Hands-On Preview
MMORPG.com contributor Scott Jennings recently traveled to Edmonton, Canada to meet with the folks at Bioware and get some hands on time with their upcoming shooter RPG, Mass Effect 2.
Previews By Scott Jennings on December 17, 2009
I'm part of a small group, in a small room in Edmonton, Canada, throwing black holes at people.
Why? Why not, you should ask. Pocket singularities are fun. Watching cannon fodder gang members pinwheeling wildly through the air while you take potshots at their limbs is fun.
There is, of course, a reason why I am shooting at gang members, involving a plague of some sort and finding a doctor and saving the universe, and this being a Bioware game, it won't be trite or hackneyed. But give me a minute, I'm still making people dance to my singularity's will.
Welcome to Mass Effect 2, a Bioware game with headshots.
That's the first thing you notice about ME2 - it's as much a shooter as a role playing game. We're assured that it's still story driven, there's still a bewilderingly deep level of character development, but player skill is much more of a factor (or to be blunt, it actually *is* a factor now) - unlike the first game, which was completely stat-driven in whether or not you hit an enemy, if you can hit the enemy onscreen, you hit it, first-person shooter style. Headshots, shooting off limbs, all the usual standbys of first person shooters are present. Like ME1, you get some feedback when you are near death - but this time, it's a lot more feedback, as your vision turns red and you think finding cover while waiting for your shields to recharge might be a good idea.
Gaining levels and skills instead give you (in addition to the biotic 'magic' skills and espionage-style skills of the first game) additional damage types (such as freezing or burning enemies), unlocking the ability to use heavier weapons, and "buffs" that benefit your entire party. Weapons now have ammunition requirements - excuse me, "heat sinks" (in an attempt to explain why your ammo-free weapon in ME1 suddenly ran out of juice in ME2), so your sniper rifle will need to be reserved for a few important headshots.
;)
This being a shooter, let me be very blunt - you're going to want to play this on a PC. Unless you really, really play a lot of Halo, you're going to be better at things with a mouse and keyboard. Luckily, unlike ME1, the PC and Xbox360 versions are coming out at the same time. (Sorry, PS3 owners. No word on love for you.) We were given opportunities to try builds on both PC and the Xbox360, and it is certainly playable on a console - as playable as any other shooter on a console. It's just - like shooters in general - MORE playable on a PC. Unlike Dragon Age, however, there's no plans for editors or modding support of any sort, if that guides your PC/console buying decision.
Much of the story was left unexplained for reasons of preserving spoilers (some of which we were told happened at the very beginning of the game, such as the destruction of the original Normandy as seen in Bioware's E3 demo). However, what was obvious is that the story of ME2 is much grimmer - much like Empire Strikes Back to ME1's Star Wars (and it was explicitly stated that a ME3 was already planned). As Casey Hudson, ME2's project director, told us several times, "This is a suicide mission. People are most likely going to die. Your character can possibly die, a permanent death." The loyalty of your NPC party members are tracked (and explicitly displayed) as you move through the game, since inspiring your crew to die for your cause can be a bit difficult. Speaking of NPCs, most of the characters (at least the ones that survived in your imported save game) from ME1 appear in ME2, though they aren't recruitable NPCs. The reason given for this was that, quite simply, most of your henchmen in ME2 are probably going to die. Yes, this is definitely, consciously aiming for a darker experience.
Although we weren't given a hands-on tour of the new Normandy, we were shown some of the highlights. Your home in ME2 is streamlined, with more crew members, more activity and feeling more like a busy ship of war. The endless elevator rides from ME1 are a blessed memory, replaced with a simple, and much shorter loading screen - the NPC banter while waiting bored for a level to load has been moved into the game itself. The Normandy can be upgraded, much as characters can, which will help make missions easier. Character customization extends to what the character wears as well; players can define separate outfits for armored combat and lounging about bars. There is even a fish tank in your quarters and, of course, fish of various types can be purchased.
