This is the third installment of the Bioshock series, but is not a direct sequel from the first or second.
Here you play a man named Booker DeWitt who needs to get rid of debts by getting and handing over a girl from a place called Columbia. Columbia is a city that floats in the sky. The girl is named Elizabeth.
I was looking forward to this game for a while now and I loved the first two. I knew this one would be very different, but I had no idea what it was going to be like.
I really can't tell you more about the plot because this kind of game is better experienced than for me to tell you too much, but it's very smart and well written. The characters are interesting, the game play is exciting, the action/shooting parts are great fun and the plot is better than most movies out there today. I enjoyed the hell out of it and the ending was something I totally did not expect.
There's a reason this game has won 85 awards and is getting 10's or close to perfect for a lot of game review sources.
PLAY IT!!!!!
4 and 3/4 for me out of 5 only because the last half hour of play is overflowing with information and I would've liked it to slow down so I could better process everything that happened.
Since I finished playing Mass Effect with its original ending and then found out about the "revised" version, I figured I might want to address the new ending in a new post.
I posted my experience of the original already in an earlier post so this one will just cover the new ending.
So now we have 4 different endings.
When I started replaying the end scene after I had talked with the catalyst, I was so mad at it for still forcing me to make a decision, I just shot at it and I discovered the ending where you make no decision. It got pissed off and said the cycle would continue and that was it.
Then I re-picked my original choice of synthesis and saw all the added stuff....The relays not completely blowing up, extended scenes of my crew mourning my death, the Earth being saved, planets get rebuilt, people live, etc. etc.
If you've played the game or done any research you'll see the original 3 endings of destroy, synthesis, and controlling the reapers have been "updated" a bit. What I was missing was the original beauty of the first endings. I know a lot of people were mad over them, but what they had, the rewrites were missing, and that's emotion, beauty, and an artistic heartbreaking end.
Video games now-a-days, can be just like movies. Just as entertaining as movies, with either just as good a script, or in this game's case, even a better script than most movies. What I loved about the entire series, is the writing, the characters, the fantastic story, and the original ending did not let me down in those cases. Sure I was disappointed that it was over, only because I never wanted it to end at all. I wasn't mad at the ending itself, in fact, the music, the cinematography, the quiet and stillness of a dialogue-less ending in the last few minutes was so emotional for me, I just cried.
The utter braveness of the Commander not just stepping into her/his fate, but in my case, running into the beam of energy with all the strength she had left, knowing this would give the galaxy peace, finally, it was so emotional. I still think about it sometimes and it makes me tear up, it was really well done and beautiful in my opinion.
When a story ends, you have to accept it, the way it was written. It pissed me off that "fans" demanded that that was not the ending, that it be changed. No one does that with books, or movies, or tv shows....Once it's done, it's done and BioWare was actually really generous trying to go back and give the bitching "fans" some more explanation.
Good stories, don't tell you everything, they let you discover what the ends means to you, personally. How you interpret it, is up to you, and there's nothing wrong with that. Maybe for people who can't think critically, or think for themselves and need to be told every last detail had problems with the original ending, but I didn't. I really enjoyed it and thought it was perfect the way it was. It was tragic, and heroic, sad and beautiful all at the same time. It gave me a real feeling, an experience, it wasn't just a video game by the end, it was an adventure that was personal to me all the way through to the very end, and it was great ride.
It's the best damn video game I have ever played, and probably always will be.
For me it was perfect the way it originally ended and that was all I needed.
I don't even know where to start with this game.
I've had it for almost year knowing that once I finished it, there wouldn't be anymore to the story and that was a very sad thought. I enjoyed Mass Effect 2 so much, that I didn't want it to end. I knew I missed out on the first Mass Effect because it wasn't previously available on the Play Station 3 (now it is, but I still don't have it.) But not having played that first one, really didn't affect my enjoyment of the game and I didn't feel lost (ok, maybe the tiniest bit here or there, but not enough to really notice.)
I have already reviewed the 2nd one in a previous post. I loved it and said it was the best game I had ever played, and I sincerely doubt that another game will ever come along in my lifetime to beat that one.
