Ubisoft E3 2015: Assassin's Creed, The Division, Rainbow Six Siege - full report
Assassin's Creed, The Division, Rainbow Six Siege - and that's only the stuff we know about.
Ubisoft's E3 2015 presentation is the subject of a great deal of anticipation. In the last few years the publisher has survived the constant thinning of the press conference ranks to emerge as one of the most heavyweight presenters of the annual show.
South Park: The Fractured But Whole
The conference kicked off with no preamble, opening with a trailer for a sequel to South Park: The Stick of Truth called The Fractured But Whole (say it aloud). The South Park boys made a little fun of the first game, saying that "combat sucked" and it was "barely an RPG".
Conference host Aisha Tyler welcomed Trey Parker and Matt Stone on stage. They revealed that they're working with Ubisoft San Francisco rather than Obsidian Entertainment this time, and said they learned how to make video games right at the end of The Stick of Truth, which is why they've reversed previous statements never to make a game again.
The new RPG is available for preorder now. More details soon, but you can go watch the first trailer.
For Honor
We got another surprise up next - a multiplayer medieval action game called For Honor. Ubisoft showed a cinematic trailer with multiple armoured knights battling it out in a pretty brutal melee. It sounds like other combat troops like samurai may be featured at a later date.
We then saw a live demonstration of 4v4 gameplay. In addition to the human players, dozens of AI combatants joined the fray. When duelling other human players the camera zoomed in from a medium-distance behind the back camera to a closer over the shoulder view. More than two players could be involved in one of these little battles.
Creative director Jason Vandenburg's description of combat made it sound pretty interesting - it sounds like it's trying to make it somewhat realistic, with impact and recoil physics.
The gameplay shown is just a tease, Ubisoft said - but it will be playable at Ubisoft's booth from noon tomorrow. Those at home are invited to register on the game's website to get updates.
The Crew: Wild Run
Ubisoft then showed a trailer for something called The Crew: Wild Run. It's an expansion pack launching November 17 for PC, PS4 and Xbox One. It takes players to The Summit, "a huge gathering of drivers and racing enthusiasts facing off in a series of extreme events set in iconic US locations".
It adds four new vehicle types: monster trucks, motorcycles, dragsters and drift cars.
Trials Fusion: Awesome Level Max
Ubisoft announced an expansion called Trials Fusion: Awesome Level Max, which launches on July 14 for PC, PS4 and Xbox One. It involves cats riding unicorns while using revolvers. Yep.
The Division
Finally, The Division game director Ryan Bernard came on stage to discuss what Ubisoft says is its most anticipated game to date.
A lengthy slab of gameplay accompanied the news that the persistent world co-op shooter will be available to play on the show floor for the first time.
More excitingly, we got a release date - The Division launches on March 8 2016. There will be betas on PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
Anno 2205
Oh hey, there's a new Anno game coming, and you get to go to the moon. Ubisoft showed cinematic and gameplay trailers for Anno 2205.
Just Dance
The next Just Dance game will be playable on all consoles, even if you don't have a camera device, Ubisoft said. Then we "enjoyed" a musical break. After this hideous interlude, we learned that Just Dance 2016 launches in October on PS4, Xbox One and Wii U with a new streaming music service called Just Dance Unlimited.
Rainbow Six Siege
We got to see a new cinematic trailer for Rainbow Six Siege. Angela Bassett, who plays the Rainbow Six unit commander (you may know her from American Horror Story or like, 2 million critically acclaimed roles), joined Tyler on stage to discuss her role in the game.
This led into a live gameplay demonstration of Rainbow Six Siege's co-operative story mode - as opposed to the versus team play we've seen and discussed so far. The presentation emphasised the teamwork and leadership Ubisoft hopes will be needed for success.
Ubisoft ended the demo by announcing a beta starting September 24, with Terror Hunt and PvP modes on offer.
Trackmania Turbo
I had completely forgotten Ubisoft's Mania family of games, but the publisher hasn't. The franchise is still going strong on PC in its various incarnations, and we got to see a new trailer and gameplay demo of Trackmania Turbo, as well as a look at the track builder. Ubisoft has a VR demo of this one apparently, which sounds like a recipe for being wildly ill.
Assassin's Creed: Syndicate
This is what I came to see because I am an Assassin's Creed weaboo. Ubisoft's usual cinematic trailer stylings lived up to expectations with a dramatic and beautiful video full of English accents. The trailer, combined with the game's title, suggests our hero will be training and leading a band of assassins called the Rooks.
We didn't get to see any gameplay or even a single shot of Evie, the second playable protagonist. Absolutely no news was shared. Booooo.
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands
The conference ended with a surprise announce - Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands. We got a lengthy trailer which included gameplay footage. It looks like an open world, co-operative shooter MMOs thing. As my Internet BFF observed, it looks ind of like "We Are Recycling The Division Engine: The Game". It's coming to PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
