Mass Effect is disappointing, but nice looking

[Master X]

Watching the first 20 minutes of Mass Effect played by a cute BioWare representative, I couldn't help but be reminded of a ventriloquist I saw on America's Got Talent a few nights ago. Why I happened to be watching America's Got Talent is none of your business, but let it be known that I wasn't happy about it.

Now, the thing about Mass Effect is that it seemed, more or less, like a ventriloquist's dummy. Of course, it was a very nice-modeled, well-rendered dummy with nice textures, but nothing more. The game, much like Pinocchio, lacks life.

The gameplay looks like your standard FPS fare, which is to say that I didn't see anything great or remarkable. There's a variety of weapons and abilities to use, but my pants didn't get wet or tight because of them. Gameplay is kind of hard to judge without an actual controller in your hands, so I'm going to reserve judgment on that.

Where the presentation really fell short, however, is in the emotionless voice acting and subpar facial animations. Not only did the conversation lack the natural ebb and flow to which we were all looking forward, but it was as if the voice actor's took commas, question marks, and exclamations points out of their repertoire. The dialogue has about as much emotional engagement as a grocery list. Even worse, the facial animations match the shoddy voice acting: the mouths move, and that's about it. It'd be great for a Joan Rivers botox sim, but it doesn't really make for a compelling video game.

At worst, Mass Effect is disappointing. The best reaction I've heard all day was this: "It wasn't that bad, just more of the same." If "not that bad" is all you've got going for you ...


Ho hum.

http://www.destructoid.com/pax-2007-...ng-40483.phtml



I could careless for this site but Im sure it might make a few PS3 boys happy with Lair, Heavenly Sword and Warhawk not getting great reviews


UPDATE: GAMESPOT likes it

BioWare is here at the Games Convention with the latest build of their space role-playing epic Mass Effect, and we had to see what's new with one of this year's most promising Xbox 360 games. The demo focused on the game's open-ended combat, which allows you to approach battle scenarios in a huge number of ways. First, we got a quick glimpse of the character-specific talent trees, where you spend the talent points you earn while leveling up. Talents exist that grant passive stat bonuses and even new conversational options, but we mainly saw talents pertaining to specific weapon and psionic powers. For every few points you spend, you'll gain a new ability related to the weapon you're powering up. We also got to see some of those abilities in practice when a BioWare rep loaded up a save game to enter a specific combat situation.

The demo began with Captain Sheppard and his crew heading to a lush colony world called Virmire, in pursuit of the source of a transmission containing information about the whereabouts of Saren, the game's antagonist and a former elite operative bent on the destruction of human life throughout the galaxy. Upon landing on Virmire, Sheppard and two allies used their six-wheeled planetary off-road vehicle, the mako, to plow through the shallow waters just off the shoreline as they moved toward a beachside complex where the signal had apparently originated.

Things heated up after Sheppard and crew exited the mako and made their way up the stairs to a courtyard in front of the complex's outer wall. They encountered light resistance from a group of Geth, the sentient machine race with whom Saren has allied himself. It was here the BioWare rep showed us how free and extensible Mass Effect's combat options will be. On its surface, the game can be played simply like a third-person shooter. You can take aim with your weapon and simply pull the trigger to fire it, just like in any shooter, and you can also perform simple evasive tactics like backing up against a wall, Gears of War-style. In fact, some character classes are more focused on brute-force combat than special powers. For example, if you play a soldier class, you might specialize in passive talents like the ability to wear heavier armor. In that case, you'd have fewer talent-based abilities to use against enemies, so by necessity you'd have to rely more on your shooting skills.

But if you do develop a wide variety of combat abilities for Sheppard and his comrades, Mass Effect will provide an easy and accessible interface for using them in concert to strategically take on even the toughest foes. BioWare showed us the game's talent wheel for the first time, which is simply a radial pop-up menu that shows all of your three characters' abilities in three sections. More importantly, bringing up the talent wheel pauses the game, which means you can issue simultaneous commands to all three characters.

After the rep dispatched the Geth underlings with traditional shooter controls, we saw the talent wheel's effectiveness when Sheppard and crew came upon a Geth Prime at the end of the corridor. These baddies are especially tough and brutal, and can essentially kill one of your crew in a single hit. Apparently, you'll usually only come up against them when you're in the mako and have its armor plating and heavier weaponry at your disposal--but in this case, Sheppard and friends had to get it done on foot. The rep pulled up the talent wheel, picked three appropriate actions for the situation (including a psychic push ability for Sheppard), and then unpaused the action, allowing all three combatants to attack simultaneously. From the sound of it, this will make the game's hardest encounters much, much more manageable than if you attempt to simply go in blindly, without a firm strategy.

After the combat ended, we witnessed some dramatic story points that we can't tell you about just yet. But we did get to see Mass Effect's innovative interactive dialogue system put to its fullest use when Sheppard and one of his crew members got into a heated discussion over a particularly crucial topic. As we've reported frequently, the game gives you a number of dialogue--and in some cases, action--options as you progress through a conversation. In this case, we saw that this particular version of Sheppard had spent talent points in the charm and intimidation categories, giving him two extra response options (in red and blue) that he wouldn't have had otherwise. Apparently, you won't even be able to complete some of the optional side missions without sufficient levels in these categories. At any rate, the confrontation came to a head, and Sheppard had to make a decision between all six options, some of them quite extreme. (Again, unfortunately, BioWare wants certain plot points to remain secret for now.) This situation certainly exemplified the freedom you'll have to handle even the most tense, pivotal situations in multiple and diverse ways.

