the new universe.
Skylanders: Trap Team
Developer: Toys for Bob
Release date: October 5, 2014
Platforms: Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3, Wii U, Wii, 3DS
The “Portal of Power” in the Skylanders games takes players to the Skylanders’ universe by physically placing their Skylanders toys on the portal and transporting them into the game world. The shakeup in Trap Team is the trap.
The trap is a new item in the game that changes the way players catalog their team. In previous Skylanders titles, the portal would bring the toys into the game, which is still true in Trap Team.
The difference is with the use of traps, players can store enemy characters found in the game and eventually control them for their own uses. This will essential make the trapped enemies good characters. Furthermore, these stored characters can be taken to other consoles and shared.
It brings a new element to the collection-a-thon and more diversity for players.
The Skylanders franchise has proven to be another huge hit for Activision ever since its 2011 debut and it shows no signs of slowing down.
Skylanders probably won’t be a marquee title on stage at one of the E3 press conferences, but it will probably be name dropped since it’s a name parents know.
