Best of E3 2014: Game of the Show

With so many great new games on display, and developers finally making the most of the new-gen hardware, the process of picking the top game of E3 2014 was a challenge for the Walmart GameCenter editorial team. But in the end, one game in particular stood out as the best of the best, winning our coveted Best Game of the Show award…

The Best Game of E3 2014: Batman: Arkham Knight

Title: Batman: Arkham Knight
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Developer: Rocksteady Studios
Release Date: TBD 2015
Systems: Xbox One, PS4, PC

After watching Batman in action on new-gen consoles, it was going to be hard for us to choose anything else but the final chapter in Rocksteady’s Arkham trilogy as our Best Game of the Show. It’s been astonishing to see how many new gameplay mechanics the developer has crammed into this game and observe them all in action.

In regards to combat, the new Fear Takedown instantly changes the dynamic of any room where Batman finds himself severely outnumbered. You can use the element of surprise and the safety of shadows to quickly dispatch three unsuspecting foes before they even know what hit them. If you prefer more direct combat, however, the entire environment can be your weapon as you can smash enemies through and against all manner of objects. Plus, you can even pick up and use a thug’s own weapon against him.

The greatest highlight, of course, is the Batmobile. It handled like a dream as we dashed across a ramp in “pursuit” mode and then seamlessly transitioned into “battle” mode to begin strafing around several of the Arkham Knight’s drone tanks. The Batmobile then made its combat prowess known with an arsenal of rubber bullets that quickly knocked out individual foot soldiers. Finally, it assisted us with puzzles by using its winch to remove gas pipes from outside the ACE Chemicals factory to allow Batman (operating the vehicle via remote control) to move forward inside that iconic Gotham building.

Throw in some superb new-gen visuals, and no experience exhilarated at E3 this year quite like Batman’s latest adventure. It delivered on every level and we can’t wait to see more.

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Best of E3 2014: The Best of the Rest

There were a wide array of fantastic games on display at this year’s E3 event and we thought we’d take a moment to honor the Best of the Rest—those games that deserve recognition as stand-out experiences worth looking forward to in the coming months.

Title: The Sims 4
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Maxis, The Sims Studio
Platforms: PC, Mac
Release Date: 09.02.2014

The latest edition of EA’s digital-denizen simulator features several new enhancements, including deeper personalities for your Sims and more user-friendly creation tools to help craft the perfect suburban palace for your little computer people.

Best of E3 2014: Adventure Games

The curtains have closed on another year’s E3, and it’s hard not to walk away being excited for what’s coming soon in the near future (and beyond). If there’s one thing that’s certain, it’s that a lot of great games are in the works for every platform—so many, in fact, that the team at Walmart GameCenter magazine has decided to pick our favorite titles from E3 2014. Today, we look at our choices for best Adventure/RPG games from the show:

Title: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: BioWare
Platforms: Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Release Date: 10.07.2014

BioWare finally delivered the first good look at their upcoming cross-gen conclusion to the Dragon Age series (at least this saga within the Dragon Age universe) at E3, and the game certainly impressed. Most noticeable, of course, are the vast visual improvements Inquisition has made over its predecessors. But it’s all of Inquisition’s gameplay refinements that really impressed.

Best of E3 2014: Shooter Games

The Walmart GameCenter team has chosen our top games of E3 2014 and is giving you the inside scoop on our favorites. Today we look at the best shooters revealed during the show:

Title: Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Sledgehammer Games
Platforms: Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Release Date: 11.04.2014

Taking advantage of its near-future setting, Sledgehammer Games has pulled out all the stops when it comes to providing you with some of the most inventive—and fun—weaponry Call of Duty has ever let you handle. You don’t carry different types of grenades—you only carry one, but you can switch its settings between frag, EMP, flash, or “smart,” turning it into a heat-seeking projectile that explodes on impact.

