n0wak

Mass Effect

Recommended Posts

There hardly ever seem to be opportunities to use explosive scenery well in Mass Effect, but it often seems to make itself a vulnerability for you.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

When I started playing Mass Effect in December, the first planet I went to was Feros, and this totally put me off. Drab world, lots of boring combat. But this month I was talked into playing it again by a colleague and I must say the other planets are much nicer.

I really wish Mass Effect had less combat though, and instead had more dialog based stuff or maybe even ship-to-ship combat. Maybe I'm not far enough into the game yet, but it seems so weird that you have this huge ship and you're not really using it. I'd love to have some tactical/strategic ship combat, and maybe assign squad members to different ship ops, especially the ones you don't normally take along for away missions.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

First Impressions (about 3hrs into the game)

Blimey... rabbits on a bit, doesn't it? My turn...

So far, it's OK. The story seems reasonable without being patronisning or bone-head stupid. But there's no real "edge" to it; it's sterile, predictable sci-fi pulp.

I'm not overly enamoured with the art style either. Considering the raft of notable visual science fiction styles out there, BioWare have merely succeeded in distilling the most bland and unambitious aspects from each of them. Whilst a lot of people have cited this as a deliberate nod to camp sci-fi, other similarly lazy aspects of the game lead me to believe it's just coincidence.

Already, there's a pervasive sense that the game was originally destined to have another 6 months' development ploughed into it. Take the inventory system for example: 3/4's of the screen is taken up by readouts that provide very little genuinely useful information. The actual inventory list is relegated to the smallest column on the right and is clunky to cycle through. Furthermore, you can't sort your inventory beyond basic types (armour, pistols, upgrades, etc.) which makes things considerably more labourious than they should be.

I'm convinced that BioWare were told they had to ship the game much sooner than planned, and were told this whilst they were in the middle of developing the core game mechanics. It's like they spent what time they had left on polish, which, while amicable, can't disguise the fact the game feels unfinished -- at least in terms of finessing it's various aspects.

The action sections are particularly weak and it's obvious BioWare haven't tackled this sort of game before due to the clumsy and frustrating nature of fire fights.

The controls seem inconsistent and broken, too. Sometimes you can run, other times you can't -- but not because your stamina metre has drained, it's simply that the game apparently won't let you in certain places. It makes no sense. Additionally, the cover mechanic seems like a casual afterthought, the developers having seen how popular it was in the last big third-person 360 franchise, Gears of War. Sometimes you can get into cover, other times your avatar stubbornly refuses to tuck in against a life-saving wall or boulder and is promptly killed again and again.

The questing also seems lazy and by the numbers. I don't think I've played a single BioWare game yet where the main quest didn't properly kick off until you'd been sent to find a down-on-his-luck ex member of the local enforcement agency getting shit-faced in the nearest dive. Mass Effect is no different; even several of the settings I've visited already look as though they could have been lifted straight from either Knights of the Old Republic game.

So, as it stands, Mass Effect isn't doing anything to change my preconceptions that this is nothing more than a basic, over-hyped action RPG. I haven't seen anything that makes it stand out yet, though I'm somewhat compelled to see how the story unfolds.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I haven't seen anything that makes it stand out yet, though I'm somewhat compelled to see how the story unfolds.

At least play to the rape sequence.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Throughout this whole Mass Effect thing I just can't get over how these people are telling such blatent lies about the game. And that no-one is really calling them on it - although good effort by Geoff Keeley (sp?) in the Fox News clip.

This whole thing has seriously damaged my faith in all news reportage now. I mean I knew bias existed in all news media, but actual fabrications? I'm not sure I'll ever trust again. Shit, now I'm sounding paranoid. Can I sue Fox News for maiking me paranoid?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

First rule of popular journalism: scandal sells, fuck the facts. :tdown:

It's also very easy for a popular outlet to quietly bin any dissenting correspondence, until it reaches critical mass and another popular outlet looking to "have a go" decides to pick it up. But that's typically for no less savory agenda-led purposes, i.e. making the competition looks stupid/incompetent. :(

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Is it weird that, after shelving it just before Christmas and pretty much forgetting that I owned it because I got Rock Band, all this coverage has made me pick it up again? Gotta say, really enjoying it all over again, and it's mostly thanks to Fox.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Throughout this whole Mass Effect thing I just can't get over how these people are telling such blatent lies about the game. And that no-one is really calling them on it

The same thing is happening to Bully, again, despite that the BBFC have stood up and defended it before:

the PC World and Currys chain has decided not to stock the game.

"We don't think this is suitable for sale in our stores," said a company spokesperson. "We are careful about what we sell and this is something we have decided not to list."

The National Union of Teachers has called for a ban on the game due to concern over bullying in schools.

"The dialogue about the pernicious effects of bullying appears to have been ignored," general secretary Steve Sinnott told The Telegraph. "It is an encouragement to violence and intimidation, and those things have a major impact on schools."

