Ubisoft took a leaf out of Noah’s book by deciding to show game trailers two by two. Unfortunately, there was barely any new stuff shown so it dragged out an already yawny conference. The games looked alright though to be fair.
Just Dance 2019
Just Dance kicked off the show with a fever-dream inspired dance ‘bit’ that you’d only subject to someone when trying to get them to give up the release date of Splinter Cell. Alright, it was quite fun, but it didn’t really show off the game but judging by the title, I guess you just dance in it.
Beyond Good & Evil 2
If Ubisoft is good at one thing it’s making stunning pre-rendered game trailers. Beyond Good & Evil 2 was no exception. The foul-mouthed space monkey returned to our screens alongside Pey’j and an incredibly familiar face from the first game. The final scene alone piqued my interest but with no solid release date, this could well be the next Half-Life 3.
One neat thing with BG&E2, however, was the partnership with HITRECORD. If you’re unfamiliar with HITRECORD it’s basically an online media production company, founded by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, that allows anyone to create bits of media for projects. This partnership means you’ll be able to submit your own artwork and original music for the game so maybe the game will be finished soon but it’s up to us to get it done for them.
Rainbow 6 Siege
Something about eSports or something.
Trials Rising
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from E3 it’s that you shouldn’t attempt comedy because it always falls flat (unless you’re Todd Howard because he’s cool af). Ubisoft seemingly hasn’t picked up on this and the introduction of Trials Rising was suitably cringe-worthy as a result. Trials Rising is a new Trials game, that looks fairly similar to the last, and it’s coming out for all consoles, including Nintendo Switch, next year. The ‘fail montage’ at the end was pretty damn good.
The Division 2
If you hadn’t got your fix of The Division 2 from Microsoft’s conference then you are in luck because they showed a lot more of it. Again, an incredibly slick trailer kicked off proceedings and it’s not looking like it’s going to be the happiest of games. The gameplay looks incredibly similar to the original game but graphically it’s on point. Overall this is shaping up to be a gooden. It was also announced that three expansions will be released for free during its first year. Raids are also coming to The Division 2, allowing up to 8-players to team up and take on this post-game content.
Mario & Rabbids: Donkey Kong Adventure
Next up was the announcement of Mario & Rabbids DLC. I use the term ‘announcement’ loosely as it was already announced back in January but this was the first time we saw it in action. I have it on good authority that Mario & Rabbids is a great game. I can neither confirm nor deny this as I’m a non-Switch owning scrub. This DLC looked to be more of the same, ergo it should be a winner. Whilst the game looked great the highlight, for me, was seeing the legend that is, Grant Kirkhope, take to the stage and conduct a live rendition of one of Mario & Rabbids’ songs.
Skull & Bones
Insert ‘Sea of Thieves, can I copy your homework?’ meme. Skull & Bones was up next and it looks fucking mad. Imagine Sea of Thieves armed to the brim with firepower and you’ll not be far off. Comparisons will, of course, be made because I’ve literally just made them but Skull & Bones does look to do some stuff differently to SoT, namely, it looks like it has content.
In Skull & Bones you’ll choose a target, prep your ship at your hideout, then head out to sea. It was hard to tell from the trailer but I’m assuming these missions are more like instances rather than an open-world. Feel free to tell me I’m wrong, though. When you’re out at sea you have a choice to ally with fellow pirates or take them down but if Sea of Thieves is anything to go by I wouldn’t trust a bloody soul! Skull & Bones looks like an action-heavy excitefest and stood out as one of the best game of Ubisoft’s show.
Transference
You may remember Transference from last year but if you don’t, it’s a fucked up VR game made by Elijah Wood (not just him obviously). Honestly, I’ve not got a sodding clue what’s going here but it looks twisted enough to mess with your head. Sounds like the perfect pairing for a thing that literally attaches to your face meaning there’s no room for escape from the hell.
Starfox Starlink: Battle for Atlas
Remember that game that looked like No Man’s Sky and had little plastic ships you could buy? No, I forgot about it too. Well, it’s still alive and kicking and releasing October this year. It also turns out those little ships are bloody massive! It actually looks like it’ll be a lot of fun but Nintendo Switch get the best deal here because Fox McCloud is an exclusive playable character! The Arwing Fighter will also be available in a plastic form. The prototype was handed to the one and only Shigeru Miyamoto who was sat in the front-row rubbing his hands at the thought of all the Nintendo fans buying this tat.
For Honor
If it’s not clear by now, Splinter Cell wasn’t shown during this conference. Fortunately, an old busted game was instead. For Honor had a rough old launch but it’s allegedly an alright game now. A new update is being released called Marching Fire. The update introduces 4 new heroes characters, Chinese in origin. It’s not okay to single out someone by their heritage, or indeed race, but these chappies are part of The Wu Lin so I’m fairly sure it’s okay. Breach, a 4×4 Castle Siege game mode, will also be releasing in October which, unlike the heroes, will be free for everyone.
The Crew 2
Just a reminder that this is still coming out.
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey closed the show meaning Ubisoft has stuck up their middle fingers at the old “no more annual Assassin’s Creed games” stance. Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey does look great to be fair although incredibly similar to Origins. As leaked, Ass Creed is going to Greece and it looks like you won’t be playing as an Assassin. The demo outstayed its welcome a bit, particularly as we were all waiting for Splinter Cell, but we got to see a few changes to the genre.
Assassin’s Creed now lets you play as a woman, even though everyone knows women didn’t exist in the 400’s so it’s not historically accurate. Don’t worry if you’re a manbaby, though, as you can still play as a man. Dialogue choices are also being introduced to the game allowing you to play more like you, I guess. These dialogue options can also be used to seduce some of the characters from the game because everyone loves sexy times with video game peeps. The demo ended with quite a largescale battle which, again, is something you don’t see often from an Assassin’s Creed game.
And that was that. Ubisoft showed off some decent games but keyring-gate ruined any kind of wow, which is a shame. It was stale, sure, but there’s still plenty to look forward to from Ubisoft. Just don’t expect any games starring Sam Fisher any time soon.
