Ladies and gentlemen, this is it! We’ve taken our first collective steps into the month of May, and with that we can officially declare:
E3 SEASON IS HERE!!!
For all of us who love video games, E3 is that magical time when anything is possible. As the stakes of the industry grow increasingly larger, so does the desire of each game company involved with the annual festive trade show to wow us with their upcoming wares.
Who would have thought that Final Fantasy VII: Remake was even possible more than a couple of years ago?
In the past couple of years, we’ve seen the big three console manufacturer’s pull out all the stops to wow the gaming world with shocking gaming announcements and spectacle that could only be classified as grandiose. Recent E3’s have taught us that just because a long-requested game like Final Fantasy VII: Remake seems like an absolute impossibility, that doesn’t mean that we should never say never.
While we will certainly be doing our annual analysis on where the big three console manufactures stand, and what we expect from them at E3 2017, this article is a bit different.
In this article I’d like to engage in a bit of fantasy – thinking outside the box for a bit to come up with five dream games that would utterly blow my mind if they were announced at E3 2017.
Some of these games are sequels to well-recognized classics, while others are concoctions of my own hopeful imagination.
So without further ado, let’s all put on our dreaming hats and take a trip through my innermost gaming desires as we explore –
The 5 Dream Games I hope To See Announced At E3 2017!
5. The return of Crimson Skies
It feels like there has been a lack of quality flight games over the past few years.
Sure, we just got Star Fox Zero last year, but let’s face it, that game was pretty disappointing.
Back in the days of the OG Xbox – before Nathan Drake was treasure hunting and Lara Croft had resumed raiding tombs, there was the daring air-jockey, Nathan Zachary. Yeah, he was just as dashing as all those other adventurers, but he had one thing going for him that the other folks didn’t; he ruled the skies.
Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge was pretty great. So it’s a crying shame that we’ve never seen a follow up.
Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge was a fantastic flight combat game set in an alternative 1930’s America – a land ruled from above, through five regional air powers. And of course, air pirates. Players were tasked with aerially swashbuckling their way throughout the skies, in a grand airborne adventure that pitted Nathan Zachary up against rival air pirate gangs, and a evil madman hell-bent on getting his hands on a top-secret technology.
Released in 2003, Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge was loads of fun. The flight combat action was dynamic, the setting and themes were different enough to help the game stand out, and it was also one of the first multi-player hits on the fledgling Xbox Live service.
With so much going for it, it’s a travesty that there haven’t been any other entries in the series since the days of the original Xbox system.
With Microsoft in dire need of original content for the upcoming launch of the uber powerful Scorpio, now seems like the time to bring Crimson Skies back!
Microsoft could build upon the solid foundations of the original, while taking cue’s from games like Uncharted and Tomb Raider.
Imagine a massive airborne adventure with fantastic flight mechanics and action set-pieces like we see in so many adventure games these days. Plus, can you imagine the amazing online multiplayer battles that players could have over Xbox Live!?
I can.
So Microsoft, let’s get on the ball here! Sure, Halo is great and all, but we know what to expect from Halo. If there is any game that could get me hyped for Scorpio, it’s Crimson Skies!
4. Half Life 3
Let me make a confession here: I’ve never played any of the Half-Life games.
It’s true.
I know they are amazing. I know they set the standard for every modern first-person-shooter that came after it, but the truth is that I’m just not that big of an fps fan. While I can certainly recognize a game as being a quality title, that doesn’t mean that it’s going to be something that I actively want to seek out and spend time playing.
However, I still want to see Half Life 3 happen.
Just do it and get it over with already!
I want to see it happen because there are so many people out there who loved the series, and would give almost anything to finally get the third installment after all these years. Just because I don’t particularly enjoy that specific genre, that doesn’t mean that I’m oblivious to, or uncaring of the sheer joy that a Half Life 3 announcement would bring for so many people.
Unfortunately, the prospects of Half Life 3 actually happening become more and more dim as the years pass. Valve seems perfectly content to continuing captaining the enterprise that is Steam. Add in the fact that the last Half Life writer has recently left Valve, and things don’t look so good for the continuing adventures of Gordon Freeman.
Still though, there is always hope.