;)
The inventory has been revamped as well. The confusing and somewhat meaningless array of "guns with random letters and names" has been changed to a more familiar RPG rules system. Like ME1, weapons can be customized - in ME2, upgrades (weapons, ship, etc) can be earned through "research projects", which are funded through resources mined through the galaxy or found while on missions.
Minigames have been vastly improved as well. Gone is the abstract unlocking/hacking minigame, along with the concept of just spreading futuristic goo on everything and having it magically unlock - instead you'll have more traditional minigames. Unlocking doors involves popping open a schematic and matching icons to "open circuits", similar to lockpicking minigames in other RPGs. Hacking computers in particular is much improved - this time, you'll actually be shown scrolling code (Unrealscript, from the looks of it), and have to identify a particular code snippet on sight quickly while avoiding scrolling "bad blocks". The effect is properly futuristic, and more hands-on.
This is going to be an amazing game, no doubt, but between this article and the attention given to Dragon Age Origins, neither of which are anywhere near MMO's, I'm starting to wonder about ole' MMORPG.com.
Dude I think it's awesome that you guys actually covered a single player Rpg on this site.
It's one thing to give us a little section to post in but a nice hands on preview?
Awesome!
I can't wait for this game to come out. Bioware is amazing.
Good article and thanks for giving us Sp rpg fans on your site something to read.
Edit: I know you've covered Dragon age here but I'm surprised ME2 got some attention. gj
Consider it bonus coverage. Honestly, having this appear on our site consumed zero resources from our regular operations. So why not?
If only they would make a Mass Effect mmo though. Sci fi mmo's are few and far between, short of your Eve Online's and.....I think there was a Star Wars one, but my memory is hazy.
I'm all for more indepth reviews and hands on previews on upcoming single player RPG games. So instead of having to go to two sites, one for MMOs and one for RPGS, I can come here for them both.
Thx for the info, I am eager to play ME2.
Change frightens me, that's why I'm still wearing the same socks from a few months ago.
I was just wondering if you guys had some kind of exclusive deal with Bioware or something, or if we'd maybe start seeing more non-MMO RPG's getting coverage here. I'd kinda like that.
Bioware simply invited us out to a couple events, so we went. That was the genesis of the Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2 articles.
We'd always been curious if this kind of coverage would work on the site and while we have no intention of shifting into SRPGs entirely, I think the results have shown us that there is no downside to covering some of the higher profile releases. So, I'd imagine you'll continue to see Dragon Age, Mass Effect 2 and eventually Diablo III on and off.
Right now, we're just talking to teams that also do MMOs. We'll see where it goes from there.
I can't argue that the coverage here isn't awesome, just getting more information from a reliable source is enough for me. I'm happy to see mmorpg posting information from ME2 since that has been the game I was looking forward to after I beat ME1 the first time. I honestly couldn't think of a better RPG out there then ME which its depth and unique gameplay style, and hell one of the best characters in the game, of course I'm talking about Joker :3 So I'm excited and thank you very much for posting this!
I am surprised that Massively Multiplayer Online RPG website did not comment on the utter and complete lack of Co-Op Multiplayer in Mass Effect 2, AND in Dragon Age as well.
Sure you can argue that they are 'single player experiences', but I was looking forward to the ability to play through both campaigns in Co-Op mode similar to Fable II, Neverwinter Nights, or Borderlands.
I think it was a great loss to the community, and would have made these two titles eminently more relevant to the website and it's player base ;-)
I think all future RPGs should have a Co-Op Single Player campaign Option.
As it stands there is nothing on the horizon for those that like playing through these epic storylines with friends.
I think that the next time MMORPG 'reviews' one of these RPG titles, they should mention and note that this feature was left out.
Any chance of getting a Wii section , come on you know you want it!!!
I think it is awesome that MMORPG is doing this. I would hope we could see a spin off site dedicated to solo or limited online RPG play.
Actually there wouldn't be a reason to comment, Bioware has already come out and said why they didn't include it. The logic of their argument works for the most part and something I agree with though you might have a different taste.
Bioware basically said they didn't include it because
1) The game stops entirely when in dialogue and a lot of us remember neverwinter nights co op and the long boring do nothing phase of dialogue. They want this story focused not a game you rush through, so going co op your first time just promotes the rush through content mentality, and if it doesn't then it leaves the second player as dead weight.
