All the big announcements and trailers from the big shows, right here on Player 2. First up EA.
E3 2018 – EA Play Conference
EA kicked things off with a look at Battlefield V. They showed off some of the new improvements in the gameplay, like moveable gun emplacements and better destruction. There was also talk about the single player War Stories mode, which is getting more coverage during the Xbox conference. DICE also confirmed that there will be no season pass and no loot boxes which is great. The biggest announcement for Battlefield was that a Battle Royale mode will be coming shortly after launch, hopefully setting its self apart from the million other Battle Royale modes coming around the same time.
Next, it was time to look at FIFA. It wasn’t the usual snore fest, but a pretty tight presentation. UEFA Champions League is going to be the main focus of FIFA 19 and will be spread across the entire game. There was also a bit of a chat about the free World Cup update for FIFA 18 and the announcement of a free play period during the World Cup.
Our mate, Andrew Wilson then took the stage to talk about a new subscription service for EA. Expanding on EA Access, this new premium model will include every new release EA game. No idea on pricing yet.
The camera then panned to Vince Zampella from Respawn who teased us with their new Star Wars game. No footage, no trailer, not even a screenshot. Just a name. Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order. It will be set during the enactment of Order 66, in between episode 3 and 4. The game isn’t coming out until the end of 2019 so there is a long wait ahead of us.
Speaking of Star Wars, EA sent one of the poor fellows from DICE on stage to apologise for the debacle that was Battlefront II. They then went on to announce that Battlefront II will be getting Clone Wars locations and Heroes, including Geonosis, General Grievous, Count Dooku, Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker. There will also be new Starfighter and team modes coming soon.
Next came probably the biggest surprise of the night. Unravel 2 was announced and is available to buy now. The game looks great and the addition of co-op to the mix looks like a welcome one. Stay tuned for a special episode of P2 Plays with Unravel 2 very soon.
The EA Originals continued with a chat about Sea of Solitude. This game looks fantastic and deals with some pretty deep ideas. Telling the tale of a girl, that has lost her humanity and become a monster, Sea of Solitude features themes of depression, loneliness and redemption. I can’t wait to see how this one turns out in 2019.
EA then took another quick dive into sports with some Madden and NBA live talk. It was pretty brief and really only for fans of the sports. I was personally disappointed to not see a new golf game announced, but I know that’s just me.
Now for the low point of the show and by low, I mean soul-crushing low. EA announced a new mobile game then went on to show it in the worst way possible, with shoutcasters. But that isn’t even the worst part. No that is reserved for the fact this game wears the name Command and Conquer. It is almost like EA wants us to hate them.
Finally, we got to the real reason that everyone got up at 4 am and that is Anthem. I have to say it is looking great. I mean if this looks this good on release, well it is going to make those of us with 4K systems extremely happy. Bioware had three people up on stage answering a few questions, including the obvious one about loot boxes. The good news is there are none. There will be cosmetic purchases, but you know what you will be buying. The Anthem chat then finished off with a nice chunk of tasty looking gameplay. In all this has changed my mood on Anthem from interested to must buy. Anthem is coming out on Feb 22nd 2019.
So that is it for EA, it wasn’t the best conference by any means but there were some nuggets of gold in there. Sea of Solitude, Unravel 2 and Anthem were the real highlights. Make sure you tune in tomorrow as our E3 coverage continues with looks at both the Microsoft and Bethesda conferences.