And I wasn't the only one raving about ME2. It seemed everyone I knew loved it and it got glowing reviews.
So when the 3rd and final one came out, there was a lot of expectations, a lot of anticipation, and also a lot of fear that it would not live up to all the hype.
I, personally, expected a lot, but also thought if the second one was as good as it was, that this one would be just as good. Being that this is the last installment in a series of 3, it had to be final. It had to be epic, it had to be, and I knew people would die. The second one is still my favorite, only because, if one of my crew died, I knew I could go back and change a decision somewhere to save them. I didn't have that chance in this one, and it was painful to see some of my crew go.
The second one was epic, thrilling, entertaining, and funny sometimes. It was a great mix and even included the chance at romance with almost anyone in the game that was a major character. It was a fun ride and I thoroughly enjoyed it. When it was over, I just played it again and again, trying out different things to see what was different. I walked away knowing it was the best game I ever played, and would never forget it.
While it was mostly fun and thrilling, it also had a few touching moments.
The third one was thought-provoking and powerful. It has a lot of moments that might make you well up with tears. I certainly shed quite a few throughout the story. You have to make some heart-wrenching decisions that determine whether entire species are saved or lost forever. You have to sit and watch while people or alien races around you die and there's nothing you can do to save them, I'm talking millions of people, and worst of all, I had to watch my love interest slowly die after he tried to protect me.
It is simply an amazing story to watch unfold and to know that you're story is different than other players, due to your individual choices makes it that much better of an experience, personal to you, and like no one else's.
At first I felt a bit embarrassed being so emotionally connected to a video game, but I thought, a story is a story. And a good or great story like this one, is great to find. Whether it be a book, movie, television show, and yes, even video game - a great story makes you feel things, it makes you care about the characters, it makes you invested, no matter how hard you resist.
The characters are incredibly well detailed, well thought out, well crafted, and each one, important to the story. Every single one is different and interesting. Some get under your skin, some make you laugh, some make you cry, and some even make you fall in love with them. The villains are easy to hate and good at being bad asses. The good guys, of course, are heroic and flawed as well, just as real people are, but you always root for them to accomplish their mission.
The cinematic quality of this story rivals real films. The framing of shots, cinematography, the animation, and score are all excellent Story line is better than most movies, I'd say 95% of today's movies cannot touch how good this story is.
I could go on and on about how fantastic this all is, but I've realized I haven't told you the plot.
Let's get to it!
From the last Mass Effect, you, Commander Shepard, put together a varied and talented team from all over the galaxy to fight a mutual enemy that no one believes is real....The Reapers. Believed to be a myth, no one ever thought all life throughout the universe would be threatened by these huge entities. While collecting your team in the last game, you are also trying to raise the alarm to anyone who will listen that the Reapers are real and they are coming to destroy us all. Of course, no one listens, and by the end of the game you are proven right with the final shot of ME2. (I am not spoiling the game for you, by the way, so no hate mail please.)
Along the way, you make a ton of little and big decisions in ME2 that come to fruition in this game, so I made my choices carefully, and also found myself attracted to one particular character and started a love relationship with him, and only him. Truth be told, I liked a couple male characters, but I'm always loyal to one person in real life, so that's how I decided to be in the game as well. Like I said earlier, I felt a bit embarrassed to be emotionally invested in characters in a video game, but I've been doing some research. Turns out the creators of my love interest in the game were specifically aiming to make him attractive to women. I'm glad I found this out, makes me feel like they were trying to get me to notice him, which, I really did. The character they made was quite intriguing. I read an article where they showed his inception and how they drew him, his look, the way his look evolved. It was fascinating.
So, ME3 starts off well, with you on Earth working for the Alliance (a human military operation based on planet Earth) doing day to day stuff. You're still trying to get people, especially people of power, to listen to your concerns about the Reapers coming, and while you are trying to still succeed at that, Earth is suddenly under attack by the Reapers. They are huge individual spaceships, incredibly dangerous, and almost impossible to kill. They land on Earth and start destroying everything in their path, collecting people along the way and killing massive amounts of others. The people they collect become mere shells of their former selves, and are slaves to the Reapers who either kill or collect more people. You are forced to leave Earth behind as the attack has just barely begun. You truly are the only hope of saving Earth, and the galaxy, and you must leave your home to stay alive and defeat them once and for all.
