Why Mass Effect 3's ending is brilliant

This goes without warning but SPOILERS!

    So there’s this big controversy over Mass Effect 3’s endings. The Bioware forums even have this pole http://social.bioware.com/633606/polls/ where nearly 40,000 people have voted for a brighter ending (as of this writing.) Some people are even saying that the endings ruined the entire trilogy for them. Personally, I love the concept behind the conclusion, but I don’t think the execution was the greatest. But first, it should be pointed out why a happy ending is a bad idea for this franchise.

Why Uncharted 3 is the worst game in the trilogy

    Before I get started, let me say for the record that Uncharted 2 remains my favourite PS3 exclusive and was my favourite game of the year 2009. The game is a fun throwback to movies like Indiana Jones; it has lots of humour, near perfect pacing and a well-rounded story. The game also has excellent graphics and sound. I’ve played other great PS3 exclusives, like Metal Gear Solid 4, Killzone 2 and 3, and the first three PS3 Ratchet and Klank games (I haven’t had time to play All 4 1 yet.) Every part of me wanted to enjoy Uncharted 3 as much as I did Uncharted 2.

The most awesome games of 2011

    Instead of talking about my favourite games of the year like I have in the past, I’m going to talk about the most awesome games of the year. This is not a best of list because everyone does them. I’d rather be different. Heck, this isn’t even a list; it’s just a post about the most awesome games of the year. The key difference between the best and the most awesome is that you don’t have to be good to be awesome … although it helps.

Gears of War 3 glitch shots

    Gears of War 3 is a great game. It improves on Gears of War 2 in every gameplay sense possible and the storytelling is improved as well. It's not perfect, and it takes a bit too long to fight against the locusts in campaign mode, but its still the best in the trilogy. That said, I found a minor glitch in the middle of my Insane playthrough. It's nothing major, in fact this happens in lots of modern games, but I still think it was funny. Here are the pictures.

    Yup, when I hopped onto the forklift, Marcus stood straight up, standing on air.When I sidestepped, Marcus turned almost 90 degrees in the direction I was facing. Nothing else really happened and the game still saved properly. AWESOME!

Gears of War 3 impressions

    This game is awesome!

    As of now, I've only finished the first two chapters in the game so I can't really call this a review. Heck, with all my upcoming school work, I might not finish the rest of the game for a while. I also have yet to try the new horde mode and beast mode. From what I've played so far though, it's an improvement on Gears of War 2 in almost every way. The scale of the action is bigger yet the story feels deeper and more personal. For the sake of this post, I'll assume you know enough about the Gears of War franchise, if you don't - read more here.

    All the new weapons that I've tried are a blast to use, including the beta weapons (retro lancer, sawed-off shotgun and the one shot,) and a giant meat cleaver. Yes, you can use the meat cleaver that some of the larger locusts wielded in Gears of War 2. While it's hard to get close enough to use it on the enemy, succeeding in chopping the locusts to bits is satisfying.

    The game takes place two years after Gears of War 2, which ended in the sinking of humanity's last remaining stronghold. Since then, both the humans and the locusts have become stranded. The real enemy this time round is the lambent, although so far I've fought more locusts than lambent. The lambent explode whenever they're killed, and the bigger they are, the bigger the explosions. The lambent also have further mutations, making every lambent type different to fight against. Even without the lambent though, the game introduces several new monsters to the locusts arsenal.

    Long story short, if you liked either of the other Gears games, get this whenever you can. From where I am in the game, it looks to be the best of the trilogy.

Duke Nukem Forever has gone Gold!

    Yup, Duke Nukem Forever, originally announced in 1997, has finally completed it's development. Having taken forever to complete, this game has been the butt-end for so many jokes throughout the years. Rather than repeating one the jokes, I'll just say "FINALLY!" I'm definitely getting the Balls of Steel edition.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/228552/duke_nukem_forever_goes_gold.html

Guitar Hero franchise is dead - officially

Yup, Activision is no longer making Guitar Hero, or it's sub-games like DJ hero. The official story is that interest in the music genre is declining and Guitar Hero is no longer profitable, so their just going to focus on Call of Duty instead. Of course the real reason why Guitar Hero isn't profitable anymore is because Rock Band is simply better, and they only release one Rock Band game a year. Anyway, DLC will no longer be sold by the end of February.

