RipTen Videogame Blog » Mass-Effect

Mass Effect: Deception Rife with Errors, Bioware Working on Revisions

Ben Nanke — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:00:05 +0000

As a fiction writer myself, I know all to well how many errors are present in the first draft of a novel. Wonky punctuation, stilted syntax, and unclear plot are every writers bane. That’s why we have editors. However, it looks like Bioware’s Mass Effect: Deception, missed the editing mark by a wide berth.

In a post on the Bioware forums, publisher Del Ray apologized for the large quantity of errors included in the novel, and stated that they would be releasing another edition with the fixes in place. It sounds like the issues were more along the canonical lines, and that the story may or may not match up with the Mass Effect series of games when it comes to plot consistency. It hasn’t been announced yet when the next edition will be released, but if you’re already holding a copy of the first edition, you might want to keep it around. It could be worth something someday.

Cosplay Spotlight: Samara (Mass Effect 2)

Tina Pesterfield — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:30:43 +0000

Just as I was thinking that Mass Effect 2 cosplay was all but done, I run across this gem while ogling some Miranda cosplay. Samara, the ancient and powerful Asari Justicar, has literally come to life. Rana McAnear is the model in this photoshoot, and consequentially, she was also the model for the in-game Samara.

She, and ME2 fans, raised money to create and design the costume for a full-on Asari cosplay photo shoot. The headpiece was made by The Mad Masker, and the suit was made by Claire Townsend. They both are talented artists, as they were able to literally bring Samara to life. The DarkStars Photography team are no strangers to the Mass Effect world – they did a rather breathtaking Miranda shoot a while back. Their photoshop details really add to the cosplay shoots. Enjoy the gallery, I’m going to get back to the Normandy so Samara can lecture me on my moral standing.

Expect Mass Effect 3 for 360 to Come on Multiple Discs

Catherine Cai — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 16:07:51 +0000

You can expect Mass Effect 3 to come on at least 2 discs.

A few days ago, Bioware Senior Designer Manveer Heir stated on his Twitter feed in response to Mass Effect fans that,

“The game [Mass Effect 3] is already 2 discs on 360…”

“… Fairly sure 360 is 2 discs.”

So expect Mass Effect 3 for 360 to come on multiple discs. This isn’t much of a surprise considering its predecessor was two discs long. For those of you who aren’t looking forward to disc switching multiple times, just think of this way… More discs means more Mass Effect 3 to love.

Steam Sale Day 4: Mass Effect Series, Blur 75% off

Sam Naylor — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 21:13:37 +0000

The big Steam Christmas holiday sale is now on, lasting until Sunday, January 1, 2012.

The daily deals return, but there’s a bit more to it than just a sale this time.

The “Great Gift Pile” provides challenges for steam users, giving the chance to win a free game or discount coupons. You can also win a bit of coal, which can be crafted into a gift (7 lumps = 1 gift) or saved for later. Coal is the ticket to enter the “Epic Holiday Giveaway”, where “the more coal you have, the better your chance of winning.” What do you win? Well, the first prize is every game on Steam, so you’ll want to be winning that, right?

There are numerous packs and publisher catalogues on offer throughout the sale, as well as many individual games on sale. We recommend, however, that you don’t buy any of these until the end of the sale, when you’re sure they haven’t come up as a daily deal at a bigger discount.

Today’s Daily Deals Include:

My recommendation today can only be Torchlight, as it is quite good and also has the advantage of being the only one I’ve played (I have played Mass Effect but it is total shite). Leave a comment if you want to add something!

Hands on Mass Effect 3 Co-Op, Why it’s a Good Thing

Dave Oshry — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 22:00:57 +0000

When the world finally learned that the Mass Effect series was in fact getting multiplayer, just as many people were concerned as were elated.

“Get yer Call of Duty outta my Mass Effect!!” The roleplayers cried.

However, when Commander Shepard himself (in the form of series producer Casey Hudson) explained that the game would only be getting co-op and not some CoDified competitive multiplayer, people clammed down a bit.