Throughout ME3 you meet up and sometimes re-recruit your old team from ME2. Whoever was still alive at the end of ME2 you will see in one way or another during the course of the game. You may not get to work with them again, but you'll get an update as to what happened after the end of the last game and where they are headed. I finally got to see what my previous decisions affected and now it makes me wonder who I could've saved, had I made different decisions. People died in this game due to what I decided previously but I went with the only information I had at the time, just like you do in real life, and you only learn they were mistakes after they are made.
Anyway, after you've got all the help you can get with teammates, and other alien species, the final fight comes around and it is a doozy! I died several times in the last hour of the game from all the biggies I had to fight.
And then, the part I was dreading came around, the end.
The end of the game was a little of what I expected, but a lot more spiritual and gut-wrenching then even I thought it could be. I was very satisfied with the ending and it was spectacular to watch.
I will talk about the ending down at the bottom of the article so as to not spoil it for anyone who hasn't played it yet. And if you haven't played it, you're missing out on a phenomenal, epic, moving story that you will never forget, I promise. This story would be on my short list of recommendations of things to do before you die, that's how fantastic this story is. I am not kidding you. It. Is. That. Good.
Mass Effect 2 got a 5 out of 5.
Mass Effect 3 is no different, 5 out of 5.
For both I'd give it a 100 out of 5 to give you an idea of how much I loved both.
PLAY THIS GAME PLEASE!!!!
It's so breathtaking, beautiful, and amazing. It's gripping, emotionally charged, and fascinating.
Anyway, here's a look at one of the trailers for Mass Effect 3. Watching it will not ruin anything for you, story wise.
HERE COMES ME TALKING ABOUT THE END OF THE GAME SO, IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED IT, I REALLY SUGGEST: DO NOT RUIN THIS FOR YOURSELF. PLAY IT AND THEN COME BACK AND READ UP ON THIS.
For me this is how the end of the game went.
I chose the middle option, or the "green" option as some people call it.
The choice of organic life and artificial life combining DNA.
To me, this did not mean that everyone instantly became cyborgs. I interpreted it as over time, people could mate with robots and have hybrid children. And artificial life became independent and able to have children of their own, if they chose to. It made it a real possibility for Joker and EDI to have a sexual relationship, and have offspring, when before it was impossible. But, upon seeing Joker's eyes shining bright electric light, and his skin has the quality of a green shining microchip, I realized, it really is an instantaneous reaction of organic and artificial life living in one body of all entities. Cool idea, but that's the only look you get, so I wonder how that works.
I knew the "child" was something the A.I. downloaded off of Shepard's memories to have something familiar appear to her and be less scary. I'm imagining the Catalyst was something beyond human comprehension and needed to appear as something the viewer would not be afraid of and something recognizable.
I actually thought the catalyst was the highest advanced alien ever in the galaxy, something that was organic, strictly living on a higher plane than ours, some race that had evolved over eons that didn't become robotic, but in the game, Shepard referred to it as an A.I. In truth, the child is an AI that created the Reapers to control the advancement of organic civilizations getting too far advanced; thus killing any civilization that was capable of making artificial life smarter than who created it. The Reapers, every 50,000 years, go through the galaxy to clean up advanced civilizations. The AI is engaging in God like behaviors and preserving itself as well as organic life, but it's a moral dilemma. I'm a bit torn. I mean, of course it's not a good idea that organic life wipes itself out by creating robots that gain independence over time and start a war, but at the same time, killing all those innocent people because of what one entity thinks will happen in the future is not fair either.
It's interesting to consider that this AI is controlling everything, literally everything in the galaxy. Something that had to be created from an organic civilization somewhere long long ago.
