Weight Repercussion

Proving that I'm once again perpetually late to the party, I only just barely finished playing through the first Mass Effect. The timing seems meaningful as the second game came out today, yet I probably won't be playing the second for a while due to the fact I'm currently slogging through Dragon Age.

Mass Effect is a classic style Bioware RPG similar to games like Knights of the Old Republic or even Neverwinter Nights. Like those previous games, you control a single character through an adventure filled with skill trees, dialog, adventure and combat. You pick up compatriots along the way that you schmooze or piss off to your heart's content. While I was basically expecting it to be nothing more that KotOR in a slightly different universe, I'm quite pleased to say that it isn't.

I think it's very accurate to say that at the time of it's launch, it was easily the best Bioware RPG. Here's what I thought:

Loved

• Vocal Protagonist. This is without a doubt my favorite feature in the entire game. It's also the thing I'm most missing while playing through Dragon Age. Mass Effect has what I consider to be the best dialog system in an RPG. Instead of a choosing from a list of predefined lines to say, you select a general idea, such as "Personal question." Your character, Shepherd, then proceeds to ask the NPC a personal question of some kind. It works really well because it makes for conversations that are actually two sided. Instead of feeling like people are talking at you, you actually talk to them. It's also constantly entertaining to see just exactly how Shepherd will interpret the conversation direction you give him. This was a huge step forward as far as Bioware RPGs (or RPGs in general) go, and it was disappointing to see the feature non-existent in Dragon Age.
  
  
• Streamlined Combat. My least favorite feature in other, similar games is the overly tactical combat. While there are probably plenty of people who disagree with me, I'm the kind of person who likes to roleplay a single character and give my companions nothing more than basic directions. Mass Effect excels here. The combat is fun and fast paced, often resembling a shooter more than a traditional RPG. Giving your friends orders is as simple as holding the spacebar and making a few clicks to tell them what to do next. It never interrupts the combat and it works very well.
  
  
• Universe. The Mass Effect universe is amazing. It somehow manages to feel completely original, rather than derivative. While it would be impossible to argue that it wasn't influenced by Star Wars/Trek, Bioware did an amazing job of making a plausible, not too distant space travelling future. The alien races are unique, easily recognizable, and full of history and back story. It's all too common to play a large RPG and get lost in the history of the individual peoples (or just not care), but that wasn't the case for me here. Each group has their own unique struggles, personalities, and even racial quirks. I'm happy to hear that there is plenty planned for the Mass Effect universe in the future.
  
  

Hated

• Haven't I Been Here Before? In typical RPG fashion, Mass Effect contains a decent length amount of "main story" content and a similarly decent amount of "side quest" content. While nearly everything you see and experience in the main story line is unique and interesting, the side quests get repetitive really, really fast. If you ever need proof that there is a God, merely look at the planets in the Mass Effect universe. Apparently, when he was creating the universe, he took some spheres, punched them a couple of times each to make some bumps, then painted them a color representing their climate: green for temperate, white/blue for cold, black/red for hot, etc. Additionally, there are apparently a couple of very wealthy building companies out there, as they have prefabricated 3 different under and above ground installations and then managed to put them everywhere. In all seriousness, the sameness of the side quest worlds, locations, and even the quests was VERY disappointing and a large blemish on this otherwise amazing game.

I could spent a lot more time discussing other various aspects of the game that were great (weapon variety, companion interactions, the dual renegade/paragon "alignment" bars, etc), but suffice it to say that I personally believe that Bioware did nearly everything right here. Even one of the biggest complaints people had with the first game, driving the the MAKO vehicle, I didn't think was all that bad.

Mass Effect is just an amazing game. I'll probably compare it to Dragon Age more when I review it, but so far, I believe Mass Effect to be the superior game. If you haven't played it yet, what are you waiting for? You can probably find it for almost nothing (I've seen it on sale for $5 from at least 3 different vendors).

Now: Coming to Your Ears

Just in you are one of the 2 people who read my blog but don't see my updates on Twitter or Facebook, I have an announcement: I was on a podcast!

The kind folks at Game-central.org graciously allowed me to share a few thoughts. You can check it out over on their site:

http://game-central.org/2010/podcasts/gcp-episode-74/

What to expect:

On this week’s GCP: essential features in PC game ports, the “Rockstar Wives” and the ethical issues behind working in the game industry, the games we bought over the holidays, and which game companies we’d work for.

Hope it's at least half as enjoyable to listen to as it was to record.

Disclaimer: while my language is tame, I can't say as much for the others. They are all amazing guys and we had a great discussion, but you may want to skip if you are easily offended.

Three for the Price of One

After dropping large amounts of time into inFamous and Dead Space I was ready to play something that was a bit more bite sized. Thanks, once again, to the miracle of the Steam holiday sale, I picked up Trine for little more than a song and a dance.

