Bungie studios is gearing up to release another Halo game, only this one looks to be the most innovative yet. While each game has introduced new weapons and gameplay elements, Halo: Reach looks to change the way Halo is played forever. For those lucky enough to own a copy of Halo 3:ODST you have a pass to access the Halo:Reach beta when ti opens on May 3. Everyone will just have to drool over this killer video clip of the multiplayer….
Developer Bioware has a solid pedigree of creating some of the most immersing gaming experiences ever. Their RPG resume includes Dragon Age, Star Wars:Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2, Jade Empire, and even the original Mass Effect. What distinguishes Bioware’s RPGs from the rest of the pack is the excellent storylines and the complex yet intriguing characters that populate their games.
The first Mass Effect was ambitious to say the least, as it promised not just an open world experience, but an open universe experience in which players could travel all over the galaxy recruiting team members and completing countless missions all on their path to save civilization. The end result fell a bit short of most people’s expectations. The pacing was a bit slow at times, there were issues with textures loading, the combat interface seemed clunky, and many of the numerous side quests seemed recycled throughout the game’s massive campaign. Despite all of these flaws, it is still considered one of the best Xbox360/PC games to date. Now that Mass Effect 2 is out, everyone is wondering whether it can live up to the expectations of the first game or whether it will actually raise the bar. I’m happy to say that this bar has been raised quite a bit.
SOUND (10/10)
The sound in this game is top notch. The sound of lazers zipping by is so sharp it feels like you may get tagged in the face by one. The explosions really rumble with the force of …well an explosion! You can hear your character’s footsteps as you run down the corridors of the ship. All of the effects are well detailed and everything really comes to life if you have a solid surround system.
Perhaps the best thing this game has going for it audio wise is the voice acting. Looking through the instruction booklet at the voice cast, there wasn’t a single recognizable name to be found. However, the voice acting in this game is simply amazing. The actors do a tremendous job of not only bringing the characters to life, but imbibing them with realistic attitudes and speech that just take the authenticity of the characters to another level. I’ve never encountered anyone from another planet or galaxy before, but if i did, I would expect them to sound like they do in this game.
GRAPHICS (9/10)
The graphics in this game are sharp and highly detailed. There are a few exceptions in which a couple of the planets seem like the same old brown and gray hued environments that populate so many other games, but for the most part the locales all look vibrant and fresh…even if you happen to be on a wasteland of a planet. The character models all look spectacular, however there are a couple of instances with the ingame cutscenes in which the character faces look a bit strange. However, all of the CG cutscenes are jaw dropping, featuring some of the most amazing graphics on a console.
While the game is great graphically, there are a few minor problems. There were a couple of times where my character got stuck on a railing or a box and it was difficult to get off of it, resulting in my cheap death. This only happened twice, but it bears mentioning as I have heard of it happening more often to other people. Overall, the graphics are a huge improvement from the first game. Gone are the slow loading textures and glitchy looking graphics from the first game. For the most part, everything has been smoothed out nicely in this sequel.
GAMEPLAY (9/10)
Mass Effect 2′s gameplay has been completely retooled from the first game. Hardcore RPG fans may be turned off by the more simplistic approach taken in this game, but casual RPG players who would rather run and gun than figure out how to level up will definitely love the new system. With less focus attributed to leveling up your character, more attention is given to more important things…like combat. Unlike the first game, Mass Effect 2 has a much faster pace and is chock full of action. The gameplay feels less like an RPG and more like a 3rd person shooter, which is a huge plus. The combat interface is also a lot smoother, making battles less frustrating than they were in the previous game.
Despite the new streamlined combat and leveling controls, this game is still very much an RPG. You still gain experience from completing certain battles and events, but the real RPG focus here is on character development. You learn more about your character and your squad mates through their various interactions with eachother and the world around them. I often found myself just hanging out on the ship talking to the various squad mates to find out more about their backstories instead of going out on missions. The characters are just that interesting. There are almost countless side missions which you can undertake that will not only gain experience points for you, but also enable you to bond closer with your squad. While this may sound a bit too sensitive for such a game, the closer you become with your squad members, the better they fight alongside you.
STORY (10/10)
The story in this game is excellent. In short, colonies of humans have been disappearing without a trace. You again assume the role of commander Shepherd, albeit this time with a few twists that are unveiled near the start of the game. You command two other squad members for each mission, but you have a total of 11 to choose from by the end of the game. Each squad member has a unique backstory which is revealed in two parts. The first part is the recruit mission, in which you must go and recruit the squad member on whatever planet or ship they are on. Once you have acquired them as a part of your team, the second part comes into play in the form of a loyalty mission. Each squad member has unfinished business that must be taken care of before they can fully devote themselves to your mission. In order to fully gain their trust, you must complete their “loyalty” missions. These are great in that not only do they allow you to gaze into the background of each character and their motivations, you also unlock a special ability for each character upon completion of their loyalty mission. If you do the math that is roughly 22 missions for all the characters and this is NOT counting the main storyline missions.
Interestingly enough, by completing all of the missions for each character, it also causes you to become somewhat emotionally invested in their survival as well. This is the beauty of Mass Effect 2, as you soon realize that every in game action has in game consequences. Each choice you make influences the outcome of certain situtaions in the game. The story is so well written and immersive that by the end of the game you fully understand the consequences of each decision you made leading up to that point. In other words, you are the one shaping how everything will play out. There are multiple ending scenarios to the game which are determined by your actions throughout each playthrough. The storyline is definitely something that should be experienced by everyone as it is engaging enough to hold a place among some of the best sci fi movie plots ever.