Maybe Activision is learning, or since they still have faith in the Tony Hawk franchise after Shred failed so hard they need more hard lessons. Will Call of Duty be next? Only time will tell. Anyway my next review should be up later tonight.

EA games loves their fans!

    I'm working on my next review, but it's not ready yet. I've been down with a cold over the last week, and I also have several assignments to work on as well. One of them is, unfortunately, that I have to go to a hockey game. I know, it sucks right? Actually I'm looking forward to writing a sports article for school...and the game since I don't often go to sporting events. Anyway, my next review will be posted here whenever it's ready. In the mean time, click on the link below to see how awesome EA can be to their fans.

http://thingsyoushouldknowaboutme.wordpress.com/2011/02/02/the-internet-comes-through-thank-you/

Favorite Games of 2010

    Rarely will you find a top 10 list that you fully agree with. Why? Because every top 10 list for movies, games, and anything in the entertainment industry is based on opinion. Rather than saying something like "Call of Duty: Black Ops is the greatest video-game to ever grace the face of the earth," I'm going to list my favorite 11 games of the year - and COD:BO isn't one of them. Before I get started, I have to add that several action-adventure games made the list, and I've never really been a fan of the genre. I guess there were just a boatload of great action titles this year. Also, I haven't yet played Red Dead Redemption, so it won't be appearing on this list. Anyway, let's start with number 11.

11      Red Steel 2 (Wii) – The first Red Steel sucked, so how could its sequel be any good? Well, by ignoring pretty much everything about the first game. Red Steel 2 is a strange yet brilliant combination of the Wild West, Samurai Japan, and sci-fi. It’s an open world game in the same basic style that Borderlands is, although more simplified. I never really finished it, but it’s the perfect game to play every now and then if you feel like slicing up ninjas before shooting them in the face with a classic revolver. Oh yeah, the game makes good use of the Wii Motion Plus too. I strongly recommend you try it out for your Wii if you haven't yet, but skip out on the first.

10      No More Heroes 2 (Wii) – First of all, do not show this game to young children, please. It’s over the top gory, it’s full of colorful language, it has completely pointless partial nudity from both sexes (always covered up with rolls of toilet paper or similar things,) and it’s quite violent. Of course that’s what makes this game so awesome. You play as Travis Touchdown, an assassin whose trying to become the number 1 assassin…again. Don’t ask, the story cannot be taken seriously, but that’s the whole point. Loaded with self-referencing jokes, parodies, and bizarrely entertaining mini-games, No More Heroes 2 has it all. The further you get into the game, the more insanely awesome everything gets. It also makes good use of the Wiimote’s motion control in a subtle way. In other words, this game is full of win. Again, I never finished it, but that's because I enjoy it the same way I enjoy Red Steel 2 - a little bit at a time.

Donkey Kong Country Returns, finally

    Yup, Donkey Kong Country Returns released today. I've been waiting for this game since 1996 (no exaggeration.) It's been far too long since Donkey Kong has had a proper game (not since Donkey Kong 64, and while that was good it wasn't quite as good as the DKC trilogy.) This game is so good that it almost feels worth the wait. Seriously, if you have any interest in Nintendo's big ape, get this game as soon as you can!

Awesome Halo: Reach pics

School's been really busy lately, so I probably won't have a review up this week. Instead, enjoy all these Halo: Reach pics I found on www.bungie.net from various players. I'll credit the original posters by name (well, the people who posted the pics I found anyway.) Let's start off with the plain awesome pics.

SKELATOR!
WAWA H2O

Rocket Propelled Pylon, or RPP for short.

Ts White Dragon

Crackdown 2 DLC problem

    If you've watched this, then you know I didn't like Crackdown 2. The game's first DLC released recently...it can apparently make the game stop working. Even more reason not to buy the new Crackdown for $60 when you can get a better Crackdown experience in the exact same city with the exact same bad guys for $15.

    Ruffian games (the developer) suggests that you delete your cache, the DLC, and your Profile in order to fix this problem. Seriously, WHAT THE FRICK?  OK, so you can recover your profile and the DLC afterward, but this is really pathetic. This problem really shouldn't happen for DLC that you have to pay for . Before you ask, yes I am aware that there is a free version of the DLC with less content....but is it really worth paying 560 Microsoft points for 8 new armor colors and a couple new weapons and vehicles? Just further proof that Crackdown 2 is a rush-job that adds nothing new to the franchise.

