BurtonReviews Ubisoft’s E3 Conference: Passion
(Image sourced from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q1s3lOzQ1A)
With the
final day of E3 here, so too are my most anticipated conferences. And starting
off the final day of the biggest event in gaming is the Ubisoft conference.
Ubisoft is
one of the biggest game development companies in the industry right now,
cranking out blockbuster franchise after blockbuster franchise on a yearly
basis.
They almost
own the market on 3rd party triple A games, so of course their
conference is the best place to see the majority of the games you’ll be playing
over the next year.
(Image sourced from http://za.ign.com/e3-2017/107664/feature/e3-2017-all-the-news-trailers-and-gameplay-from-the-ubisoft)
But damn I
did not expect to come out of this conference looking forward to so many games
that I either had no idea about, or already knew were coming but didn’t really
give much attention to. This year’s Ubi conference was fun, well-paced, and
full of great games and a massive step up from their long and laborious
showcases of the last two years.
So here were
the best bits of this great conference.
(Image sourced from https://www.polygon.com/e3/2017/6/12/15782302/ubisoft-e3-2017-the-8-best-announcements)
1. Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle: Baby’s
First XCOM
I know, I
know, going into this conference I thought this gam would be the punchline to
every E3 joke, and at the beginning of its presentation it was looking that
way. And after Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto and Ubisoft’s Yves Guillemot came out on stage
waving the ridiculous looking cannons from the game around, I was ready to
laugh at the game until it hopped off the stage.
But
then something weird happened, I stopped laughing at the game, and began
laughing with it. Had someone spiked my milkshake, was this just deliriousness
setting in after writing so many articles? No, the game actually looked good.
How
you may say, how can a game about the beloved granddaddy of video games teaming
up with the poor-man’s Minions be a good game?! Well if there’s one thing that
Ubisoft shows time and time again with its properties, it’s that it has a boat
load – sometimes literally – of passion for each and every game they put out,
and this game is no different. Just look at the pure tears of pride and joy
coming from the Creative Director, it’s enough to make anyone route for this
games success.
(Image sourced from http://kotaku.com/the-internet-is-coming-around-on-mario-rabbids-1796035104)
Especially
when the game he directed looks so damn surprisingly good. Like the title of
this section suggests, this Mario game plays less like a super bros spinoff,
and more of a younger generation’s introduction into turn based strategy games
such as the incredible XCOM series. I mean the UI and mechanics of the
turn-based battle system in this game looks hauntingly similar, but instead of
slow motion bullets piercing the skulls of enemy aliens, a Rabbid gets
pixilated away into the abyss.
And
on top of that, Mario + Rabbids even adds to the formula, adding fun and
visually interesting chained combos as Mario could fling an enemy into the air
with his fire as Lugi, intercepts the hurtling target mid-air with his own
shots. This, and many more surprisingly cool combos were shown off making the
games gameplay not only look deeper than the typical Mario game, but also more
fun as the Rabbids, somehow, have brought an exciting new twists to Nintendo’s
tried and true franchise.
The game will be released on Nintendo Switch August 29th.
2. The Crew 2: Up, Up and Away
While the
first Crew didn’t interest me in the slightest, honestly having sub-par
graphics and the gimmick of being able to travel all across America that only
seemed interesting in a time-lapse YouTube video. So when the Crew 2 revved
onto stage I was ready to zone out of the conference for abit. But then the CGI
trailer played, and I’m a sucker for CGI trailers. But what made this one grab
my attention not only was the sleek editing between its sections, but also how
it effectively, and excitingly showed how varied the Crew 2 will be. Now with
the race to first not only limited to roads, you can now take your journey to
victory in the air as you bolt through cities, narrowly dodging buildings, all
still with the other planes in the race on your tail, or to the water where
this games looks to put the word speed back into speedboats after Watch Dogs
2’s sluggish boat races.
The CGI
trailer was followed up by an actual gameplay trailer that seemed to iterate
much of the same as the CGI one. While the graphics did look markedly better
than the previous game, they weren’t anything special, but each component of
the game’s gameplay looked incredibly fun, fast and thrilling.
So if you’re
a racing, flying, or seaing(?) fan, the Crew 2 is definitely a game to look out
for Early 2018.
(Image sourced from http://uk.ign.com/articles/2017/06/12/e3-2017-ubisoft-announces-new-vr-game-transference-made-with-elijah-wood-production-studio)
3. The New Surprises: Transference,
Skull and Bones, Starlink
The Ubisoft
Conference had already been full of surprises, but it was in this middle
section that came the most delightful ones.
Here Ubisoft
unveiled so many fun and different new IPs that it’s going to be hard to call
Ubi an old and tired studio.
(Image sourced from https://www.gamespot.com/articles/e3-2017-ubisoft-and-lord-of-the-rings-star-team-up/1100-6450790/)
many fun and
different new IPs that it’s going to be hard to call Ubi an old and tired
studio.
First was a
playable movie type VR game, Transference. Looking to be a psychological horror
replicating “real world studies” on how the mind and memories work, the games
seems to be a really trippy and unsettling horror game with some real star
power behind it, being produced by Elijah Wood’s studio: Spectrevision,
definitely something to look out for if you have a VR system and are hungry for
new and unique experiences.
(Image sourced from http://www.dualshockers.com/ubisoft-e3-2017-conference/)
The next to
catch my eye was Skull and Bones. Initially starting off with a CGI trailer
that made it simply look like Assassins Creed 4, without the Assassins Creed of
it all, I wasn’t really into it. And that description is kind of what it is,
but what surprised me was not only how good the game looked, its pirate ships
looking like huge force of plundering nature set out on the seas with one goal
in mind – booty- but the gameplay of this naval fighter looked fun as hell.
