Free of Mass Effect

So I finally reached the end of the Mass Effect trilogy - having finally completed Mass Effect 3. It was a bit of a mild let down. I’d heard that the ending of this game had been criticised, however that doesn’t prepare you for how blunt and inconsequential it actually was. My main issue however was that the whole game just felt very samey and that it lacked the dramatic punch of the previous games. Having spent 2 games building up the Reapers to be these unstoppable death machines and then have Sheppard take one down easily with a rocket launcher felt… cheap. The Reapers lost their menace, even with Earth under attack I felt no urgency – how dangerous can the Reapers be if a small guerrilla force can hold them back. No wonder I struggled to finish this game. 

I’m being very negative here. Mass Effect 3 is still a good little game in its own way and there were some creative touches, however when it was at its strongest it was involving characters or situations from the previous games.

I think new game announced Mass Effect Andromeda - set in a different galaxy - sounds promising, as the series feels like it needs a fresh start.

Inside The Cave

The Cave is a quirky puzzle platformer that uses style and dark humour to great effect. Ron Gilbert, of Monkey Island fame, has created an interesting hybrid here. You select 3 different characters from a possible 7 to enter the cave and experience different missions. Each character has a different special skill and you swap between them and coordinate to help explore and solve puzzles - the character switching reminds me a little of playing a Lego videogame in single player mode.

I loved how dark some of the stories were and how your protagonists are slowly revealed to be something quite less than heroic. The puzzles are not overly challenging, but for once I quite enjoyed this level of challenge. I like a game that doesn't drive me too quickly into picking up my phone and looking for a walkthrough. I felt more immersed in the experience for that. 

The voice of The Cave, played by Stephen Stanton, is one of the delights of this game. His narration, bold and full of humour, adds a bit of magic to the experience. At times he almost sounded like the Tadman from that great old crazy Dreamcast game Seaman - a major plus for me!

I have only played through the game once so far, but it is definitely one I would play through again to experience the other characters’ stories and levels. Although I may wait a while so the levels you have to repeat will feel fresher.

Butterflies and Hurricanes

Life is Strange is a triumph, a game that really absorbs you into the setting and has a rich detailed story with strong character development. The game feels indebted to the works of Telltale Games and Quantic Dream, however it manages to forge its own path with its tone, its time travelling mechanism and its pace.  It is important to note from the start that this is not a game about time travel. The power is really just a tool here, something that is used to explore characters and situations in an compelling and unique way. The choices you make have a huge impact on the unfolding story, and the ability to rewind and make a different decision makes you soon realise how branching and tangled things quickly can become. Nothing is black and white. It is not a game for someone who is indecisive.

The focus on decision-making and relationships means that there are few frustrating game mechanics that you usually find in this kind of story-driven adventure games. The item retrieval moments are kept mostly to a needless bottle hunt in a junkyard. The puzzles that fall your way tend to be engaging, all due to the clever use of the time travel mechanic in solving them.

I found myself thinking a lot about Last of Us and the first season of Telltale's Walking Dead as I played Life is Strange, the way the game makes you really buy into the world and care about the characters. However this story revolves around the bond of friendship, rather than the protective parental relationships explored in the aforementioned games. Max and Chloe friendship is not perfect and riddled with difficulties, but there is a deeper love that unites them. Whilst Max tries to act the hero and use her power for good, it soon becomes apparent that it is impossible for a human being to truly shape and bend destiny to their will.

The only misstep I felt was the Alan Wake-y stealth section in the final episode, but I can see why the section was needed otherwise it would have been just a simple walk from point A to B. There had to be something difficult to overcome when the stakes were so high at the end.

Dontnod Entertainment should be commended for a fantastic achievement, Life is Strange is a thrilling and thoughtful game that makes great use of an interesting time travel mechanic. Praise must also be given to the voice actors who really made the characters live, in particular Hannah Telle as Max who managed to reflect inner strength and courage with a subtle and powerful performance.

PS - I really dug how the barn in episode 4 had a real Friday the 13^th Part 3 feel!

Braiding

Well it sure has been a while. Whilst I’ve had time for gaming this summer I’ve had little chance to catch up with my thoughts on the games and put them into writing. If only I had more time… which leads us quite nicely to something I played over the summer, Braid.

