Best of E3 2012

And the winners are…

Best of E3 2012

There’s a reason why I tend to stay away from horror games: that unsettling, stressful feeling that something terrible is about to happen around any and every corner. That’s exactly what I felt when watching Metro: Last Light, but it’s done so well and the game looks so impressive that I may just have to dive into this post-apocalyptic, supernatural hell and play anyway.

-Mike

Being able to control stop lights, bridges, trains, cell phones, and other electronics and see critical personal data on numerous NPCs all in an open world with a tease for a complex, integrated mutliplayer system? I think I’ve died and gone to gaming heaven.

-Mike

Ubisoft is taking big leaps with their newest Assassin’s Creed game, reinventing the series once again and giving players a lot to be excited about in a brand new Revolutionary setting that hits very close to home. The cities, the frontier, and the high seas are all waiting for us; we’ll revel in the chance to explore them later this year.

-Eddie

How many games let you live the exact moment where a character becomes a hero? When has an iconic character like Lara Croft ever blossomed into the hero we’re used to right before our eyes? This new Tomb Raider is the transformation of Lara, presented to us in masterful fashion.

-Jason

To come out of a hands-on preview wondering what everyone else did indicates a preponderance of choice-driven play that the gaming industry is just now growing into. There are, of course, still the scripted choke points for quest completion, but phasing across, under, along, through, amid, and under the architecture of Dunwall still promises to gratify the player like few other experiences to date have.

-Dan

Best Surprise of E3 2012

The best surprise of the show, Watch_Dogs is espionage on a level never before seen in gaming. Shutting down cell phones, turning off street lights…what can’t this group do? I don’t know the answer, but I know that I can’t wait to find out.

-Jason

Best Publisher of E3 2012

Ubisoft made big splashes at each of the “Big 3” conferences, and made an even stronger showing at their own shindig, making E3 2012 Ubisoft’s coming-out party, firmly establishing itself as one of the top publishers in all of gaming. Case in point: The GamerNode staff nominated eighteen games for Best of E3. Ubisoft scored six of them (a third of our nominees), our Best Surprise, and two of our Top 5 Games of Show. They had seven games at their booth. Need we say more?