Microsoft came out with nothing but video games for its E3 2014 press conference, but how did the company deliver on its promises? Sure it did, Microsoft surprised us by showing video games for a full 90 minutes. It was crazy, but the way the company delivered was underwhelming, and if it weren't for Halo: The Master Chief Collection, then we would have walked away scratching our heads.
The company kicked things off with Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. This was quite an exciting gameplay reveal as it appears to show that Call of Duty is headed into a new direction. Some of the things players have come to enjoy are still there; for example, awesome cinematic set pieces and soldiers dying everywhere. However, Advanced Warfare has added boosters, which are things similar to jetpacks, but less profound, and a new type of grenade that has the ability to home in on targets when thrown.
We like what we saw of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and we only wished the Microsoft E3 2014 press conference were like that. Unfortunately, that is not the case despite all the games Microsoft threw in our faces.
The company gave us Forza Horizon 2, yet there was no live onstage gameplay of a title that is set for a 2014 release. Disappointment? Big one, and we're still wondering why Microsoft chose to go down this route. Folks don't watch E3 for elaborate trailers, we require live gameplay.
Another Xbox One exclusive, Sunset Overdrive, was a big disappointment in what was revealed. Ted Price came onstage and played the game for around 3 minutes, and nothing new was shown. Strangely, nothing was shown of the much talked about multiplayer gameplay.
The disappointments continued with Halo 5: Guardians, and Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Gamers who were looking for Halo 5 gameplay would be fuming with anger. The only thing Microsoft showed was a single cinematic that appears to be relevant to the story.
When it came down to The Master Chief Collection, just a short minute of gameplay was shown, and that's it. We were expecting so much more since Quantum Break was pulled from the show, but Microsoft did not deliver.
The show went on with several game reveals and Fable Legends gameplay reveal, but it wasn't enough to quench our thirst.
If we were to rate Microsoft's E3 press conference, we'd give it a solid B-, which means it just slightly less inferior to Sony's press conference.
