Shut up and Play!

At last month's E3 Expo a complaint I heard from more than a few people was that there was a lack of real innovation among the games being shown. Friends of mine commented that many games on display were similar to ones released last year, and that there wasn't anything terribly original. I even heard one person ask, "Where's this year's Black & White?" Frankly, I didn't have the heart to tell him it was on sale for about $40 at the software store around the corner. It's true that this year there were very few games that attempted to create new genres outright, but is that so bad? Have there ever been that many unique games at E3?

Personally, I love E3. I love the insane atmosphere, the lack of sleep, and the complete sensory overload of the show floor. But I don't try and convince myself that what's being shown is any real indicator of what will be a good or bad game. Sure there are games that have looked great at E3 and then gone on to be great games. Black & White is a good example of an E3 regular that lived up to much of its hype, as is Half-Life, which was a two-time "Best of Show" award winner before its eventual release. But for each of those there are plenty of games like No One Lives Forever or Clive Barker's Undying, which didn't make the biggest splash at E3 but turned out to be great games nonetheless.

This year's E3 featured some games that were clear winners with attendees. The enormous line to get into the Medal of Honor: Allied Assault demonstration rivaled that of last year's Halo trailer. It was nearly impossible to make your way through Nintendo's area because of the insane crowds that were huddled around Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader. Both of these games don't seem to be trying to create new genres, but rather perfect existing ones. There's no question about it, Rogue Leader is simply a newer version of Rogue Squadron. But boy is it impressive visually, and there is such an incredible thrill about being able to participate in scenes from the original Star Wars trilogy. As for Allied Assault, if the demo was any indication, 2015 isn't trying to reinvent the wheel, but instead they have focused their energies on creating a fully realized combat environment. It's still a Half-Life style first-person shooter, but the addition of planes flying overhead and a complete reenactment of the Normandy invasion makes it stand out from the rest.

But those were just two of the more high-profile games on display, and there were plenty of other games that were easily missed completely by attendees. The most original game I saw at E3 was Gitaroo-Man, a crack-addled musical PS2 game from Koei, the developers of Kessen and the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series. Why a company that's best known for realistic strategy games decided to make a game that plays like a mixture of Street Fighter and Dance Dance Revolution is beyond me, but this game was fun and completely original. It was also tucked away in Koei's booth behind Dynasty Warriors 3 and Kessen II, and therefore was easily overlooked. Which is a shame really, because it was a lot of fun, with a unique visual style and bizarre combat system where you dance to attack and defend yourself from your enemies.