Caught In The Whirlwind
Posts tagged rpg
Massively Late Mass Effect Review
Feb 6th 2009
As I had mentioned yesterday, I was close to finishing Mass Effect. As it turns out, I was really close as I completley finished the game last night.
Wow.
Mass Effect is an action based RPG for the XBox 360, set in a sci-fi space setting. You get command of a space ship and get to fly around, saving the galaxy. It's played in a third person perspective, and it feels very much like a shooter with stats and special skills. Something of a hybrid of the two genres that really works well.
The story is…awesome. It's produced by Bioware, a company that knows how to make a good story so I really shouldn't be surprised. The main campaign set pieces are so amazingly well done and scripted that you never quite know what to expect when you round the next corner. And just when you think they've thrown out something so cool that they can't top it…they do. The entire last section of the game was filled with these sorts of moments, one after the other in one of the most fun to play ending sequences I've had the pleasure of experiencing.
The game is very cinematic too. From the cutscenes to the music, to the slight hint of film grain on the screen…it feels like you're playing an interactive movie. Also little touches like displaying the dialog options a few seconds before the NPC that you're talking to is finished speaking, thereby eliminating any pauses in the conversation while the player chooses an option really help increase the movie-like feel. The voice acting is pretty good too, featuring the like of Seth Green and Marina Sirtis (Troi from Star Trek, The Next Generation)
I do have a couple complaints however. First, the side quests on the unexplored worlds are…boring. They're all pretty much the same with no twists, on generic maps with generic bad guys living on generic planets. And the rover you drive around in…VERY hard to control, and very hard to aim correctly when you're trying to shoot people. I had better luck running over bad guys than I did hitting them with the gun.
However, all that aside, it's a very good game and highly recommended if you missed out on it. I know it's a little old by now, but I'm just catching up here! I can't wait for the sequel to come out.
.hack//G.U. Volume 1: Rebirth Mini-Review
Nov 2nd 2006
I finished .Hack//G.U. Volume 1 last night and I figured I’d write a little mini-review thingy.
First of all, .Hack is a RPG for the Playstation 2 which simulates the experience of playing a MMO game, complete with people calling you noobs, misspelled character names and people who type in all caps. In the “simulation of a MMO” concept, it does fairly well. You can walk up to anyone in the game and try to trade with them. I didn’t find being able to trade with everyone all that useful in the grand scheme of things, but it was a nice touch to have it there.
The main story revolves around Haseo (the main character) having his girlfriend placed into a Coma after being PKed (Player Killed) in the game by a person named Tri-Edge. You set out to find him, however during the confrontation, your character gets “data drained” back to level 1 from level 133. Haseo then sets out to level up and get his revenge.
The story is pretty good. It’s obvious that it’s a multi-part game and the pacing can move a little slow at times due to how much space they’ve got to play with. This episode is, obviously, going to be mostly character introductions and setup for later episodes. Even so, I found myself empathizing with Haseo. I thought he was a jerk a lot of the times and did things the exact opposite of how I would have done them, but when it’s all said and done, he had motivation for his actions. The story plays out through in-game cutscenes as well as some full motion video stuff. Characters also send you e-mails which you can reply to in order to learn more about them and the games story.
If there’s one thing that the game falls down on, it’s the lack of interesting enviornments to explore. True to MMO fashion, there’s a limited number of dungeon tilesets, and rooms which seem to be randomly generated. You can only see a cave so many times and think it’s interesting looking. The combat system is entertaining, but limited in it’s depth. It’s still fun for mindless action though. You can have up to three characters in your party at a time, however you only have direct control over one of them. The AI does a good job directing the other two, based on general instructions you can give it in the menu.
Overall, it was an OK game. It took me about 22 hours from start to finish which was about what I was expecting. It wasn’t the best RPG I’ve played recently, but I felt like I got my money’s worth at the end and I eagerly await the second game in the series to see what happens.
RPG Cravings
Oct 25th 2006
The November game rush has started for me a little early this year. Just put in an order for .hack//G.U. Volume 1: Rebirth for the Playstation 2. I was actually out last night trying to find it in stores, but I guess the supply chain hadn’t caught up with the release schedule yet since nobody had it.
I’ve been craving a Japanese style RPG for a little while now and this happened to be released. I’ve heard some mixed things about it in the reviews, but overall it’s positive. Hopefully I’ll like it. I love games with really good stories and this one, by all accounts, has a pretty good one.
In other video game news, I placed a pre-order for Guitar Hero 2. There’s a video floating around of Free Bird from it being played on the Hard setting. That song is going to be fun to play.
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