E3 2012: Ubisoft brings the heat with AC3, Watch_Dogs

June 4, 2012


Ubisoft’s E3 briefing Monday was, at turns, very awkward, painful, animal-unfriendly and quite possibly the best one thus far. They showed nine games today, starting with Just Dance 4, the next entry in the popular series. It appears to be more of the same, this time with more Flo Rida.

Far Cry 3 returned to the E3 stage, and yet again the focus was on insanity. That was definitely the best way to describe the trailer, which started with a sex scene, continued with action and jumps that would appear to require your character to be a jaguar-human hybrid, explosive gunfights and, finally, a demented hallucination that seemed to imply the opening scene was actually an incestuous relation.

Splinter Cell: Blacklist made its second appearance of the day with a gameplay trailer and confirmation that there will be a competitive multiplayer mode. Michael Ironside doesn’t appear to be voicing Sam Fisher this time around.

The Avengers: Battle for Earth made an appearance, with the focus on the addition of the X-Men, Magneto and Spider-Man to the slate of heroes.

Other games shown at the event:

  • Rayman Legends is indeed a thing, just as expected from the leaked screenshots. It will allow players to use the Wii U GamePad, Pro controller or even your Wii Remote and supports 5 player co-op. The style and gameplay look to be a direct continuation of Rayman Origins, with the addition of rhythm based platforming stages to the mix.

  • ZombiU got a short introductory trailer. It’s a zombie survival-horror game set in Britain. That’s really all we know because the trailer was a series of still images set to a rendition of God Save the Queen.
  • We got a montage of Wii U games, such as a new Your Shape, more Rabbids and a Wii Sports-style game.
  • Assassin’s Creed 3 got a good showing. We were treated to both a cinematic trailer in which the assassin takes out an entire British army and a gameplay trailer that shows off a number of the new game mechanics. We also found out that it isn’t just set during the Revolutionary War. It covers a 30-year time period ranging from before to after the Revolution.


  • Shootmania is the next entry in the Ubisoft ‘-Mania‘ series, and it is a first person shooter focused directly on capturing the e-sports market.
  • Lastly, Ubisoft unveiled a new IP, Watch_Dogs. It’s set in a city run by a single, central operating system, where anything can be hacked and information reigns supreme. The gameplay is third person, but it is definitely looking more like an open-world action game than a shooter.