E3 came and went this year, bringing with it announcements, trailers and surprises like no other. Of course, while it’s always amazing to see promising AAA titles, or the appeal of a minty fresh and creative new indie title, there will be some mishaps along the way, which is how it always goes with the industry as a whole.
That said, it would be wrong to not shine a spotlight on both the good and bad, so here are some of the best and the worst parts of the various E3 presentations this 2019.
For this piece, we’re looking at Ubisoft, who had an extremely strong presence this year. There’s not a lot of AAA titles in development that interest me much, although one of Ubisoft’s new announcements did change that fact, so that makes them a winner for this year’s E3. Weirdly enough, there’s also not much wrong with it, save for some cringe here and there, but that’s also mostly just personal taste and preference.
That said, let’s take a look at some of the standouts and downers for Ubisoft’s E3 2019 Showcase.
The Good
My favorite for this year, and the only AAA title that has interested me at this year’s E3, is Watch Dogs Legion, which was notably leaked days before its official showing. Part of what really made me invested was the ‘play as anyone’ mechanic; at the very least, I’m cautiously optimistic. If Ubisoft somehow makes it through to the official launch date without any of their infamous bugs or release issues, in addition to delivering on all of the promises made in the gameplay footage/trailer, then this will definitely be a shoe-in for one of the biggest AAA releases of its time.
I have to pay tribute to Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint as well, as Ubisoft seems to have placed a lot of attention into making the story a very personal one for the Ghosts. Jon Bernthal also appeared on-stage to promote it, along with his dog. Very wholesome stuff that was really just overshadowed by CD Projekt RED and Cyberpunk 2077, with their showing from Keanu Reeves.
Roller Champions is shaping up to be quite the game as well, and Ubisoft is counting on this to become their Rocket League of sorts, except that it will be completely free-to-play. I’m cautiously optimistic about this one as well, mostly because its success will most definitely hinge on how the free-to-play elements will be implemented. Otherwise, it looks fun, and you can try it out for free to see if it interests you, which is an amazing feature in and of itself.
The surprise announcement for Gods and Monsters was also interesting, and it did give off some Kid Icarus vibes, a game which I thoroughly enjoyed. It’s being developed by the team that made Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, although it remains to be seen how that influence will play out on the game.
The Disappointing
As much as I appreciate game announcements and teasers, I absolutely cannot stand filler and cringe material, although I admit that it’s all up to personal preference. Sorry, Just Dance 2020.
It also saddened me to see For Honor relegated to a short trailer for a limited-time event, particularly after the game just received an update in the form of the new Sakura characters. I mostly wish there was more to the hype that the game was showing off before E3 began.
Perhaps the worst offender was the reveal of Elite Squad, a mobile title starring all of the famous Ubisoft characters in their Tom Clancy series of games. I might be a tad overly critical at this point, as it is only one mobile game in a lineup filled with interesting new ideas, but what put me off most about it was one of the characters included in this title.
It’s been years since we got a proper Splinter Cell, so for its main character Sam Fisher to show up at the Ubisoft press conference as a playable character for a mobile game is a bit insulting. I’d like to believe that Ubisoft is hard at work making a next entry in the series, however, if rumors are to be believed, this is simply not the case. Oh well.
So, who do you think won E3 2019? Share it with us down below in the comments!
