EA came out with a pretty strong show — depending on your particular gaming tastes, that is. There were certainly a few irritatingly-sparse “announcements” if you could even call them that. But the games that got some actual screen time do look promising. Let’s dive in to the conference summary in case you didn’t and/or don’t have time to watch the whole thing.
Star Wars: Battlefront
We start with… could it be? Yes! StarWars: Battlefront finally confirmed for officialses! We got our first view of the game, as tantalizingly limited as it may have been. This first look amounted to a few gorgeous shots which were painfully short, but hey, you know it was enough to get you going.
I mean, come on: StarWars: Battlefront!
Be sure to check out the Star Wars: Battlefront trailer right here on BSR.
Side note
During a quick interlude, EA claims they have a “commitment to put players first.” A statement which is sure to put a bitter taste in many mouths. Actions speak louder than words, EA. We want to love you for your great games, but you make it so damn hard sometimes.
Dragon Age: Inquisition
We got a second look at Dragon Age: Inquisition — the first being Microsoft’s presser. EA, however, brought out a cello player live on stage which was, let’s admit, classy as hell. There was a lot of gorgeous flying around during the pre-gameplay trailer.
Good news for fans of both DA:Origins and DA2, the highly contentious fast-paced, real-time combat system released in Dragon Age 2 is still around (with significant improvements from the look of it), but the big news here is that there are actually two types of combat systems.
The Action approach is fully real-time, as in DA2: Instant swapping between party members appears to be an integral aspect of DA:I’s Action combat system, which could bring an interesting level of complexity. There is a second Tactical approach which, it would appear, brings back some semblance of the Dragon Age: Origins combat system so beloved by fans of the original. Unfortunately the latter didn’t get a lot of screen time.
It’s an interesting tactic to bring both combat systems as options, but I am personally disappointed that we did not get a good look at the Tactical system during the presser. Time will tell how the two play out in the final release — it sounds like a bit of a trick to develop two parallel combat systems, so here’s hoping they are both fully fleshed out. If one is tacked-on and not fully realized, it’s sure to be the Tactical side.
Be sure to check out the trailer right here on BSR.
BioWare Check In
After going over Dragon Age: Inquisition, we we checked in with the folks at BioWare to see what else they’re working on and: new Mass Effect reveal! Sort of! If you can call some quick videos of characters in N7 armor and vague promises about the scale of the new game a “reveal.”
At present, the videos shown were all watermarked with “Conceptual Prototype,” so I wouldn’t get my hopes up for any solid dates on that any time soon.
Then, a bombshell! A brand new IP from BioWare? What could it be? WHAT COULD IT BE?
Well, keep guessing. This “reveal” was so sparse as to be almost not worth mentioning. But, hey, it’s BioWare. I’d be lying if I told you that merely hearing “Brand new IP” and “BioWare” in the same sentence didn’t get me a little excited.
The Sims 4
A brand new Sims game!
The Sims are a big deal to a lot of people. I can’t even hate on that. I’ve definitely lost several hours of my life to previous iterations here and there. The new Sims game boasts much greater character customization aesthetically, but the big improvements are customizations that go past the skin and clothes, down to the personality and character traits of your Sim. The example shown had a meathead-poetry-nerd getting into a little spat with his ornery-elderly-neighbor-lady. No, literally: They get into a fist fight. He tries to throw a party to cheer up and — wouldn’t you know it? — the lady shows up to ruin his day again.
Anyway, looks like a significant step up for the series.
New UFC Title
A tribute to Bruce Lee led up to the newest UFC title announcement. Apparently, the new game features Bruce Lee as a playable fighter. Which is pretty rad, or kinda creepy, depending on who you ask.
EA Sports
There were a few strong showings from EA Sports, including the PGA, NHL, Madden, and Fifa franchises. Sports games aren’t really my wheelhouse so I can’t comment on these with much authority. From what they showed though, each one looked gorgeous, with really impressive physics and individually rendered crowd entities.
A highlight for the new PGA Tour. According to the guy, “This, is golf without limits.” If that sounds like your kind of thing, then that sounds like your kind of thing. Also there were explosions and battleships. No, I’m not joking.