I’ve have wanted to play this game for a long time, ever since seeing the entertaining documentary Indie Game: The Movie. The Prince of Persia games for the PS2 and their time manipulation were one of my favourites from that era, so Jonathan Blow taking that idea and making time manipulation an essential component of a game was always going to appeal to me. I’ve seldom played a game where the sheer level design makes me shake my head and laugh in appreciation of the genius at work.

It would be enough with the first world’s time rewinding mechanic, but each subsequent world comes up with a fresh take on how the time mechanic works. Making Braid into a original platform and puzzle hybrid, with loads to discover and wonder at. The music, the visuals, all elevates Braid to such a high level and whilst I could endlessly gush over the game there is something else at play here. That these is something more, the story and game left me feeling I was recalling the plot of a half-remembered dream.

I cannot praise Braid enough, it is a wonderful game and an experience seldom like any other.

Serve the Cerberus

I was really looking forward to Mass Effect 2 following playing the first game earlier this year. I did love the original but it was clearly showing signs of its age. I think with older games of the seventh console generation it’s not the graphics that date the game, more the usability and functionality of the game - such as save systems and upgrade systems and such.

This sequel starts with a bang and is instantly gripping, it has a novel way of resetting Shepard’s abilities so that you don’t start the game with too strong a character. The set-up for Mass Effect 2 works well on the whole, but being a stooge for Cerberus was something I never grew comfortable with. I couldn’t help but shake the feeling they were Space Neo-Nazis – at least The Illusive Man was an intriguing character and that made up for not having to report to the Citadel Council in small way.

The thing I can most commend Mass Effect 2 for is it has such a strong opening, but unfortunately for me this momentum started to evaporate when the game attempted to become more open world. I think this juxtaposition is the main flaw of this game’s narrative, whilst there is supposed to be an imminent threat/danger to the whole galaxy you are still free to dawdle and go about mining distant planets for some element zero or shoot the breeze with a Elcor. I mean who cares if the fate of all civilisation is at stake when you just have to go a drink on Omega, right?

I’m being a little unfair here as I did enjoy the freedom of the varied missions, especially the loyalty ones which proved great backstories and added depth to your teammates. But it was also the point I started to feel a little aimless and my attention started to drift away from the game. In a way I felt like it lost a bit of the urgency and focus of the first game, and there started to be too many third-person shooter elements that became repetitive. Whilst I enjoyed the simplified equipment modification the choices of attack felt all the more limited.

My favourite mission was Project Overlord, I really liked the unethical experimental research storyline and the twisted ethics of merging a human mind to a VI. It felt unnerving and like something out of a David Cronenberg film and had a lot more variety to the mission than most others.

In all I did really enjoy Mass Effect 2 a heck of a lot. Maybe I started it too soon after the first Mass Effect to really appreciate it, but don’t let that take away from what is a fantastic game. It’s a phenomenal space opera with great ambition, imagination and freedom.

Uncharted's Headshot Problem

It has been a while since my last update, a lot of real-life things have got in the way such as a new role at work and the restarting of my home studies. Whilst I have been busy I have been keeping up with my gaming and I finally started the Uncharted series - the first game, Uncharted Drake’s Fortune. I’ve been looking forward to this one for a while being a big fan of Naughty Dog and was hoping for Indiana Jones-flavoured proto-Last of Us style romp.

Hmm… I was a little let down to be honest but the game has many great points.

The setting, story, character and voice acting were top draw for me. As a fan of 1980s action movies this film hit all the beats perfectly, without being too drenched in irony. It was fun and exciting, and Drake is at his best when bickering with his allies and enemies. On playing though I realised how much the rebooted Tomb Raider ripped this game off (and improved many things by some margin), but for a game of its age Uncharted  holds up really well, especially in the looks department.

What really let the game down for me was the incessant shooting sections. It felt like: climb up a cliff/shoot some bad guys, solve a puzzle/shoot some bad guys, turn a corner/shoot some bad guys, blink/ shoot some bad guys. Every 10 meters it felt like I stepped into an ambush - that grew old very fast. Also headshots seemed to have no effect so you had to pump about 4-5 shots into someone’s HEAD before they finally dropped. It grew very repetitive having to shoot enemies a set number of times. The puzzles also were far too simple and too few. Uncharted almost started to feel like an on-rails shooter than an exploration adventure/action game at times.

So I was a little disappointed. Maybe I hoped for too much. I’m told the other games improve the game mechanics, but I might give it a little break before returning to the series.

