VIDEO GAMES [PrE3 Madness]: Moody’s Best & Most Anticipated of 2018 (So Far).

Calling all GHGamers! Hard to believe, but we’re just one fracking month away from the world’s most important video game convention, E3 2018. Now that Square Enix has joined the fray with their own “direct” presser, the schedule goes as follows:

• Electronic Arts (EA) – Saturday, June 9 – 11AM PT / 2PM ET
• Microsoft – Sunday, June 10 – 1PM PT / 4PM ET
• Bethesda – Sunday, June 10 – 6:30PM PT / 9:30PM ET
• Square Enix – Monday, June 11 – 10AM PT / 1PM EDT
• Ubisoft – Monday, June 11 – 1PM PT / 4PM ET
• Sony – TBA (but likely Monday, June 11 – 6PM PT / 9PM ET)
• Nintendo – Tuesday, June 12 – 9AM PT / 12PM PT

EXPECTATIONS

While we’ll have our annual mega PrE3 site-wide Previews in the coming weeks leading to the big one, here are some early thoughts from a very Moody Monsignor:

EA – Anthem will be the thing. While aesthetically pleasing, I’m wondering how the single player campaign will go. Destiny / PubG / Fortnite fatigue is a thing, and Anthem has to be good for lone wolves and offline fans of narrative, too. Madden NFL 19‘s Longshot sequel. The mode was awesome, enough so to secure the title as the second best sports game behind NBA 2K last year. It’ll be interesting to see how far EA Sports has advanced its first ever Madden single player campaign. Battlefield is back, and if 2016’s World War I title is proof, the franchise is much stronger than its Star Wars counterpart.

Microsoft – Oh, where do I begin? It’s no secret that I started to lose my.. shit.. with Xbox at last year’s E3 press conference, chiefly for announcing ZERO exciting surprise AAA exclusives (and we all saw how their own exclusives minus Forza Motorsport 7 have panned out), and for the high price point of the Xbox One X. The good news? The Project Scorpio, as a console, is worth all the $499 hype; it’s a quiet, powerful machine that produces more visual dexterity than anything this side of a high-end PC; many Master Racers even admit the X1X is just as eye-pleasing (just play Assassin’s Creed Origins or Shadow of War on it, if you don’t believe me). The biggest issue? We all know what the biggest issue is, and a Halo 6 or Gears of War 5 announcement will only please the Xbox faithful. A Borderlands 3, Cyberpunk 2077, or Rocksteady Superman Xbox ownership would turn heads… Would.

Bethesda – Wolfenstein II wound up a great game, and Nintendo nerds were able to play Skyrim and DOOM on the go. So what’s next? Starfield? DOOM 2? If only Bethesda Softworks would stop keep telling us no Elder Scrolls 6…

Square Enix – The publisher’s return to E3 press conferencia will be a pre-produced, Nintendo Direct-esque presentation. Expect 60-minutes of Shadow of the Tomb Raider and another delayed release date for Kingdom Hearts 3. Oh, and that reimagined/remastered Final Fantasy VII episodic thing.

Ubisoft – Truth be told, the little publisher that couldn’t had a tremendous E3 2017, previewing many of the top games of the then next 8-9 months: ACO, South Park: TFBW, and Far Cry 5 have all been homeruns, and the announcements for Skull & Bones and Beyond Good And Evil 2 were zingers. Here’s to hoping Ubi doesn’t backtrack in quality with an abundance of mindless online shooters; here’s lookin’ at you, The Division 2.

Sony – If you haven’t already heard through the Zuckerline, your boy has had a change of heart over the Days Gone and has finally become The Last of Us II. I don’t even own a PS4, and, in just a few weeks, I already (co-)own 7 games. WHAT! Holy Ghosts of Tsushima, it all began with the greatness of God of War, and shifts to September 7th’s Spider-Man. I tried. I tried. I couldn’t leave Death Stranding! I needed these, and now Moody is a player of all systems. #aboutdamntime. Now, if only I had any clue which games we’ll be seeing at E3…

Nintendo – “The champ is here! The champ is here!” In less than 60-minutes, the Japanese publisher goomba stomped the majority of E3 2018 in one measly video package. Nintendo’s Direct was fantastic, pushing a must-have on-the-go console with a fun library of recognizable IPs and surprise third-party partners. Mario + Rabbids was as much a Ubisoft game as a Nintendo one, Breath of the Wild kept the great DLC rolling, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 wound up a terrific RPG, Super Mario Odyssey was my personal GOTY, and using Link’s Master Sword in Skyrim Switch was the icing on the cake. Gameplay reveals for Metroid Prime 4 and Super Smash Bros are sure to lead the pack from the industry’s current most exciting video game console.

MOODY’S TOP 5 OF 2018 (SO FAR)

(Click the game title to read the GHG review!)

1. God Of War (PS4) – 5/5 Bibles

2. Dragon Ball FighterZ (PS4, Xbox One) – 4.5/5

3. Far Cry 5 (PS4, Xbox One) – 4.25/5

4. MLB: The Show 18 – 4.25/5 (Not reviewed.. yet)

5. Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition – 4/5 (Not reviewed)

*Doesn’t count remasters: Bayonetta 1+2 Collection, Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze, Shadow of the Colossus, etc.

*Still need to play: Monster Hunter World, Yakuza 6: The Song of Life.

MOODY’s MOST ANTICIPATED

1. Red Dead Redemption 2 (Xbox One X, October 26)

2. Marvel’s Spider-Man (PS4, September 7)

3. Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Xbox One X, September 14)

4. Forza Horizon 4 (Xbox One X, TBA)

5. Metro: Exodus (Xbox One X, TBA)

Honorable Mentions: Anthem, The Last of Us Part II, Kingdom Hearts 3, The Last Night, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Code Vein, Yoshi, Mega Man 11, WWE 2K19, Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes, Detroit Become Human.

Use Facebook to Comment on this Post