2) Game pauses during special ability mechanic wheels, and having to sit through all of that when your team mate is deciding on abilities or vice versa seems like an unnecessary hassle, and again who wants to sit through that?
3) Party dialogues were a major selling point of dragon age, and again the rush mentality of it wouldn't have let you enjoyed/experienced the dialogues between characters nearly as much. This of course I'm not so sure on but, I don't disagree with entirely.
That is pretty much why Bioware doesn't and won't include co-op in their story heavy games, because they worked hard on the story and want to see you enjoy the game not wait around while others do/you rush through their content.
Actually there wouldn't be a reason to comment, Bioware has already come out and said why they didn't include it. The logic of their argument works for the most part and something I agree with though you might have a different taste.
Bioware basically said they didn't include it because
1) The game stops entirely when in dialogue and a lot of us remember neverwinter nights co op and the long boring do nothing phase of dialogue. They want this story focused not a game you rush through, so going co op your first time just promotes the rush through content mentality, and if it doesn't then it leaves the second player as dead weight.
2) Game pauses during special ability mechanic wheels, and having to sit through all of that when your team mate is deciding on abilities or vice versa seems like an unnecessary hassle, and again who wants to sit through that?
3) Party dialogues were a major selling point of dragon age, and again the rush mentality of it wouldn't have let you enjoyed/experienced the dialogues between characters nearly as much. This of course I'm not so sure on but, I don't disagree with entirely.
That is pretty much why Bioware doesn't and won't include co-op in their story heavy games, because they worked hard on the story and want to see you enjoy the game not wait around while others do/you rush through their content.
You can also stack on the argument pile against his post that I did cover this in the first Dragon Age article...
Well yeah that too I spose, but I mean three is enough, or well I was more shocked that you were posting a lot in the topic Dana, your aweseomeness blinded me for a second.
Best co-op game I could think of though if you're really into it is Army of two, that game was terrific for playing with a friend.
Will there be a huge difference if we dont import the old ME1 savegame? Mine is gone and I dont want to play through the whole game again.
http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Mass_Effect_2
That is all that is known, so far all that has been said is you can choose the background information/what events have happened, but what events exactly and what background info happens hasn't been stated yet so I don't know. I would recommend playing through it again since some of the importing may not happen and you might lose some story.
Some game previews seem unnecessary considering I'm definitely getting them anyway ;) But it's good to hear Bioware hasn't just been sitting on their laurels.
The article it made it sound as if "heat sinks" and paragon/renegade commands didn't exsist in ME1...Is it that the actions are more meaningful in terms of the story and not just some extra items/stats?
Anyway I have a feeling this one is going to be a lot harder to play simply because of the expendability of your team. I got attached to my team in the first game and having perma death will probably force me to play lvls countless times to perfection til everyone lives if thats even possible. Just gonna have to wait and see.
I'm aching to play this game, and I'm happy for any coverage it gets. Thanks for the update, MMORPG.com!
So is this game a FPS? if so i guess no sequel for me I truly despise fps games.
Nice review, but in all reality i have to agree with some others wondering about this being "mmorpg.com" not "consolegames.com"
Im just worried we'll see more and more single players covered and not enough mmos as the time goes by.
Just a thought, nice review either way.
How was the weather in Edmonton? I betcha it was frick'n cold.
Consider it bonus coverage. Honestly, having this appear on our site consumed zero resources from our regular operations. So why not?
For me, it's not that you're covering single player games.
It's who makes the two games you've covered in the last couple months, and then some of the ad setups I've noticed, as in articles being brought to us by.
I don't think I've seen you guys cover a single player game until recently, in the 6 years I've been visiting this site. Now we have two, both of them bioware games, at a time when bioware is developing an MMO, and at a time when the MMO market has grown tremendously.
ME1 was a pretty good game, but I didn't think it was that great; nor do I think ME2 is going to be any more spectacular.
