Halo 5 to Uncharted 4: A look at the biggest E3 launches for Xbox One and PS4

With Microsoft announcing new titles and the India launch date for the Xbox One, the console wars have truly arrived in India. The Xbox One and its biggest rival the Sony PlayStation 4, which is already available in India, are more-or-less at the same level feature-wise, with minor differences in hardware. What sets the two apart will be the game titles, and of course, the non-game ecosystem.

We had a look at the launch line-up, which showed the decidedly different directions that the two companies are taking. Sony focussed on the indie developer set, while Microsoft banked on the big-name launches like Titanfall and Project Spark. While big multi-platform games such as the Call of Duty DLC , Assassin’s Creed: Unity , The Division, Far Cry 4, Grand Theft Auto V will be available for both platforms, it’s the exclusives that make or break a console.

Microsoft Xbox One Xbox One exclusives during the launch window were Ryse: Son of Rome, Killer Instinct, Forza Motorsport 5, Dead Rising 3 and Crimson Dragon. Out of these games, only the first and last were anything truly new. So we were really itching to see what Microsoft had in store for E3 2014. They didn’t disappoint.

Halo 5: Guardians Halo 5 will get a beta later this year, and a full release in early 2015. The game will follow the Halo Master Chief boxset , that throws in all the previous Halo games in a fan-friendly package. Microsoft along with 343 Industries has also announced ‘Halo Nightfall’ that is believed to be ‘a live-action series that will introduce a pivotal character’ who would play a major role in Halo 5. The series is set to be a digital-only affair, with Hollywood big-wig Ridley Scott on board with the company.

Forza Horizon 2 The Forza takes us to Europe and will feature more than 200 cars, dynamic weather and a full day-night cycle. Gameplay elements could involve chasing down bullet trains and airplanes, besides dodging traffic. Every car is expected to feature a full cockpit view, along with working windshield wipers and headlights, which will come in handy at night or in the rain.

Evolve New content for Evolve, which will have an exclusive beta and DLC on the Xbox One, was shown off at E3 and we will see new monster make its debut in the DLC. It’s a bit like Cthulu, but could just be a mutant kraken. The beta will build up to the game’s October release.

Rise of the Tomb Raider

We’ll let the video do the talking. The gist: This one will build on the brilliant reboot with a introspective take and some couch-surfing at the shrink.

Dance Central: Spotlight What do you know, there’s a new Dance Central game for Xbox One. For those who prefer dancing rather than shooting, Dance Central: Spotlight, the fourth iteration, will continue the time-honoured tradition of dancing to bubble gum pop in front of a Kinect camera. Not much else is known at the moment, but you better start warming up for your moves.

Fable Legends Fable Legends got a new co-op gameplay dem. The game would let up to four players join forces and perform specific roles such as archers, mages, and tanks, as you battle trolls, gremlins and other fantastical creatures. You could also take control of the main villain and set traps and ambush the heroes.

Ori and the Blind Forest It’s not often that a 2D sidescroller gets airtime on the E3 stage, but Ori looks stunning. The world looks to have been painstakingly created with attention to detail. You play a small character exploring the world, while avoiding dangers and obstacles. Also shown in the brief voice-less, gameplay-less trailer was a monster, presumably the main villain. Ori could be a great title for casual gaming, especially for non-serious gamers at home.

Inside Debuting in early 2015, Inside comes from Playdead, the creators of Limbo and is another atmospheric 2D platformer. There’s more than an element of Limbo inspiration here and there seems to be some social commentary as well. We’ll find out more about the game closer to the launch date.

Witcher 3: Wild Hunt While Witcher is not an Xbox exclusive, we can expect it to be one of the big games that Microsoft heavily promotes. Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s time on the E3 stage threw up new gameplay elements. We can expect a large world to explore as the video showed protagonist Geralt supposedly exploring an area 10 hours into the campaign. The video showed Geralt tracking a griffin, going on side-quests, making choices in interactions with other characters and of course unleash his full arsenal of charms, spells, arrows and the sword.

Scalebound Hideki Kamiya and Platinum Games revealed Scalebound, an Xbox One-exclusive. And the trailer showed off had more than a fair share of dragons to get our attention. Scalebound sees your protagonist battle dragons, while riding one of his own. Dragons are all the rage these days, thanks to Game of Thrones, but will this Xbox exclusive match that popularity?

