Mass Effect: Andromeda Will Have a “Darker Start”
The protagonist in Mass Effect: Andromeda, Ryder, is not a hero — at least not yet. BioWare Creative Director Mac Walters said that, unlike with Shepard’s story, Mass Effect: Andromeda follows the more traditional hero’s journey.
“Commander Shepard, the way I put it was, a hero (when we met them — him or her) who became a legend,” Walters told IGN. “For me, the people in Andromeda’s story are people who haven’t yet achieved hero status.
“It really wasn’t until the third game where we started to explore more of Shepard’s… what they think about things and how they’re feeling and how they’re dealing with things. I think those are areas we’ll try to focus on more in Mass Effect: Andromeda with the protagonists.”
Bruce Wayne Steals the Show in Telltale’s Batman
Batman: The Telltale Series debuted the opening of the game today at E3, showing off the dual storytelling of Batman’s caped crusading and Bruce Wayne’s political endeavors.
Warning: this article contains spoilers for the first 30 minutes of the game, so beware if you are spoiler sensitive.
Telltale’s Batman is early in his career, but still well past his origin; he's established himself as Batman, has a full Batcave, and uses a wide array of gadgets. He’s feared both by criminals, who speak of him as a monster myth, and by police, who want him brought in and aren’t past opening fire on him, although it’s hinted that Commissioner Gordon is on his side.
The opening sees him using his ninja skills to stealthily take out some goons wearing masks painted with white skulls. (I was unable to decide if they were evoking Bane, Black Mask, or some other villain.) The goons are breaking into City Hall to steal a data drive. We also witness Batman’s first meeting with Catwoman, who, naturally, is also after the drive. Things escalate to a rooftop battle between Batman and Catwoman, filled with sneaky use of ziplines and acrobatic counters, all carried out by the player in typical quick-time event fashion.
Battlefield 1 Is Frantic, Ridiculous Fun
I’m standing on top of a massive airship overlooking a war-torn village in Northern France. Long, muddy scars run deep across the surface of the earth, snaking between the leveled monastery and the crumbling windmill below. The trenches offer temporary shelter for my fellow soldiers as they vault between the artillery craters dotting the land, and up to the outskirts of town where our objectives are located. The roar of armored warfare on the ground is muted by distance — from where I stand, it’s the music of the circling biplanes that fill my ears.
As their bullets pierce through the zeppelin and anti-aircraft missiles from below threaten to take down the aerial war machine, I leap back down to earth. Moments before impact, I deploy my parachute, hit the ground running, and transition straight into a bayonet charge, impaling the lone enemy soldier controlling one of our points. I cautiously reposition behind a collapsed structure, marking a few enemies on the horizon for my squadmates before I settle down to await reinforcements. But in my rush to clear the wide open space before me, I neglect to see the bulky A7V that’s lumbered its way around the rubble. Its sights are on me. I won’t make it out.
Abzu Release Date Announced
505 Games and Giant Squid have announced Abzu will be coming out for PC and PlayStation 4 on August 2.
Abzu is the first game from Giant Squid. Matt Nava, formerly art director on Journey and Flower, is now creative director at the studio, and the game has been in development for a few years.
It's a third person adventure / exploration game where you play as The Diver. As IGN discovered at last year's E3, you'll be exploring underwater environments, meeting robotic buddies, and using the fish, turtles, and other creatures to your advantage.
No Kinect Support for Xbox One S Out of the Box
Microsoft's slimmed down Xbox One won't support Kinect out of the box, as the company has confirmed Xbox One S requires an adapter in order to use the motion-tracking peripheral.
"In order to make the Xbox One S as compact as possible and make all of these updates, we removed the dedicated Kinect port from the back," Xbox exec Matt Lapsen explained on Xbox Wire.
That said, the console will still support Kinect, but requires the "Xbox Kinect Adapter for USB connection," which Microsoft will be giving away for free to those who request one.
Xbox One S Will Reportedly Run Better Than Original Console
Microsoft's Xbox One S, the company's new, slimmer console, will reportedly have "additional raw GPU and CPU power compared to the Xbox One."