Great article,
I don't own a console and do all of my gaming on the PC. I didn't buy the PC version until I could buy it off Steam because of the SecureROM on the physical copies. Beyond that I thought the whole idea of the game was Awesome.
I liked Mass Effect, more than any other game I've played in the past several years. I've played a good share of BioWare RPGs since NWNs and they never fail to impress.
I pre-ordered Mass Effect 2 from Gamestop. I've been playing computers games for over 20 years and I've NEVER pre-ordered a game and paid full price for it. That's how much I'm looking forward to this game.
I'm playing the game on my third playthough to get the final version of the character I plan to transfer to ME2. I know the stats won't transfer over, but I wanted the right "look" for the character.
My only "disappointment" in the first game was that I couldn't give the female Shepard purple hair. The black hair made her look too much like Ashley.
Nice article. I wish they had co-op play too, I've friends and kids of friends who already MMO around and we've discussed playing together if we can find a game we all like (I won't play their MMO, EQ2, and all the other games we both like are singleplayer). I think Mass Effect 2 would be such a game.
I don't like this. I go here for my MMO fix. There is a time and a place for everything and i thought this is a place for MMOs. It is really inappropriate to see a Dragon Age and Mass Effect article. That is not what your users came here for. They have gamespot and ign and all sorts of other websites and printed media for that, none of which offer the scope of MMO coverage that you do. That is what they came here for, not Mass Effect 2.
I am probably one of the stubborn few but what the heck. I don't like this.
Thanks for the informative article and look forward to seeing more in the future. I am interested in hearing more about running around the Normandy.
I hope Scott brought some warm clothes to Edmonton it has been between -15 and -41 degrees C here the past little while :P
Very hyped about ME2. Think it's going to be another fun memorable RPG by Bioware. I hope the Bio/Mythic merger team helps get Mythic back to where they use to be. Not saying Warhammer wasn't a good game, it just didn't feel very Mythic like. DAOC was great though, even with the little trip up that was ToA.
Well done of the article, nice to see some diversity in the coverage of RPG games on this site.
Keep up the good work and just ignore the moaning minnies.
Regarding the statements by Bioware of story, to me this smacks of developer arrogance to some degree.
I don't ascribe to the notion that we are supposed to play a title the way that the Developers Intended. A great part of gaming, especially PC Gaming, is doing things your own way and enjoying the product at your own pace.
Sure Bioware believes that Story is what is important and what they spent time on. Another player may simply enjoy the atmosphere of Mass Effect, the characters involved, the Shooter playstyle and the artwork. And they buy the game and have a great time, but only vaguely understand the story.
What can be insinuated from the statement is that the Developer would prefer these people to not play the game in that way, since they aren't appreciating the story, so there are artificial mechanisms to channel the player into the method of play that the Developers prefer.
And I'm saying that I do not agree with that. i consider that approach to development and to the player base as being totally anachronistic.
What is interesting , though, is in Dragon Age there are conversation options that you can choose to skip long explanations and just get right to the decision you need to take. If story is so overwhelmingly important as to be the primary reason for not including a multiplayer feature, why are these options in the game? They allow a player to bypass 70% of the text and backstory in the game if they so choose .
Considering Co-Op in recent epic bioware RPGs, there is nothing preventing two people from enjoying themselves with Mass Effect 1. The second person controls one of the companion characters. The party mechanic for this already exists in the Single Player campaign via your NPC companions. So what would really be the trouble with just replacing an NPC companion AI control with human control? Not much when you stop to consider it. All the second player would miss out on is the ability to make dialogue choices directly.
Pausing can be Host controlled(Host Only/Host and Client/Off), it isn't necessary in Mass Effect 1 to pause to use abilities, though it helps some players. It even seems that the whole pseudo turn based approached is absent from Mass Effect 2 making this an even further non-issue. Accessing item shops and inventories is another mechanism that can be dealt with, and has been dealt with in the past. Any concern about things getting too easy with a human controlling a companion can also be dealt with by difficulty levels. It isn't ideal by any means, but the developer can state quite explicitly the level of play that Co-Op allows. An in-game reason such as alien possession etc. could even be created for the second player having any control of companions at all, and being able to switch between them.