    According to Ruffian, the reported problem with the DLC "May be an issue with the packaging process Microsoft applies to all DLC before they put it online". Yeah, blame it on Microsoft even though they've done this thousands of times before. I officially hate Ruffian Games now, and you should too.

Metroid: Other M impressions/ Inception thoughts

    This post is more of my thoughts on Metroid: Other M and the movie Inception than anything else. I finally just saw Inception (took me long enough,) and thought it was brilliant. But before I get into that, let me talk about Metroid: Other M first.

Bloodrayne games

    Not too long ago I reviewed the movie Bloodrayne, so now it’s time to review its sequel. Bloodrayne is actually a series of video games, and the movies are “based” on them. Also since I watched and reviewed the cinematic turd known as the first Bloodrayne movie, I played through both games, so I might as well talk about them briefly. Also, tomorrow I'm reviewing the second Bloodrayne movie - and holy crap is it a doozy.

E3 This Year

    Wow, just wow. I have to say that E3 really surprised me this year. Usually it's either Microsoft or Sony who owns E3, but this year they both sucked. Sony was just plain boring, and Microsoft was as embarrassing as Sony in 2006 and Nintendo in 2008. Instead of talking too much about what anyone here has either already read plenty about or doesn't really care, I'll just list some of the games I'm looking forward to.

    Donkey Kong Country Returns - Holy crap! The Donkey Kong Country games were among my favorite games growing up, and the fact that DKCR is a throwback to those games is just awesome. It doesn't hurt that it's being developed by Retro, the company behind the Metroid Prime trilogy. Day 1 purchase for me.

    Gears of War 3 - Until I played Mass Effect 1 and 2, Gears of War was my favorite series this generation. Gears 3 adds 4-player co-op, Beast mode (like horde, but you play as various Locust monsters,) and a bunch of new weapons. Beyond that, a famous Star Wars novel author, Karen Traviss is writing this game's story (she's also written several successful Gears of War novels.) Definitely going to the midnight launch for this one.

    Metroid: Other M - Not too much to say here. It looked neat before, it still looks neat now. It's a very interesting combination of 2D side-scrolling and FPS, and it looks like it functions well. Getting this game for sure.

    Legend of Zelda: Skylight Sword - Still haven't played Twilight Princess yet, but I've enjoyed what I've played so far. From what I've seen, this one looks great. The fact that Skylight Sword uses the Wii Motion plus certainly doesn't hurt.

    The biggest surprise for me is how good the 3DS is. I don't have a DS and had very little interest in the 3DS until now. A 3D screen that doesn't require glasses? No idea how they managed that, but it sounds amazing. Not only that, but they revealed a number of good games for it. There are also tons of DS games I would enjoy playing, and the 3DS is backward compatible. A new Kid Icarus game seals the deal for me.

    Other games that interested me were Halo Reach, Kirby Epic Yarn, The Force Unleashed 2, the new Twisted Metal, Portal 2, and the Goldeneye remake. Halo Reach now has space combat and an updated firefight, which both look awesome. Epic Yarn might sound stupid, but it actually looks very creative. Considering Goldeneye will be a near-total remake, I'm reserving judgment for obvious reasons, that and I don't support Activision for a number of reasons including this.

The Last Game Store - Halifax

    So I just got back from a little vacation in Nova Scotia to visit my dad's family. While I was there, I went into an independent game store called "The Last Game Store" in Halifax. Why am I writing this? Because it's quite possibly the best game store I've ever stepped into.

    The first thing you see when you step into this little used game shop is a bunch of arcade machines. When I was there, these included Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, Spider-Man, and several other classics. Venture in a bit more and you'll find all their used game consoles in a glass display case. It didn't take long for me to realize that they had full sections for used games from every major game console ever released...yup!

Mass Effect 2 = gaming's Empire Strikes Back

I've seen many comments around the internet claiming "Mass Effect 2" as gaming's "The Empire Strikes Back". Now for the most part, they're just referring to how it's darker than the first, and improves the franchise in pretty much every way. As much as I agree with those statements, I've noticed that it's far more like "Empire Strikes Back" than simply being darker and better.

Let me start off by saying MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD - FOR BOTH GAMES. Also, if you haven't played both games, this post probably won't make much sense.

