Ubisoft was out in full force at this years rAge Expo with great thanks to Megarom Games (Megarom Interactive). The forthcoming Ubisoft titles that were being showcased at the event were: Assassin’s Creed: Origins, Far Cry 5, South Park: The Fractured but Whole, The Crew 2 and the currently available Mario&Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. If you did not attend the show this weekend, then sadly, you missed out on a lot, especially since this was the 15th Year Anniversary of the rAge Expo and even more specifically because of the special code that was made available to the Media and the Public this weekend by Ubisoft.

What Is This Article About?

Not many people realize that at Gaming Expo’s like E3, GamesCom and rAge, there are no physical discs in the consoles when you are playing these game “demos”. Most of the games that are on display are “code only”, making it easier for the Game Developers like Ubisoft to “field test” the latest builds with public interaction without the “shlep” of releasing a new Beta Weekend Event each month. That is exactly what happened at rAge this past weekend! The code for Assassin’s Creed: Origins and South Park: The Fractured but Whole were Post-GamesCom code, meaning, that what we played, was the latest versions and were exclusive to South Africa! (Thank you Ubisoft!)

With Friday at rAge being one of the busiest days of the expo for Media, with interviews and content gathering missions, it is hard for us to get time to stop and play the awesome titles available on the stands. Armed with this knowledge, Megarom Games arranged for a very exclusive media only hands-on session with a Ubisoft VIP and Export Public Relations Manager, Manab Roy, who briefly explained a few things about the new code and unleashed us upon each stand in groups, encouraging us to spend a minimum of 20-30 minutes on each title available at the expo to get a good feel for what we can expect with the final versions, with key focus obviously being on South Park: The Fractured and Whole which releases on 17 October 2017, as well as Assassin’s Creed: Origins which releases 27 October 2017.

Smooth Like Silk

The newly polished code was evident and really made for immersive experiences with each respective title, so much so, that it was very difficult to put down the controller and move along to the next station. Assassin’s Creed looks, feels and plays like it is ready. South Park is ready… but are we? Haha. (Doubtful) Far Cry 5 took a bit of getting used to, as the perspective felt very “zoomed” in as opposed to the generally similar titles available, which personally, put me on a learning curve which was approached in a kamikaze fashion to experiment before restarting my game and playing it the way I am sure it is intended to be played. The GamesCom code played really well, giving us just enough adventure and Adrenalin pumping action to wet our appetite. The Crew 2 is a whole different subject, three years after the first game we get to jam the GamesCom code, roughly 5 months before the official release, and yet again, there were no tangible hiccups or detracting features to make it feel like a “beta”. The Ubisoft teams have serious dedication to detail and quite literally seem to have adopted a, “Do not compile the code for beta testing unless it is perfected” attitude.

From what I experienced on Friday night, 6 October 2017, I am exceptionally excited for each and every title that was being showcased by Ubisoft, and for fans of each franchise, and new fans alike, I can very confidently say, if you have not pre-ordered yet, take advantage of the pre-order deals as soon as possible because it really is safe to spend your money on them to keep you entertained during the coming Christmas Holidays and Q1 next year respectively.