EA gave us extended looks at their major franchises, some new info on EA originals, a teaser for their new “Destiny-like IP” (officially named Anthem), and of course, a lot of Battlefield 1 and Battlefront 2 footage and info. You can find an overview below including commentary and some of the official trailers. We’ll continue to have coverage through the course of the week!
Anthem
Anthem is the new “Destiny-like” IP that we have been hearing about for some time now. It is being developed by Bioware Austin, the core team being the original Mass Effect Trilogy. Prior to its showing, EA commented on Xbox Scorpio and alluded to the fact that this would be a showcase on the system. Additionally, while we got the teaser today, the full gameplay reveal will be tomorrow during Microsoft’s press conference (again presumably to highlight Scorpio).
Need for Speed Payback
- “Derelict” cars can be found in the world and upgraded with unique monster builds. A Volkswagen Beetle was shown in the demo.
- Car customization plays a large role with extensive options.
- Missions and a story driven mode that has a strong resemblance to Fast and Furious. The mission shown showed flashy crashes in slow motion and a mission stealing a Koenigsegg hyper car.
- You can drive offroad now and it’s the largest NFS game world ever.
- The physics look to be very arcade-like and we noticed some questionable weighting to objects and vehicles.
- After stealing the car, EA said there will be full police chases too.
A Way Out
- This was the highlighted EA Original title.
- The game is a co-op title where two inmates are working to break out of prison.
- It is from the creator of Brothers : A Tale of Two Sons.
- As with Brothers, it can be played in co-op or you can control both characters with one controller.
Star Wars Battlefront 2
Battlefront 2 was shown heavily including a full MP match on Theed. Class gameplay was shown as were mounts, aerial combat, heroes, and more!
There is a massive amount of information on Battlefront 2 after today so it would be near impossible to merely offer bullet points on it. Rather, we’ll touch on some of the things we noticed that we liked:
- First off, it looks simply stunning.
- The variety in class loadouts and playstyles was readily apparent (and welcome).
- We loved seeing the small mounts and unique flying craft.
- The hero gameplay, especially Darth Maul in the full match shown, was very impressive.
- We are very happy that EA has chosen to offer all DLC in “Seasons” and for free to all players. In our opinion, this is a much better system than season passes.
- We want to see more of the space battles! Hopefully we will through the week.
You can find the gameplay trailer below but we highly suggest you seek out all of the footage that was shown today.
Madden 18
The key new feature for Madden this year is a story mode, seemingly in the vein of the “The Journey” that was offered in Fifa 17.
- The mode is titled “Longshot”.
- You play as Devin Wade with a dream of playing in the NFL.
Madden was also commented on as a showcase for Xbox Scorpio with some same footage and screens shown that were touted as “just the beginning”. Sample:
Battlefield 1
Battlefield 1 will be receiving a few more updates this year including night-time battles releasing soon and a large, Russia based, expansion coming later this year.
- Nivelle Nights will be coming later this month.
- “In the Name of the Tsar” will be the next full expansion for BF1 and include 6 maps on the Russian front and a host of other new additions.
- DICE also said that In the Name of the Tsar would include an update to the way player progression is handled in-game.
- The “Women’s Battalion of Death” will be included as a feature in the expansion as well.
Fifa 18
Fifa 18 will once again contain a story mode which will be a direct sequel to last year’s “The Journey”. The Journey : Hunter Returns will return you to the role of Alex Hunter. We were also given some small details on the Switch version of Fifa 18.
- The Journey Returns will be a focus for Fifa 18 as The Journey was last year.
- The Switch version will not use the Frostbite engine but it will include Ultimate Team and play in 1080p when docked (720p when undocked).
NBA Live 18
NBA Live returns and it seems EA is dedicated to making the franchise respectable in an arena where NBA 2K has dominated for years now.
- A demo will be coming in August.
- The new mode “The One” seeks to add a story like mode to the NBA title in the same vein as Fifa and Madden.
- It will contain a street ball, 5 on 5 mode with outdoor courts.
