E3 is almost upon us once again, as if the massive rush of E3 hype articles hadn’t tipped you off already. Microsoft and a lot of the third parties seem to have been vomiting info on new games at us before E3 this year, whilst Sony and Nintendo have been playing their cards a lot closer to their chests.
We’ve already seen the announcements of Halo 5, Forza Horizon 2, Mortal Kombat X, Homefront: The Revolution, Battlefield Hardline. Add to that the leaks we’ve had, such as Project Beast and The Master Chief Collection, and it’s looking like E3 will be short on surprises this year. But you know what all of these announcements were missing? Nostalgia.
Here are the top 5 franchises that need to make a comeback at this year’s E3.
Banjo Kazooie
Want to hear a confession? No? Tough. I’ve never played Banjo Kazooie. During the PS1 vs N64 era, I was only a wee boy and didn’t have the luxury of two consoles, so I played on the PlayStation my momma bought me. Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon were my platforming homeboys and I loved them dearly.
Fast forward to today, when I’m sat looking at my Xbox One thinking ‘gee, a platformer would be nice’. Well Microsoft owns the rights to Banjo Kazooie and I’m assured that it’s up there with the best of them, so make it happen Microsoft, let Rare out of their cage and let’s see if they’ve still got it.
Dino Crisis
What the hell happened to dinosaurs in video games? We have a couple of severely sub-par games floating around, but for the most part dinosaur games are as extinct as the kick ass reptiles they are based on. Also what the hell happened to Dino Crisis? Dino Crisis 3? Jetpacking around fighting mutant dinosaurs in space might have all the buzzwords to make you think it’ll be a great game, but what we got was… well Jeff Goldblum described it best.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JFfN5pKzFU
Give us a proper follow-up to Dino Crisis 2. We want to know what happened to Regina, Dylan and his smoking hot, leather-clad daughter from the future. Also we want to shoot velociraptors with an anti-tank rifle.
Rumours abound that one of Microsoft’s third-party exclusives is a new Dino Crisis and whilst it would be a nice penance for them, considering Dino Crisis 3 was a Microsoft exclusive, it’d make sense to see this go multiplatform given the series’ roots on the PlayStation.
Metroid
Again, you’re going to have to forgive my heathen ways. I haven’t played any Metroid either. But let’s face it, Nintendo’s Wii U could really use an exclusive shooter with some brand recognition and they are sitting on a massive franchise with Metroid.
Yes I know Other M was received about as well as an envelope full of anthrax and a letter from your parents telling you what a disappointment you are, but one bad game shouldn’t kill the series off.
Just get Samus to keep her armour on and scale down her bazookas (seriously, she’s a badass bounty hunter, she’s hot enough as it is without throwing on a pair of double Fs). Oh and a message from fans of the franchise…no making her pander to some dude on the other end of an earpiece.
Crash Bandicoot
A man can dream…a man can dream.
Activision are sitting on this franchise like nobody’s business. Crap or get off the pot Activision…in fact no just get off the pot. Give Sony the rights back and let them restore my beloved Crash to his former glory. With that said, there are rumours floating around that Activision has cut ties with the little Bandicoot that could after they removed all mentions of Crash from their websites.
Can’t see Naughty Dog ever going back to Crash, but Sony have plenty of other teams that could do him justice.
Crackdown
I can see my house from here. One of the Xbox 360’s finest games even to this day, Crackdown has been high on the inspiration list for just about every open-world super powered game to come after it. Hell Saints Row IV might as well have been called Crackdown: Bonkers Edition.
Crackdown 2 was…well yeah let’s not talk about that. Actually balls to it, let’s talk about that. Here is how not to do a sequel. Remove content, use the same map and call it a day. Why doesn’t my car hulk out when I get in it anymore? Why am I still roaming around Pacific City? Why did make zombies the main enemies for no good reason?
Crackdown 3 needs a good developer, a new setting and the super-powers cranked up to 11. Oh and have a damn checklist for the orbs so I know which ones I’ve already collected.
So there we have it folks. Disagree with the list? Let us know what you’d like to see make a comeback in the comments below.
