I've spent the last couple of days in Paris checking out Ubisoft's upcoming titles - think Tom Clancy EndWar, Splinter Cell: Conviction, Assasins Creed and Brothers In Arms. Ubi boss Yves Guillemot billed the Ubidays event as "our E3". A grand statement that lost impact when it was announced that Assassin's Creed - the game most of us came to see - wouldn't be playable until the "July conferences". Or E3 to you and me. The only product announcement - a game based on the Beowulf movie - wasn't quite the Beyond Good and Evil 2 revelation that I had secretly hoped for. But there was some decent stuff shown...
Sadly there wasn't a whole lot to actually play at the event. Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 raised a smile on Wii while Blazing Angels 2 showed a promising mix of Indiana Jones and WW2 flight combat. But the rest was a mix of live demos - Splinter Cell: Conviction (or Fugitive as it should be called), Brothers In Arms: Hells Highway, Haze - and video.
Haze was a highlight. The new FPS from veteran developer Dave Doak (Goldeneye, Timesplitters) is launching on PS3 later this year and promises a bit of soul-searching to go along with the shooting. The plot supposedly makes you "uncomfortable with your actions". It was a bit of a looker too - those smoke effects were delicious - and the four player co-op surely lays down the gauntlet to Halo 3.
Splinter Cell: Conviction saw Sam Fisher face life bereft of his usual gadgets, presumably including his electric razor. There was still some hiding and sneaking but the emphasis appeared to be more on combat, with guards dispatched by whatever Sam could get to hand. The demo ended with a hoodie disguised Fisher walking through a crowd, avoiding guards and, possibly, hugs from David Cameron. So a striking new direction for the series then, but is it still Splinter Cell?
Elsewhere Brothers in Arms: Hells Highway looked to have a loosened up a little for its next-gen debut. Authentic as ever yes, but there appeared to be more flexibility in the tactics available as you battle the Nazi's once more. There seemed to be more characterisation too, with the ghost of a soldier killed in one of the earlier games showing up at the end of the demo.
Tom Clancy's EndWar was video only, with no gameplay shown. Despite this sizable setback the World War 3 RTS certainly sounds intriguing - not a word normally associated with RTS games - particularly the persistent online stuff that sees you battle over a fluid frontline as your army grows and "levels up" RPG style. The use of the 360 headset to voice command you troops is pretty exciting too. But until we actually get a chance to see and play the thing, EndWar remains a promising mystery.
Elsewhere there was a lot of emphasis on casual games - *the* current hot topic in gaming - with new titles revealed for the Wii and DS. Topics covered include guitar tuition, life coaching, fashion design and language skills - Ubisoft has joined EA and Eidos in targeting the huge non-gaming audience courted so successfully by Nintendo.
Overall Ubidays was a useful, if frustrating, event, with the lack of playable code a real let down. But while there was nothing shown that really took the breath away, there were some highly polished performers - Splinter Cell, Brothers in Arms - and a whole stack of potential (Assasins, EndWar, Haze). More Ubidays stuff later this week.
