E3 2012: Ubisoft's Über Gaming Conference

Ubisoft's Über Gaming Conference

Yes I used a German word as a heading for a French company's Conference for some reason... but as my friend would say, "deal with it, nerd". Moving along I think this Conference was incredibly Entertaining on all levels. For instance I didn't take a instant dislike to the wooden and heavily scripted performance of the person hosting it. Aisha Tyler did a really good job of hosting it with a bit of personality. There were a few moments of scripted moments particularly with the annoying back stage presenter who was a bit misplaced but at the same time it didn't really leave a bad impression after the conference. 


I was really surprised by the content of this conference as I wasn't expecting anything other than a bit more on Assassins Creed 3 but instead I got a lot more than I was expecting. They started out with the most insane Far Cry 3 demo I've seen which had tigers fighting bad guys and then being lit on fire and the usual gunplay. Then it took a really strange and trippy change to something out of 2001: A Space Odyssey. All at the same time as looking absolutely amazing and showing off the beauty of the jungle environments they've crafted. Also boobs lots of boobs. I can see the parents complaining about the 18+ game they bought for their underaged kids now... It's like complaining about alcohol getting kids drunk if they were buying alcohol for their kids... but I digress.  It definitely looks like a really interesting game.

 Ubisoft also showed off the new Splinter Cell game which seemed to be a complete detraction from the previous installment which set a grittier and stripped down tone to Splinter Cell which seemed to be the way to go. Instead they decided to go the generic setting of some Middle-Eastern Country to go and be American and shoot the Super Terrorists and show off more muddy brown visuals because America. It really is a shame as they set a nice tone in Conviction but I guess if you put that aside it still might be a decent game since its coming out of Ubisoft Montreal.  So I guess I should wait until the reviews and hands-on impressions come out. 


Ubisoft also showed of Rayman Legends which is just pure fun. Seriously I advise you to play Rayman Origins if you like fun. I played that game with a smile on my face from start to end and Rayman Legends seems to go above and beyond that. Rayman Legends has a number of unique little quirks specially with the new Wii U controller that makes it seem like an even better multiplayer experience. You can do unique things that players on the controllers cant do which is pretty cool and not only that they have a really awesome rhythm game like section that just looks like pure fun. The art style seems like its a bit more 2.5D but still really nice and cartoony. The music has also changed a bit, I heard on one of my Podcasts that they've got less kazoos and other fun instruments for a more surf rock kind of sound. It's still enjoyable and perfectly accompanies the pure joy of Rayman. 

After that they showed a bit of Shootmania which seems to be an Ultra fast paced Multiplayer Combat game for Pro Gamers but personally it didn't appeal to me as I'm just not a competitive person. I'm sure its good for those that like that kinda stuff.


Also they showed off some new gameplay for Assassins Creed 3 which looks incredible. This game looks so different from the past few games that they could easily be two separate games. The tree traversal looks like a fun change from the building hopping and I liked the fact that heavy snow actually affected your movement making it way more effective to go by the trees. Also it seemed like the seasons change depending on the sequence which is nice as it shows that the game will have some variations. They have announced before that the game will take place over 30 years so things like that are going to change. Also they emphasised that the British weren't the main enemies so it wasn't another game where the British are evil which seems to be a theme in most American and Canadian films and games. I'm really excited for this game and its definitely the game I'm looking forward to the most this Holiday.

And now the biggest surprise of E3 was Watch_Dogs. This game visually looks incredibly and the concept behind it just seems like an untapped theme that needs to be explored more. The game is basically an open world game where you can hack into anything and its set in an ultra realistic open world environment. By that I mean when you sneak out somewhere your heads down and you look a bit shifty and when you cause a car crash the NPC's react realistically. There's this really powerful bit where this guy's wife has died and he's so upset about it that he won't get out the car so you try and get him out of harms way. This just doesn't happen in conventional games but in this game they really wanted to make it feel like a real world. I think that's what sticks out the most to me. It's a really cool concept and I implore you to watch the video it's incredible.