EA E3 2018 Recap: Anthem, Battlefield V and More

EA just officially kicked off E3 2018 with its annual EA Play conference, and, well... it sure was something.

Credit: EA

(Image credit: EA)

While EA spent an unusually high amount of time on mobile games and delivered some pretty bland sports game trailers, there were some incredibly exciting looks at big titles such as Anthem and Battlefield V, not to mention some nice indie surprises. Here's everything you missed.

Anthem: New Gameplay and Release Date

EA capped off its press conference with a deep-dive look at Anthem, the highly anticipated online shooter/RPG from the folks behind Mass Effect and Dragon Age. We saw a solid chunk of exciting co-op gameplay, which consisted of four characters in Iron Man-esque suits flying around gorgeous sci-fi worlds and blowing up all kinds of nasty-looking enemies. We also got a taste of the game's variety of classes, which will include everything from big bruisers to nimble fighters that can dash in mid-air.

Anthem hits stores on Feb 22 for PS4, Xbox One and PC -- stay tuned for our hands-on impressions.

Battlefield V: Now With Battle Royale

After Activision revealed Call of Duty: Black Ops 4's battle royale mode last month, it only made sense for EA's Battlefield series to follow suit. After showing an explosive new multiplayer trailer for DICE's massive World War II shooter, EA revealed that Battlefield would be joining the battle royale bandwagon. Details are scant so far, but EA says it will feature Battlefield's "core pillars of destruction, team play, and vehicles," and will be"unlike anything you’ve played before."

Battlefield V hits PS4, Xbox One and PC on Oct. 19.

Unravel 2 and Sea of Solitude

It was a good E3 for EA-published indie games. Unravel 2, the sequel to EA's gorgeous, yarn-filled platformer, is out today, and brings two-player co-op to the series. We also got a look at Sea of Solitude, a harrowing, minimalist action-adventure game that looks like the 3D counterpart to indie-horrors Inside and Limbo.

EA Sports

It wouldn't be an EA conference without EA Sports, and we got our usual looks at the latest Madden, FIFA and NBA Live games. The new games all look as gorgeous and lifelike as you'd expect, though the big news this year is that Madden NFL 19 will finally bring the gridiron series back to PC.

Command and Conquer and Star Wars

We hope you like mobile games, because EA spent a ton of its E3 time touting Command and Conquer Rivals, a mobile strategy title meant to streamline the classic RTS series.

And if you're hungry for Star Wars news, know that Clone Wars content is coming to Star Wars Battlefront II. That means you'll soon be able to duke it out in EA's intergalactic online shooter as Obi-Wan Kenobi, General Grevious, Anakin Skywalker and Count Dooku. On top of that, Titanfall developer Respawn Entertainment is developing Star Wars: Fallen Jedi Order, an action/adventure game that will focus on the Jedi dark ages between Episodes III and IV when it releases in late 2019.

Credit: EA

Michael Andronico

Mike Andronico is Senior Writer at CNNUnderscored. He was formerly Managing Editor at Tom's Guide, where he wrote extensively on gaming, as well as running the show on the news front. When not at work, you can usually catch him playing Street Fighter, devouring Twitch streams and trying to convince people that Hawkeye is the best Avenger.