Electronic Arts (EA) has just wrapped up its E3 press conference where it showed off a bunch of games it has on the go right now. The two most exciting announcements to come from the hour-long event were the official acknowledgement of the existence of Mirror’s Edge 2 and the demo they put on of this year’s Call of Duty competitor, Battlefield Hardline, a gorgeous-looking cops vs. robbers game that uses Battlefield’s combat mechanics in a brand-new setting. Gripping stuff.

TL;DR

TL:DR: EA is opening up Battlefield Hardline’s beta as of right now, so head on over to the official website or download it via the PlayStation Network if you want to take part. It’s a first-come, first-served type deal so hurry.

The event kicked off with a short video from Swedish developer DICE talking about the work being done to make Star Wars: Battlefront a fantastic game. Also, incidentally, Star Wars Battlefront is officially A Thing now. DICE showed off how they have visited the actual locations used in the movies and how that has inspired them to make the most authentic Star Wars game possible using all kinds of new graphical tools. No actual gameplay was shown off as the game is still far from being finished, but they did at least show us a work-in-progress sequence involving a speeder bike zipping through the forests of Endor that looked pretty polished (and fun!). The first two Battlefront games were pretty much Battlefield: Star Wars using George Lucas’s iconic vehicles, locations and weapons as the means by which players killed each other; this new game looks to do the same, but with better graphics and bigger and “more authentic” maps.

DA:I

Then out came a new Dragon Age: Inquisition trailer showing off a few scenes we haven’t yet seen, culminating in an actual in-game battle with a dragon that showed off the game’s new combat engine. Apparently you’ll be able to fight from various perspectives and target specific parts of creatures’ bodies while using the series’ iconic quasi-real-time pause system to bark orders at your party. Aaryn Flynn, EA’s general studio manager over at Bioware got all excited about the game’s characters and how they each have a story to tell, and how they will all interact with one another in new and fascinating ways. No surprises there, then.

Weighty Game

Up next was a video for Mass Effect 4 where EA explained how they asked fans what they wanted from a new Mass Effect, and then gave it to them. The answer to the question was pretty much “New everything, please!”, including places, character and stories and that’s what EA set out to make in the upcoming third-person sci-fi role-player. The graphics were especially sumptuous in the video that played, so if nothing else gamers can expect a really, really pretty game this time around. When the video ended, the audience went bananas.

Sim People Four

Then executive producer Rachel Franklin introduced the next iteration of EA’s venerable The Sims series. She emphasised the customisation options gamers will have as if that’s something unexpected from a Sims game, but then went on to say that this time around, that customisation extends to each Sim’s heart as well as their appearance. Um, that’s not really new either but whatever. Honestly, though, the new Sims game doesn’t look all that different from previous ones, but presumably there’s more to it than meets the eye so we’ll see when it comes out in September whether it has truly evolved or not.

Better gfx, better game. Right?

Next up were NHL 15, Madden NFL 15 and EA’s NFC 15 brawler, all of which look like they’ve really benefitted from their respective next-gen overhauls. No really, the animations on each were superb, with the individual fighters, players and crowds in each respective sport looking better than ever.

Just an excuse

Then Criterion Studios came on to wow us a bit with the next game they’re working which isn’t – shock, gasp, horror – a car game. Instead, it’s some type of recreational vehicle game featuring everything from helicopters to jet skis to wing suits to ATVs. And because there was no real gameplay to demo, I had to conclude that the team just came up with a concept for a game that let them mess around with those things in real life, and the details of the actual game will work themselves out later. Whatever the case, Criterion said their game was inspired by action camera footage people have uploaded to YouTube, so presumably the eventual game will have some sort of social-sharing functionality built in, probably with the option to take in-game selfies.

Golf – Now with levolution

The most hilarious and ridiculous moment of the evening came when EA’s Cam Weber came on to introduce the next PGA Tour golf game. Not only is it being built with the latest version of EA’s incredible Frostbite 3 engine – overkill for any game nevermind one that’s about golf – but it’s going to feature the same sort of “levolution” craziness of Battlefield 4 in its fantasy courses that will have your regular-looking golf courses demolished by catastrophic events that change the layout considerably. Talk about a WTF moment, but at least EA is trying to make golf games interesting again.

Mo’ MOBA madness

Next up was a new Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game called Dawn Gate. I’m still not entirely sure why people think they can beat DOTA 2 or League of Legends at their own (highly polished) games, but developer Waystone Games seems to think it’s got a pretty good shot. They claim to be designing the game to be more flexible, and they’re giving each character more of a purpose and using narrative to drive the experience. Good luck with that, guys.

Faith’s Back

And then came a bombshell: MIRROR’s EDGE 2! It has finally been officially announced, and it looks more badass than ever with a redesigned Faith who is faster, stronger and who has a wider range of moves to pull on the baddies she comes up against. The video EA showed off featured more live action than I had hoped, but it did at least illustrate how real parkourers (is that even a word?) showed them what real-life roof-running is like and what’s actually possible, which should hopefully make the second game even better.

FIFA Fever

Now I’m not much of a sports game fan, but even I was impressed by FIFA 15. It genuinely looks like it’s a genuine upgrade over previous editions and not just an old game with a new lick of paint. When EA said they’ve re-done ball physics, they’ve made soccer pitches that retain marks from boots, tackles and penalties and they’ve tweaked the various stadia and the crowds in them to evoke more emotion than ever from players, they really weren’t kidding – everything they showed off looked utterly fantastic. As dull as I find soccer, even I had to admit that FIFA 15 is looking mighty fine indeed.

A Hard Line

Last up was Battlefield: Hardline, EA’s Battlefield game for 2014. The big difference in this year’s game is that it’s pretty much cops vs. robbers in both single- and multi-player modes. The footage they showed off made the single-player portion look more like a cop show than a game, and the multi-player bits were insanely cool. They also showed a multi-player match in action, showcasing what looked like a real-life heist happening from the perspectives of both sides, and it was crazier than anything you’ve seen in the movies… or even Grand Theft Auto. It involved cars, helicopters, destructible levels, zip lines and more and the action unfolded quite naturally, moving from place to place as the heist proceeded but all the while framed in the familiar-looking Battlefield combat mechanics. It was pretty sweet, I must admit.

And then they dropped the show’s biggest bombshell: they announced that the Battlefield: Hardline beta is live as of the event. You need to head over to Battlefield.com, choose your platform and sign into your Origin account and off you go should you be chosen. When I tried I got a server error, but I will keep trying and you should too.

And that was EA’s 2014 E3 conference. I liked what I saw, but of course would like to have seen more, and hopefully that’s exactly what will happen in the coming months.