E3 EA Play 2018: More Of The Same...Kinda...

Okay, so the title is a bit of a lie, as we did get some news about a Command And Conquer mobile game, Battlefield V, Sea Of Solitude, and Unravel 2 and a crap ton of Anthem. So four new things, but nothing that got me excited. Though I am cautiously optimistic for Anthem. Regardless let's get into the assessment, shall we?

So EA's press conference started off with announcement that Battlefield V will have a Battle Royale mode, which to me sounds no different from the regular multiplayer run-n-gun matches I've seen from CoD and Battlefield. There will also be no loot boxes or premium pass, which is nice, but I'll believe THAT when I see it. Right now it just seems like lip service to silence any skepticism. There will also be a single player campaign and they also teased a story mode campaign:"Nordly's War Story."

Next was FIFA 2019, that will have a career mode, and launch date which will be September 28th 2018. And they released the free update for FIFA 2018:"The World Cup," to which good on them. EA's also acquired a cloud based company to premiere their own cloud based service:"Origin Access Premiere" that will launch later this summer.

Also Vince Zampella spoke of alluded to Respawn Star Wars game:"Stars Wars:Jedi Fallen Order." Of course given the name you will be able to play as a Jedi and weird a light saber, and this is further enforced by the fact that this will take place during the "Dark Times," i.e.. the era where the Galactic Empire came to power and the Jedi were being wiped out. There's no cinematic cut scenes or gameplay footage to accompany this announcement though, and while just the announcement it's in development might be enough to excite some fans, I'mma wait and see how it turns out. It's slated for the 2019 Holiday Season too, but again I'mma wait and see how it turns out.

Things Shifted over to BattleFront II, where they introduced the return of "hunt mode" from the original BattleFront, which as a person who hasn't played the original Star Wars BattleFront games, looks like it'll be interesting... Especially given from what I understand one of the hunting grounds is on Endor in the Endor Woods. They also have Salt Mines On Kessel map from "Solo:A Star Wars Story," which I doubts fans will want to play... They'll also be adding a team system they called "The Squad system," dog fighting, and I'm guessing a mode similar to "domination" from Unreal Tournament. "Domination" was a game mode in Unreal Tournament where you and you team had to conquer your opponent's territory and maintain your own. Succeeding in doing so what a guaranteed victory, and I'm guessing they'll have something similar to that in BattleFront II. They'll also be having Clone Wars based DLC, featuring levels, heroes and villains. Here's to hoping it'll be good and sell well.

What followed was "Unraveled 2," which surprises me. I didn't think Unravel did well enough to warrant a sequel, but shows what I know. And much like some games of the 32 bit area, you have a companion that is either you can control, or can be controlled by a second player. The gameplay looked like a classic style platformer, which is nice in this day and age. And apparently Unraveled 2 was released today, June, 9th. I hope it does well.

Next was another indie title "Sea Of Solitude." Kinda speaks for itself, as you apparently wander a water world similar to Legend Of Zelda Wind Waker... With a bit of a twist as the main character is turning into a monster on her journey and must find a way to reverse the effects. It seems interesting, and I hope it lives up to that potential.

A new NBA game in September, followed by Madden and a Madden e-sports plug... Personally I prefer real world football.

Next was a match to demonstrate the mobile version of Command and Conquer, called "Command And Conquer Rivals. Looks fun, but it's a shame it's not for the console. I'mma have to look up gameplay for the original Command And Conquer, because this looked more like a MOBA and not something like XCOM with a tactical turn based chess style gameplay. Though it being called "Rivals" might have something to do with that.

They ended the conference with Anthem, the opening trailer was decent. We got some behind the scenes development footage, as if that makes up for all the behind the scenes turmoil reported about Anthem's development in this past year... The armored suits are called "Javelins," and the four types are the following:"Ranger," "Colossus," "Interceptor," and "Storm." You can also customize your Javelin, which is a given, and there won't be any loot boxes. And much like with Battlefield V, I'll believe that when I see it from Anthem.The gameplay looks like A rocket packed version of Mass Effect, which is to be expected, but it leaves me worried. Mass Effect Andromeda was effected in part by the use of the FrostBite engine, along with some developers being moved to Anthem. But with Anthem being built from scratch with Frostbite(or so I'm assuming) maybe it'll look and control better than Mass Effect Andromeda.

In Conclusion EA this year held a decent conference, as the sports stuff was underplayed. I guess they wanted to devote most of their time to promoting the crap out of Anthem. And that was nice and all, but instead of letting the product sell itself, it felt like they were shilling it. I feel they should've allowed Anthem's appeal to sell itself through the gameplay, storyline, and visuals, but I can kinda see why it didn't feel like that, as they have to make up for all the negative press Athem got prior to this E3.

Now while there was some things to be excited about like Unravel 2 and Sea Of Solitude, that was overpowered by the shilling of Anthem, and by extent an apologetic vibe from the BattleFront II's presentation.

All and all this conference wasn't bad, just kinda there...