Mass Effect 3 is the last game in a space opera series by Bioware. In each game you take the role of Commander Shepard, a customizable hero (or heroine) trying to save the galaxy from the Reapers, a race of gigantic robots who harvest organic civilizations every 50.000 years. What’s special about this series is that you import your savegame, meaning your choices in one game will have an effect on the sequels. This allows you to really make the journey your own. If you haven’t, I recommend playing the first two first before starting up ME3, it really makes a difference.

I’m explaining this because basically if you’ve played the first two and enjoyed them, you’re gonna get this one regardless of anything I’m saying. And Bioware is on record saying that you can enjoy part three without having played the first two. I imagine you could, it’s an enjoyable game if you’re into third person rpg shooters, but to get the full experience you should play the entire trilogy.

Now onto the actual review. Let’s start with graphics. The game looks great, even better then part two, which was already a great looking game. Apparently there are some framerate issues on the PS3 version, but having only played the PC version I can’t really comment on that. There are some small journeys into uncanny valley, especially present when Shepard tries to smile (the horror!) and in the case of Miranda, who was supposedly modeled after Yvonne Strahovski, but didn’t quite make it.

The soundtrack is, in my opinion, the best in the series. The slow sad music hits all the right notes, while the faster music accentuated the action rather well. The combat sounds are the standard bullets flying stuff, and it sounds suitably authentic. Having said this, I admit to never having cared for the direction part two went with the soundtrack.

As for actual gameplay, I’d say it’s largely an improvement. Gone are the two-three weapons you could find in ME2 without buying DLC. Without extra content, there are at least 6 weapons per type (Assault Rifle, Sniper Rifle, Shotgun, Submachine Gun and Handgun) and all can be customized with different kinds of mods. A notable missing element are the heavy weapons which made their debut in the preceding title. As I really enjoyed the heavy weapons I was sad that they took it out. I suppose with the new weight system it might have been the only weapon you could carry around. Like I said  they’ve added a weight system which governs how much weapons you can bring with you without gaining some kind of penalty to power cooldown speed.

Speaking of powers, they too have gotten an upgrade. There are more levels to each power, and you can customize them more. For every upgrade after the third one there are two directions a power can develop in, for example you might enlarge the radius of a power, or you might want to increase the damage.

While there are more armours in the game, I feel as though the customization there has stalled a bit, not exactly offering less, but when put against all of the other improvements it feels exactly the same.

What also feels the same is the combat. They’ve added melee attacks which changes (though not that much) depending on your class which you can charge to deal massive damage. While on the whole it feels streamlined, you can sometimes get stuck in cover when you didn’t want to be, and getting out can be an annoyance. Headshots now feel as though they deal a lot more damage, and there were even some beheadings after a successful hit.
What I do think is a bit misleading is in the naming of the missions. Story missions are marked as priority, while side quests are not. This despite the fact that the side missions can disappear and become uncompletable after certain events, the priority missions don’t go anywhere. If you’re going for a completionist walkthrough, do the sidequests first, before they disappear.

The game employs a Galactic Readiness meter which determines how well prepared you are for the final confrontation with the Reapers. You can increase this by doing missions, or getting a multiplier for it(which degrades over time) from doing multiplayer. Bioware has stated it’s possible to get the best ending without doing the multiplayer, but after doing all of the side-quests and a lot of planet scanning I still didn’t fill the meter and had to resort to multiplayer. It probably is possible, but the planet scanning gets so tedious are a while that I can’t imagine anyone actually doing that.
The planet scanning has changed as well from ME2. Gone is the scrounging for resources. Now the scanning is for War Assets and items for the side quests. Expect a lot of fetch quests, I guess they got a taste for it after making a MMO. First you scan your current solar system for planets with stuff on them. This scanning alerts the reapers and fills their awareness bar. When that bar is full, the reapers come and you have to hightail it out of that system. If you get caught it’s an instant game over. Also, for an indeterminate amount of time that meter stays filled for that system, meaning it’s now virtually off limits.

Storywise it’s damn near perfect. It feels like a proper send off for your Shepard. Everyone that lived makes an appearance and has their one last moment to shine. Some get redemption, some get revenge, all get closure. I’ve even shed some tears at certain points. While the characters may dip into cliché’s at certain points (I’ve heard people say “This is it” about a hundred times) the dialogue is good and the story told in the various story missions is good enough that you won’t want to stop playing.