The premise of the game is simple yet unique. A warrior, a mage, and a thief become magically fused into a single being. As the player, you are able to swap between any of the three characters at any time. Each has unique abilities: the warrior is a combat juggernaut, the thief can swing with a grappling hook and shoot arrows, and the mage can conjure platforms and boxes and even levitate and move some objects. The game plays like a mix of an old school 2D combat/platformer and a modern puzzle game.

Loved

• Premise. The idea of swapping between three different characters on the fly is a very unique idea. Lots of people compare it to the old Blizzard game, The Lost Vikings, and while the comparison is apt, Trine is definitely an evolution on the idea. The three characters are constantly working in harmony with each other. It was not uncommon to see a swarm of skeletons and switch to the warrior. As the last one would fall, I would switch to the mage and pick up a nearby box and raise it up until it stuck into some spikes sticking down from the ceiling. Finally, I would swap out to the thief and grapping on to the now hanging box and continue on with the level.
  
  
• Variety. I read one review were the author was convinced that the mage was amazing and you would use him all the time. Another reviewer said almost the exact same thing about the thief. The fact that two different people could approach the game so differently really says something about the level and puzzle design in Trine. Each puzzle, obstacle, and enemy can be tackled in a plethora of ways. Whether you drop objects on the enemies, shoot them with a bow, or hit them with your sword, is a decision totally left up to you.
  
  
• Art. The art is Trine is absolutely beautiful. The game sits very comfortably in what has come to be known as 2.5D space, i.e.
  everything is rendered in 3D, but all of the action takes place on a single 2D plane. As a result, the creators were able to put a ridiculous amount of polish in all the things that the player does see. The backgrounds are gorgeous and the characters are easily recognizable and very iconic. The game is not just beautiful on the eyes, but also manages to put together a very decent soundtrack and a surprisingly cohesive and narrative.
  
  

I know I usually put a "Hated" section down here, but try as I might I can't think of a single thing I really hated about this game. It wasn't a very long game (around 3-4 hours), but I don't think it should have been any longer. The game was perhaps a bit too easy at times, but there were two difficulties past the one I was playing one. The biggest gripe I've heard with the game is that people say the last level is substantially harder than the rest of the game. While I will admit that it was harder (it took me 2 tries instead of 1), it really wasn't a big enough jump to be noticeable to me, and I probably wouldn't have thought anything of it if I hadn't heard it mentioned.

While Trine is certainly not a perfect game (and I'm not trying to imply that it is), it is a really good game. It takes a simple concept and a simple set of gameplay mechanics and polishes the hell out of them. The game even features a 2-3 player co-op mode I didn't even get a chance to play. Trine is just a brilliantly polished little game that I think just about anybody would really enjoy.

An Infamous Hero

Despite the fact that I consider myself a hardcore PC gamer, back in October (November?) I picked up a PS3 with money I obtained by selling a Wii I had won in an office EA Playground Dodgeball tournament. Even though I didn't shell out for any games right away, my friend (theshums) let me borrow a bunch of his. I spent some time with a handful of them, but only one of them really grabbed my interest: inFamous.

The game is a relatively basic third person platforming shooter. At the beginning of the game you obtain electricity based powers that expand as you continue through the game. You have the ability to do things like shoot electricity from your hands, use electrical boosters to slow fall/glide, and even slide on power lines. I didn't have high hopes for this game, but I've really had a blast with it. I just finished my second playthrough and even obtained the Platinum trophy (my first!).

Loved

• Powers. I was a little bit surprised by how many different powers they came up with with electricity. They are: lightning bolt (like a gun), electric grenades, the megawatt hammer (like a rocket launcher), a force blast (like you'd see in Star Wars), static thrusters, an electric shield, and the ability to call down lightning itself. In addition, most of those powers are upgradable and even have different abilities depending on your moral alignment. My favorite was the upgrade for the megawatt hammer. Basically, you shoot a handful of them into the air, then shoot something with your default electricity attack. The next thing you see is all of your hammers swing back around and smash into your target. It's one of those powers that makes you giggle the first time you use it. The variety was just a lot more varied and interesting than I thought it would be.
  
  
• Story. Games like this seldomly grip you with their story, but the story here was actually quite decent. There were a handful of main characters that you came to have an interest in and the game even had a pretty satisfying end game twist. I also really like the dead drops scattered throughout the city that added some great backstory to the narrative.
  
  
• Replayability. While the moral choices in inFamous are certainly nothing to write home about (usually killing somebody or not killing them, etc), the fact that the powers are so different for the two alignments is quite laudable. I've finished both a good an evil playthrough, and I've really enjoyed the differences in powers between the two. Both of them have things that are a lot of fun and really effective. While the story of the game itself isn't that much different between the two, just the power differences alone give you a reason to play through the game a second time.

Hated

• Similarity. My one biggest gripe with inFamous is that while it does pretty much everything right, there really isn't a whole lot of innovation here. It sort of felt like it took all the best pieces of all of the best games and tossed them in together. While that isn't necessarily a bad thing, and I will definitely give them props for the electrical powers idea, in general the game seemed pretty common place. I also think that is probably why I didn't play it right away; it looked like it would be like every other similar third person shooter.
  
