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Jan 14th, 2008 at 02:43:44 - Mass Effect (360) |
Gameplay Session 2
GAMEPLAY
Well I just finished my next two hours of playing Mass Effect and its been great. The battle system is like a cross between Gears of War and a pseudo turn based RPG. Equipping your weapon puts you in an over the shoulder perspective where you can aim freely. Holding down the left trigger lets you zoom in slightly for better accuracy. You're also able to crouch, take cover, shoot from cover, and even do a "roadie run" look alike ala Gears of War. The only time there is a pause from the action is when you use your biotic abilities or switching between weapons which brings up a menu ring. You can also change the weapons of your teammates which is quite handy. The biotic menu ring does the same in which you have full control over your biotic powers as well as your teammates. Enemy AI is decent from what I can see. They take cover and surround you when they can. Your teammate AI however is a different story. There are times when they get a little wonky and refuse to stay behind cover.
As amazing the game is so far I do have a couple issues with it. As I stated above, there are times when the AI is a bit questionable. There are also a few instances of framerate drops in the middle of battle but nothing debilitating. And there's the issue of textures not loading completely on the characters at certain points. It's a bit weird to see an alien that I'm talking to suddenly have his or her face and outfit pop up in the middle of a conversation.
DESIGN
After playing Mass Effect for a few hours I can see that the developers put a lot of work into making it. The story is excellent and the amount of background info for the Mass Effect world is just ridiculous. You're given a codex in the game which records any piece of information that you happen to come upon in your travels, from the history of alien races and character biographies, to the background information on the development companies or your weapons and armor. There is just an immense amount of story and information which makes the world and the atmosphere almost believable. I think this kind of attention to detail is what keeps the player continually engrossed.
The level and creature design is quite impressive as well. Each city has its own unique feel and the imagination behind the different alien races is very creative. It would be really nice to see more games like this that tries to fully immerse you in the world and the atmosphere.
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Jan 14th, 2008 at 01:48:40 - Mass Effect (360) |
Game Session 1
SUMMARY
Mass Effect is a action RPG for the XBOX 360 where you play the role of Commander John Shepard in the year 2183. You explore the world with your companions on your ship the Normandy. The main portion of the story is in your ongoing chase after the traitorous Spectre agent, Saren, who is trying to dominate the galaxy by reviving an extinct machine race known as the "Reapers".
GAMEPLAY
I was initially skeptical of this game when I first bought it but ended up getting hooked into the game the first few minutes. Before beginning the actual game, you are brought to a character editor where you are able to choose your class, customize the looks of your main character, and even choose your player's background. There are six different classes to choose from which are: Soldier, Engineer, Adept, Infiltrator, Sentinel and Vanguard. Soldiers are skilled in weapons and melee, engineers in tech abilities, and adepts in biotics(Mass Effect's version of magic). The other three classes are just combinations of the last three. Once you have completed the creation of your character you are then ready to enter then world of Mass Effect.
Right off the bat, you can see that the game looks extremely pretty. The amount of detail that went into the face of your player and the NPCs is just incredible. I'm not lying when I say you can see every wrinkle and pore on each person's face. It's almost scary how lifelike they look. The voice acting and dialog is also superb which only adds to the almost realistic qualities of the characters. Even the most unimportant NPC has a voice.
Speaking of dialog, Mass Effect employs this new conversation system where you are given a dialog wheel with options for you to choose what to say. Instead of listing word for word what the character will say, you're given a tone of what the option might give and your character speaks accordingly. It's a system that I haven't seen before and is quite interesting to see. Anyway this about concludes my first hour and a half. I spent a lot of my time trying to make my Commander Shepard look badass. I'll continue on with this log as I keep playing.
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