Podcast Episode 54 - Raising Documentaries

In this fine episode of the podcast we take a look at the hottest news and talk a bit about how maybe the games industry hasn't been doing great with controversy recently.

After chatting a bit about the games we played these past few weeks we transition into a conversation about the documentary Raising Kratos, which is about the development of the new God of War.

News - 3:01 to 1:22:11
What We Played - 1:22:12 to 1:53:54
Raising Kratos - 1:53:55 to 1:36:48

Specific Game Time Stamps
Mass Effect 3 - 1:22:35 to 1:29:25
Ace Attorney Investigations 2 - 1:29:26 to 1:35:51
Steam World Quest - 1:35:52 to 1:39:25
Darksiders 2 - 1:39:27 to 1:49:17
Cytus Alpha - 1:49:18 to 1:53:54
 

Podcast Episode 53 - MK11 is the Endgame of Video Games

For the news this week we cover Borderlands 3, the cool new Persona 5 games, the Xbox SAD and more!

If you're in it for the video games we hit Mass Effect 3 and Wolfenstien again while adding in Mortal Kombat 11 and SteamWorld Quest.

We round everything off by listing off our five favorite Marvel Cinematic Universe movies.

News - 1:17 to 1:17:35
What We Played - 1:17:36 to 1:46:16
MCU Top 5 - 1:46:19 to 2:28:19

Specific Game Time Stamps
Mass Effect 3 - 1:17:47 to 1:19:32
Mortal Kombat 11 - 1:19:33 to 1:38:15
Wolfenstien: The New Order - 1:38:16 to 1:40:07
SteamWorld Quest -1:40:08 to 1:46:18
 

Top Ten Games of 2012

2012 is ending and that means that another year in gaming has come and gone. Initially I thought that this year had been disappointing for me, but when it came time to make my game of the year list I had quite a bit of trouble deciding on the ten games I thought were the best.

The following is the final list of games that I came up with. Keep in mind that these are my opinions, but I still think you should check these games out if you haven't yet. We'll start from ten and work out way down to number one.

10. Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed

Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed isn't quite as good as its predecessor, but it's still a competent kart racer. Like the previous installment it feels different enough from Mario Kart to justify its existence. Every race is all about the drifting. Sadly drifting doesn't feel as tight when you're a boat or a plane, but at least those additions add something more than new tracks and characters.

It's a whole lot of fun and at the budget price of $40 it's worth checking out.

9. The Last Story

Much like Resonance of Fate a few years ago The Last Story is one of the few JRPGs that has a unique battle system. It's a third person shooter, but with swords and magic. You're supposed to use strategy to beat your opponents, but the strategy element of the game never quite takes off. Despite that the battles are still fun.

The story and characters are memorable to boot. The game clocks in at around 20 hours to complete, which is good because it doesn't give you enough time to tire of anything.

The visuals push the Wii to its limits, which can sometimes make the frame rate less than desirable. Don't let that discourage you though. If you have a Wii The Last Story is definitely something you should check out.

8. Asura's Wrath

Quick time events are often lame, or at the very least implemented poorly. Asura's Wrath is the exact opposite. The entire game is basically a string of quick time events and it couldn't possibly be any more awesome.

Asura's wrath is balls out anime craziness. It's more or less an interactive movie, but somehow it feels like you're actually doing your fair share to help out in the madness. It's super satisfying to nail every single quick time event and have Asura burst in order to pummel his enemies into the ground. The action is non-stop and it's always complete insanity.

YOU STAB THROUGH THE EARTH WITH A SWORD!

7. Pokemon White/Black 2

Every year a new Pokemon game comes out and every year I play a whole bunch of it. I'm 22 years old and I still love Pokemon games. I almost feel bad for putting it on a game of the year list time and time again, but it needs to be done.

While games that rehash the same thing year in and year out get old that never happens to Pokemon for me. They change enough to keep me coming back every single time. In fact with Pokemon Black and White 2 I think Game Freak outdid themselves. Sure, people who casually play the games might not notice, but as a long time fan I appreciate it. It's cool that I can fight every gym leader in a world tournament, or actually fight Pokemon higher than the mid-50's after I've completed the game.

Game Freak and Nintendo know what they're doing, so get ready to see another one of these next year.

