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Nov 25th, 2013 at 21:43:57 - Mass Effect 3 (360) |
A-M-A-Z-I-N-G game, such a fantastic trilogy. Every time I play an ME game, I'm taken all over again by the rich universe. I get absolutely sucked into them. I can tell you about all the races, all the wars, detail the characteristics of all Shepard's past and present squad mates. ME3 impressed me even more than the other two with its narratives, both the overarching series narrative and the tons of stories of relationships between squad mates on the Normandy, between random civilians in the Citadel, and between people/species/organizations of all import.
Everything about ME3 is streamlined even further from ME1 and 2. Movement and shooting feel great, using biotics is awesome as ever, interfaces are excellent and there are improved squad commands. There's a weapon upgrade system with lots of different weapons and upgrades to find and purchase, and they brought armor back. You have to purchase sets and/or pieces and collect them, and you can choose a stock armor set or build your own from the pieces you find.
Anyway, if you're breathing, you probably know something about Mass Effect, so I won't ramble about gameplay details.
You know what was cool? The stakes were high. For Shepard and the entire galaxy. Beat the Reapers or die trying. ME3 was so epic because it concludes the trilogy. It's not about a piece of the puzzle; it's about completing the puzzle, arranging all the pieces that you've found in previous games. You have to bring all the races of the galaxy together to unite against a common enemy. They don't all want to cooperate because they've all got their own squabbles, and you get to make some meaningful choices. I couldn't believe it when a certain masked character I liked a lot in the other games committed suicide after something I did, something I genuinely believed to be a good decision. Another decision I thought was good at the time turned out to probably have been bad, but it was too late by the time I changed my mind, and my stomach twisted because I could see the consequences of my decision in the future.
You have to accrue "war assets," which consists of ships, special personnel, weaponry, schematics, artifacts, and on and on to help with the war effort against the Reapers. You acquire these from doing (side) missions, which don't feel "side" at all. They are every bit as intense as the main story missions and feel almost as meaningful. Maybe you get a distress call from some scientists or you find a Cerberus base and decide to shut it down. NPCs on the Citadel, the mega city in the ME universe, also provide you clues to find war assets. In the Citadel, lots of NPCs will be having conversations with one another that Shepard can overhear, and sometimes even weigh in on. Sometimes these conversations, many of which last almost the entire game (every time you go back, the next part of the conversation plays, which gives a great window into the lives of a variety of people on the Citadel during the Reaper War), drop hints that an NPC needs some object or another. When you're flying around scanning planets, you can find these objects and tell the NPC you found it, and you use it (maybe a downed ship or some medical treatment or something) as a war asset.
Come to think of it though, I'm not actually sure the impact of the war assets. There's a menu, and by the end of the game I had almost every war asset possible (which is a lot), and there was some "galactic readiness" index. Each sector of the galaxy was at 50%. I think this was the online portion of the game that they made to affect something or other in single player. I didn't play online or post to Facebook or any of that, and so I really have no idea what it all does. Is it weird that getting war assets still felt meaningful to me even though they didn't actually do anything? I think that speaks to how much the story impacted me and how invested I was.
Best Mission: Geth server mission and final mission
Best Word Used: some NPC said "fuckton" and I laughed
Thing I Miss Most From Previous ME Games: the Mako. Exploring desolate planets and gazing at the stars was incredible. I honestly think I wouldn't like the series as much if that hadn't been in the first game. It really set the scope of the universe that gets totally abstracted in 2 & 3.
Thing I've Never Done In A Game Before: I took the male-male relationship. In ME 1 & 2, I pursued Liara and Tali (or Tali and Liara..). I don't explicitly remember being able to pursue a male in 1 or 2, but there's a guy, Cortez, in 3 who lost his husband. Cortez was my favorite new addition to the Normandy, and his story was sad and touching. There was a lot more homosexual visibility in ME3 with a solid handful of NPC stories on the Citadel involving gay couples. And it was human-human sometimes, not just the "does it really count" human-asari female relationship. I am always really curious about how race, gender and sexuality are dealt with in games. Usually it is ridiculously poor, but BioWare has a reputation for being forward-thinking and dealing with those issues better. I was really impressed. All the homosexual relationships in the game were treated as normal. They didn't have to do with prejudice over being homosexual or challenges of it or anything. It was presented in the universe as unchallenged, happily acceptable fact. One woman was trying to have her child sent to her after her wife died in duty. The problem wasn't that she was gay and would she turn her kid gay or make her kid have psychological problems or whatever, as it too often is in meatspace, but just that it was dangerous and there were bureaucratic hurdles. No one questioned Shepard and Cortez getting together, and the game showed them making out in a club and did the implied sex scene and even the morning after scene, same as for heterosexual relationships. It was just really touching to see homosexuality presented as normal and not a problem.
