I just finished the final segment of downloadable contentfor Mass Effect 2. Bioware did a good job of setting up the premise of the next game and I hope the difficult choice that we faced at the end of the DLC is just a sampling of what we can expect for Mass Effect 3.

As I played through the missions though, I was reminded that the combat in ME2 was just OK. It definitely wasn't bad, but it wasn't amazing either. Shooting was decent, and the action was serviceable to the plot although not completely exciting. Most gamers will give this a pass because of they story elements, but multiplayer is a different story.

As I played through the final sequences of "The Arrival" I couldn't help but wonder if the stiff character animations and the "been there done that" feel of the combat will hold up in a game mode devoid of core story elements and character interaction. Will we be able to stomach hours of combat as generic soldiers or will we miss Commander Shepard?

I don't know what improvements will be made to the combat system but I am worried that Bioware will do an "Uncharted" on ME 3. I fear they will add a melee combat system, give us  big flashy set piece moments, and stick us with the same the mediocre shooting mechanics. As gamers we may over look this in the story mode, but will the multiplayer be a sorry addition as a result?

Layering upgrades and persistent character progression on top of forgettable game play won't do much to justify the addition of multiplayer to this title.

**** Spoiler Alert**** . . . **** Spoiler Alert*** . . . **** Spoiler Alert****

If you haven’t finished Gears 3, don’t read this blog post. . .

**** Spoiler Alert**** . . . **** Spoiler Alert*** . . . **** Spoiler Alert****

I have a habit of over thinking game story lines. Story inconsistency bugs me. 

The ending of Gears 3 bothered me, and not just because the ending left tons of questions unanswered. It bothered me because Adam Fenix got a hero’s death. Maybe his death scene wasn’t as dramatic as Dom’s, but it was the one of the final death scenes and the game tries to make the player feel sorry for his death. . .
Yet during the game, we find out that Adam Fenix is a horrible person . . .
1.    He hid the locust threat.

An entire foreign civilization that lives underneath the population of Sera is being threatened by infection from immulsion, and Adam Fenix tells NO ONE. He takes it upon himself to be their savior and never consults or asks for help from anyone. I guess he’s the smartest person on the planet, the epitome of humanity. . . or at least he believes he is.  As a result, he fails to help the locust and they continue to be ravaged by disease. Eventually they are forced into attacking the surface world. They attack a world that has no idea they exist. Humanity sees the locust attack as completely unexpected and unprovoked.  Why? ADAM FENIX. He didn’t help the locust end the immulsion infection and he didn’t help humanity prepare to defend itself. The blood of billions is on his hands.

2.    He hid the truth about immulsion.

Do you dress like a disturbing fast food mascot? Do you enjoy stalking homeless people? Do you wish you could hide in shadows and alleyways waiting to pounce on people who can’t afford food?
It’s time to step up and start realizing your potential with . . .

SNEAK KING


Game Synopsis 

“You see a weary citizen crossing the street. His eyes are glassed over, his lips pursed in frustration. He's holding his stomach as he looks around for something to eat. This man is hungry and there's only one person who can help. Play as the glorious Burger King himself as you try to stealthily deliver Burger King sandwiches and food to unsuspecting citizens. Will you be able to satisfy their hunger before they pass out?”

“In Sneak King, you wear the King's crown and must go on a cunning mission to feed the citizens throughout richly detailed scenes. Explore hidden pathways and hide out while you wait for an unknowing citizen to pass by. The more elaborate your delivery, the more points you earn. Are you up for this tasty, satisfying quest?”




What do unsuspecting citizens want? Well obviously its food offered by a stranger in costume that has just stepped out of a trash can. And the only thing that makes this scenario better is the fact that they have no idea its coming. Who could resist the opportunity to plan the elaborate delivery of French fries on the next “cunning mission”?
Finally, we can now act out our fantasies of assaulting innocent people with fast food. All we need is $4.99 and the courage to live our dreams!



Note: THIS IS NOT A JOKE, THIS IS A REAL GAME

I was on a mission to retrieve some books for the mage’s college when I met up with a powerful sorceress. I convinced her that I didn’t want a fight, and she allowed me to take the books. Then she warned me that if I ever returned, she would take my life. . . I walked out of the room and began heading to the door into larger world of Skyrim but an idea hit me. I didn’t want to leave an enemy alive, basically waiting to kill me the next time she saw me. So I snuck back into the room. Her back was turned as she studied something on a podium. I crept closer, and withdrew my favorite dagger. If I could get the first hit while still in stealth, I would have a good change at bringing this crazy woman down. Finally I was within range and I attacked.

The camera angle swept to the right,  and in slow motion I slit her throat. No epic battle ensued, there were no words exchanged, and by the time she figured out what was happening she was already dead.