The AI said that the created always rebel against the creators and the creators are always going to lose. Certainly something to think about...I mean this game is making a statement about humanity, life, and intelligence, it's not just a video game. It's a warning of making artificial life so real that it wants to take our place and becomes smarter than us. That eventually, all organic life would fall at the hands of what it created and there would be no more humans, no more organic life forms anywhere. Very interesting to think about.
So the other endings that I didn't choose:
I couldn't destroy all artificial life thinking of EDI and the Geth. I had earlier chose to save the Geth over the Quarians so, to me, that wouldn't have made sense at all. (But in this ending, if your military strength is high enough, Shepard lives at the end, the only ending to play out this way.)
I didn't want to just control the Reapers either and die without going on somehow, so that wasn't the best option for me either.
Although, I do have to say once my love interest died, I wanted to die at the end of the story too, so that hopefully, they would've had us together somehow in the afterlife together and make it a "happy" bittersweet ending. But I was always sure Shepard would sacrifice her/himself to get the job done and save Earth, and the galaxy.
But, I'm still happy with the powerful ending they gave. I'm glad at least some of my crew survived, even though they had to start all over again on a new planet with no ship and no mass relays. I'm glad I saved the galaxy and Earth, but sad that so many races are stuck where they were during the battle since all the relays got destroyed, and some can never go home. Earth, after all, is not a planet that all the species can live on, due to different pressure, diet, and breathing problems.
Yes, I saved the world and the galaxy from the Reapers. That's what I was born to do in that game. My sole mission. I completed my destiny, but I just wished I could've saved my love interest too.
I do have a few small concerns that could've been easily fixed in the game.
I created a relationship with Thane. At first, he had decided to die in battle since he had a terminal illness without any cure developed to save him yet. When you meet him, he's trying to kill a target and thought he would die in the process. He was fine with that, but upon meeting Shepard and hearing of her upcoming suicide mission, he decides he must help, and will probably die that way. When you start romancing him though, his thought process changes. He finds his son and finds a new possible, love of his life. He's suddenly afraid of death and losing people that are precious to him. He wants to live as long as possible by the end of ME2, but at the beginning of ME3 he's gone back to his old thinking. Suddenly, he's resigned to death again, and there's nothing you can do to change that. I don't like the flip flop of his character, he should still be fighting to stay with you and stay alive. Plus, I hear other characters that you romance get these little date like moments in the game, with Thane, you don't. A brief, but meaningful playfulness at the Citadel hospital is all you really get while he's alive. A sex scene that isn't, and then he gets mortally wounded trying to protect you and others. Due to his disease he cannot be saved, and why not? Really because the BioWare people decided you have no say in the matter. The cure the Hanar are working on does not come into play, a transplant talked about in ME2 does not factor in, new advancements in medi-gel and medicine talked about in ME3 also does not factor. You watch him die in the hospital next to his son, who donated blood, but it just wasn't enough to save him. You are powerless (and a bit stoic about it on screen in the game, bothered me...) absolutely powerless in the game to help him. Why not fight next to him in the scene where he got stabbed? Why not have him last at least long enough to fight next to me in the final battle? Why couldn't he die later on in the game, or not die at all after he gets help from the Hanar?
I know it all sounds like I'm going bonkers over little details, but Thane was the love of my life in that game. I got really excited at seeing him in this game and looked forward to his scenes. Just a bit disappointing to me, a big Thane/Shepard fan. Plus after he dies, no one on the Normandy gives you any acknowledgment that he died. No one says how sorry they are for your loss. The only one who does say anything about his death was the man that killed him, and he taunts you with it. Pretty insulting to me.
Anyway, you do get a posthumous email from Thane on the Normandy after you return. He tells you how deeply he felt for you and it is special. I did read it a few times through tears to catch all of it, it was well done and meant a lot to me, but I wished for more interaction with him while he was alive.
Despite these missteps, I still loved the game and will probably play through it a few more times, now that I have the add-ons I thought I had already, plus the extended cut of the ending. I know they're coming out eventually, with another Mass Effect game, but from what I understand, it is not going to be a continuation of Shepard's story. I will have to look forward to whatever is to come from the BioWare people in the future.
It's such an amazing game!
I was really enjoying this game until the bugs just killed the fun for me.
