Mass Effect 2 review

The epic adventure of 2007’s Mass Effect from Bioware had left gamers with an unbelievable experience which consumed many gaming hours. But the question is; can the sequel deliver more of the same? In one word, yes.

Mass Effect 2 is very similar to its predecessor in many ways, with many of the great RPG elements from the first game being incorporated into this incarnation. The levelling up and the conversation trees which have been a trademark for the series are back along with the Paragon and Renegade actions which will affect how your Shepherd is seen and reacted to by other characters. There is also the addition of the ability to intervene in cut scenes which enables you to affect how the scene is played out depending on which way you swing in the morality system. The six character classes are retained from the previous game but now each class having class-specific skills.

Mass Effect 2 also retains a great storyline which Bioware has done an excellent job with. Mass Effect 2 sees Commander Shepherd teaming up with Cerberus; a pro-human organisation fronted by The Illusive Man, to investigate the sudden and mysterious disappearances of human colonies. Shepherd and his Normandy ship is attacked by the Collectors and is torn apart which leads to the supposed death of Shepherd. Cerberus helps to effectively resurrect Shepherd and then gives him the job to put together a team to defeat the threat to mankind. The many different types of crew members you are tasked to recruit are widely ranged characters, from the almost emotionless Cerberus agent Miranda to fast talking Salarian, Doctor Mordin. With each team member comes a personal loyalty mission which gives you a closer insight into the character which can also lead to romantic ties.

While the excellent story telling is retained, one improvement from the previous game is the combat system. The combat has been streamlined with a Gears of War element to it, using the cover and shoot mechanics to full effect. Ammo is found from fallen enemies with all guns using the thermal ammo clips with the exception of Heavy Weapons. If going in all guns blazing is not your style then you still have the option to choose biotic or tech powers as well as being able to command other squad members to do your bidding through the circle roulette style pause wheels for commands and powers respectively. 

Mass Effect 2 delivers what the first game did and more, the same great compelling storytelling through excellent dialogue between characters, whilst giving the power of choice in many issues to the players is an experience which is experienced in few other games. With the improved streamlined combat system making this more accessible to more gamers and the only blemish being the repetitive and boring nature of mining for minerals; it has all the right mixtures to be considered one of the strong contenders to be Game of the Year for 2010.

Tackling in football

Tackling has been a topic of great debate in the world of football in recent weeks. It started with the comments made by Fulham captain Danny Murphy at a football conference, when he blamed managers of pumping up their players so much that it would inevitably lead to strong tackles. This was after the horror tackles from Nigel De Jong and Karl Henry, with the former's breaking Newcastle's Hatem Ben Arfa's leg.  Murphy also named three clubs who supposedly employ these tactics, the three clubs being Stoke, Blackburn and Wolves. After these comments were broadcasted throughout England, it caused a divide in opinion on this issue. In one corner, many have argued that the majority of the tackles in the current game are not reckless but rather mistimed. Blackpool manager Ian Holloway argues the case that because of the fast pace that the game is played in the Premier League, tackles are bound to be mistimed and that accidents will occur from them. While in the other corner, there is a belief that reckless tackles do occur in the game today, and as Danny Murphy says, players are so pumped up and are sent out to stop other teams from playing. Arsene Wenger has been arguing about this for the past couple of years, with Arsenal being at the end of teams with the tactics of "roughing them up" which has led to two high profile injuries involving his players, Eduardo in 2008 and Aaron Ramsey in February 2010.

My personal opinion is that, tackling is a major part of Football, hard and fair tackles are what defines some players, players like Patrick Vieira and Roy Keane were tough tacklers and it was what made them such great players. Getting rid of tackling would make football non contact and games would not have the same amount of  intensity as it would now. Many fans are able to feed off the energy of a crunching tackle from their top defender or centre midfielder and gives the whole crowd a lift. But being able to tackle hard does not excuse tactics of kicking players. I believe that many teams who play Arsenal employ these tactics, because as many pundits say, "they dont enjoy a physical battle and a bit of roughing up." I believe reckless tackles need to be cut out of the game, and anyone caught doing it should be severely punished irrespective of who it is. Even if the referee does see it and does not act on it, the FA should punish the offending player themselves. Reckless tackles are the one of the main reason players careers are shortened and legs are broken, regardless of which team they play for, no football fan wants to see a football player have their leg broken.

Is gaming socially acceptable now?