I mean how can one not see the sheer amount of fun that two players could have running through the game in this way?
Fable II did this beautifully, their method of Co-Op play was great, and didn't detract at all from the story in my opinion.So we've seen that it can be done quite handily if considered from the start, but it has also been done successfully in less sophisticated ways in other games.
The lack of any sort of Co-Op support in Dragon Age, in my view, will limit that game's lifespan. Sure people will create mods, but I don't think it will be anywhere close to what we have seen for Neverwinter Nights 1 or 2. I think that the Co-Op option..that idea of hosting your own adventure on your LAN or over the Internet is a powerful draw for many gamers.
ME2 doesn't have a toolset or an SDK, so longevity is entirely dependent on developer provided DLC.
Perhaps Bioware's figures show that only 40% or 10% of people play Co-Op...I don't know.
But what I do think is that the reason for not including co-Op had less to do with the great story that Bioware added, and more to do with Budget and Development Time concerns. It may also be that these companies are intent on producing MMORPGs, and that is where they want people interested in Co-Op to focus. Having you and your wife subscribe to an MMORPG to play together may make more sense to them than developing a game where you can both play on a LAN for a one time fee.It may really just come down to business.
It's a shame too, because for 2010 I'm not seeing any RPG games that are providing Co-Op play on the PC. (not counting MMORPGs of course).
Looks realy nice...waiting to test it
Consider it bonus coverage. Honestly, having this appear on our site consumed zero resources from our regular operations. So why not?
Well IMO you seem to give BioWare a lot of attention,no doubt you will be filling our face with SWTOR for years to come.
Anyway back to the topic, IMO Mass Effect is, like many BioWare games, overrated. I have played Dragon Age Origins and thought it was an OK game but nothing new from BioWAre,just the same linear worlds where you are pushed along the path. Graphics are ok but Mass Effect were better.
Should Dragon Age Origins be getting game of the year,no freaking way.
Mass Effect 2 will be more of the same thing from BioWare.In their obsession for story they have taken the RPG feeling and turned it into the player being in a movie...?
Drakensang is a better game in many ways than Dragon Age..
Sandbox..great graphics,skill based,awesome crafting system that would be at home in any mmorpg, a great story,not fully voiced but still has that feeling of RPG which BioWare used to have and you can get the game for £6...
Yes, all this from a single player RPG that kicks Dragon Ages ass in 99% of everything.
Game Downloadable Demo.
www.videogamer.com/pc/drakensang_the_dark_eye/download/demo.html
Game Play Vid
www.videogamer.com/videos/drakensang_the_dark_eye_launch_trailer.html#
As for games,well if this game was made by BioWare you would without a doubt have a box of tissues handy everytime you talked about this game, this game should be game of the year. The ATI patch is coming,it's an awesome game and makes Bioware look silly with their pathetic lord of the rings story rip off they used for Dragon Age,but i guess it's BioWare so it's ok..right.
www.pandemicstudios.com/thesaboteur/node
www.youtube.com/watch
www.youtube.com/watch
Move over GTA their is a new master in town..
Get this game people...
As for mmorpg.com,stop selling your souls because it's BioWare ,be honest and admit that Dragon Age is overrated and Mass Effect 2 will probably be more of the same thing...
Gods knows what swtor will be like...
it is a single player game.
ME was epic.
I cannot wait for the second one.
Your post encouraged me to look up Saboteur.
Very nice looking game, I may buy it.
I tried Drakensang...and the interface and gameplay just didn't work for me.
It felt a bit clunky compared to the Bioware games I've grown accustomed to *grin*
That's not to say there did not seem like a lot to do, and it looked great. But the combat just felt meh...somehow.
You know, Gamespot's review seemed to be spot on http://bit.ly/58f61W
BTW, Drakensang is another game that I would have liked to see Co-Op play in. I'm sure it would have done much better in the market if it included this. As we have seen from Army of Two, co-Op can make a mediocre game great.
The problem with Drakensang,or it's not a problem it's just that it's not based off your D&D system,personally i would carry on and give the system a chance.
