Mass Effect 3 Review

[BaronIveagh]

Of course it came through. It was meant to come through. It was an awesome trailer.

Seriously, who comes to a videogame site without the desire to share enthusiasm and excitement? Why would you bother?

Why come to a video-game site? To be informed about video games, of course. And World Of Warplanes has an awesome trailer, but I have not yet seen you devote a whole article to how awesome it is.

See, here's the outcome of this whole thing I've been talking about. Giving games super high reviews all the time has a polarizing effect on the fanbase. Someone earlier made the point 'You're either a fan or a hater' was I believe the gist of it.

I love the ME series. I bought limited and collectors of every one of them before this. This one, I don't like. Personal opinion. Do I think something is wrong with everyone giving it fantastic perfect scores despite the bad endings, bugs, etc? Yes, the game media should hold Bioware to a higher standard than that, and should be ashamed of itself for passing out high scores in general the way it has.

Do I think that every last reviewer that liked it is morally bankrupt: no. (Do I think that some of them are: most likely) But at the moment 'good enough' is the new 'GOTY' when we should be expecting more out of game companies.

'Good Enough' got gamers the Duke Nukem Forever we got rather then the one we deserved, as an example.

 

[The Wooster]

Do I think that every last reviewer that liked it is morally bankrupt: no. (Do I think that some of them are: most likely) But at the moment 'good enough' is the new 'GOTY' when we should be expecting more out of game companies.

'Good Enough' got gamers the Duke Nukem Forever we got rather then the one we deserved, as an example.

DNF got awful reviews and managed to sell preposterously well regardless.

 

[BaronIveagh]

DNF got awful reviews and managed to sell preposterously well regardless.

I was using it as an example of how bad you have to be to get rated a between a 5 out of 10 to a 7 out 10 on average.

And nostalgia is a powerful market force on it's own. Or, you were like me and got a call from Gamestop asking when you were picking it up, only to remember you had paid in advance in 1998.

 

[Rednog]

I'm enjoying the game so far, sadly the multiplayer is a little broken right now.
Some people (myself included) are experiencing lost weapons/characters; and there are some problems with setting certain match choices. A bioware employee on their forums said they were looking into it hopefully they'll figure it out soon, I'm unfortunately stuck with having my Quarian Infiltrator locked out to me.

Do you mean lost weapons and characters that you got from the demo multiplayer? Because, the word was that stuff from the demo multiplayer wouldn't transfer to the actual multiplayer.

No its a problem occuring in the actual mutiplayer, people are getting stuff they've unlocked relocked.
http://social.bioware.com/forums/forum/1/topic/343/index/9653611/1#9662888

 

[Andy Chalk]

And World Of Warplanes has an awesome trailer, but I have not yet seen you devote a whole article to how awesome it is.

Are you seriously comparing the World of Warplanes alpha gameplay trailer to the Mass Effect 3 launch trailer?

And how exactly is it that you've been playing Mass Effect 3 for so long, anyway? It only just came out today.

 

[Excludos]

Susan, the problem is that I've been told what to write by my bosses about more then one EA release. DA2 was a 'GOTY' and a '9 out of 10' before they ever let me see it, because EA was dumping more advertising dollars on us then God. Then I got to play it and it sucked.

Which publication do you work for?

I'm interested in this too, followed by the question "WHY do you work for the publication you're working for?".

edit: Nvm. Its been answered. I'm apparantly blind when the clock starts ticking near 24:00

 

[fozzy360]

The Escapist gave this game 4 & 1/2 stars and said that the ending was epic...the ESCAPIST this incredibly hard to please website, founded on the basis of giving straight up reviews

The same Escapist that gave Dragon Age II a perfect score despite the myriad of fundamental problems that came close to breaking the game and despite the fact that the fan reception left everyone divided between those who saw it for what it was and those desperately trying to deny what had happened to the game, which ended up tanking miserably after week 1 sales?

