Game Review - Mass Effect

Ah, Mass Effect. I've been trying with this game, I've been trying very hard but I am just finding very little to like about it. This game does have a level of pedigree, I played this studios previous title Knights of the Old Republic and really enjoyed it. So, where does this game go wrong?

First off I think that this game doesn't know what it wants to be. The action portion is like a stripped down version of gears of war with only four weapons and awful AI and the RPG portion consists of half baked cliched writing that serves only to segue into the next action section. Let's break it down.

Graphics - I'm starting off with the simultaneously strongest and weakest aspect of this game. The graphics are amazing and they serve to recreate watching a film. Facial animations are good and the opening of this game really creates a strong atmosphere because of it. Before it breaks down you could be forgiven for thinking that this game genuinely recreates an episode of your favorite science fiction series.

On the negative end of things the graphics in this game are boring, scenery is restricted to large grainy blocks of whatever. The architecture is ugly and uninspiring, the weapons are ugly and all of the same collection of shapes and colors. The aliens in this game do not have the same appeal as the ones featured in KOTOR and seem like mere rip-offs of the star wars stable. This game is not fun to look at and felt like such a waste of an opportunity given the otherwise excellent presentation.

Sound - Sound suffers the same problem as the graphics, presentation is perfect and the way conversation flow occurs is almost perfect. It is let down by the same lack of imagination and inspiration, lines are delivered in a manner that suggest a boredom on the part of the voice actors. The voice actor of the main character is excellent but at times feels all too generic, as if this game was trying so hard to encapsulate the science fiction it is aping that it fails to have a spirit of it's own.



Combat - This is, for me, a very weak point of this game. Combat consists entirely of either gunning down your assailant in moments or being forced to find a way to cheese the AI into letting you kill it without resistance. The controls are unresponsive and the weapons just are not fun to use. Commanding your squad mates disrupts the game play and I found myself not using the ability at all. Combat in this game is an unavoidable chore.



Writing - This is the point that makes or breaks an RPG. You can forgive clunky combat if it has a compelling story, it makes the encounters seem real and helps with your suspension of disbelief. Unfortunately the writing here is utter trash. This game does absolutely nothing new with it's license, in the end it just feels like star wars if you took out light sabers, Darth Vader and started calling the force "biotics". We are told the antagonist must be stopped because "he hates humanity", we never really see any proof of this and our character just accepts it.

I'll pick out one of the sub quests for an example of the worthlessness of the writing here. You are told to go defuse a nuclear bomb inside a cave belonging to a rogue probe. On finding the bomb we are confronted by a hologram of a pirate captain who explains his life story and how he became a pirate captain in long and over-written prose. He then turns out to know your name and yes, has laid this trap especially for you, sealing you in with the nuclear bomb.

Okay, well, how did he know it was you that was going to be sent for it? Why did he want you killed if he never even met you before. Why the elaborate scheme?

That's not the stupidest part, though the "escape" was sealed off, you can just leave through another door after defusing the bomb, a door which leads INTO THE PIRATE CAMP. Wouldn't the bomb have killed them all if it had gone off? Is this in any way believable? Am I having fun? No. It's the same all the way through, every character is flat and derivative. Poor show.

Auto saves - This gets its own section because it's so annoying. This game has auto saves but only hours apart or wherever it feels like it. I found myself having to save the game every few minutes myself in case a difficult encounter was around the next corner. There's no quick save and it take a around ten seconds to save, it breaks up the gameplay and it's just plain annoying.

Well, that's Mass Effect. It's the story that let me down the most. The concept of being a star ship captain who is above the law could have been amazing if the story was strong but here we are wandering around a bland bland world without really ever knowing what we are doing or why. If you care about your story, leave this game alone. If you want third person shooting, get one of the Gears of War games.

30/100

Game Preview - Majesty 2

It's rare for me to get excited about a new game but, god damn it, I'm excited about this one. Remember Majesty? It was an excellent RTS style game from 2000 where you hired heroes and got them to do things for you by offering them gold. I actually discovered this game about a year ago and aside from the poor graphics and ridiculously fast scroll speed I really enjoyed it.

