The Gamers Lounge Reactions and Thoughts on EA E3 Conference

EA promises more than 12 new experiences to be revealed at their E3 conference.  The Gamer’s Lounge is looking forward to seeing what they have up their sleeve!

EA starts their conference with a brief teaser trailer of Mass Effect Andromeda.  No real details are given, just a short video.

Need for Speed is shown.  It is a combination of the past Need for Speed titles.  The world is twice the size of the world in Need for Speed Rivals.  It features the richest customization ever in a Need for Speed game and has 5 overlapping stories for players to take part in, which are Speed, Style, Build, Crew and Outlaw.  The graphics look great and I am looking forward to trying it out once it is released on November 3rd.

Unravel is a new puzzle/platform game that is demonstrated for the first time.  In Unravel you control a character made of red yarn that unravels as you make your way through the levels.  The yarn you leave behind can be used to help you through levels or can get in your way, depending on the paths you choose.  The graphics in the game look fantastic and the gameplay seems very unique.  This is definitely a game that I am going to keep my eye on as it further develops.

Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2 is shown next.  The Zombies have taken over and the Plants are now on the attack.  It was announced that there will be 6 new character classes and free content updates.  It was also revealed that there will be a single player mode and players of the first game can transfer their characters to the second game for free.  Looks like another great game that I will be looking forward to in the Spring of 2016.

NBA Live 16 is demonstrated.  A cell phone app is shown that is used to scan your face into the game.  The demonstration looked pretty straight forward and the results were great.  It will be interesting to see if that is the case when it is released to the public  New live-motion, physics based movement, revamped passing and a new shot system were also showcased.  I don’t think NBA Live is going to surpass 2K by any means, but it is nice to see some improvement on the recent versions.  I will give the game a shot for sure when it is released on September 29th.

FIFA 16 is shown next.  This is the first time that Women's teams are featured in a FIFA game.  Better defense and physics are boasted, along with the announcement that all FIFA Ultimate Team players will receive Pele and Messi for free today.

One of the most hyped games of E3, Mirror’s Edge Catalyst is shown next.  This iteration takes you to the backstory of Faith, the main character.  This game is truly free-roaming as there are no levels or loading screens.  There are also no weapons, Faith relies on her agility and martial arts abilities to take out her enemies.  The gameplay shown was very fluid and the graphics were outstanding.  The combat system seemed to work great.  This will be a huge release when it comes out February 23rd, 2016.

A new kind of NFL Fantasy Draft game was revealed.  Draft Champion is a unique type of fantasy draft in which the player is given the choice between 3 players each round.  There is a lot of strategy involved because you never know what player or positions will come up each round.  Once you draft your team, you can play with that team online or solo.  Once you finish the short season, you draft again.  Seems like a very interesting concept to me and I will be giving it a try for sure.

Madden 16 was featured next.  Some precision control changes were revealed.  The changes are for the Quarterback, Wide Receiver and Defensive Back positions.  For the Quarterback, three different passes can be made, a low pass, a bullet pass and a high pass.  For the Wide Receiver,  you can make three kinds of catches, a yards after catch, a possession catch and an aggressive catch.  Unfortunately, As EA was getting into the Defensive Back’s controls, the Twitch stream had some technical difficulties.  By the time it came back online, the Madden presentation was finished.

Star Wars Battlefront was the final game shown at EA’s conference.  EA used real sets and props from the movies to create the worlds, weapons and characters in the game.  The game features split screen co-op and one-on-one battles.  The PS4 gameplay footage showed the game being played from all sides in both 1st and 3rd person views.  I am not a big Star Wars fan, but I am really looking forward to playing this game.

Overall EA had a pretty good conference.  There was a lot of excitement for Mirror’s Edge and Battlefront.  There are quite a few games from EA that I am looking forward later this year and into 2016.

Make sure you stay tuned to The Gamer’s Lounge for more coverage of E3 2015!