‘Soul Sacrifice’ lives up to name with life/death decisions
“Soul Sacrifice” wants to get deep with how life and death decisions relate to cause and effect in the game. It all starts with a book.
The Librom, a deformed journal, recounts the memories of a sorcerer, Magusar, who has taken you prisoner. The idea is to relive what Magusar has gone through in his life in the form of phantom quests to be able to defeat him.
Each quest is an arena-type battle with you and possibly a “friend” (more about that in a moment) taking on waves of monsters. With each successful quest, you learn new skills and your power increases. Indeed, robust customization of your character will let you make them look and act any way you want.
However, it is how life and death are treated in the game that shapes your character.
Players can save or sacrifice each creature they defeat. “Saving” means releasing the demon within and allowing the host to go free. It also increases your life abilities and help to make you harder to kill.
Sacrifice means destroying host and demon, but getting an increase in your powers in exchange. This makes your abilities stronger and more potent.
It isn’t just limited to enemies. Sometimes, you will save your friends to help you continue the fight. Along the way, you can and WILL sacrifice your sidekicks/partners to gain even more powerful skills, which are very effective but also have a lingering cost (i.e. – reduced defense) associated with them - the Black Rite spells.
You can also choose to save or sacrifice yourself during a battle. Saving allows you to heal, while sacrifice turns you into a spirit form that still has some influence over the fight.
Life or death. Save or sacrifice. This is the main choice throughout the game and will shape your character and the story as you progress.
As trite as it might sound, the rest of the game is rather ordinary. The arena battles tend to get a bit repetitive in their look and feel. Even with the ability to customize your attack skills, fights tend to digress into “dodge – attack – dodge – attack” rhythms.
The maps are reused and, while beautifully rendered, don’t offer much in the way of tactics. Battles are fought on the floor of the map and lack any useful or interesting elements.
In between, the Librom is an interesting tool to move from one battle to the other. The book is dark, funny, and definitely well voiced. But the story it tells is painfully slow and plodding.
Sure, you can advance through just to get to the next fight, but I want to know the backstory so I can understand the subtleties of each character I meet. I just don’t want it to be a time suck.
Multiplayer is smooth, but gameplay is pretty much spot on to single player action. I dabbled a bit, but wanted to get back to my own story.
One cool feature lets you take on the Final Boss (Magusar) whenever you think you are ready. When you are prepared, don’t. You really need to spend a lot of time getting even more powerful and skilled than you think you should. He can (and will) wipe the floor with you.
“Soul Sacrifice” has good elements of an RPG (customization, interesting story) with an equal smattering of the bad (repetitive combat, flat level design). It plays very well on the PlayStation Vita handheld console and is best enjoyed in small chunks of time rather than any lengthy session.
But beware talking books that cry. Nobody wants that.
Revel in dying in ‘Dark Souls II’
James Bond: “Do you expect me to talk?”
Auric Goldfinger: “No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die.” (from Goldfinger)
It seems the creators of “Dark Souls II” may have been watching a little too much Bond movies when working on their latest title. At an event revealing new gameplay, co-director Yui Tanimura really wants players to enjoy death, because they are going to get a lot of it from the new title.
Tanimura emphasized two major concepts they wanted to incorporate with “Dark Souls II,” a loose connection of sharing with players around the world and the sense of achievement by overcoming difficulties. It is that second part that will likely drive players insane with frustration or joy, depending on how you want to play the game.
The original title created much discussion about the considerable difficulty players had during the game. Even today, there is very little ground – gamers love it or hate it.
Tanimura said all the improvements and enhancements to the battle system and the visuals were to drive the player deeper into the game. He said players will have different types of deaths they can experience and suggested games should enjoy the deaths.
“I don’t want it to be unfair,” he said through a translator, “but I want to give a solid sense of satisfaction when you advance. We want you to kill with substance.”
A new graphics engine and motion capture of player movements make “Dark Souls II” visually appealing in the short video trailer. The battle system has gone for simple controls and emphasizes strategy. You’ll also need trial and error to find enemy weaknesses, which accounts for the multiple deaths along the way.
Enemies have been improved with unique situational reactions and strategies of their own. There has also been a change in how the difficulty level will ramp up for a stage.
“We wanted to get rid of the start to finish template,” Tanimura said. “Bosses can now appear in the middle of the state and can actually be defeated early although it is much tougher.”
While he did say they do want to take care of newcomers to the franchise, he said they did listen extensively to what previous players told them about the original title. With that in mind, they made improvements geared toward giving gamers more freedom during the story.
“We don’t want to force actions for players, but make it more free roaming,” Tanimura said. “The choice for players will be risk versus reward.”
Tanimura is proud of how flexible the game is going to be so players can enjoy it the way they want. He said he’s looking forward to seeing gamers figure out how to conquer the game.
“Dark Souls II” will be available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. They were not prepared to talk about next-gen console releases or provide a release date at this time.
Revel in dying in ‘Dark Souls II’
James Bond: “Do you expect me to talk?”
Auric Goldfinger: “No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die.” (from Goldfinger)
It seems the creators of “Dark Souls II” may have been watching a little too much Bond movies when working on their latest title. At an event revealing new gameplay, co-director Yui Tanimura really wants players to enjoy death, because they are going to get a lot of it from the new title.
Tanimura emphasized two major concepts they wanted to incorporate with “Dark Souls II,” a loose connection of sharing with players around the world and the sense of achievement by overcoming difficulties. It is that second part that will likely drive players insane with frustration or joy, depending on how you want to play the game.
The original title created much discussion about the considerable difficulty players had during the game. Even today, there is very little ground – gamers love it or hate it.
Tanimura said all the improvements and enhancements to the battle system and the visuals were to drive the player deeper into the game. He said players will have different types of deaths they can experience and suggested games should enjoy the deaths.
“I don’t want it to be unfair,” he said through a translator, “but I want to give a solid sense of satisfaction when you advance. We want you to kill with substance.”
A new graphics engine and motion capture of player movements make “Dark Souls II” visually appealing in the short video trailer. The battle system has gone for simple controls and emphasizes strategy. You’ll also need trial and error to find enemy weaknesses, which accounts for the multiple deaths along the way.
Enemies have been improved with unique situational reactions and strategies of their own. There has also been a change in how the difficulty level will ramp up for a stage.
“We wanted to get rid of the start to finish template,” Tanimura said. “Bosses can now appear in the middle of the state and can actually be defeated early although it is much tougher.”
While he did say they do want to take care of newcomers to the franchise, he said they did listen extensively to what previous players told them about the original title. With that in mind, they made improvements geared toward giving gamers more freedom during the story.
“We don’t want to force actions for players, but make it more free roaming,” Tanimura said. “The choice for players will be risk versus reward.”
Tanimura is proud of how flexible the game is going to be so players can enjoy it the way they want. He said he’s looking forward to seeing gamers figure out how to conquer the game.
“Dark Souls II” will be available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. They were not prepared to talk about next-gen console releases or provide a release date at this time.
‘Diablo III’ offers great action, touch of gamer angst
Don’t get too close to the Demon Hunter.
“Diablo III” has the unique distinction of being a great role-playing game with excellent gameplay and action while at the same time causing such angst and anguish among gamers when technical problems arise.
This diametric split among fans changes from moment to moment, and reflects the passion and desire for a game that took nearly 12 years to make it into their hands. It is a love/hate relationship with Blizzard Entertainment for creating a fantastic franchise and causing so many angry words on chat boards and Twitter when game servers go down.
The game takes us back to Sanctuary and everyone’s favorite scholar, Deckard Cain. Cain claims the End Times are coming with the rise of the Evil. You are tasked with searching out and destroying demon lords bent on taking over the world and literally bringing hell to Sanctuary.
Players can select one of five classes – demon hunter, wizard, witch doctor, monk or barbarian. Each has specialties and advantages that the other classes do not. Characters level up as they gain experience, making new abilities available and new powers active. To get the most out of the experience, pick a class fitting your play style – barbarian or monk for up close and personal; demon hunter and wizard for distance mayhem; witch doctor for a nice mix of both.
Nearly every action is done with the “Diablo” tried and true method of point and click. Make sure you have a sturdy mouse because the left button and your index finger are going to get a workout.
Want to attack? Point and click (repeatedly). Want to talk with someone? Point and click. Want to walk along a path? Point and click, although holding down the button and dragging it along your chosen route works as well. Want to trade with a merchant or rearrange abilities, inventory or spells? You get the idea.
Special abilities and health potions are tied to buttons on your keyboard. Depending on your class, those special abilities will cost you mana, hatred or some other measure of power, so they aren’t inexhaustible. After a brief pause, those power reserves will refill fairly quickly.
The enemies are varied and numerous. There are also leveled enemies, meaning some are more powerful with special abilities than others. This creates a bit of strategy when wading into battle – go for the obvious leaders while the minions are swarming around you or take out the little guys before powering up for the big baddie?
The demon lords are your reward for reaching the end of each act and present their own challenges. While they can take some punishment and dish it out pretty good, smart players will find the cracks in their armor to take them down.
Speaking of armor, you will find a lot of that after a battle. You’ll also find a lot of gold, weapons and health globes. If I have a complaint about the game mechanics, it is there is too much loot. You will make multiple trips back to town (thank goodness for the portal spell) just to clear out your inventory.
It gets a little monotonous. I guess you can choose not to pick up the loot, but you’ll need that gold if you want to train with the blacksmith or jeweler. The former allows you to craft your own weapons and armor, while the latter help create gems that can enhance the abilities of your clothing and implement of destruction.
There is a new auction house system allowing for the buying and selling of your loot using in-game gold. Blizzard has also been working on a real-world money auction house where players would buy and sell in-game items for real cash. That system was repeatedly delayed while they worked on implementation, but is currently up and running.
There are four different difficulty settings to the action, from normal to Inferno. The challenges progressively increase as the difficulty is raised, but the rewards in armor, weapons and more also increase appropriately. Tactics that work on the normal level will likely get you killed in the Hell level. When you complete the game, it allows you to keep your character and restart at a higher difficulty level. So all your hard work and loot gets carried over into your next attempt.
Players can also create Hardcore characters, which progress as regular characters through skills and levels with one important difference – death of the character is final. Once you die, your character stays dead. It won’t be revived at the last checkpoint and Blizzard will not recreate your character under any circumstances.
This creates some pretty intense and crazy moments in gameplay. You always are keeping an eye on your health globe and trying new tactics to take down bigger enemies.
During my regular run, my character would just plow through rooms, knowing that if I went down, I would be reborn to try again. During the hardcore run, there was much more caution and strategic retreating. Getting surrounded was not an option.
Along your journey, you can meet and recruit companions to help you along the way. Three different types – a templar (like the barbarian class), a scoundrel (like the demon hunter class), and a sorceress (like the wizard class) – provide support during attacks, offer passive benefits during battles, and act as comic relief with some of their dialog. The artificial intelligence for these characters is good and they act appropriately with no direction (even if their dialog gets a little repetitive).
If AI helpers aren’t your style, three friends can join in your adventures through online play. Make sure the party is close to the same character levels. A wide disparity in power can make some people feel left out or overbearing during combat – neither is very much fun for anyone.
The graphics, both indoors and outdoors, are well done. They are bright, vibrant and alive when they need to be as well as dark, foreboding and gloomy when it is called upon. The physics engine really shines through during combat as body parts go flying during strong hits, and walls and masonry collapse realistically. It raised the level of immersion for the player and evokes an appreciation to the sense of detail. Of course, after 12 years of waiting…
However, for all its grand flourishes and spectacular battles, none of it matters if you can’t play the game.
Blizzard was plagued with server issues from the very start. “Error 37” quickly became the buzzword among players, indicating problems logging in. While the company worked quickly to resolve the issues, the Internet lit up with players proclaiming their hatred of Blizzard and frustration with the always-logged-in requirements.
Maintenance time and patch updates have also recreated harsh feelings among “Diablo III” players. Forum boards reached their limits after players voiced their displeasure.
From my own experience, I only received the Error 37 once and it was resolved quickly. I’ve only been shut out due to scheduled maintenance one time, and I did something else while it was going on. While I understand people who want to play when they want to play, the venom and anger at being temporarily inconvenienced seems excessive.
And no, I do not have a direct line to the Blizzard servers, as was jokingly suggested. I treat the idea of downtime like going to an amusement park and finding my favorite ride has a line two hours long. Either I can stand in that line and complain for the next two hours or I can find something else to do until the wait is over.
The amount of excitement and adventure to be found in “Diablo III” is worth the wait – two hours or 12 years. The action is crisp and clean. The quests are enjoyable without feeling repetitive. It is one of those games where you can easily lose track of time as you get lost in the never-ending battle against evil.
It took me almost 21 ½ hours to get through the normal level, raising my demon hunter to level 31 in the process. The Hardcore mode option is one that should be experienced to really get the flavor of the action as it unfolds. But if final death isn’t your idea of fun, hit the next difficulty level and challenge yourself with stronger monsters and greater rewards.
That is the true testament of “Diablo III.” Play it the way you want to by creating the character with the abilities and skills that work for you, by picking a difficulty mode you want to enjoy (regular or Hardcore), and by playing with friends or AI characters. It is flexible enough to find a way to play your game.
Treat the server downtime as an opportunity to do something else; because once you get in, you’ll never want to leave Sanctuary.
“Diablo III” is available now for Windows PC and Mac OS X systems. It is rated M for Mature due to blood and gore, and violence. This review was done using a provided digital copy for the Windows PC system.
‘Witcher 2′ does mature theme right, offers enriching storyline
Let me start by saying “Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings” is rated M for Mature for a very good reason. There is more cursing in the game than at a Yankees/Red Sox playoff game and quite a bit of nearly full frontal nudity.
Developers at CD Projekt RED have been very upfront about this title being for very mature audiences and make sure people can’t be surprised by the content. Even the storyline involving monster hunter extraordinaire Geralt of Rivia is more in line with a plot from “Game of Thrones” with political intrigue, backstabbing and power struggles than your typical “kill the monsters” role playing game (RPG).
“Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings” was released last year as a PC-exclusive title, but the game was recently ported to the Xbox 360 to open it up to console audiences. The “Enhanced Edition” for the Xbox 360 also offers new content, about four more hours of gameplay and many updates to the interface.
Using the Xbox 360 controller to narrate the action is quite the agility test. Each button, including the triggers and shoulder buttons, will be used constantly, and sometimes, in a hurry. Preparations for combat, which are almost always necessary, will result in multiple button pushes to cycle through numerous menus for potions, oils and the like.
If hacking-and-slashing your way through a campaign is your style, this is not for you. This is about preparation before battle and making sure to use the right combinations depending upon your opponents. Fortunately, the action slows or stops when trying to access magic (signs), but that also requires a couple of button mashes, some joystick movement, then more mashing to get back to the action.
While the PC version allows for hotkeys to access abilities faster and easier, the console controller doesn’t have that option. It takes some getting used to and becomes second nature as the game progresses.
As with most RPGs, there is a certain amount of gathering that goes on. All different kinds of herbs, trinkets and supplies are lying around, waiting for Geralt to pick them up and convert them into potions, armor or oils. Inventories will fill up fast, but you’ll need every scrap to gain advantages in combat.
Leveling up through experience allows players to augment certain abilities they choose through skill trees. A training skill tree is unlocked at the beginning and enhances basic abilities. The other three trees will help shape how Geralt will play and where his strengths will lie.
A magic skill tree powers up spells and unlocks new mystical abilities. The alchemy skill tree boosts gathering and blending abilities as well as increasing the effects of potions and oils. The swordsmanship tree is all about the combat, boosting defenses and damage through different skills learned.
Players will have to concentrate on one of the three specialty trees to really get the big effects. Each level Geralt gains gives him points to unlock new abilities, and every ability has two levels to unlock for maximum impact.
The environments are fabulously rendered and the lighting is superb. Buildings have their own individualities and subterranean areas don’t feel like recipients of a copy and paste tool job. Different races look and sound unique and the level of immersion is very deep and rich.
The missions and side missions follow along a fairly laid-out path. For all the environmental splendor, there is little reason to go wandering around the countryside unless you just want to see how much work the developers put into the forests (hint: a lot; it is gorgeous).
The story is all about king killing, kingdom making and political intrigue. Some of the dialog would probably play out very well in the halls of Congress (minus all the swearing, I think). Even though Geralt is a renowned monster hunter, there are very few true monsters to be slain. Yet, it is all done within the context of the story and accomplished very well.
A few buggy moments slow down the game. Following other characters during missions can be hit and miss as the leader is stopped or slowed down by every rock, twig and bump in the road. However, it only bogs down the pace and never crashes the game.
Overall, “Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings” does a great job of extending its legacy with a deep storyline, intricate combat and a level of immersion that keeps players interested and involved. The mature plot is handled very well while not getting bogged down in the minutiae of drama for drama’s sake.
Cursing and nudity aside, the mature themes are really aimed at an audience who is interested in living the lifestyle for the era rather than just killing everything in sight.
“Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings” is available now for the Xbox 360. It was previously released for the Windows PC in May 2011. It is rated M for Mature due to blood and gore, intense violence, nudity, strong language, strong sexual content, and use of drugs. This review was done with the Enhanced Edition for the Xbox 360.
‘Mass Effect 3′ fitting end for galactic franchise
“Mass Effect 3” brings the tale of Commander Shepard and his fight to save the universe to a resounding crescendo with tight combat, excellent storytelling and majestic visuals.
The third and final installment in the franchise finds Shepard once again facing off against the Reapers, a race of sentient machines bent on eliminating all intelligent life in the universe. This time, the Reapers have come to Earth and Shepard must rally alien races around the Milky Way to destroy this mechanical menace once and for all.
As in other “Mass Effect” games, players take on the role of Shepard and have many options to make him (or her) any way they want. Six different classes, from soldier to sentinel, emphasize different strengths and biotic (telekinetic power) abilities for each character.
More inclined for combat? Choose soldier or infiltrator. Would rather use biotics? Go for an adept or engineer. If you are looking for a good blend, choose vanguard or sentinel.
Each class offers combat bonuses, like cryo-ammunition, or physical attacks from your mind, i.e., shockwave that knocks over rows of enemies. The options allow players to find a character that best suits their style of play.
How you play also affects character development. The paragon/renegade bonuses are back from previous titles that rate how Shepard talks to and treats others. Being helpful or friendly raises your paragon rating while being abrasive or uncaring raises your renegade rating. Both affect how you are treated in the future and alters choices that can be made later in the game.
All these player options serve as the backdrop to an epic story that has been eight years in the making. Players who have previously played “Mass Effect 2” can import characters that allow storylines to continue and choices made in that game to be reflected in the new one. New players will get into the major plotlines quickly and easily, and won’t feel like they are missing anything.
The game will have players hopping around the galaxy as Shepard gains allies and supplies from the multitude of races in the Milky Way. Of course, Reapers and Cerberus, a terrorist organization bent on human supremacy at any cost, cause problems for Shepard and his crew along the way.
Old friends return, new alliances are made and players will make choices that determine their ultimate success or failure in defeating the Reapers. Despite all the side missions and interactions, the main point remains taking back Earth.
Planet scanning for “treasure” returns, but is vastly improved over what it was in “Mass Effect 2.” Rather than having to survey and mine each planet for resources that may or may not be there, players can scan the system and find loot much faster than before. The treasure can be war assets (which are important in the final scenario), artifacts that can be sold or traded, intelligence about different factions or fuel for your spacecraft – a welcome change from an experienced player’s perspective.
Invariably, there will be combat. Whether you choose to concentrate on biotic powers or weaponry, you are going to have to pick up a gun and shoot. Weapons have a good selection of types of pistols, shotguns, rifles and sniper rifles, and are fully customizable with add-ons that grant better accuracy, more ammo carrying capabilities or extra damage to certain types of enemies. Add in biotic abilities that grant advantages or increased damage by your bullets and you are ready to take on the galaxy – literally.
The ammo is parsed out with thermal clips and is interchangeable between weapons, which is really helpful when you run out of one type of ammo. A single ammo pickup fills up all your weapons capabilities and ammo can easily be found on dead enemies or sitting on shelves.
Shepard isn’t alone either. Along the way, friends and comrades will join his quest and two are selected for each mission. They also have special powers that can be used in concert with Shepard’s own abilities for devastating effects.
Each potential squadmate corresponds to a particular class, so players can select those that either compliment or contrast with their own depending on the mission parameters. Plus, they are often good for funny banter.
The environments are rich and varied. Each scenario looks unique to the planet it is located. The artwork is detailed down to variances with each alien race. The universe feels alive and the other races don’t look like human rip-offs. It makes for a game that looks absolutely gorgeous.
However, all isn’t perfect in the universe. There were some unusual visual glitches throughout the game with camera angles. Characters were looking in the wrong direction, people would disappear during dialog, and one instance where a character turned their head nearly 180 degrees. While not vital to the overall gameplay, those visual tics took me out of my immersion in the game and made for an unwelcome distraction.
In addition, if you are playing with the Xbox 360 version, the game allows you to use the Kinect device to issue commands to Shepard and squad members. You can voice direct weapon switches, abilities and actions.
Protip: if you don’t want to use the Kinect, unplug it from your console. More than once, conversation in the room where I was playing had my characters doing things I wasn’t expecting them to do.
There are plenty of surprises throughout the game. Major characters will die, entire species will be eliminated and every plotline that you can think of will get resolved.
The romance options are back and causing a bit of controversy. Early critics of the game are lamenting the same sex romance possibilities, but with a universe as big as the Milky Way, anything can happen.
And without giving any spoilers, the ending was a bit of a letdown compared to all the excitement that goes on before. It left an unsatisfying aftertaste but is only a minor detraction from the entire adventure.
“Mass Effect 3” does a great job of answering all the lingering questions in the ME universe and gives players the best chance to determine their own fate as well as the fate of the galaxy. It is a fitting end to a wonderful trilogy that put the player’s in the driver’s seat from the very beginning.
Mass Effect 3” will be available March 6 in North America, March 8 in Australia, March 9 in Europe and March 15 in Japan. It is playable on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 360 and Windows PC. It is rated M for Mature (17+) due to blood, partial nudity, sexual content, strong language, and violence. This review was done playing as a paragon infiltrator and as a renegade adept on a review copy for the Xbox 360.
‘Mass Effect 3′ epic story designed for new, experienced players
“Mass Effect 3” will be the culmination of a galaxy-wide story spanning eight years of development and millions of fans around the world.
With the third and final installment, Commander Shepard is in a battle to retake Earth from an advanced race of synthetics, known as Reapers, which want to cleanse the Milky Way of all intelligent organic life. Developers from BioWare planned the series to be a trilogy so everything from the first two “Mass Effect” games has led up to this climax.
Casey Hudson, executive producer of the “Mass Effect” series, said having an idea about how the story was going to develop gave his team “the best of both worlds.”
“On one hand, we knew where things were going so we could build these huge story arcs in the first one, and even in the second one, that would get resolved in the third game,” Hudson said. “At the same time, we were able to be pretty flexible in developing it mechanically so that as we started to really like certain story arcs and characters, we could build those in more and let players get more enjoyment out of playing.”
With more than 40,000 lines of dialog in “Mass Effect 3” alone, developers were presented with an unusual challenge. How to turn this massive game with all of its player involvement and lore into something that would satisfy their burgeoning fan base, yet remain accessible to players who were just discovering Shepard and the “Mass Effect” universe.
Fans of the science fiction/fantasy genre are very familiar with how trilogies end. Whether it is Darth Vader tossing the Emperor off a balcony or Gollum falling into the lava and destroying the One Ring, you can be sure of two things: there will be a dramatic twist at the end and really big things are going to happen.
Hudson said the way the “Mass Effect” series is built allows experienced players to continue with the stories they’ve already worked on, but also provide entry points for new players to get quickly acclimated to the tale and begin their own adventure. As with “Mass Effect 2,” players who have saved characters will be able to import those into “Mass Effect 3,” changing some dialog and missions to reflect actions taken in previous games.
New players are quickly brought up to speed through some introductory missions and different dialog from experienced players. But Hudson said new players shouldn’t feel like they are missing out on anything.
“The fact that it is a third story means that’s where you get to decide the fate of entire civilizations because we know this is the third of three,” he said. “If you are coming in as a new player, those plotlines are established but you also get to make the biggest decisions in them. For existing players, it’s mind blowing that they’ve gotten to know people and characters from a given species that they can choose to wipe out in Mass Effect 3.”
“That was the real fun of developing Mass Effect 3. This is the beginning of all the biggest things you get to do in the Mass Effect series and then everything comes to an end that you define as a player.”
Defining the parameters of the story and all the dialog choices that are identified with the “Mass Effect” series ended up pushing the limits for Hudson’s team. Since this is the final episode, everything needs to get resolved and all the questions need to get answered.
Hudson said despite allowing players to be in the driver’s seat on how those big story arcs get decided is what the fans of the series really enjoy. Which species live and which species die? What major character doesn’t make it to the end and who is there for the final battle? Players, new and veteran, will both have those choices to make and the emotional baggage that goes along with it.
“The team was really pushing to put little bits of fun even in the final days. [The game] ended up being bigger than what we thought it would be,” Hudson explained. “Whether you are a really passionate fan about the fiction or you’re fairly casual about it or you’re new to it, it should be a great story for everybody. We tried to build it as a story regardless of how familiar you are with the ‘Mass Effect’ universe.”
“This is really the biggest parts of this series. That’s what the whole story’s about.”
“Mass Effect 3” will be available March 6 in North America, March 8 in Australia, March 9 in Europe and March 15 in Japan. It is playable on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PC. It currently does not have a rating from the ESRB.
‘Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning’ fresh combat, rich RPG
- These trolls don’t mess around and neither should you.
“Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning” (38 Studios, Big Huge Games) blends a nice mix of traditional role playing game elements and exciting fighting game mechanics to produce a good story with a fresh feel for the RPG genre.
The title boasts quite a bit of star power with author R. A. Salvatore building the story, artist Todd McFarlane directing the art and action, and RPG design legend Ken Rolston putting it all together. Brought together by former baseball star and founder of 38 Studios Curt Schilling, the expectations were high for a title that was inevitably going to be compared to “Skyrim” and “Dragon Age.”
The role playing elements are open, allowing players to be able to pick and choose from different Destinies (might, finesse, sorcery) and refine their characters with specific skills and abilities. Victory in combat and other skill challenges grant experience points resulting in leveling up those skills. Other additional talents (being able to teleport short distances, for example) become part of your character at certain levels automatically.
Players can mix and match talents, but to really obtain the mightiest powers, stick with one destiny. Sure, it might limit some things you can do right out of the gate, but increasing your skill levels in one of nine skill areas can make up for some of the early ability deficiencies.
If you want to find out what the other Destinies are like, find a Fateweaver who will allow you to redistribute all your ability points and skills. Players can play as a mage for part of the game, redistribute to play a powerful fighter, and then switch back again if they so choose. There is a cost associated with each new fateweaving, but it is a fun dynamic to offer this much flexibility in character creation.
Protip: Max out the “Detect Hidden” skill and it will reveal nearly everything on your map. Otherwise, a majority of the items (enemies, chests, lorestones, etc.) can’t be found unless you just stumble across them.
Quests drive the immense storyline with at least 170 quests (I know didn’t find them all). Some are simple (gather items and return) while others are more intricate and linked together. The main quest drives the story, but you’ll want to explore the faction quests, side quests, and tasks to gain as much experience and power as you can before the final showdown.
Salvatore envisioned and wrote 10,000 years worth of history for Amalur, the equivalent of 10 novels of information. Each book, item, and location in the game is full of history and legend, and is integrated together to make the story feel alive. There are also lorestones placed throughout the lands that offer tales about the history of the area or just simple gossip about love triangles in a nearby town.
As in nearly all RPG games, you are encouraged to interact with other people you meet. Interestingly, Salvatore did not write any of the nearly 50,000 lines of dialog present in the game.
A radial response system offers conversation choices, but some of those choices can be rather frustrating. There is no way to get a good feel for the person you are chatting with and determine if your response is going to result in something positive or offending. I backtracked a couple of times when I thought my response was going to be helpful, but did not give me the result I expected.
There is crafting of potions by gathering reagents, and forging of weapons and armor by collecting pieces of other weapons. But unless that is something you really enjoy, there are enough potions and weapons to be found from dead opponents and sealed chests that you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to.
The game changer for this RPG title is the combat. In an effort to stand out and be different from similar games, developers searched for a way to create a dynamic fighting system that didn’t detract from the feel of role playing.
Players get two weapons, a primary and a secondary, and a single button on the controller activates each one. There are so many different types to choose, from the very fast daggers to the very slow hammers. Ranged weapons include staffs, staves, bows, and chakrams (whirling discs that return to the throwers’ hand after each attack).
Different combat techniques are used depending on how quickly you tap the button, whether you just hold the button down, and your position relative to your opponent. It makes combat simple, but it does have some very nice effects to accompany each movement.
Melee not your cup of tea? Magic is easily accessed by holding down a shoulder button, then pressing a button corresponding to the specific spell assigned to each trigger. As with weapons, tapping or holding the button results in different spell effects from, for example, tossing a ball of lighting with a tap to electrifying the ground with a punch by holding the button.
Having easy access to weapons and magic make battles fun, enjoyable, and fast-paced. No waiting to access different inventory screens to get the right sword or finding the right dropdown to cast the spell needed.
Players can shoot an arrow, toss a fireball, roll into melee range, and slash with a broadsword all in four button pushes. It is a combat mechanic more commonly found in fighting games, but goes very well here without detracting from the role-playing game feel.
The more variety you use to dispatch your opponents, the faster players build up Fate – a mystical energy that, when sufficiently gathered, allows time to slow down and attacks to become stronger. It is best used when facing many opponents and allows characters to move quickly from one villain to another. A final “fatality” move (i.e., creating a spike and impaling the bad guy) brings a wow factor to the conclusion of the battle.
There are a few weaknesses to “Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning” (interior rooms start feeling the same, not enough conversation choices that make a difference), but nothing that detracts in the superb RPG with an exciting action game.
It is a deep and rich experience in a world that has a wonderful back story and vibrant environments. The familiar role-playing elements are all there, along with a flexible and powerful combat system that ramps up the enjoyment factor.
Whether you plunge right in to the main quest and ignore all others or decide to investigate every book and runestone throughout the land, “Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning” is ready for the challenge. Are you?
“Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning” is available February 7 in North America and February 10 in Europe. It is available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Windows PC, and is rated M for Mature due to blood and gore, intense violence, and suggestive themes. This review was done using an advance copy for the PlayStation 3.
New RPG daunting task for ‘Reckoning’ crew
“Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning” hopes to be the next big role-playing video game to occupy your time. They are putting an emphasis on “big” with a wide-ranging environment and deep storyline, but did they take on more than they were prepared to do?
