Cari's E3 2017 Review

Hey Guys, Cari here and I’m reporting on E3 2017 after returning from L.A. I don’t have a ton to report this year but here are my first impressions of the things that I saw. Day one I got to see Natsume’s booth, DISSIDIA FINAL FANTASY NT, and Marvel versus Capcom. (I saw many things including gaming setups and technology and there were a ton of games showcased this year, these are what I got my hands on). Day two was very light, I played Super Mario Odyssey and Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin, and watched Chris play some Knack II. Day three I played Lego Dimensions and Sonic Forces.

This year was very light as far as the games I saw for a couple of reasons. Number one being that this was the first year that it was open to the public as well as industry so there were approximately 15,000 more people on the floor so lines were a bit longer. The other reason being that I got a migraine halfway through day one so it made it really hard to function in such a busy space. I did push through though so here are my impressions of the show.

So, on day one I think I saw the most in terms of video games. I’m sure most of you know I’m not the greatest gamer but I do enjoy them and try to play a variety of things (gotta get out of my comfort zone right?). One of my favorite game franchise’s is the Harvest Moon series, it’s such a great franchise for us casual gamers. The have a new title coming in either late 2017 or early 2018 call “Light of Hope” The premise of the game is similar to that of their other titles in the franchise but what is different about this title is the systems that you can play on. They mentioned that it will be on the Switch and PC. I got to play it on the Switch last week and was impressed with the ease of the gameplay. Natsume also had other games on display like Wild Guns. I got to battle against some NPC’s with Chris. River City had two titles there, Knights of Justice and Rivals. Both are a lot of side scrolling fun, I’m excited for them to be released to experience some more nostalgia. Natsume is also celebrating 20 years in the gaming world, to celebrate at E3 they gave away a cow figurine and this past weekend started a sale on some of their items. You can look at what they are offering on the sale here. I finished out the day by visiting Square Enix’s booth and played both DISSIDIA FINAL FANTASY NT and Marvel versus Capcom’s setup close by. Both were fighting games that had a team aspect to them. Dissidia was set up so you played three on three with other players where Marvel versus Capcom was a duo against your opponent. I also saw some things like gaming setups including keyboards and mice, and gaming chairs.

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Mario throwing Cappy while they are in a safari outfit.

Day two was a lot of walking and trying to find a place to rest while Chris played a bunch of games. I did get to play the upcoming Mario game, Super Mario Odyssey from Nintendo this year. In this game you are trying to save Princess Peach from Bowser (Who is trying to marry Peach) and have to get to her through a new world. You also have a new friend helping you on your new journey, Cappy! Cappy has the ability to help you use some of the objects around you for better movement and new experiences. It was a lot of fun exploring the world around you as Mario and Cappy. I had a bit of a hard time with using the Joy Cons separately but I’m sure after some more practice come this October I’ll be able to use Cappy as intended. I also played Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin from XSeed games. This was a side scrolling game where you fought Ninja -like animals. The graphics were great, not surprising since it was being played on the PlayStation. Controls were also very easy to use once you got started. I’m excited for it to come out next year. The rest of day two was taking it easy since I didn’t feel well. I also got to experience the AFK Room from Takethis.org. This was a very relaxing space and all the volunteers were kind and helpful. I love that they were back this year and have shared their skills with many other conventions. If you ever need a place like this at a convention I hope they are the ones there. I finished my day watching Chris play some Knack II in the PlayStation booth and was impressed with the gameplay of this platformer. The co-op play looks nice, I am looking forward to adding this to my game library as well.

Day three was also relaxed but I did manage to play a couple of games. Lego Dimensions has new packs coming out this September with the Teen Titans, The Power Puff Girls, and Beetlejuice. In the demo, we got to explore Jump City. One of the playable characters was Beast Boy. As Beast Boy, you had the ability to transform into a few animals depending on what you were doing or what you were close to. You transformed into a bird, dolphin, and another options that I didn’t see. The Power Puff girls were also playable and gave you the ability to fly and use some of their skills such as Blossom’s freezing ability. I don’t have any of the other Lego Dimensions playsets but these work the same as the other sets where you place the character(s) you want to use on the game pad. The last game I played was Sonic: Forces from Sega. The gameplay was very nice and familiar to Sonic games in the past, with updated graphics! You join forces (haha) with Sonic and your own custom character to save the world in this action-packed game collecting rings and battling enemies. If you liked Sonic when you were younger you are definitely going to like this game.

Well, that’s all I got to see in depth this year, I know there are many games that I either didn’t mention or possibly forgot but I’m hopeful in the coming months we will get to see more from all of the game developers that were there this year. Don’t forget to check out pictures that Chris took of the show floor too.

Game on!