“Co-op? Oh, well that’s cool, everyone likes co-op”

Indeed. Pretty much everyone does like co-op, and thanks to the wonders of wi-fi, even people without friends can enjoy the co-op in Mass Effect 3.

I recently sat down and got to enjoy some ME3 co-op and I’m going to tell you why I think it’s a good thing and why you’ll probably like it as well… or hate it… or be indifferent.

Come With Me If You Want To Live.

In this new “Galaxy at War” mode you and three friends will push onward to victory as you fight off the Geth and other intergalactic bad things that want to kill you. First up you’ll pick your race and class. All the notable races and classes are present here so yes, you can be an Asari Biotic and finally feel what it’s like to play as Liara… woo…

Anyhow, I decided to go in as a human soldier becuase when youve only got a 40 minute press demo, it helps to go with what you know. Hooyah!

Once everyone is locked and loaded we’re tasked with objectives to push, the only problem is there’s baddies who want to push back. Capture objectives, kill things, that’s the jist of it. Waves of enemies will come at you while you try to push for said objectives and yes, it feels a bit like Gears of War’s Horde mode – which isn’t a bad thing. In fact, if you’re familiar with Horde mode, you’ll feel right at home here. It didn’t feel quite as polished as Gears, but the game obviously isn’t finished and something something alpha, beta, omega builds are not the final product something something grain of salt.

Come At Me Bro

That’s not to say it’s easy. Even with my Soldier’s concussive shot leveled rather high I was having my ass handed to me by hard to avoid snipers and footsoldiers alike. I was constantly being revived by and having to revive my teammates until we eventually all died and failed on what was one of the final waves. We did eventually make it past said wave on a second playthrough, only to be killed by a giant mecha-boss which totally wasn’t my fault for running in and trying to stab it with my omni-blade. Such is the life of an interstellar spec ops group NOT led by commander Shepard. But I digress…

Even when you die, your experience will be carried over. This means that every time you play, your life will be a bit easier. The gameplay feels just as it does in single player, except that in single player your NPC teammates won’t go and try to stab the boss with their omni blade or accidentally throw a grenade at you. But that’s what co-op is all about really, yelling at your friends because they suck and are single-handedly causing the galaxy to implode.

As Usual, the Salarians Are No Help...

Now, what people seem to be the most worried about is that the co-op will detract from the single player experience or that since you can increase your “Galactic Readiness” level by participating in the co-op, that you have to play it. Well, you don’t. You can, and it will help get your galatic troops ready for the final battle with the reapers sooner, but you can also completely ignore the co-op and get the exact same end game results just by playing the single player. Think of it like a paid transaction in a F2P MMO… that you don’t have to pay for. Sure, you can buy your way (or in this case fight your way) to better unlocks, but you could also just grind them out. You can take the donkey to the top of the rim, or you can take the tram. It is the same price.

Think about it, would you rather play some Horde mode to help increase Shepard’s “Galactic Readiness” levels or would you rather scan and probe planets for hours on end? If you said scan and probe planets I hate you by the way…

People also seem to be irriatated by the thought that this mode is what delayed Mass Effect 3 and that it’s taking valuable resources and manpower away from the single player game. I hope these people know that two different studios are working on the game at this point. The main team (led by Commander Hudson) is at BioWare Edmonton and a completely separate team is developing the multiplayer at BioWare Montreal. There’s actually another team developing Mass Effect 4 at BioWare Mordor, but they’re not talking about that yet.

We're All Gonna Die...

What it all boils down to is this:

If you like this sort of thing, it’s there for you and your friends and it will add to your single player experience.

If this just isn’t your bag, you can completely ignore it and you will be no worse for wear.

However, this one believes the Hanar should be a playable race… just sayin.

Mass Effect 3 brings the war home on March 6th, 2012.

For more, check out our interview with series producer Casey Hudson.