Valve has helped pioneer VR technology with the HTC Vive, but despite better technology behind it, VR is still not coming the absolute must-have that people a couple of years ago thought it would be by now. With Microsoft on the cusp of releasing the Scorpio, and that platform in dire need of a VR solution and games, how feasible would it be if Microsoft were to forge a relationship with Valve to bring Vive, and Half Life 3 to the new console?
This could go a loooooooooonnng way to convince people that they want to adopt VR, and or, a Scorpio.
Plus, going full VR for Half Life 3 would put the series back in the position in which it was born to be: pioneer.
Besides those practical purposes though, let’s just close our eyes and imagine that moment: that moment when Half Life 3 is announced. It would be a monumental moment unlike many other: one of those moments that collectively shocks the gaming world.
Admit it – you’d be willing to drop some money on a VR set up if it meant being able to play Half Life 3.
It’s for those reasons that I would be delighted to see Half Life 3 announced at E3 2017.
3. Star Wars: Darth Vader
Luke Skywalker may be the hero of the Star Wars saga, but there is little doubt which Jedi is really the most popular.
Darth Vader.
If you were to look me in the eye and tell me that you didn’t want to play a game as Darth Vader, then I’d call you a dirty liar.
It’s okay – you can admit it: deep down inside, we all kind of want to know what it would be like to dawn the mask and walk in the robotic boots of the fallen Jedi “chosen one” and wield unimaginable strength and power.
It’s also okay to admit that your favorite part of last year’s Star Wars: Rogue One film was that insane Vader sequence towards the end of the picture, that I will not elaborate on here (because spoilers).
So it’s unfathomable to me that game fans have never really gotten an opportunity to play as Lord Vader. Sure, there was that opening level of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, but one little level is nowhere near enough to fulfill our innermost Vader desires. No – we need a whole game.
In my perfect world, Star Wars: Darth Vader would take place in the time between Star Wars: Episodes III and IV. The Republic has been overthrown by Emperor Palpatine and his apprentice, Darth Vader. Most of the Jedi have been wiped out thanks to Palpatine’s insidious Order 66, however, a ripple in the Force leads him to conclude that there are still survivors out there. Little flames of light and hope that need to be extinguished.
So he sends his dark knight out on a quest to hunt down and kill the remaining Jedi.
It would be the perfect piece of series canon that would help fill in the final gaps in the journey of Anikin Skywalker – to Darth Vader.
Darth Vader is the greatest warrior in the Star Wars Universe. How has there not been a game where you play AS him?
We’d get to see and actively participate in learning how Vader strengthened and perfected his links with the dark side of the Force, plus we’d also get to journey with him as he increases his already formidable combat abilities, as well as emotionally come to grips with what he has become..
And of course, the only studio that would be fully capable of handling the ferocity of the action sequences required to properly portray the iconic villain would be Platinum Games.
Seriously – can’t you just imagine the potential of the studio that gave us the masterpiece that was Bayonetta providing their expert guidance on a Star Wars: Darth Vader title?
The problem though lies in the dark nature of the subject matter.
Darth Vader is a villain; so how do you effectively end the narrative, while not providing Vader (or the player) with that ultimate satisfaction of “winning the game”?
That is a question that I haven’t been able to readily answer, and I suspect that might be the major roadblock behind why no one has decided to take up the mantle of producing a Darth Vader-centered video game.
But that doesn’t mean that I can’t hold out hope. After all, isn’t “hope” one of the central themes of Star Wars?
So I’m going to continue to hold out hope that one day, I’ll get to see a game like Star Wars: Darth Vader announced at an E3 2017.
2. Capcom vs. Square Enix
Think about it.
We’ve had numerous Marvel vs. Capcom games
We’ve had Capcom vs. SNK and Street Fighter x Tekken
We’ve even had Tatsunoko vs. Capcom.
Heck it’s unrelated to Capcom, but we’ve also had a Mortal Kombat vs DC crossover which might be better left to memory..
With a history of being willing and able to work with a diverse set of properties and rivals within the fighting game, there is no reason why a dream fighting game crossover of Capcom vs. Square Enix couldn’t take place!
In my mind, any proposed Capcom vs. Square Enix crossover would have two main facets to it.