Niall Cowley, of the charity BeatBullying, was disappointed that the game was created in the first place.

"Some mindless people thought this was a fun, interesting piece of software to create, but it undermines all the hard work that organisations like ours are seeking to do," said Cowley.

Labour MP Keith Vaz also weighed in on the controversy.

"The idea that people should be glorifying bullying is just tasteless," he said.

The games industry in general is absolutely fucking awful at defending itself, though it's nice to see Rockstar trying to counter it with concise PR:

A Rockstar spokesman responded to controversy over the game, which will be rated for ages 15 and up, by pointing out that it is not a game about playing a bully.

"It is about the trials and tribulations of a boy in his first year at school. He protects children against other characters. People have to be able to make their own decisions and to judge for themselves, with an open mind."

It doesn't seem to matter though :(

Some hack or grandstander makes shit up, it's gets reported, then any kind of reasoned response gets ignored by anyone outside the industry.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

And because of the digital chip age in which we live - "Mass Effect" can be customized to sodomize whatever, whoever, however, the game player wishes.

With it's "over the net" capabilities virtual orgasmic rape is just the push of a button away.

Why is it that pro-censorship types seem to have the filthiest imaginations? :erm:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Why is it that pro-censorship types seem to have the filthiest imaginations? :erm:

It is most likely due to projecting their own feelings of guilt and self-revulsion.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Witness the otherwise inexplicable rash of rabidly conservative American politicians turning out to be secretly drug-addled and/or gay.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

That fox show was the best when the spike TV guy outright goes 'Have you played it?', and the psychologist rather dismissivally goes 'No!'.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
That fox show was the best when the spike TV guy outright goes 'Have you played it?', and the psychologist rather dismissivally goes 'No!'.

She actually scoffed! I don't think I've heard anyone actually scoff before.

You can also tell she was full of shit by the way she kept changing her argument. First it was "this game treats women as sexual objects", then it was "their dad's aren't going to be playing it, only 15 year olds" then "gorwn men will be buying it" then "studies show blah blah blah".

What an awful, awful woman. At one point the presenter amost seemed to be coming round to Keeley's side though.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

That's made me think of a SNL sketch they should make.

The roles are reversed and instead of computer games it is women's magazines that are being called to point.

You could easily reverse it:

Female - Have you ever read the magazine in question?

Male pschologist - *snorts derisively* No!

Female - It is very light hearted and in fact it is down the woman reading the magazine as to how she takes it seriously or not, they are about a bit of fun, distraction even

MP - Well what if mummy left the magazine lying around, she might not be home when her daughter gets back from school, and what's she going to do? She's a pubescent girl so of course she is going to say: 'I want to read mature magazines'

Female - That is totally missing the point

MP - Darling, these magazines are designed to make all women into raving, man-hating lesbians who say nothing but masogynistic things

Female - *Stares into camera in disbelief*

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
"Darlin', I gotta go with the research on this one."

Why? Oh, I see; because it lets you conveniently sidestep the truth, whilst simultaneously distracting the slower viewers from the fact you've just been easily and consumately humiliated on live television. :tup:

Right on, expert! You shallow, moronic, spotlight-basking whore.

ignorant-cunt.jpg

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Shallow (I prefer ill-informed), spotlight basking for sure, but whore? She seems to be totally against sex.

I really would like to see how they would react to Fahrenheit, that has at least two sex scenes both quite easily accesible, and also encouraged (the characters become less stressed if successfully triggered). I remember my mind going 'Breast!' during one of them. Doesn't it even make you move the thumbstick/analog stick in time with the humping?

Oh yeah, and of course there is always 'Battle Raper' (never did see if there were sex scenes in that one I got bored with the clumsy battle system and the stupid rubbing mini-games) or any one of the hundreds of Hentai games available for download.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The deciding factor is this: truck-loads of a massive corporation's dollars being spent on advertising it.

And yes she's a whore, because she's being used by Fox to do what Fox wants.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Shallow (I prefer ill-informed) Doesn't it even make you move the thumbstick/analog stick in time with the humping?

I seem to remember hearing that the interactive sex-scenes were removed from the US version of the game.

I think I know why all these people are objecting to the Mass Effect love scene. It's because the women aren't wearing bras isn't it? Everyone knows that in the USA women always keep their bra on during sex. Doing otherwise is probably dangerously deviant. I learned that from TV and movies.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Ahhh, so they had them in Fahrenheit and removed them from Indigo Prophecy. ;)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

EA, of all people, have stepped up to the plate.

I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. The world is a little more sunny today. Or it would be if it wasn't night right now.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, they've certainly got the pots of cash to back this up should it turn nasty. Fingers crossed it actually does become libelous, as Fox have meticulously fucked themselves over on this one before it even reaches court.

Good for EA I say; it's about fucking time this industry started properly defending itself. If there's a retraction issued on live TV, I hope the gaming press runs with it and makes a lot of noise.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now