E3 2014: EA Keynote Conference

Electronic Arts were the second of the big four on Monday night to take to the stage. They always have a great variety of games to showcase, and showcase they most definitely do.

 

Star Wars Battlefront 3

They kick things off big with the new Star Wars game. We take a look behind the scenes at DICE Studios and the steps that they’ve been taking to ensure it is a truly authentic, incredible experience. They’ve gone to great lengths to help create an amazing setting for Battlefront to occur in, even visiting the original movie locations to better grasp what they want to present to the fans.

We don’t see much of the game, just a few snippets here and there to whet the appetite whilst still keeping us oh-so-hungry for more. Let’s just say there is not enough here, but we haven’t got time to stop because it’s time for something else.

We will have more information on Star Wars Battlefront in Q2/Q3 2015.It’s being developed for PC, PS4 and Xbox One, and will run on the Frostbite 3 engine.

 

Dragon Age: Inquisition

Next up is the first of three E3 offerings from everyone’s favourite RPG developer, Bioware. Dragon Age: Inquisition is so close we can almost taste it, so seeing more of the game is getting us far more excited than we care to mention.

The DA presentation begins with a live cello performance alongside the trailer, sending goosepimples flying over the interwebz and affecting the arms of all who hear it. It is a truly fantastic way to get into the fantastical mood and definitely the best part of the evening so far. The trailer showcases some of the locations that we’ll be able to explore in Thedas once the game is released, and it looks unbelievably beautiful. Oh and we also spy a nug hiding in the video!

The world of Thedas is on the brink of chaos, and the protagonist is shrouded in mystery, so you begin with a clean slate, ready to explore and enjoy everything that is on offer. There are new combat options available now, with the tactical view that people who played its predecessors on the PC will recognise now seemingly coming to console versions.

The tactical view allows you to see the battles from above, pausing time and letting you really think about where you need to move in order to receive the best bonuses. The standard in-the-thick-of-it mode is still there, so don’t panic! It looks like new targeting mechanics are included too, with different body parts of a high dragon being targetable at any given time, offering another layer of tactical play onto each fight.

We’re introduced to some of the new companions we’ll meet on our journeys, three of whom we haven’t really heard much at all about yet. Firstly there’s a Grey Warden called Blackwall, who looks scarily like Duncan from Origins. He’ll be kicking some ass in some seriously heavy armour. Then we meet Sera, an elf who is a bit of a wild card and falls into the rogue class; she looks like she’s an archer at heart. Up next is our first Qunari companion since Sten, known only as The Iron Bull, an intimidating mercenary with serious strength and a mysterious past he can’t let go of. Lastly there’s the statuesque Vivienne, a mage with not only magical power but political power too, but are her intentions pure? We can’t wait.

The Dragon Age presentation ends with this:

“Whatever we were before. We are now the Inquisition”

Dragon Age: Inquisition is out on October 7th, 2014, on PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

New Mass Effect

An as yet still untitled installment in the Mass Effect series is mentioned again to some extremely enthusiastic cheers and whoops. The little that we did see of the game is still early in development but still looks awesome. Bioware are wanting to make the Mass Effect world as open as possible, allowing players to travel between new and diverse planets, exploring and battling as they go.

We don’t see much else but are then told about…

 

A New Bioware IP

Yep, Bioware are officially working on a brand new RPG IP. They’re starting with a clean slate and designing from the ground up, creating an evolving and ever-changing world with a contemporary story.

 

The Sims 4

Some very high pitched screams pierce the darkness of the stadium as it’s time for The Sims 4. We are told a lot of things we already know about shaping personalities and physical attributes with truly intuitive design tools. However we are now told more about the emotions of the sims and how that will affect gameplay.

As the player you will be able to take advantage of the world around your sims to influence your sims mood, having a serious knock-on effect on their actions. You’ll be able to tell at a glance how your little controlled puppet is feeling at any given moment, and choose how you want to handle their state of mind.

We are shown a great new feature that is being added to The Sims 4 - the gallery. This is full of user-created content which can essentially be dragged and dropped into your own game, instantly. You want a sim that can liven up a dead party? No problem, just grab on and there they are! It’s a great way to involve the huge sims community into the game more efficiently and a huge step in the right direction for EA.

As the sim in the gameplay trailer is having so much fun he literally dies of laughter, we are finally given that all important release date.

The Sims 4 will be out on September 2nd, 2014 on PC and Mac.