Casey Hudson Explains Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer In New Trailer

Chris Carlson — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 17:35:48 +0000

Now that the not so surprising news of Mass Effect 3 having multiplayer is out of the bag, Casey Hudson would like to explain to you a little bit more about the multiplayer in Mass Effect 3. Now, players can team up with their friends as members of an elite Special Forces group. They’ll be able to choose and customize one of six races (human, asari, turian, krogan, drell, salarian) and join the fight against the Reapers. The video dishes up details about the four-player co-op missions, and shows off some sexy screenshots. Check it out!

Mass Effect 3 is set to release on March 6th for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

The Top Ten Most Messed Up Mass Effect 2 Mods

Stephanie Gutowski — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 02:35:08 +0000

Prep the Derp Drive, Joker, and set a course for epic lulz. Things are about to get dumb. Days of YouTube lurking led me to this fantastic collection of unintelligible, side-splitting nonsense. I’m starting to believe that the creators of these videos were on some seriously hard drugs and I am concerned for their well-being. Because they need to keep making these.

Their ranks were originally determined by the amount of time I spent slamming my face into my keyboard while I laughed, yet I discovered sometime later that they really can be viewed in no particular order. Number one just happens to be the video that about pushed me over the edge of reason. It was beautiful.

10. Special Romance

Hello, nightmares.

9. Elcor Romance

Thane gets smothered by an elcor Shepard. Then, he dates it. It’s like watching a frog try to climb an elephant.

8. Tali’s Face Revealed

Shepard does not want.

Mass Effect MMO A Possibility, Say BioWare Founders

Jensen Walker — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 20:30:08 +0000

Despite Star Wars: The Old Republic occupying much of their current and future efforts, BioWare founders Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuk are not adverse to the idea of an MMO set within their popular Mass Effect Universe.

Zeschuk said: “I think once The Old Republic is done, we’ll take a fresh look at the market. So yeah, you never know. We’ve got this giant product to launch, but once that’s done we’ll consider next steps.”

Muzyka echoed that statement while confirming BioWare’s commitment to their current properties: “We’re focused very much on The Old Republic, Mass Effect 3 and Wrath of Heroes, and all the other things we’ve announced, and haven’t announced, but we also have the opportunity to look at our franchises in a way we haven’t ever before. There are lots of new platforms and lots of new business models.”

A Mass Effect MMO has been hinted at before by executive producer Casey Hudson, while analysts have predicted such an MMO should have a considerably better profit margin than that of SWTOR, given that BioWare would own the IP.

Source: Industry Gamers

New Mass Effect 3 Screens Straight From PAX

Chris Carlson — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 02:00:44 +0000

EA has released a brand new batch of screenshots from Bioware‘s upcoming RPG, Mass Effect 3. These new screens mostly showcase action sequences from the game, but there’s a couple of the talkie bits too.

Mass Effect 3 is set to release on March 6th for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Component Confirmed

Chris Carlson — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 18:00:31 +0000

Mass Effect 3 has been rumored over and over again to feature multiplayer. Well, it seems as if it’s finally happening. According to cover of the latest issue of Xbox 360 World magazine, Mass Effect 3 will indeed feature a multiplayer component. Apparently, the game’s multiplayer will debut at this year’s Gamescom in Germany, and be playable at two UK trade shows in September.

Is adding multiplayer to such a highly-focused single player game worth it? Or, is Bioware making a huge mistake with this one? Stay tuned to RipTen as we bring you the details.

Mass Effect 3 Will Allow You to “Tweak” Your Imported ME2 Character

Catherine Cai — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 20:50:19 +0000

Mass Effect executive producer Casey Hudson has confirmed via his Twitter feed that your imported character from Mass Effect 2 into Mass Effect 3 will be tweakable:

Casey, mind making that a little more clear? “Tweak” is a little bit vague in my books. Does “tweak” mean that if I feel my Shepard’s nose is a little too big that he can get a nose job? Can my Shepard make the gender transition from male-to-female or vice versa if I so wish? Dammit, 140-character limit for preventing clarity!

Speaking of Casey Hudson, it looks as if he has a message for RipTen’s own Stephanie Gutowski:

Bioware Has Plans For Mass Effect 3 Demo

Chris Carlson — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 18:00:50 +0000

Executive producer Casey Hudson of Bioware has hinted at a possible demo for Mass Effect 3.