Next up is Mass Effect 2, now there’s something that shouldn’t let me down!

 I 

Monkey Music Magic

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge is a great adventure game, in fact one of the finest point and clickers I have ever experienced. But what really blew me away wasn't the beautiful pixel art or the fantastic pirate setting and humour - it was the music which really got to me. Land, McConnell and Bajakian made such an infectious soundtrack that is constantly intertwining and bewitching my ears. Normally it is only JRPGs that have music which get me excited, maybe because the compositions are more considered. Although I did go through a period of soundtracking my outdoor runs to the Gradius V OST.

Monkey Island 2 felt like an inventive sequel with the spitting contests and voodoo dolling. Although I preferred Ghost LeChuck to Zombie LeChuck as he seemed a somewhat less threatening opponent this time round. Maybe it was the fact - one that Guybrush often recounts - that we'd already defeated LeChuck in the first game. The island hopping was a nice feature, but for a pirate game I did feel a little let down by the lack of time you actually spend on a ship.

The ending was an interesting twist - one that I will not spoil here - but considering the lukewarm reputation of the next games in the series I don't feel in any rush to find out what happens next. I can see why the first two Monkey Island games have such a positive reputation, and considering all their faults they still hold up really well in the modern gaming age.

We need to talk about Heavy Rain

Heavy Rain is a problematic game. I had hoped to be mainly talking about my experiences with playing it with the Playstation Move, which I think added another layer of immersion with the game, but I can't shake the feeling that so many things were wrong with this game. I don't think time has been kind to Heavy Rain, and while at the time it must have been seen as a trailblazer in the cold light of a new day it feels derivative in style of films like Fight Club or Seven. But my main problem is how the game treats women. Maybe it's all the more jarring after coming from a game like Mass Effect.

No matter how you dress it up this game is sexist, with its lingering shots on Madison's behind and uncomfortable allusions to sexual violence. Being made to strip at gunpoint was presented in such a gross way I almost walked away from the game. The game had already made my eyes roll when you had to dance on a podium to gain a guy's attention and progress in the game. Now I'm not saying all art or media has to be politically correct, boundaries should be pushed - titillation and sleaze can work well. It's just a disparity between what this game presents itself, a thinking person's thriller, to the reality. It stopped me from enjoying the game, it took a layer of immersion away. And with a "game" which focuses on Quick Time Events, immersion and experience is paramount.

I quite enjoy playing as unlikeable protagonists, for me it was part of what made L.A. Noire enjoyable was that Cole Phelps was no Ed Exley of L.A. Confidential. But what felt wrong with Heavy Rain's Ethan Mars is that he was so overwrought and it was like David Cage desperately wanted you to side with him and feel what he was feeling, it just didn't work for me. Ethan wasn't compelling or even compellingly uncompelling. It felt like lazy shorthand, a guy who will do anything for his son. The over-the-top nature of the trials Ethan went through and his reactions also jarred with the realistic experience.

I could not help but think when playing through this game: "C'mon Quantic Dream - you're better than this!"

Moving Rain

The Playstation Move always seemed to me to be a bit of a gimmick, Sony's cynical ploy to cash in on Nintendo's success with the Wii. But when I discovered Move for cheap I just could not resist picking it up as there is a game I really wanted to play with it. The move edition of Heavy Rain. I've always liked Quantic Dream, maybe it's the David Bowie connection from Nomad Soul, maybe it was the excellent first part of Fahrenheit. Whilst I'll talk more about Heavy Rain when I finish it I wanted to just comment about my initial experience with the Playstation Move now.

A good few hours into the game and I can't imagine playing the game without the Move controllers. I really dig the brightly coloured soft ball on the edge of the Move and the navigation control is really comfortable and fits nicely in my other hand. I've not had any problems with the controls and any mistakes have been due to my fault not the equipment.

Playstation Move feels like it works so well, opening cupboards, drinking juice and turning keys have never been so fun. It is making the mundane feel special that really adds another layer to the game and the Move controls make me feel deeper in the game. The only down side I have come across so far is accidentally knocking my girlfriend on the leg with the Move controller when I was in the middle of a hectic chase in the game. Thankfully it wasn't too hard, but still it highlights the accidents that can happen.