Best of E3 2014: Action Games

Today our Walmart GameCenter magazine editors pick their favorite new action games that were on display at the recent E3 2014. Find out which titles delivered according to our experts:

Title: The Order: 1886
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Developer: Ready at Dawn
Platforms: PS4
Release Date: 02.20.2015

It’s easy to look at The Order: 1886 and think that its biggest claim to fame is its visuals, and make no mistake about it—the game is looking absolutely gorgeous, with graphics that could only be done on the new generation of consoles. However, there’s much more to The Order than that, and what has us most excited for the game are the ways in which it’s looking to shake up third-person shooters. Ready at Dawn’s first original console project will blend together action and narrative to

Best of E3 2014: Family Games

The Walmart GameCenter magazine editors continue their week-long look at our picks for the best new games on display at E3 2014. Today, we take a look at our top 5 favorites in the family gaming category:

Title: Skylanders: Trap Team
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Toys for Bob
Platforms: Xbox One, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, 3DS
Release Date: 10.05.2014

Skylanders has been charming gamers for years now by allowing you to drop your favorite toys into a game, but wouldn’t it be even cooler to be able to trap characters and bring them out of the game? Skylanders: Trap Team lets you do just that. Players can collect many of Skyland’s baddies and store them in special crystals,

Best of E3 2014: Sports & Racing

The curtains have closed on another E3, and it’s hard not to walk away being excited for what’s in store in the near future (and beyond). If there’s one thing that’s certain, it’s that a lot of great games are in the works for every platform—so many, in fact, that it might be hard to keep track of what titles we liked the best. To help you out, the Walmart GameCenter team has scoured over everything we saw last week, to bring you our picks for the best games from E3 2014.

Title: NHL 15
Publisher: EA Sports
Developer: EA Canada
Platforms: Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, PS3
Release Date: 09.09.2014

The EA Canada team that works on the NHL franchise may be the best group of developers EA Sports has right now. Consistently, year after year, they improve their game in a way that makes every hockey fan happy—and this year, they’ve even outdone their usually stellar efforts. With revamped character models, a brand-new puck, and

E3 2014: First look at Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

It’s 1984, and the U.S.-Soviet Cold War has reached a vast new frontier: Afghanistan. Of course, legendary supersoldier Big Boss isn’t interested in playing politics. Instead, he’s infiltrated the Central Asian nation and intends to track down those responsible for the destruction of Military Sans Frontiers, his former mercenary group—and he’s got a new battle-hardened band of brothers, the Diamond Dogs, to help get the job done.

Why We’re Hyped
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, the prologue to The Phantom Pain, was like a small sliver of filet mignon—wonderful, but simply not enough to satisfy those players eager to go sneaking in the latest incarnation of Hideo Kojima’s stealth-action masterpiece. At 200 times the size of Ground Zeroes’ black-ops base, The Phantom Pain promises

E3 2014: Hands-On With Battlefield: Hardline

Visceral Games is looking to lend longtime Battlefield developers DICE a hand in moving the gritty FPS gunplay for which the series is known away from the soldiers and armies we’ve come to expect. Instead, this entry takes a hard look at a different kind of conflict—one that more people can probably relate to—as Battlefield hits the streets and follows the police as they try to rein in the chaos caused by criminals in a wholly urban environment. The idea of playing cops and robbers will never be the same.

Why We’re Hyped
Hardline looks to succeed where other Battlefield entries have fallen short. By utilizing each of the co-developers’ strengths, EA’s banking on this being the most complete game yet in the franchise. Visceral, best known for their work on the Dead Space series, comes in to help beef up the single-player campaign and infuse some real drama and proper storytelling alongside the action that we always expect DICE to deliver.

On the other side, DICE is taking the world Visceral has made and crafted a brand-new multiplayer suite around it—including new takes on all your favorite classic modes. In addition, the destructible environments and massive maps that you’d expect from something powered by DICE’s Frostbite engine also come along for the ride. Whether it’s automatic gunfire whittling away flimsy cover or a giant crane collapsing in the middle of a downtown intersection, there’s only one FPS that can deliver that kind of experience—and it’s Battlefield.

Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Visceral Games, DICE
Platforms: Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Release Date: 10.21.2014

E3 2014: UBISOFT Press Conference Recap

Take a look at some of the exciting highlights from today’s Ubisoft E3 press conference.

Leave your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.

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