With games like Beyond Good & Evil 2, The Division 2, Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, and more, Ubisoft was destined to have an amazing showcase during the E3 press conference. Did the company manage to deliver or were we simply hoping for too much?
Show over actual gameplay
Right from the start of the conference, Ubisoft came in with a bang. It’s starting to become a tradition but Just Dance 2019 was, once more, the game that opened the show. Instead of showing some actual gameplay, we saw some hysteric live performances. During the first half hour of the show, I couldn’t shake the feeling that show came before actual gameplay. The Beyond Good & Evil 2 trailer offered some nice effects, but the actual gameplay was, once more, way too short. Honestly, I wasn’t that impressed with how Ubisoft handled this press conference until now. Sure, there’s always been a lot of show elements in their presentations but never did it overshadow the actual gameplay than it did now.
Things continued to slow down with Trials Rising and the Rainbox Six documentary news. Again, it’s fun to see but these weren’t the type of games that should have got this much time on stage. It still hurts to see how little time Beyond Good & Evil 2 got compared to the new Trials (which is coming to Nintendo Switch for the first time) game. In my opinion, Ubisoft really struggled to prioritize the right games during the first half of the presentation.
More of the same, but different
Of course, Ubisoft had to pick up the pacing eventually and they tried to grab our attention with an in-depth look at some of their upcoming games. Too bad those games were mostly sequels or DLC packs for games we played last year. Take The Division 2 for example. Since the game was already showcased during the Microsoft conference yesterday, the showing wasn’t that impressive, to be honest. Compared to how Ubisoft handled things last year, this seems like such a step back in both style and actual gameplay footage. I was simply expecting a lot more and I was afraid I might have hoped for too much, based on the epic showing of E3 2017.
Another great example of this problem was the return of Skull & Bones. It was great to see it in action once more but this game was revealed last year too, so we already knew it was coming. It seems like the developers really try to invest in this game and they want to keep it as active as possible using a shared world where every player’s choice matters. Perhaps this can count as one of the first small positive notes of the conference since it did showcase a new game that’s looking pretty decent for the fans. But then again, is this really what we were hoping for?
The Fox came out of the bag
Just when things were looking worse, Ubisoft delivered one of the first biggest surprises of the show. Starlink is a new Ubisoft game set in space and the developers included Star Fox in the Nintendo Switch version This is an incredible way to promote the upcoming game and it’s always amazing to see Mr. Miyamoto entering the stage. Of course, this doesn’t tell us a bit more about the game itself but Ubisoft certainly stole the hearts of Nintendo fans with this nice surprise. Ubisoft did confirm the game being playable on their booth so we’ll learn a lot more about it soon. Although it’s a nice gesture and amazing surprise, I would have liked seeing a bit more of the game too.
Can Assassin’s Creed Odyssey save an entire conference?
From the Star Fox moment on, it looked like Ubisoft wanted to maintain the momentum (let’s forget the Crew 2 intermezzo for a second) and showcased the new Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. Of course, this moment would have been a lot more powerful if this game wasn’t leaked earlier this week but it really looks a lot better than expected. This isn’t just a reskin of the previous Assassin’s Creed. The new setting looked rather amazing and features some nice new innovations like being able to pick your own character, controlling dialogues, and plenty more. It’s an interesting take on the franchise and the Spartan line might be one of the franchise’s best ideas in years. Again, it looked way more impressive as I first thought but it couldn’t change the global atmosphere of the conference.
The question remains however: can this game save the entire conference? In my opinion, it couldn’t. Certainly, it was by far the most impressive game out there but then again, it’s a new game in a long-running franchise. If Ubisoft wanted to take home the E3 crown, they should have chosen a more creative path. I’m sure fans of the Assassin’s Creed franchise are very pleased with this reveal but what about those who got tired of it long ago? Is this a conference worth remembering for those as well?
Conclusion:
Compared with how strong Ubisoft delivered during last year’s E3, this showcase was a bit disappointing if you ask me. Sure, there were some great games on stage but most of those are far from original and Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey being this year’s big surprise is a major letdown. Of course, some fun moments like Star Fox in Starlink created some hype during the conference but still couldn’t change the overall feeling. It wasn’t a bad conference at all but it lacked creativity and some real surprises.
