My Game Center

“It’s a way to see the same experience from different sides of the window,” Hudson explains. “Shepard is out there making the important decisions. and from his perspective you can see these Special Forces guys, troops all over the Galaxy fighting. then in multi player you jump over to the other side of the window to be those people, and see Shepard having secured the location now leaving it to you. so it’s a different way of telling the story.”

For the first time in Mass Effect, you can have direct control over a non-human character. there are six races to choose from –Human, Turian, Krogan, Salarian, Asari and Drell– and each race has access to three ‘kits’, Mass Effect 3′s version of character classes. The human class, for instance, allows you to be a soldier with access to explosive munitions, a vanguard biotic able to effectively cast spells, or an engineer. Turians and Salarians are more technically minded, though the latter tends to favour support roles such as medic. while Asari and Drell specialise in biotic powers. The mighty Krogans, meanwhile, are the undisputed tank class, lethal with shotguns or biotics, but most dangerous when charging like a deranged bull, headbutting any goon foolish enough to get close.

You can customise each of your characters’ armour, and you can happily flit between every race and kit, levelling up each seperately. Aided by a relatively low level cap of 20, the setup encourages experimentation, while customisable weapons add further depth to an already layered RPG structure.

Our first mission sees us sent to a map called Slum, a tangled clutch of gutted out metal huts, rusting and stacked upon one another. its detailed and well-designed, with plenty of cover to huddle in and a criss-crossing setup that allows for tactical manoeuvring between each higgledy shack. Despite appearances, control of this area is essential to the war effort, and the Reapers want it badly, sending heavily armed platoons of indoctrinated Cerberus operatives. as is customary, each squad of enemies come in waves that swell in size and difficulty as you progress. The first few waves are simple enough, dispatched with volleys of gunfire and special powers. Mass Effect 3′s gunplay –while unquestionably the strongest of the series– isn’t tight or forceful enough to compete with dedicated shooters such as Gears, but there’s a welcome Mass Effect flavour. Kit-dependant abilities such as grenades, biotic powers or medipacks are assigned to the d-pad, and are essential in thinning out the bad guys and helping your squad survive. The classes are distinct enough that a smart combination of different abilities will greatly improve your chances. Providing you work together, of course. An Asari biotic can rip a shield from a foe in order for a human soldier to line with lead, while a Krogan tank could draw fire and attention in order for a Turian sniper to pick off unaware stragglers. all species of the galaxy, working in harmony.

It’s good stuff, with the waves throwing in trickier enemies as you progress, like stealthy ninja-esque sirens flitting in an out of cloak, or hulking clanking mechs that take a sustained concentration of fire to dent. there are two “super-objectives” that cover every map: hold your position, make it to extraction alive. But slotted into waves are other important tasks that must be completed to move on, such as hacking computer consoles or disarming bombs scattered around the map. The objectives aren’t major game changers, and tend to amount to holding a specific spot on the map. But they do bring a sense of focus and camaraderie, as one player desperately tries to hack into a communications disruptor, with teammates providing covering fire as Cerberus operatives descend on your position. The multiplayer is staunchly focussed on teammates playing nice. while there will be a scoreboard at the end to show the best performers, experience points are shared equally among players at the end so there is no long-term benefit to playing the lone wolf, poaching kills or generally being an annoying whelp.

While Mass Effect 3‘s multiplayer is certainly derivative in its structure, the commitment to make it fit into Mass Effect’s narrative and context is what should hold players interest. your performance in multiplayer can also have a direct effect on the efforts of your campaign, expediating the building of your war resources. this idea all ties into Mass Effect 3‘s Galaxy at War concept, which demonstrates how ‘war ready’ Shepard and his crew are before heading into whatever final battle the campaign has in store. You will gain resources by playing multiplayer, and if you fully level up one of your character classes, they can be used as a crucial asset. Galaxy at War will also encompass iOS software and even a Facebook game, allowing you to build your army wherever you are.