Video Games are generally associated with nerdy kids with glasses hiding in their bedrooms. But in the past couple of years, video games have started to appear in main stream press, receiving more attention than in previous years. This new stream of media attention can be attributed to the success of the Nintendo Wii. With the Wii's main target audience aimed at casual gamers consisting of titles like Wii Sports Resort and Wii Fit, which uses movement and motion controls not normally associated with traditional games and has led to great commercial success with millions of sales worldwide. The success of the Wii has forced their two main rivals, Microsoft and Sony to adopt the same technology with the releases of Kinect and Playstation Move respectively. The casual gamer market is slowly making a bigger presence  and even over taking the hardcore gaming markets. Games like Guitar Hero and Singstar which makes a group of friends/family play together are great games to bring out for parties and gatherings which could not have been said 10 years ago. The rise of the casual games have been one of the driving forces behind the rise of video game culture with many more people willing to pick up a controller,plastic guitar etc to try out a game for maybe even the first time in their lives.

Although casual games are not the only reason for the rise of video game culture. The success of big franchises like the Call of Duty series and Fifa series have received great amounts of advertising and press coverage, although not all necessarily positive as with the recent case of the release of Medal of Honor and the use of the Taliban name in the multiplayer mode. Many midnight launches of big franchises have been well attended with some people queuing for over 2-3 hours to be the first person to get their hands on their new favourite game. Even the supermarkets have been able to cash in on the hype surrounding these titles and have held their own midnight launches bringing a reduction of prices to attract even more customers than even big specialists high street stores like Game and HMV. These events shows that gaming has slowly become an increasingly popular form of entertainment and could even be placed in the same breath as trips to the cinema.

The rise of video game culture can be attributed to these two main factors, with an increasing amount of advertising for games all across the world, there is no hiding away from video games in this current generation, with the release of Kinect and Playstation Move, which allows first time gamers an easy way to enjoy games without the complicated control systems, this will ensure that even more people will be playing new and fun games, which might not appeal to hardcore gamers but will appeal to the masses  Will it replace film as the number one form of entertainment? maybe in 5 to 10 years time, but films will be looking anxiously behind their backs in the next couple of years at the behemoth behind them, which is video games.

3DS release date leaked?

A German tabloid newspaper, Bild has today reported that the release date of the 3DS is closer than we believed, with the handheld console being released on 11th November in Japan at first with a European release following in Spring. More news about the 3DS was set to be announced this week (starting 27th September) in a Nintendo press conference in Japan, but it appears that Bild has leaked one of the most highly anticipated announcements of the year. Nintendo had previously announced that the handheld console would be released before the end of the fiscal year ending, which ends in March 2011, but no real confirmation has been given.

If the rumour is true, then it only gives Nintendo just over a month to push the 3DS commercially, which begs the question, is it enough time to push such a revolutionary product? It was first announced in E3 2010 in June, but not much else has been said about it since. Microsoft's Kinect and Sony's Playstation Move have had over a year's time to promote itself, but with Nintendo's success in pushing the Wii and the DS commercially, a month could be plenty of time for Nintendo to promote the 3DS.

Dead Space review

There have been many different titles over the years in the survival horror genre, Resident Evil, Silent Hill and Alone in the Dark to name a few. But in 2008, EA released a new IP for the genre, Dead Space.Dead Space is a third person "over the shoulder" shooter which places the player in the role of Isaac Clarke, an engineer sent aboard an interstellar mining ship, USG Ishimura to investigate events which have caused the ship to send out a distress signal. However Clarke also has a personal stake in this, as he also receives a crypted message from Nicole Brennan, a medical specialist aboard the Ishimura and his girlfriend. He is joined by Kendra Daniels a technologist sent to fix the Ishimura's communication system and senior security officer Zach Hammond. What seems to be a relatively simple journey turns into a nightmare for the three characters.

Shortly after you arrive on the ship, you are separated from the other two members of the team by Necromorphs. Necromorphs are the enemies in the game, previously being crew members aboard the Ishimura. As you progress further in the game, different types of Necromorphs will start to appear, needing different strategies to kill them off. But Dead Space is not like your normal third person shooter, but instead uses the idea of limb dismemberment. The guns in the game use laser aiming which allows you to strategically aim at certain limbs to stop the Necromorphs from running towards you and clawing you to death. The Necromorphs usually attack in groups and are well hidden in many different areas, including ventilation systems which makes players check around every corner before going round it. Although melee attacks do not have the same effect. They seem to be a last resort for players when they run out of ammo for all their guns, and do not do much damage towards the Necromorphs. There are also two utilities which will help players progress through the game, Kinesis, which gives you the ability to move objects and Stasis, which can be recharged through recharging points and booster packs, enables you to slow down fast moving objects, like malfunctioning doors and fast moving Necromorphs.