Mass Effect is looking great at this point, with both combat and dialogue sequences exhibiting a lot of polish and flowing smoothly. We're looking forward to seeing more of it before its release toward the end of the year, and we'll be sure to tell you about it when we do.

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/rpg/...;picks;story;1

[IAmSpinalTap]

http://www.destructoid.com/pax-2007-...ng-40483.phtml



I could careless for this site but Im sure it might make a few PS3 boys happy with Lair, Heavenly Sword and Warhawk not getting great reviews

I'd personally take this with a giant handful of salt. The dialogue/voice acting/story were the high points of the e3 demonstrations. Don't count on this one being anything other than great, I think.

...I'd hate to be wrong, though.

[Ice2Dragon]

Mass effect + Jericho = pwnage fall

[Detroit Tigers Fan]

When it comes to games I don't give a shit about what others rate them. I only decide if a game is great or not after playing through the WHOLE game.

As a side note this game is 40+ hours and this guy only saw 20 minutes of it. Some games like this can be a bit boring in the beginning (first hour or so) but as time goes on you get more and more involved in it and it comes out great. I also could give a shit about what the facial animation looks like...a game like this is all abut the story and how you want to live your in game life playing it out. The decisions you make and the consequences that come out of those decisions.

[KTA]

You can't base a game off the first 20 minutes (especially an RPG). Two worlds is a great example of this. The first 30 minutes of that game i'd rate a 2 out of 10. But after the 2 to 3 hour bench mark this games a solid 8. It seems to deal better with frame rates as you go (caching) and the dialogue while hokey ends up being ok, but the world actually reacts to your actions which is kind of cool. It plays much like a private MMO and so far is actually pretty good while the first hour i played it I was ready to throw it in the trash.

Bioware has always had this though with some characters in their games, its no surprise to me. I think people are just getting higher expectations than necessary sometimes. Blue Dragon getting a 5 because its traditional and does nothing new... thats how it was designed, for the Japanese.

Mass Effect will do well, but i'm more excited for eternal sonata myself. I could see that pulling a bioshock and stealing the show.

Rawk.

[Dukhat]

Mass Effect looks and plays exactly like a prettied up KOTOR.

Bioware didn't go very far fro its roots.

[RedRedSuit]

The facial animation I've seen in videos has been outstandingly fluid.

[Skitals]

I saw this earlier today and it made me sad. I then proceeded to Gamespot and read their preview. Much better. I don't read enough Destructoid to know if they can be trusted, but I definitely trust Brad Shoemaker at Gamespot. I agree with just about all his reviews.

Not to mention everything else I've read and seen goes against what Destructoid said.

[Volume 11]

I saw this earlier today and it made me sad. I then proceeded to Gamespot and read their preview. Much better. I don't read enough Destructoid to know if they can be trusted, but I definitely trust Brad Shoemaker at Gamespot. I agree with just about all his reviews.

Not to mention everything else I've read and seen goes against what Destructoid said.

It will be a lonely negative review. It won best of, or runner up at E3 from almost every mag and website.

[Indy_aka_Rex]

The facial animation I've seen in videos has been outstandingly fluid.

Yeah, this and Killzone 2 get an A+ for facial animations.

Anyway, I don't think it'll be bad. But, I think it'll be a 8.5 or 9 at best.

[Volume 11]

Yeah, this and Killzone 2 get an A+ for facial animations.

Anyway, I don't think it'll be bad. But, I think it'll be a 8.5 or 9 at best.

Like I said, it won best of show or runner-up from E3 from almost every major review source.

It will at LEAST be a 9...and you say that like its a bad thing.

[miDnIghtEr]

i was going to say.. i think anything around 8 and up, and i'd be happy.

[Indy_aka_Rex]

Like I said, it won best of show or runner-up from E3 from almost every major review source.

It will at LEAST be a 9...and you say that like its a bad thing.

I didn't say it like it's a bad thing. I was being realistic. It'll be an 8.5 to a 9 at best..

[cleeve]

Mass Effect looks and plays exactly like a prettied up KOTOR.

Bioware didn't go very far fro its roots.

How does it play anything like KOTOR? Kotor was turn based, first of all... This is a third person shooter with RPG elements.

As far as you thinking that it 'looks' exactly like KOTOR, well I don't even have to say anything about that.

[kalim1998]

I could careless for this site but Im sure it might make a few PS3 boys happy with Lair, Heavenly Sword and Warhawk not getting great reviews

Huh? Heavenly Sword got 4.5+/5 at Gamepro, and a bunch of 9/10 and 10/10 from lesser mags (albeit disappointing reviews from IGN), while Warhawk is matching Bioshock ratings in some mags....

Lair? Well, I assure you dragon lovers will get it no matter what the review.....