The Best Upcoming Family Video Games from E3 2016

Our Top 5 Family Video Games from E3

Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda – The Breath of the Wild – Wii U  ESRB (Not Rated Yet)

Warner Bros. Lego Dimensions – PS 4, Xbox One, Wii U, PS3, Xbox 360  ESRB 10+

Lego Dimensions (see our review) was first introduced at last year’s E3.  The concept is pure silliness and fun.  Lego Dimensions  allows you to combine characters from different Warner Bros. movie/TV franchises together in one game.  

Choose characters such as Batman, Gandalf (The Lord of the Rings), Wildstyle (The LEGO Movie), Marty McFly (Back to the Future), Scooby Doo, and countless others.  After buying the character, you can have them play together to solve mysteries using the Lego Dimensions portal. Each character has special skills to solve certain puzzles as well as some characters have the ability to unlock new levels in the game.

If you’re familiar with portal-type games, such as Skylanders and Disney Infinity, you are well aware that every year, these two franchises have required you to shell out another $75 to buy each year’s new portal and storyline.  

I am happy to report, that is NOT the case with LEGO Dimensions.  LEGO Dimensions is coming out with a slew of new characters from upcoming and past movies/TV shows to buy, but you will not be required to buy a new portal.  Hurray, Warner Bros!

Purchasing new characters from famous movies such as Gremlins, Beetlejuice, Ghostbusters, The Powder Puff Girls, ET, and more, opens up new levels to play in LEGO Dimensions.  If you bought the Portal starter kit last year, there’s no need to buy a new game DVD this year. (See character release dates)

LEGO Dimensions introduced a new area of the game this year at E3 called Battle Arena where up to 4 players can combat each other to capture each other’s flag or be the first to carry out player-specific tasks before each other.  

I tried out the Battle Arena during E3 and it’s a blast.  While working on your challenges, you can collect bubbles which cause the other players’ vision to blur, slow down, or even float…allowing you to complete your tasks more quickly.  But of course, be aware, they can do the same to you!

Purchase the LEGO Dimensions Starter Kit now at Walmart for $59.99 as well as numerous Team, Level, and Fun packs to begin playing this fun, entertaining, family-friendly game.

LEGO STAR WARS:  The Force Awakens PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U, 3DS, PS Vita, PC  ESRB 10+

Another LEGO entry at E3 is LEGO’s own version of the STAR WARS:  The Force Awakens.  Are you a Star Wars fan?  Then you’ll love LEGO STAR WARS:  The Force Awakens, which takes players on a journey between STAR WARS: Return of the Jedi and STAR WARS: The Force Awakens, while diving deeper into the new film than any other game currently available.  Players will even be able to explore more of the characters’ backgrounds in this fun engaging game.

Play as Rey, Finn, Poe, Han Solo and more or even as Kylo Ren, General Hux, or Captain Phasma.  LEGO STAR WARS: The Force Awakens travels to well-known planets engaging in dog-fights in space or arena fights.

Players will use “Multi-Builds” using LEGO pieces to advance in the game or to solve puzzles just for fun.  But you’re not alone, now enemies can likewise use LEGO bricks to support their Stormtroopers comrades as well.

Due to come out later this month on June 28th, LEGO STAR WARS: The Force Awakens is a must for any Star Wars LEGO fan.  You can pre-order LEGO STAR WARS: The Force Awakens at Walmart now for $49.88 or find other LEGO STAR WARS versions at Walmart.

SPINMASTER Air Hogs Connect Mission Drone iOS, Android 10+ Years Old

SPINMASTER Air Hogs Connect Mission Drone marries together the physical world of toys with the exciting adventures of video games.  SPINMASTER, known for their remote control vehicles, created Air Hogs Connect Mission Drone to bring 3D augmented reality gameplay to the fun of a hovering toy drone.

Using your own smart device, you can fly the Air Hogs drone over the included play mat in a 3D augmented reality world, taking on exciting missions while completing challenges to save the world from invading aliens.  The app uses the camera so you can see your drone and actual room, but within the augmented world where you see buildings, people, and aliens too.

The lightweight drone was created for indoor play, made of a very lightweight material to protect itself from drops.  While flying the drone outside is possible, it’s not recommended as wind can easily blow away the drone’s lightweight frame.

