EA E3 2015 Press Conference Cliff Notes

Mass Effect Andromeda

Fans have been clamoring for any news of the new Mass Effect since a brief mention of it last year. This year, a brief teaser trailer was shown of someone flipping through images of planets to the tune of Ghost Riders in the Sky. They select a planet, turn around and walk toward the camera. The N7 ensignia flashes. Crowd goes wild. We then see the return of the planet buggy, a wee bit of jet pack double jumping, and a brief flash of combat followed by the title: Mass Effect Andromeda. No word on a release date yet, but as soon as we know, we’ll start squealing like children again.

Star Wars The Old Republic Knights of the Fallen Empire

If haven’t been put off by the unnecessarily long title, welcome to the description. Star Wars TOR is getting a new expansion called Knights of the Fallen Empire. The video shown in this press conference was a prequel trailer, mean to set up the expansion by telling the tale of two twins raised for war, ultimately culminating in one in losing control of his anger and killing his brother. A very tragic place to start off a story, but also very interesting for an expansion. The expansion is set to launch on October 27th of this year.

Unravel

EA debuted a new IP staring a cute little character made out of yarn. The concept behind the game is to show how it’s more difficult to do things the further you are from your friends and family and how important it is to bring those together. The way this manifests in the game is that your character starts unravelling throughout the level and in order to get past a certain section, you have to use your yarn in clever ways to bring things together or connect places so you can advance. It looks so cute and heartwarming, the trailer alone is enough make most tear up.

Mirror’s Edge Catalyst

This sequel has been a long time coming. The first game was gorgeous and its sequel is no exception. Catalyst dives in to Faith’s origin story in a beautiful, but decidedly dystopian world. The most striking difference about this game and its predecessor is the colors. Mirror’s Edge is known for its stark whites, reds, and oranges, but this game shows no unifying color scheme, but rather a more realistic approach to color. That being said, the gameplay, graphics, and art all look top notch. The gameplay doesn’t seem much different, but as you may suspect, the leap to the current gen hardware does wonders for Faith and her world. This is definitely a title to keep your eye on.

Star Wars Battlefront

Fan favorite Battlefront poked its head out for a bit at EA as they played through a Hoth-esque mission switching between both sides of the battle. In the demo, we caught both types of combat — first person and third person — and the seamless switching between the two. If you prefer more traditional Battlefront views, they’ve got that, and if you prefer something more Battlefield-y, they’ve got that too. The ability to control well known heroes is also back, with a brief showing of both Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. They also briefly showed controlling an AT-AT to attack a rebel base and flying both an X-Wing and a TIE Fighter. All of them look awesome, but it is a bit disappointing that we won’t see space combat in this game. The game looks gorgeous, fast paced, fun, and, above all else, Star Wars.