Feeling the (Mass) Effect(s)
Like most of you, I am playing the waiting game, and it sucks. Waiting for Mass Effect 3 is brutal, I have started my 5th play through of ME 2 trying to get a feel for the combat again. I’ve played the demo a few times and I am pumped. Everything about it seems better, the combat is more fluid, the movement is crisper, and it just looks phenomenal. Watching the Reapers tear Earth apart is absolutely epic.
There are a few things that stood out while I was playing through the demo and going back to the ME 2 system, made me very excited about the game. Let’s have take a quick peek at some things in the demo that point to what we have to look forward to.
Melee
First is that Bio Ware has fixed the melee system. With instant kill moves and a heavy/light punch attack that actually do enough damage, charging into close quarters isn’t quite as suicidal as it was before. Granted you won’t want to do it in a crowd, but you won’t die instantly to return fire. Add in the biotic charge, and you have a good set of melee options that weren’t there before.
Intelligent Artificials
The second main thing is the AI, at least in the demo, is that enemies are much smarter. In the second part of the demo you face a number of Cerberus troops. Gone are the days of sitting behind one piece of cover and sniping guys. They are going to flank you and throw a shit ton of grenades at you. As a result you have to keep moving and keep your eyes open, lest you get wrecked by a bunch of turncoat bastards, or husks, or other manner of unpleasant foe.
Celluloid Nightmare
If the rumor is true, and the reapers can actually win, then hats off to Bio Ware. It’s about time that a gritty semi-dystopian universe can meet a smothering end, instead of protagonists miraculously overcoming all odds and having everything wrapped up in a neat little package. If you failed to do everything in ME2 you wound up dead, which was pretty awesome. If you can fail and witness the obliteration of all organic life in the universe, awesome is the only word to describe it.
Did any one else think the Cylons should have won in Battlestar Galactica? I did.
So all in all, I think that this will be a game for the ages and a provide a great closing for the best sci fi story of our era. Here’s hoping.
