I’m back from Gameworld (a games expo here) and I’ve played ME for more than an hour. They had two Xboxes there with ME running on them, and of course I pushed everyone away from one and had a great time. I’ve seen the character creation (didn’t do it myself ‘cause I didn’t want to waste time, so I’ve picked the iconic John Shepard) – two guys on the other Xbox were having a contest at creating the ugliest femShep. I must say that if you want to create a fugly girl here, you can.
My impressions in short…
You may have heard that this game is great. It’s not true. It’s BEYOND [Scooby-Doo] AWESOME!!!
Everything works like magic in this game. It is beautiful. I completely agree with all the Xbox staff there, this game should undoubtedly get GotY. Nothing like this has been done before. I love the conversation system, I love everything in it. Well, there are some problems, but we’ll talk about them later. One of the guys working there said “it’s the only game that actually looks as good as its trailers”, and I have to agree with him.
I’ve had the time to run through Eden Prime, look at the beacon, and do stuff at the Citadel (which is one of the most beautiful environments ever created in a videogame…it’s simply stunning). The controls feel great, after five minutes you’re already comfortable with them. The pace of the game is great too – it’s slow and relaxing. You’ll spent most of your time in dialogues and/or cutscenes.
I’m not sure however this was the final version, but it looked damn final to me, except that “…THING NEEDS TO BE REBUILT” (pathing maybe?) which you can see on every screen. Or maybe it had nothing to do with the game, maybe it was something with the screen itself, I dunno.
The problems:
The only ones I’ve noticed are with graphics. Again, this might not be the final version, but I’ll list them anyway.
Antialiasing should be mandatory for all modern games. It sometimes such a shame, because an otherwise beautiful picture is ruined by those jagged edges. This is where I start hoping this wasn’t the final version. I just don’t get it, why don’t developers do at least 2xAA by default.
Shadow problems are unfortunately noticeable. As a lot of attention is centered around the faces of different characters, sometimes the picture gets ruined by some weird shadow which pops up (usually near the nose). It looks more like a torn black piece of paper than a shadow.
Oh sure, the film grain effect masks both the AA and the shadow issues. But then I don’t like it. I turned it off and played without it.
Then a small issue that is out of the graphics field: you can’t talk to any people but quest NPCs and merchants. I know it’s not that important, I know hearing the same generic phrases over and over (like in Oblivion) is kinda stupid, but the one fact that you just can’t talk to pedestrians is disturbing for me. It’s like they’re not alive and are there for decoration purposes only, like that tree over there. Not a major issue, but something that could have made the game even better.
Anyway, a picture says a thousand words, so feast your eyes on some pics. I’m sorry for the quality, but I took them with my phone camera. You can see everything though.
I solved this small quest. That hanar wanted to preach openly in the Citadel Presidium, and a turian C-Sec officer didn’t want him to because of regulations. I simply bought him an evangelical license or whatever it’s called. “I’ve been trying to talk sense into this bag of jelly the whole day!” (that’s approximately what the turian said)
The Citadel Presidium. Again, awesome.
Another view. Notice the big krogan statue.
I love you, Bioware!!
(I wonder if they recruited professionals to record the animations…hehe)
Hmm, it seems I’ve got fans. This dude asked me for an autograph. Strangely, this wasn’t random and started a quest, so I suspect something fishy.
Sort of the outside of the Citadel. It adds to the atmosphere.
Some dude I met in the Citadel. He’s a fan, too, seemed to know my past (it was Sole Survivor I think).
Just me and my pals in an elevator.
The inside of the Citadel Tower, the place where the Council meets.
Screenshot van de Questlog! Kan spoilers bevatten!
A look at the quest log. I’ll tell you more about the Consort quest later.
The squad on the cargo train that takes you to the Spaceport and the beacon.
The Normandy mess. I’ve ran around the ship, it looks great. Also, Ashley does look great. I think she will be my romance choice – I can’t have one of those asari dancers, after all…
From a cutscene – the approach to the Citadel. By the way, if you remember that huge ship from screens, it’s in this cutscene – and it’s the flagship of the Council Fleet. Can’t remember how it’s called.
The asari consort. She needs you to find a turian general (her former boyfriend or something) and tell him to stop spreading rumours about her. She said she’ll be “_very_ grateful” – I hope we’re thinking about the same kind of reward here…
And as a bonus – something that nearly made me faint. It’s an upgrade you can buy from that doctor you save with Garrus. Unless Shepard becomes CEO of some interplanetary corporation real fast (or do Spectres get comparable wages?), I see no frickin’ way to afford this. Other prices are similar – upgrades for around 200k are apparently considered normal. I saw regular weapons at around 50-60k though, so it might not be that expensive after all.
I saw that some armour has tech/biotic protection values, which is nice.
I leveled up Shepard and the rest of his crew. It’s quite easy, with accurate descriptions of what you get for every point spent. I got 6 xp points a level, so at first glance the progress is quite fast. Also, Charm and Intimidate are both limited to a maximum level of 3 points. So getting a max in one of them is quite cheap actually.
About weapons: it looks like I won’t go Vanguard, simply because shotguns suck (at least in the beginning). The ones you get in the beginning (from traders, too) overheat after 2-4 shots. However, the assault rifle definitely rules. Pistols are great, too. Forgot to try the sniper rifle.
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