During this week’s E3 festivities, Ubisoft was able to showcase all the fine games they’ve been working on since last year’s E3. One of the biggest themes of Ubisoft’s show was pushing towards a more interactive, immersive, and online environment within their games. They introduce two new games that are here to spearhead this movement: “The Crew” and “The Division”. “The Crew” is a new racing game that puts you behind the wheel of whatever car you desire. We were given brief glimpses into the depth of its customization, from high-speed street performance, to off road capabilities. As it’s name suggests, “The Crew” focuses on working together with your friends, offering seamless transition from online to single player. The gameplay ranges from street races to takedown missions, all of which can be experience with your friends. Ubisoft’s closing game was a refreshing and innovative title that surprised everyone today, Tom Clancy’s “The Division”. Taking place in a not-so-different future, a simple virus has crumpled our world’s society in a matter of days, leaving those left in a bleak and chaotic world, struggling to survive. Players are immersed in an apocalyptic future with their friends in this new open world, online role playing game. The game does a great job in bringing Tom Clancy’s world to the big screen, focusing on tactical efforts, while mixing in RPG elements. It’s a bold step, bringing a massively online RPG to the next generation of consoles, but from what we’ve seen here today, I can’t help but be excited!
The bulk of Ubisoft’s game line up was filled with sequels of long-standing franchises, hoping to bring their games into the next generation of consoles. Getting their show off to a jamming start, Ubisoft announced the guitar-emulator, “RockSmith 2014”. One of the few music games left in the genre, “RockSmith” looks to capitalize on an audience that has been devoid of quality music games, ever since Activision’s “Guitar Hero” franchise buried itself under it’s own releases. One of the most ambitious titles announced, was an interactive “Rayman Rabbids” interactive TV show on “Nickelodeon”. They are promising a fair amount of interaction from the viewer/gamer, so it will be interesting how the player can control their own TV show. “Splinter Cell” is also slated to make a return to consoles. After three years since “Conviction” was released, “Splinter Cell Blacklist” showed flashes of vintage stealth, coupled with outdoors, frantic action that “Conviction” brought players. And of course, we were treated to one of Ubisoft,’s flagship games, “Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag”. Though strangely its time was short, viewers were teased at the notion of sailing the seas as another descendant of the Assasins. Promising “a brutal pirate experience”, our fingers are crossed on what “Black Flag” can deliver.
Lastly, one of Ubisoft’s most anticipated titles, “Watch Dogs” was given some more screen time. Though it wasn’t given as long as a time as I personally wanted, gamers were given a little bit more to chew on until its release, later this year. As players bounce between hacking surveillance cameras, to cellphones, to ATM’s, your role as a vigilante with immeasurable power at his fingertips will be an exciting and interesting one. Today has been a hell of a ride as a gamer, with jaw dropping reveals and surprises; the future of consoles lies in the balance. With what has been revealed, and what will be revealed in the coming days, and I just can’t wait for what the rest of E3 has to offer.