6. Xenoblade Chronicles

It may have taken NOA a while to bring it to the US, but we finally got Xenoblade Chronicles for the Wii. It was certainly worth the wait.

I played Xenoblade so much that I burned out on it and wasn't able to complete it until months after my initial binge. My final save ended up being around 113 hours ,which is a pretty sizable chunk of time. I now know why people worked so hard to bring it over here.

It's not a revolutionary JRPG, but it takes steps forward for the genre. A lot of JRPG mechanics are contrived now and Xenoblade tries to remedy some of those issues. Everything is streamlined and as user friendly as possible. The game works hard to keep you engaged with its fast paced battles and easily navigable menus.

The plot and characters of Xenoblade are memorable, but still a bit cliche. The game will be remembered for its combat and the way it tried to modernize the genre.

It looked and played incredibly for a Wii game, which makes me excited to see what Monolith is going to be able to do on the Wii-U

5. SSX

SSX is back! While it may not be better than ever EA still made a decent attempt reviving a dormant franchise. SSX is just pure fun for me. Racing down a snow covered mountain while jumping off of everything in sight gives off an incredible sense of speed. The controls are tight and feel just right for the fine movements the game requires.

While the new survival tracks aren't the best part of the game they add something new to the SSX formula that can hopefully be improved upon in new releases. Overall I think that this SSX reboot was well done and hope to see EA do some more with it in the future.

4. Theatrhythm Final Fantasy

I was expecting absolutely nothing from Theatrhythm, but I had to find out what it was all about. As you might be able to gather from its position on this list I ended up enjoying it a whole lot more than I ever imagined.

Rhythm games tend to have a short lifespan by nature. You play through all the songs a few times and then you're done. Well I somehow ended up playing Theatrhythm for over 26 hours. There were so many things to keep me coming back. Multiple difficulties, an RPG leveling mechanic, character unlocks, song unlocks, and even equipment.

Even more than that the gameplay is fun. Tapping and sliding the stylus along to the many classic Final Fantasy tunes in the game works amazingly well. Theatrhythm  was clearly crafted with a love that I didn't think Square Enix had in them anymore.

3. Borderlands 2

I played an obscene amount of the original Borderlands and the amount of time I spent with Borderlands 2 is no different. I don't particularly like First person shooters, but when paired with loot and RPG mechanics of Borderlands I can't seem to get enough.

Gearbox hit it out of the park for me on this one. The gameplay was improved in almost every way from the original. The game as a whole ran a lot smoother and everything just seemed to work better in general. Gearbox heard what fans had to say about the original and took it all to heart.

It's fun to play alone or co-op. Whichever way you like to play don't miss out on this great game.

2. The Walking Dead

I don't like zombies at all. In fact when zombies are involved in anything I almost immediately write it off as being something I'm not interested in. For some reason I decided to give the first episode of The Walking Dead a chance and was completely blown away.

Even if you don't like adventure games The Walking Dead is something that I think everyone has to play. It shows that choice in video games can actually work to great success. Every choice you're given seems like it matters, whether or not it actually does. This is amplified by the fact that the story if actually emotionally affecting. The characters are some of the most memorable I've ever come across. Somehow they actually managed to make a likable child character!

Words are not enough to explain the majesty that is The Walking Dead. If you like video games do yourself a favor and check out what it brings to the table. You won't be disappointed.

1. Mass Efffect 3

I don't care what anyone says about Mass Effect 3. Sure, the ending wasn't as desirable as I would have liked it to be and there were too many half-assed sidequests, but the journey as a whole was still outstanding.

I enjoyed the time I had with Mass Effect 3. The universe still managed to hold every ounce of my attention as I flew to every single planet and talked to every person I possibly could. No matter how much I disliked the ending nothing can take away the love that I have for the Mass Effect Universe and its characters.

Mass Effect 3 ended the story of Commander Shepard. I'll never be able to forget the time I spent with it, so that's why its my favorite game of 2012.

     -Manny

Review of Mass Effect 3

This review is based on my experience with the PS3 version of Mass Effect 3

Score 4.5/5

Mass Effect 3 is the final game in a critically acclaimed sci-fi series, which means that it has impossibly high expectations to live up to. Bioware had the deck stacked against them from the beginning, but they still managed to produce a mostly great product. It’s a little rough in spots, but the issues can’t stop Mass Effect 3 from being a truly memorable game.

