Summary
EA, otherwise known as Electronic Arts, is quite a diverse publisher. It handles anything from sports games like Madden NFL and FIFA to RPGs like Dragon Age and Mass Effect and even life sim games, survival horror, FPS, and Star Wars. It may not have the same prominence as Naughty Dog or CD Projekt Red when it comes to narrative, but there are plenty of solid contenders.
Because of EA’s history of rocky launches, poorly handled MTX, a shift to multiplayer live-service games, and some underwhelming Double-A originals, the developer often doesn’t garner the best reputation. However, these are the EA games that prove it’s still in the game.
Perhaps EA’s most famous and well-known video game series aside from sports titles is The Sims series. There’s truly no other life sim series as detailed and innovative as this one, and it’s remained one of the highest-selling, with The Sims 3 encompassing the perfect combination of featuresacross all the games in the series.
The Sims 3 launched in 2009 and yet it has more to offer than its 2014 sequel, which is really saying a lot. It’s brilliant at making it seem like you have no limits to the customization of the characters and game map, and it lets your imagination run wild into creating the fictional ‘ideal’ life you want to live out.
Apex Legends is the game with probably the most interesting development story for an EA hit. It’s set in the same universe as Titanfall, largely because it was being worked on by Respawn after Titanfall 2, but it then went in a completely different direction after online battle royale games took off. Therefore, instead of Titanfall 3, you have Apex Legends, and it’s now become one of the most successful online multiplayer games.
As alluded to above, Apex Legends is a battle royale video game using the Titanfall universe where you can choose from a roster of Legends that each come with unique sets of abilities. What makes it even better than most games of its kind is its commitment to LGBTQ+ representation,featuring playable Legends all across the spectrum.
EA is probably the company you’d least expect to put out a crown jewel of a cinematic Uncharted-style Star Wars game, yet that’s exactly what it did with its developer Respawn Entertainment, no less. In this Star Wars story, you are Cal Kestis, a former Jedi Padawan who survives Order 66 and is now being hunted by the Empire’s Inquisitors.
The customization options for your lightsaber, ship, and droid companion BD-1, the boss battles and mini-bosses, the Force abilities and lightsaber stances, and the planet environments don’t come close to any past Star Wars video game. Fantastic gameplay aside, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor are both wonderful additions to the Star Wars canon and bring so many new compelling characters to the series.
Josef Fares, founder and creative director of Hazelight Studios and the developer of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons before then, partnered with EA under the EA Originals banner for A Way Out and It Takes Two.These are both strictly split-screen co-op games, though the latter found much more success and even took home the Game of the Year Award in 2021.
The storytelling by Hazelight wonderfully takes risks, going from a suspenseful co-op prison break game to a romantic platforming story about two parents trapped inside their daughter’s dolls in an attempt to salvage their marriage. It certainly takes two in this game, and you’ll have a heartwarming and enjoyable time working together to help Cody and May with their platforming puzzles.
Titanfall 2 is EA’s hidden gem masterpiece andone of the most underrated games of the 21st century. From the story campaign to the graphics, wall-running and jetpacks, and the Titan mech suit combat, it’s the perfect FPS in every way. It’s also one of thefastest-paced ones you can play.
The story follows a Titan pilot named Jack Cooper, who gets control of a Vanguard-class Titan named BT-7274 and uses its systems to take care of enemies. Combining standard first-person shooting and mech suit gameplay, Titanfall 2 is a highly unique concept in the genre that might be the last of its breed.
2016’s Battlefield 1 was the highest mark the series reached before it fell off with more lackluster releases and campaigns (or lack thereof). What truly puts this one over the top, aside from jaw-dropping old-gen graphics, is the attention to detail in the historical accuracy, making itone of the most immersive historical games you may play.
This game puts you on the major battlefields of WWI, giving you a wide selection of soldier classes, weapons, air and ground vehicles, and maps to choose from. It’s a very different and more realistic multiplayer war experience, and the campaign stories also take you through different units in the war, including the Harlem Hellfighters.
Battlefield 3 is widely considered the best Call of Duty competitor in the entire Battlefield series. The numbers also don’t lie in its insurmountable success. In the first week alone, Battlefield 3 sold over five million copies, setting a new record for the fastest-selling EA game.
The singleplayer campaign took a more futuristic approach with the fictional concept of the War of 2014, taking place largely in the Middle East. The terrain quality with the Frostbite 2 engine was the most impressive at the time, and also the fact that multiplayer introduced 64-player battles and piloting fighter jets.
BioWare remainsone of the most important video game developersfor its RPGs, and as far as EA-published projects go, Dragon Age: Origins is still lauded by fans as the best of the series. Having so much experience with the genre and already developing the Mass Effect series, Origins was impressively yet another new IP that proved BioWare was a force to be reckoned with.
Since the studio previously handled the development of the Baldur’s Gate games, Origins took a lot of the fantasy themesand isometric RPG elementsbut was still able to create something entirely new and memorable. One of the game’s most notable features, aside from the characters and creature designs, is the option to do a tactical pause mid-battle.
The Mass Effect series is indeed legendary, and, fun fact, it didn’t start as an EA series originally. The first two games were published under Microsoft Game Studios (Xbox) before the third entry was solely published by EA. And, as of 2021, you now have the complete 4K-remastered collection of the Mass Effect trilogy along with all the DLC under the EA-bundled Legendary Edition.
No other sci-fi RPGcomes close to the characterization and lore that the Mass Effect universe was able to achieve.There are so many iconic characters, species, and romance options, coupled with third-person party-based shooting mechanics and branching dialogue options, that you would be more than astounded. Its cast also has some of the best voice actors around, including Hollywood legends.
With Dead Space, EA didn’t just createitsbest game but one of the most genre-defining and historically important horror games of all time.It’s space horror like you’ve never experienced yetin a video game outing.
With clear inspirations from Event Horizon, it puts you in the shoes of engineer Isaac Clarke, bound for the USG Ishimura, a Planet Cracker mining ship where things have gone disturbingly awry.
The various Necromorph enemy varietyis body horror done right, and the scares and atmosphere are accompanied by riveting action set pieces, with some of the finest pacing in the genre. The storytelling and narrative design is one to study, with even the first letters of chapter names being one large acronym for the major plot twist.
