A day at Australia’s biggest gaming convention – EB Expo 2015
After a weekend of long lines, sweaty gamers and utter gaming bliss, it’s time to take a look back at all I saw from the EB Expo this year.
Xbox
With easily the largest booth at the Expo, it was hard to miss the green headlights that was the Xbox stall. Spouting a handy few exclusives, a new controller and the flashy allure Microsoft are renowned for, it was here I found myself first up. After a nearly two hour wait, I got my eager hands on Halo 5 where I got to experience their new online mode, Warzone.
A 12 on 12 multiplayer battle of epic proportions, Warzone can be won by either being the first team to 1000 points or successfully exposing and destroying your enemy’s core. Adding further mayhem to the mix is a new Req Pack system which rewards players with access to improved weaponary and vehicular destruction mid-game. Elsewhere on the greener pastures of Xbox, a brief play through of Rise of the Tomb Raider showed that tombs once again take front and centre as Lara lives up to her name.
PS4
A sneak peek at Uncharted 4 was the main calling card of PS4 this year with Nathan Drake returning to his treasure hunting ways in a game that appears to have lost none of its cinematic charm. 
Another drawing card included the nostalgia inspiring remaster of Ratchet and Clank that took me back to my gaming childhood with a new coat of paint and some intuitive gameplay mechanics. Also in PlayStation’s corner, despite being a cross platform release and in fact releasing five days earlier on Xbox One via EA Access was Star Wars Battlefront. Able to play a 15 minute session, I was impressed by mayhem and Star Wars fan service they were able to squeeze in.
Attempting to take down Walkers while fighting on a snowy plain with enemies encroaching was a chaotic and satisfying experience despite my team’s eventual defeat. The classic sound of Star Wars gunfire echoed in my ears long after my time with Battlefront and will likely satisfy many a Star Wars fan upon release.
Nintendo
Living in the shadows of PlayStation and Xbox in recent years, Nintendo was again cast in shadows at the expo with an underwhelming display doing little to cast light on the company. With mainly already available games to play, there isn’t much to talk about with Nintendo except for a quick play of the new Star Fox game that looks to have struck a perfect middle ground between old school aesthetic and modern mechanics.
Everything Else
While the exclusives were given the spotlight at the expo, there were quite a few upcoming games that blurred the console lines. Easily the biggest of these was Fallout 4. A game almost five years in the making, the preview we were given proved those years were put to good use. With an open world that combines sheer size with amazing detail, it’s pretty likely you’ll finding yourself spending many an hour simply looting. And the good news on that front is that everything you collect in Fallout 4 will have some value, whether it be used in conjunction with something else or simply for parts, there will be no worthless loot this time around.
Other games that will brace multiple platforms in coming months that we got a good look at it included Just Cause 3 (as explosive as ever), Dark Souls 3 (as hard as ever) and Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 (as over the top as ever).
Lesson of the Day? Whatever gamer you are, there’s a game on the horizon for you!
Posted in Blog, Games, In the News
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