The reapers have finally begun their assault on the galaxy and Earth is their central target. It just so happens that Commander Shepard is on earth and he’s one of the few people in the galaxy who knows how to fight a reaper. Due to his knowledge and experience against the reapers he is chosen to try and unite the galaxy against the looming threat. Much like recruiting squad members for the suicide mission in Mass Effect 2 Shepard must now recruit all the races in the galaxy for a war against the reapers. He’ll need to talk, explore, and shoot his way to galactic readiness.

Mass Effect 3 takes after Mass Effect 2 in the ways of combat. It’s heavy on its third person shooter elements, but they’ve been tweaked to maximize performance. It’s hard to see at first, but Mass Effect 3 feels much tighter and controls better than its predecessor. Aiming and shooting feels a lot smoother, along with Shepard’s overall movement. He can now dodge roll, which is a very welcome addition.

Many fans of the series were upset that Mass Effect 2 removed a lot of the RPG elements from the series. Bioware clearly took that to heart, because Mass Effect 3 tries its best to put some of that RPG feel back into the series. Once again Shepard will be gaining experience as he fights. When he levels he gains skill points, which he can spend to get a variety of skills. The skills in this game branch a little more than they do in the previous installment, but they’re largely unchanged. The level cap has been changed back to 60 like it was in the original Mass Effect, which leaves Shepard with more skill points than you know what to do with.

Look at all those skills!

What Mass Effect adds in the way of character customization deals mostly with the guns. Now every gun you acquire will have a level 1-10. Levels 1-5 can only be acquired on your first play through, while 6-10 become available on your second. All guns start at level 1, but as time goes on their upgrades will show up for purchase. On top of that each gun has two slots for mods to be equipped. Throughout your travels in the universe you will find various mods that offer specific stat boosts to certain types of guns. Stability, damage, ammo capacity, and more can all be tweaked to your play style. These mods are also leveled 1-10, but they tend to be found while you’re out on missions. These improvements to character customization and gameplay make the combat of Mass Effect 3 much easier to handle than it’s predecessors’, but shooting isn’t all you’ll be doing in your fight against the reapers. Talking is just as important, if not more so.

Once again Shepard will form a crew that can help him accomplish his mission. New and old faces appear on Shepard’s crew. You’ll see many friendly faces who don’t join your crew as well. The new characters like super marine James Vega are all fairly interesting, but they’re not nearly as fleshed out as the rest of the cast. It’s understandable, because a lot of the older characters have been given much more screen time. The squad is noticeably smaller than it was in Mass Effect 2, but there are still plenty of opportunities to chat it up with everyone.

Character interaction and choice have always been a centerpiece of the Mass Effect series and this entry is no different. In the previous games your crew would reside in their designated spot on the Normandy waiting for you to come talk with them. While that still happens in this game, they also move around the ship and even go to the Citadel, which is much larger this time around. This allows for the people of the Normandy to interact with one another, which can make for some pretty interesting situations. After every mission I found myself talking with every person on the ship, because I never wanted to miss anything.

Dialogue wheels are still a major part of the Mass Effect universe, but they have noticeably less choices. In most conversations there will only be two options. One will give you paragon points, while the other will give you renegade. Sometimes there will be a third option in the middle, which allows for Shepard to inquire about the previous statement. Certain situations have more options to choose from, but they rarely occur. Paragon and renegade interrupts still show up as well. What’s even more noticeable is that during dialogue the wheel pops up a lot less often. Shepard seems to have a lot more to say without the player’s input than he did before. This should be annoying in a game that’s all about choice, but it’s done very well. There were very few times that Shepard said anything I wouldn’t have said. It’s almost as if the game was reaching back into my save in order to see what I would choose.

Two options are standard fare for most Mass Effect 3 conversations.

I felt that my save was influencing things throughout most of the game. A lot of the things I had done in the previous games came back in some way for Mass Effect 3. Some of the references are done very well, while others like the reunions with Mass Effect 2 crew members seem a little random. Some are done better than others, but I couldn’t help but get excited every time I saw someone who used to be on my crew. These references and character interactions are enjoyable. It’s clear that Bioware tried to make all of the previous choices count so that the player would feel like their actions from previous games mattered. The same care and effort did not go into the games many side quests.