Mass Effecting

It was a little daunting starting Mass Effect, but considering how big the game is I finished it rapidly. This goes to show how compelling and playable Bioware have made this wonderful game. It makes me regret giving up on their Knights of the Old Republic when I tried to play it many years ago.

The whole world is fantastically realised, it feels like a living and breathing Universe. I was worried that the non-linear open-ended elements would affect the story, but the story is so epic and well integrated this never becomes a problem.

Despite its age the first Mass Effect holds up pretty well, with only the really clunky save system being the one thing that is very out of place here. Well maybe some of the driving around in the Mako on a planet sections too.

Some of the impossible choices you had to make felt very Telltale Games, and I mean that in a good way. I can't help feeling that some of the ones I made will come back to bite me in the ass in one of the sequels.

I just had a lot of enjoyment running around bases armed with my shotgun and my preferred team by my side, Wrex and Ashley, even though a lot of the mission were similar it never felt repetitive. Disarming space cults and culling space gangsters has never been so fun.

I really enjoyed Mass Effect and I can't wait to get around to the sequel.

Krogan Battlemaster Blues

"Surrender. Or Don't. That would be more fun."

I heard that surly Krogan Battlemaster growl those words to me many times as I became horribly stuck on the first Mass Effect. And I mean really stuck. It seemed impossible - I was too low a level and I had my weakest members of my team in my squad. Would I ever help Liara escape Therum?

One thing that ages the first Mass Effect is not the graphics but little things, like the inability to skip cut scenes and the unforgiving restart points. Maybe I'm actually just whining here and modern games have made me too soft.

Anyway, after about 12 brutalising tries I finally managed to beat the Krogan Battlemaster. I had no biotics, so I had to use chemical rounds and hide behind pillars to stop the Krogan's melee attacks. I had a real sense of achievement when I finally downed him.

I am digging Mass Effect, it is the first time I have ever played a PC-style action rpg but I am starting to understand how things work. Plus I am in a real science fiction mood still after seeing Interstellar and 2001 on the big screen last year.

Grand Theft Assassin

Over the past few years I have been slowly slogging my way through the Assassin's Creed series. I do enjoy them but I still think slog is the correct term to use as it feels like Ubisoft release the games faster than I can play them. I am coming to the end of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, which took a bit of time to grow on me. The game being set in Renaissance Italy made it feel like I was playing an extended coda of Assassin's Creed II rather than a fresh new game.

The sacrifice of new locations (and an exciting story) for an enhanced and larger version of upgrading Rome (like with Monteriggioni in Assassin's Creed II) is just about worth it. Although I can't help shake the feeling the developers were playing a shedload of Grand Theft Auto whilst making this.

I promised myself I wasn't going to get completionist with Brotherhood, but right now I am close to upgrading all the Rome has to offer. It is compelling and addictive, even if the style and setting feels to have outstayed its welcome.

I don't think I'll start Assassin's Creed: Revelations for some time, they'll probably be ten more games to finish by the time I do.

Game, Set, Pad

Virtua Tennis 4 has destroyed two of my control pads. Once was unlucky, but twice is foolish of me. This is not from anger. I did not throw them against the wall in frustration (although trying to unlock the hidden character King pushed me close to doing so). My PS3 pads broke in the same way - the rim that surrounds the left analogue stick collapsed and broke off. Virtua Tennis caused just too much harsh back and forth, the pad could not stand up to the repetitive punishment. My first pad was black, my second was white, for my third pad I bought a gold one. I also decided to move onto Topspin 4, and although it is also a tennis game it shows the difference between the two games that the golden pad is still working fine years down the line.

I'm not saying Virtua Tennis 4 is a bad game, after all it is intended to be more of an arcade version of tennis than a full simulation. Playing it with an arcade stick would work best. I must get one as I do miss some Virtua Tennis.

Speaking of broken pads, I remember a friend of mine who used to get so frustrated and angry with his games he used to bite down hard on his control pad. You'd notice the teeth marks on them when you went round his house. But then the only games he had for his Mega Drive were Dark Castle, Fantasia and World Cup Italia 90 so maybe the bite marks are understandable.

Port of Portal

The technology that allows you to create two portals and jump betwixt them instantly is a great concept. The instant nature makes for a fascinating gameplay mechanic.

If only the load screens could of learned something from this instantaneous nature. It reminded me about how much patience you had to have with older games and all the loading screens you had to endure. Loading still exists in modern games, but it is hidden in ingenious ways. You just don't notice it any more.