 

EA Sports UFC

UFC is back and this time with the benevolent Bruce Lee himself as a playable fighter. We are shown some game footage spliced with ultimate fighting champions being interviewed. They all talk about how Bruce Lee was their inspiration and how everyone in the sport aspires to be like him, but never will, because he’s the best.

EA Canada have been working on this new instalment for two years now in order to make it the best possible game. We jump into a battle with Bruce Lee, because “anyone can be Bruce Lee now”. The graphics look really smooth, interactions between the fighters are fluid and realistic. We see something called a mounted triangle submission as well as a ton of other exciting moves. As the fight continues you can see the body parts that are being affected by an outline at the top of the screen. Bruce Lee starts to get his kick on and then BOOM, it’s a knockout. We see a short replay from another angle, and then it’s over.

EA Sports UFC is out on June 17th, 2014 with a playable demo already available on the PSN and Xbox Marketplace.

 

NHL 15

We’ve now hit the sports side of EA, so prepare yourself for the onslaught. Next up is hockey, with the new NHL game. “What’s going to change? Almost everything.” It’s a bold claim, and to the untrained eye, the gameplay footage might look like a slightly better quality version of any NHL game ever, but we are assured it isn’t.

This new game apparently comes alive, affording you more control than you’ve ever had before. They’ve added new puck physics which give the game more unpredictability. They’ve added 12 player NHL collision physics, which means that every player is at the whim of physics throughout the game, potentially causing all sorts of havoc on the ice. Think secondary collisions and net scrambles and you’re on the right track.

They’ve added even more though, like the truest player likeness ever, a new superstar skill stick and completely authentically designed arenas to make those home games feel really at home.

NHL 15 will be out on September 9th, 2014 in North America and September 12th, 2014 in Europe.

 

NEW IP

Criterion are up and they want to tell us all about their new IP which is “very cool” and they just “can’t keep a secret” anymore. The team is usually known for the car-based games, and they’ve taken this and just expanded exponentially.

The new, untitled game will feature almost every vehicle you could think of, from jet skis, to planes, and even with a bit of skydiving thrown in there. They’ve been doing a ton of research both in the field and watching videos of extreme sports on YouTube. They’ve been working with lots of different forms of terrain and just can’t wait to get their game on your screens. It is still in the very early stages of development (could you tell by the lack of name?) and no release date has been given yet.

However, it will be “the biggest game Criterion has ever made.” So there’s that.

EA Sports PGA Tour

After dropping Tiger Woods, the PGA Tour series of golf-orientated games has gotten a new prefix, “EA Sports”. For the first time the game will be using the Frostbite 3 engine, making completely open world courses with no load times, allowing you to truly experience real life courses.

Now you can choose to play these famous courses, or you can opt for... wait for it… EXTREME FANTASY COURSES!! We see an example of a golfer teeing off with a huge battleship crashing into the beach in the background as the ball flies over the top of this. This is a completely new, and somewhat random direction for the game, perhaps an attempt to keep the game alive now that they are sans Mr. Woods.

EA Sports PGA Tour will be out in Spring 2015 for PS4 and Xbox One.

 

Madden NFL 15

The penultimate EA Sports title being presented tonight is up, Madden NFL 15. This year’s game is focused on defense tactics. New mechanics have been put in place to help you read the attacks of the offense. You will have much more control and you will be able to choose the direction you want to push your opponent. Tackling has been completely overhauled with a new way of presenting them in game, now being able to choose between conservative and aggressive ones, depending on the type of risk you are will to take. This should allow you to have more fun playing the game, rather than feeling like a liability all the time.

New emotions have been designed into the game, getting rid of old scripted scenes, making for a more natural, organic feel on the pitch. The footage looks nice for a game about American football and we end on the line “Now it’s in your hands, so what are you gonna do?”

Madden NFL 15 is out August 26th, 2014 in North America and August 29th in Europe.

 

Dawngate

NEW MOBA ALERT! That’s right EA are bringing out a new MOBA for you to get your greedy hands on, and it’s called Dawngate. They have built a development team of people who are really hardcore MOBA players and who want to create the best one they possibly can.

They’ve completely broken the genre down to its basic elements in order to re-build it from the ground up and expand on the original format of the MOBA. With this one, the characters will actually mean something, everything is part of a larger story arc, with a real focus on narrative to hold the game together, and give motivation to the players.

The open beta is already up and they want as much feedback as possible to make the game tailored to the fans.