The side missions in Mass Effect 2 were generally well conceived, but the same can’t exactly be said for all of the missions in Mass Effect 3. Don’t get me wrong, there are quite a few great side missions, but there are also quite a few that aren’t so great. The worst side missions come from the citadel and in order to get them you don’t even need to talk to anyone. Instead Shepard will overhear someone saying they need something, which will update your quest log. It’s not always clear what they’re looking for, which can be kind of annoying. When you find whatever they were looking for Shepard will hand it over to them for a reward. It all makes Shepard seem like a creepy stalker. Obviously the citizens of the galaxy need all the help they can get, but this seems to be taking it a bit far.

Aside from stalker-like fetch quests Shepard will have to do some shooting in his side missions as well. Some of them are meaningful and deal with character interaction and those can be pretty good. On the other end of the spectrum some missions are repurposed multiplayer maps, which involve you standing in certain areas to deactivate terminals, or defending a certain area. They’re perfectly fine to play, but it would have been nice if they had a little more thought put into them, because they tend to be a bit heavy on combat.

Almost everything you do in Mass Effect 3 goes towards what is known as effective military strength. How ready is the galaxy to take on the reapers? The answer to that question depends on how much you do. Completing certain tasks will net Shepard war assets. Each war asset adds a set number to your total military strength. There is a terminal on the Normandy where you can check this number whenever you like. The screen you access has a handy bar that tells you how ready you are to fight the reapers. When it’s full you’ll know you’ve done enough to get the “good” ending.

Almost everything you do in Mass Effect 3 adds to the fight against the reapers.

This is how the multiplayer feeds into the single player. The game starts off with the galactic readiness at 50%. This means that only half of your total military strength is counting towards the progress bar. In order to get the galactic readiness up you’re going to have to play multiplayer. If you do everything you can in the game you should still fill up the bar quite a while before you reach the final mission.

When it was initially announced that Mass Effect 3 would have multiplayer there was an uproar from the community. Combat isn’t what most people come to Mass Effect for, but that didn’t stop Bioware from putting it in. It’s not essential to the game in any way, but it’s there for those who care to give it a try. It’s just a Gears of War like horde mode with some occasional objectives. Four players get together to fight off eleven waves of enemies.

It’s nowhere near as egregious as everyone (including me) thought it would be. You play as any of the classes available in the main game, however you can also be the various races of the Mass Effect universe. Humans, Drell, Salarians, Turians, Asari, and Krogan are all available for play. Apparently a few Volus have even been spotted as well.

All the races you've always wanted to be are now available in multiplayer.

Just like the single player you’ll be leveling up and allocating points to the skills you want to have. Unlike the single player, the level cap in multiplayer is only level 20, which when reached allows the character to be promoted to the single player as a war asset. Sadly there aren’t enough skill points to fully upgrade everything. To further customize your character it’s necessary to finish multiplayer matches so you can get credits as well as experience. With the credits you can buy packs of cards, which throw out random guns, mods, new characters, and one time boosts. All of the items you’ll acquire in multiplayer come from these random packs, which can be frustrating when you keep getting items you don’t want. If you’re the impatient type you can just spend real money on the packs instead of completing matches for the credits. Overall the multiplayer is fun, but it’s easy to ignore completely if you don’t care for it.

Bioware put in the multiplayer and did a lot of things with the game to try and bring in new fans. They were really trying to say that Mass Effect 3 is the perfect place for new players to jump in, which I think is far from the truth. The moments I enjoyed most in Mass Effect 3 had to do with characters I had come to know over the course of the previous games in the series. If I didn’t have a stake in the universe it would have been much harder to understand what was going on.

I loved a vast majority of Mass Effect 3. There were a ton of well done emotional scenes. Although there were a few that fell flat, I’ve come to expect that from Mass Effect. Mass Effect 3 truly does wrap up many of the big questions left in the Mass Effect universe. You might hear people saying that the ending isn’t any good and I tend to agree with them. However, that’s no reason to condemn the rest of the game. The majority of Mass Effect 3 is great, so if you’re at all invested in the Mass Effect universe I can’t recommend this game highly enough.