Oh, and I think my DLC just finished downloading. Time to take Earth back.

Oh...nevermind, I see. Joke's on me, then.

 

[BaronIveagh]

And World Of Warplanes has an awesome trailer, but I have not yet seen you devote a whole article to how awesome it is.

Are you seriously comparing the World of Warplanes alpha gameplay trailer to the Mass Effect 3 launch trailer?

And how exactly is it that you've been playing Mass Effect 3 for so long, anyway? It only just came out today.

The joys of abusing VPNs.


And, actually, yes, because it tells you a lot more about how awesome the game is rather then how awesome the companies bank account is that they can afford that much prerendered CGI.

 

[Steampunk Viking]

Andy's review of one of the last trailers positively gushed with enthusiasm. I don't begrudge him that, but the problem is that it came through in his article.

Of course it came through. It was meant to come through. It was an awesome trailer.

Seriously, who comes to a videogame site without the desire to share enthusiasm and excitement? Why would you bother?

What I do find rather funny about this whole arguement is how much people moan about how detached from the subject in question writers are, that they have no passion for what they're writing about. Then you show some passion, people start calling it unprofessional.

Personally I am all up for seeing this enthusiasm in articles. At least then I know the articles are by gamers for gamers. It's reassuring that what I'm reading is just as into the subject as I am.

 

[Excludos]

The Escapist gave this game 4 & 1/2 stars and said that the ending was epic...the ESCAPIST this incredibly hard to please website, founded on the basis of giving straight up reviews

The same Escapist that gave Dragon Age II a perfect score despite the myriad of fundamental problems that came close to breaking the game and despite the fact that the fan reception left everyone divided between those who saw it for what it was and those desperately trying to deny what had happened to the game, which ended up tanking miserably after week 1 sales?

Oh, and I think my DLC just finished downloading. Time to take Earth back.

Oh...nevermind, I see. Joke's on me, then.

A game can be so good as to overshadow its fault. The reviewer will always be biased, because human beings without opinions would be a really boring world. Yet the game has faults, and thus the 4,5 score instead of 5. In the end, scores are stupid. They don't really reveal anything, and are purely there because its expected.

 

[Andy Chalk]

The joys of abusing VPNs.

What does that mean?

 

[BaronIveagh]

The joys of abusing VPNs.

What does that mean?

Origin thinks I'm near the international date line due to the the way virtual private networks work. My launch day started 12 hours before everyone else's.

 

[2fish]

Mass Effect 3 Review

The ending the series - and its fans - deserve.

Read Full Article

How do the levels feel for a sniper/infiltrator? From your video they look like close quarters combat. I know you have said they have some open places in the game. But in ME2 my sniper used her sniper rifle maybe 3 times. I also hope my crew of Liara/Jack, Garus and my sniper still work. I love Tali but you said we need a nice mix so two techs might be too much.

I may have to look into this game after Risen 2 comes out.

 

[Susan Arendt]

And World Of Warplanes has an awesome trailer, but I have not yet seen you devote a whole article to how awesome it is.

Are you seriously comparing the World of Warplanes alpha gameplay trailer to the Mass Effect 3 launch trailer?

And how exactly is it that you've been playing Mass Effect 3 for so long, anyway? It only just came out today.

The joys of abusing VPNs.


And, actually, yes, because it tells you a lot more about how awesome the game is rather then how awesome the companies bank account is that they can afford that much prerendered CGI.

I'm curious - have you not considered that an enormous factor in the content we publish is audience interest? We cover games that our audience is excited about, thus, we post a news story about the Mass Effect trailer, and not the World of Warplanes trailer.

If we only posted things about the games we personally cared about, this site would look very different, I assure you. Andy would write about nothing but weird Russian PC games, Grey would only write about shooters, and Justin would write about Baldur's Gate every day. Ok, every other day, alternating with Frozen Synapse, maybe.

