Monday 14 January, 2008

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.

You have a good level of gameplay description, though design could be a little more in-depth. Still, good job, this is perfectly acceptable.

Amy Leek (grader)