Apropos of Nothing

This has been stuck in my head:

Syndicate: Gunplay that is Ammo-tastic!

Starbreeze and EA recently released Syndicate and, from what I understand, it flopped at retail and received mixed reviews. It has been sitting on my "To Review" pile for a while. It got pushed to the bottom by SSX and Mass Effect 3 (two more EA properties) so I'm a little behind the curve on this but, man, is that gunplay ever satisfying.

There's something about the way the guns are animated, the sound and kickback when they're firing, that feels so good.

It's entirely possible that coming off 27 hours of Mass Effect 3 gunplay might have something to do with it. In comparison to Syndicate, Mass Effect 3 is mostly about pop and potatoe guns.
When a gun is fired in Syndicate there's much more report and it's much more, more... what's that cliched term? More visceral.

I'm only a couple hours in so it might well fall off the rails. But I don't think the source material has suffered anything moving from the isometric view of the original games to the more in-your-face nature of a first-person shooter.

I should admit that I got a pretty solid nostalgia hit after spinning up the minigun for the first time. The sound was indentical (in my memory) to when I was ordering around my agents in the origical tactical/strategy game back in 1993.

Mass Effect 3 - Part 5 *SPOILERS*

SPOILERS AHEAD for the ending of Mass Effect 3!

Still reading?

So aside from suffering further rounds of "homage" and Easter Eggs -- "The first shuttle is away!" Yay! -- the ending, at least the ending I experienced, concluded with Shepherd saving the galaxy by blowing everything and anything to hell. The Ghost Child in Shepherd's Max Payne-like nightmares that turned out to be "The Catalyst" tells Shepherd flatly that all robotic life will be wiped out if she puts a few well-placed shots into a crazily exposed conduit. And because Shepherd has a bit of robot about her, it means her destruction as well.

That's what Shepherd came to do. Put an end to the Reapers. And in the process mimic some scenes from LOST.

It came as a bit of a surprise that the destruction of the Reapers and all the mass effect relays basically destroyed the galaxy. (This is something I predicated in a previous blog.) It was a bit of a, "Wait, what?" reaction on my part. In my head I imagined all the Reaper tech just shutting down and collapsing in a heap all over the galaxy. Cue the inter-species celebrations, ticker tape parade, and medal ceremony. Nope. Earth's surface is essentially "glassed" and Joker just maybe got the Normandy far enough away from the explosion to fight another day.

The ending wasn't enough to make me want to send BioWare cupcakes or file an FTC complaint or just go crazy with a "That's not how it should have ended! Those leftist feminist ruin everything!" diatribe. If anything, the ending kind of made me sad that I predicted the end of the game -- the close out of a trilogy -- only a couple hours into the third chapter. I wanted a surprise, a real smack to the face, from BioWare. Something that would have been unexpected (along the lines of Jade Empire characters saving the day). It makes sense from a trilogy standpoint to end things so definitively but it did kind of undermine the entirety of the struggle in the trilogy: trying to save organic life in the galaxy. After all that, the Reapers won!

Granted, my ending was one of (supposedly) 7 different endings, some where everyone survives and Earth isn't vaporized. But I'm not sure I want to dive back in again after witnessing the end of the galaxy, particularly because it means scavenging space for War Assets, which isn't actually that fun.

When the game "ends" it re-launches Shepherd into the last part of the game where she's about to assault the Illusive Man's hideout. But I think I'm done at this point. I already destroyed the galaxy once, why do I need to do it again?

Mass Effect 3 - Report 4

I'm definitely zeroing in on the final moments of Mass Effect 3 -- I've finally returned to Earth, which amazingly has not been completely obliterated (for a pretty limp reason) -- and it makes me realize how badly I miss space combat games along the lines of Wing Commander and X-Wing/Tie-Fighter.

There's this great scene between two massive assemblies of ships above Earth that made my gamer heart pang for the days when Hobbes was revealed to be a traitor and when transport #7 was that one that needed to be disabled with ion fire.