And finally...the finale. Wow, lots of people hated the ending huh? My opinion: people like to complain, and once people started complaining, it became cool to hop on the 'crappy ending' bandwagon and complain too. I thought the original endings were fine. One thing people didn't like was that there was no closure. My response to that is to use your imagination. It's YOUR Shepard and YOUR Mass Effect game, so use your imagination to think about what happens after you make one of the (admittedly few) choices at the end. You don't need someone to hold your hand and tell you whether or not the entire Alliance fleet gets stranded on Earth and starves to death or whether or not everyone lives in peace or whatever. Come on! But there are some valid criticisms for sure. One that I didn't see raised in anything I read about it, is that if you pick the ending I did, the final scene with the stargazer makes no sense, because what the stargazer is speculating about would be common knowledge. That final final scene only makes sense in the context of the "destroy" ending, but it plays for all of them anyway. But I'm not picky either, and the DLC endings did give people a lot more specificity about what happened after the ending, and differentiated the endings more.
I love these games so much. 3 of the best games ever made, and taken together definitely one of the best trilogies of any medium.
**Just to edit and tack on something--I wanted to mention my Shepard build because I played it differently than previous ME games. In the first two I did really biotic-heavy builds, I think pure biotic and one that was like biotic and range weapons. Mass Effect lends itself well to a slower, more calculated approach to combat, so hiding behind cover and using Singularity to suspend enemies in the air, then popping out and shooting them with powerful assault rifles, was always a good choice. This time I wanted to change it up, so I went with the close-combat specialist type, Vanguard. The Vanguard's strengths are having tons of health and shields, and having quickly recharging shields. This is necessary because the Vanguard gets up close and personal, specializing in melee and shotguns. I usually supplemented myself with an assault rifle (then sniper rifle in mid-game, then pistol for the last chunk) so I could still hide behind cover and shoot some to make good use of the Vanguards two ammo types. But the Vanguard is built around rushing opponents. Biotic Charge makes you sort of teleport to an enemy, knocking them back and doing damage. Another, Nova, lets you discharge your shields to damage an opponent. Nova isn't on the power cooldown, but you can use it whenever you have shields up. So you can chain Biotic Charge -> Nova to ram and then blast an enemy. If they are still alive, then you shoot em in the face with a shotgun or melee them, since as Vanguard, you've probably invested points to boost melee and shotgun damage.
There is also a "heavy melee" attack that is brutal, and some of the upgrades for Biotic Charge and Nova give some great synergies. By the end, I could use Nova twice in a row, and if I killed an enemy with heavy melee, my Biotic Charge immediately cooled down. I also had another ability from a crew member (each crew member can teach you one ability and you can have one extra ability active) that reinforced my armor and let me discharge that current to regenerate shields. So here's what I got good at doing:
Biotic Charge -> Nova -> Nova -> (if they're still alive) Heavy Melee (which makes Biotic Charge immediately available) -> target another enemy and Biotic Charge -> Nova -> Nova -> Heavy Melee (resets Biotic Charge) -> repeat. Then that extra crew ability was badass because if I ever got shot or ran out of shields, I just used it and refilled them. I could blitz around the battlefield and it was AWESOME once I finally got good at it. It was hard to learn to do though! Enemies in this game could be vicious, and getting close up isn't something you want to take lightly. You've got to be precise if you're playing a close-up type character. Also, it's not the best character build for some of the bigger boss-type enemies. You don't usually want to charge enemies who kill you in one shot. I still used a pure Biotic (Liara) to complement me though. It was fun to have her use Singularity to hold an enemy up in the air, and then Biotic Charge and slam into them while they're suspended. The other crew member I used most was Garrus, primarily for range weapons and Overload, which obliterates enemy shields and armor, something my character wasn't particularly strong at. Anyway, just wanted to share that I played the game almost completely differently from a combat standpoint and I loved it.