Madden 15 flips the camera when you’re playing on defense, which seems like a good change for a single-player match. It does make you wonder if the classic behind-the-offense camera will reign in a couch-side multiplayer game, though. They really emphasized the advancements to the Defense side of the game. Also the announcer on the trailer would have been right at home in a new Die Hard trailer.
They showed off Fifa 15 a bit. Again, improved visuals, really impressive crowd entities, greater realism.
If you’re a fan of an annual sports series like NHL, Fifa, or Madden, I have to imagine that you’ve got a pretty good sense for what you’re getting with each new iteration.
Prototype from the lunatics behind Burnout
The team behind the Burnout series showed some really early prototype stuff from a new game they’re working on, which has you getting behind the wheel, yolk, control-stick, or handlebars of any number of different vehicles. It’s a first-person game sporting jet-skis, motorcycles, ATVs, helicopters, cars, snowmobiles, wing-suits, and pretty much anything else you can think of. It was still in a super early state, but these are the guys who made the Crash mode, so I believe in their ability to bring out something good.
Dawngate: EA’s foray into the MOBA
EA drives home their new MOBA, Dawngate. They’re clearly trying to emulate the Riot Games approach by emphasizing their player-centric focus, and the claim that they are driving development based on player feedback.
They’re trying to set themselves apart with an emphasis on the flexible meta, but one does wonder if it’s possible to avoid emergent meta. MOBA players seem hard-coded to find and maintain a meta, if only to give themselves a framework in which to strategize. The MOBA space is getting crowded, to be sure, but it’s hard to see anyone dethroning League and DOTA2 at the top of the pack. But competition breeds innovation, so hopefully the increasing prevalence of the MOBA forces everyone with skin in the game to push their own franchise in their own direction, and to develop unique elements which set them apart from one another.
Mirror’s Edge 2
Hell yeah.
This is one that a lot of people were excited about, and for good reason. The original Mirror’s Edge just oozed style and uniqueness. And it’s hard not to get excited about a popular franchise with a strong, self-possessed female protagonist. Mirror’s Edge gave you an incredible sense of free movement, it was fast and exciting and smooth, and took an interesting approach to combat — primarily neutralization and avoidance rather than your typical guns-a-blazing.
The gameplay videos for ME2 didn’t look like a huge departure from the original, as far as the core movement mechanics and aesthetic. Combat, on the other hand, looks pretty well revamped. The speakers emphasized flexible play styles, and an increased focus on Faith as a character, and her position in the very interesting world of Mirror’s Edge.
Battlefield: Hardline
And now for something completely different:
The Battlefield series takes a step away from the warzone and onto the streets of the US.
(This was EA’s going-out-with-a-bang climax.)
Instead of soldier versus soldier, Battlefield: Hardline squares the combat between police and criminals. A classic good guys vs. bad guys thing. As usual, multiplayer is a big priority for the newest Battlefield title, and the speakers made a point of emphasizing team play, vehicles, and environment destruction.
During the extended gameplay live session, we saw a constantly evolving battlefield with vehicles and environment destruction both providing and removing cover during an interesting new objective-based match.
The demo showed a number of criminals taking down an armored car, grabbing the loot, and hauling ass to a rendezvous point. The criminals escape in blasted-out cars and motorcycles, while the cops come after them in helicopters, cruisers, and SWAT vans. The map looks enormous, and it’s wormed with many different paths, providing an always-evolving tactical situation requiring adaptation on the fly. The mobile nature of the rendezvous objective meant there was no camping or turtling to be done.
Towards the end, an entire, skyscraper-sized construction crane crashes down on the city, completely obliterating the facades of two separate buildings directly above the fleeing criminals. The downed crane also provides another escape vector for the fleeing criminals.
I was originally skeptical when I heard Battlefield was going to leave the warzone, but after watching this gameplay footage, It seems like it could be an exceptionally skillful move for the series.
In an interesting move — and I think this is an E3 first? — the Battlefield: Hardline beta was announced during the EA briefing, the sign up form went live immediately following the announcement.
And then the entire sign up page went down immediately following the announcement.
EA will also be live streaming a bunch of people playing Battlefield: Hardline on the webz if you want to take a peek.