One very surprising announcement from the very get go of the Electronic Arts E3 Press conference was Peter Moore's sudden statement that everything we will see that is on offer is all Xbox One and PlayStation 4, quite contradictory to both Sony and Microsoft’s declaration that their current generation consoles are not dead yet, so here’s hoping that these games are coming to the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 or there’ll be a lot of angry sports fans!
With a promise of 11 games on show, we held our hopes high for EA’s announcements, after all, as much as some gamers like to think of Electronic Arts as the ultimate evil, they do make some good games, however were all the titles on offer what you were hoping for?
Undoubtedly if there were one title that no one was expecting it would have to be Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, this third person multiplayer tower defense is looking incredible, and for Popcap —a puzzle only developer- the games’ environments have made a stunning switch from 2D to 3D! Also whilst it may not be Half Life 3 or Episode 3, Peggle 2 was a fantastic surprise announcement, and we’re sure many others cannot wait to hear more about its release.
Electronic Arts also had a bit more to say on their Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC title Titanfall, which many may agree possibly looked like the most fun multiplayer game on show throughout the conferences, whilst at Microsoft a multiplayer match was played out, at EA we were shown a little more on the development process of the game from the developers at Respawn Entertainment.
Most interesting of all is that in Titanfall they hope to infuse the feel of a single player game into the multiplayer experience, bringing memorable characters, a deep storyline and a living breathing world to the online landscape sure does seem to be working, which is possible enhanced thanks to the maps that appear to be crafted perfectly to suit both the standard soldiers, and the large mechs, the only issue some mech-based-game aficionados may have is that these are not your average lumbering hunks of metal!
Ermahgerd!!! Star Wars Battlefront! We were hoping for a Star Wars title after the news that EA were given the authority to develop the licenses off of Disney, and everyone was hoping for Star Wars Battlefront, but they didn’t expect it to be a reality!
It wouldn’t be an EA conference without a new Need for Speed game, and the newly formed development studio Ghost Games were present to show off the latest in the franchise; Need for Speed Rivals, apologies to those holding out for a new Underground, it looks like the brilliantly simple pleasure of cops and robbers that worked so well in Hot Pursuit is back.
Need for Speed Rivals with the new All Drive hopes to destroy the line between singleplayer, co-operative and multiplayer, resulting in an open world experience where a simple race can turn into a multiplayer chase for survival that can be swayed in the favour of the cops with the new ‘Overwatch’ feature that can be utilised on tablets.
After the debacle that was Dragon Age 2 you’d think that fans would be a bit cautious with the announcement of a new Dragon Age title, however it did not stop them from getting a little over excited with Dragon Age: Inquisition; a new open world RPG where your choices truly affect the world around you as you lead your inquisition in a bid to change your world. With characters that you’ll recognise from previous games such as Morrigan and Varric, we can expect to see the game during the Fall of 2014.
Unfortunately, just like every year, EA’s conference was dominated with the latest in their EA Sports franchises, all of which are using the new EA Sports Ignite engine that was announced during the Xbox One event a few weeks back. The new engine brings with it new evolutions in Human Intelligence, the Living World that your sports event exists in, and True Motion, and these are apparent in the four big titles they had on show.
The surprising announcement was the return of the NBA Live series, which has not seen a game released under the franchise in over 4 years, however thanks to Bounce Tek they hope that their game will rival the likes of NBA2K14 by handing realistic physics to the ball as soon as it leaves the players hands, leading to a basketball experience that no other game can deliver.
Similarly technical advances in the Ignite engine will allow the latest Madden NFL 25 and Fifa 14 to be the most authentic football games in history thanks to precision movement and precise realism, both of which are set to release before Fall 2013.
If you aren’t one for confrontations then you may have found the next section of EA’s conference a little difficult to take in, we aren’t all blood-thirsty and not everyone enjoys the ritualistic violence of the fight. After announcing last year that they had acquired the UFC license, very little has been seen on the game that is set to release Spring 2014. We did get to see a short teaser with full body deformation in action, as well as the MMAI system, however, much like the WWF titles of yore, as popular as the sport is, the game does really appeal to a specific crowd.
Microsoft may have shown some of the single player for the highly anticipated Battlefield 4, however Electronic Arts had some of the juicier multiplayer, with a 64-man match that covered air, land and sea for full on action in destructive and dynamic environments. However far more interesting was the announcement of Commander Mode which was unfortunately just skimmed over, it may be stealing the brilliant selling point of Natural Selection, however rather than a player taking part in-game as a Commander it can be achieved on a tablet device.
All the best conferences always end with a bang, and Electronic Arts really know how to reel the fans in with the long-awaited announcement of Mirror’s Edge 2! There’s only one problem for those hoping to step into the shoes of Faith very soon, because the game is set to be released when it’s done, it’s not often you get an unrushed game, so we’ve got our hopes high for Mirror’s Edge 2!
Now who’s ready for some more details on Star Wars Battlefront?