E3 2017: 6 Ups & 5 Downs From EA's Conference

Star Wars steals the show.

By Jack Pooley /

EA

EA kicked off this year's E3 festivities with their annual EA Play conference, and though it was a typically mixed bag from the publisher, it did at least deliver a convincing argument about the state of one of the year's most anticipated games, suggested a flagging franchise might be back on track, and presented two compelling new IPs for gamers to pore over.

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Still, there's little point denying that EA also padded out their conference with the usual nonsense and there were more than a few disappointing omissions overall. It wasn't a classic EA conference for the ages nor a total trainwreck, basically a middle-of-the-road effort like they typically deliver.

Still, with Microsoft and Sony due to drop their curtains over the coming days, it's surely going to get much better from here...

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Downs...

5. No Star Wars Battlefront II Story Mode Gameplay

EA

Though EA announced a while ago that Star Wars Battlefront II would feature an actual story mode campaign, it's rather disappointing that their lengthy half-hour slot devoted to the game didn't show a single scrap of campaign gameplay.

Yes, there was the briefest of glimpses at Janina Gavankar's character Commander Iden Versio in a cut-scene, but considering how many question marks surround the campaign, in terms of its depth and gameplay mechanics, it's a damn shame that EA didn't shed any more light on it.

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Though it's not inherently a bad sign, it's not exactly a good one either, and hopefully EA might rectify this oversight over the course of E3 week. If not, fans won't be happy.