The Best of E3: Trailers

You might have got somewhat lost in the deluge of announcements, imagery and video that has invaded your game-loving web browser of choice over the last five days.

Conferences and announcements aside, E3's been the origin of great spectacle this week. Spectacle that you'll find right here as we present the five trailers that have shone out over the week, and the reasons why we're so pumped for them.

1.SSX

Why's it on the list?
A new SSX has been teased for years, and it's easy to see why the franchise has received such praise over the years. It's not a game series that has been heavily milked, and one whose every new iteration brought something new to the slope.

SSX Tricky embellished the trick-based boost system with some elaborate moves that, unlike other extreme sports titles, enhanced the racing without dominating it. It also ushered in a cast of characters that are one of the few rosters that have fostered admiration rather than revolution, evoke coolness and character rather than two-dimensional knock-offs, and to complete the hat trick, included celebrity voice-overs that didn't have you searching for the mute button.

SSX3 streamlined the branching modes into one massive mountain that could be ridden from top to bottom continuously, with checkpoints for races and challenges dotted along the way; it was racing going sandbox years before Criterion considered the idea for Burnout. And amazingly, it worked, achieving the feel of bombing it down a mountain against the elements without negating any of the whacky flavour of its predecessor.

So the debut trailer was expected to blow the socks off the fan fraternity. Except it didn't, the unofficial 'Black Ops' tagline less a joke as it suggested the game was only linked to the originals in name only.

So come this E3, EA show up with something new to show. The second blazingly blue skies shone out over crisp white snow, you could hear the sigh of relief from the audience. a sigh that almost immediately turned to pleasure.

Watch the SSX trailer.

2.Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Why's this on the list?
Trailers have to run that fine line between tease and revealing too much. Uncharted 3 managed the spectacular feat of ramming its E3 video full of big set-piece gameplay moments, and still leave us wishing for more.

From the Bond-style nods, to the appearance of Helen Mirren as a foil to Drake's continuing adventures, Naughty Dog has seemingly worked on the theory on what an Uncharted movie could, and more importantly, should have to make it work, and applied it to a game trailer. Hollywood take note - there's people already perfectly suited for writing a movie script right here.

Watch the Uncharted 3 trailer.

3. Mass Effect 3

why's it on the list?
With Bioware more heavily emphasising the "action" part of its "action-RPG" series Mass Effect as the trilogy hurtled towards its conclusion, there was worry that it'd loose what enthralled players from the beginning and instead opt out as a run-and-gun shooter comes its concluding part.

While the trailer debuted at E3 hardly puts those worries to rest, you couldn't deny the shear epic scale the developer's funnelling into Mass Effect 3, while keeping the entire focus on one planet: Earth.

The War of the Worlds vibe is unmistakable, the pace unrelenting for the duration of the video. Another developer attempted to build up momentum to an all-out global conflict on home turf, but bailed. Bioware seem to be going where Bungie has never went before - giving gamers exactly what they've hyped all the way to now: the fall of Earth.

Watch the Mass Effect 3 trailer.

4. Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

Why's it in this list?
We've been looking forward to this game, due out on XBLA as part of the service's Summer of Arcade, for some time now. But it took the rather stonking E3 trailer for everyone else to spot another potential digital classic in the making.

Originally we were going to use the comparison to Limbo for the art style, but it'd be closer to think of it as Ubisoft's Outland with a science-fiction skew, such is the way is develops new gameplay mechanics that build and elaborate on the bare basics.

At over two minutes in length and it's rampant flash through the multitude of game mechanics, it could be argued that the game's shown its wares too soon, but despite XBLA's growing popularity, digital titles still have to push that extra bit harder to get some time in the spotlight. Even with shunting against the heavyweights in the retail market, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet has done just that.

Watch the Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet trailer.

5. Tomb Raider

Why's it on this list?
Reasons why we like Square's new Tomb Raider trailer? Not just because it follows in the tradition of many other games this E3 set on a boat (which was lead to a hilarious comedy montage video on youtube), but because it clearly defines just how different his Lara is from her predecessor.

You'd never see the old Lara giving up. Never see her miss a crucial jump and plunge into near-certain death as a result. Never see her cut, broken, bruised and in pain. You'd never see the journey, both geographical and emotional as a gap year student becomes a hardened adventurer. And for the first time in many years, a Tomb Raider game that we're eager to play.

This trailer does that, and more.
Watch the Tomb Raider trailer.