Note: This review is also posted on giantbomb.com

     -Manny

Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Demo Impressions

When it was leaked that Bioware would be adding multiplayer to Mass Effect 3 everyone seemed to freak out and I was right there with them. Mass Effect is a single player experience. I didn't want a poorly implemented multiplayer mucking up my epic space RPG/shooter hybrid. Without even playing it, I had resigned myself to the fact that I wouldn't like it. I could have just ignored its existence, but they had to find a way to have it invade the single player experience as well. I was down on the whole thing. 

This past Friday the multiplayer portion of the  Mass Effect 3 demo was unlocked for everyone and it managed to shatter all of my preconceived notions. I am no longer upset now that I have played the multiplayer for an extended period of time. Contrary to my previous belief it's actually quite fun and I don't think I'll mind playing more of it when Mass Effect 3 drops in March.

The experience of the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer is most similar to horde mode from Gears of War. This type of thing is becoming more and more popular, so it's only natural for Bioware to capitalize on it. The goal is to fight wave after wave of foes in a group of up to four people with your chosen character.

Character Creation and Customization

What type of character you bring into battle is up to you. Just like the main game there are six classes to choose from. They are adept, soldier, engineer, infiltrator, and vanguard. Unlike the main game other races are finally playable. Each class can be a male or female human, or two other races. There is quite a wide selection of races. Asari,  drell, krogans, turians, quarians, and salarians are all available to play. At the beginning there is only one usable type of each class and they are all human. The others must all be unlocked.

The character select screen kindly displays all of the characters you can unlock.

All the character models are set in stone, but there are ways to differentiate them from everyone else. Only the color of their armor can be changed at first and you must unlock the other ways. Patterns can be added to the armor as well as the lights on the characters backs. I personally haven't unlocked any patterns, but I saw a few people who did and they actually looked pretty cool. The characters all look similar in the beginning, but over time you can make them look fairly unique.

The cosmetic customization is decent, but the gun customization is what most people will be concerned with. That's right, gun customization is actually in this part of the demo. Only two guns can be carried into battle, but they can be any two guns you want. All the gun types from the single player at your disposal, except for the heavy weapons. Each gun has two slots open for weapon attachments, which grant various bonuses to the weapon. These bonuses range from faster reload speeds to adding a scope. It's nothing huge, but it's more customization than the last game had. 

The gun customization page isn't fancy, but it gets the job done.

To round off the customization each character has a skill set, where points can be allocated to certain abilities. These are mostly the same as the single player skills, but there are a few minor differences. Experience is gained through play depending on how well you do. The max level for each character is twenty, so you won't be able to max out all six skills.

Finding Lobbies and How They Work

Once your character is customized it's time to head into battle. Having a party of four players is ideal, but that's easier said than done in this demo. The matchmaking doesn't exactly work as well as it could. More often than not the lobbies I got into would only get two people. There were several occasions when we would start the match and would be added to another game that already had two people, but it didn't happen enough. Other than that I like the way lobbies are done. It's exceedingly simple to view the load-outs of the other party members. 

Searching for lobbies is also easy. What map do you want to play, who do you want to fight against, and what difficulty do you want it to be. In the demo there are only two maps and you can only fight against Cerberus. The final version of the game will obviously have much more available. I've seen screenshots of people fighting against the Geth, which may be why you can't play as them. 

The three difficulty levels bronze, silver, and gold vary greatly in difficulty. The higher you go, the more health and armor the enemies have. Bronze is easy, especially if you have four people. Silver is manageable, but it's pretty tough at lower levels, and almost impossible if you have two people. Then you have gold, which is bananas. Enemies take a ton of shots, but you'll go down in one. If your group doesn't stay together you're not going to live for more than a few minutes.

Lobbies can be searched for based on mission settings.

Gameplay

It may come as a shock, but the gameplay of the multiplayer is almost identical to the gameplay of the single player. The main difference is that you can revive fallen teammates by standing over there bodies while holding x for a few moments. When shot down there is a limited amount of time for a teammate to revive you. Mashing x will keep you alive longer, but if the timer runs out then you will be dead until the next wave. Even though it plays almost exactly the same it feels a lot different, because you're working with up to three other human players.