When a fan of the series asked about a demo, Hudson replied “stay tuned” on his Twitter:

“Stay tuned for news on demo plans in a few months.”

The original Mass Effect never had a demo, but Mass Effect 2 did shortly after it released on Xbox 360 and PC.

Mass Effect 3 is set to release on March 6 for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

RipTen Draws Entries (Horribly) for BioWare’s Fan Art Showcase – And So Can You!

Ripten Staff — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 00:45:05 +0000

We like to think of ourselves as artistically-inclined individuals, prone to random bouts of creativity and visual genius. So when BioWare issued this challenge, we knew we had to give it a shot.

BioWare wants its fans to dust off their sketchbooks and send them fanart from any of their games. They’ll select the pieces that they think best represent the fandom and will feature them in the BioWare art gallery at San Diego Comic Con this summer. The winning artists may also have their pieces judged for a chance to win some prizes.

Our passion for all things alien and dragon-y gave way to a collection of masterpieces, for the love of BioWare. We intend to send these off with the hopes that they may be hand-picked and featured in this showcase, but we’d love to see your finest art and include it in our tidal wave of excellence as well. We’re looking for the best of the best, like you see below. Show us your moves and we’ll send them to BioWare.

BEHOLD!

Aaron challenges artistic convention with his brilliantly abstract homage to the Citadel

Stephanie's interpretation of the Reaper invasion, inspired by Georgia Okeefe

Dave likes that part where Alistair uses the Omega 4 relay to kill the Archdemon.

I'm sure that Sam is... going through something right now.

I'm not sure if Dave actually played Mass Effect, but this is a masterful piece

I think Chris has a career ahead of him as a concept artist.

Damn it, Fenty. Stop trying so hard. You're making us look bad.

I think we’ve got this in the bag.

If you have any fancrap you’d like to submit along with us, post a link in reply or send it to Team@RipTen.com or just tweet it @RipTen and we’ll post them here.

The deadline is July 15, so hurry up and draw something!

Mass Effect Series, Men of War Pack On Sale Today Only

Sam Naylor — Thu, 05 May 2011 19:40:41 +0000

Steam‘s week of EA sales continue today with Mass Effect, and Men of War is 66% off this weekend.

As part of EA week, Mass Effect is 75% off, with Mass Effect 2 and the Digital Deluxe Edition both at 50% off. You can also grab Men of War: Collector’s Pack for 66% off here.

We all know our own Stephanie loves Mass Effect with all of her heart, but I think I ought to interject- Mass Effect, the first one at least, is bloody awful. I just could not get into the dull story and hideously bad combat. Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Mass Effect 3 Delayed Until 2012

Dave Oshry — Wed, 04 May 2011 19:21:28 +0000

I can hear it now. Steph Gutowski’s cries can be heard throughout the heavens. Even the reapers are weeping. Mass Effect 3… has been delayed. It will now be released in Q1 2012.

Executive producer Casey Hudson has stated that:

“The development team is laser focused on making sure Mass Effect 3 is the biggest, boldest and best game in the series, ensuring that it exceeds everyone’s expectations.”

It’s all good, as long as the game is a fitting end to the trilogy, the Stephiroth shall be pleased.

In other news, this gives us all more time to play Skyrim!!

Mass Effect Anime – An Amazing Concept or Amazing Mistake?

Justin Carter — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 19:21:01 +0000

Bioware and EA recently revealed that the Mass Effect franchise would be heading into anime territory with a movie release date set for summer of next year. It being Mass Effect, one of the best game franchises of this generation, you would expect panties to be dropping at said news.

