shikamaru317 on 18 January 2024
Missed the Direct live, just got caught up. My thoughts:
Avowed
The Good
- The developer that did damage control on the one forum after the Summer Showcase trailer underwhelmed people promised graphics improvements, specifically in the lighting department, and I do indeed see some upgrades since 7 months ago
- The gameplay and questing seem good
The Not So Good
- Graphics, though improved, are still pretty underwhelming for an Unreal 5 current gen exclusive game. When watching it on my phone initially, the graphics seemed better, but after just rewatching it on my 27" 1440p monitor, I see alot of noticeably low res textures in the environment especially, character models are only so-so.
- Some of the animations still look kind of wonky, just as the did 7 months ago.
- Would have liked to have learned more about character creation, skills, classes, etc.
Indiana Jones
The Good
- Harrison Ford likeness rights and a decent imitation of his voice
- A good imitation of a John Williams Indiana Jones musical score
- Story seems interesting
- I was worried they would go 1st person when we learned that Machine was making it and that they didn't seem to be hiring any former Naughty Dog or Crystal Dynamics devs for lead or senior positions (people familiar with 3rd person adventure games like Uncharted and Tomb Raider), but honestly they seem to have made 1st person work in a convincing way for Indiana Jones, I was pleasantly surprised
- I wouldn't exactly call it a graphical showcase title for Xbox Series, but It does at least look like a generational improvement over Wolfenstein 2/Youngblood running on Xbox One X, noticeable graphics improvements over Machine's previous work
The Not So Good
- Fairly non-committal release window of just 2024, when every other game shown had either a date or a narrowed down release quarter
Hellblade 2
The Good
- Looks gorgeous as always
- Sound design seems great
- Finally a release date, and it's only about 4 months away
The Not So Good
- Would have liked to have seen a bit more combat
Visions of Mana
The Good
- Was nice to see Xbox offer to showcase the work of a 3rd party JP studio, especially since it's the first ever Mana game for Xbox, good way to get Xbox fans interested so that they hopefully buy the game and the port is a success for Square, prompting further ports
- Pretty art design
- Good soundtrack
- Combat looks more fun than other recent Mana games
The Not So Good
- Was really hoping for a Gamepass shadow drop of some earlier Mana games, especially the Trials of Mana remake, and sadly it didn't happen, wasted opportunity.
Ara
Don't have too much input to offer here as 4X is not a genre I have ever played, but it does look like a pretty good strategy game at least. Later release date than I would have liked to have seen though, especially since it was originally supposed to release in 2023.
Overall Impressions
The Good
- Still a good format for presenting games in Q1 of each year
- Better games on display than last year overall
- Was nice to see a JP game on display even if it wasn't exclusive
The Not So Good
- Xbox appears to have a major release pacing issue yet again this year, it appears their only release for the first half of this year will be Hellblade 2, while everything else like Ara, Avowed, Flight Simulator 2024, Indiana Jones, Towerborne and possible releases for Forza Horizon 6, Contraband, and Oblivion Remaster will all end up stuffed into the 6 months of the 2nd half of the year (or delayed into 2025 to avoid overstuffing).
