Well, Bioware gave us what they promised. The biggest DLC for the game yet. I finished in just under 2 hours. It is another chapter in the life that is Commander Shepard fighting for what is right. (if your a paragon that is) The premise is that a Cerberus scientist is working with Geth tech and has used his brother (who is autistic by the way) as a way to try and control them. It goes horribly out of control and the universe is yet again under threat of being taken over and everything being destroyed. The only huge problem I had was trying to figure out where to download it from. That would be the dashboard where you can explore new DLC for games.
The only part of the game play that I didn’t like, yet again, is having to drive the Hammerhead. I have to say that it was not as frustrating as the ‘Firewalker’ missions which really were 90% driving around and wishing you weren’t. There is a lot of jumping through rivers of lava from platform to platform. Move fast because when you land they disintegrate from under you. Easy enough. And watch out for the wildlife. You can actually run over them and make ‘em cry. When you get to the giant force field covered turret make sure that when it targets you that you are next to the generators and then MOVE fast. It will take out the shields for you and make this area a lot easier to deal with. It will target you if you are not moving so hang out a bit until the red grid appears and then hit the gas. Makes a long fight a lot shorter. And a lot less frustrating.The cinematics were phenomenally done yet again and your AI on the Hammerhead is even polite enough to point out the views to you. So enjoy! Not a place that I would want to picnic but it is a place that I want to save. No new weapons or squad members but lots of gun-play and a couple of puzzles to figure out. Don’t forget to explore everywhere before you get out of your vehicle because you will not be able to go back and do it later! I learned this the hard way.
When putting tog ether your squad make sure you have a heavy hitter like Grunt, Garrus or Zaeed and a good overload specialist like Miranda. Because the AI can take over and control the Geth you are fighting machines, so take note and the right right person to deal with them. Reave will not help you here. Weapons choices don’t really matter until the final fight. (which on hardcore made me want to tear my eyes out and throw the controller across the room…which I might have done) Most of the fights are typical duck and cover fighting and not to bad to get through. Until you reach the end. Here’s all I will say about it. Do not try to kill everything that pops out at you. Run and gun at your primary targets and try to avoid getting hit. HA! I learned that the hard way too. A lot. In the end of course you have the choice to play renegade or paragon with the life that stands before you. Because there are no interrupts in this I always think it is a good idea to get the DLC out of the way at the beginning of the ME playthrough only because it will up your paragon or renegade score and help with dialog choices later on in gameplay. Say when you are on Loyalty missions.The last 15 min of glameplay is reminiscent of the Matrix but it doesn’t matter. It makes for a different and quite entertaining time. The environment turns into lines of running code making things a bit hard to see so make sure you look at everything as you go. It’s easy to miss thermal clips and important information. When the geth are killed they explode into code and upload themselves up into the ceiling. Actually pretty sweet. Makes it easier to tell when they are down.
Mass Effect 2
Need some examples of Sci Fi women who have carried movies to greatness? Well here you go:
Just remember that every decision you make will have an effect in Mass Effect 3. So make a couple of characters to play through with. Then you can make different decisions with different characters and not have to worry about screwing up your main character with multiple playthroughs. This is an amazing game. Made by an amazing and revolutionary company that understands what will grab us and move us and make us want more. Well done Bioware. Now just make sure you bring Liara back in ME3…with a happy ending…or you will have me on your doorstep.
Here is a great article talking about Legendary pictures picking up Mass Effect:
http://movies.ign.com/articles/109/1092495p1.html
On that note here is what I have to say about making the movie. Please, please, please stop saying that Matthew Fox should be Shepard. That makes me throw up a little. He is just so far from what Shepard is and should be. Namely that Commander Shepard should be a girl. A female. A female Shepard. There are a whole slew of movies and TV shows that have been carried by strong female leads and they made themmadly successful. So Bioware and Legendary pictures, listen up! You can’t please all the people all the time but you can make a movie that appeals to the general non-gaming public and to the hardcore fans and gamers that will give you the fandom and respect that this movie deserves. To try and combine the RP aspect, the Epic storytelling, and the shooter adventure is going to be a tough go. So make sure to listen to the gamers, the fans, the ones who care about what this movie can be. If you do this you might just have a shot at making a truly Epic movie. Maybe even a trilogy of them.