This will explain why it feels funny at first.
www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.67558
OOO insults, you're proving your point much more efficiently.
How an opinion works....hmmm. Like the article? They felt like sharing, you got "jealous" that BioWare was getting attention so you started pulling god awful games out of your ass. I don't have a problem with opinions. I gave you mine, apparently you didn't like it.
Reading this makes me ... concerned... for the quality of ME2.
I am always been a fan of the "if it isn't broke don't fix it" mentality. For ME1 my only real complaint was how twitchy the Mako's controls were, hit a pebble and the tank bounces 20 feet to the left. It looks like they overloading ME2 with a lot of changes, hopefully they will work out once we can get our hands on a playable copy. What I do not want to see is having to farm an absurd amount of mats to craft The Pistol of Uber Spectre-ness. I also do not want this game turned into a FPS, with RPG elements. If I wanted to play a FPS I would of fired up Half-Life, Doom 3, or Bioshock.
Though considering that DAO was shipped with a LOT of tech problems, with 5 years of development, I wonder how good ME2 will be with only 2 years under it's belt.
The DLC issue bothers me though. If I put down $50 for the game I shouldn't be asked for MORE money right off the bat. DAO should of had the storage chest in the game already, instead EA makes you pay for it instead. I hope they don't do the same with ME2. Bring Down the Sky was a great content and provided for free, which slightly improved my opinion of EA, until the next ME1 patch required $5.
/Agreed
This is one of the few Console games that my wife and I will both play and are both interested in. Unfortunetly she SUCKS at FPS or 3rd Person shooters. What made Mass Effect 1 a winner for her was that even though she sucks at FPS controls she could still fight well because on the easy fight settings she just had to "aim in the general direction" of the enemy and take them out. So yeah while I, as an avid FPS player, am perfectly fine with making the game actually take my skill into account has anyone checked to see if on the easiest settings it's still more about your toon and not you?
Seriously this is my biggest concern because she loved all the story and choices but if the gameplay is too shooter she's not going to be happy. And when the wife isn't happy.. :)
Loved ME1, what an amazing game. Thanks for the article on ME2 MMORPG.com! Can't wait till its release in January!
Consider it bonus coverage. Honestly, having this appear on our site consumed zero resources from our regular operations. So why not?
This isn't intended as an insult so I hope that it doesn't come across that way.
As for "why not", it's a matter of identity. To use a metaphor, mmorpg.com has become similar to a game that dabbles in many different genres. A reviewer for such a game may say that there are many good ideas, but the developers were never able to decide on what they wanted to do. The result is kind of haphazard, maybe a little confusing, and the game tends to lack an identity.
Some games do pull this off quite nicely, and I don't mean to suggest that the extra content here isn't good. Nonetheless, it does elicit a similar reaction in that mmorpg.com appears to be losing its identity.
EDIT: It's the next day, but I'd like to mention that mmorpg.com is becoming an RPG news site rather than strictly an MMO RPG news site. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Diversifying can bring in more readers, but there will be some head-butting on the forums.
As much as I love anything to do with BW and Mass Effect, I fullheartedly disagree with it being written on in an mmo site. I know BW are trying to get the word out in as many avenues as they can but theyre getting enough publicity as it is with other well known websites.
I think you're reading too much into it. If they put up a review of Tales of Monkey Island tomorrow, then I'd be wondering what's going on with the website. But the occasional article about a single-player RPG game feels like a proper fit. There are a lot of connections that can be made between MMORPG and RPG games, and obviously most MMORPG fans are probably SRPG fans, too. Not to mention that there's always the lingering potential for any SRPG franchise to turn into an MMO in the future. If I had a crystal ball, I would not be surprised to see "Mass Effect Online" appear in its shimmering depths.
Quite a bit of the article seems devoted to micro-transactions, and this worries me.
I also am really scared about it becoming too much of an FPS, mostly because I am terrible at them! I was pretty good at the combat in ME1 although there were times I did switch to easy mode for a particularly hard battle. I am really looking forward to ME2, and will be very sad if it is so much of an FPS that I can no longer play :/ I'll buy it anyway. lol.
-Meg