This entry has been edited 1 time. It was last edited on Nov 25th, 2013 at 22:27:11.
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Nov 17th, 2013 at 12:04:48 - Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (PS2) |
I gave this another shot...over two years (?!) later. Good news: I got farther than last time. Bad news: The AI is still terrible and I'm getting rid of it.
Last time I must have just been tired or not thinking clearly. I had had trouble assembling a bridge with Luke/Obi because enemies keep coming and interrupting the building process. This time I figured out that if you just kill all but one enemy, you can usually assemble things before getting shot. So no problem there, but your AI companions are still really dumb. They fire a bullet once every 10 seconds or so and stand in the way of things.
It's still awesome to destroy objects and have them burst into Legos, and I went back to the cantina and unlocked some stuff. You can buy different characters like storm troopers and you can purchase random things like disguises (puts fake glasses and mustaches on characters, quite amusing) and a skin that turns your grappling hook into a chain of daisies. There was tons of stuff to buy, but all greyed out so I couldn't see!
I've played other Lego games with my little brother since failing at this one a couple years ago, so I feel like I've played it before. And since it's Star Wars, I already know the story. So all in all, I've got no motivation to spend my time going through it. Also, since I just played Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction, I just kept thinking "this isn't as good as R&C." So I'm gonna gift it to my little brother, who will enjoy it more than me!
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Nov 17th, 2013 at 11:55:32 - Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (PS3) |
I think this was my first Ratchet & Clank game. If I played one back on PS2, then I have no memory of it. The clever titles make me think I’ve played them all though because I always remember “Up Your Arsenal” and a couple others. I hardly ever play games like this, silly cartoony platformers. R&C reminds me of Mario, Sly Cooper, Sonic…games like those. One of the two things that kept me from giving the game a 10/10 was the humor. Some of it was funny but some was too silly (pretty much everything about Captain Qwark), venturing into kid game territory. The other negative, just to get it out of the way, is a UI issue. It’s very easy to select the wrong weapon in an otherwise brilliant weapon selection system. Pressing triangle pauses the action and brings up the weapon select menu, an octagonal menu with each point mapped to a direction on the D-pad (up, down, left, right and all the diagonals). Pressing L1 or R1 while the menu is up switches pages. There are 3 pages each with 8 customizable slots. 24 easy-to-access weapons, items and abilities on a console? Yes, please! The problem is that when you choose a weapon, the selection sometimes doesn’t stick. Diagonals are particularly prone to the problem. Trying to press up-right, for example, very often bounces around from up-right to just up or right and you wind up with the wrong weapon when you exit the menu. It’s hard to explain exactly what happens in writing, but the feeling of it is that the D-pad for the menu is too jittery and there needs to be some way to lock your selection so it doesn’t ‘slip’ as you release triangle and exit the menu. It happened the entire game so I don’t think it was me.
Otherwise, this game was pretty amazing. It took a little getting used to how cartoony it was. Now I appreciate the colorfulness. There’s creativity oozing from the game. The animation is great, enemy and weapon design also a high point. TONS of weapons, very zany armory R&C carry around with them. One is a tornado launcher, and then you control the tornado with the Sixaxis controller. The game makes very cool use of the Sixaxis by the way, something that the Xbox 360 controller was really lacking. Of course that’s moot now that the next gen is underway. Another weapon was an insect swarm. I killed the last boss in about 15 seconds by tossing out insect swarms and blasting him with some mega charge weapon. There were creatures you could toss on the ground that would attack enemies who got near, auto-locking rockets, a crazy disc launcher that ricocheted buzzsaws everywhere. There were also all kinds of neat gadgets and the hacking game was cool, reminded me of Marble Madness. Just a lot of fun stuff!