So that were the big Xbox launches. The Xbox One will be hitting India this September , right in time for many of the games shown here, but some will only arrive early next year, as is standard in the gaming industry.

Sony PlayStation 4 At launch, the PlayStation 4 got DriveClub, Killzone: Shadow Fall, Knack, Resogun and Tiny Brains PS4’s line-up was big on indie games and ports of free-to-play titles that are already out on PC, which doesn’t create a big buzz, but shores up the core game base with regular releases. But now the big guns are out.

The Order: 1886 But that doesn’t mean Sony isn’t focussing on the big titles. It has a couple of games that will be developed by one of its own studios, most notably The Order: 1886, which was shown off at E3. The Order: 1886’s gameplay trailer gave us the first look at the werewolf-like monsters which protagonists will fight. The game plays with a mix of cinematic elements, quick-time events, and fully controlled gunplay.

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Another big name franchise returning for PS4 is Uncharted 4, which will no doubt be a huge draw for gamers as Uncharted usually is. Sony’s press conference closed with a glimpse of Naughty Dog’s next Uncharted, which showed Nathan Drake passed out in a pool of presumably his own blood as Sully’s words hang in the air. It’s a weird way to tease one of the biggest games at E3. But we reckon Uncharted 4 will have a big following nevertheless.

Batman: Arkham Knight Sony gave Batman: Arkham Knight quite a bit of time on stage and it’s looking way better than the previous Arkham games, which were quite good themselves. The new Batmobile shown in the video is more versatile, able to strafe and sneak up on enemies, while it also seems to have added some new turrets for impressive firepower. The big villain reveal? The trailer concluded with a freaky looking Scarecrow, that’s a million times scarier than any other mainstream depiction of the character. It looks freakin’ good and we can’t wait for the release. It’s not a Sony exclusive, but Sony did get a chance to show off the video on stage.

Destiny The PS4 game line-up will also get Destiny, the big buzz next title from Bungie. Destiny beta will begin July 17, with an alpha version already out, both being exclusive to PlayStation. Destiny is expected to be a big title for Sony, as the company is launching the game with a special-edition white PS4.

LittleBigPlanet 3 LittleBigPlanet 3 was also announced, which remains one of the most popular titles for PlayStation gamers. LBP3 will allow players to jump into background environments, manipulate objects, and partner up with new characters. The focus would be on cooperative play to solve puzzles.

Bloodborne Hidetaka Miyazaki (the man responsible for Dark Souls) is back with a PlayStation-exclusive horror-adventure Bloodborne. Bloodborne will see an armoured soldier explore seemingly frightening environments, but not much else has been revealed. Given Miyazaki’s involvement, we expect to see some killer visuals and haunting environments.

Abzu The new surrealist exploration game got a trailer at E3, which showed schools of fish and a lone diver swimming among them. The character seemed to be able to interact with all of the marine creatures you encounter on the ocean floor, but we reckon that exploration will be the key element of Abzu. In any case, it looked stunning.

No Man’s Sky If there’s one game that has us excited about PS4, it’s No Man’s Sky. A new trailer shows more than just the exploratory aspects of the game. There will be some elements of space combat as well. The one thing that blew us away was the massive scale of the world. For example, you could be travelling from ice giants to gas giants (those are planets and celestial bodies) or from jungles teeming with dinosaurs, to snowy peaks. And while the stylized visuals remind us that this is merely a game, they look stunning.

Mortal Kombat X The first gameplay trailer of Mortal Kombat X gave us a glimpse of the new characters. There’s a new female fighter and another newcomer, which is actually two fighters in one with a giant ogre-like fighter carrying a tiny, quick fighter. The X-ray special moves will make a return, but like Injustice: Gods Among Us, Mortal Kombat will let you interact with elements. Oh, and expect more gore than ever before.

Along side the major games, Sony unveiled ecosystem plays such as the PlayStation Now service and PlayStation TV set-top box for the North American market . For $99, you’ll be able to pick up the device without a DualShock 3 controller or HDMI cable, while $140 will net you the box, a DualShock 3, an HDMI cable, an 8GB memory card, and a digital download for the Lego Movie game.

So that was the big picture takeaway from E3 and quite possibly the part of the event that fans would have been waiting for the most. So which console has the upper hand? And which games are you most excited about?