Speaking to Polygon, Gears of War 4 developer The Coalition boss Rod Fergusson said the studio is taking advantage of those features for Gears of War 4 to "reduce the frequency of frame rate or resolution penalties in more demanding sections of the game."
That means Gears of War 4—and, presumably, other upcoming Xbox One titles—will run better on the Xbox One S than on the original Xbox One. The 40 percent smaller console is also expected to support high dynamic range color and 4K video.
Watch Dogs 2 Feels So Much Better Than the First
Within 60 seconds, I realized that I was going to put a whole mess of time into Watch Dogs 2.
For one, its setting speaks to my heart. "Well this is weird," was my first thought as I opened up Watch Dogs 2's map of San Francisco, a city I've lived in for the past 8 years and know as well as any place on Earth. The topography was so incredibly familiar -- the bridges, North Bay, Cupertino, each individual neighborhood of SF itself.
As I bummed around places like Coit Tower, The Embarcadero, and Pier 39, I felt weird. I felt like I was at home; a stretched out, slightly rejiggered version of home, but still home. Hell, even the famous parrots of Telegraph Hill were there, chilling on a railing near the famous landmark. Tiny details like this made me appreciate the lengths Ubisoft goes to flesh out their settings.
Ghost Recon: Wildlands Is Tom Clancy Meets GTA
Ubisoft describes Ghost Recon: Wildlands as its largest action adventure ever and, perched in the cabin of a hovering chopper with the Bolivian landscape stretching out on all sides below me, I’m in no position to argue. There is certainly a grand sense of scale here.
Ubisoft’s own Far Cry games are perhaps the obvious comparison in this case (Bohemia Interactive’s ARMA series might be another, although Wildlands opts for accessible, mainstream action over unforgiving military simulation). As it turns out, however, I feel the more accurate comparison is actually Grand Theft Auto, or GTA Online and its suite of co-op missions for small teams of players, to be specific.
It definitely feels as if Wildlands is wearing its GTA Online inspiration on its spec ops sleeve. I don’t mean that in relation to the worlds represented in each; GTA Online is a mix of dense and vertical urban locations and stylised stretches of countryside, and the environment in that has little in common with the less-developed and more sparsely-populated world Ubisoft Paris is crafting as the foundation for Wildlands.
Final Fantasy XV: The Biggest Name in RPGs Is Making a Comeback
After nearly 10 years in development, Final Fantasy XV’s coming out party feels overdue. At a glance, the real-time action in trailers (so far) looks like a departure from the series’ roots, but don’t be fooled: the core themes of friendship, deep characterizations, party customization, and drama-filled storylines that have been a part of the 29 year-old franchise are all here. Each chapter in the blockbuster RPG series has taken a chance on key ideas. FFX discarded the popular Active-Time-Battle system for another turn-based system. FFXI changed up the formula again into a massively multiplayer-online RPG. Meanwhile, FFXII shook up the ebb and flow of its epic campaign with a more open quest format. Square has a reputation of altering the recipe of Final Fantasy’s infamous RPG sauce.
Tarzan: Skarsgard and Robbie Revive a Classic
Tarzan’s not messing around. The six-foot-something, golden-haired ape-man (played by Alexander Skarsgard) is making his way through a 19th century train car, back to front, taking down a dozen Belgian soldiers along the way. Clad in a tan safari-type suit rather than his traditional loincloth, Tarzan throws the soldiers, he hits them, he even tosses one up into the ceiling of the car, where the poor SOB just gets stuck, dangling from above while the Lord of the Apes fixes his hair.
This scene unfolded in front of me and a handful of other reporters when I visited the set of Warner Bros.’ upcoming The Legend of Tarzan at Leavesden Studios, just outside London. This is the same place where the Harry Potter films were shot (and where the permanent Potter studio tour can be found), and where Wonder Woman just wrapped and Justice League is currently underway. (Tarzan helmer David Yates also directed four Harry Potter films here, and has the Potter prequel Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in the pipeline as well.) Leavesden is obviously a place for magical beings and superheroes, so where better to stage the latest incarnation of one of the original superheroes?