In short, if you know what Fallout 3, or Fallout New Vegas was like, this is the same company doing the same set up but with swords and dragons...if you don't have Fallout as a reference here's a quick discussion.
Beautiful graphics and stunning dragons.
The game is a single player first person shooter. You are the character (and you get to choose many things like gender, race, hair, make-up for girls, facial structure, all sorts of stuff down to eyebrow shapes, and jawlines) in an open world when you can go anywhere and do anything you like. Kill everyone you meet, sure. Kill only the bad guys, yes....whatever you want. I chose to be a large race of cat people called Khajit. I'm a beautiful female cat with distinct facial markings and a fur pattern unique to me. Sorry I can't show you a picture of me but trust me, I'm a fine looking kitty.
This is a giant. Do not mess with them unless you absolutely have to! They are fearsome things!
When your character is introduced you are being held captive and about to be executed when a dragon, something that was mythological in this fantasy world too, attacks and causes havoc. You escape and that's when your journey begins.
You have tasks that you pick up along the way, major storyline plot points, and lesser, errands if you will, for common folk. Stuff that is completely optional and has no effect on your main story line. But, if you're like me, you like to explore as much as possible and be nice to people who have done you no harm. Usually, doing something to help someone out makes them like you, if they like you they may offer up treasures, rewards, or offer themselves to help you on your quests and fight along side you.
Watch out a frost troll! Kill them with fire!
I have picked up all sorts of awesome weapons, blades, swords, war hammers, magical, and enchanted weapons along the way. I've learned magical spells, hired helpers to follow me, made friends that have followed me into battle, and last night, I just had a 15 minute long conversation with a dragon.
All in all, it was going really well and I was enjoying myself, despite the fact that the game is so large, as far as memory goes, that bugs kept making the game freeze or other problems would occur.
A few weeks ago a major bug popped up and I lost 5 days worth of work, a few missions, treasures, and lots of gold coin. This angered me so bad that I stopped playing for a while. I just recently returned to right before the problems happened and have started playing again. I was trying to get to the end of the game and just ignore what stuff I lost, but the end is not in sight yet. I'm eager to get back to Mass Effect 2 and finish my replaying of that so I can download my progress into Mass Effect 3 and begin my last journey to save the world there.
Gorgeous cities to look at complete with waterfalls.
Overall, it's a fun game, but a bit repetitive. I don't mind so I enjoyed it.
It was a fantastic story and I loved all the freedom of choice I had. I only wish I could've finished the game somehow, but bugs persisted to the point where missions could not be completed and information just didn't load properly.
Maybe on the greatest hits collection of this game will all the bugs be gone and I will have to start fresh, but at least, able to complete the full story.
4 our 5 joysticks for being entertaining and fun to play.
Just wanted to say I now have Mass Effect 3 in my hot little hands and I can't wait to play it.
Well, I kinda' can because once I start it and finish it, there aren't anymore to look forward to after that.
Bittersweet really. But I'm looking forward to what's in store for this game, the last one was just simply amazing.
But, I gotta' finish Skyrim first. I've had a bug problem with it and now have lost 5 days worth of work and exploring just to realize I have to go back to that point and start over from there. I'm dragging my feet since I've had a LOT of problems with this game and just don't want to deal with it again.
The breakdown: This is a cute addictive strategy game if you like to watch cute zombies killed by cute plants.
I downloaded this game off of popcap years ago and I'm still playing it and enjoying it.
It's family friendly and just about everyone I know who likes games likes to play this game.
It starts in your backyard where you are tutored from a small amount of easy zombies up to the roof where you end the game with very hard zombies to kill.
It's very cute, humorous, addictive, and so fun to play.
Besides going through the normal game, you have a Zen garden to tend to, lots of mini games, and puzzles, as well as collecting money and buying special things to help you along the way.
Released: February 2010
Action Adventure Single Player
Rated: Mature (drugs, violence, sexual situations, adult language)
The breakdown:
How far would you go to save someone you love? This engaging cinema like game makes you make big decisions fast to answer that very question.
