E3 2015 - Ubisoft Overview

Despite being the brunt of all jokes in the gaming industry, Ubisoft know how to wow an audience. With a Monday evening slot, fans were once again left in awe with what Ubisoft had to offer.

Opening the show with none other than the sequel of South Park: The Stick of Truth, Matt and Trey (creators of the hit show) came on stage to explain that the legacy continued. The story this time differs from the fantasy genre and takes a different, superhero approach with the kids dressing as Koon and Friends. The name I hear you ask? The Fractured But Whole! Classic.

     

It wasn’t long before more serious matters were addressed however. Away from poo jokes and slight racism, Aisha Tyler, on behalf of Ubisoft, addressed the issues the publisher had faced over the past few months. She stated that Ubisoft had received “constructive feedback” and emphasised that they do listen to fans. With that glossed over, it was back to normal proceedings.

The awesome four-some of Ubisoft’s current crop of games were of course apparent and scattered throughout the show:

The Crew will, on 17th November receive its first expansion. Titled Wild Run, the expansion features motorbikes, monster trucks and drag racers in more high octane races all over America.

We also got another Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate trailer. It again featured the male protagonist, Jacob (still nothing on his playable twin sister Evie) hunting down another of London’s elite, before heading into a dingy bar in order to recruit new members to his gang, The Rooks. A gameplay demo was teased to be shown later this week.

Rainbow Six: Siege was given a cinematic trailer featuring actress Angela Bassett, while it was also revealed that single player mode Terrohunt would be returning which can also be played via co-op.

And rounding off the four previously announced AAA titles was The Division. Now with a solid release date of 8th March and betas on all consoles coming early next year, we got another glimpse of gameplay. Hunting for loot you might come across various factions and choose whether to kill them or join them. The classic “dick move” was also present, when the ‘team’ was brutally murdered by one of the squad members. That won’t get annoying.

Another year and another iteration of Just Dance. Just Dance 2016 will be coming to all current-gen and last-gen consoles this October and this time you don’t even need a camera to track your movements, it can be done with the use of your smartphone. That, and an awkward few minutes of Jason Derulo murdering his own song made this a forgettable slice of the Ubisoft conference.

       

Ubisoft also dedicated a large portion of time to those more arcadey experiences, with Trials Fusion update Awesome Max Edition getting one of the strangest and most memorable trailers of any E3 press conference to date. Featuring nothing less than a cat, riding a firebreathing unicorn in front of no less than three rainbows, it’s certainly one of the stranger updates for the Trials series.

City builder in space Anno 2205 and high speed physics defying racer Trackmania Turbo were also given trailers, the former being tipped for release on 7th November.

Of course it wouldn’t have been an Ubisoft press conference without acknowledging brand new IP however, this time not one but two were announced, heading to our consoles sometime in the distant future.

The first, For Honor, is an adrenaline filled middle aged sword and shield fighter taking the role of Vikings, Samurais or Knights, battling against endless waves of enemies. We also got a glimpse of 4v4 multiplayer, which is a brutal as it sounds, teams facing off against one another in a clash of swords and shields, already playable on the E3 show floor.

             

The ‘and finally’ moment was this year given to yet another Tom Clancy game. Ghost Recon Wildlands. Set in an open world, the ghosts will explore environments, ranging from salt plains, and jungles to deserts in the hunt to stop the worst sorts of crime. The trailer showed that there are various approaches to taking down bases; do you take the silent, distant approach, the stealthy, close-quarters approach or the all-out guns blazing method? You decide. Developed by Ubisoft Paris, there are no details as to when this will release.

Ubisoft certainly went all out once again, and with more new IP inbound, let’s just hope they can keep the patches down to a minimum.