Yet, not so much. The reception to this news thus far has been generally mixed. Some like myself are excited for it, while others, like Marcus Green (@Coolluck on Twitter), don’t think the franchise should venture into anime. Hell, even RipTen’s own Mass Effect Fangirl, Stephanie “Stephiroth” Gutowski isn’t sure what to make of the news. (She did however make that lovely image above)

There are probably some who even think that the franchise should’ve never left the gaming space period. In addition to the trilogy, Mass Effect has three books (with another on the way), a trio of comic book miniseries, and a feature film set to arrive sometime in the distant future. It wouldn’t be much of a stretch to say that Mass Effect is probably one the fastest game franchises to branch out into multiple forms of media. Other franchises like Halo took a few years before they got to being published in their first book, whereas Mass Effect had it pretty much cemented on day one. #JustSayin

However, Mass Effect isn’t the first game to go anime. Both of the core Dead Space games have had animated films released around the time of their respective releases, and the Halo franchise had its own anime hit store shelves last year. But this is, without a doubt, the riskiest thus far.

Halo Legends Was met With A Mixed Reception

EA and Funimation representatives have said that the story of the anime would be something entirely new, but at what cost? Will we see perhaps the destruction of the Protheans? The events of our squadmates prior to their appearances? The story of an entirely new character that ties itself into Shepard’s story?

How exactly do you go about telling adventures in a universe that’s entirely sculpted by the decisions of the player, especially one that’s so thick with backstory?

Another friend of mine on Twitter (@Dubinskies) pointed out that Mass Effect, at its heart, is all about choice and consequence. Removing them at this point in the series would be considered a betrayal; even the comic that came with the PS3 version of Mass Effect 2 allowed for some degree of choice, albeit a meager amount in comparison to the games. Furthermore, in our review of The Arrival DLC for Mass Effect 2, Steph Gutowski was furious that the final decision of the game was made for you, forcing canon down your throat in a way entirely ‘alien’ and shocking to many Mass Effect fans who have come to expect to be able to make their own decisions and shape the Mass Effect universe in their image. Will there be some sort of feature that allows you to make your own story choices if you watch the anime on your game console? Only time will tell.

One thing is certain, I remain apprehensive about the whole concept.

What are your thoughts on the Mass Effect anime? Let us know or hit me up on Twitter (@GigawattConduit).

First Person Shooters – How They Make It “Personal”

Matthew Sims — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 19:10:26 +0000

I still remember my first Call of Duty: Modern Warfare kill. I booted up the campaign and was introduced to “Soap” MacTavish and Captain Price. We boarded a cargo ship in the night and it was raining heavily. I snuck up on a man sleeping in his bed and put a bullet in his head. It was one of the most immensely satisfying experiences I’ve ever had with a videogame in my life.

The rush wasn’t from the kill, for I’ve killed many digital personalities over the course of my gaming career; the thrill was that “I” had done it. For all intensive purposes, for that brief moment in time, I became one with MacTavish and made a choice to silence a (digital) man in his sleep.

Yeah, You Remember It Too.

That profound memory drives questions about the visceral quality of first person shooters. I’ve never gotten that feeling from Mass Effect, Prototype, or Red Dead Redemption and I’ve killed many innocent people in those landscapes and in much more disturbing ways. Alex Mercer rips people in half and basically devours them. That doesn’t do much for me; it looks cool… but little else.

To understand how an FPS is different that almost any other genre, you must understand the nature of games themselves. Games are, above all else, escapism. FPS designers spend years developing a story and landscape that will integrate the player as deeply into the game as possible. What that boils down to is that the player IS “Soap” MacTavish. You are not meant to participate in the story you are meant to be intimately involved within it.

It isn’t like Mass Effect where Bioware is telling the epic adventures of Commander Shepard, Modern Warfare is telling the story of you and your name just so happens to be “Soap” MacTavish.

Soap Is Just Like You... Only Infinitely More Bad Ass

Developers have used a similar tactic that is still in (declining) use today. The tactic is known as the “silent protagonist.” This makes the character a mute, unable to voice an opinion of any sort. In the early days, you wouldn’t want the protagonist to make too profound a statement or, even worse, a disagreeable one. When you start adding voices to the character, they must also have a personality and a way to connect to players. Taking out the voice really helped people believe that this situation was happening to them. Especially in FPS’s where there is a premium put on immersion. Wouldn’t you agree, “Mr. Freeman?” So, if you’ve ever wondered why MacTavish didn’t speak until MW2, that’s why.

