EA’s lineup this year was, what’s the word I’m looking for here? Yes, Anaemic. Besides announcing Mass Effect Andromeda and giving a few new details about Battlefront 3 and Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, all they had were annual sports games and a small puzzle platformer. And they were trying to sell EA Access hard. Also, PvZ Garden Warfare 2 featured heavily in the whole of E3. Lets have a closer look, shall we?
Mirror’s Edge Catalyst
Mirror’s Edge Catalyst got featured in a big way this year, with lots of interesting new details and tidbits revealed. First off, it went open world. Secondly, all gun combat was removed.
Mirror’s Edge Catalyst will launch on Feb. 23, 2016, as announced today at EA’s press event at E3.
Mass Effect: Andromeda
The next Mass Effect game is called Mass Effect: Andromeda, and is coming in the holiday 2016 quarter, Announced Bioware. The game takes place in the titular Andromeda galaxy “taking place far away from and long after the events of the original trilogy,”Bioware said on it’s blog.
Star Wars Battlefront III
Star Wars Battlefront III got a new five minute gameplay demo, and it featured Luke Skywalker as a Playable Character, and also Darth Vader. From the demo, it looks awfully similar to Battlefield’s multiplayer and somewhat unlike Battlefront 2 and 1. But it has AT-ATs which are tripped by X-wing fighters and Jedis. So that’s cool. Still no space combat though.
Star Wars Battlefront is scheduled for a Nov. 17 release on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PC, be sure to read our coverage of its unveiling at Star Wars Celebration.
Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2
Its a sequel to Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare. It adds new characters and Zombies are the defenders here, and plants are the invaders.
Unravel
Unravel is a cutesy side scrolling puzzle platformer where you play a yarn creature who unravels as it moves. It looks like EA is taking a page from Ubisoft’s book and trying out experimental stuff a la Ubisoft Montpelier. Also, the yarn is supposed to signify love or something.
Need For Speed
Ghost Games’ reboot of the Need for Speed series will be released on Nov. 3 on PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One. At E3, it got a CG trailer and two minutes of gameplay footage. The game is very much in alpha right now, so not many features have been announced. Although the way it looks and plays is very, very reminiscent of NFS: Underground series from back when. What I’m trying to say is that add in Dyno tuning and it’s basically Underground 3.
Star Wars: The Old Republic
SW:TOR is getting a new expansion, called Knights of the Fallen Empire. The expansion is free to subscribers and comes with the option to immediately jump to a Level 60 character. Bioware is calling it “The largest story-driven expansion to date” for the game and it has a “renewed focus on cinematic storytelling”
FIFA 16
FIFA 16 was also unvieled at E3, with significantly upgraded defensive AI, so that strikers will find it more difficult to game the system. Chief among these is a much smarter system for intercepting through-balls from the midfield. It also has women’s teams now.
Other Sports Games
Madden 16 is getting team management systems, with the ability to draft a makeshift squad based on your favorite NFL team.
NBA Live 16 will be released Sept. 29 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One with enhanced physics called Live Motion. It combines run-time physics with motion capture to create “thousands of new animations.” It also has a face skanning system akin to 2K’s NBA 2K15.
Rory McIlroy PGA Tour was also announced at E3 this year.
Mobile
EA is continuing it’s push toward mobile games, and has as such announced new games like Minions Paradise, based on Despicable Me’s minions and a Star wars based card game.