Let me explain by first describing the first "Mass Effect" and "A New Hope." In the first "Mass Effect", you start off by heading toward Eden Prime - a beautiful colony which just discovered a working Prothean beacon. Your mission is to retrieve it for the council. This also happens to be an evaluation mission for Shepard, who wants to be a Spectre. As you arrive however, the colony is under attack, complicating the mission big time. At the moment you have no idea what's going on - you're just thrown into this crazy situation.

"A New Hope" starts somewhat similarly. At first, Luke just believes that he and his uncle are simply buing new robots. However, it turns out that these robots are carrying an important message from a member of the Rebel Alliance, complicating things for Luke. In both cases, the main character is thrown all over the galaxy and ends up saving the Cidital/Rebel base. The reaper known as "Soverign" must locate the Mu-Relay and the conduit to open up the cidital, just like the Empire has to find the location to the rebel base to destroy it. Shepard must find various people and artifacts around the galaxy to figure out what Seren's up to just like Luke must find Obi-Wan. Both have to acquire a ship. In many ways, The first Mass Effect is similar to "A New Hope".

Continuing to the main point of this post, "Mass Effect 2" also shares much with "The Empire Strikes Back." At the start of "Mass Effect 2", Shepard dies by means of being spaced after being attacked by an unknown enemy at the time. Two years later, he/she is resurrected by "Project Lazarus." After that point, the game continues. As the game goes on, Shepard must gather a team and gain their loyalty in order to prepare for a later fight. His/her eventual mission is to destroy the Collectors. Shepard faces traps, colonies under attack, and eventually attacks the Collector Base head on.

Similarly in "Empire Strikes Back," Luke is nearly killed by a snowstorm in the beginning (cold just like being spaced,) and must be brought back to health in a bacta tank. The rebel base on that planet is soon attacked by Darth Vader's fleet. This isn't too much unlike a colony being attacked in "Mass Effect 2". Throughout most of the rest of the movie, Luke is being trained in the force, as he will need it to eventually face Vader. Unfortunately, he rushes in too quickly. He manages to escape, and eventually wins in the next movie.

The trap at the end of "Empire" is similar to the Collector trap about half way through "Mass Effect 2". In addition to that, training in the force is similar to building up a team. In both sequels, the enemy displays a personal interest in the main character. But probably the biggest similarity is that they both have a more intimate feeling than the first entry into their respective series.

In both "Mass Effect" and "A New Hope," the focus is more about being introduced to a whole new galaxy, and saving it. In both "Mass Effect 2" and "Empire Strikes Back," the characters take center stage. Sure, the story is still important, but you learn more about the characters themselves than what else is going on. You learn more about the relationship that Luke has with Darth Vader, just like you learn about the Collectors being ex-Protheans. You see Han and Leia fall in love, just like you see Shepard fall in love with, um...everyone. One could even draw comparisons between Illium and Cloud City - both places independent of the galactic government, yet still try to stay legit. In that line of thought, the Cidital is like Corecant, and Omega is like Tatooine. One could even compare Biotic powers to "The Force".

After thinking about all this, one must wonder if someone high up in Bioware is a major Star Wars fan, or is otherwise subconsciously making Mass Effect somewhat like Star Wars. After all, Bioware made what many still consider the best Star Wars game of all time. The series has it's fare share of Star Trek comparisons too. Even so, there is much more to either game than their Star Wars/Star Trek comparisons, and there's also many things unique to the "Mass Effect" series. In any case, as long as we don't get "Mass Effect's" answer to Ewoks, Jar Jar Binks, winy Annikin or battle-droids (the Geth don't count 'cause they're more like the Borg,) I'll be fine with whatever further comparisons may come with "Mass Effect 3."

Wow, this is easily the nerdiest thing I've ever written.

Mass Effect 2 aftermath

    About a month ago I reviewed Mass Effect 2 - the very same afternoon I finished the game. After playing through it two more times, and analyzing it further, I have to say that it's one of the most brilliant games I've ever played, and my new current-gen favorite. It's hard to really talk about this game without exposing some huge spoilers, but I'll give it a shot.