Hell, millions of gamers around the world have fallen in love with FF7′s Cloud Strife, and our spikey haired friend never even uttered a word until well into the 21st century. Right now, there’s millions of gamers pretending to be Alcatraz in Crysis 2, and that super suited mofo doesn’t make a sound even when he’s not in stealth mode. There’s a lot to be said for how profound silence can be when it comes to immersion.

"I Actually Have Tons of Dialogue - You Just Can't Hear It Through The Nanosuit"

Perspective in games is more important than you may realize. Have you ever questioned just how much you know about your avatars in FPS titles? MacTavish, Alcatraz, Greyson Hunt, Duke Nukem and the DooM marine combined have less story and background than the singular character of John Marston. Developers are quite aware of this and use this to their advantage. In a First Person Shooter the filters are removed and you assume direct control of the character, seeing the world as they would see it. You make the choices directly and aren’t simply overseeing them as you would in a third person title. However, it’s not that developers are lazy.

They avoid putting in too much background story in FPS’s because it interferes with the players ability to “become” that character. Take games like BioShock and Metro 2033 for example. Sure you have a background and a story that becomes epic and dynamic, but the game allows you to make decisions and the ending is generated based on ‘your’ input and how ‘you’ play the game. The immersion is maintained. You are Jack Ryan, you are Artyom.

"Would You Kindly?"

Developers have a hard choice when trying to pick a perspective for a title because it means more than a simple aesthetic change. It changes the whole formula of the title. In a third person title, there must be enough back story to hold the player’s interest. A player will always ask “why do I care about this character,” and developers have to prove to the player that this character is worthy of their gaming time. This problem is easily overcome in first person shooters because players will always be interested in self preservation above all else, and the ability to transfer their own characteristics to this avatar certainly doesn’t hurt either. You see the world through their eyes, whether you like it or not.

Perhaps the best example of this self preservation trait is the campaign of Halo: Reach. The saga sees the entire Noble Team slaughtered by the invading Covenant forces and I did not find myself feeling any remorse upon witnessing their demise. The reason isn’t because I’m a heartless bastard (good guess though,) it’s due to the fact that I found the whole team to be underdeveloped archetypes with little personality. In fact, it was refreshing to watch the generic bunch die. The player’s character is even more undeveloped, Noble Six has so little development that nothing is known of him except for the fact that his name is Noble Six. However, when the time came to fight against impossible odds with no chance of winning, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who didn’t fight it out as long and as hard as they could. This instance became one of the most empowering sections of the game, when every indicator screamed that it should have been more of a whimper than a bang. The reason it succeeded? Self-preservation. Even when I tried to fight it, it got personal.

His Fight, Is Your Fight.

First person shooters continue to be almost indefinable in their existence. They tend to forgo character development for the sake of enhancing the player experience and sometimes that’s more important than even the most striking of narratives.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below or tweet your thoughts to @invadersims or @Ripten

Mass Effect Just Five Dollars on Impulse Today

Sam Naylor — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 17:50:01 +0000

The original Mass Effect has been marked down to just $4.99 on Stardock’s digital distribution service today.

You can find the the game for that low, low price here- if you’re in North America, that is. Us dirty Europeans and Australasians don’t get anything at all. Humbug.

Via Joystiq

Ripten Review: Mass Effect 2 (PS3)

Stephanie Gutowski — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 20:51:20 +0000

For those of you PS3 owners who are completely new to the Mass Effect scene, you have some required reading ahead of you. Please refer to my original review of Mass Effect 2 on Xbox 360 for an in-depth look into what you‘re getting with this legendary space opera.

Now that you’re caught up, let’s get right to it.

