Here’s a Rundown of Everything at This Summer's EA Play Live [22/07/2021]

E3 is well and truly over and the next big show on the horizon is Gamescom and Geoff Keighley’s Opening Night Live but before then EA had to clear its books which meant we were well over due for an EA Play event.

Coming into the show we were aware a lot that wouldn’t be shown and a lot that would. Bioware confirmed that Dragon Age 4 wouldn’t be in attendance, and despite being first announced in 2018 it now seems like the game won’t be playable until 2023. While it was also confirmed by Full Circle, a studio founded during this pandemic last Summer, that its new skate game wouldn’t be in attendance - however, the studio’s hyper-edited, “please be patient” video on Twitter did confirm that a number of skate influences have had hands-on with the game. 

On the other end of the scale were the two big leaks of what would be at the show. First, Game Rant accidentally broke embargo and ran a story on Battlefield Portal hours before the event (we’ll get into what that actually is in a bit). Secondly, Games Beat’s Jeff Grubb and Mike Minotti teased that EA was planning on revealing a Resident Evil 2 style remake of one of its classic games at the event a few weeks ago and everyone collectively said, “Oh cool, EA’s rebooting Dead Space”.

So, after all that did the show offer any surprises? Let’s break it down.

Sims 4 

As the livestream countdown ended we were greeted by footage of Japanese Breakfast in a sunny field serenading cows in Simlish, which is certainly a memorable way to kick off your show. Basically, this was a fun little trailer for the just-released Cottage Living update for The Sims 4, which features music from the up and coming recording artist.

Pre-show

In what is becoming a trend, one which no one seems to be a fan of, after the livestream countdown ended we were treated to another countdown timer to the actual show. This one was a bit more bearable than others this Summer as this is where EA shoehorned in its Pre-show, which had a few odds and ends to show.

First Jay Allard gets a hoodie and suit jacket and now Andy McNamara in kicks… What has the world come to?

The show itself was presented by the Senior Social Media Manager for Apex Legends, Alex Ackerman, and Director of Comms for Shooters and Star Wars (and ex GameInformer EIC), Andy McNamara. And before we go any further, yes, McNamara looked ten years younger having only left the games media less than two years ago. There was very little of substance shown here so we’ll just bullet point it all:

• The trailer for Lost in Random shown at the EA Originals Spotlight last week was shown again.

• A highlight reel of the Future of Shooters, EA Sports and EA Originals Spotlights were shown.

• We were spared a long Fifa segment during the main show in exchange for a trailer here showing off the team’s new on-pitch motion capture style technology. We did still have to sit through a hard-sell on some new limited-time Ultimate Team cards which was deeply uncomfortable… Swings and roundabouts, you know?

•  They then reran the Apex Legends Character Trailer for Seer, which is still a very cool afro futuristic animation.

• Finally, before the show started Codemasters showed up for the first time at an EA event post-EA’s acquisition n of the historic driving game publisher/developer with the launch trailer F1 2021. The game launched last week and has been received about as well as the current season of racing in real life (which is to say people really like it).

And with that, it was time for the show to start. The main event was hosted by wrestler, gamers and general fun guy Xavier Woods, who was most certainly channelling all his wrestling-acting-energy to be excited about all these video games. There was also a giveaway and Logitech merch and hidden letters during the stream and WE GET IT EA, YOU WANT PEOPLE TO ENGAGE WITH THIS EVENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA...

Codemasters

The first proper segment of the show was dedicated to Codemasters and giving that huge team a proper welcome. Although it felt like lowkey shade being through when Codemasters were referred to as the “experts” of racing games while EA still runs Criterion and Ghost Games/EA Gothenburg. The sizzle reel paid lip service to everything from DiRT to Grid with a shout out to Slightly Mad’s Project Cars series too, since Codemasters had acquired that dev team in 2019 before being bought themselves.

Grid Legends

We were then treated to a look at what is to be the first EA published Codemasters game with the never before seen Grid Legends. Grid has always been an odd franchise as while it has its fans the series itself has struggled to find a tone and a voice like DiRT has, Legends seems to be seeking to change this in a big way. The game is retraining the arcade/sim-style racing, street circuits and multiple disciplines of cars of the previous games, however, a heaping dose of FMV seems to be turbocharging this entry.

Even if this game is terrible, it is going to be amazing!

That’s right EA is back to publishing racing games with Full Motion Video in them! And they look just as awful amazing as ever. Legends will be using Epic’s Unreal Engine mixed reality technology for its sets and will star Ncuti Gatwa, from Netflix’s Sex Education, as an up and coming racing driver facing off against a racing team whose two drivers seem to just be Dick Dastardly and Muttley partaking in the fictional Grid World Series. 

Not only will the game feature sports cars, muscle cars, hypercars, open-wheelers and big rigs but it will have modes where all of these disciplines can race against each other at the same time. The game seems like absolute chaos and we are genuinely super excited to see it when it releases at some point in 2022.

Apex Legends

With Apex having been released over two years ago now it is a very different game than it was at launch. For one it has gone from having eight playable legends to 17. However, an even bigger difference is that the game has gone from having some memorable personalities to having a full-blow lore and ongoing story, and the latest trailer for the Emergence update only underlined that. The cinematic did a great job highlighting some of the characters backstories and the game’s focus on cooperation in combat while also teasing all of Seer’s new abilities. The game’s Creative Director, Cad Grenier, gave a bit more detail on Seer’s new stealth-based tracking kit but mainly just confirmed that there would be a gameplay trailer for the new season on Monday and a full kit showcase for Seer on the 8th of August.