Of course, many will see these additions as needless padding to a marvellous single-player series that doesn’t need them. however, Hudson and his team are adamant that you won’t need to play multiplayer or visit Facebook in order to get the best out of your campaign, as the singleplayer will remain the cornerstone of your Mass Effect experience. as an experiment in utilising the always-connected nature of today’s lifestyle, it’s fascinating. and clearly not something that BioWare are taking lightly, taking advice from EA stablemates DICE and even the FIFA team in order to construct Mass Effect 3 as one, cogent experience.

Time will tell if this multiplayer mode can capture the imaginations of even the most ardent opposition, but either way, what BioWare is constructing appears to be a solidly built, enjoyable and wholly optional addendum to one of the finest video game series available. Doesn’t sound so bad now, does it?

Pre-order Mass Effect 3 from Amazon (UK)

Pre-order Mass Effect 3 from Amazon (US)

I am a huge fan of the Mass Effect series.

I played the first game on Xbox and then again on PC (because I wanted to play the sequel on PC and had to get a save set up). I have completed all side quests in Mass Effect 2 and played through all the DLC (Lair of the Shadow Broker FTW).

In short, I like me some Mass Effect

So it’s no surprise that I am hugely excited about Mass Effect 3. Sadly it got pushed out from it’s expected 2011 release window and into 2012, but oh well, more time to play The Old Republic I guess.

The Mass Effect universe is incredibly deep and there are so many things that I am looking forward to learning more about in the final chapter of the trilogy.

Here are the 5 things that I am giddy with excitement to see in Mass Effect 3:

5. Fighting the Reapers:

So of course I am very interested to see how the main fight with the Reapers turns out. The first game did an excellent job at presenting these genocidal (galaxocidal even?) sentient machines as an enormous threat to all advanced life.

However, I think the second game did not do as good a job with this, with the focus being firmly on the Reaper puppets, in the form of the Collectors. They were cool enough, but nothing says menace like a giant squid shaped spaceship.

So I am looking forward to shifting focus back firmly on the Reapers in ME3 and kicking some planet harvesting squidship butt (if I can find their butts, that is).

4. more Mordin:

Right? Mordin was my favorite character in ME2, maybe followed very closely by Legion (but since Legion doesn’t sing Gilbert and Sullivan, nuts to him).

What I really like about Mordin is that he is not simply a two dimensional Jar-Jar Binks character, who is there only for comic relief. During ME2 we see that Mordin also has a dark history, as he has worked on modifying the genophage that afflicts the Krogans.

It’s clear that there is more to Mordin than just being a speed talking singing clown (there’s an idea for your next birthday party), and I’m really hoping that ME3 will give us a chance to see this character evolve further.

3. The role of the new Shadow Broker in the story:

Anyone who’s played through the DLC Lair of the Shadow Broker will know what I’m talking about.

I will not spoil it for anyone, who has not played through this amazing piece of content (shame on you though. go get it right away), but suffice to say that the end of this quest sees a new Shadow Broker installed and it is a person that Shepard knows well.

It is going to be super interesting to see how this new Shadow Broker will affect the story in ME3.

Will Shepard be getting lots of secret information to help him in the fight against the Reapers? will we see the relationship between Shepard and the new Shadow Broker cool as power corrupts the new Broker?

Also if we could return to the Broker’s ship in the lightning soaked atmosphere of Hagalaz that would be very cool.

2. Development of the Geth:

To me the Geth are probably even more interesting than the Reapers. while the Reapers are ancient, mysterious, malicious and just short of all-powerful, the Geth are a young race, split with indecision and fighting for their right to exist.

Meeting Legion in ME2 and doing his side quest really fired up my interest for the Geth. It made you look at the Geth as not just some mini Reapers that were all trying to kill all humans, Bender style, but a race that was trying to find its place in the Galaxy.

Honestly, if there is a decision to make in ME3 about helping the Quarians or the Geth, I’m not sure which I would with.

