Splinter Ce…..?
Ubisoft’s E3 2019 press conference has been and gone, after it opened with a medley of Assassin’s Creed music being played live on stage to a backdrop of moments from the series. A decent selection of games were shown off, and one of them absolutely stole the show!
WATCH DOGS: LEGION
Watch Dogs is a series that has only grown in strength as the games have gone on, with a much stronger second outing. The gameplay demo and trailer for Legion showed that this looks to continue with a hugely ambitious premise, and a mechanic that promises to be one of those “scratch your head to figure out how it works” moments. You can recruit ANYONE to be part of your resistance against the oppressive forces that have taken control of a post-Brexit London, where drones and the use of force have become an every day struggle for citizens to deal with. Recruiting members to the cause looks like it’s going to be a massive undertaking, and the way that this was pitched shows that you can create gangs of any type that you want. Wanna be a bunch of old ladies who hack into banks and police stations? Go ahead. Want to assemble a group of neo-punks that go around punching security folk until they capitulate? Be our guest. I’ll be honest, when this premise leaked the other day saying “Play as any NPC”, I was a bit worried, but Watch Dogs Legion looks absolutely bloody fantastic.
MYTHIC QUEST (TV SHOW)
Next to take the stage was Rob McElhenney, to talk about a new TV based project from Ubisoft for Apple’s streaming service called Mythic Quest. It’s essentially a Silicon Valley-esque show based around video games, from what was shown off. No firm release date was made for it, but it looks like it could be pretty funny
RAINBOW SIX SIEGE
A new trailer for Ubi’s excellent tactical shooter was shown off, showcasing the new season of content that will be dropping this week and one of the new operators
BRAWLHALLA
A new trailer for Brawlhalla was unveiled, where it was announced that the gang from Adventure Time will be joining the chaos, and it’s available now!
GHOST RECON BREAKPOINT
Jon Bernthal came out next, and he BROUGHT HIS BLOODY DOG WITH HIM!!! There was also some stuff about the new Ghost Recon game, but the real news is that there was an ACTUAL DOG on stage at Ubi’s press conference!
Seriously though, Breakpoint will see you taking on Bernthal’s character and an entire army of former ghosts in a huge world. It looks pretty impressive from what they’ve shown so far, and I’m intrigued to play more of it! Also announced was Delta Squad, an online community for those who are deep into Ghost Recon, with plenty of ways to earn in game rewards if that’s the kind of thing you’re into! An Open Beta was announced for September, with the game releasing on October 4th. Oh, and you can play as the Terminator in it as well. Because OF COURSE YOU CAN!
More dogs on E3 stages, please.
TOM CLANCY’S ELITE SQUAD
A mobile RPG was announced via a trailer, which sees you taking control of a squad of characters from the numerous Clancy games, including Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon and Splinter Cell. Yep, this was the only place Sam Fisher showed up in the whole of E3, and it was for a mobile tactical game. Can’t say I wasn’t disappointed with this one, especially given how much every man and his dog seems to be clamouring for a return to action with big Sam. No, not Allardyce.
JUST DANCE 2020
That’s a thing, I guess.
FOR HONOR
A new season of DLC was announced for For Honor, Shadow of the Hitokiri, with a samurai themed character. I feel like I should really play For Honor, Ubisoft seem to be the standouts for long-term support for their games and this looks really impressive.
RAINBOW SIX QUARANTINE
A brand new 3-player Co-Op shooter was announced, which looks like it’s going to crib from the excellent “Outbreak” event that Rainbow Six Siege had last year. This is one that I’m really looking forward to, Siege is simply the best tactical shooter on the market right now, and putting those mechanics into a 3-player PVE style game? I’m all over that.
THE DIVISION 2
Outlines on the Division 2’s next DLC were provided, including the second raid that’s going to be launched later in the year. I’ve put so many hours into the game so far, but need to get myself into the first one! It was confirmed that the full game will be FREE TO PLAY this weekend – June 13-16th. The second raid will be going back to New York, by all accounts, and I’m going to have to get myself up through the World Tiers to make sure I can get involved!
In addition to the game announcements, it was confirmed that the Division movie is being directed by David Lynch, and is coming to Netflix!
UPLAY+
If you’re a PC gamer, this is the one for you. Uplay+ is the subscription service for Ubisoft games on PC, launching in September. It’s been confirmed that it’s going to have access to everything in the store, including DLC, season passes and premium editions of games. It’ll run you £15 a month, which I don’t think is all that bad, considering they charge in excess of £150 for some of the ‘digital deluxe’ versions of the games on there. They also confirmed it will be coming to Stadia when it launches in November.
ROLLER CHAMPIONS
A roller-skating sports game? Definitely a novel concept for a game from Ubisoft. You’ll find yourself skating around an oval track, completing laps before attempting to score goals through a single hoop that’s located on the side of it. It actually looks kinda cool, and they released their E3 demo to everyone on PC so you can give it a go right now!
GODS AND MONSTERS
Yves Guillemot then took to the stage to give a rousing speech about the ability of video games to connect people and forge friendships. It was shortly after this that the final trailer of the conference ran, which was a wonderfully rendered cartoon-ish landscape, almost reminiscent of Breath of the Wild, and it’s out on February 25th next year! One to keep an eye on for sure.
And that’s it for the Ubi press conference!