This was a highly anticipated game when it was released. The graphics are STUNNING! They took state of the art digital renderings of actual actors faces and put them on screen in fantastic realism. What you see is basically what these people actually look like. At the time I played it, I was really amazed. I also had a huge crush on the FBI agent, which at the time, I was embarrassed to admit since I thought it was just a video game character and not based on a real person. Now that I've seen the actor (Leon Ockenden), he's totally, totally HOT (and British)!
The premise is that you start out as a man named Ethan Mars. He's a father with two kids and a wife. Through a series of events one of your children gets kidnapped at a large outdoor public place and your wife blames you which leads to a divorce. You live in a very gloomy rainy city and there's this serial killer that uses extended periods of rainfall to drown victims. The killer is referred to as the Origami Killer and this person has your child. The killer tests you through the game to see how far you are willing to go to save your kid. During the game you interact and become 4 different characters which keeps things interesting and you on your feet. It's stylized like film noir and is very realistic. It's very replayable since you can make thousands of different decisions and probably hundreds of outcomes at the end. I thoroughly enjoyed it and played it twice myself.
Released: September 2011
First person melee combat
Rated: Mature (lots and lots of gore and blood)
The breakdown: This is a fun game where you get to kill zombies up close and personal.
Ahh, the island of Banoi. A beautiful tropical island in the South Pacific where you can lay out on the beach all day, explore, or get killed by a whole bunch of zombies.
So you wake up and discover your vacation is over. People are all infected with a virus that turns them into zombies, but somehow you are immune. For the most part, you run around the island tracking down objects, helping people, and of course, killing zombies.
The weapon I felt best with was a home made combination of a electrocution element with something with a blade. You had a lot of choices for weapons between knifes, guns, pipes, bats, shovels, sticks, and then you can modify them into maces, flaming weapons, and electrical zappers. So I thought the most fun for the game was making a new weapon and trying it out. My least favorite thing was getting lost on the island with no idea of where to find what I was looking for. It's an open world so you can explore as much as you like and it certainly looked beautiful and peaceful when you weren't being chased by walking dead people.
You have your choice of being 4 different people. I picked the British woman who used to be a police officer to be better with guns, but I discovered I liked knives better.
Overall, it was fun and very bloody. Sometimes scary, and sometimes hysterical (especially when you get to run down zombies with a car). The inner city was FILLED with tough zombies and human bad guys so that was my least favorite place to play because it was so damn hard to survive.
I think most people would be better off just renting it and playing it through once because I don't see much enjoyment in playing it repeatedly.
Released: 2008
Scary as Hell Science Fiction
1st person shooter
Wow! This is the scariest video game I have ever seen. I can't say the scariest I played because, well, I just couldn't play it. I had to watch someone else play through it, but I was just as scared.
Let's go through the premise first.
You are space engineer, Isaac Clarke travelling on a space craft with a whole crew of people riding out to check on the Ishimura. The Ishimura is a very large mining space craft that lost communications with Earth after finding an alien artifact and is drifting out in the far reaches of outer space. You're job is to get on board and repair communications. The problem with this plan is once you and your team arrive, you all discover it's whole crew is dead. Some alien life form is aboard and either killing, or turning everyone into a mutated abomination. You run into the latter A LOT and no matter what you are doing or where you are in this game, you are never safe. Your mission becomes your own survival.
It was awesome!
Here's a clip from the very beginning of the game. This is the mini film that plays before you start the game. Warning! This video may disturb you, or scare you. Don't turn the volume way up either.
You find some laser or plasma cutter weapons (good for shooting off limbs) and a few of your crew are isolated and let you know what they need around the ship to get out and survive this thing. You are the only one they can rely on and so that's basically the game. But on a personal level, your girlfriend was one of the members of the Ishimura crew and you hope she is still alive. You in fact, got a brief hologram message from her before the game starts and that's kinda' why you're going. So partly, you're doing stuff to help others, partly, you're looking for her.
This is a perfect game to play in the dark around October just for the scary as all get out feeling you get right away at the opening sequence.
