PlayStation Experience 2015 & FF7 Remake

The PlayStation Experience this year offered a lot of new surprises for next year's gaming industry. There were surprises for classics returning to new games set to release. And while there was a lot to showcase, some of these upcoming releases have made an impact on the public.

Some games that had been detailed during the event include:

• More details about Street Fighter V
• More details about Uncharted 4
• Rez infinite
• Ratchet & Clank
• A new Psychonauts
• Updates to Destiny

As well as the games, they also previewed the PlayStation VR in action. Unfortunately the demo didn't proved that useful to showoff the capabilities of the peripheral. Even still baffling, there still was no mention of price or release date.

What I believed to be the biggest news for the event was the talk about FF7 and the remake. First off the FF7 HD PC port is now available for PS4. The game plays the same as the PC, along with all of the benefits, including cheats and trophies.

FF7 Remake on the other hand was incredible. The trailer showed scenes from the Bombing Mission as well as roaming through the streets of Midgar. The graphics were amazing and look the same as those for the upcoming FF15. The battle system is similar to also FF15 but still have the classic Active Time Battle feel as well as the traditional Limit Breaks. The voice acting, although strange, feels natural and not forced. I believe this game is going to be a massive hit when it comes out.

E3 2015 Press Conferences

E3 is back this year and as usual there were a lot of great announcements relating to upcoming games, devices, and updates. E3 this year had some great surprises including Bethesda's first conference in history. However the main focus was of course the Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo press conferences.

For Microsoft, their major franchises made appearances and there were also updates for the Xbox One. Some things announced include:

• Halo 5
• Fallout 4
• Gears of War 4
• Introducing the Xbox One Elite controller with a price of $150
• Xbox One will eventually have backwards compatibility for 360 games

The big news of Halo 5 was epic, but I believe a lot of gamers were extremely happy to know that their was backwards compatibility for Xbox One, which is one of the main concerns for the console. With this new door opening up, their might be an opportunity for Microsoft catching up with Sony in sales.

Sony on the other hand had their exclusive games as well as a way to enhance TV services, similar to the Xbox One's introduction to their take on TV. During Sony's conference, some things include:

• Call of Duty: Black Ops III and their exclusive DLC
• Uncharted 4
• The Last Guardian (Been in development since 2007)
• PlayStation Vue and subscriptions to individual channels
• Final Fantasy 7 HD remake (After a decade of ongoing rumors the wish is coming true)

PlayStation 4 managed to be the top competitive console for gaming, and it looks like it will still continue especially with COD BO3 being exclusive for a Sony console for the first time, as well as bringing FF7 back.

Nintendo was interesting as their press conference was digital and not live like the others, however there were still some great news. They include:

• Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes
• Metroid Prime Federation
• Starfox Zero
• Super Mario Maker

Nintendo is still trying to make a comeback with their traditional characters in new games. Some of their games are impressive, especially Super Mario Maker, which made a debut during Nintendo World Championships 2015. Nintendo is hoping to gather more gamers for their consoles and handhelds; how well it does only time will tell.

E3 2015 is still going on and there will be a lot of questions and answers with for upcoming titles, but as of now, E3 is turning up to be a better year for all of the competing gaming franchises. We will have to wait and see what the future holds.

The Evil Within...The new Resident Evil?

We all heard of the term, "Survival Horror." However, not many games seem to understand the meaning. By Instinct, we may think of the Resident Evil series. The games have all started with the traditional survival horror concept, but as time went on, the games were heading towards an action genre, which leaves games puzzled by the odd choice.

Tango Gameworks along with RE director Shinji Mikami developed a new type of survival horror game known as The Evil Within. The Evil Within takes on a new form of survival horror by instead on being in a known situation, like a dark forest, and goes for a more supernatural approach by having the game take place in the mind of a unstable experimental mental patient. Without spoiling the game, the feel you will get will be unsettling at times as well as disturbing, as the player continues this strange campaign.

Pros

• True Survival Horror Gameplay- This game gives us a true survival horror gameplay. In terms of horror, it may or may not be extremely scary, but it will give a sense of distress as enemies will constantly attack you and at most times you will have very little resources to defend yourself. Unlike current RE games, you can't gun down all the enemies, and will most likely have to spend time running away and hiding.

• Interesting Boss Battles- There are bosses you will have to face, and they will not be as easy as unleashing firepower on them. You will have to figure out methods to defeat, whether shooting valves that release fire, or using the environment around you to finish them off.

• Unique Puzzle Solving- At points in the game, there will be times where you need to solve puzzles in a manner similar to the old-school RE games. Completing these puzzles is a literal matter of life and death.

• Power Ups- While this game tries to be old-school it does have a touch of modern mechanics in the form of power ups. Players will be able to collect Green Gel, which acts as currency, to enhance the stats such as sprint time and health. At the same, time you can power up weapons in a similar fashion to RE by increasing firing speed and firepower.

Cons

• High Difficulty- This game is not a simple walk in the park. More or less, you will get killed, especially on your first playthrough. The amount of deaths will most likely increase as you raise the difficulty. While there is no game over or lives, the fact that you will see Sebastian die in many ways. Newcomers to the survival horror genre should be aware.

• Confusing Story- The story is somewhat on the confusing side. First-time players will be scratching their head wondering what did they just played. Even the end leaves players on a cliffhanger as well as leave answers unsolved. Whether this was intentional for sequel bait is yet to be seen.

• No Multiplayer or Online- Unfortunately, there is no multiplayer of any kind or any game modes that allow you to share the experience with other players. This games is strictly a single player only, which is odd as in this generation of gaming, multiplayer is seen as a major focus.

Overall The Evil Within is a unique game in this generation. It tries to revive the tradition of what it means to be a survival horror game, while still adding unique touches of the modern games. Hopefully, a sequel will surface that will gives us more and may bring back the survival horror genre to the hearts of gamers. This game gets a score of a 9 / 10.