Ubisoft Keynote – E3 2011
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SpectralShock
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Celebrating an impressive 25th year anniversary, Ubisoft has approached their E3 2011 press conference with some smarts. Compared to last year’s show, which was weird at times and impressive at others, the publisher instead chose to focus on celebrating their anniversary. To boot, attendees were given very slick Assassin’s Creed posters, which make for a great collector’s item.
Things kicked off with Rayman Origins, an upcoming reboot of the franchise that’s being developed under the watchful eye of the original creator of the series. It’s a throwback platformer with some newly built in elements, and it looked quite fun during the demo. The game also setup the trend of mockup “what if” videos, for the rest of the games presented, demonstrating what the game may have looked like 25 years ago.
With a very lengthy and violently impressive gameplay demo, Far Cry 3 was unveiled. Featuring a new setting and protagonist, it’s yet another take on the franchise that has already seen a big change between the original and part two. The setting looks to be tropical, so no more Africa, and the main villain looks to be menacing and very well developed as a character. Players can look for this title in 2012.
Ghost Recon Future Soldier also got a demo, starting out as a stealth encounter, it was later revealed to be a four player coop mission. As the team worked their way to the VIP, they employed a variety of classic Tom Clancy tactics in order to silently, and impressively synchronized, eliminate the targets. Once the target was secured, the team was spotted and the chase was on to make it out of town alive and get the VIP to the transport.
The game became an all-out third person cover shooter at that point, with not much need for tactics. Players didn’t attempt to flank the enemy or otherwise use their number to an advantage, simply taking cover and shooting at the enemy forces. While there is still a trace of the classic Ghost Recon gameplay still in the series, especially in stealth, once all hell breaks loose (and it might do so often, as the game may suggest) it becomes a rather uninspired experience. Future Soldier may be trying to make the franchise more accessible to gamers and general action fans in particular, but hopefully the strategic elements are kept in tact, as the dominant way to play.
Also mentioned during the keynote were Driver and new Brothers in Arms. The Driver title was first revealed last year, and after a few delays, is finally set to hit stores this summer. Meanwhile, Brothers in Arms Furious 4 is a new take on the franchise for Gearbox, wanting to do something new with the WWII genre. The trailer shown suggests a very over the top action game with a cartoon style and likely four player coop, with as many characters to choose from.
A new Rabbids game was announced, supporting Kinect to create an augmented reality in your living room. Just Dance 3, also announced, promises more tracks, dance moves, and support on all motion-enabled platforms. Rocksmith – a game that uses real guitars – promises to teach players the real thing, instead of the plastic peripheral from other franchises. A trailer was shown with various celebrities commenting on the realism and ease of the game, though only glimpses of gameplay were shown. Finally, Trackmania 2 designers presented the game with a nice new trailer, and revealed that the title is set to arrive on PC this September.
Saving the most obvious for last, a new trailer and gameplay demo were shown for Assassin’s Creed Revelations. Ezio and Altair are finally set to be used in the same game, and Ezio is shown as an aging man as his story in the series is coming to an end. Still, for his age he was able to fight extremely well in the gameplay footage shown. As previously announced, the game will take place in locations such as Constantinople, which is where the demo level took place. Revelations is set for stores this November, though no exact date was yet given.
By taking a cleaner and more organized approach, this was a focused and well-crafted keynote for Ubisoft. Improving upon last year, the publisher has shown it has a set of promising titles on their hands. Perhaps the only question remains is, does the Assassin’s Creed series have a strong enough fanbase to keep up yearly releases without becoming stale. Only time will tell.