 

[Erttheking]

The Escapist gave this game 4 & 1/2 stars and said that the ending was epic...the ESCAPIST this incredibly hard to please website, founded on the basis of giving straight up reviews

The same Escapist that gave Dragon Age II a perfect score despite the myriad of fundamental problems that came close to breaking the game and despite the fact that the fan reception left everyone divided between those who saw it for what it was and those desperately trying to deny what had happened to the game, which ended up tanking miserably after week 1 sales?

Oh, and I think my DLC just finished downloading. Time to take Earth back.

Oh...nevermind, I see. Joke's on me, then.

Uh what joke? I was serious, I went on the website while From Ashes was downloading. Also I can't help but feel that this isn't the website that bends over to everything, and if it is reliable then why are you even here?

 

[Susan Arendt]

The joys of abusing VPNs.

What does that mean?

Origin thinks I'm near the international date line due to the the way virtual private networks work. My launch day started 12 hours before everyone else's.

So you were predisposed to dislike the game, but went out of your way to play it early? That certainly explains a lot.

 

[Andy Chalk]

Origin thinks I'm near the international date line due to the the way virtual private networks work. My launch day started 12 hours before everyone else's.

So a 12-hour head start has allowed you to see all the "bad endings, bugs, etc." and then start posting about them roughly, oh, 36 hours ago?

 

[Therumancer]

They didn't get rid of the planet scanning mechanic? Jesus Christ.

Personally I was most disappointed with how it seems you have to run from the Reapers pursueing instead of there being a space combat mechanic implemented.

That said, I liked the way how they did the planetary exploration and mining in ME1, they just needed to put more stuff on the planet to make it a little more exciting. Skimming through my strategy guide (I don't want too many spoilers yet, and I have yet to get a copy installed) it doesn't appear there is even a vehicle component to this one, though I imagine it could be added later.

um would you like to fight a squadon of repears in a ship 1/10th their size?

That's largely just a justification for not having space battle mechanics.

A more fair question would be whether I'd like to fight Reapers using the Normandy, and the answer is "yes I would". However intergrating space combat into the game has not been part of Bioware's design priorities.

 

[Susan Arendt]

Mass Effect 3 Review

The ending the series - and its fans - deserve.

Read Full Article

How do the levels feel for a sniper/infiltrator? From your video they look like close quarters combat. I know you have said they have some open places in the game. But in ME2 my sniper used her sniper rifle maybe 3 times. I also hope my crew of Liara/Jack, Garus and my sniper still work. I love Tali but you said we need a nice mix so two techs might be too much.

I may have to look into this game after Risen 2 comes out.

Hmmmm....there are certainly opportunities for a sniper, though the game seems to favor more up close and personal combat (it would love you to melee, for example).

 

[BaronIveagh]

So a 12-hour head start has allowed you to see all the "bad endings, bugs, etc." and then start posting about them roughly, oh, 36 hours ago?

If you're implying I pirated the game, no dice. One, I don't own an xbox360, and two, the PC version wasn't cracked until last night anyway.

If you're implying that I'm an a******* who was drunkenly pissed off after talking to one of the guys with a space copy on BSN, most likely, guilty as charged.

It goes to show, don't drink and post, kids.

I'm curious - have you not considered that an enormous factor in the content we publish is audience interest? We cover games that our audience is excited about, thus, we post a news story about the Mass Effect trailer, and not the World of Warplanes trailer.

If we only posted things about the games we personally cared about, this site would look very different, I assure you. Andy would write about nothing but weird Russian PC games, Grey would only write about shooters, and Justin would write about Baldur's Gate every day. Ok, every other day, alternating with Frozen Synapse, maybe.

In that case, Any and I would have something in common, but that aside: You're basically arguing audience appeal over fair and even coverage. While I understand the need to appeal to your audience, doing so at the expense of appearing biased for or against a game would be unacceptable. And, bluntly, that is what it looked like, and one of the reasons that, in my opinion, it made your review look tainted.