It was so well done, so many good scary creatures, settings, sound effects or lack thereof when it was scarier, everything was really good. You never feel like a badass, you never feel safe, always on the edge of your seat trying to get to some sort of safety this was a fantastic unforgettable game.
I'll give you an example of how different it functions from the norm.
Usually, in a game you have to upgrade your equipment, or repair weapons, etc. Well in this game, you have work benches where you repair your weapons and in other games, this would be a "safe" spot. Where once you get there you can do whatever you need to and the game kind of pauses the outside world. Not true here. We fixed up our guns and as soon as we were getting out of that screen this gigantic arm scrapes across our field of vision. You turn around and there's this huge monster there that wasn't there when you went to the bench. Those are the kinds of touches that make this game so unique and scary. Just like the real world, if you needed to fix your weapons, the monsters would still have a great chance to sneak up on you.....just terrifying in this game!
Here's a clip from youtube. Sorry for the ad at the beginning and pay no attention to the Finish Him red box at the beginning. I can't remove it.
Warning! This video clip is scary, don't watch it in the dark or if you're easily scared.
P.S. on play through of this game, just when I thought it couldn't get any scarier, it did. It's just amazing and if you like the crap scared out of you, this is the game to play.
Highly recommend!
I give it 5 out of 5 joysticks for it's creepy atmosphere and consistently keeping the player on the edge of your seat for the ENTIRE game. You never get to relax.
Released: 2011
First person shooter
Violent Crime Thriller
I was hoping this game was going to be like Heavy Rain, but it wasn't (well, the facial recognition software is).
The plot is that you are a new police officer, Cole Phelps, working in the post war Los Angeles area of 1947. LAPD had a terrible reputation historically at that time with lots of crooked cops and unsolved or botched crimes. You are thrown head first into this drama after serving in the Army during World War II and receiving a war hero status.
I love, love, love this genre and time frame. Lots of Art Deco designs, a simpler America, and more innocent time than what we are today. I love Noir films and thought this could be a very interesting game. The acting is great and the animation technology they used allows for great detail in actor's performances. So when you're playing this game, you will recognize some actors from film and television. The animation is that good.
Here's a clip of the technology behind the performances so you get an idea of the kind of detail I'm telling you about. It's really amazing.
The acting alone was excellent. I enjoyed the storyline, but driving around the streets got monotonous after a short while and I was sometimes frustrated that I couldn't make more decisions on my own (perhaps this is due to the fact that I'm terrible at figuring out when someone's lying and that's huge in this game). You do have to do interrogations and track down the criminals, but the process for me, was sometimes incredibly frustrating if you didn't ask the suspect in just the right manner. There's definitely a linear storyline here and you basically have to follow it to get to the end. The character I played, I really could identify with until they made him make a mistake (it's written into the story so it can't be avoided). I totally thought this "mistake" was out of character for him and it distracted me from the game. If they would've given me some more explanation as to why he did what he did, I might have enjoyed his character more. There's also a point where you have to become a second character for a while. This I didn't enjoy. I was already used to being one person and then to force me to be someone else, was a bit disruptive. The ending is certainly final, I'll give them that. I was a bit disappointed with the storyline at the end, I think it easily could've been written a different more satisfying way.
One final thing. A strange thing, but not the first time this has happened to me. I found while I was playing my character, I got really intrigued by him. I must say, a bit attracted to him as well. If the characters looks hadn't been copied by an animation program I would worry for myself, but since this actor is a real guy, it's not so strange. In real life, Aaron Staton is cute as well. I haven't seen him act in any movies or tv but I hear he's been on Mad Men.
Here's a snippet of the game.
4 out of 5 joysticks since this game could've had a better ending, less time spent in a car driving, and a different character flaw that was more believable for Cole Phelps.
Note: If you're interested in Heavy Rain, there is a separate review for it in a different post.
I'm adding a new category to my blog. That would be a video game review from either a Playstation 2, Playstation 3, or Wii platform.
I'm starting by reviewing the best video game I have ever played in my entire life!
Mass Effect 2 is an interactive first person shooter where your decisions have little and big consequences throughout an entire series of games. Mass Effect started on XBox, which I don't have, so I don't have the experience of playing that first section, but the 2nd one is awesome. It's mainly a science-fiction storyline, but I know everyone who's played it has loved it. It's highly entertaining, even if you don't care for outer space games.