On the surface, this is a perfect port. The hype about Mass Effect 3’s engine supporting the PS3 version has died down with good reason: there’s not much of a difference. Combat still feels great. Even with the standard controller’s triggers, each firefight is fast and smooth. I almost prefer the dualshock3 to the 360 controller. The addition of facial construction codes to the character creation menu offers a nifty little tool that will help other players recreate pre-existing faces, though there doesn’t seem to be a way to upload these codes to a universal hub. For now, you’re left snapping pictures of the code or writing it down, which seems painfully archaic for a game set so far in the future.

That's Commander Tron. He fights for the users.

There’s plenty to gush about, though I think I did plenty of that a year ago. The facial textures and animations seem to be a little smoother this time around and it sure is nice not having to juggle two discs. Yet there’s nothing groundbreaking about this port- the aesthetic changes are subtle, though most may have to take a look at a side-by-side comparison in order to truly understand the differences. Though there was a moment when I found myself truly impressed by how unbelievably smooth the facial animations were when speaking to Grunt in the cargo hold. I couldn’t remember if the scene had been that crisp on the 360, but it didn’t matter. It still looked fantastic.

There’s been no improvement with load times, despite the install, but this is an issue most fans should have already come to terms with. I experienced some annoying sound delays that I never noticed on the 360 version, but these were infrequent. There were a few character model glitches during the opening cut scenes that repeatedly caused awkward cut scenes.

Oh yeah. Aliens.

Mass Effect: Genesis, Dark Horse’s comic substitution for the first Mass Effect, does its best to make up for the lack of the real deal. Those who never knew the first game may find themselves feeling let down by the rather tedious introduction, but I was fortunate enough to have Jennifer Hale entertain me with her narrative and couldn’t complain much. It’s not fantastic, but it gets the job done. Players use the conversation wheel to make the pivotal choices from the previous game and the paper plot progresses. As a veteran of the first Mass Effect, I can say in all honesty that I did not mourn my inability to play the first game on the PS3, despite my undying love for the game.

But it’s the lack of the first installment that left me wanting as I returned to the alien worlds I’d first visited on the Xbox 360. Quests appear just as they did before, prompted by choices made in the comic. Yet something was missing. There were several quests left out simply because of how much that comic didn’t cover. BioWare is such a proponent of player choices and that’s what makes plot progression so rewarding- you are constantly dealing with the consequences of your actions. You may never deal with Conrad Verner, the die-hard fan, or Gianna Parasini, the woman who helped you deal with Anoleis on Noveria- you’ll never kiss her, and she’ll never, ever buy you that drink. These names mean nothing to players who are experiencing the Mass Effect universe for the first time, but those returning for another round will notice that quests they took for granted are nowhere to be found. That damn reporter you punched in the face forgot all about that last encounter. Why? Because it never actually happened. As far as the big picture is concerned, these quests mean little; they’re just missed.

For first-time players, it’s an excellent port that needs to be in every PS3 owner’s collection. For those who knew it once before on the Xbox 360, think twice. I advise only die-hard fans of the series to own it on both consoles, if only for the free DLC. Yet if you’re as dedicated as I hope you are, you already bought that content on Xbox Live. And now you’re sitting there, reading this review while wearing your N7 hoodie, N7 wrist bands, and your custom-made N7 scarf. You reach into your N7 wallet and pull out your sixty dollars. Let’s face it. I’m Commander Shepard and this is your favorite game on the Citadel.

Here’s The Rundown:

+Amazing game on Xbox 360 is just as amazing on PS3

+Bonus content contains some of the greatest DLC of all time

+Graphics are a bit more polished on the PS3- especially facial textures

-No major improvements over Xbox 360 version

-Lacks depth that can only be experienced if saves are imported from Mass Effect.

-Occasional sound glitches/weird-ass hair issues

Mass Effect 2 Will Release on PSN and Disc – PS3 Trailer

Garrett Hartman — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 19:22:14 +0000

Mass Effect 2 gets it’s long awaited PS3 release next week! It’s been confirmed Mass Effect 2 will be available downloadable on PSN as well as on a retail disc.

This PS3 edition will include all of the premium DLC from the 360 and PC on the disc.

Enjoy the trailer. It’s from EA Germany so you can read along in German if you’d like.