Mass Effect Review / Advice For Game Designers

Like it. Quite a lot. Wasn't sure at first: the first chapter has a nice balance of fighting, "talking quests", and against-the-clock kind of puzzles. But the second "chapter" is VERY talk-heavy. Lots of quests that involve talking to people to find something out, then using that info when talking to someone else. A couple of battles, but not many. And even though I love this sort of game, I was getting a bit of "uh-oh, Biomass have let me down".

But chapter 3 kicked in (well, my chapter 3, since once you get past the second bit, you're in control of a ship and can travel to a number of different planets). So - the place I went to: Another nice balance, but tougher battles now that you know how to fight and your characters are gaining skills. Unfortunately, I've got to the boss.

Now, in most games, the sequence is as follows:

A - player is in a nice safe area
B - move onward, and get a cutscene with the big bad boss who reveals their master plans, twirls their moustaches, laughs manically, strokes their furry white pussy, etc.
C - fight ensues, probably with no save ability since you're currently dodging bullets, and the boss kicks the players ass.
D - player loads the last safe. Gets to point A again. Stocks up on anti-boss special ammo, whips out the big guns, stacks up temporary boosts, etc.
E - run the cutscene again. And here's where it gets interesting.

E - Option 1: Player is given the option of pressing a key to SKIP THE FUCKING CUT SCENE. After all, they've seen it once already.
E - Option 2: There is a second or two's pause before the fight starts, allowing the player a chance to save the game AFTER THE FUCKING CUTSCENE but before the fight.

F - Fight ensues again. If player dies again, they go back to D and can SKIP THE FUCKING CUTSCENE, or E.2, where they've got the save AFTER THE FUCKING CUTSCENE
G - fight ensues, ad nauseam
H - eventually player wins.

As you might have guessed already, Mass Effect goes for E option 3: "Don't allow the player to save after the cutscene, and don't allow them to skip it - make them watch it every fucking time."

And although I've played this on normal difficulty, I've notched back to Easy for this fight, and still get my ass wooped.

This bit of the game SUCKS big time. Someone obviously didn't do a proper UAT on this bit of the game. I'm sick of the fucking cutscene....

Had a quick look at the FAQs etc online, and the advice is "take it steady, and kill the boss's henchmen". Not that easy in practice....

Labels: games, mass effect, xbox

posted by Blakey UK @ 9:24 am