Every year, E3 takes over the entirety of Los Angeles for a week or so as all the big-dogs of the gaming industry try to out-announce each other. “We’ve got a game with big guns in it!” “Well, we’ve got a game with ENORMOUS guns in it!”
EA, never a slouch when it comes to releasing interesting, addictive stuff, were among the first to lay out their wares this year, and here are some of the highlights…
1. Battlefield 5
Leaked info had revealed the World War Two setting of the latest Battlefield, but good god, the scale of the thing. There is also, excitingly and in further proof that Fortnite has taken over the world, a battle royale mode, which in the context of World War Two is actually pretty horrifying to think about.
2. Anthem
Developers BioWare have unveiled this epic-looking SF title, something of a rarity in that it doesn’t have a number after its title. It looks extraordinary, a mashup of SF tropes taking a bit from Avatar, a bit from Halo and coming up with something pretty great-looking. No idea what is going on with the WTF stop-starty staccato-ing of that Muse song though.
3. Sea Of Solitude
Beautiful, arty and melancholy, Sea Of Solitude is an indie title that EA acquired a while ago, taking a metaphor of loneliness “turning people into monsters” and making it literal. Thoughtful and eerie with a stunning colour palette, it’s not necessarily one for everyone but looks like the perfect antidote to mindless bomb fatigue.
4. Unravel Two
The first Unravel passed a lot of people by – some people don’t like cute things, which seems deeply odd really – but those that gave the yarn-based puzzle-platformer a go were generally won over by its charm. The follow-up doubles the amount of Yarnys on screen and promises to be “friendlier, playful and more challenging” than its predecessor.
5. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (and more)
It seems nobody can get enough of Star Wars, and licence-holder EA had a few announcements from a galaxy far, far away. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is, even post-announcement, fairly shrouded in secrecy – we know it’ll come out around December 2019 and take place after Revenge Of The Sith, but that’s it. They didn’t release images, a trailer, or anything.
Elsewhere in the galaxy (the same one, the one far, far away), Star Wars Battlefront II is getting a massive expansion to take on loads of characters from the Clone Wars era – Count Dooku, General Grievous and era-specific Obi-Wan and Anakin among them. It’ll be Battlefront II’s first dip into the world of the prequels, and will feature the largest level the developers have ever built.