It was at that moment that realized one of the aspects of Skyrim that I have grown to love.

That sorceress was a boss character. Yet there were no special rules or invisible walls around her. I didn’t have to initiate a fight to kill her. There she wasn’t immune to all damage until a specific moment when I could attack. All the options, abilities, and perks I had earned were just as effective on her as on any other character.

This lack of unnecessary constraints on player action makes Skyrim feel real. It didn’t matter what kind of super awesome level pyro sorcerer wizard she was. She couldn’t defend against a threat she didn’t perceive and, like anyone else, a dagger to the throat ended her.

Parity between NPC combatants and the player gives a level of believability to the world and helps every fight to feel fair. Going up against a powerful character in Skyrim is a daunting task, but it’s also a glimpse into what your character could become if you chose to go down that path. As far as I know your character can’t actually become a dragon, a ghost, a troll, a bear, one of those ice wisp things etc. But when it comes to humanoid characters, I have not seen an NPC that has abilities that are completely out of my reach. The sheer number of possibilities and content to explore is staggering.

The comparison between the gaming industry and the movie industry has been made many times. So much so that the quality of a game is if often measured by how closely it can give that movie experience to the gamer.

That is definitely the goal of Uncharted 3. And it is a goal that for the most part it achieves. There were many moments throughout the game where I reflected on movie moments. The scene where Drake jumps from the jeep to the landing gear of the plane comes to mind.

This movie quality can’t be nailed down to any one aspect of the game anymore than a good movie can be reduced to one mechanic. Cut scene acting is back at its highest level in this game, a level really only achieved by the Uncharted franchise so far.

The cut scenes in game engine look wonderful and Drakes dialog, whether talking to others or himself, is always entertaining. And in the end, it’s Drakes character that really sells the movie quality. At many points in the game when I started to tire of fighting bad guys or platforming, Drake will pop off a one liner mirroring exactly what I was feeling. Although it shouldn’t matter, it lightened the experience at just the right moment to help me continue playing.

The amount of physics modeling done in this game is staggering. The cruise ship level and the level leading up to it are technical marvels. The water moves realistically and everything reacts to the ship as it pitches and turns.

The lighting is top notch; the character animations are believable if not completely realistic. Drake even touches a wall or interacts with the environment in other ways just to add to the feeling that he is really there and not just a character model moving through a sterile environment. I guess what I am really trying to say is that this game does so many things right with regard to presentation that it doesn’t require any more suspension of disbelief than a movie does. This is the first game I have played that has achieved that experience.

The latest entry into the Gears of War series was met with nearly universal acclaim. While I have criticisms regarding the story and the voice acting, it’s hard to argue against the impression of polish, refinement, and overall gaming goodness that I was left with after finishing the campaign. Gears of War 3 is a good game.

One thing that Microsoft/Epic couldn’t sell me on was their annual pass that would guarantee me a copy of every DLC that they released in the next year. I couldn’t see spending the money for content that hasn’t been specified yet, so I didn’t. Many intelligent gamers did purchase the pass, and they are simply bigger fans of the franchise than I am.

What bothers me about the DLC for Gears 3 so far is how much of it has been weapon skins and player skins. To make my point directly, purchasers of DLC are paying for content that is either already on the game disk or is being put on the hard drive of every online gears player. They are simply paying to unlock what is already on our consoles.

Why do I make this accusation? Because I have not purchased any DLC, but I can see everyone else’s weapon and character skins.  Technically speaking, I shouldn’t be able to see those models and skins because they aren’t on my Xbox. I didn’t buy them; they weren’t part of any free download of which I have been notified. I know that the images aren’t being downloaded from a server to the RAM of my Xbox every time I start a match; that would create horrible load times for each match.  And I’m certainly not streaming the content from another player’s console. So this leaves one possibility, those skins and character models are already on my Xbox, whether it be on the game disk or in a file that was part of a mandatory update.

So with that being the case, the only reason why I can’t access that content is because they won’t unlock it without me paying a fee.  It’s taking up space on my hard drive or its sitting on my game disk, and I can’t access it because it’s being held hostage. Add to that the fact that a number of maps that were given to the pass buyers was also given to the general public for free,  and I call that an epic rip off.

The dust has settled and many people have moved on to other games. Even so, I hope gamers and developers don’t forget about some of the many things that Deus Ex Human Revolution did right.

Here are a few things I hope developers copy from Deus Ex: HR.