To assist Isaac with his adventure, there are stores scattered around the ship which enables players to purchase new weapons, med packs, extra ammo and suit upgrades using credits which are dropped by enemies throughout the game. The store also enables Isaac to store items which he is unable to hold in his inventory, inventory space is limited but increases with every upgrade to his suit.
You can also purchase power nodes which are used to upgrade weapons at various workbenches throughout the game, with each node used to link each branch of the circuit board. The nodes can not only upgrade weapons but also upgrade Kinesis and Stasis as well as the health bar.

Throughout the game, you will also encounter many areas which are deprived of gravity, and therefore enables Isaac to perform zero-gravity jumps to any surface. This can be used to strategically kill Necromorphs from different angles, but in turn can have the same effect vice-versa. But primarily zero-gravity is used to solve different problems, with the addition of the limited air supplies in certain areas outside of the ship, presents players with unique obstacles.

But what separates Dead Space from the other survival horror games is the environment which the game is set in. EA have done a great job in creating an atmosphere aboard the Ishimura which not only adds tension to the game but creates a sense of isolation with great visuals and sounds, causing players to constantly worry about where the next attack from the Necromorphs will come from and frantically pushing the shoot button. The engaging story and the lack of knowledge of events aboard Ishimura only adds to the tense atmosphere whilst you try to piece bits together through various audio and text logs left behind by crew members.

This increased fear factor makes the Dead Space experience a refreshing take on survival horror with recent releases like Resident Evil 4 and Alone in the Dark becoming more action focused and moving away from the horror aspect.With its immersive story and excellent visuals this makes Dead Space a must buy game for all gamers.

Collectors/limited edition games

Last week saw the announcement of the Prestige Edition of Call of Duty: Black Ops. It comes with the game, a custom Black Ops limited edition medal, exclusive Black Ops Avatar outfit, four playable cooperative maps and a remote control surveillance car. The price you may ask? £129.99. I have to admit that i sometimes am a sucker to collectors edition and would be willing to spend some more money/or pick the collectors edition if the game came with decent extras for example, the limited edition of Tekken 6, which came with a hoody altogether for £70 and the Alan Wake collectors edition which came with book packaging and a bonus dvd which was for the same price as the standard edition. But spending more than £100 for a game and an extra which is no more than just gimmick? No thank you. I would rather spend less money on the standard edition of a game and not have to use up some space to store a gimmick item which does not benefit me at all in anyway. I do not mind if collectors editions come with extra in-game content, but if they come with extras like remote control cars which do not affect the in game experience then i believe that publishing companies are just trying to milk as much money as they can from big franchises like Call of Duty in order to maximise their revenue. Activision have already been down this path last year with the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, releasing a £100 Prestige Edition which came bundled with a pair of night vision goggles and many other companies are following suit. Gran Turismo 5 is also being released with a "signature edition"  which includes a model car, a leather wallet, USB key, metal key fob and two books for the price of £149.99. Although prices are extraordinarily high, many people will still buy it, but will I? Nope, ill be sticking to the standard editions.

3DS

The 3DS has caused quite a stir among people in the video games industry, and i am personally looking forward to when it is released here in the UK. Nintendo announced that they will be announcing the release date and the price for the 3DS in late September. The price of the 3DS is a big talking point and there have been speculation that it will cost in excess of £150. The question is: will people be willing to pay that amount of money for a handheld console, which could ultimately go down the same path as the current DS with the lack of any great titles to attract the interest of the "hardcore" audience? In a recent episode of the Gamespot UK podcast (29/7/2010), one of the editors said that he was willing to pay £200 for it, calling it a "slice of magic". I personally would be willing to pay around £150 for the device. Yes, it is a revolutionary piece of hardware, and the 3D minus the glasses is a unique feature, and the titles which have been announced which include, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Resident Evil Revelations, Starfox 64, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snaker Eater are A-grade titles, but £200 is the same amount for an Xbox 360 250GB console which provides HD gaming and online gaming with friends. The opinions of the Gamespot UK editor is based on the fact that he has been lucky enough to try the device whilst i have not been fortunate enough, i really do hope that i will be blown away by the Nintendo 3DS when i do eventually fork out the money for this "slice of magic".