 

Mirror’s Edge 2

DICE are back to talk to us about Mirror’s Edge 2. We already knew it was coming but that doesn’t stop the crazy amounts of excitement about seeing what the new game has to offer.

It looks like a lot of work has gone into making the game as open-world as possible, Faith can go anywhere and everywhere, with the choice of the journey being half of the game. They want to give the player utter freedom to let their creative juice flow as they experience and explore the game on their own terms. 

Everything has been designed to reflect that utopian-type setting of Mirror’s Edge 2. Buildings are streamlined and shining white, movements are quick and hard, with the audio matching Faith’s fox-like reflexes. Anyone should be able to play and enjoy this game, regardless of skill.

Still a while to wait though as Mirror’s Edge 2 will not be out until 2016 for PC, PS4 and Xbox One.

 

FIFA 15

It’s the last EA Sports game of the night, and this is one “the greatest drama on Earth”, or so we’re told. There are a lot of new features in Fifa 15, including incredible new visuals and emotional intelligence. Players will now have memories and that will show up in the matches that you play, so players will react accordingly to recent losses or wins. Personality and responsiveness of your miniature footballers has been improved and on the physical side, the player designs have been overhauled; now even more realistic than before.

There are more new ball physics, adding further dimension to the games, as well as new “man-to-man battles” and full-body defending, which includes things like, shoulder barging and even shirt pullings, all of this making the game as close to life as possible. The stadiums themselves are even more immersive now with organic fan reactions and audio to match.

The pitch itself is now a living organism in itself. Feet will leave imprints, corner flags will move when hit and lots more, all creating a real authenticity. You will feel the game.

The trailer begins, and we hear the roar of the crowd as we see the back of Messi’s shirt walking onto the pitch. A voice talks about fans being family, experiencing the game together, as a unit, feeing the highs and lows of everything. There is a sheer united joy on that winning goal, or quiet shared defeat at every loss, or miss. It’s all quite emotional really. A quick montage of fast-paced gameplay ensues, we get some close ups on their super-realistic faces. “We are these moments. This is more than a game. This is football.” We see a spectacular goal and hear screaming cheers. And that’s the end of the sports, folks.

 

Battlefield Hardline

The last presentation from EA and a real ‘surprise’ is the announcement of Battlefield Hardline. With the most recent game only just being released less than eight months ago, we really weren’t expecting this (aside from you know, that leak just before E3).

Steve Papatousis and Karl Magnus take to the stage and tell us how they met and talked about this game about six years ago. They wanted to work together to expand the Battlefield franchise into new worlds, with new ways of enjoying and playing the popular game series. Whilst still retaining that FPS genre and staying true to Battlefield values, this installment is going to be cops vs. criminals, or good guys vs. the bad guys. The fans love team playing and strategy, so they have brought those into Hardline and more, by including a decent narrative too.

We jump into some gameplay footage with a 32-player match and heist. The aim of the game is for the criminals to make off with the loot and the cops trying to stop them by any means necessary. This heist takes place in downtown LA, cars are blowing up, explosions are happening everywhere.

We take a first-person look as a cop driving along on the car, listening to the radio relay what is happening and where. Then we switch to the criminal view and find ourselves shooting at the cops. The environment is living, moving, cars driving in, creating ideal cover for you to shoot from behind. 

The criminal escapes to a tunnel underground, running away from fast-approaching cops from all angles. It seems there is no escape here, until they pull out some kind of rocket launcher and blow them all to pieces.

They seamlessly jump into a car and start driving away, making their escape as quick as they can. At this point which switch briefly to a cop view in a helicopter only to experience being taken down, and we switch back to see the helicopter crash and burn. An oil tanker drives past and it is shot, blowing up and doing considerable damage. You are out of the car now and ziplining across LA, shooting the cable on a crane which then breaks free, smashing down and destroying everything in its wake, buildings left utterly broken.

They grapple hook their way out of trouble for the moment, but its out of the fire and into the fire, literally gunfire. They manage to make it to a lift and then we get to experience an all out battle inside an office building. The amount of destruction is immense here, the scale of this is just freaking awesome. The criminal manages to get the loot to the helicopter and we switch to the cops as the pilot is shot and crashes to his death.

And guys, that’s it. All of it looks beyond beautiful. Definitely the most exciting looking game of the evening so far. The best part? The closed beta is available NOW.

Battlefield Hardline will be out on October, 21st, 2014 on PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One