Another high point was the puzzle sections with Clank. There are these mysterious robot things called Zoni that help Clank when he’s alone. Their actions are mapped to the D-pad too. Approach some when you find them and select “follow” and they spring to life and follow. When something, say a platform you need to cross, can be repaired, select “manipulate” and they fix it up. When something needs to be charged select “charge up” and they will charge it. They also attack enemies. When you need to jump far, select “levitate” and they help you float for a few seconds over obstacles. All this made for some interesting puzzles, but unfortunately none too difficult. I watched a review of A Crack in Time, which the internet says is the best R&C game, and those Clank puzzles look even more awesome because you can manipulate time and copies of Clank. It looks like The Swapper. Anyway, count me a fan of a series I didn’t know I liked!
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Nov 11th, 2013 at 07:58:30 - Infamous 2 (PS3) |
Infamous 2 was pretty much what I expected. Mostly the same as Infamous 1, but streamlined in about every way imaginable. Most noticeable off the bat were vastly improved visuals, actual animated cut scenes, and smoother character animations and controls. I played through again as evil Cole.
They did a better job of the good/evil thing in this game, primarily by adding characters who represented each side. Luo is "good" and Nix is "evil" and they are like the angel and devil on your shoulders when the team is planning an operation. Luo will usually want to do things cautiously and minimize innocent casualties, while Nix will want to use subterfuge or sacrifice innocents or go in guns blazing or whatever. Adding the characters makes the good/evil choices a little less obviously black and white because you see motivations and logic behind both choices. But in the end, the good/evil characters are stupidly reversed. I thought that was really really dumb and didn't make sense. Also I felt a little betrayed by the designers because I wanted to destroy the city with Nix, who I'd been wreaking havok with the entire game.
I also realize the writers suck at penning twists. The 'twist' at the end of the first game was stupid. The twist in this game was...better, but still pretty lame. Here's the thing about twists. Twists should not be where someone tells you a ton of new information that you did not know, could not have known, and otherwise had no clue about. Twists should make you go "OOOOOOH!" For a great twist, there should be subtle hints and clues throughout the narrative. You should be able to guess at the twist, or at the least reflect back and see evidence of it. The movie The Sixth Sense is an awesome example. The twist isn't just "I see dead people" and the viewers go "What?!" The viewers go "OOOOOH" and half my friends rewatched the movie and marveled at how they set up the twist throughout the entire film, but you wouldn't necessarily catch it it was so well done. Anyway, not that the Infamous writers should be master storytellers, but still. Two games, two completely fail twists.
But at least the end of the second game was fantastic! The twist in the first game actually ended the game, came right at the end. The twist in the second one is a little before, and even though it's kinda dumb, everything afterward is incredible, except Nix and Luo switching alignment. You get to cause some mega mega mega destruction, and there's a very touching moment at the end too. I dunno if it's because I played both games back to back or because the second game did a better job of character development, but I felt a tug at my heart when a certain someone passed away. There is definitely room for a sequel again. One is being developed for PS4 but I dunno how it's related yet.
What else...Gameplay is essentially the same. There's a nifty new hotkey for switching powers. Press and hold left on the d-pad to bring up all powers and which button they are assigned to, then press whichever button to cycle through unlocked powers for that button. That's a very efficient scheme for switching powers. They changed the power upgrade system a little too, but I think everything from the first game was still there with a couple additions. The coolest addition is definitely the lightning tether, which works like the grappling hook from Just Cause 2. You can sort of slingshot your way around the city using that and your flight.
There are all the same pickups and mission types. I didn't do but 1/3 or less of the extra missions, and even then only the 'evil' missions. You still go around collecting blast shards, except this time they're indicated on the minimap, which made finding them easier and more fun. I must have collected 95% of them. There are also still dead drops, but instead of satellite dishes that you have to track, they are on messenger pigeons flying around that show up on the minimap. You shoot down the pigeon then go find where it landed. Oh yeah, there are various other ways you can increase your alignment, which are pretty funny. For evil, you can break up groups of protesters and, this is the best instructions "silence street performers," because as Zeke said, "No one likes being forced to listen to that garbage." Haha. So whenever you hear some street trumpet or bongo drums or see a human statue, you can go thwack them and get some evil points.
There is a mission editor and you can play user-generated missions. I tried a few at the end, made by Sucker Punch even, but they are just not very exciting especially compared to the actual game. So no value there for me. I even filtered for highest rated.
Good times.
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