EA’s show is done with and what they’ve shown is what we’ve been expecting. No new surprises, but plenty of footage from games that I personally wanted to see. Unfortunately, a lot of the trailers shown were released a few days prior to E3, which felt old this second time around.
Fire and Plumbobs
It started off with a cinematic trailer for Dante’s Inferno, which looks as epic as it should. I don’t know much about the story, so I can’t speak much for what is occurring in the trailer. The recent Sims 3 trailer is shown, reminding us that it’s releasing tomorrow (if torrents haven’t already).
Not My Cup of Tea
Up next are a couple of games designed for EA lineup of young girl gaming, LittlestPetShop and Charms Girls Clubs. Needless to say, I decided now would be a good time to get some food.
Grinding to Race, to Level
Need for Speed: Shift is shown, showing off the new dashboard view, giving us a realistic visual of being in the driver’s seat. There’s an interesting reward system where you are given rewards based on how you drive. You end up being defined by how you drive, whether you’re cautious or aggressive. It’s bringing, essentially, a class system to the racing genre. There’s even a leveling system that I’m intrigued about.
BioWare Brings Bountiful Booty
Dragon Age Origins from team BioWare is talked about, showing off a trailer that makes good on their word for bringing back the fantasy genre. Very dark and gory it seems. No actual gameplay footage, but it did seem to be in-game cinematic, so it looks to be a beautiful game. From BioWare no less, so I’m hoping from some great story telling in this one. Mass Effect 2 is briefly shown through their pre-E3 trailer. Nothing new here unfortunately, but I’m still pumped to play it.
It’s In the Game
EA Sports has a lot to offer as always. We see footage of Fight Night Round 4 which looks phenomenal. It’s hard to believe that graphics can look this good. It runs at 60fps as opposed to FNR3 which ran at 30fps. It’s releasing a week early. I love developers who do that. We also see a new franchise that EA Sports is bringing, MMA, which will be their attempt to take fans from the UFC games. No footage shown unfortunately.
What’s an EA Sports conference without football? They showed off a new create-a-team feature for NCAA ’10 which seems to be completely web based. They take to the internet again with their fantasy football tool, Madden: Online Franchise. Draft players between friends, chat, compare, everything connected through a system that lets you and your friends take part in the franchise. Seems an iPhone app is coming along with it so you can play wherever you are.
EA Sports finishes off with EA Sports: Active and EA Sports: Grand Slam Tennis both for the Wii. Active seems strictly an exercise tool that offers ways to keep in shape, while Grand Slam Tennis will be Wii Sports tennis, but with the proper athletes and tennis courts. Both use the single Wii remote.
Big Hitters
Most of the announcements have been mediocre, but EA has saved the best for last. First up is Saboteur, which is one of my more anticipated games. Along with the pre-E3 trailer shown, they showed off some gameplay. It’s an open world taking place in a Nazi-filled Paris. It’s very reminiscent of Sin City in terms of style. The city is in black and white with touches of red and yellow where appropriate, such as the Nazi arm band or the Eiffel Tower. The gameplay is a bit GTA with some inFAMOUS mixed in due to climbing. I cannot wait for this game. Demo please.
Brutal Legend is up next as Tim Schafer takes the stage. He’s one funny guy, but was I expecting less from the guy who brought us Psychonauts? He spends most of his time talking about the rockstars he got to voice the game including Ozzy Osbourne. We see a new trailer showing off these voices and the humor in it looks solid.
Crysis 2 makes a quick appearance as it’s announced that it’ll be hitting consoles and PC. No footage, but we’ve seen past tech demos of the Crytek 2 engine running on consoles. It’s very amazing stuff. A trailer of ABP is shown. This game is an online open-world game that will be occupying 100 players at once. Best way I can describe it is cops and robbers. One side is all about anarchy while the other side is all about control.
Now queue the epic Star Wars music. ABP’s presentation is over and cloak wearing Jedi’s take the stage with lightsabers. It seems BioWare isn’t done, as they reveal the cinematic for Star Wars: Old Republic. It’ll be the first fully voiced MMO which I think is quite impressive for an MMO. That’s a lot of voice work. They then show the first cinematic trailer for the game and it is epic. A Sith lord makes his way to the temple, quickly eliminates any opposing threat. Soon enough, Jedis surround him, their lightsabers glowing blue and green. Then, from behind the Jedi, a slew of Sith come bearing their red lightsabers and a battle ensues. It was a great way to end the show.
Final Thoughts
EA didn’t bring too many surprises, most of the material having already been released. Fortunately, the gameplay from Saboteur and trailer for Star Wars: Old Republic saved it from being a complete waste of time. They did okay, but I don’t expect too much from the game developers like EA during E3. They release a steady stream of content year round while the big three like to save their secrets for this time of the year.
