E3 2015 - EA Overview

EA’s conference jumps straight into the good stuff and after a few seconds of various glimpses of various sceneries and we release someone is looking at these places through a computer we start to realise that this could be big one. And it is, as we zoom out and see the beautiful N7 logo on the figure’s armour. It’s Mass Effect: Andromeda and as we prepare ourselves for an onslaught of new info about the sequel we realise that there won’t be any. Sadfaces all around. At least we know the title now though, right?

Andrew Wilson pops on stages and treats us to the rather pleasant motto of “We think the world is a better place when we all make time to play.” which is totally true.

Then we launch into the new games and the first one on the list is Need for Speed. It seems like over the years they’ve gotten bored of all the suffixes to this phrase, because this time they’ve stripped the title right back. The customisation in this game is paramount and in the video we see of the actual process it’s clear that the detail standard is extremely high. There’s going to be no issues creating a beautiful, unique car here. There’s five different areas to focus on in this game--speed, style, build, crew and outlaw--and while you’re racing around you’ll gain points in these different areas that give you xp. For someone not really into racing games, the graphics are admittedly very impressive, and the environment looks pretty open-world which is rather nice.

Switching up the genres, the next game to be talked about is the MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic. After listening to a lot of feedback from players of the game, they have been focusing on implementing more story-based content and as such have birthed the new expansion Knights of the Fallen Empire. The expansion itself is free to all subscribers which is pretty cool news, and the trailer of the content looks very enticing indeed. If you were a fan of the RPG Knights of the Old Republic, then this looks like a very similar vein of story. And so ends the info of our first Star Wars game.

The next game we get a nice little preview of, is all the way from Coldwood Interactive in Sweden and called rather simply, Unravel. The creative director, Martin Sahlin comes on to tell us all about it, and his nervous excitement and love of their creation is clear, and infectious even. The video reveals a game that looks a little similar to Little Big Planet, in that it’s a puzzle platformer. The tiny protagonist is absolutely adorable, and the name Yarny fits him perfectly due to the red yarn he is made of. It is explained that a lot of research went into Unravel and we are shown a series of pictures with a real life Yarny taken in various places while Martin was on a family holiday. The whole thing is truly endearing, particularly when we actually see real life Yarny in the flesh(wool?). “In this game you are the red thread that runs through someone’s life trying to tie the pieces back together.” it’s a beautiful sentiment and one that sums up the heart of this game. The graphics look fantastic and all in all, this is one we can’t wait to see.

We all have a bit of a sing song to Top Gun hit ‘Highway to the Danger Zone’ because, let’s face it, that song is made of win, as a lifesize zombie from Plants Vs. Zombies head out on stage for all of ten seconds before being ushered off. Considering the length of time that poor soul was in that costume I hope they got paid a mint. Anyway, I digress, next game is of course Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2. Well, this one’s a bit different! For the first time in the history of the franchise, the zombies are on the defence! Yep that’s right, the Evil Genius has taken over suburbia and turned it into... wait for it... Zomburbia, home of Z-Tech Industries and the Zom Boss Factory. We have six new classes from the past, present and future. We get to see the Imp, a small but fast class, Superbrains who is melee, and Captain Deadbeard, a sniper class. The Imp also has the ability to summon a mech suit with which to combat his natural enemies. It looks pretty damn awesome to be honest.

The best news though? Introducing solo play! Also they are giving all owners of the original game to transfer their characters into the sequel. Pretty cool huh? Garden Warfare 2 will be available in Spring 2016 with free content updates, huzzah!

And so we begin with the EA Sports section of the conference. First up we get a very brief trailer for NHL 2016 but no real info on this other than it will connect up with the Ultimate Team app that will run across all EA Sports games.

NBA Live 16 is the next one on the sports list and we have a really in-depth look at the face scanning app, that lets you literally become part of the game. There is a new physics system that’s been introduced called live motion as well as a completely rebuilt catching system. There’s a lot of other technical lingo that I’m sure makes a huge difference to the game, but the one that stood out was the new shot system which allows you to delay releasing the ball to get a more accurate shot. Graphics look pretty similar to the trailer last year so we’ll have to rely on more gameplay footage to see if much has improved.

We take a brief break from the sports section to look at a cute builder game called Minions Paradise, for the mobile/tablet platform. Essentially, one clumsy little minion ruins a big cruise and ends up crashing everyone on a random island (lets hope there’s no hatch) and you have to win back your friends favour by turning the place into a paradise! It looks pretty fun and casual and of course full of microtransactions.

We’re back on the sports ball (geddit?) as legendary footballer Pelé walks onto the stage amid a standing ovation. It is, of course, time to look at FIFA 16. The focus with this latest installment seems to be on gameplay, with innovations across the pitch and new ways to play as well as tools to help you compete at a higher level. There will be a better defensive shape on the pitch, intersection options on the midfield to shut down the offense and improved dribbling. They’ve used motion capture on the players to provide more realistic movement on the field. The best news though is that they are finally including women’s football teams. Damn straight they are.

The game will be released on September 22nd, 2015 in North America, 24th in Europe and 25th in the UK.

The next game we get a look at is the origin story of our favourite parkourer (parkourist?), Faith in Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst. Sara Jannson comes on to the stage to tell us all about this prequel to the original game. It is built using the Frostbite engine in a sprawling city perfect for free roaming. There will be lots of gameplay options and you’ll be able to choose from races, time trials as well as many other and there will be no levels or loading screens whatsoever. We see some in-game footage which looks incredible as we have glimpses of Faith’s life before Mirror’s Edge. The game will be released February 23rd 2016.

It’s time for the last sports-related game of the conference with Madden NFL 16. There’s a lot of talk about the fantasy drafting app where you can choose current players and legends to make up your team and battle it out against your opponents in a massive fantasy league. There has been a lot of improvement on passing and there are three new catch types: possession catch, run after catch and aggressive catch all of which can be utilised for maximum effect in the game. This one will be released on August 25th, 2015.

And so, friends, it’s time for more Star Wars: Battlefront. Frostbite is at the core of this game, and it works to bring the galaxy far, far away to life. There’s a lot of awesome tech behind this game including physically-based rendering, new weather systems and photogrammetry. The team behind the game have also had permission to recreate weapons and props from the original films so everything you see in-game is the real deal, and yes that includes X-Wings. There are loads of different modes from massive scale 40-man battles down to more intimate 8 player ones, you can play as X-Wings or AT-ATs or rebels, or stormtroopers or even some of the more famous lightsaber-wielding characters. There really is a ton of options.

We’re treated to an epic gameplay trailer, thank god because it’s what we all wanted. And boy does it look amazing, we see a battle on Hoth through the eyes of numerous different players, graphics are phenomenal, attention to detail is crazy, like just watch the trailer already. The game is of course out on 17th November this year, so book in that time off work already.

And that it folks. No literally, they just walk off the stage with no outro. Oh well, at least Star Wars: Battlefront was good.