At the beginning of this game, it does a small synopsis of the first Mass Effect, if you haven't played it. If you play it on an XBox then the first game info transfers to the 2nd game and it registers each and every decision you made from that game. Kinda' cool, but I have a Playstation so I couldn't do that.
Anyway, you can choose to make your character, Commander Shepard, a male or female and pick out all the little details like facial structure, hair color, and an outfit. I have played through the game 3 times now, and twice I was a female, once I was a male. It affects the story a little so I wanted to see what the changes were. The female lead actress is much better than the male lead. Not sure why they missed the mark on that, but the actress has a lot more emotion and inflection in her voice than the guy.
Commander Shepard starts out on the old ship from the first game that gets blown up. Your character dies saving someone else's life and a secret organization called, Cerberus, brings you back to life with a few improvements. You're their pet project for 2 years (while you are unconscious) and you awake sooner than expected. Cerebus contacts you through someone/thing called the Illusive Man (voice acted by Martin Sheen.) He shows up through a hologram on the new and improved Normany ship they built for you. Problem is you can't tell if he's a robot or a person through this hologram, his eyes are mechanical. Or maybe he's a group of individuals for all I know. He tells you that there's this alien race (The Collectors) that looks like it wants universal control and will kill just about everyone to get it, but starts with abducting human colonies. No one believes in a race called The Reapers that are even worse. The Reapers are supposed to be a long extinct dangerous alien race and isn't really in anyone's mind, everyone thinks of them as a possible legend at this point, since no one has seen one for ages. Turns out the Collectors and Reapers are working together. The Illusive man confides in you, that if you cannot figure out what's happening in time, no one else will be able to survive these attacks. You are humanity's, and ultimately the universe's last hope. You end up having to start collecting different team members to add to your new and improved ship for the big mission.
The characters that you pick up are different in all regards. Different sexes, races, species, everything. Each one is very well thought out, intriguing, and has their own special abilities. Special abilities fall into a few categories - weapons, technology, telekinesis/mind powers, and a kind of improved body/biotech power - with several mini-abilities within those categories. To upgrade yourself and your crew you have to travel around the universe to harvest minerals from planets. This can monotonous at times, but fun when you find anomalies (surprise missions).
It's a cinematic game with lots of story lines, dialogue, romantic opportunities, action, and lots of big decisions to make. What you decide may eventually lead to an entire alien race being destroyed in the next game.
I struggled with these decisions and there is more than one time where I just didn't want to decide at all. Neither race was anyone who I had had a problem with, neither one did I want to lose, knowing I could need both of them to help me with the next big battle in the final game, Mass Effect 3.
You also get to decide if you want to start romantic relationships with people on the team. It's just amazing how much fun this game is to play. I hesitated by a week to finish it because I just didn't want it to end.
I really became emotionally invested in these characters that had been developed so well. It's hard to see any of them die in the final battle if you don't play your cards right. The more you fail at things during the game, the more teammates you could lose fighting the super bad guys at the end.
This game has humor, romance, great action, suspense, drama, tension, scary parts, and everything you would need to make a fantastic game. Even the soundtrack is terrific! There are tons and tons of trailers on Youtube.com but I included one that shows off a lot of different aspects of the game. Take a look!
I think I could play this game through 10 more times and not get tired of it. So far, I've always lost at least one member of my team, which is so frustrating, but I did the best I could at the time.
I cannot wait until the 3rd and final one comes out! It's going to be so good (I hope). At least, it looks incredible from the teaser trailers I've seen for it. I'll show you one of those too!
If you already have a platform that supports this game, play it! If you have no video game system at home, this would be a game where I actually recommend you buy one of the platforms just to play it. Everyone who has played it loved it, and critics across the board have given it a very very high score. Game Informer magazine reviews every video game made. They have a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the very best. Mass Effect 2 received a 9.5 score. It is not to be missed!
5 out of 5 joysticks for me. This game could only be better if it never ended!