The AI of the squadmates in Mass Effect is less than ideal. Telling them where to go and what to do doesn't always work out the way it should. This problem can be eliminated in the multiplayer by using a headset. Everything goes a whole lot smoother when you can tell the people you're playing with that they're being flanked, or that they need to help out with something. 

Human controlled squad members enhance the experience.

Since this is almost like a horde mode you'll be facing wave after wave of enemies. The shuttle will drop you off and then it's time to start shooting fools. They'll start easy, but gradually get more difficult as new enemy types are introduced. Most waves consist of killing all the enemies, but there are some objectives thrown in like killing specific enemies, hacking a computer, or disarming transmitters. 

In the demo there are only eleven waves, but that may be different in the final release. Once the tenth wave is wiped out extraction begins. In order to be extracted you have to run back to the shuttle, where a timer will start. If you hold out for the duration of the timer the mission is complete.

Players are awarded with experience points and credits upon clearing a mission. Any experience or credits earned will also be awarded upon failing a mission. You'll get absolutely nothing if you lose connection to the EA servers, which happened to me far too frequently. The experience goes towards leveling, while the credits are used to buy packs. These packs are the only way to unlock guns, mods, powerups, customizations, and characters.

Getting upgrades from packs is exciting and frustrating at the same time.

Packs are are like packs of trading cards. You never know what you're going to get, but you hope it's awesome. In the demo there are only three types of packs. The beginner pack is available the first time you go to the shop for free, so that you can get a sense of what everything is about. The two remaining packs cost credits. You can get the recruit pack for 5,000 credits or the veteran pack for 20,000 credits. The more a pack costs the higher the chance it has of getting a rare item. In the final game there are supposedly two packs that cost more. 

Final Thoughts

In short, I like the multiplayer. It's not ground breaking, but it's surprisingly fun. The final value of the multiplayer will be how well it's integrated into the single player. I'm still not quite clear on how exactly war assets will be implemented. I just hope it's not integral to the experience.

As of right now you have to get a character to level 20 in order to send them as a war asset. It takes a decent amount of time to get a character to level 20 and I don't know if I'd want to get someone up to that level more than a few times. 

It's definitely entertaining to play, but I don't know how long it will hold appeal (for me at least). Multiplayer is generally added to established franchises to bring in new players and I think that's working well for Bioware in this case. Most of the people I spoke with in the demo had never played a Mass Effect game before, but they found the multiplayer to be entertaining.

I'm just glad the multiplayer doesn't suck. Let's hope it doesn't detract from the single player experience.

     -Manny

Mass Effect 3 Single Player Demo Impressions

Stories of Mass Effect 3 have been flying around the internet for months. A demo was accidentally leaked to Xbox live dashboard previewers back in November. It was quickly taken down, but not fast enough. Files were extracted from the demo that detailed much of the story for the game and fans were not pleased with what was found. I have not taken a look at anything related to the leaked story, so I can't speak to the quality of what was found.

It's now Valentine's Day and the previously leaked demo is available to the general public. I played the demo on the PS3. As of now I've only gotten a chance to play the single player portion, because the multiplayer is currently unavailable. Here's my experience.

Part One

The Demo opens on Earth just before the Reaper invasion. I'm not positive, but this sequence seems like it's the very beginning of the game or quite close to it. Freddy Prince Jr. voiced James Vega, a tough marine, has come to fetch Shepard. The Council believes that the Reapers are coming, so Anderson wants Shepard to come and see if he can identify them.

Prior to starting the demo there is a prompt to choose whether Ashley or Kaiden was lost in combat during Mass Effect 1. I chose Kaiden, so Ashley showed up on the way to the council. She looks way different than she did before. She's been sexed up a bit, which doesn't make much sense. Why change her look for the final game in a trilogy? She was supposed to be a tomboy and that's what she was established as for two games prior to this one.

I found this handy picture to show the change in Ashley...

Anderson comes to rescue Shepard from his conversation with Ashley and takes him to the Council. Shepard argues with them for a bit and then surprise, the Reapers invade Earth. Without a visual reference everything I've described so far, bar Ashley, might sound pretty cool. Much to my dismay, it wasn't.

