EA's conference this year felt a little... budget friendly.
Toward the end of the conference EA did their spiel about wanting to be better about not giving anyone an advantage or disadvantage because of "how" they choose to play the game. I think that's a lofty goal, albeit the right sentiment.
These are my notes and thoughts on EA's press conference from E3 2018.
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Battlefield 5
They had to repeat a few times the sentiment that this is their take on history because... the game is simply not realistic to the time. The hype statement is that this is the "deepest and most immersive Battlefield yet."
- Drive through windows
- Moveable turrets/gun placements
- Customizeable soldiers and vehicles
Looks okay. A little chaotic at times. I tend to get overwhelmed with too much blowing up. I get frustrated when I take so much 'ambient damage' as I call it. Losing tons of health without even know where it's coming from sucks.
I'll get it. Looks worth trying. I'm not overly-hyped, though.
FIFA
Cringe.
Origin Access Premier
All new PC games and the vault of over 100 games from EA and other publishers for a subscription. They literally gave us zero information during the briefing, but details have since surfaced stating it'll be $14.99 / month or $99.99 per year.
They mixed in showing some cloud streaming, that I don't think was part of the Origin Access, but they didn't segue cleanly so who knows how that fits in.
The value is definitely there. At face value, if you plan to buy Battlefield and Anthem alone it pays for itself. If we can get ALL Origin games that release (including the Jedi game coming below) then this is such a no-brainer value.
Respawn's Star Wars Game: Jedi Fallen Order
Respawn, makers of Titanfall and imo a solid studio, is making a new Star Wars game called "Jedi Fallen Order."
They won't give details other than it'll take place during a "dark time" between episodes 3 and 4. Won't come out until holidays 2019.
Battlefront 2
They had a rocky start, but they keep on kickin. They're doing their Solo movie stuff right now and will be expanding to the clone wars era content. Looked like good stuff to me.
Unravel Two
I never played the first one. I didn't even know what this was. The game looks fun though. You're a yarn thing and you run around a world and play co-op or you can play solo I suppose if you want to 'carry' or merge them with you. It's a platformer of sorts. I think this looks fun and would be up for getting it with Graev. The dev getting choked up was heartwarming. Pretty crazy that they like, "Oh and it's out now."
Sea of Solitude
I love the visuals here. The premise of the game is that people experience loneliness and when they do they can become monsters. You have to bring emotions into balance by shrinking some emotions and growing others, and even embracing your destruction joy and hope. It's about being human.
I think it's a little too serious for me. A little too weird and dark. I can appreciate the message and the art of their story. It looks to me like it'll be more of an "experience" game than a "gameplay" game. Probably not for me.
NBA Live & Madden
Meh. I did chuckle at the kid who looked like the Ninja of Madden. The cringe is unreal.
Command and Conquer: Rivals
Mobile RTS game about controlling points to launch a mossile at the other team. It's uh... yep, as they said it's "Command and Conquer for a new generation." Sad to see how far the mighty fall, but it'll be another game I play as I wait in line. In before in-app purchases ruin the game.
Anthem
This is pretty much what most people cared about seeing in this conference. It's EA's next big original.
The cinematic trailer did absolutely nothing for me, but I'm glad there's a gameplay demo video as well. Video below should start at the gameplay.
"Our world my story" is Bioware's way of trying to tell a story and keeping the impact of single-player while maintaining the multiplayer gameplay. So you go out into the world and it's multiplayer where everything is experiencing the same world. When you go "back to base" it's a single-player experience. Though not unique to Biwoare as they claim, it's a better way than Destiny or other "hub" systems try to integrate multiplayer and single-player together.
I don't think it looks bad per se, but I can't shrug the feeling that I've played this game before. Know what I mean?
Overall Thoughts on EA's E3 2018 Press Conference
I think it's quite telling whem the best thing to come out of EA's conference was Vince Zampella of Respawn sitting in the audience trolling us with a Star Wars game that doesn't come out for a year and a half. That was literally the only moment the entire conference when I was excited. Quite an 'ouch' for EA.