Missions include putting out fires, rescuing people trapped in buildings, and of course fighting off the aliens.  The SPINMASTER Air Hogs Connect Mission Drone comes with the quadcopter drone, play mat, and a traveling case.  The app can be downloaded for free.  The play mat’s camouflage patterns assists your smart device in more finitely tracking your drone’s device.  The drone is rechargeable and will stay charged for roughly 15 minutes at a time.

SPINMASTER’s Air Hogs Connect will be available later in the year, retailing for $149.99.

Ubisoft’s StEEP – PS4, Xbox One, PC  ESRB (Not Rated Yet)

If you’re looking for a sport-oriented game, StEEP brings a new excitement to winter sports.  Encompassing four winter sports – skiing, snowboarding, paragliding, and “fly” (using a wingsuit), athletes try their skills around the Alps and Alaska.  Similar to today’s favored roaming games, you can actually choose where you want to be dropped off in the gorgeous white mountaintops by scanning the mountains and searching for drop off zones.

I played this game and enjoyed the moves and tricks you could do with snowboarding.  The course I tried was challenging but I was able to catch on relatively quickly to complete it.  Tricks take some time to master, but certainly enhance gameplay.  My favorite sport was flying using the wingsuit.  The idea of jumping off the edge of a cliff is daunting…even in a video game!  But soaring through the air and around the mountainous terrain was quite a thrill.

As I played StEEP in a roomful of other people, I could see a few of them in my game, snowboarding right next to me, as we were playing the live online version.  I knew not one person in the room and here I was snowboarding side-by-side with them!  

StEEP offers several views to watch your winter sports prowess.  The Go-Pro view is a fun view to watch the action as you’re doing it!

StEEP allows you to record and share your impressive stunts and even dare your friends or the online world to try out particular moves you did to see if they can score more points than you.

StEEP comes out December 20016 and is not yet ESRB rated.

These five games were our favorites for the show, though there were a couple of honorable mentions we’d like to point out…

LEGO Worlds

LEGO’s new LEGO Worlds – which is a Minecraft-type building game for the PC only.  Of course, LEGO brings their own fun and excitement to the game by adding their LEGO characters and the fun of building and tearing down LEGO structures to make a pile of LEGO rubble. Gain early access to the game while they are still developing it on STEAM for $14.99.

Worms WMD

Another game we enjoyed is called Worms WMD.  Worms WMD is a war-type strategy game where worms battle off enemies and plan attacks using various weapons, drivable tanks, and even helicopters.  The whole premise of worms doing all of these things is a crack-up.  The Worms series is no newcomer, it has been around since 1995, and of course, Worms WMD, is their best rendition yet.  No official release date has been set yet, though it will come out sometime in 2016.

Just Dance 2017

And for those of you who like to dance, Just Dance 2017 is in development, though they didn’t have much to show us during E3.  With 40 new dance tracks including “Sorry” by Justin Bieber, “Worth It” by Fifth Harmony, “Don’t Stop Me Now” by Queen, “What is Love” by Ultraclub 90, and so much more. Featuring the new Just Dance Machine (for PS4 and Xbox One), players test their skills through a variety of different dance types like flamenco, ballet, and even the cancan.  As with last year, players can download the free Just Dance Controller app to increase the number of dancers being tracked in the game.  Due to be released in October 2016.

Star Trek Bridge Crew

One last mention.  For you Star Trek fans, Ubisoft is bringing about the ultimate in the Star Trek experience, Star Trek Bridge Crew, allowing you to be a part of the Federation starship crew, playing either as Captain, Helm, Tactical, or Engineering, while conducting missions together as a team.  But Star Trek Bridge Crew takes gameplay to new levels through the use of Virtual Reality (VR).  Available with Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR Virtual Reality platforms in October 2016.

So there you have it, our favorite family video games from E3 this year.  We didn’t add Disney Infinity and Skylanders because, of course, they were not at the show. But from what I heard at E3 and from what I’ve read online, I don’t expect to see Disney continuing their portal-based Infinity series any further, and dropping out of production by the end of this year.

Virtual Reality (VR) by far was the most striking game enhancement this year, providing an immersive experience for players like never before.  With Sony’s new entry into the VR category with their upcoming (October 13, 2016) PlayStation VR goggles (priced at $499), you know that VR will continue to spread through gaming.  Though be forewarned, VR can likely cause nauseousness.