Tatsunoko vs Capcom was a game that actually happened. So why not Capcom vs Square Enix?
First would obviously be the fighting game aspect. Capcom could mix the classic Street Fighter style with the approachable nature that they are aiming for with their upcoming Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite.
The other aspect would be an adventure or quest mode that lets players select their favorite characters and go on a brief journey to earn upgrades and equipment, which could then be used in the fighting portion. This would be designed by Square Enix, who designed a similar (albeit, not-that-great) quest mode for their 1997 fighter: Tobal No. 1.
The marriage of these two gameplay styles, along with the union of the fantastic stable of characters that both companies own, could create not only one of the greatest games ever – but one of the greatest moments in gaming history!
We can make this happen! We just gotta believe!
1. Chrono Trigger 2
Of course – what else would you expect of me?
Long before Squaresoft merged with Enix, the two RPG powerhouses joined forces to create an epic RPG masterpiece for the SNES called Chrono Trigger.
I’ll spare you all of my normal introductory gushing about the game. Suffice it to say, Chrono Trigger remains my favorite game of all time 22 years since its release.
It may have come out in 1995, however Chrono Trigger still remains my favorite game of all time.
And after all this time, it’s insane that we haven’t gotten a proper sequel.
Yes, there was Chrono Cross, which was released in 2000 for the PlayStation.
While that game had a very cool concept involving parallel dimensions, it failed to capture the essence of the original SNES classic. For me personally, the biggest problem with Chrono Cross was that it widened its cast to 40-some characters that could be recruited, none of whom were given the room to really breathe and become memorable. An RPG lives and dies by its cast. After all, why would you want to role-play as a character that you don’t care about?
Since the 2000 release of Chrono Cross, Square Enix has performed perfunctory duties in keeping the Chrono Trigger memory alive by porting the original game to a number of different platforms. But in all this time, they haven’t seen fit to try to develop something new.
It’s time for that to change.
It was pretty good, but for a few reasons, Chrono Cross never really lived up to the original.
It’s time to revisit Chrono, Marle, Lucca, Frog, and everyone else throughout the history of Chrono Trigger‘s Guardia, and embark on a new adventure!
While the prospect of a direct Chrono Trigger sequel being produced is pretty unrealistic, there are a few hints that could point in the direction of something happening on the Chrono front.
Square Enix’s 2016 digital release, I Am Setsuna was lauded as having taken a liberal amount of inspiration from Chrono Trigger’s combat mechanics. Perhaps this was an experiment of sorts to test the waters of that style of gameplay in an outside franchise, before taking those ideas and expanding upon them for a more major release.
The other hints come from a couple of tidbits dropped by the game’s director: Takashi Tokida. In a 2016 interview, Tokida told Game Informer magazine that he wanted to see another Chrono Trigger Production.
“Personally, if there is ever an opportunity, I would love to see a high-quality, high-end version of Chrono Trigger,” Tokita went on. “Or a movie production, or something of the sort.”
Then, on April 7th of this year, Tokida took to his Twitter account and tweeted out an image of a Nintendo Switch, with the caption:
“Top secret mission starts!”
極秘ミッション開始！ pic.twitter.com/m3KkR9u484
— 時田貴司 (@Takashi_Tokita) April 7, 2017
So is it possible that Tokida is working on some sort of new edition of Chrono Trigger for the Nintendo Switch?
I realize that that’s a pretty big leap of logical faith to arrive at that conclusion; but hey, we have to keep hope alive, right?
It’s time to go on another adventure with some dear friends.
If the past few E3’s have proven anything to me, it’s that anything can happen!
So if hope can get Shenmue III made, then hope can get one or all of these games made!
That’s my list of five dream games I’d like to see announced at E3 2017. What are your dream games? Let us know in the vision board that is our comments section below.
Written by The Watchman
He’s also an actor, a reporter, a pro wrestling connoisseur, and some say he’s a cat whisperer.
If you have any questions or just want to drop me a line, hit me up at thewatchman@butthole.nerdbacon.com
Or follow me on Twitter @DavetheWatchman
You can also game with me!
Look me up on Xbox Live @ DJKhadoken
Or on PlayStation Network @ Eaglevision_dl