The player controls nothing prior to the Reaper Invasion with the exception of conversations. Everything outside of the conversations looks a bit...off. The character models look fine, but the textures on their clothes were straight up bad. There were multiple instances where the texture of Shepard's shirt didn't load at all. On top of that all of the movement looked super stilted, because the frame rate wasn't holding up.

The frame rate problem and stilted movement completely disappeared each time the game waited for me to select from the dialogue wheel. The textures looked a whole lot better too, which I found to be odd.

After the Reapers invade the player is given control of Shepard as he follows Anderson to the Normandy. Running across rooftops, while seeing the Reapers destroy everything is cool, but the frame rate can't hold up. The stilted movement I mentioned before becomes even more apparent when controlling Shepard. There were even points when Anderson's model would warp past obstacles, which I hope is fixed in the final game.

A tutorial of combat and movement takes place as the two run over buildings and rubble. Everything works more or less the same as it did in Mass Effect 2. Shepard run and gun or take cover in order to fight the husks that the Reapers are sending after him. The shooting felt poor, because of the stuttering frame rate. The main difference in the combat is that Shepard can now use his Omni-tool as a blade to melee enemies. It's attacks feel powerful, because Shepard takes a while to crank his arm back before he strikes. The impact is enough to kill most enemies, which is pretty satisfying.

Jackin' fools with the Omni-blade is satisfying.

Part 2

Once Shepard reaches the Normandy the demo moves to a later portion of the game. I have no idea why, but everything in the second portion of the demo seemed better. Everyone was in their N7 armor and the textures looked fine. On top of that the frame rate was totally fine.

The second scenario is exactly what I wanted to see out of this demo. Shepard, Wrex, Liara, and Garrus have arrived on the Solarian home world in order to rescue a female Korgan from the clutches of Cerberus. This portion of the demo is meant to show off the more action oriented sequences and it does a great job.

Wrex stays back, while Shepard, Liara, and Garrus kick some Cerberus ass. Shortly after control of Shepard is given back to the player he comes across Mordin, who is locked in a containment cell with a female Krogan. Your goal is to take out all of the soldiers around you so that you can send the cell to the next level, which will eventually make its way to Wrex. 

Prior to any combat the demo prompts you to level up the squads skills. Everyone is level 12, so they have a fair number of skill points to allocate. The skills are the same ones you could choose from in Mass Effect 2, but now there is much more customization. The first three levels of a skill are pre-set, but after that they branch off. The 4th through 6th progressions of a skill each have two choices. This allows for a deeper level of customization than was previously available in Mass Effect 2. How you choose to level the skills will depend on your play style. In the demo there was an option to undo a previously made upgrade, which may allow for the player to respect.

The new skill trees offer more customization.

Shepard is given one of each type of gun for the sake of this demo, and most of them are new. They all handle well and feel different than the guns I remember from the previous game. It's a shame that the gun customization didn't come into play, or if it did I wasn't able to access it. I did find an assault rifle scope, so I assume that in the final game you'll be able to add parts to your guns on the fly. 

Final Thoughts

The second section of the demo felt worlds ahead of the first. I hope that the first section of the demo was an older build of the game, while the second portion was newer. It's entirely possible that the problems I had were specific to the PS3. I am going to download the 360 version to test that theory and I will update this post with my findings. If anyone played this on PS3 and didn't experience these problems I'd like to hear about it.

People talking about the leaked demo and story elements got me a bit worried about Mass Effect 3. After playing the demo I am no longer worried. While the first section of the game may not have looked or played the best I liked what was going on. Everything is coming to a head and it looks like this will be an exciting conclusion to the story of Commander Shepard.

All of the gameplay in this demo (When it's working properly) is on par with Mass Effect 2. The improved skill tree shows that Bioware is at least trying to put some of the RPG elements back into this series. Sadly the weapon customization wasn't available, but I'm going to assume that it will be fine. 

Mass Effect 3 seems like it's shaping up to be a great game. This demo was certainly entertaining and I recommend that you play it. I'm still skeptical on the whole multiplayer mode. I'll post my thoughts on that in another post, so look out for that.

UPDATE: The multiplayer is only accessible right now for people who have played Battlefield 3 online. Since I do not have Battlefield I will have to wait until Friday for access to the multiplayer.

     -Manny