And now that I'm zeroing in on the final push, I realize just how hard I pushed through the story of the game rather than meandering around the ship talking to my squad. It wasn't but two missions before that trek home that I figured out where I could upgrade my weapons! And, man, did that ever come in handy. Suddenly enemies were turned into tin cans and even the toughest enemies, the Atlas mech, were hardly any effort with a Claymore shotgun upgraded to level 5. It makes me wonder what else I missed along the way. What other bit of space weaponry did I miss? Extra powers? Side missions?

Mass Effect 3 - Report 3

I'm side-stepping the whole "ending" controversy. I don't even think I'm that close to the end at this point. From what I've been reading though, some of those gamers need to get over themselves. And the entitlement issues on display... I'd say those complainers are doing themselves a disservice by shining a spotlight of outrage on themselves. I might have more to say about this when I finally reach the end but so far, the game has been pretty enjoyable even if hitting comic book and sci-fi/fantasy beats overshadows some of the cooler aspects of the Mass Effect universe.

Why does it feel like the writers on Mass Effect 3 were constantly referring to Marvel Comics for inspiration? A couple nights ago I led my team in saving people from a "School for Gifted Youngsters." The entire set-up and execution felt like I repelling an assault on the Xavier's mansion.

Mass Effect 3's version
of Half-Life 2's Citadel.

Last night Shepherd activated a couple of thumpers to attract a sandworm. While she didn't ride the worm, it did send an impulse to my brain to read Dune again. Layered on top of that, is that this all happens in the shadow of a giant spire reminiscent of the Citadel in the middle of City 17 (see Half-Life 2) which, if you remember, is under the effects of a suppression field which basically means people aren't having kids (or even have the desire to try). And the whole reason Shepherd and crew are headed to this spire is to reverse something called the "genophage" which has kept race of ultra violent aliens -- the krogan -- from reproducing and overrunning the galaxy. (Replace "genophage" with "suppression field.")

Had I not played Half-Life 2 or read Dune I wouldn't have drawn any parallels or mumbled to myself about an "homage or something." But I did both. (And read far too many Marvel comics.) So, when these things come up I wonder why BioWare didn't do something more "original" and cool within their own universe.

Let me be clear about this point: I'm enjoying the game.

Mass Effect 3 - Report 2

Okay, BioWare.

First I come across a skittish crazy dude stealing lines from Ghostbusters in Star Wars: The Old Republic -- "Listen! Do you smell that?" -- now this brazen "homage" of a curvy female robot from an Avengers storyline? Honestly, the first time *spoilers* EDI appears, all curves and silver, I spoke to the game: What? What?

I first came across The Bride of Ultron, more properly Jacosta, in an old Avengers storyline called "The Korvac Saga" where the Avengers face off against the biggest threat the universe has ever known after taking public transit to get there. (There's a subplot involving the US government revoking funding and special status for the Avengers.)

But that's actually not the part that bothered me as much as the way the character is "revealed" -- like a stripper stepping through fog.

And to top it off she quickly demonstrates "Lt. Commander Data Syndrome." I expected EDI to explicitly say something along the lines of wanting to see what it meant to be human and she pretty much does just that. Before the end of the game, I fully expect to hear "What is this thing humans call, Love?" with some option for weird robotic hanky-panky further down the line.

I don't think Ultron would be okay with that.

Mass Effect 3

Less than three hours into Mass Effect 3 and I'm hooked! I have a little trouble swallowing the whole "Reaper invasion? Okay, I'll go arrange a meeting about it!" arrangement (so far). Why am I traipsing around the galaxy with my Anne of Green Gables avatar, when it's so clear that by the time I actually get back to Earth there will be nothing left? In the opening minutes of the game it seems that the Reaper's will make very short work of Earth so when I bomb over to Mars, then zip over to the Citadel, then hop to Palaven (the turian homeworld), which is also defending against a Reaper attack... all I'm thinking is that Earth is done. It's all over for those poor bastards.

