E3

Close your eyes and imagine yourself steeped in the midst of the epic battle on Hoth. Listen to the Y-Wings and TIE Fighters zoom over your head and the pings of laser fire bouncing off of the rocks behind you. Immerse yourself in that world, then open your eyes. Of course you're no longer in that epic and icy struggle, but if you were playing Star Wars Battlefront then what you saw in your mind would match what was happening on screen. The level of detail that went into reproducing this battle is enormous, and all of it pays off into what is a fantastic experience.

343 Industries is trying to outdo themselves with the Halo 5: Guardians campaign, billing it as the biggest in Halo history. Four-player co-op and a massive story spanning two different squads of Spartans only scratch the surface of what I saw during a eyes-on demo at E3 2015, and if what was presented to me during this demo is any indication Halo fans will have plenty to sink their teeth into come October.

It's a new year, and that means it's also time for a new iteration of the Disney Infinity series. Over the past two years, Disney Interactive has been fine-tuning its NFC figure gaming franchise, improving on the previous version in small but welcome ways. There have been some larger changes to the overall as well, but none more visible than the addition of new characters and figures to the ever-expanding roster of Disney properties. With Disney Infinity 3.0, not only are we going to be getting a load of new toys and Play Sets based on the beloved Star Wars license, we're also getting new Toy Box modes that offer more ways to play with the characters you've already collected.

The high-octane single-player campaigns of the Call of Duty franchise have always delivered action-packed experiences with plenty of explosions and firepower, but Call of Duty: Black Ops III is looking to take it to a whole new level. The return of four-player co-op to the series will allows players to tackle the story missions together, while new gameplay mechanics will make the four players feel more powerful than ever. Call of Duty: Black Ops III is trying to bring the campaign mode onto the level of the franchise's storied multiplayer experience, and so far the results are pretty impressive.

For the first time in franchise history, the annual Call of Duty multiplayer experience was on full display at this year's E3. Call of Duty: Black Ops III is taking the franchise to a whole new level of action and customization, focusing on three main tenets to make the entire experience feel unique: new movement abilities, new soldiers called Specialists, and an all new gun customization tool called the Gunsmith. Black Ops III is trying to be the most ambitious CoD yet, and that ambition starts with multiplayer.

Some might now think that based on that trailer The Order is strictly a survival horror game, but that’s simply not true. The demo I played at the Sony booth opens us up to some of the action, and The Order may be better-rounded than we thought.

In its debut year on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 I’m not sure any game is going to challenge NHL 15 for “most realistic sports game of the year.”

With a new generation of consoles now among us, NetherRealm is wasting little time, unleashing Mortal Kombat X at this year’s E3. All I can say is I hope you like blood, because there is a lot of it.

I sat down for an extensive demo at the EA booth at this year’s E3, and I found a more robust, more involved Sims game with detail that even I didn’t expect.

On the surface, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is barely changed at all, as the core fighting mechanics remain unchanged. However, it’s when you dig a little deeper and you begin to dive into P4AU’s more complicated systems, then you begin to understand the beauty of this revision.