VentureBeat has published a new report citing a retailing source that states that the only game that is actually meeting pre-order forecasts for the Holiday season right now is Rockstar’s upcoming Red Dead Redemption 2. Battlefield 5 isn’t the only game that is seeing weaker than expected pre-orders, according to this report- so are games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. Battlefield 5, for its part, is already tracking better than Titanfall 2 was back in 2016.

It is unclear whether or not this includes first party games too- to me it seems inconceivable that Spider-Man and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate would be underperforming, especially when by all early accounts, they seem poised to break out, but it is entirely possible this report was only referencing major third party releases.

As far as Battlefield goes, VentureBeat’s report says that EA has a plan to revive the game if sales after the first month or so are not up to expectations, including an aggressive update schedule, the battle royale mode, and a “surprise for long-term fans” that may even be offered as free DLC (to be fair, DICE promised all DLC for the game would be free). So let’s see how that goes.

Battlefield 5, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 will all launch this October. Spider-Man launches in September, while Super Smash Bros. Ultimate launches this December.

At E3, I went hands on with the game and it seems to be a rather bland experience. This is surprising for me because this game is coming from Insomniac, a studio well known for games like Ratchet and Clank, Resistance and Sunset Overdrive. I found the demo build to be quite repetitive, uninspired, and a been-there-done-that feeling that left me a bit confused and wondering whether the hype for this game is justified.

Spider-Man’s New York city is well constructed. When entering the game, it teaches you to swing on your web by holding down R2 and just pointing the analog stick in the direction you want to go. Here I had a chance to explore the open-world in the game for what it was. Besides the robotic feel of the same people and same cars doing the same thing down every street, the city itself is well designed. I recognized some of the more famous monuments, and even had a chance to walk up to them if I so happen to mess up on my web swinging and crash into one of the buildings.

Swinging from building to building, as everyone knows, is Spider-Man’s way of getting around the city. Holding down R2 will allow Spider-Man to release his webbing and swing across whole city blocks in mere seconds. Pressing X during a swing will allow Spider-Man to jump during a swing to gain more air in case you swing too close to the ground, or just need a higher boost; X also allows you’ll be able to zip right towards a building, as well.

As I also mentioned, I crashed into buildings. A lot. I don’t blame the game or the mechanics for this in any way. I blame my own skills and faults for doing so. And when Spider-Man hits a building, he automatically crawls on them. This helped me scale tall buildings pretty quickly… and it looked kind of cool.

The most prevalent locations where many of the missions took place in Spider-Man were around shorter buildings. This made swinging on the web difficult because there usually wasn’t a high point to shoot my web off without having to scrape my knees on the ground, or even land many times only to jump and try to swing again. And to try and add to the realism of the game, the web must land on a building in order to swing. So if you’re higher than the short stack of city blocks I encountered, you’ll have to fall a long way down before making any more traction through the air.

As I headed off toward my first mission, I finally got the swing of… well, the swinging. It isn’t as fluid as it may seem — you’ll be bobbing up and down more often than you’ll be going forward. And when I finally arrived, I found that my first battle was against a team of gangsters trying to collect something. Combat felt good, but it wasn’t anything like we haven’t played before. If you’ve played the Batman Arkham games, it is nearly identical in terms of flow.

There is no combo meter, so losing a combination won’t make Spider-Man lose much. And like Batman when he gets a hint (spider-sense) that an enemy is about to attack. You can zip between areas within the fighting limits to gain more momentum, and turn a losing battle in your favor. There are web tricks as well, including a meter that builds up during fighting, unleashing a volley of web shots around Spider-Man’s location. So yes, the combat is alright but what is concerning is the fact that these types of battles were everywhere. Now this may be a E3 demo, I have a feeling these repetitive battles will be everywhere throughout the final game.

Besides a series of small crimes taking place throughout the city, I also ran into a fetch quest. Where I had to close some vents and then match some shapes up to complete it. Unfortunately, the mini game crashed on me before I could complete it.  Luckily I got another chance with the demo and made it to boss fight with Shocker. Here’s a shocker: he’s uninspired and dull. Shocker’s main attacks are simple electrical jolts that come out and try to hit Spider-Man and follow him to an extent. With just a few quick maneuvers and an attack here and there, Shocker was down in no time and the demo was officially over.

As I said before, I was highly anticipating Spider-Man for the PS4, and I am still looking forward to it. But the combat felt okay at best, the combat encounters felt repetetive and the boss battle was disappointing. I’m going to give the developers the benefit of the doubt and hope they wanted to leave the real surprises for the actual release. But for what it was, my time with the demo was rather bland. I really hope that the final game is much more immersive than what I was able to experience. We’ll soon find out. But first, here’s to hoping for a stronger game upon release.

But one such event serves as the quintessential celebration of video games. It’s that time of the year where the biggest names come together to show off the biggest games. It’s where the release calendar for the year is pretty much set, which months we look forward to what and how to budget our time and money accordingly. Naturally we’re talking about the Electronic Entertainment Expo, beginning this year on June 10^th with EA Play and running for an entire week. Bethesda, Microsoft, Sony, Ubisoft and even Devolver Digital will try to wow us and as much as it’s about marketing, E3 2017 is the place to learn about the biggest upcoming titles from your favourite studios.

Rather than walk in and try to consume everything, we decided to choose the top 25 games to look out for at E3 2017. Some of these aren’t even confirmed to be appearing. Others have had a wealth of information and footage showcased; E3 will just be the place to solidify their position. Project Scorpio may be the biggest reveal to look forward to but in terms of games, here are the 25 titles we’re most excited to see.

Call of Duty: WWII

Activision has already announced that it will be debuting the multiplayer component of Call of Duty: WWII at E3 2017. That means the new War game mode could be showcased along with a closer look at the new social hubs. Expect footage from a single-player mission, as the company has always done over the years, and bask in the World War 2 nostalgia. Is it too much to ask for Normandy? We feel like they’d save it for later. There’s not much more to expect from Call of Duty: WWII aside from how the lack of health regeneration and AI teammates will work. Thankfully, that and the multiplayer are just enough to keep us interested throughout.