March 2008 - Posts

• Currently Playing

  It looks like I need to write a few reviews and list out what I am currently playing. Currently Playing Dark Sector (360) So far I am liking it a lot, and it feels a lot like Gears of War, but with some tweaks so that it doesn't make it a direct copy. So far I am very impressed with this title. Rainbow 6 Vegas 2 (360) I am liking this like I enjoyed the first one, but like the first one, but this is a buggy as hell. There is really no excuse for this and I sort of wish that I hadn't bought it just to show that I don't support buggy title releases. Picky and I will be selling this shortly. Universe at War (360) 1up said this was a good RTS in one of their podcasts, so I went out and bought it. Last night, Picky and I played our first match. We didn't know what we were doing, but had fun. It reminds me of Total Annihilation. Posted Mar 29 2008, 10:45 AM by Wolfgang with 3 comment(s) Filed under: Games, Awesome, Wolfgang

• Game Review: Mass Effect

  Yeah maybe a little late to be really useful, but I wanted to wait till I beat it which happened last week (started right after new years). Mass Effect (RPG) Ranking:  7/10 Overall Review: Well, the game took me exactly 40 hours of game time to beat.  That's going through the entire plot and doing all other side missions, including the exploration and collections ones.  Seeing everything the game had to offer I would sum the game up with the following (explained in more detail afterwards): Felt incomplete and possibly rushed to make the holidays Nothing terribly new Interesting/Great use of game concepts Great use of achievements All came together to make an enjoyable, good (but not great) game with great promise on the sequels 1. Incomplete and Rushed It doesn’t take long to see this game was really not ready when it was released.  There are annoying pauses when you enter new areas, long/numerous load times, textures take awhile to pop in, there are basically only 4 maps used for every non-story mission (and story missions comprise maybe 6-8 hours of gameplay), all planets you explore are the same desert with mountains (just colored differently), weapons and armor all look alike (and very little difference stats wise), and most annoying yet, all your items (weapons, ammo, etc.) are lumped in one giant list….no way to organize…and listed individually.  Meaning if you have 10 “shredder bullets rank XII”, you actually have to scroll through ten bullets before reaching the next item (and you acquire tons of them).  Also the AI is one of the dumbest I’ve ever seen, resulting in the enemy either running straight at you or ignoring the fact that you killed their buddy who they were staring at no more than 10 feet away.Now I also say it is incomplete because of 2 things.  There are many in game moments where you are presented with a huge block of text, explaining what your characters experience.  They seem like they were meant to be added as cut-scenes or conversation but they didn’t have time.  The second item are the numerous side quests that have you collect ancient writings or artifacts being told how they have important information.  Each one has a unique one-sentence description hinting at something larger when you find them, but   after getting them all nothing is done with it. Just disappointing. 2. Nothing New You have the ancient, highly advanced extinct race.  Lots of enormous technological relics (from said race).  A hinted at threat to all sentient life which may or may not have been the demise of the ancient race,  Tons of generic acting humanoid aliens who either ignore or look down upon humanity.  And of course humanity being new to the galactic scene, technologically inferior, but through determination/arrogance (and an unstoppable Marine of pure destruction) kick enough ass to save the galaxy, be top dogs and deserve the respect of other leaders.  There are even gameplay elements that are almost identical to an older space exploration game (Star Control 2 to be exact).  Maybe I’m being too harsh but I would have liked to have seen something new. 3. Game Concepts This is where I think the game is at its best.   ·         Conversations: o        This is how most of the story is conveyed and it’s done well.  You choose different attitudes while characters are talking and your guy responds accordingly.  It keeps the flow going and the dialogue is pretty well written, and very sarcastic (in that smartass way).  Choose the renegade options for the most enjoyment.  What’s especially cool are when your 2 teammates talk to each other in the elevators. ·         Space Exploration: o        There are a lot of systems, each one with a planet/spaceship to explore.  Throughout the game you’ll get clues that open up new ones, and as you enter certain systems you’ll get calls for new missions.  The random planet generator they used is interesting but results in similar, barren lifeless deserts with annoyingly placed mountains. ·         Skill/Abilities: o        You have 3 different choices on how to play your character.  You can choose to be able to use all weapons, have mutant abilities, or have tech abilities.  Makes for varied gameplay.  Also you could unlock skills for future generated characters opening up options not available normally (a tech person being able to learn how to use an assault rifle). 4. Achievements While some people may not enjoy the fact that it will take a minimum 3 playthroughs to get all achievements, the fact that many achievements actually slightly impacted gameplay was pretty genius.  They were mostly small stuff, like increased percentage for abilities, increase damage, discounts at stores, opening up skills for future generated characters, but it was neat that these achievements gave you stuff.  Heck it made me get all but the Sniper achievement in my game. 5. Enjoyable Experience While I do think the first two points are rather annoying and distracting at times, they were able to put everything together rather nicely.  Probably because the main characters and their interactions were well written, and they put such detail in backstory (unfortunately you have to be willing to read encyclopedia entries) that you can overlook many of the overused sc-fi clichés.  Since a few more months could probably have solved a lot of issues, I think they are set for awesome sequels.   My recommendation for anybody playing this game: ·         Go renegade all the way ·         Avoid searching planets for anything ·         Don’t waste time to upgrade and shop around   Posted Mar 09 2008, 12:51 AM by Dozens with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Games, Reviews, Dozens