Being able
to customise your ships a lot more than you were able to in the afore mentioned
AC4, and being able to go out on the high virtual seas to battle against or
with your no good pirating mateys, makes this game look like every little boys
and girls dreams of being a one legged, eyepatch wearing scoundrel come true. Oh and did I mention there was a FREAKIN CRACKEN teased at the end of their section.
(Image sourced from http://www.dualshockers.com/ubisoft-e3-2017-conference/)
Finally, and
weirdly a futuristic version of Skull and bones, the next game to tickle my fancy
was Starlink: Battle for Atlas. A futuristic space ship battling game, with a
twist. Starlink puts you in an aesthetically Pixar-esque universe where humans
have left Earth in search for new planets to call home, or atleast buddy. Sadly
that plan doesn’t go to plan, who saw that coming, and the human race finds
itself fighting against a horde of glowing red douche-aliens that never learnt
the advantages of sharing.
We will
fight them in the vastness of space, we will fight them in the upper
atmospheres of their many planets, and we will skim the ground fighting them
where they live, all whilst in badass space cruisers you can customise
yourself. But here’s where the twist comes in. On Nintendo Switch, you can
customise your ship in real life, much like an Amibo, you connect your create
to your controller and fly it out into battle loud and proud. Being able to
collect new pieces of your ship IRL brings back cherished memories of trying to
collect all the pieces of the Power Ranger’s mighty Megazord, and it helps that
these creations can look genuinely badassed. So if you’ve got any kids into
Star Wars, or are a big kid yourself, Starlink looks to be the perfect fit for
your intergalactic needs.
(Image sourced from https://www.gamespot.com/far-cry-5/)
4. Far Cry 5: Boom, Bang, Pow
But enough
of the new where’s our good old, kick ass, testosterone fuelled gaming
experience. Oh, there you are Far Cry.
While it is
true that the big reveal for Far Cry 5 happened last week, where the location
(Hope County, America) and main antagonist (a super Christian religious Cult)
for the game was shown off to much hullabaloo and controversy. We still got
some exciting details and an explosive new trailer debuted here.
(Image sourced from https://www.gamespot.com/far-cry-5/)
The most ear
raising information to come out of the Far Cry section of the conference was
the set up for the games events. The town you are in and trying to fight your
way out of has completely cut itself out from the rest of the country, no phone
signal, no persons allowed in or out, Hope County may as well be a separate
island. This made me happy and excited because while being on another tropical
mountain infested area of the world would have been a boring return to formula
for Far Cry, as was the main problem with Far Cry 4’s over familiarity with 3,
it didn’t quite seem to make sense that all the terrible and insane things that
you can get up to in a Far Cry game could take place in a strongly governed
country. But this set up takes any qualms with that premise away, cutting you
off from civilisation in a completely different, but somehow more terrifying
way than the previous games, brings a fresh layer to the series. Not to mention
that the change from tropical beaches to rural America allows for us to explore
whole new kinds of ways to set too much sh*t on fire.
As the fun
and expertly edited trailer showed off, as well as showing off a couple of the
uniquely Far Cry characters that we will be aligning with to take down this
abominable cult. With the series’ sense of humour firmly in place and online
co-op returning, Far Cry 5 looks to be shaping up to be the same good old Far
Cry with a refreshing new coat of ‘Murica tinted paint, and I can’t wait.
(Image sourced from https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/tag/beyond-good-evil-2/)
1. Beyond Good and Evil 2: Monkey
Business
Much like
the 3 conferences before it (jeez has I been 4 already) Ubisoft ended with a
show stopping bang. With no preamble, no fluff to slowly ease us into it, a
trailer leapt up onto screen and captivated everyone in the audience from the
word go. And that trailer was for the much awaited sequel to Beyond Good and
Evil.
The first
game came out almost 15 years ago, and has had its fans begging for a sequel
ever since.
Honestly, I haven’t
even seen the original game, not got a clue what it is about, but everything in
this CGI trailer spoke to me. the gritty lived in feel of the world, the down
to earth and no-holds barred characters which instantly ooze charisma, and
obviously the insane sci-fi approach the creative team have taken with this
series of having anthropomorphic talking animals as the majority of this weird
and quirky population of this strange and wonderful universe.
(Image sourced from https://www.polygon.com/e3/2017/6/12/15787082/beyond-good-evil-2-trailer-e3-2017)
The trailer
was fun, with most of the entertaining and snappy dialogue being blasted out by
the central monkey character of the trailer, explosive with epic hovercraft
action, and beautiful, as all CGI trailers are nowadays, but it still has to be
mentioned how well this trailer depicted the bustling streets of this grungy
city with its skies plagued by futuristic vehicles and warping space drives.
So to put it
simply, the trailer had me sold, but what added to my intrigue and excitement for
this game, once again, was the pure passion that illuminated from the
developers faces as they came on stage to basically unveil their precious, weird,
alien/animal baby to the world.
(Image sourced from https://www.polygon.com/2017/5/31/15722194/ubisoft-new-logo)
And it’s
that passion that was felt throughout this conference, so when Ubisoft’s Yves Guillemot came back
on stage to thank everyone for watching and being a fan of these fantastic
people’s work, I couldn’t help but join in clapping, even though I was sat at
home in a dark room alone with E3 as my only company.
Ubisoft’s
console, and their games in general, make you feel a part of something bigger,
whether that be a vast open world, mythology wrapped in mystery, or a
revolution against a cult, and this conference just reinforced both my love for
their games, and my gleeful excitement to experience them.
Thanks for reading, and hey while
you’re here why not check out my YouTube channel, BurtonReviews, where I upload
awesome gaming montages put to badass songs or scores every Sunday. Thanks for
reading and I hope you enjoyed. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbUfnyezvQsVsDgN3TGRh1Q
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