I'm generally not a fan of first person perspective in games in general. It's a matter of personal taste. The feeling I am just gliding over the ground really breaks my immersion in a game. Plus jumping always feels like some leap of faith.

Why am I complaining about such a brilliant game? Maybe what I'm trying to say is that these niggles cannot diminish the wonderful experience of Portal.

In my own confused and bumbling way.

The Secret of Point & Clicking?

I always wanted to play the Secret of Monkey Island but being a console-owner meant I all I could do was look enviously over at Amiga and ST owners. My hopes were raised by the port to the Sega Mega CD, but it never got released in Europe (maybe that was a blessing in disguise considering the poor reputation of that version).

Anyway after some persuasion from my girlfriend I recently decided to give the re-mastered version from 2009 a spin. Thankfully you can change the graphics back to the 1990 originals, the pixel art still looks fantastic and superior to the soulless slick new visuals where characters seem to float over the backgrounds.

I can see why the game has such a following; it has a great sense of humour and a fun cast of characters. I particularly liked having to tail the storekeeper to find the sword master or (later in the game) the appearance of the three-headed monkey.

In general point and click games hold up really well in the modern era aside from one thing... the internet. I completed Monkey Island in a couple of days and whilst I'd love to claim I have the deductive powers of Colombo the brutal truth is whilst I tried to work out all the puzzles, a few had me completely stuck and so I caved and sought the internet's easy answers.

This got me to thinking - how the hell did I complete Broken Sword back in the day on the PlayStation? Did I just sit there for days on end exhausting every single point and click option? In fact I remember way back playing Sherlock Holmes on the Mega CD. When I got stuck there I went methodically and patiently through the entire phone directory line by line...

There's something to be said for the elated feeling you get when you solve something that had stumped you for weeks (if not months), but in reality the temptation of having the answers ready at your fingertips is all too tempting.

Even if you try to resist.

And I did try to resist.

A little.

Back to Tomb Raider?

How did I start playing a Tomb Raider game again?

I swore many many years ago that I would never go back. Lara had betrayed me and she was never to be forgiven! The day Tomb Raider II was cancelled for the Sega Saturn was the cause of all this turmoil. That was a dark day for me. It was the first time I realised that the Saturn was dying...

Anyhow I felt somewhat vindicated over the years as I watched the endless new mediocre Tomb Raider games spew out one after the other in a manner that made latter day Sonic seem classy. So just how did this change? How did the Tomb Raider reboot win me over?

I was in my post-great game blues. I had just finished the Last of Us and needed something to fill the void. I had downloaded Tomb Raider for free from PlayStation Plus a while back, and it had been sitting there gathering digital dust on my hard drive. I heard positive rumblings about it. But then I also remember all the controversy from the ill-judged scenes that were supposed to build Lara's character.

I decided to stop umming and ahhing and go ahead and play the damn game, otherwise I'd end up in an all-consuming Tetris or Topspin vortex for a couple of months again.

It all started well enough. Everything looks pretty, even the creepy blood-splattered cannibal who chases after Lara. The oriental Bermuda Triangle-esque island setting was neat. The bow and arrow was quite fun and actually useful (for a change). I wouldn't say I was outright impressed at this stage, but it was winning me over.

Then it happened. I was jumping over the rooftops of crumbling shacks built into the side of a sheer cliff face when it hit me. I was actually enjoying this, even though it was seemed so familiar...

It is hard to pinpoint exactly what it was, but I was reminded of playing through The Last of Us. Although the stories are radically different there is a tone and feel to these games that make them feel similar. Lara's survival instinct reminds me of Joel's hearing mode, as did getting caught in a trap and having to shoot at enemies upside down or even just rummaging around to get salvage to upgrade your weapons. At no point did it ever distract me enough to stop enjoying the game, but the feelings remained.

Crystal Dynamics have overhauled Tomb Raider from an adventure/exploration game to more of a focused dynamic action game. And it works. Maybe that's why is succeeded where all the other Tomb Raider sequels failed, it avoided trying to just ape what made the first game successful and instead try to forge ahead with their own vision for the series.

It will be interesting to see where Crystal Dynamics take the series from here, although it might be a long time until I get to play it if this Xbox One timed exclusive business is true. I may not even play it at all, as I said earlier I don't play Tomb Raider sequels...