    First of all, they created an entire galaxy with this game. Within this galaxy exist a number of different races and cultures. Each have their own strengths and weaknesses, and relations with other races. In that sense, it isn't too much different than Star Trek. While the galaxy isn't perfectly united, most of the races generally live in peace. The main galactic government is known as the Council, made up of three races as of the start of Mass Effect (humanity isn't one of them). Humanity is relatively new to galactic civilization, and besides the main plot, the entire first game is about the human race establishing themselves.

    In the second game however, the entire plot revolves around building a team to destroy a very powerful enemy. You gather some of the most dangerous individuals in the galaxy and take on what many consider to be a suicide mission. While it's possible for everyone to come out alive, it's also possible to get everyone on your team killed, including yourself. Every single one of these characters has a well developed personality and a strong back story to go with them. With the exception of several human squad-mates, every team member is of a different race. The game indirectly forces you to get to know these characters in order to make them loyal to you. Some of the characters seem unlikable at first, but after you start talking to them, you'll realize how well designed their characters are. The only character I didn't like was Zaeed (a mercenary), but he's optional downloadable trash anyway.

    As I mentioned in the review, throughout the game you make tons of decisions. Do I kill this young criminal, or let her go? Do I threaten the looters, or do I be polite with them? Do I execute the hostage takers or reason with them? There are tons of decisions like this, and pretty much all of them affect the rest of the game somehow. Not only that, but if you load your save file from the first game, every choice you made in Mass Effect 1 affects Mass Effect 2 somehow. I'm still very impressed with how much weight your decisions have on your experience throughout the game, and everyone who plays it will have a different experience. This doesn't just make Mass Effect feel like a game, but it makes it feel like your game; you feel like you're Commander Shepard rather than just playing as him/her. According to IGN's review, Mass Effect 2 is the most personal game ever released, and I fully agree with that statement.

    What really screams of these game's qualities however, is that even though both games are full of huge cinematic battles, fast-paced brawls and tons of beautifully crafted locations, what I remember the most are the quiet moments. I remember many of the conversations that Shepard has with his/her teammates. I remember all the different characters you either help out or galactic cultures you learn about. That's what truly makes this game a true masterpiece; how well written the dialogue is, how well done the voice acting is, and how real this galaxy feels when everything comes together. If you have an Xbox 360 or a capable PC, I cannot recommend this game enough.

Pure Pwnanage TV - Season 1 episode 1

    Pure Pwnage was originally a web-based series that started in 2004. It was about Jeremy, a pro gamer, and friends of his. Long story short, it makes fun of hardcore gamers even though the series creators could be considered as hardcore themselves. They released 18 episodes online and a DVD set for the first season (12 episodes). The web series gained a large enough audience to have premiers all over North America, and even a few overseas. The show was hilarious at first, although after the first three season 2 episodes it just got lame. In July last year, they announced that the web-series was delayed indefinitely because they got a TV deal. I just finished watching the first episode of teh TV show, which just started.

    The TV show has little to do with the original series, as it features only three of the original characters: Jeremy the_pwnerer, FPS_Doug, and Kyle the cameraman/noob. Pretty much everyone else is completely new, and it follows a completely different storyline. In the first episode, Jeremy's mom gets fed up with her 26-year-old doing nothing but playing games in their basement and cancels the internet. They did a great job at introducing the characters to new audiences without boring any of the longtime fans. This episode is hilarious, nuff' said. So far, this TV series is looking good, and I'm looking forward to episode 2.

You can watch the episode here.

Perfect Dark - Xbox Live Arcade impressions

    It's Perfect Dark, just with a better frame rate, improved character and weapon models, high-definition, and online multi-player. Other than that, they changed nothing about the game, which is absolutely perfect. I'm glad that they finally released one of my favorite games from my teenage years onto Xbox Live. Playing this game had me flowing with nostalgia; remembering all those all-nighters sitting at a couch with three other guys playing all night.

    For those of you who don't know, Perfect Dark is the spiritual sequel to Goldeneye 007. Goldeneye is probably the most famous console FPS of all time. Perfect Dark is very much like it's predecessor - even including several maps from the famous 007 game, but improves on it in many ways. Sure, Perfect Dark has it's problems; the story maps can get confusing for one thing, but it's still my favorite N64 game by far.

    So yeah, I'm very satisfied with this re-release. What was that other game that came out this week? It was a PS3 exclusive, but I can't quite...God Of War 3! Yeah, saying that game's epic doesn't do it justice - it re-defines epic. That said, Perfect Dark was the big one for me this week.