Ubisoft has become known for their flamboyant press events. People come off as genuinely interested in their games and this year didn’t see a change in the winning formula.
The first game started with quite the bang. Far Cry 4 puts the spotlight on the villain once again, this time with the mysterious maestro Pagan Min. He seems just as crazy as Vaas but slightly more affluent and with stranger motives. The biggest shock is that he seems to know the main character, going so far as to take a selfie with him. It seems that Pagan’s short temper will play into the story quite a bit, but we’ll have to see that later as more info arises.
It can’t all be stopping and shooting, so it seemed fitting for Just Dance 2015 and Just Dance Now to prance onstage. While 2015 seems to be more of the same with a new coat of paint and some new tunes, Now seems to be the real kicker. A smartphone app that seemed to use the gyroscopes found in most devices meant that quite a few people could play at once. While it was hard to determine the exact amount of players it looked like an entire dance party could be had on one console. It would’ve been lovely to see what the app interface looked like, but I’m happy with the amount of content shown.
Racing games seem to range from intricate drifting and hair pin turns to simple hitting accelerate and hoping for the best. The Crew seemed to be more of the former than the latter, but the real draw seems to be the open world. Going from coast to coast of the USA without any load times seems to be absurd, but that’s the most touted feature. There were quite a few straight-away that dodging traffic was the biggest challenge. There were some great hairpin turns as well though those seemed few and far between. There should be some missions and hopefully a way to fast travel to different locations. I’m mostly looking forward to breaking out a GPS to find the best rides to go on.
The Presser quickly went from hitting the gas to ducking for cover with an eerily serious trailer for The Division. This game gets more and more depressingly apocalyptic every time it’s shown. It’s wonderful to see a shooter try to deal with more serious overtones, but the question is if that will translate to the gameplay as well. While I’m amazingly excited for the story revealed thus far, everything else seems to point to another generic team shooter that will be overshadowed by other Ubisoft products.
Rounding back to fitness seems to be a strange move, but Shape Up looked both genuinely fun and bad at the same time. The first mini-game shown was Piano Step, which combined rhythm games with exercise. Playing against your own high score in real time seemed like a great challenge to stay fit. Being able to dance to different songs looks like a good way to regiment your work-out. The other mini-game shown was far less impressive. A versus game to see how many push-ups one could do didn’t add anything to the experience save for some quirky digital extravagance. Shape Up looks to be terribly hit or miss, so my only hope is that it is priced accordingly.
It wouldn’t be an Ubisoft event without another Assassin’s Creed game. This time Unity takes the stage, but enough seems different to keep it interesting. Set in the French Revolution, it seems the newest protagonist is a mixture of Ezio and Conor, with a charming accent and deadly, almost steampunk like weaponry. The four player co-op looks to be a nice touch, though it didn’t seem like that was available for the story mission until after the assassination. There wasn’t much focus on the narrative, something that seems to have been lost in the multiplayer shuffle. Besides that mild deterrent, the graphics were gorgeous. Hopefully the actual game will look like that without any frame rate drops.
Moving on to something far more dramatic, Valiant Hearts: The Great War looks like a truly inspiring game. The art style was particularly striking, along with the somber tone throughout. While no gameplay was shown, my guess is that it’ll be a point and click adventure following the letters sent between these real-life people. I’m truly excited to see what follows with this game.
Finally we get to a sequel I don’t think anyone expected : Rainbow Six: Siege. Some pre-alpha footage was all that was needed to fuel this hype train, it was amazing to see the intricate amount of options given in the multiplayer. A simple hostage situation turned into a grueling tactical battle, complete with movable cover and destructible environments. Nothing seemed out of the realm of possibility. I’m cautiously excited to see what the final product will look like.
I’m impressed by the sheer amount of new IP Ubisoft is producing. While I think they may have milked franchises like Just Dance and Assassin’s Creed dry by this point, even they seemed fresh and full of possibility. 2015 looks like it’ll be a great year for Ubisoft fans and gamers alike