MASS EFFECT ANDROMEDA / EA, Bioware
The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) has officially begun with the EA Press Conference that just finished streaming live from Los Angeles and London. And overall I have to admit I was a bit underwhelmed. We live in a time where leaks and rumors are mostly correct leaving little room for surprise once the official announcements start rolling in. Was it a bad press conference? No. Was in underwhelming and predictable? Absolutely.
To kick things off EA made the smart move to show us a lot of footage from their biggest new franchise game TITANFALL 2. Fans were treated to a meaty multiplayer trailer that really gave us a good idea of what to expect. And damn did it look like a huge improvement over the first game and then some. Wall running, grapple hooks, 6+ mechs to choose from, huge battlefields, and new weapons all combined in this trailer to show us something pretty spectacular. And as if that wasn’t enough, we got a follow-up trailer revealing a single-player campaign mode that looked pretty robust and fun. A campaign mode was one of the biggest things lacking from the first TITANFALL and it is a welcome addition. Bonus point go out to EA for having TITANFALL 2 release on Xbox One, PS4, and PC this time around. The game will release this year on October 28th.
Sports fans then got a detailed look at MADDEN 17 including a plethora of new features and improvements that will make all you pig-skin loving dreams come true. It was par for the course for E3 basically just improving on an already established and well-selling formula. We also got to see some of the worlds top players right before they competed in a huge tournament. And call me crazy, but that competitor with the “broken collar bone” was totally faking it out of fear of losing. Easy to blame the collar bone when he loses. I bet his controller was always “broken” when he got his ass handed to him in GOLDENEYE too. Phssssh.
Then the moment I was waiting for came. MASS EFFECT ANDROMEDA. I wish I could be more excited than I am but I feel that we got ripped off here. The game was announced at last year’s E3 so I rightfully expected some in-game footage or gameplay today. Nope. Just a little feature that showed a tiny bit of in-game stuff but not nearly enough to get me excited. Grumble. That was a big letdown and my frail nerd body thirsts for more solid details and footage for this game!
Good news to anyone interested in EA’s EA PLAY service. It’s FREE this week to celebrate E3! So that’s cool. I think I will try it out.
Another big check of time was given to FIFA 17 which was pretty much a mirror of what we got with MADDEN 17. Again, par for the course here for an already established franchise. I imagine if I liked sports this would be amazing. But I don’t so moving on.
EA ORIGINALS was up next. This is a new initiative by EA to highlight creative independent game makers and give them a way to put out more original indie games. Last years UNRAVEL was credited for the new idea. The best part of this is that the original creators get all the profits from the games they develop. Think what Image Comics does but for video games. Smart move EA. Respect. The first game under the “EA ORIGINALS” moniker will be called FE. We got a cute trailer featuring creatures in the woods battling the “Silent Ones” who’s aim is to silence the music the world makes. It looked cool and I’m sure it will be the first of many new original indie games to come from EA. God to see the heavy hitters teaming up with the underdogs.
And just when I thought the MASS EFFECT ANDROMEDA would be as let down as I could get, EA totally blew off STAR WARS with a short and vague feature talking about developing STAR WARS games. Basically all we know is that Visceral Games and Respawn Entertainment are working on games but no new information was given on what the hell either of them are doing. It was all just vague as heel and frustrating as a fan. I know games take a lot to make, but I expect at least a game title or mini clip at an E3 Press Conference. They may as well have just left STAR WARS out of the equation this year. Seriously.
And last but not least, we got a much more detailed look at BATTLEFIELD 1. While I’m not a huge fan of the franchise, I must admit I was pretty impressed with the trailer they had here. Tanks, dog fights, horses, trains, zeppelins, crude weapons, environmental damage, sprawling landscapes, 32 on 32 action, and explosions were the name of the game and it looked gloriously fun. The BATTLEFIELD franchise is EA’s bread and butter and I know they are going to put out a sweet game. But you can’t fool me, the game at $60 with a season pass at $60 equals a $120 game. Not happening no matter how many horses I can blow up with a Zeppelin.
In the end, EA had a pretty lackluster showing and set the bar pretty low for the upcoming presenters later today and later this week. Stay tuned for impressions of each big conference as well as any big announcement that may happen.
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Check out EA’s 1 hour long Press Conference in full below:
