Re: mass effect
 

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Anyone else think that game rankings are becoming more and more a marketing tool? Almost like the video games' version of movie review quotes like "Wildly Entertaining", "This summer's blockbuster movie!" "If you only see one movie this year, make it this one!"...

I've been reading some of the reviews online for this game, from what I used to consider very reputable websites - and while I have yet to play the game - I'm amazed that a reviewer can pan the AI of both enemies and allies during combat, detail some major draw-in issues and still give the game a 9.7/10...

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I don't think it is that as much as many of the review sites just flat out suck.

By the time the review is out, most of the marketing is done anyway. And there would have to be a huge conspiracy for game developers to avoid marketing on the major review sites who have negatively reviewed games in the past. The most popular sites have so many revenue streams that it would hardly matter if a developer or three decided to black ball them.

I think it would be more accurate to say there is a standard deviation because reviews are subjective to some degree based on the reviewers preference to certain types of games.

FWIW, the only game I have played recently for the 360 that I thought was misleading based on reviews is Halo 3.

Forza 2 was spot on, Bioshock spot on, COD4 spot.

Re: mass effect
 

what was misleading about Halo 3?

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what was misleading about Halo 3?

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Standard run of the mill single player campaign, crappy non-intuitive vehicle controls. The only real innovations are the level editor which I never even used, and the replay system which is also meh cause I can give two [censored] about watching replays of a video game battle save for the occasional youtube of some outrageous kill.

If it didn't have the Halo name, it would have been a 8.6-8.8ish game.

Re: mass effect
 

It's a good game, but on normal difficulty I have no idea how to beat the Gaz guy in the stripbar.

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Halo's multiplayer is a 9.8. Its single-player has always sucked.

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I think the single player of Halo is just overwhelmed by the multiplayer. Halo single player has one of the best cooperative campaigns of any game I've played. It's just so much fun cruising around in a warthog together, flanking the enemies, etc.. I'm not sure how much it is playing alone, but that's not really an issue now that you can even do coop online.

Definitely not a huge fan of them enabling 'god' mode (if one player dies, the other player can just walk a ways from the enemies and the other player will be 'revived') on Halo 3 legendary coop though. It was very fun and challenging playing through legendary in Halo 2 when neither player could die. Actually, that also might be an issue. The campaign is pretty terrible on normal. On heroic it's mediocre. It really shines on legendary though.

Re: mass effect
 

Meh, I played through a decent amount of Halo 2's campaign on co-op and it wasn't much more fun than single player. Gears of War, on the other hand, was ridic fun to play co-op. I think the Zero Punctuation review nailed it about Halo when he said "it seems like the [censored] if you aren't used to better games that have been around for awhile on PC." (paraphrasing)

Re: mass effect
 

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I think the single player of Halo is just overwhelmed by the multiplayer. Halo single player has one of the best cooperative campaigns of any game I've played. It's just so much fun cruising around in a warthog together, flanking the enemies, etc.. I'm not sure how much it is playing alone, but that's not really an issue now that you can even do coop online.

Definitely not a huge fan of them enabling 'god' mode (if one player dies, the other player can just walk a ways from the enemies and the other player will be 'revived') on Halo 3 legendary coop though. It was very fun and challenging playing through legendary in Halo 2 when neither player could die. Actually, that also might be an issue. The campaign is pretty terrible on normal. On heroic it's mediocre. It really shines on legendary though.

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That is a good summary. The game is a big turd if you're not playing it online in some way. And that is fine, but it is also why the game is undeserving of anything over an 8.9/10

Re: mass effect
 

Why don't you guys create a halo thread - this is for nerds that want to discuss mass effect. :P

Edit: Picking up game tonight, but probably not playing it before christmas just to not derail life/poker.

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Seriously, give me some first impressions people!

Re: mass effect
 

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Seriously, give me some first impressions people!

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Graphics - Amazing, but the xbox seems to skip frames from time time though. And when Shepard is walking in a non combat zone, he walks really gay.
Sound - Great, voiceacting is awesome
gameplay - probably the best part, it plays like a fps, but when you press rb everything freezes, and you can map your special effects like Lift/Push/Sabotage to different opponents.

Now I'm not really into the sci-fi stuff though so I'm not to enthausiastic about it, but I bet anyone out there who likes star wars will absolutely love this.

Even if your not a big fan of the genre like me, it's still a nice game. But there is a lot of storytelling going on, and if you would skip all of that it probably ends up being a mediocre experience.

And you can auto-level up, which means you never have to worry about your stats as it's done automatically. But most of you will probably want to spend each point manually.

Re: mass effect
 

my order has been shipped, weee.

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haha, your order? I just picked up a copy 10 mins ago w/o a pre-order. n00b.

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very interesting review on IGN.

TBH, I am glad that you don't really need to control your squad members. I never really enjoy having to control other team mates. However, it sounds like they are kind of stupid as well. Bah.

Looking forward to the sex scene!

Bout to play it when I get home!

Woot!

[censored], stupid class [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

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What character did you guys pick?

I went with an Infiltrator, born on Earth, who is known as being ruthless

The combat seems a bit clunky, but wow, the story and dialogue thus far rocks. Its actually fun being a jackass to people in the game.

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Its actually fun being a jackass to people in the game.

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Haha, you would be a jackass. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

I only played through the Eden Prime mission so far but very fun and I love all the directions I see the story going.

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haha, your order? I just picked up a copy 10 mins ago w/o a pre-order. n00b.

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europe, noob

Re: mass effect
 

think i might just get this

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Its actually fun being a jackass to people in the game.

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Haha, you would be a jackass. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]



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Haha, dude you talk more [censored] in Halo then I do!

My character is just a badass that doesn't [censored] around, although he does like to get his dick wet, which was why he is spitting game to the chick in his crew.

Re: mass effect
 

someone help me out... i may have skipped a tutorial or something but what in the hell is the "Buy Back" section for in the stores? It seems like it's my own equipment making me think it's more like "Sell" but there's already a Sell page. I haven't really spent much time in the stores since all the cool equipment costs like 100x more money than I have.

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I know that these guys made KOTOR, so I'm curious how the replay value of that game was, and if anybody is deep enough into Mass Effect, what is the replay value of that? I'm just disappointed that I played through Bioshock once in 3 days, and barely made it 1/3 way through again over the course of 2 months.

I'm basically deciding between CoD4 and Mass Effect, and the tipping point would be replay value.

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maybe its "buying back" stuff you sold? Dunno man.

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CoD4 has a hella short campaign, but its fun. I am in process of playing it again on Veteran. I imagine I will play select levels over again at some point. The campaign is significantly more fun overall than H3.

As for Mass Effect, I am not far enough in to tell. Its fun so far though.

BTW, there is basically no tutorial for this game. Its some real basic instructions, but thats it.

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I know that these guys made KOTOR, so I'm curious how the replay value of that game was, and if anybody is deep enough into Mass Effect, what is the replay value of that? I'm just disappointed that I played through Bioshock once in 3 days, and barely made it 1/3 way through again over the course of 2 months.

I'm basically deciding between CoD4 and Mass Effect, and the tipping point would be replay value.

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KOTOR has a lot of replay value. Both of them are great, plus there are like 6-8 different combinations of characters you can choose from. Throughout the game decisions will affect how good or bad you are which gives different options during the game and have an affect on the force powers you have. One of my top 5 games ever, easily.

If Mass Effect has half as much replay value I'd go w/ that. Personally I think it's a no brainer between an RPG made from these guys or a FPS.

I'm having a tougher decision between this and Uncharted...

Re: mass effect
 

Yeah, KOTOR needed to be played at a very minimum 2 times. Once playing as the Light Side and once as the Dark Side. The game played like a completely fresh game when you switched from one to the other. Then I guess you could play as something more in the middle for another experience. Dialog changed so much from one extreme to the other. You could feel people's reactions to you being drastically different, plus you could just [censored] with people as the Dark Side.

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The X-Play review on G4TV said that with this game you basically HAVE to replay it, and twice might not even be enough.

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Tough deciding between this and Uncharted? Cute [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

I just picked it up. Don't really wanna get started though since I'm catching a flight in 6 hours. I wonder if the different endings are based on your character type (sole survivor / etc ) or just how you play the game. Gahh.. so want to start playing it.

Re: mass effect
 

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The X-Play review on G4TV said that with this game you basically HAVE to replay it, and twice might not even be enough.

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This is good since I noticed there are a couple achievements for spending the majority of the game with each companion. It would be nice to have an actual reason other than that to play through multiple times.

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The X-Play review on G4TV said that with this game you basically HAVE to replay it, and twice might not even be enough.

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This is good since I noticed there are a couple achievements for spending the majority of the game with each companion. It would be nice to have an actual reason other than that to play through multiple times.

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Well even only being two hours in, you can tell the experience changes vastly based on your created character.

About 3 or 4 people referrenced my characters experience on Turian(?) when I "Did what I had to do" to get the job done. I mean, those conversations either don't happen with a different character, or the other events are referenced.

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About 3 or 4 people referrenced my characters experience on Turian(?)

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Akuze, I think. It's possible this is an intentional vague reference, as your psychological profile or whatever (Sole Survivor, War Hero, or the other one) I *think* only affect how the events on Akuze went down; however that was, you're still some kind of hero for what happened there.

Re: mass effect
 

k just played 2 hours to the point where you become a spectre as a vanguard and decided to start new as a soldier. pretty swett so far.

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About 3 or 4 people referrenced my characters experience on Turian(?)

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Akuze, I think. It's possible this is an intentional vague reference, as your psychological profile or whatever (Sole Survivor, War Hero, or the other one) I *think* only affect how the events on Akuze went down; however that was, you're still some kind of hero for what happened there.

[/ QUOTE ]You sure its Akuze?

Re: mass effect
 

I picked Sole Survivor and Akuze is the planet where there was some big attack and you were the only dude that got out alive. If they did pick different planet names for the War Hero/other thing then I guess my theory is wrong.

Turians are the upper-class alien race of the Council (Nihlus was one of them).

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just bought it over assassins creed, hope i made a good choice :P

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what do you guys think of the 'film grain' visual effect? I thought something was wrong with my screen, then realized you can turn off the effect in the menu.

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The (tame, weird, human girl/alien girl lesbian) sex scene that has gotten this game barred in Japan

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more 'steamy' version. weird on a few levels

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That's a retarded reason to give it a subpar score, "This RPG doesn't play like a FPS, WTF?"

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Well, that's a valid point to make when you compare it to an RPG like Oblivion that pretty much appealed to idiots of universal proportions.

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FYP.

Seriously, it was pretty clear after only playing the game for a couple of hours that it was worse than Morrowind by some magnitude, and Morrowind already had problems.

Seriously, the game hasn't changed since Daggerfall, and when it has it's been for the worse.

Looking forward to any new Bioware stuff though (back on topic).

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The X-Play review on G4TV said that with this game you basically HAVE to replay it, and twice might not even be enough.

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This is good since I noticed there are a couple achievements for spending the majority of the game with each companion. It would be nice to have an actual reason other than that to play through multiple times.

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I like these types of things (Chrono Trigger, Deus Ex etc) in games but I think of them more as a reason to replay the game when choosing something to play during a drought of good games. Few things are gonna make me play a game through again straight off the bat.

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I used to be obsessed with video games and play wayy too often...
Now I just play/beat the games that get rave reviews... Also a big RPG fan.

So I bought mass effect and... I dont think ive been this addicted to a game since oblivion.
After about 10 hours of play I think I could put this in my top 10 favorite RPGs of all time.

The old snes squaresoft rpgs (chronotrigger, FF2 & 3) dominate the list, but this game comes up there.

If you like RPGs BUY THE GAME

Re: mass effect
 

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Seriously, it was pretty clear after only playing the game for a couple of hours that it was worse than Morrowind by some magnitude, and Morrowind already had problems.

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[img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

Worse than Morrowind, sure, but no way can you say it's "by some magnitude." I think you're over-exaggerating your personal displeasure with a controversial design choice (the leveling system) the devs made. Acting like Oblivion is the bastard child of a severely flawed RPG is a pretty big mischaracterization of a solid followup to one of the best games of all time.