On September 14-15th the AAA game developer Ubisoft Entertainment crashed the UNSW Roundhouse with its very own popup experience.
I attended the event with a couple of friends on the 14th. For UNSW this was a pretty unusual event, as the Roundhouse isn’t really known to be a place where video games, developers and nerds alike to come together and talk all things Ubisoft. The event ran for most of the day, with large events and exhibits based around new games in the works such as Just Dance 2020 and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Breakpoint. There were also smaller more novelty exhibits scattered around the place, including a temporary tattoo stand, a rope climb station and a small art exhibit featuring some developer art from the game Assassin’s Creed.
The Roundhouse space was used really well, with a DJ working hard to make sure music kept people pumping on as they moved from place to place. It didn’t seem super crowded, with plenty of space to walk around and places to sit down or relax. The exhibits were cool looking, enough to draw in the crowds with their own little theme to match the game they were promoting. The upstairs of the Roundhouse was mainly used for screenings/gameplay demos of new titles, where we also had the ability to talk to the developers of the newer titles. The other large portion of the upstairs space was used to host the Rainbow Six Siege room, which was running charity tournaments played by pro teams as well as a small free play area. This was easily a highlight for most of the people I attended with as most of them were avid Rainbow Six Siege fans.
The main game highlight of the event had to be the early alpha demo of Ghost Recon: Breakpoint. A well-known series by Ubisoft, it involves co-operating with others in order to infiltrate a base or complete a certain objective. We got our hands on a very early test version of the game, which meant there were crashes and glitches but overall it was absurdly fun, especially with friends. It definitely feels like a game which you can’t take too seriously, but is great for a group. The possibilities to muck around with friends is practically endless, and the frantic panic that ensues when you alert the guards is where the most fun is to be had. The game seems to be split into 4 classes: the Recon (the sniper/information gatherer, good to play at long ranges), the Silence (the sneak around/spy class, good for getting around or executing unnoticed), the Heavy (the tank/frontline of the group) and the Jack of all trades (just your generic basic dude). This provides enough varying gameplay, and there is a need for certain classes to coordinate with each other as some are good at some things but not others. This would be the case if players were skilled enough to coordinate, however, in my playthrough I ended up getting run over by my teammate and left to bleed out as they rode on to alert the entire facility, blow our cover and simultaneously fail us. Despite basically failing every attempt we tried at it, with most of us dying multiple times, it was still an enjoyable game. I would definitely recommend picking up if you’re a fan of first person shooters and want something to screw around in with your friends.
Overall the Ubisoft Experience was an enjoyable event with a really great atmosphere, especially for gamers and fans of Ubisoft.
