Since we’ve given you guys all the news from the console makers that kicked-off the 2014 Electronic Entertainment Expo the other day, here’s the lowdown on what two of the major game publishers -Electronic Arts and Ubisoft -are up to.
The Electronic Arts press conference took place earlier this week at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, with EA making good use of their hour presentation by showcasing a ton of gaming footage.
EA started off with Bioware’s third entry into the Dragon Age series, Dragon Age: Inquisition. A live cello player provided the score to the demo featuring epic landscapes and various medieval warrior types displaying magical abilities. The open-world RPG is strategy based, with the ability to pause game play and reposition your party members on a battlefield and if you’re into fantasy RPG’s, Dragon Age: Inquisition looks to be just the game for you.
Something else that was kind of cool was Criterion Games, known for the ultra-destructive car racing/crashing series Burnout, showed off a few early concepts of a new first-person vehicle based game that they are working on. The still-untitled game will feature a wide range of vehicles from ATVs to wing suits to jet skis all with Criterions signature high-speed, high-risk style of racing. No word at all on a release date but the artwork looked badass.
Next up was Mirrors Edge 2, which is a first-person sci-fi/adventure game that is in development. The demo featured the main character, Faith, jumping parkour-style around various unrendered environments. We didn’t see much here but what we did see looked fun so hopefully the Mirrors Edge fans won’t have to wait too long until they see more on this one.
The EA media briefing also gave us more of an in-depth look at Battlefield: Hardline which is a new game in the Battlefield series. Unlike previous versions, which usually focused on military operations, Hardline is a cops vs. criminals game. In the demo we saw, team-based action was playing out in urban Los Angeles where an armored truck robbery is taking place. Explosions, highly destructive environments, lots of vehicles and crazy, intense action- what more could you want? Battlefield: Hardline will be released on October 21, 2014.
The Sims 4 probably the biggest reaction from the crowd on hand at EA’s press conference. I’ve never played a Sims game before, but this version seemed to add a new level of depth that hasn’t been seen in previous versions. For those who may be curious, the major update for The Sims 4 is being the ability to customize personality traits and aspirations which alters the way your character interact with others and also creates an actual storyline that continues throughout your game which sounded really cool if you’re a Sims fan.
EA Sports wrapped up the press conference by bringing out a bunch of next-gen titles, mostly yearly updates to existing franchises including EA Sports UFC (featuring Bruce Lee for some reason), NHL 15, Madden NFL 15, FIFA 15 and EA PGA Tour.
Ubisoft also threw one helluva media briefing by bringing host Aisha Tyler back this year to liven things up with her witty banter who did a great job of keeping the show fun and entertaining from start to finish.
Ubisoft’s first game of the day was the stunning FarCry 4 to which we were treated with the first five minutes of the much-anticipated next installment in the FarCry series. This sequel takes place in the fictional country of Kyrat and we start off heading towards a border checkpoint while equipped only with a gun and a passport. Of course, things go awry at the checkpoint and that’s when we’re introduced to FarCry 4’s maniacal villain. Just based on these five minutes alone, it seems that FarCry fans will not be disappointed in what this next game has in store.
Next up was Tom Clancy’s The Division which is an ultra-realistic next-gen shooter that takes place in a post-pandemic New York City. The events begin three weeks after a virus has crippled the infrastructure of the country and The Division is a special group of citizens, who are trained to act as agents without a chain of command. Judging by the demo, society has broken down into groups or gangs that control different areas of the city and during the footage, we’re introduced to one particularly badass gang who showed up in a dump truck toting flamethrowers. Doesn’t get more awesome than that. Look for Tom Clancy’s The Division in 2015.
We also saw a new racing game, The Crew, which is a highly ambitious effort as the developers behind it mapped out the entire United States highway system in order to create a super-realistic setting. In what was described as an open-world road trip game, The Crew seems to blend elements of simulator and arcade racers and you also have the ability to form crews online and battle other crews in races around the country which seems like it could be fun. The Crew will hit stores on November 11, 2014.
Ubisoft gave us an in-depth look at the next entry in the super-popular Assassin’s Creed franchise, Assassin’s Creed: Unity. Taking place on the eve of the French Revolution, Unity looks like it will provide gamers with lots of bloody action and decapitations galore. The demo looked great, showing off the smoothness of wall scaling and roof jumping all with the massive, bustling crowd below. One thing I noticed was the absence of a mini map as seen with previous games, interaction icons now appear at different distances within the world. Also, missions now have a difficulty rating that is displayed with each mission’s info and confirmation panel. The most exciting addition to the game play is a new co-op feature where a player can form a “Brotherhood” online with three other people and complete missions as a group. Look for Assassin’s Creed: Unity on October 28, 2014.
To finish up the show, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot came out to introduce a surprise game demo for Rainbow Six: Siege, the first game in the series since 2008. In the demo, a hostage situation is being playing out in a suburban house. After bringing up a map menu, an insertion point is selected for each team member. They all breach the house at the same time being effective and looking cool while doing it. The team then deployed small camera drones that can slide underneath doors and survey a room before entering.
We see that two enemies have a hostage behind a closed door with guns drawn, so the player now has a choice on how to proceed where they could go though the door and risk having the hostage killed or as in the demo, go one floor up and blast through the floor. The mechanics and graphics looked slick, the action intense and overall Rainbow Six: Siege looks to be a return to form and I can’t wait to check it out when it gets released some time in 2015.
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