The lack of Mass Effect: Andromeda gameplay

Mass Effect has an absolutely massive cult following, all committed and dedicated to seeing their franchise succeed, do well, and impress. Andromeda didn’t have much of a presence at E3 2016, and naturally, quite a few people are upset by this; most prominently, the long-term fans of the franchise.

They’ve been waiting patiently for years to catch their first glimpse into what awaits in the newest Mass Effect game. EA could have delivered that during E3, but the general consensus of many is that they didn’t. Furthermore, this reaction isn’t based at all on what was shown, but rather, what wasn’t shown.

With the release date now a little under a year away, no real gameplay footage and minimal insight into how far through production the team is, tensions are running high within the Mass Effect community. Mhairi Laing, long-term fan of the franchise, had the following to say, regarding the current state of affairs;

I’m feeling angry. Feel like it’s a lot of waiting without any real progress, and seeing a “trailer” that’s only a minute long with less than a year to go before release is a downer because we don’t actually know how far through production they are and without gameplay footage it makes it seem like they’re so far behind that we’re either going to get a repeat of Dragon Age 2 (rushed, copy and pasted scenery) or another extension putting release even further back.

The gimmicky nature of VR

Virtual reality has been around for a long time now, having been first announced years ago and only just making it onto the market earlier this year. Needless to say, it’s one of the most exciting things to come out of the industry for a while. Nevertheless, people have their doubts, as do I – and after seeing the best of what VR has to offer at E3 2016, I’m a little skeptical.

The most promising VR exclusive games seem to be those for the upcoming PlayStation VR, which is surprising considering that it’s the least powerful headset of the three big players, HTC, Oculus, and Sony. Sony showcased an interesting new look into the Batman franchise with Batman: Arkham VR, alongside the impressive Resident Evil 7 virtual reality mode, and more.

The games seemed to impress, for the most part. But what of the other titles seen at E3? So far, nobody seems to have really shown anything too amazing with VR, and if it’s ever to be more than simply a glorified gimmick, that needs to happen soon.

The dissapointing Crash Bandicoot remaster and Skylanderscharacter

When Sony Interactive Entertainment Chairman Shawn Layden appeared on the Sony conference accompanied by Crash Bandicoot music and stage graphics, the audience seemed more excited than usual, probably because they thought a new Crash Bandicoot was about to be announced.

However, the cheering and applause died down significantly once Layden confirmed that the original Crash Bandicoot trilogy would be receiving a full PS4 remaster, and not that an actual addition would be made to the franchise. But wait, there’s more! Crash will be making his way to Skylanders: Imaginators. How exciting…

Granted, it is good to see something being done with the Crash Bandicoot franchise after so long, but the absence of a brand new entry into the series was a huge disappointment to fans around the world.

Take-Two Interactive – “We will be there in a big way.”

When Take-Two Interactive teased that they would have a major presence at the E3 2016, pretty much everyone assumed that we’d be seeing a Red Dead Redemption sequel this year – seeing as Take-Two Interactive actually owns Rockstar Games.

It was a massive slap in the face when E3 ended without a single word uttered of the highly anticipated sequel. Not only did Take-Two Interactive completely mislead fans into thinking aRed Dead sequel would finally be confirmed, they actually didn’t have much of a presence at all. They definitely weren’t at E3 “in a big way.” The biggest thing we saw from Take-Two Interactive this year was their (admittedly, pretty cool) Mafia III booth.

 The illogical Skyrim remaster

Now, don’t get me wrong. I absolutely love Skyrim. I think we all do, to be fair. That being said, it just seems a little unorthodox that Bethesda Game Studios has decided to release a remastered version of the critically acclaimed RPG.

It seems to many people that the remaster is simply a cash grab from Bethesda – I don’t necessarily agree with those people, but it’s important to acknowledge what’s being said. Personally, I think it would make far, far more sense to remaster Oblivion or Morrowind, both in dire need of an enrichment considering how incredible and revolutionary they were.

To give fans the opportunity to relive those experiences would be one of the best moves BGS could have made. Perhaps the fact that it simply wasn’t as financially sound is what held them back, as they must have at least considered it at one point.

The absence of Crackdown 3

Announced way back during Microsoft’s E3 2014 conference, Crackdown 3 has been on its way for an pretty long time now. It’s looked good since the announcement, too. Their use of cloud computing is sure to be groundbreaking (quite literally) in terms of what it can achieve for the sequel, with it allowing a 20 times faster processing speed than that of the Xbox One alone.

The last we saw of Crackdown 3 was at Gamescom 2015, and it was looking as destructive and fun as always. However, the last we heard of Crackdown 3 was when developer Reagent Games announced that the game would unfortunately be delayed until 2017. It was originally due to be released at some point this summer.

When the game finally does launch, there will be a gap of approximately 3 years between announcement and release, and that’s not something to be proud of. Hopefully it’s as good as it looks.

The Assassin’s Creed movie…

Isn’t E3 supposed to be more of a games showcase? Sure, it is the “Electronic Entertainment Expo,” but it’s always been more or less about the games.

It was a tad surprising (and sort of annoying) when we had to sit through seven minutes of Ubisoft’s conference focused solely on the upcoming Assassin’s Creed movie, which, let’s be honest, probably won’t even be that good considering what generally happens when people try to turn games into movies.

That screaming woman

“WOOOOOOOOOOO!” Do I even need to clarify? I’m sure you all noticed her during the Bethesda E3 conference. During every single announcement that took place that night, there was this woman who would just scream. She seemed very, very excited to be at E3. Numerous jokes have been made – who really won E3 2016? Her. Or, “when your mum attends your E3 conference.” You get the idea.

Anyway, enjoy – you can see just what I’m talking about down below, if you so desire. Just turn the volume down. Like, right down. Just mute it, actually.