As we prepare for IGN's E3 2013 Game of the Show winner we thought it best to break down the best of Xbox at this year's E3. Microsoft made plenty of huge announcements while third parties had more than enough exciting titles on display to show that not only was Xbox One a tantalizing console but Xbox 360 remained relevant and as exciting as ever as well.
Here are the best in show awards for Xbox 360 Xbox One and even SmartGlass from E3 2013.
Titanfall's experimenting with the tried and true military shooter. Respawn Entertainment shakes things up with big robots massive and complex maps and dozens of ways to approach each enemy encounter. The variety and flexibility in combat is as impressive as Titanfall's gorgeous visuals and multiplayer only approach to single player style wow moments. This is Xbox One's flagship title its killer app and a jaw dropping debut from Respawn. Of every Xbox One demo at E3 Titanfall's multiplayer matches showed exactly what next gen means for the competitive crowd and this is just the beginning of what Titanfall is all about and what the Xbox One is capable of.
Any worries that Warner Bros. would tamper with Rocksteady s winning formula of ultra smooth combat and city exploration went up in smoke the moment we laid hands on Batman Arkham Origins. The introduction of a few new enemy types including a martial artist that can counter Batman s moves and requires a double tap of the counter button to block mix things up in melee fights. On the World s Greatest Detective side a cool new investigation technique allows Batman to reconstruct and replay events to get to the bottom of things in a more involved way than simply tracing a blood trail. And the new voice actors for Batman and The Joker They do surprisingly respectable impersonations of long time actors Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill. From where we re sitting the coming fight to take down Black Mask s squad of all star assassins looks like proof positive that there ll be a life after next gen for the Xbox 360.
The original Payday which didn t hit Xbox 360 was a good concept with flawed execution. It was loud lacked everything awesome about bank heists and functionally turned your robberies into Left 4 Dead style murder fests. Payday 2 gives you the opportunity to plan ahead take hostages use security against the authorities and leave uncooperative accomplices behind when they blow your cover. Payday is still loud and full of police killin but everything around that rewards you for completing a killer heist and doing so with friends who spec out to play specific roles.
Against every expectation Ubisoft isn t bringing Blacklist to next gen hardware so Xbox 360 is the only way Xbox players can dig into what s shaping up to be one of the best Splinter Cell games yet. The campaign is as close to Chaos Theory as we re likely to get the co op is ruthlessly demanding of teamwork and Spies vs. Mercs clever design proves it isn t a cheap grab at your nostalgia. Splinter Cell Blacklist is legit and if you re only able to play it on current generation consoles you should absolutely hang onto that Xbox 360 instead of selling it to upgrade.
This E3 proved that Companion App isn t a term to be afraid of anymore. The Division s impressive use of SmartGlass gives you the opportunity to interact with the entirety of Ubisoft s post anarchistic New York City. Flying around as a drone with its own progression and skill set lets you help friends from your mobile device in a meaningful way and allows you to see every single thing they see. It s in lower resolution than the next gen consoles of course but watching the same destructive explosion tear a structure to pieces is really really cool. It s a great way to share an experience as promising as The Division for sure.
Microsoft s Vancouver based Black Tusk is working on a sci fi franchise that s meant to define Xbox One comparable to Halo in terms of scope and platform importance. Microsoft blew its opportunity to impress with one of its biggest exclusives with a lame empty uninformative E3 trailer that said nothing about why Black Tusk s project matters. Its brief tease of a too familiar sci fi world and someone cocking a pistol doesn t say anything other than generic shooter. Hopefully time will benefit Black Tusk and the full reveal will make us forget all about this underwhelming non announcement.
Mitch Dyer is an Associate Editor at IGN. He s also quite Canadian. Read his ramblings on Twitter and follow him on IGN.
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