Apex’s newest character Lil Nas—I mean Seer!

There was also a shout out to the hugely popular new Arenas which teased more content for the Counter-Strike inspired mode and a bunch of time was dedicated to the game’s burgeoning esports scene. No release date for the upcoming season yet, but based off the previous season’s caydence we shouldn’t have long to wait.

EA Originals

Lost in Random

The first part of the main show’’s EA Originals segment was dedicated to the upcoming Lost in Random. Xavier Woods was interrupted by the game's narrator and told to remind the viewers that the game was part of the official selection at this year's Tribeca Film Festival and OH HOW WE HAD FUN! So much banter and such… 

Stop-motion? Check.
Whimsy and wonder? Check.
Slightly spooky? Check.
Someone should really call Tim Burton’s lawyer tbh.

The game is coming from the makers of Fe, Zoink! (which is an excellent studio name), and continues to look promising. The trailer was full of Tim Burton-y style and a breathtaking approximation of stop motion animation in a real-time video game engine. We also saw much more gameplay and combat than has been shown off before, with the player taking up the role of Even, trying to save her sister, Odd, with the help of a magic dice called Dicey. There was a lot more of Dicey’s random powers shown off and what looks like a light deckbuilding element in the game. However, this is very much so a game you are either sold on as soon as you see it or not and the longer Xavier and the game’s Creative Director, Olov Redmalm, spent talking about detailed mechanics the more we just wanted this segment to end and let us play the game when it releases.

Lost in Random is releasing on the 10th of September on PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4 and Xbox One. 

Um, honey… On second thought, I don’t think it is safe to go back to theaters yet.

Knockout City 

The second EA Original thing shown was an update for the surprise hit of the Summer, Knockout City. The newly formed Velen Studios have already made quite the name for themselves in the two years they have been releasing games, with both the extremely innovated Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit and surprisingly addictive Knockout City, making a great case for why this new team deserve your attention.

The first major update is inspired by big blockbuster movies and Hollywood backlots and will see the competitive 3D dodgeball platform-fighter receive new gear, cosmetics, a new ball and an ever-changing map all added to the game.

Knockout City has already built up a decent community with many FGC members latching onto it as a secondary game to play in their free time. Season 2 is arriving on July 27th.

Battlefield 2042 

Before we get started on the big blowout showcase of this EA Play, I just want it to be known that it was at this point during the show that I made a note that just read, “Xavier is a very excited and animated man when he wants to be.”

EA’s marketing time is really proud of this gif.

Things started pretty, well, not great, as the trailer for the game shown slightly before E3 was abbreviated and intercut with streamers and influencers reactions to “that bit where the ATV blew up a helicopter” and “that bit that recreated the viral video with the rocket launcher and jets”. It all felt extremely modern marketing/corporate but once this segment ended things got really interesting. 

Oskar Gabrielson, the General Manager of DICE, was on hand to introduce what Ripple Effect (the newly renamed DICE LA being led by Vince Vampella) have been working on. Battlefield Portal is an ambitious new mode, which you have to imagine is a separate executable/download that seems to be looking to act as a way to bridge fans between the vastly different Battlefield games with Fortnite Creative/Overwatch Workshop style tools for the community.

Portal will allow players to create custom game modes and experiences using simplified programmer language while pulling assets from Battlefield 3, Battlefield 4, Battlefield 1942, Bad Company 2 and the yet to be released Battlefield 2042. Examples given included infection modes, a mode where everyone has a knife or defibrillator, four soldiers from 2042 vs 32 from 1942 and even a mode where one player is in a tank must fight 40 players in little drones with guns on them. It all seemed very cool, full of potential for a neverending stream of content and, most importantly, different from what we expect from EA. 

Remember when Battlefield V was announced and *fans* got mad that having female soldiers in WW2 was unrealistic… Anyway…

The third and final pillar of the next wave of Battlefield, Hazard Zone, will be shown later this Summer and we know next to nothing about it other than it was made very clear that it will not be a Battle Royale game mode. Battlefield 2042 is slated for release on the 22nd of October on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S (with 64v64 multiplayer crossplay with each other) and the same day on PS4 and Xbox One (with 32v32 multiplayer crossplay with said two platforms).

Dead Space

SURPRISE! There is very little to say here, we knew this was coming and all we’re getting, for now, is a brief teaser of an industrial spaceship corridor, the silhouette of a necromorph, shot Issac from behind hunched over a workbench and the shot iconic “CUT OFF THEIR LIMBS'' scrawled in blood on a wall. The teaser was all “game engine footage” but in the year 2021 that really doesn’t mean much but from the small few leaks we’ve seen pop up the game itself is meant to be gorgeous, which makes sense since it is running on the latest version of Frostbite and will not be releasing on PS4 or Xbox One.

You’d think this wouldn’t be OSHA approved but this is actually perfectly up to standard signage.

It has also been claimed that this is more of a reboot than just a remake, with elements from all three games making their way into the new entry point. In the long run, it wouldn’t be surprising if Motive changed quite a bit of the series’ narrative as Visceral really wrote themselves into a corner by the end of 3. 

Hopefully, we’ll see more at The Game Awards this December but with everything still being impacted by the pandemic, it is anyone’s guess when we’ll be exploring The USG Ishimura with everyone’s favourite space engineer.