1. Tali’s face (hopefully):

Just show us already, the public needs to know

If you are looking for a truthful review of Mass Effect 2, you’ve come to the right place. I recently borrowed the game from a friend and figured I would write up a little review of the game. Let me start by saying the graphics are extremely detailed. The way the game artists put the details in to the game is amazing.

Personally I thought the story line was pretty good and was long. The equipment on this game had everything I would have expected out of a first person shooter. Hilarious thing is, my fiance actually told me to get off the game because I was on it forever. For me, I didn’t notice how long I was playing because I was pulled in to the game.

It felt like I was only playing for 1 hour but it was more like 6 hours. throughout most of the storyline I found my self liking the game more and more. After about 8 hours, the game had me hooked. The great thing about this game, unlike others, it has a detailed, long, and action packed story line. if you get a chance to play this game, you will see exactly what I am talking about. So let’s discuss about the final Mass Effect 2 review. I say try the game.

When you add a sweet story line, amazing graphics, killer sound effects, and sweet guns, it usually turns out very pleasing. And that’s precisely what Mass Effect 2 is. The final Mass Effect 2 Review – 4 Stars.

The Mass Effect series is arguably one of the best gaming sagas ever published. I’m definitely a fan. But the more I ponder its greatness, the more I believe that the interactive portions of Mass Effect have nothing to do with how awesome it is.

Crazy? maybe so, but hear me out. When you strip away the epic, cut-scene-driven story; the lovable and distasteful characters; and the fresh coat of graphical paint, all you’re left with is a third-person shooter that is average at best. The first two installments feature a middling implementation of a shooting mechanic and laughable enemy intelligence. They also employ parochial role-playing elements and excessively linear combat environments.

In addition, they both have deceptively little exploration. In Mass Effect, you get to jump into horribly designed Mako missions and find minerals for yourself, and in Mass Effect 2, you can fly around in a boring spaceship and scan boring planets for resources instead. neither really features much of a sense of discovery.

Mass Effect 2′s level-up system makes the same mistake many that modern RPGs do: heavily scripted character paths. by not providing enough enemies or data stations, you cannot gain experience at your leisure. In order to make Commander Shepard and his friends stronger, you have to advance the story. if that’s the case, why have leveling at all? The skimpy number of skill points I earn throughout the adventure aren’t really necessary. The game might as well auto-level my characters.

That said, I absolutely enjoyed my time in the Mass Effect universe. They are two of my favorite games from this generation, and the reason for that was the story-driven experience. it is, in a word, epic. I remember going into the final battle of Mass Effect 2 shaking as if I was actually going into combat with my friends. (I’ve been in real-life combat, so I know the feeling.)

Developer BioWare did such an outstanding job of developing the characters that I felt responsible for them and dreaded the possibility of losing a team member. I remember hearing Tali yell at me over the comm to hurry. I felt the genuine sense of urgency while I fought my way to her side. it was awesome

Generally speaking, I’m not a huge fan of iPhone gaming. My mainstays are RPGs, Madden, the occasional tactical shooter, and retro kart titles like Sonic and Sega All-stars Racing. The iPhone doesn’t handle any of these types of games particularly well.

But oddly enough, I recently got hip to the whole SuperBrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP phenomenon that all the major sites seemed so hyped about. I’m still playing through it, but I can see why so many people have been taken in by it. it has a novel art style, and the first boss battle definitely got my blood pumping. But much like Mass Effect, if you stripped these things away, you’d have a very tedious and boring game.

This idea isn’t new. Old-school adventure developer Sierra did something similar with its Space Quest and King’s Quest series. neither of them were really games as we think of them in the contemporary sense. They were all about experience and discovery.

But where do we draw the line? how do we discern the difference between a game that actually features compelling design and a game the presents an appealing package? if I had my way, I would marry the world-building of Mass Effect with the free exploration and customizable leveling of the Elder Scrolls series.

In the future, I hope developers can stop using pretty window dressing to cover up a game I would never play based solely on the elements that make it distinct from other media. I don’t want developers to let time and budget constraints hold them back from bringing us the best of both worlds.

