Every time E3 comes around I’m reminded why Ubisoft tends to be one of my favorite publishers in the industry. They consistently put out a diverse mix of great games and always seem to be having a good time during their press conferences. In other press conferences I felt like the presentations suffered from early leaks of their games and didn’t really do anything to compensate for the potential loss of hype for their games. One of Ubisoft’s biggest announcements got leaked early, but their presentation was set up in a way that it didn’t take the wind out of their sails. I think Ubisoft’s press conference was definitely one of the strongest and most informative. Hit the jump to read on!
HIGH – Beyond Good & Evil 2
It blew everyone’s minds when this game got revealed last year, and I was honestly surprised to see it again this year. I’ve never played the first game, but the amount of love and passion I see from people online about it definitely makes me want it check it out. The trailer for it looked very interesting and ended in a nice surprise that definitely confirms the game is a prequel to the original. The reason why it’s on this list is because it looks to be an incredibly ambitious and beautiful game, and I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on it whenever it’s completed. The developers presenting the game were also very charming, and in a rare instance of a technical failure being a good thing, the developers excitement about the crowd loving Beyond Good & Evil 2 was probably the most heartwarming E3 moment in recent memory.
LOW – Mario + Rabbids: Donkey Kong Adventure Concert
The conference was going really well, and although I enjoyed the montage of the Mario + Rabbids version of Donkey Kong’s themes, this whole thing really slowed down the presentation. Other press conferences opened with mini concerts, which is fine. It would also be fine to end on a mini concert like that one year Dead Mau5 closed out the game awards. But throwing a concert in the middle of a press conference was just weird and unnecessary. What’s more is that footage for the game was being played in the background, but it was hard to pay attention to that because the camera kept swinging around to look at the very talented musicians. It kind of felt like they couldn’t make up their mind on what should be the centerpiece to this segment, the music or the game.
HIGH – The Division 2
Although we got the initial E3 trailer for The Division 2 at Microsoft’s press conference, we were treated to a different trailer here and got a deep dive into what sets this game apart from it’s predecessor. Things like specializations once you hit the level cap, and the focus on end game content. One thing that was noticeably absent was any talk about the Dark Zone, The Division‘s version of a player-versus-player area. The aspect of this segment that really stood out however, was that the first three DLC episodes will add more missions and story and other things to the game. An 8-man raid will also be making it’s way to The Division 2 sometime after launch. The best part about all of this though, is that it will all be offered for free to all players. One of the biggest issues with the original Division was that the DLC didn’t offer much content for the price tag. This was a major complaint from The Division community so it feels as though developer Massive Entertainment on trying to generate good will by offering up a lot of bonus content free of charge. I think it’s working.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Rainbow 6 Siege is continuing to do really well, and they just announced that the Siege community is nor 35 million strong. Which is just an insane number. A documentary is also coming out soon called “Another Mindset” which follows a handful of professional Rainbow 6 Siege players. The documentary is set to be released on August 13th.
Ubisoft’s upcoming pirate game Skull & Bones looks to be an awesome fast-paced ship battle game. Last year it looked like it was going to be totally an online game where you would only fight against other players, but now it looks like they’re shifting more towards a shared-world style of game play. From the trailer we were given players can attack and loot AI controlled ships either alone or with friends. But of course, since this is a game about pirates, you could totally just turn on your friends and try to collect all of the loot for yourself. No honor among thieves and all that.
HIGH – Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
This game was leaked just days before Ubisoft’s press conference, so everybody was expecting to see it. Amazingly, Assassin’s Creed did not disappoint. This is a particularly weird thing for me since I normally do not care about the Assassin’s Creed series at all. But I will say that this game really looks amazing, and I may or may not play the game solely because you can be a badass Spartan woman. So really, this is the Wonder Woman game we’ve all secretly wanted. Yes, this game takes place in ancient Greece and apparently features a magical spear and the ability to kick dudes in the chest off of things while screaming “THIS. IS. SPARTA!” in the comfort of your own home. The game play demo they gave us really featured how great the game looks and some of the mechanics, but it didn’t show just how big the map of the game is. It looks like one of the largest maps I’ve ever seen in a game, so that’s simultaneously exciting and horrifying.
What did you think about Ubisoft’s press conference? What were some things you wanted to see? Where the heck was Steep?! Let us know in the comments below!