Over the past few days, the biggest game developers in the world held their own conferences and showed us what’s coming to our consoles in the near future. Oh boy, was there a lot. There were some big surprises, a few disappointments, and a couple of moments that just left me confused. With that in mind, I’ve made three different sections that summarize the events of E3 2018: the good, the bad, and the “Huh?”

The Good

Gears is back! Surprisingly, Kait is the main character this time around, and the story seems to focus on her family history instead of the Fenix’s, which was hinted at in the ending of Gears of War 4. And it looks like there will be a new land of frozen tundra to splatter Locust over, in constrast to the mostly barren wastelands and tunnels of the older games. Will there be other changes that affect the overall feel that the series is known for? I sure hope so. Just like God of War (2018), maybe Gears 5 will reinvigorate the franchise with an even greater level of storytelling (something that has been weakening since Gears of War 3).

Resident Evil 2 was the first survival horror game I ever played, and my encounters with the undead in Raccoon City are what started my life-long love of the genre. I had heard rumors of a full remake but dismissed them as just that, so I was caught completely off guard by the remake’s reveal during Sony’s conference. And it’s out in just over seven months? Bravo!

Sony didn’t have very many surprises this year aside from Resident Evil 2, so they spent a good chunk of time showing off gameplay from The Last of Us Part II, Ghosts of Tsushima, and Spider-Man. I had been disappointed with earlier conferences that didn’t have enough gameplay before, which made seeing Sony flaunt so much of it even more exciting. Having seen Spider-Man and Ellie in action has made the wait for their games even more unbearable. And it didn’t hurt that all of the gameplay Sony showed us was GORGEOUS.

Nintendo spent roughly half an hour showing off the upcoming Smash Bros. Ultimate, and it still wasn’t enough for me! Combining the rosters of every previous Smash Bros for a total of (at least) 65 playable fighters? Adding Ridley, a requested character who’s lack of inclusion has been a  joke for almost a decade? A release date less than six months away? As good friend of mine said, “Nintendo, you crazy sons of *******, you did it again!”

While there weren’t too many new console exclusives announced, the plethora of third-party games more than made up for it. The Division 2, Devil May Cry 5 (with OG Dante!), Resident Evil 2, Just Cause 4, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and many other games blew audiences away. No matter what console you had, E3 2018 had something to knock your socks off.

The Bad

After seeing the teaser for the next Halo, I had the same amount of knowledge of the game that I had before seeing it. A new Halo game is coming, full stop. It’s been three years since Halo 5: Guardians, so I think fans deserved a little more than confirmation of a game most of us were 99% sure already existed.

While I’m on the subject of fans who deserved more: Square Enix not even mentioning Final Fantasy VII Remake, a game that was announced three years ago, is absolutely ridiculous. And re-using what was basically Microsoft’s trailer for Kingdom Hearts III? C’mon Square Enix, you’re better than this.

Sony’s opening of just one man playing on a banjo for an entire song really had me worried about the rest of the show. The music was beautiful, but it was difficult to hear at times because the banjo was too far from the mic. This could’ve been an epic beginning of a great conference, but instead it just felt off.

Hey Microsoft, unless you know for a fact that you’re going to be blowing minds for most of your presentation (which you weren’t this year), you probably shouldn’t announce a mobile mash-up of one of your most popular series and collectible toys BEFORE announcing the real sequel. That’s just my two cents.

The “Huh?”

I’m not a big fan of Fallout, but the reception I’ve heard about Fallout 76 being set in an open world shared with other players has been all over the map. One of my friends is overjoyed about joining his buddies in the wastelands, but a few others have said they won’t even buy the game because they’re being forced to play with other people in a series that has always been single-player. It is important to note that Bethesda will allow you to play in private games, but not having that option available at launch? That runs the huge risk of alienating a large chunk of the fanbase early on. It’s good for developers to experiment, but I’m not sure this is the way Bethesda should.

I love what I’ve seen from Death Stranding so far, but it needs to start making sense damnit! It was announced two years ago, and I still have no idea what’s going on…

The announcement trailer for Control certainly looked cool, but like Death Stranding, I don’t know anything about the characters or the story. However, Death Stranding at least has the brilliant mind of Hideo Kojima behind it. I am excited to learn more about Control, but I don’t know enough about it right now to want to play it, and isn’t that the reason video game trailers are a thing?

And those are my thoughts on E3 2018. If you liked what you read, check out my most anticipated games of 2018. Until next time: The best seats are in the Middle of The Row!