Ubisoft 2015 E3 Press Conference Recap
"South Park," "For Honor," "Rainbow Six Siege," and the Return of an Old Favorite
Ubisoft hits the E3 stage running, competing against EA and Microsoft they will be hoping to impress the faithful and dissenters with what they've got in store.
"South Park - The Fractured But Whole"
Coming 2016
We start the show with a trailer for the next installment in the south park video game franchise, the boys resuming their roles from "South Park: The Stick of Truth" to face their long term nemesis the evil Professor Chaos. ...wait that's not right? Quickly changing into their super hero costumes, the boys take on Professor Chaos and his minions including the flying, kite wearing Kyle (Kyle's cousin Kyle, ...yeah that one) in their hunt for the Stick of Truth once more. Matt and Trey came out onto stage to promote the title despite having previously said they wouldn't be making another game after "Stick of Truth," a fact which both admitted was never made with any conviction. The creators have been working with Ubisoft San Franciso.
We get into the backstory as to why your butt hole is so amazing. Matt Stone
"For Honor"
Coming to Xbox One, PS4, and PC in 2016
A gritty scene takes hold of the E3 stage as a group of knights stand before a gate under attack, a viking charges into battle as explosions tear around him and a samurai battles against a heavily armored knight. This cuts to a series of fights taking place across a war torn castle, a picturesque landscape and what appears to be a Japanese forest. Killing blows are traded in gory detail and orders are shouted as we get introduced to "For Honor." Jason Vandenberg takes to the stage and talks about the "Art of Battle," a new technology under development that he promises will allow players to feel the weight of the battle in their gameplay. He sends us to live game play as two teams of four take to the stage and give us a preview of the Alpha build of the game which will also be available to play at E3. For the most part, its a fairly cinematic experience that sees two teams, Red vs. Blue, fight through a crumbling castle. Its very reminiscent of "Dynasty Warriors," as players took on NPC enemies. Two of the gamers moved to a raised area and squared off. It's a hack-and-slash visceral experience, but there is definitely an element of weight to the way the various characters move and fight, the knight using power attacks compared to the samurai's dodge and attack. It looks like an interesting concept, but it's too early to tell just how good it can be with what they were able to show.
At Ubisoft we do take risks, and we will continue to take risks. Yves Guillemot
"Trials Fusion - Awesome Level Max" & The Crew - Wild Run " DLC
July 14 and Nov. 17
A nice time filler to give the fans time to recover from "For Honor" as "The Crew" and "Trials Fusion" get a set of DLC, "Trials Fusion" gives us the most interesting trailer as a gun-toting cat rides a fire-breathing unicorn through a hail of explosions and rainbows.
Even if your are a tiny bit still on the fence about this, Dude, your a cat riding a unicorn riding a fire breathing unicorn. What are you, a robot? Aisha Tyler
"The Division"
March 8, 2016
"The Division" comes out again for this year's E3, and Ubisoft is showcasing one of the areas that will be available in the game, the Darkzone. Here players will have the choice to work alongside other players or fight against them, a place where absolutely anything can happen to anyone at any time. The zone is what is left behind by the mysterious infection that has ravaged "The Divisions" world, and in our preview trailer, the band of three adventures head into the zone quickly coming across three other players, or at least that's how it appeared. Its difficult to tell when Ubisoft show in-game footage and game play, because they tend to have highly-scripted encounters. The three only identified as Rikers, perhaps a player faction or NPC enemies taking a selfie across their score of loot, as our players prepare to ambush the Rikers, two more unknowns arrive from behind. A tense moment for sure, but they appear to be friendly. Communication is key in "The Division," that much is obvious, but it also appears that communication is limited to group chat. If you come across someone in the Darkzone, you'll learn their intentions by action alone. A battle breaks out with the use of turrets, guns, and explosives leader to our now band of five head to the extraction zone to cash out their loot. Avoiding a group of NPCs, the elite "cleaners," they call for extraction, and this is where the nature of the Darkzone shows its colors. Unable to communicate to one another, our group plan is to ambush their new allies and steal their loot, a mission they successfully achieve. ...that is until one of the party decides to cash his own check, leaving the party and killing his former teammates to take everything for himself. "The Division" has all the makings for being a friend builder just as easily as it could be friendship destroyer
"Anno 2205"
Nov. 7
The next installment in the "Anno" series see players take on the mantle of space explorers as you will craft a city, much in the way previous "Anno" games have. For those not familiar in a similar way to "Sim City" and "Cities Skyline," you raise your city, develop your resources, and race to the moon. This is the apparent goal of "Anno 2205," as you don't start on the moon, you've got to earn your landing.
