First up on the reality tour that was E3 2018 was the show floor and Nintendo. Nintendo showed off quite a few games during the Nintendo Direct that morning and some of them, like Let’s Go Pikachu and Super Smash Brothers Ultimate were playable. There were other games there as well and the Big N ever brought new swag to give out, after you played a few of the games in their booth.
You had the option to play Let’s Go Pikachu or Let’s Go Eevee so I decided to play Let’s Go Pikachu. I have grown up on the Pokémon games and the Kanto region is where it all started for me as well as so many other Pokémon trainers. The Let’s Go series brings trainers back to that time, the Gen 1 time where all you wanted to do was catch em all. However, you’ll be doing it a different way and the Pokeball Plus accessory comes into play. Not being a fan of motion controls I wanted to see how responsive the Pokeball would be to me throwing it and it is very responsive. You didn’t have to throw it too hard at all for it to respond on screen. You catch Pokémon in the Pokémon Go sense where you see them in the wild and then you decide if you want to catch them and then throw the Pokeball and use different items to make the catch easier. If you’re using the Pokeball to play, you’ll be able catch and hear the Pokémon call in the ball if you hold it up to your ear while playing. The Poke ball has a button on the top and on the front of it. I wanted to use the button on the top to control gameplay but you use the white button on the face of it to perform tasks and pick attacks. Leveling up Pokémon works like the newer games where you catch Pokémon and they earn experience points and if they weren’t in the battle/catch it appeared they earned it as well. It will be interesting to see where the Pokémon franchise goes from here on the Switch but the Let’s Go saga is a good start.
Mario Tennis Aces was up next and you needed to play Tennis to get your passport for game demo stamps and swag so why not right? I played the Online Tourney Demo of Mario Tennis Aces for so long, I’m a pro and it showed when I played the demo with newer add-ons like new courts. The main addition was that we were playing doubles and the game is a lot easier when you don’t have to worry about hitting the ball out all the time. The desert stage could be challenging because sand slows everything down, the players and the ball so be on guard for that. There was also a stage in the jungle with a piranha plant that can eat the tennis ball and spit it back out in any direction so you’ll want to avoid hitting your ball toward the pipes that house the piranha plants. You’ll need to practice if you want to be the top Mario Tennis player as some of the matches get pretty challenging!
The rumors about Fortnite coming to the Switch were in fact true as it was revealed in the Nintendo Direct. It was also revealed in that same Direct that the game would be available to download from the eShop that morning. Battle Royale is the hot game genre right now and Nintendo jumped right on it with Fortnite for Switch. You’ll be able to parachute into combat and battle anyone anywhere. During the E3 demo the developers said that we could be playing actual people not at E3, people watching it in different locations and that’s really cool! The controls for Fortnite playing on Switch felt tight but on handheld mode, the displays looked/felt a little small for my liking. I know it’s handheld mode but you should be able to read things like a map if you need to see where you team is. Expect weekly updates and new modes so you won’t have to worry about the game feeling stale.
Next up was EA Sports FIFA 19 and Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, both of which look great by the way. FIFA plays like the prototypical sports/soccer game but much more realistic. If you want to pass a certain direction, you can. If you want to tackle someone and only hit the ball, you have the precision to do just that, just don’t hit the player or you could get a yellow card. However, some of the controls like shooting and penalty kick shooting were a little tough to get used to during the game. I lost the Penalty Kick shootout because the control scheme isn’t the greatest as you can aim the whole time you’re setting your kick and set the power as well. Monster Hunter looks great too and if you didn’t tell me it was being played in Handheld mode, I could make the claim that we were playing it on a different system all together. Join up with a group and tackle a monster in a group. Take some of the best items that you find and make sure you have the best weapons or at least you know how to use it. If you don’t know how to use the weapon to fight, you’re gonna have a bad time! Learning how to dodge is key because the monsters will come at you quickly and if you can’t dodge their attacks, you will die and if you die a certain number of times on the mission, you fail it.
Lastly, I played two multi-player games, Overcooked 2 and Killer Queen Black. Overcooked 2 is the sequel to the popular frantic cooking game where you rush to cook food for people and the sequel is more of the same. However, this time around you’re able to throw ingredients and challenges are tougher. You can play this with up to four people with joy cons and online play too. The kitchens are in tougher areas too and that makes cooking even more challenging. The concept is simple but if you’ve never played the first Overcooked, you will need some practice time to learn the basics. Things are easier with a team where one person does the chopping and another does the cleaning. You need a system if you plan to earn those tips! Killer Queen Black on the other hand is all about survival as you either play as the Queen and attack everyone else or the “drones” and try to win the game. There are three ways you can win: attack the Queen three times, collect a certain number of berries, or have the snail reach the goal at the bottom of the scree. The snail is very slow so that doesn’t happen to often but it did happen when we were playing so it does happen. The two best bets are killing the Queen and collecting the berries for victory in Killer Queen Black. The Queen moves fast but it takes strategy to win as the other Queen attacks just as fast. You can also upgrade your “drone” if you bring a berry into the gateway and you can upgrade your player’s strength or speed. It’s plays like this that could be how your team wins the match!
Nintendo brought a lot of games with them to E3 this year and showed off a lot either in person or during the Nintendo Direct. Fans will want to play all they have to offer in the upcoming year like Let’s Go Pikachu and Super Smash Brothers Ultimate!