OVERALL (9.8/10)
This game is a beast. Everything is so well polished and the only problems with the game are very very minor. For a game without a multiplayer component, Mass Effect 2 probably has the highest replay value of all the games I have, even those with a solid multiplayer. There is just so much to explore and do in this game. While most games offer up a sandbox world in which to play, ME2 gives you a sandbox universe. There are countless planets in the solar systems and each one is subject to exploration. Many of them feature side quests that would not have been discovered without exploration. Not to mention the numerous ending outcomes which directly result from your ingame decisions and you’ve got enough reasons for multiple playthroughs. This game is worth every penny and I encourage everyone to at least play through it once…or twice. The experience is well worth it.
The first Assassins Creed promised a historically accurate sandbox game experience complete with countless side missions and stealth assassin action. What we got was a graphically gorgeously recreation of ancient middle eastern cities and roughly 3 different types of repetitive side missions which recycled themselves till the end of the game or until you bashed your head against the wall, whichever came first. To say it was a bit of a dissappointment was an understatement. This wasn’t even the beginning of the letdown. The game also took place in the future (yes the future) where you are the descendant of Altair, the main assassin protagonist, and you experience his life via the animus (think those chairs in the matrix that plug into the back of your head). This “twist” wasn’t exactly horrible, but it would have been better served if it was revealed near the middle or end of the game. It didn’t help that the future portions were boring and a bit clunky to get through. Fast forward to our present time and the release of the game’s sequel. Does it live up to the huge potential of the first game? Read on…
STORY (9/10)
The story for this game is excellent. You are still in control of Desmond Miles, the descendant from the first game, only now you are taking control of a different one of your ancestors, the awesome Banderas-esque Ezio Auditore. The story takes place in Renaissance Italy, which makes for a surprisingly interesting backdrop. You assume the role of Ezio from birth and then again as a teenager all the way up until he is a man. Right off the bat, the game immerses you so much more than the first one ever did. By assuming control of Ezio as a person, before he becomes an assassin, you really get to learn about him and ultimately you care about what happens to the character and his development. Without giving away too much of the story, Ezio’s family is wrongfully accused of a crime and then publicly executed. Ezio vows to gain revenge and along the way discovers his assassin heritage and assumes his role in the lineage of assassins.
The future sequences are still the weakest link of the game. Every time you have to play them you’ll be hoping that you can go back to Ezio as soon as possible. Even the graphics look a bit shoddy in these portions. compared to the Italy segments. It doesn’t help things that Desmond looks like a special ed version of Shia LeBouf, as if the real Shia wasn’t special enough already. Regardless, the plot is great with twist and turns abound and the ending is definitely a shocker that will have you yearning for the next installment.
GRAPHICS (10/10)
The graphics in this game are beautiful. This is probably the best looking game, other than Uncharted 2 (it even gives that game a run for its money), that I have seen on a console. If you’ve ever wanted to see renaissance Italy, this game will give you a good idea of how things looked. The cities are that detailed. The first game had incredible graphics also, but this game just puts those to shame.The player models are all very well rendered and the cities all look authentic. I didn’t experience any screen tearing or slow down at all, which says a lot since many times the screen will be filled with a mob of enemies for you to fight. The graphics are definitely impressive and you can tell that developer Ubisoft put a lot of work into recreating the environments to look as accurate as possible. the only negative is that the graphics on the future portions do not look anywhere near as detailed as the Italy segments. Still, the Italy segments look so good that I can’t help but ignore the future parts.
GAMEPLAY (9/10)
It seems as if they took all of the complaints of the first game and fixed them for the second. Now the side missions aren’t limited to those in the first game. There is a healthy variety of side quests to keep you busy for some time without getting repetitive. You are no longer required to complete X number of side missions before proceeding with the story missions. Now you can get straight to killing instead of having to do boring and repetitive side quests. The game is long enough just doing the story missions, clocking in at roughly 18 hours of gameplay.
One of the best new additions are the new instant travel booths. If you need to travel to another city, simply go to one of these booths and for a small sum of money, you can be instantly warped to the location of your choice. This is a great feature which not only cuts down on travel time, but helps keep the pace of the game moving along. Nobody wants to waste time riding across the countryside on a horse when there is the option to teleport there.
Controlling Ezio is greatly improved from the last game’s character, Altair. Ezio runs noticeably faster and his free running abilities are much quicker as well. He scales buildings faster, which helps keep the pace up as you navigate through the game’s cities. There are also more weapons and the combat system seems to be greatly improved. Ezio now sports two hidden blades, one in each hand, which work great for assassinating two guards simultaneously. My other favorite new weapon is the poison dagger. Stabbing someone with this will cause them to freak out and lash out at anyone around them.
REPLAYABILITY (8/10)
The game is already fairly long for a single player game. There are tons of extras for you to explore and find. While most people dont play too much single player campaign anymore these days, ACII offfers wnough extra goodies and collectibles to keep you busy for some time. Not to mention that the story missions themselves are exciting. All in all expect to play through the entire thing at least twice. I’ll admit that single player games don’t get too much love from me, but ACII is one of those games that you just have to play.
OVERALL (9/10)
ACII is an excellent game. It seems as if the developers actually listened to the complaints and comments of people who bought the first game and improved upon them in nearly every department. This game is what people were expecting with the first one. Thankfully, Ubisodft learned enough from that experience that they have improved this game exponentially. This is currently one of the few games that can tear me away from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and that by itself should speak volumes. If you felt burned by the way the first game turned out, you might want to give this one a try. They managed to keep all of the good elements about the first game, while adding some welcome improvements.
What is your 2009 Game of the Year?
Total Voters: 12
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