"Just Dance 2016"
October 2015
Jason Altman, Executive Producer at Ubisoft, introduces "Just Dance 2016" with the announcement that you wont need a camera on your next gen console to play the title. You can now connect and have your motion captured by smartphones instead, opening up the title to those who haven't committed to the Kinect or the PS4 cameras. "Just Dance" is a game that doesn't really change year in, year out in terms of its content. To add a bit of spice to the presentation Ubisoft had Jason Derulo come out and sing Want to Want Me his new #1 single before announcing, without many specifics, that the title will have all new tracks and new moves. Ending the presentation was the announcement of "Just Dance Unlimited" exclusive to Wii U, Xbox One, and PS4, which will be a digital streaming service allowing players access to new songs all year long.
"Rainbow Six: Siege"
Beta Coming Sept. 24
Perhaps the one everyone was waiting for, "Rainbow Six: Siege" gets a nice introduction video featuring the voice and likeness of Angela Bassett. She plays the role of six, the deputy director of the rainbow six program, and she also introduces us to the terrorist organization who will be the protagonists of the title, an organization poised to carry out attacks anywhere in the world and without regard for age, sex or creed. Genevieve Forget is out, and we are introduced to a long time favorite in the "Rainbow Six" series with the return of Terrorhunt. To showcase the mode, a team of five players comes out onto stage and show off gameplay of Terrorhunt. They promised explosive combat and destructible environments, and in every way that is what was on offer, mixing tactical discussion with outright brute force the players moved through the level-blasting holes in walls to create vision and detonating charges on doors to breach and clear. One of the players has a sledgehammer to take down the dry wall, creating paths where the players want them to be. That being said, Genevieve mentioned that the enemies will be able to create strongholds in reaction to the players actions and retaliate as they see necessary. These will be the most intelligent enemies in any "Rainbow Six" game.
"Trackmania Turbo"
The PC favorite "Trackmania" was announced as coming to consoles for the first time and the developers showcased some gameplay footage, but if you haven't seen "Trackmania" in action before, the one thing you should be aware of is that is pretty fast and the levels and be difficult and very short. With 200 tracks on offer when the title gets released, there are obviously big hopes for "Trackmania Turbo," especially considering they also showed off the track builder, a new technology that will create a procedurally generated racetrack each time you choose so your never stuck for ideas and don't have to spend hours designing your own.
"Assassins Creed: Syndicate"
Oct. 23
"Assassins Creed; Syndicate" got the obvious new trailer, and it certainly set the mood and tone for what can be expected with the title. In a dark and gritty industrial London, children are herded onto a stage coach as another man heads into a pub celebrating his payment as one of our heroes, Jacob Fry, gives chase through the crowded streets. Avoiding gunshots and eventually a crashing stagecoach, he gets to show off his assassin's gadgets in the form of a grappling hook. Tracking the cart to a large factory, Jacob confronts and fights the kidnappers until what appears to be his gang arrives. Jumping back to the opening scene, Jacob arrives and sits down in the pub opposite the original man demanding that everyone join The Rooks. A fight breaks out that easily see's Jacob walk out the victor ,and as a defeated opponent raises his gun in a last ditch attempt, one of his men prevents him from firing, declaring he is going with the Rooks.
We are in 1868, right in the middle of the industrial revolution, this pivotal moment in humanities history has allowed us to create the first modern "Assassins Creed" game. Marc-Alexis Cote
"Ghost Recon: Wild Lands"
We like to surprise you by revolutionizing our beloved franchise. Yves Guillemot
Introduced as a secret project in development by a team in the Paris office, "Ghost Recon" will be coming to consoles and PC as we get a pre-alpha gameplay footage. Striking from the air, with stealth, or from every side, destroying everything you can, players will get to choose how they carry out missions and how they combat their enemies. The mission we saw in the trailer, White Hat's Drug Lab, can be approached in at least two ways. In the stealth option, the players sneak in at night during the rain before blowing up the lab, while the ambush option sees them go in, guns blazing before stealing a shipment truck.
Promising a massive open world filled with vehicle combat, thousands of targets, and an incredible amount of options players will fill the shoes of one of the most elite fighting forces in the world. Taking on a drug cartel in South America, it's up to you to bring down their empire in the order you desire.
Aisha Tyler sends us home after a fairly strong showing from Ubisoft. Sure, we didn't get "Beyond Good and Evil 2," but "For Honor" looks promising, and "Ghost Recon" is definitely one to look out for in the future. Ubisoft has good things on the horizon.
