Another year, another E3. However, unlike most recent E3s, this year it was generally agreed that it was an all around good show, especially for all three of the console makers as they didn’t leave many people unsatisfied. This year it was all about the games and the games were plentiful. So we left it up to the fine members of the FAN forum to weigh judgment on this year’s crop of games, and these are the results.
Best Press Conference
Winner: Nintendo
For the second year in a row Nintendo decided to hold a digital press event. This time they decided to do things a little different from last year by adding a lot of humor into their event via skits created by the Robot Chicken crew as well as featuring Mr. Iwata and Reggie Fils-Aime getting into an anime-style brawl. They also borrowed a page from EA’s press conference by putting a lot of focus on developer diaries. Unlike EA, however, Nintendo actually showed us gameplay footage in their developer diaries. To top it off Nintendo announced new game after new game, with virtually the entire event featuring games exclusive to Nintendo hardware.
Best Graphics
Winner: No Man’s Sky
Hello Games’ use of colors and stylistic design choices made No Man’s Sky one of the games to easily stand out visually at E3 this year. No Man’s Sky fittingly wins in a year that saw a lot more people praising games with stylized graphics over games with pure graphical fidelity.
Best New IP
Winner: No Man’s Sky
There were numerous new IPs on display at E3 this year, but the procedurally generated exploration of No Man’s Sky seems to be one of the bigger game changers to come in awhile.
Best Puzzle Game
Winner: Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
Captain Toad is one of the surprise announcements Nintendo made at E3 2014. This game is a puzzle platformer that expands on the Adventures of Captain Toad mini game from Super Mario 3D World. In this game players must guide Toad through puzzle-based levels while only having a limited amount of defenses.
Best Platformer
Winner: Yoshi’s Woolly World
Yoshi’s Woolly World was first announced as Yarn Yoshi in early 2013, but was unseen again until E3 this year where it had a new title. The game is being made by the same studio that made Kirby’s Epic Yarn, a similarly yarn-themed platformer. In Woolly World, players can turn nearly anything, including other Yoshis, into eggs to toss at enemies and the environment.
Best Sports Game
Winner: FIFA 15
EA’s footy sim has been the king of the digital pitch for a while now, and that doesn’t look to change any time soon.
Best Fighting Game
Winner: Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U
At E3 last year the roster for the next entry in Nintendo’s beloved party fighting game was relatively sparse. This year it was much more fleshed out and was bolstered even more by the announcements of Mii Fighters, Palutena, and Pac-Man. On top of that, both versions will have some modes exclusive to them and the Wii U version will use Nintendo’s Amiibo NFC figures.
Best Driving Game
Winner: Forza Horizon 2
The next entry in the open world spinoff series to the Forza Motorsport franchise, Forza Horizon 2 moves to southern Europe, particularly southern France and northern Italy. In an interesting move, this game will be available on both the Xbox 360 and Xbox One.
Best Role-Playing Game
Winner: Bloodborne
This PlayStation 4 exclusive is being helmed by the director of the beloved Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls. Taking place in an ancient city called Yharnam that holds a medical remedy. When the game’s protagonist arrives, the town is revealed to be overran by a curse that has turned most of the city violent and deranged.
Best Action-Advenure Game
Winner: Batman: Arkham Knight
Arkham Knight is the next entry in Rocksteady’s beloved series of Batman games. This time Batman must face the Scarecrow as he rallies Gotham’s villains to finish off the Bat once and for all. Featuring an even bigger world than the previous games while also offering the ability to finally use the Batmobile, Arkham Knight is looking to possibly be the best Bat game yet.
Best Third Person Shooter
Winner: Sunset Overdrive
Sunset Overdrive is an open world third person shooter by Insomniac Games. Players have to roam around Sunset City while fighting people who mutated from drinking too much of a new energy drink.
Best First Person Shooter
Winner: Far Cry 4
The next entry in Ubisoft’s series of open world first person shooters has players taking the role of Ajay Ghale, a man returning to his home country of Kyrat in the Himalayas where he tries to scatter his mother’s ashes, but instead gets caught up in a civil war.
Best PS Vita Exclusive
Winner: Freedom Wars
Freedom Wars is an action role-playing game that takes place in the year 102013. Humans can no longer live on the surface and instead live in underground cities. Because of massive overpopulation, anyone arrested for a crime is found guilty and are forced to fight monsters called Abductors to reduce their sentences, which start at 1,000,000 years. Players take the role of a young man or woman who was arrested for the crime of living when they were born.
Best 3DS Exclusive
Winner: Code Name: S.T.E.A.M.
S.T.E.A.M. is a turn-based strategy game with third person shooter elements from Intelligent Systems, the developers of the Fire Emblem seres. The game takes place in a steampunk version of London and follows Captain Fleming, a member of an elite team called Unit S.T.E.A.M. that was founded by Abraham Lincoln to fight Lovecraftian aliens.
Best PC Exclusive
Winner: Civilization: Beyond Earth
A spiritual successor to Alpha Centauri, Beyond Earth is a turn-based strategy game that takes place in the future and has players exploring space and founding colonies on alien planets.
Best Wii U Exclusive
Winner: Xenoblade Chronicles X
Xenoblade Chronicles X is a spiritual successor to Monolith Soft’s Xenoblade Chronicles for the Wii. Chronicles X is an open world action role-playing games that players can traverse either on foot or in giant mechs called Dolls that can transform into various modes of transportation.
Best Xbox Exclusive
Winner: Sunset Overdrive
Insomniac looks to be bringing their creative A game to the Xbox One with Sunset Overdrive. The colorful game features fast action and an assortment of creative weapons and features various ways to move about the city, such as with zippiness.
Best PlayStation Exclusive
Winner: Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
The next entry in Naughty Dog’s beloved franchise about the treasure hunting adventures of Nathan Drake follows Drake several years in the future after he’s retired from treasure hunting. But due to some currently unknown circumstances, Drake is pulled back into the world of treasure hunters and has him chasing a fable pirate treasure.
Best Multiplatform Game
Winner: Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U
The next entry in the Smash Bros. franchise will be the first game to appear on multiple platforms, being on both the Wii U and 3DS, with both versions having some things unique to them while having the same rosters.
Best in Show
Winner: No Man’s Sky
Hello Games’ No Man’s Sky has captured the imagination of many gamers, including those on the FAN forum. The unique looking exploration game is looks to offer an experience few other games have come close to giving. We don’t know everything about the game yet, but its potential is about as endless as the game itself is supposed to be.
And that wraps up another year of FAN E3 Awards to go along with quite possibly the best E3 to happen in awhile. We don’t know how any of these games will really pan out, but much like this year’s Best in Show winner, the possibilities are endless.