Big Huge Games studio general manager Sean Dunn was working in Los Angeles and said he was quite content with his lifestyle on the west coast when he got a call about working on “Reckoning.” After a visit and seeing what the project and the people were all about, he decided to head east to Baltimore and join up.
“This is a passionate and competitive group who want to take on Beth Soft (Bethesda Softworks),” Dunn said. “This team stayed together despite being bought and sold by Microsoft and THQ before being bought by 38 Studios. These people believe in what they are doing.”
Dunn said “Reckoning” contains more than 10 novels worth of backstory from R.A. Salvatore, 45,000 to 50,000 lines of dialog, the artistic vision of Todd McFarlane, and the gaming vision of Ken Rolston. But it is the 110 people who were tasked of bringing that all to life and making it fun to play.
Lead combat designer Joe Quadara, who worked on games for Crystal Dynamics and Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA), said he was skeptical when he joined the team they could make a game as big as they envisioned.
“It started hitting its stride about the sixth month in where it was we are making a huge game and it’s going to be great,” Quadara said. “Once we all convinced ourselves that we were actually doing it, we stopped looking at if we could do things or not and just started building everything.”
The goal, Quadara said, was to make a fantastic RPG game that had a really great action game built inside. He explained there were constant battles internally on balancing those two types of gaming while still presenting it as a cohesive story.
“There’s this weird conglomerate of taking the best minds of the RPG group and taking the best minds of the action group and seeing how we could put those together. The engine itself is a full on action game, fighting game engine, but it’s also a full on RPG game engine and puts all those hooks into each other.”
If trying to design hundreds of weapons with different hit effects and backstories for combat was a challenge, visually trying to express 10,000 years of history in the game seemed nearly overwhelming for art director Tim Coman. He likened it to riding a bike down a hill.
“You stop worrying about peddling and just keep moving,” Coman said. “If you just take each individual step as its coming and focus on we’re going to get this done, going to get this done, go.”
“There’s a depth there that you know walking in, you’re going to be building lots of lots of stuff. Ken Whitman is our lead effects artist and he’s fantastic. He and I would have conversations daily. How do we push this yet try to find something that is familiar enough to people so they get it?”
Coman’s artistic team would have debates about what was going to be represented, how it would appear visually, and whether it was even needed. Eventually, the decisions came down to creating a huge, open game to appeal to gamers’ sense of exploration.
“R.A. (Salvatore) came up with a line that we’ve repeated around here. ‘If you want people to save the world, you have to give them a world worth saving.’ For us, we wanted to put all that in there so that the players that really are RPG fanatics can see this is a real, deal RPG. The people that are action game players – it is a real, deal action game.”
Both Coman and Quadara admit they don’t know how deep the rabbit hole goes when talking about the depth of “Reckoning.”
“Take the blue pill,” Coman said while laughing.
“If you want to ask me how many different things you can craft, I really have to go down to a spreadsheet and go look it up because that’s just too much knowledge for me,” Quadara said.
“Don’t even get me started on the quests because there is so much lore, over 10 novels worth of writing just in the game itself. The dialog is so huge,” he said. “Each person has so much that they’ve contributed to this game that there is no way one person could fit it all in their head.”
However, they were able to fit is all on one disk.
“Knights of Amalur: Reckoning” will be available February 7 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. It is rated M for Mature due to blood and gore, intense violence, and suggestive themes.
Demos for ‘Mass Effect 3,’ ‘Reckoning’ offer more
“Mass Effect 2” offered players the chance to get armor that was in “Dragon Age: Origins” and now BioWare is partnering up with another fantasy game to do a little cross-promoting.
“Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning” is an open world role-playing game from 38 Studios and features the talents of best-selling author R. A. Salvatore, artist and Spawn creator Todd McFarlane, and Ken Rolston, lead designer of “Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind” and “Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.”
A demo for “Reckoning” will be available on January 17 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. Not only will players get a first look at the design, they will also be able to unlock special items for the final game and also in “Mass Effect 3.”
By playing the “Reckoning” demo, gamers will receive two unlocks for “Mass Effect 3” when the releases on March 6 – Reckoner Knight Armor and the Chakram Launcher.
Players who play the “Reckoning” demo will also unlock these items for the full game – a Twist of Fate Card, Twinned Souls Chakram and the Infernal Helm, which increases players’ fire damage throughout Amalur.
If players also play the upcoming “Mass Effect 3” demo, they will receive these items to use in “Reckoning” – N7 Armor and Onmiblade Daggers.
“Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning” is expected to be released February 7 in North America and February 10 in Europe.