Now, the second factor in this equation of awesome is a company called 1C. You might know them from the Space Rangers series or the remake of King's Bounty. They're essentially a mad group of Russian developers that make amazing games, I don't know too much about the guys themselves but their work shows a real passion for gaming that you don't often see.

Anyway, mix these two things together and you get a game called Majesty 2. That's right, these guys got hold of the license and made a sequel and it's good. It's damn good. I mean I only have the demo which has two missions but when I keep going back to those missions over and over, you know you are onto something special.


Games of this type have had a hard time in the past. Mostly because it was hard as hell to tell what was going on sometimes. Hit calculations and damage rolls, magic scores, it was all a bit too complicated to properly express when the pixels were as large as your head. This game fixes all that.

It's now clear what's going on, nearly every one of your guys looks unique but best of all it's done all this while remaining very close to the game play of the original. It's essentially a remake with a touch up in all of the important areas. You could maybe assault them for lack of originality but they are remaking a completely unique game so I can't fault them. It's addictive, looks great, runs on my laptop and just has a great spirit to it. It's light hearted and affectionate to the original and I just can't wait to get my hands on the full version.

If you haven't played the original, give it a go, or just grab the great demo of this version. It's rewarding and fun, 1C, please make dungeon keeper 3.

Game Review - Killing Floor

Ah, zombies. I like zombie games, first we had plants versus zombies and now we have a more mature representation of the zombie demographic in digital format. What started out as an Unreal mod is now a full game purchasable through valve's steam distribution store and it is a lot of fun. The idea of the game is that you and five buddies must fight off wave after wave of blood thirsty zombies of various types. You have the regular shamblers that walk slowly towards you soaking up bullets alongside craftier incarnations all backed up by a super zombie every so often to stop you from getting too comfortable. It's a game of team organisation and bullet rationing. Let's have a look at some of the key points.

Graphics - This game is based on a slightly aging engine so this isn't going to exactly be cutting edge. Of course, this could also be viewed as a plus as it allows me to play it on my laptop. The zombies look really good and are distinctive as you you can see in the screenshot above. The super zombies are perfectly menacing with sinister grainy textures. The graphics in this game suit it perfectly. However, some of the zombies do look a little underdeveloped and I feel some of the models could be better had more work been put into them. All in all, it looks good but the graphics alone are not going to blow you away.

Sound - The sound is good, you have the zombie groans and sporadic death metal to get your pulse racing but of course in a game like this its the silence that can really get to you and that's in there too. All the characters are given corny British accents which gives it all a very b-movie feel. There could be more samples for variety but for what sound is here, it's excellent.

Game play - Game play consists of killing waves of zombies with gun shopping in between, you can also level up various "perks" which are kind of like classes in an RPG. So you are encouraged to, for example, heal team mates to level up your medic perk. The guts of it is zombie killing though and that is very very satisfying. Head shots are essential and you'll see plenty of brains flying about the place. You can also use the iron sights on your guns to line up shots so that gives it a nice semi realistic feel to it. Game play is solid and addictive and the maps are great.


The guys who will be tearing the flesh eating zombies off your back.

Weapons - There's a good selection of weapons here. Compared to left for dead, another zombie game where you only get to choose between two types of weapon, here you get a good collection of firearms. Hunting shotgun, ak-47, chainsaw, there's a lot to choose from and each is unique enough to make using it a different experience. I would have liked to see more of a progression with the weapons however, as it seems its not hard to be able to afford the best ones within only a few rounds. This of course changes with the difficulty level so it's not the end of the world.

Well, there's not too much more to say. The biggest question of course is how it stacks up to left for dead and I have to say, this is its own game. It's very very different with a very different feel. If you like zombie games, get them both. If you only get one, I'd say if money is at all an issue, get this one. It's definitely more bang for the buck and you won't be bothered by the griefers and whiny kids that plague left for dead.

This is a great game and ideal for an evening of zombie massacre.

80/100