When multiplayer modes are confirmed by a company like BioWare, you know it’s not going to be a standard deathmatch or tacked on co-op.

Sure enough, the long-rumoured Mass Effect 3 multiplayer modes offer a different spin on four-player co-op thanks to the developer’s new Galaxy at War system, which has been detailed on the game’s official forums.

The new online mode is separate to the single-player and allows up to four players to team up and take on co-operative missions to clear out the enemy forces from key territories in the Mass Effect universe. as they progress, the improve what’s referred to as ‘Galactic Readiness’, i.e. humanity’s ability to fend of the Reaper invasion.

In keeping with BioWare’s transferable data from Mass Effect 2 and 3, the Galactic Readiness level will be reflected in gamers’ single-player campaigns, boosting their chances at achieving a perfect ending. however, BioWare has stressed that Galaxy at War is an optional method of doing so – fans can still achieve the same ending solely through single-player.

Rather than playing as Commander Shepard, players create their own customisable character, allowing them to pick from humans and alien races such as the asari, turians and krogans. these characters can be upgraded as they progress through Galaxy at War.

BioWare has confirmed that DLC will be available for Mass Effect 3 and that Galaxy at War will be brought to “other platforms”. More details are expected in the coming months.

Mass Effect 3 is due for release on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on March 2012.

Mass Effect 2 not only stirred the waters but caused a tsunami. with all the new features added in the game it proved to be a commercial success. furthermore it sold two million copies worldwide within its first week. we shouldn’t be surprised because the gamers became stunned after 5 minutes of game play. Developers thankfully listened to the gaming community begging for some teaks here and there or some big changes.

So what’s new you are asking? First of all they have doubled the content, or at least this is what I think. it seemed bigger than Mass Effect 1. you now can explore 2 times more planetary systems, still in the same galaxy. on the one hand this is so cool because you will find some more side missions and challenges, plus it adds some valuable and really wanted variety by stepping away from your main mission just a bit. on the other hand more content means more game play hours plus more fun. Now you can also find more races, having their own history, habits and culture in general. some of them participate in the main story a lot and some do not.

A really big thank you from us the gamers to the developers for removing the so slow elevators. Being stuck in an elevator for almost a minute is NOT fun. There were some random comments from the other NPCs or you could listen to the news on the elevator speakers but still it could make you cry of boredom. it is totally understandable why they did it. They tried to add some realism in the game. But it is more preferable adding realism in combat than waiting in an elevator. for crying out loud people

No more heat sinks in the weapons. This was another black spot in Mass Effect 1. you could fire your weapons forever cause there was not any ammo restriction, BUT, if you did that your weapon could get overheated and block – get locked for the rest of the mission. This was really, really annoying when you had 3 of 4 weapons locked, because of your Rambo shooting habits or because of enemy skills causing overheat. Now there is an ammo restriction but no worries. you will never run out of ammo as long you are accurate enough. it is much more preferable to be out of ammo where you can replenish them than having a locked weapon.

Developed by Edmonton-based BioWare Corp., Mass Effect 2 opens a few months after the explosive climax of the original Mass Effect, with the starship Normandy attacked by an ancient race of beings called the Collectors. the Normandy is destroyed and her captain, the player-controlled Commander Shepard, jettisoned into space.

Fast-forward two years. Shepard has been revived and rebuilt cell by cell, thanks to a somewhat shady organization run by an even shadier, chain-smoking leader, the so-called Illusive Man (voiced by Martin Sheen.) the Illusive Man tasks Shepard with assembling a new crew aboard a newly rebuilt Normandy, in order to hunt down the Collectors and deal with them once and for all.

That’s a gross oversimplification of RPG’s winding but never confusing plot, which can easily span 40 or more hours of gameplay. While BioWare coyly claims it’s a standalone game, Mass Effect 2 is so packed with characters and plotlines from the first instalment that it deserves to be played only after you’ve finished the original.

