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Assassin's Creed: Pirates sets sail on mobile this fall
Assassin's Creed: Pirates is a new standalone game in development at Ubisoft Paris. Set within the caribbean, Assassin's Creed: Pirates is due this fall for smartphones and tablets. Players assume the role of Alonzo Batilla, a freshly minted ship captain, as they engage in naval combat and explore the vast network of islands that form the caribbean. In search of treasure and conquest, Batilla will stumble upon famous pirates of the time like Edward "Blackbeard" Teach, "Black Sam" Bellamy and Benjamin Hornigold. Not much else is known about the game now, though Ubisoft says it'll arrive on "high-end smartphones and tablets" in Fall 2013.
EndWar Online is a free-to-play MOBA-like running in Flash
Ubisoft Shanghai is preparing a free-to-play entry in the Tom Clancy's EndWar series called EndWar Online. Running in Flash, EndWar Online is completely playable in the browser and focuses on quick, frenetic 1-v-1 skirmishes. I was able to play a sample match at Ubisoft's Digital Day event lasting all of four minutes, highlighting EndWar Online as a speedy one-on-one variant of the established multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) formula seen in League of Legends. The hook is a balanced unit system where each vehicle is inherently designed to counteract another vehicle on the battlefield. Players, choosing a faction to permanently align themselves with and then battling to control lanes feeding into the enemy base, must play to the units already on the battlefield. If the enemy is encroaching with tanks, it's wise to spawn helicopters and attack from above – though the enemy could spawn surface-to-air missile trucks and destroy air vehicles in retaliation. It's this constant tug of war in each isolated conflict that made EndWar Online feel tense. Battles are waged across a fictional post-apocalyptic planet, trashed from nuclear war. As factions win battles and control territories, bonuses are spread across those factions to other players on a timed basis. The spoils of war then carry into the next conflict. Players can sign up for a closed beta that is expected to launch before year's end, though Ubisoft hasn't announced an official launch date for EndWar Online yet.
Valiant Hearts: The Great War tells the story of five WWI survivors and a dog
Valiant Hearts: The Great War is a new game from Ubisoft Montpellier created with the UbiArt Framework engine, which powers Rayman Origins, Rayman Legends and the upcoming Child of Light. The hand-drawn story is set during World War I and follows five individuals attempting to survive the war, each of their fates tied together by one medical service dog. Valiant Hearts relies on a mixture of platforming and environmental puzzle solving, and uses a picture-in-picture comic book presentation style to propel the plot. There are also light stealth elements, as evidenced by a scene in which one of the characters tosses a rock to distract a guard. Presentation is exaggerated in Valiant Hearts: Burly German soldiers drink beer and bite on big pretzels, lending slight levity to what is typically a somber setting. Valiant Hearts: The Great War is in development for the PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC, and will be released on digital stores sometime in 2014.
Assassin's Creed Liberation HD scampers to PS3, Xbox 360, PC
PlayStation Vita game Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation is coming to Xbox 360, PS3 and PC as Assassin's Creed Liberation HD. The download-only release will not only benefit from updated graphics, but new missions and other enhancements as well. An extensive Q&A from Ubisoft, available past the break, sums the improvements made to Liberation HD, touching on the new tutorial system, new combat (protagonist Aveline can dual-wield weapons now), polished free-running and improved facial animations and cutscenes. In addition to this, each mission has been "reworked" to provide better "pacing and challenge" for players. "And one more thing; we have worked heavily to improve the frame rate. The game will be smooth," says producer Momchil Valentinov Gindyanov. AI and crowd behavior will also behave like Assassin's Creed Liberation HD's console brethren. "Using the AnvilNext engine and existing Assassin's Creed technology has really allowed us to push the crowd and AI behaviour," Gindyanov writes. "Liberation features all the crowd behaviour you've come to expect from an Assassin's Creed game, tailored to our own specific locations, so you can expect to see all sorts of activities unique to New Orleans, including Mardi Gras!" Assassin's Creed Liberation HD is due on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC from developer Ubisoft Sofia. Neither timetable nor price has been announced.
Rayman Fiesta Run, Trials Frontier, Rabbids Big Bang coming to mobile
Ubisoft is bringing a trio of its franchises to iOS and Android through new games. Rayman Fiesta Run is another auto-runner (in the vein of Jungle Run) due this fall, set within the memorable Gourmand Land of Rayman Origins. Trials Frontier is a new mobile adaptation of the popular physics-driven bike racer, due on iOS before year's end. Ubisoft says it will connect to Trials Fusion, which is Redlynx's forthcoming sequel for console and PC platforms. Meanwhile, Rabbids Big Bang is a bit more unique, asking players to guide Rabbids as they attempt to reach the farthest corners of space in a physics-based fling-em-up. Players must customize the Rabbids' jetpack and account for planetary gravitational pulls in order to maximize travel distance across 150 different missions. Rabbids Big Bang takes off on iOS and Android sometime in October.
