Mass Effect 2 – Game critique

Description of the game

Mass effect 2, published by EA Games and created by BioWare, is a futuristic RPG that continues the story that mass effect started a few years ago. Following Commander Sheppard, the human spectre that “saved the galaxies” from the reapers just over 2 years before this game takes place, as he takes on the task of recruiting a team to defeat the reapers once again.

Core mechanic

The main task for the player is to search the universe presented to him/her and find people to join his “crew” as denoted from dossiers from the illusive man. Once the crew is created to the players wishes they can then choose to go after the main goal.

A look into a level of the game

In one of many missions that you are tasked with you are required to find two characters to recruit to your team. I will go over the retrieval of one of these team members. In this level you are on a spaceport, a very dirty one at that is run by someone who is somewhat of a dictator. The player is first tasked with finding the location of the team member, and the easiest way to do this is ask the person who runs the place. After going to the location given to you by the dictator you are set up with a few communications (talking to npc’s to resolve a block in your path) problems, and of course because this is a shooter based game there are at least 4 different battle scenario’s and a sort of boss battle where you join forces with the team member you are recruiting.

Information & rules

Most of the information presented in the game, is either stored in hidden data storage in computers you have to hack, or just plain verbal communication with npc’s. Money, in the game is counted as credits and is generally only used to purchase upgrades to armor and weapons.
The rules of this game are pretty vague, as they have to be in an rpg, they give the character enough choices to go through the game at their own pace. But there are limits of course, like health and fuel for the ship that can be depleted. If you run out of health, you die, and if you run out of fuel, you have to buy some more. Other than that the general rules of physics (slightly bent of course) and game flow, the player is free to do as they wish…as long as they don’t want to go backwards through the story.

User interface

Mass effect 2’s user interface is set up like the original for controller set up, easy to use and generally the same as all shooters (2 triggers as the trigger and zoom of the weapon, the A button to activate things, the B button to disengage menus etc.) But the main thing they changed was the GUI. The visual interface in the game has been reduced to a small box in the left corner for your stats, and a bar in the bottom middle for your partner’s traits.

Special & Sound Effects

The visuals in this game are top notch, and a big jump from the original game. Of course this is expected by a game that was quite literally released today. And yet the sound effects in the game have not risen above the bar that has been placed by the original, just a small change in the style of the music.

AI

The enemies and npcs of the game are very well done. The npcs being played by actors and actresses from throughout Hollywood add a lot of realism to the characters, allowing the player to believe they are talking to a person, not just a model with some text. The enemies on the other hand have been upgraded to react perfectly to their surroundings and even react and strategize to your movement and actions towards them.

What would I change?

With mass effect 2 there is little to be changed, but of course no game is perfect and there are things that could use some tweaking.

First is the journal, the menu driven quest log to tell you where you are and where you need to go. What should be changed with this is it needs to be set up so that when it is opened it has the most recently followed “level” of the game as the first thing to be shown, and what the next step is, instead of leaving the player in a menu of alphabetically sorted quests that you may or may not have started/ finished.

Second is the character creation not the character themselves, but the player is restricted to use only specific weapons with certain classes. Whereas it should be changed to the player being able to choose what weapons they wish to use, and which powers they wish to use, with a limit to the number in total.

Well that’s just my opinion on the game, and what I found out from about 4 hours of playing it. I’m definitely going to continue to do so, and hopefully play through it many times.

We out.

Part 3

Prototype – A game I Dislike

This game, a lot of people won’t be remembering from 2009, mainly because its generally a copy of every Spiderman style game; open world, conflicts going on throughout the city, developing powers, the choice between a dark path and a light path, and the eventual destruction of a final boss.

Not saying that Spiderman style games are bad, but this game is a copy…and a bad one at that. Horrible graphics for when it was created, AI that are like chickens with their heads cut off, non reactive environment, and a very hard to follow storyline are just a few of its issues.

This game could be fun…for someone who finds trivial repetitive tasks fun. And that’s all the game is, until you get to boss battles, where the AI jumps to a much higher level and ends up taking out the player who actually decided to get that far.

The system itself is generally set up exactly the way the other copies are, and this is its main problem, it blends in, and where it doesn’t blend in it shows of its faults.

Part 2

Modern Warfare 2 – A game I like

Modern Warfare 2 has been recognized by many organizations as the best first person shooter/multiplayer game of 2009, and I completely agree with this comment. Not only have I played this game on the pc, but on the Xbox as well and both times I have had an amazing experience each time.

The game play works just as it should, the character responding to your commands through the controller, and others reacting to the effects of what your character does. For example in one of the first levels you are required to climb up an ice wall, infiltrate a base, and steal a piece of technology. The first section of climbing the wall has you using ice picks and those are controlled though alternating buttons on the controller, and the environment adjusting to the inputs (for example, if you wait too long, or let go of both buttons, you fall or the ice gives way) Other than that in the level you are faced with choices to hide or fight for survival, and challenged in this way.

The sound in modern warfare is mostly music, that plays to the mood of what is happening at the current moment in the game. For instance quiet and slow when you are sneaking about or loud and fast when you are in a moment of action. The music itself was great, and the sound effects (than can be heard perfectly with a set of headphones) are extremely helpful in adding realism.

The AI in the game (which is only presented in the campaign and spec ops options) is as it always has been in call of duty games and as you get to the higher difficulties, become extremely intelligent and is able to predict your movements, and even set up defenses to stop you from continuing on.

Overall these are the main things that can be presented, as most of what makes it an amazing game lies in the multiplayer experience and therefore is presented and controlled through other players. But overall this is a very good game with many key driving forces towards giving it that title.

Homework Lecture 1

Assasins Creed 2 - Opinion after playing for 10 minutes

Assasins creed after 10 minutes doesn't get you that far into the game. Aside from a couple of errands to run, and a fight or two, the story itself doesn't progress past the tutorial stages.

 The beginning starts off at the ending of the previous game, getting you to follow your "friend" in the laboratories and sending you through a couple unskippable cut scenes that give you a starting point for your story. The main decisions and triggers that happen through this scene are set up in a basic point A to point B system, with some avoiding to be done (much like Pacman...but without the dots)

After going through the present you are left inside a room, with almost no direction that you are pulled to, other than a large chair and the 3 people you have encountered in the cut scenes. If you chose any one of the characters, the game triggers a short cut scene to add a bit of a back story to the characters you speak to. In the end though, the only option to progress the story further is to sit in the chair.

Once in the chair you end up as another character, with a small cut scene again (this happens a lot) and you are presented with your first real situation where you have to fight a bunch of enemies. of course it gave you the instructions of how to fight and get through the situation, but you are left on your own until you finish the scene. After this was done there was one last thing to be done and that was a escape situation where you are running from your enemies. This situation presented many options and choices of where to go and how to get to your ultimate destination, by giving you the freedom to choose.

After this the 10 minutes was up, and I thoroughly enjoyed them.

homework...O.o

Ok well my game design teacher has making a blog as homework for this week...hi Mr houge :) and since i already had one, ill be posting my assignment stuff on here as well as the regular posts, so yes more lost in the black for everyone...

                                                                                                                                                       we out.

IM BAAAAaaack O.o

Ok classes have begun again, and so has the mass amount of thoughts running through my head once again. The quotes will be long, the rants extensive and this post short. Im back and am going to be posting at least every day, with possible updates on kate's blog and vice versa...well not much to post though today as i am sitting in my first class of the semester, and have yet to be pissed off to rant....and yet i still had time to make a new banner (WIN!)

ok...thats it





seriously...





go home....

                                                                                                                                            we out.