It’s not possible for a role-playing game to be all things to all people, and the RPG makes compromises that won’t make every player happy. Sprawling alien worlds and giant space stations still feel more like small sets of crate-festooned rooms, and harvesting resources needed for upgrades hinges on a tedious planet-scanning minigame that makes the moon buggy exploration of the first Mass Effect seem energetic by comparison.

The game also leans more heavily towards combat this time, which may alienate role-playing purists yet leave hardcore shooter fans struggling with the occasionally clunky combat mechanics. that said, it’s a vast and welcome improvement over the first game’s action.

But the game succeeds because it does such a fantastic job of making us care about its characters and their fates. Sure, not every potential crewmember aboard the Normandy is going to resonate with every player, but I came to genuinely care about most of the Normandy’s crew the same way you’d care about characters in a good book, which in turn made me care about whether or not they were, well, happy. Is that weird?

The sheer amount of content stuffed into this game is staggering, especially when you consider the number of branching plot paths that are affected by the actions you take, the decisions you make and even who lived or died in the first Mass Effect. Epic is an overused word in video game reviews, but here it really fits. From fierce shootouts to tense negotiations to genuinely touching moments (and yes, some PG-rated sex scenes), the game just about has it all.

BioWare undoubtedly has a few more tricks up its sleeve for the final instalment in the Mass Effect trilogy, and as good as Mass Effect 2 is, there’s still a little bit of room for improvement. just as Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King won all those Oscars, I expect Mass Effect 3 will be one of the defining gaming experiences of this generation when it arrives in a couple years’ time.

Until then, do not miss this one.

It’s only in the prototype stage, but the research group behind it are perfecting how to deliver sensation to video game players. They’ve started first with the hands and use vibrating devices to create the effect. Weird? definitely.

The picture above? In case you didn’t recognize it that’s a scene from Mass Effect 2 where Shepard and this other guy are frying robots. It’s quite appropriate since the actual photogrpahs of this experimental sensation tech are quite boring. Watch the video below to see what we mean.

And the video:

Just a quick summary: In the video, the lady is explaining the research in brief. As shown, the actual contraption that gives the vibrating signals is rather clunky. But it’s feasible. As to whether it will ever hit the mainstream and shake up the gaming industry, who knows?

If this tech ever matures, it would be a nightmare slogging through games like Bulletstorm or call of Duty where players can’t avoid taking hits. What about giant explosions? All we can say is: ouch.

.

Lots of video games claim to be scary. Amnesia, Dead Space, you name it, if it’s dark and things jump out of closets at you, it’s “scary”. Don’t let video game developers tell you what’s scary. let science.

User experience studio Vertical Slice has conducted research into scary games, using a 500-person psychological database, six live test subjects and fancy gear that measured stuff like skin temperature, sweat levels, and heart rate.

That’s the good stuff. the bad stuff? They only tested on the Xbox 360, and then only tested from a shortlist of games deemed scary enough to be on the shortlist. some titles considered, but ditched, included Left 4 Dead 2, Gears of War 2, Condemned 2, FEAR 1 & 2, Dead Space 1, silent Hill: Homecoming, alone in the Dark and Mass Effect 2. likely because half of them aren’t scary in the slightest.

The four titles picked in the end to test on the live subjects were Alan Wake, Resident Evil 5, Dead Space 2 and Condemned.

In the end, the study found that casual and hardcore players were affected differently by horror in games, core players being less susceptible to scares (because we know basic game design, like what an area looks like when there’s fighting to be done).

It also found that across both groups Dead Space 2 was the scariest game of the lot, proving that monster closet gags may be clichéd, but they also work.

So sorry, Amnesia. and sorry, Sherlock Holmes. maybe next time they’ll expand the platforms a little and include you too!

Scary Game Findings: A Study of Horror Games and Their Players [Gamasutra, thanks Gavin!]

I pre-ordered mass effect 2 so i could get the bonus junk. but I have a stupid child account! is there any way i could get the bonus armor?