Missing in Action - E3 No Shows

There were plenty of stellar announcements made during this year's E3 - new Tomb Raider, collected Halo remasters, Bloodborne, Crackdown, the list goes on and on - but there was also some notable absentees. Here we consider some of the games that we'd have liked to have seen more of at this year's show.

Fallout 4: We really, really want to see Fallout 4, and sooner rather than later too. We loved its predecessor and had plenty of affection for New Vegas; the post-apocalyptic settings for both were hugely enjoyable and full of character. So it was a bitter disappointment when Bethesda decided not to give us even a tiny hint that something is coming.

In truth, we kind of expected Bethesda to keep quiet this week. For a start, they pretty much said that they weren't going to announce anything beforehand (and here was us hoping that was just misdirection), and it makes sense from the studio's perspective to sit on this for as long as possible, such is the level of anticipation surrounding the still unannounced game.

By holding this back for a while longer, our collective expectation and near-obsessive fervour for the game is only going to build and build. When they do announce it, expect the reaction to go through the roof.

Naughty Dog: It was recently confirmed that Naughty Dog are making a second game of similar size and scale to Uncharted (which, of course, we got to see more of during Sony's press conference). However, we were also hoping to find out a bit more about Naughty Dog's mystery game, whether that be a sequel to last year's GotY, The Last of Us, or a new Crash Bandicoot, or perhaps even something entirely fresh. Given that the project is still in pre-production it's hardly a surprise we didn't see anything, but that doesn't mean we didn't want to know more!

Dishonored II: We recently got a look at the new Viktor Antonov designed game, and while BattleCry looks fine and all, it's not the one we wanted to see - Dishonored II.

With Bethesda recently revealing more of The Evil Within and announcing BattleCry, we knew we weren't likely to catch sight of one of the games that we really, really wanted to see at this year's E3. It's a proper shame, because this year's show could've done with a bit of Dishonored flavour, as there's not been much new in the immersive sim/stealth/shooter space since we saw Thief earlier this year, and while that was certainly a solid game, it didn't blow us away in the same manner as Corvo's first outing in Dunwall. No Fallout, no Dishonored - go sit on the naughty step Bethesda, and don't get off until you've got something new to show us!

Doom: All we got to see of Doom was a teaser trailer that showed us sweet FA, but certainly got us in the mood for more details ahead of the shooter sequel's planned announcement next month during QuakeCon. Given that we know a full unveiling is coming in a matter of weeks, it's hard to stay mad at id for not showing us more during E3. Still, we can't wait to see what's waiting for us next month.

The Last Guardian: What do you mean you're not going to show us The Last Guardian?! How much bloody time do you need Sony?! With every month that ticks by, the more worried we are that The Last Guardian is going to achieve nowhere near its full potential. Hey, we'd love to be proved wrong here, but the game has been in development for seven years now, and with no reveal at this year's E3, the end still doesn't seem to be in sight.

One thing we can take away from this year's event - call it a silver lining if you will - is the news from several sources that The Last Guardian is definitely still in development. That won't be enough to placate some fans who've grown tired of waiting for a chance to see what state the game is in, but at least it's something. So... Sony.... Gamescom?

Super Mario and Metroid: We're going to have to settle for Mario Maker (which, incidentally, looked frickin' awesome) this year, because as Nintendo confirmed within minutes of the start of their digital event on Tuesday, there was no Super Mario game to reveal at this year's E3.

This turn of events surprised us a little, but then again, the rest of Ninty's lineup was so good that we quickly forgot that the little red plumber wasn't getting all the limelight for once.

However, the lack of Mario at this year's show will go down as a missed opportunity in our eyes, as Nintendo had a chance to really knock it for six at this year's show, and a couple of missing big hitters - like Metroid for example - left them with a good showing, rather than a stellar one.

Deus Ex: When the logo attached below surfaced the other day, our hearts fluttered at the prospect of another return to the world of Deus Ex. The Human Revolution series reboot was absolutely top class, and we already know that Square Enix are working on bringing the series to new-gen consoles under the banner of Deus Ex Universe. Alas, it wasn't to be this time around, and it'll be a while longer before we see what's coming next to the sci-fi series.

G of War: God and Gears, neither of which appeared at E3 this year. Both omissions were a little surprising, but for different reasons.

God of War was seemingly teased just over a week ago, leading plenty to believe that something was set to be revealed during Sony's presser. It wasn't, but the blow was softened by a series of announcements and reveals that will no doubt keep PS-fans nourished, at least until Gamescom.

Gears of War, on the other hand, was completely absent and didn't make even the slightest of appearances during Microsoft's press conference. We weren't expecting to see the game in action, but such was Microsoft's need to have a good show, we had an inkling that the platform holder would pull out all the stops - a move that would have included teasing a Gears game further down the line (much like EA did with their incredibly vague Mass Effect reveal).

Actually, thinking of it on those terms, perhaps it's to Microsoft's credit that they didn't just splurge all their IPs at once in an attempt to get back ahead in the console wars. Let's hope that when they do show us the next Gears game, it's worth the wait.

Hitman and Quantum Break: We knew that Hitman wasn't going to be there this year, after we got given a piece of concept art and told that work was still underway on the game, and as such, it wasn't a surprise not to see it on stage at any point during the conferences.

That said, it's still a shame, because we'd love to see what kind of state 47's in at the moment, especially considering the aforementioned concept art teased us with the biggest Hitman environment to date.

It was a similar story with Quantum Break, a game we were expecting to see before the show, but where those expectations were shot down ahead of E3 (this time with a trailer and a promise of more info at Gamescom).

Rockstar: Was this to be the year that Rockstar finally lifted the lid on Agent? Or perhaps even announce the sequel to Red Dead Redemption? We knew, after it was announced by Take-Two, that the studio were working on an unannounced new-gen game set to land in the current financial year.

Turns out that game is the PC/PS4/X1 versions of Grand Theft Auto V (unless it's GTAV plus something else - but now that E3's on its way out and nothing else has been announced, we're not so sure that's the case). While we're delighted that GTAV is heading to PC and new-gen platforms, we're also a bit gutted that there's no word on Red Dead or Agent, because something new would've been just the tonic.

Beyond Good & Evil 2: If we were into betting, we'd have put money down on Ubisoft closing out their conference with Beyond Good & Evil 2, but, that's not what happened. It's probably a good thing we're not big gamblers then!

Instead we got Rainbow Six: Siege (and we're not complaining - it looked smashing), which continues Ubi's trend of finishing their shows off with an explosive reveal, but this time it was one that ultimately felt hollow next to the promise of what could have been.

Half-Life 3: Just... don't get us started.