  
• Morality. The moral choices presented in inFamous are not at all impressive. As I previously mentioned, they generally boiled down to helping somebody or not, killing somebody or not, and other similar things. I'd let that slide if it wasn't for the fact that your choices just don't have any affect on the game itself. The story is almost perfectly identical whether you make good choices or evil. Additionally, the game actually penalizes you for mixing good and evil, so don't even consider making a character that is neutral.

inFamous may not be the most original or innovative game of 2009, but it really is a lot of fun. I don't enjoy console shooters at all (I was unable to finish the first Uncharted), but I had a lot of fun with this one. It really is the sort of game that I think anybody with a gaming interest can just pick up and play and have fun with. If you have a PS3, it should be in your collection. That's really all there is to it.

Did They Hear Me Scream?

After a bit of a blogging hiatus from the holidays and a period of time where I was pretty convinced that I wasn't going to write any more new entries, I've decided to recant and start posting again. Looking back through some of my old posts, I realized how much I enjoy logging this stuff and think it's interesting. Even if nobody ever reads this or comments, I'm going to keep writing.

Today's post: Dead Space.

Dead Space was one of the games I picked up as part of the Black Friday Steam deal and I finished it back before Christmas. It was either $10 or $15, either way it was an absolute steal. The premise of the game is pretty straight forward, you arrive as part of a rescue operation for the Ishimura, a mining/salvage ship orbiting an out of the way planet. You quickly discover that the ships inhabitants are no longer in top notch condition and work to fix the ship and eventually to just escape. This game was really good and would have been a contender for my game of year for 2009 if not for the fact that it came out in 2008. The highlights:

Loved

• Setting. The space setting was absolutely superb. The ship felt gritty and real, the weapons made sense, and the enemies (necromorphs) were gruesome and frightening. This was the kind of game where you find yourself looking over your should then realizing that the monitor is in front of you. They did an outstanding job at making that ship "come alive," if you will, despite the fact that most of it's inhabitants were dead. In the horror game genre, the environment/atmosphere are everything most of the time, and the developers absolutely nailed it here.
  
  
• Weapons. Dead Space had some of my best weapons found in any third/first person shooter. On the low end, you have the simple plasma cutter. A pistol like weapon that shoots three bullets in a line, either horizontally or vertically. While it seems simple and weak, it was easily one of (if not the best) weapons in the game. Versatile and quick, the plasma cutter killed everything. On the high end, you have the contact beam. The contact beam is this game's answer to a rocket launcher. It has a bit of a charge up time, but when unleashed, it knocks just about anything back and onto the ground. My personal favorite, however, was the ripper. This weapon shoots out a saw blade that levitates in front of you for a while. It's then your job to guide it to the correct spots to inflict maximum destruction on your enemies. It was wildly fulfilling when done properly. The weapons in general were all quite good (except perhaps the flamethrower), and the ability to upgrade them made them all that much more interesting. I did a second play through of the game just to spend more time with the weapons I hadn't used.
  
  
• Enemies. Horror games also can fail if the enemies don't work. Too often, designers go over the top when designing them, too bloody or just cheesy. I loved the necromorphs in Dead Space. They were creepy and had a lot of presence. I can't count the number of times I jumped when I turned a corner or opened a door and had an undead mutant staring back at me. The other thing I really liked about the enemies was their weaknesses. Instead of merely shooting them, all of them were weak on their limbs. You couldn't just headshot someone and move on, you had to carefully shoot off their arms and/or legs. It was a very unique idea that made a lot of sense in the context of the game. Using the previously mentioned ripper to saw off both legs then both arms of some of the nastier baddies was awesome.
  
  
• Hud. I'm a huge fan of games that make the in game hud more interesting or try to incorporate it into the game some how. It was one of the things I liked about Far Cry 2, if you wanted to see a map, your character held up a map in front of you. Dead Space took that idea to all new levels. Every hud element presented in the game was tied to the environment or your character's suit. If you wanted a map, he'd project a map. If you needed to save, you interfaced with a save station. Even things like gun ammo and health were handled elegantly; gun ammo would show as a read out on your gun when aiming and health was an obvious bar that showed on the back of your suit. It was a great mechanic and really helped the immersion of the game.

Hated

• Mouse Lag. I always feel like I have to put something down here, so this is a minor nitpick at best. When I first started the game, I had vertical sync on. Apparently, this causes your mouse to have a lot of lag in the game. It was terrible; I considered swapping out to a gamepad. I Googled the problem, found the obvious solution, and played the rest of the game very happily.

If you haven't figured it out yet, I liked this game. A LOT. Quite honestly, I can't think of anything I would really change in the game. It was just a lot of fun with a great, creepy atmosphere. I'm now REALLY looking forward to Dead Space 2. With how cheaply you can find this game now (even regular prices are in the $20 range) there is no excuse to have not played Dead Space. It is definitely one of the best games of the last few of years.