Morality system

Morally ambiguous goals allow for the character to be truly evil or good, or any shade in between without having the psychopath syndrome that most games suffer (i.e. I just slaughtered 1000 people with my bare hands, but the next cut scene is me rescuing a kitten from a tree and buying ice cream for a little kid).  The player is not constantly hit over the head with good or bad points to remind them what kind of person they are being, they just get to deal with the consequences. The morality system isn’t tied to abilities (Infamous) or conversation options (Mass Effect). Most games that tie morality up in gameplay mechanics are really punishing you for playing like a real person and reacting to situations in real time. A real person is not going to be good or bad 100% of the time, but when the consequences are losing the loyalty of someone in the game because I haven’t ranked up my conversation skills enough by being completely bad or good, or my success is tied to having a powerful attack that can only be obtained by being completely Paragon or Renegade, I’m not playing the game the way I would naturally, I’m behaving the same consistent way so that I can get the carrot on the end of the stick.   Deus Ex doesn’t do that to the player. Morality is not tied to abilities or conversation options. Therefore the player can actually play the character how they want and deal with narrative consequences rather than being punished through gameplay elements. 

Transparency of Upgrades 

The entire upgrade tree is visible. The player can plan exactly what you want to upgrade and the type of path you want to grow your character towards. It’s not a case of spending points in a certain ability only to find that it does lead where you thought it would or its final for isn’t as powerful as you thought it would be. The upgrade paths make sense. You don’t have to waste points on things that don’t matter to your play style. You don’t have to be a level 4 hacker to unlock the final version of cloaking or dermal armor. You can take your first 5 ability points and be ranked up completely in one ability within the first 4 hours of the game. It’s all about what character you want to build and when you decide to flesh out certain aspects of that character.

Organic Conversations

The conversations feel real, organic, and they feel like you are affecting the person in real time rather than seeing the next recorded response to your comment/question. The idea that the player can actually save or lose lives of innocent people based on dialog choices adds weight to the conversations. Something is actually at stake.

Technology is moving faster than any of us can track.  5 years ago, few of us had data phones and none of us have iPhones. Today, we are looking forward to utilizing “the Cloud” in iOS 5 and having access to our entire music library from anywhere that we have a good wireless connection.

The acceleration of technology is affecting gaming as well. We all see it and we speculate as to what is next for our favorite pastime.

The dedicated handhelds that are on most gamers minds are the Nintendo 3DS and the Playstation Vita. I assert that these two impressive pieces of hardware will be the last vestiges of dedicated portable gaming hardware that we see in their current form, and I have a few reasons why this is the case.

The Phone Comes First

I own a smart phone. The device and data plan are expensive, but they are a necessity. The device has added value from the fact that it also accesses social media sites, plays games, and can connect to Netflix. Those are huge pluses, but even if my device didn’t do that, I would still need the phone and the data plan. Therefore, when money is tight and I have to pick a device, the data phone wins over the dedicated handheld gaming device.

Now I know that it can be said that the two categories of products are not necessarily considered as being in direct competition, but in the current economy the definitely are.  Most people don’t have the money to buy every new tech device they want, so by default they will be in competition with one another. Just as tablets compete with laptops and data phones compete with tablets for our tech money (which one do I upgrade next . . . that one can wait a while), gaming handhelds are positioned right with those devices competing for our tech dollars.

I'm still using my audio log to pollute the airwaves . . . err I mean the interwebs . . . .

http://mindspace.podomatic.com/entry/2011-10-08T22_55_35-07_00

Please let me know what you think . . .

I am tempted to say that Superman is one of the characters from my childhood that I never outgrew. But that’s not completely true. As I have grown up as a person, the Superman mythos has been something that continues to captivate me because my understanding has continued to grow and my appreciation for the character has matured.

I appreciate Christopher Reeve. I believe that Brandon Routh should have been the one to continue to carry the mantle of the character. And I hope that a Nolan influenced Superman will be ground breaking. But I do not think that we have reached the point at which I will see the Superman movie I want.

Superman . . . Not Just a Love Story

Every Superman movie that I have seen has revolved around the love story between Superman and Lois Lane. Obviously that element is a major part of the character but it is never explored to the extent that it should be. At its core, his relationship with Lois is a metaphor for his affinity for and connection to humanity. But that metaphor is never explored, explained, or tested. It’s simply reduced to the typical Hollywood “boy loves girl” story.

Additionally, does the responsibility he has to humanity as a whole make it wrong for him to focus on one person? Does stepping forward as the savior of mankind make the time he spends with Lois irresponsible? After all, every minute he spends eating dinner with her, people are being hurt and killed . . . and he can hear it all. What kind of mindset would allow someone to block that out? And how calloused would someone have to become to do so? What does this imply about his view of human life?

Superman . . . The Concept of Perfection

Often Superman is presented as the embodiment of morality, good, truth, and justice. But what are the political ramifications of his actions? How can someone with the powers of a god spend his time rescuing kittens from trees when thousands of civilians are being killed in wars around the globe? What is the reaction when he takes the next logical step and starts to solve larger problems? What are the political ramifications of him doing so? Under what condition would he refuse to save someone?