A concious choice I made before starting Mass Effect 3 was that, unless I was dealing with my squad mates, I would be a complete jerk. I would only make "bad" or Renegade choices. This has really help me deal with the crippling aspect of Mass Effect 2 that I never really overcame: choice. I was always concerned with what would happen if I made the wrong choice. This time around I don't care because I decided ahead of time what I would do.

Also, I'm predicting that the "Promethean device" will eventually require Shepherd to act as the "catalyst" to wipe out the Reapers. Or the device won't just destroy the Reapers, it'll wipe out everything.

March 3, 2012 - “Bread, Justice, Freedom”

This week The Armchair Empire brought you Reviews of:

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (360)
Jagged Alliance: Back in Action (PC)
SSX (360)

The trio marks the successful "revival" of the SSX series, the seeming implosion of the Jagged Alliance series, and the first instalment of what is likely the first chapter of the Kingdoms of Amalur series. It's a good way to kick of March, which is shaping up to be another packed month for gamers.

My Weekend (If I'm Lucky)

SSX landed on my desk yesterday and I couldn't tear into it fast enough. It has been a very long time since I last played an SSX game and the original game was actually one of the first titles The Armchair Empire ever received for review right around the launch of the PS2. (The other was NHL Hockey.) In fact, I actually had to rent a PS2 -- Remember when video rental places did that? Remember when there were video rental places? -- so it could be reviewed.

While there's an embargo up preventing any opinion from leaking out -- it could be construed as a "review" -- I have to say it was great to see the SSX logo appear on the screen.

I've said too much already!

But I hope to spend a great number of hours with SSX this weekend ahead of the review embargo lifting.

Shank 2 for PC

I've seen the Shank 2 death screen more times
than I can count. Stay away from keyboard controls!

Well, you can't say the developers didn't give the ol' college try but the keyboard controls for Shank 2 are horrible.

Horrible in a way that could induce keyboard pounding as you attempt to execute the kind of precision mayhem required of Shank 2. Even the simplest rolls and dodges become complex with the keyboard, which is exactly what you don't want if you're trying to stay a bullet or two ahead of the enemies. And there's this awful thing that happens when Shank breaks out the guns or knives. You have to use the mouse to aim the damn things! Because the switch between melee and ranged happens so quickly, the frustration caused by aiming with the mouse leads to a never-ending waterfall of frustration as Shank fires his weapons into the ground rather than the rushing enemies.

Plugging in a controller remedies the control issue, but it sure doesn't take away from the challenge, which ramps up pretty quickly. At least with a controller it comes down to a little bit of strategy rather than imprecise keyboard key mashing which allows appreciation of the production values.

Couple of Old Republic Screens*

* "Couple" meaning "three" in this case.

Old Republic: It's Losing My Interest

I really would like to spend more time playing Star Wars: The Old Republic. But almost every time I've had a spare hour to devote to the game, I watch the game download and apply a patch or update rather than actually play it. This is exactly why I would get frustrated if I had to review a Playstation 3 game. If I hadn't had the console on in a while, I'd have to wait out the time consuming update process. This meant I wouldn't actually play whatever game I was supposed to be reviewing and slip into bed instead.

So, while these software updates are good for a restorative sleep, they're playing hell with my review schedule.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - knee-jerk reaction

Okay, so I'm not that deep into Star Wars: The Old Republic yet but I remember why I abandoned City of Heroes (as much as I liked it).

I'm a Level 4 cyborg smuggler and I'm not even out of the origin story yet. For the last couple of days I've been vainly attempting to get past a Level 6 robot guy. This damn thing keeps laying me out! Last night it dawned on me that I needed to head out into the surrounding area and grind out a couple of levels to reach 6 to ensure I could squash the robotic bastard. That's when City of Heroes stopped being fun for me and I was much deeper into the game than the first couple of hours. The moment it became about The Grind I lost interest.

With Old Republic I just want to explore the storylines and forget this grinding thing. Discovering your own Star Wars story certainly has an appeal for me but not when I'm frustrated this early on with the game. I'll stick it out for a while longer but my fortunes had better turn pretty damn quick or this one's getting a hyperspace jump to the Uninstalled system.