E3 2012: Best of Show Awards

You just can't judge this years E3 by the conferences alone. Yes, some were better than other, and most were somewhat boring, but it's the show floor where E3 really shined and where we were able to find our picks for the best at E3 2012. So who came out on top, and you just barely missed the mark? Read on to find out.

E32012 Best of Show Nominations / Runners up

Project-100

One of the first surprises we encountered at E3 2012 was that Hideki Kamiya and Platinum Games were showing off a Wii U exclusive that can only be described as one part Bayonetta and one part Pikmin. Playing as a member of a neighborhood Justice League you fight enemies by using a combination of basic attacks and then drawing shapes on the screen of the Wii U gamepad to transform into weapons. Just a giant fist, a sword and a gun were officially being shown off, but through our experimentation we also found that you could turn into a flying bomber as well.

An off-the-wall style fighter/crowd control game created by Hideki Kamiya with giant boss fights included? Yes please. If anything, this was the title that made us take a another, and more positive, look at the Wii U.

Hitman: Absolution

We had been talking a lot about Hitman: Absolution on the run-up to E3, most of which included us being vocally worried about the direction of this new installment. All those fears were washed away the moment we were shown the behind closed doors demonstration and finally got our hands on the King of Chinatown level. Though it does contain a few small additions taken from some modern day games like Splinter Cell: Conviction, for the most part this entry into the franchise looks like old-school Hitman through and through. From wide open levels, to guard statuses, stealing clothes and hiding in plane sight, we were more than thrilled to see the attributes we loved about the series make a return.  Hitman: Absolution is one we absolutely can't wait for.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

Though we played mostly just a tech demo, we saw enough to convince us that Revengeance is truly something special. From the great fighting system being developed by Platinum Games, to the highly addictive free-cut system that we wrote about extensively here,  Revengeance is looking to not only be a great stand-alone title but also a welcome entry -if not a bit of a side one- to the Metal Gear Solid franchise as a whole. Stick around and I'm sure you'll be hearing a lot more about this title here at 4Player as time moves on.

Best E32012 Best of Show Winner

Dishonored

It's safe to say that no game impressed us more than Dishonored. An open-ended assassination game carrying with it the traits of Bioshock and Theif, it quickly stole our hearts during our demo playthrough. From the beautiful watercolor art style, to the way all the character abilities can interact with each other, Dishonored is not just a game you simply play, it's a game you experiment with.

For example, two of the abilities your character has is the ability to summon rats to devour enemies, and the ability to possess people. However these can both work in tandem, meaning we were able to summon rats and then possess one of the rats to enter into smaller areas in the level or creep past enemies.

Combat is also fairly simplified and refined in a Demon's Souls type  fashion making it both easily accessible and fun. Enemies react from getting hit, parrying blows feels responsive and reactive, and diving in for kill moves is as brutal as you can imagine. it doesn't bog itself down with over-complicated combo systems or special attacks, it finds it's foundation in simplicity.

Of course you don't need to enter into combat at all if you don't want to. In the demo we saw enemies were possessed and then thrown off of balconies, locked in steam rooms and burned to death, or lead into various traps. Dishonored has so many ways to play that the possibility of  experimentation is one of the most alluring things about it.

Expect to be hearing a lot more about Dishonored as its October 9th release date draws near. Now let's just all hope it doesn't get delayed.