Ubisoft is probably my favorite publisher right now. Even with Watch Dogs being a disappointment I still get excited about Assassin’s Creed and Trials and can’t wait for a new Far Cry after 3.

Ubisoft opened the show with a showstopper in Far Cry 4. They showed the first 5 minutes of the game including the new villain. It appears he will be similar to Vaas, I’ll be interested to see if they can make a story to complement the villain this time around. Just Dance 2015 was shown with Pharrell Williams overplayed song “Happy.” It appears to be more Just Dance with the ability to share video of you dancing so that others can rate it. It was funny to see a background in one of the shots with Tetris in the background. Just Dance Now is an app that can be played without a console using your phone and a TV. The phone is the controller and you can play with as many people as you want online. How many people accidentally throw their phone a la Wii controller? The Division only got a trailer seeing as the gameplay was at Microsoft. You are a trained civilian agent and now that the city has been taken over by factions it is your job to help take it back. The trailer outlined the beginning of the outbreak. I’m less excited this year than last, but will still be interested to see if it turns out like we all hope, or is another Watch Dogs.

The Crew, the mmo racing game that allows you to drive across the US, got a trailer. They say the community has been helping them to develop the game and make it better. A beta is launching in July. AC Unity was shown again with a trailer and some more gameplay. There appear to be fluid side missions that don’t take you out of the action to a loading screen. One of these was called murder mysteries, where someone had been killed in a house and presumably you would track down the killer. I would hope this would have some detective like gameplay to complete it. It looks like you will be able to go in pretty much any house with an open window and there will be something happening inside. Overall, it looks like more AC and I’ll be excited to see how the 4 player co-op goes.

Ubisoft has a partnership with Microsoft in the form of a kinect based work out game called Shape Up. They showed 2 challenges: a DDR style game called Piano Steps and a push up competition. You will be able to play against your previous replays or the ones your friends send you. This seems like something that may have been shown at Microsoft if they hadn’t already made the kinect no longer mandatory. I wonder if they just didn’t want to show any kinect that they didn’t have to, leaving Ubisoft to show this on their own. A puzzle game called Valiant Hearts: The Great War was shown with a trailer. The game is inspired by letters sent during WWI and follows 4 characters and their dog. Seems like it could be interesting if the story is taken in the right direction. Finally Yves Guillemot came out to introduce one more game, Rainbow Six Seige. The pre-alpha gameplay shown was a 5 vs 5 FPS multiplayer scenario where one team was trying to rescue a hostage out of a house from the other team.

I think Ubisoft had a pretty good lineup at their conference. I’m looking forward to AC, Far Cry, The Crew, and The Division. I might take a look at Valiant Hearts when it comes out and Rainbow Six is a ways off, but could be something to keep an eye on. It may all come out and be like AC III or Watch Dogs and be underwhelming, but I think there is a lot of potential for Ubisoft’s upcoming games.