E3 is on! If you are gamer or a just a tech enthusiast, then I would urge you to check out the E3 proceedings, if you haven’t already done so. To me, E3 is mostly about the gaming, it’s nice to see the new trailers, behind the scene videos and get a general sense of the trends in the industry.

I’ve always said that gaming, like many other things, is a very subjective affair so bear with me as I go on about Halo 5 and Assassin’s Creed Unity.

There was initially a bit of confusion regarding Halo, so for clarity’s sake, Halo 5 “Guardians” will not come out until next year. But the Halo: Master Chief Collection, will be out at the end of the year and will cover the story arc of the iconic Chief. I’ve been following Halo closely and I’ve found myself rather attached to the story (which continues in a series of books and comics outside the games) even though I was not entirely happy about the twist in Halo 4. Halo 5 “Guardians” is interesting because it seems to introduce a new hero or playable character.

The trailer itself features the Arbiter talking to the new character, who he called  “Agent Clarke/Locke”, as images of the Master Chief float around, especially a scene from Halo 2, where he jumps-off an orbital MAC and uses a Covenant bomb to destroy one of their own ships. Based on the Arbiter’s narrative, it seems clear that Agent Clarke/Locke, needs to find the Master Chief as there is some external threat that can only be averted with his intervention. Hence, the words “The seeds of our future and sown in his past,” seem rather ominous. I would have preferred playing as the Chief but for the sake of the plot I think this is quite interesting.

In Halo 4 it seems the Chief was emotionally hurt after the loss of Cortana and in the first Halo 5 trailer, it seems he’s on a mission to find her/revive her. So has the Master Chief gone AWOL? Are we tasked with finding him and Cortana? Is the Arbiter back? Are the fore runners returning? So many questions, so few answers.

The next game I was looking at but had fallen out of love recently was Assassin’s Creed. The reason I lost interest was that unlike Halo, I think the developers hadn’t made as much an effort to create a coherent story line. Of course, many of you may disagree. Anyway, the new trailer is amazing. The game is set in revolutionary France (that time Mary Antoinette lost her head) and the Assassins are out to destroy the Templars and prevent zealots from both sides taking advantage of the situation. In the trailer (the sound track is “Everybody wants to rule the world” by Lorde) four assassins work together to storm what seems like the Bastille and sort of disarm the guards, helping the peasants take control.

The interesting thing about the trailer is that it is meant to highlight the coolest feature yet, cooperative play. You can play the game with three more of your friends to infiltrate and carry out assassinations as a team. The audience was also told that Unity features a brand new AI system that makes the crowds and interactions more natural. In addition, players will get a chance to explore much of 19th century urban Paris in a way that was not possible in previous versions of the game. There is also a greater emphasis on stealth, which is refreshing. Thankfully, the game does not spare players from all the gory details and from the gameplay trailers it seems to emphasise the chaos of the revolution; neither side seems to be completely innocent of atrocities, which makes it difficult to pick a side).

Next week, I shall check out a couple more games that really excited me. In the meanwhile, you could check out trailers and discussions concerning every aspect of E3. Tomb Raider, Batman: Arkham Knight, Destiny and other games are just a few that made an appearance during the event.

Text by Navam Niles