New characters are also introduced with various amounts of success. Vega may seem like a runaway from MTV’s Jersey Shore, he’s an actual character with depth. Cerberus assassin Kai Leng might have benefitted from some extra exposure, but is handled pretty well. Diana Allers on the other hand is a blight upon the game. Based upon a journalist who got famous for licking a PSP, she’s in the game as some sort of blatant sex appeal thing. Also certain characters seem to have gotten plastic surgery.

Below are some things I rather disliked about the story. While I’m still keeping it rather vague, they still might be considered spoilers. So read at your own risk.

Spoilers
While the first 98% of the story is great, it all goes to hell in the last five minutes. The reapers are given a ridiculous back-story and reasoning, and every choice in both this game and the previous ones are made meaningless. There is a theory going around in the forums that everything after a certain point is a hallucination caused by indoctrination by the Reapers. Never have I been so hopeful that the writers might decide to take the whole “it was just a dream” cop-out.

My advice is simple, don’t let the shit ending ruin what is otherwise a fantastic game. Just don’t go there. After a certain conversation with an old friend you activate the plot device in a cutscene. After that, the floor turns into an elevator and takes you up. At that point, either alt-F4 or turn off your console. Trust me on this one. The game autosaves at that point, so if Bioware decides to fix things with ending DLC you can still do this and play that. Just turn off the game and imagine some great final battle in your head after which everyone lives happily ever after. Or not, depending on your tastes.

End Spoilers

As for the multiplayer, it’s basically horde mode with Mass Effect power schemes. It’s fun, but I doubt people will still be playing it after a year, or be willing to pay 15 dollars/euro’s for a map pack.

All in all, it was a great experience. The game looks good, feels good and gives you a great story to bookend the trilogy. Aside from the fetch quests each quest really adds something to the story and overarching plot. Every sidequest feels essential, which is a big feat considering the Reapers just lit the galaxy on fire. Throughout the story you revisit old familiar places like the citadel and Tuchanka, but you also see homeworlds of the other species. Throughout the game you see how your choices in previous games play out, and it’s satisfying every time.

It’s a great game, it still has faults but can (aside from what I said in the spoilers section) be mostly forgiven for them. I’d recommend getting it, even if only to finish Shepard’s story. It’s been one hell of a ride.

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Gamergirls! You can win this gorgeous ring. Everyone knows girls like shiny rocks embedded into shiny metals.

44% OF BRITISH MEN WOULD SAY ‘YES’ IF THEIR GIRLFRIEND PROPOSED

UK LEAP YEAR SURVEY ALSO REVEALS:

February 13, 2012
Our nation’s loved-up couples get two bites at the cherry this February, with Valentine’s Day on the 14th and Leap Year Day on the 29th.
Traditionally the one day every four years when women can turn the tables and propose to their men. PopCap Games did a little research for any plucky ladies thinking of popping the big question: their surprising new Leap Year survey reveals that almost half (44%) of men in the U.K. would say ‘Yes’ if their partners proposed marriage this Leap Year, and 36% of them would like to be asked. Interestingly, British women are not as confident of a positive outcome were they to propose, with less than one third (31%) believing their partner would say ‘Yes.’ Also, 9% of women thought their guys would try to wriggle out of the situation by attempting to change the question, and 18% of men said they’d probably throw-up on the spot!

The survey of more than 1,000 female and male U.K. residents currently in relationships was commissioned by PopCap Games, creators of the world’s #1 puzzle videogame franchise Bejeweled®. PopCap is further incentivising women to take destiny into their own hands and pop the question this Leap Year – with a one-of-a-kind diamond and sapphire Bejeweled-inspired ring worth £5,000 to be awarded to the most romantic woman in the UK and Ireland by the end of the month.

10% Know a Woman Planning to Propose This Leap Year
The survey revealed that the idea of women proposing marriage to men is not as rare as people might think. 20% of respondents claimed to know women who have proposed in the past, and 10% know women who are planning to take advantage of the Leap Year and propose to their partners this year.

Attitudes to the Traditional Way of Proposing
For the most part, women prefer to take the traditional route up the aisle – with the man proposing marriage. When asked would they consider proposing if they were in a relationship for more than 5 years with no sign of a marriage proposal, 66% said no.

According to the survey, 42% of men and women felt the traditional proposal was best, but a sizeable 36% of men would like their partner to propose to them. 27% of men felt the traditional marriage proposal is outdated, compared to only 13% of women. Interestingly, 39% of people aged 55 and over felt it was outdated, compared with only 9% of 18 to 24 year olds.

Engagement Ring, a Watch…or Sex?
So, if the better half of the couple proposes, who springs for the engagement ring?
49% of people surveyed believe the woman should give the man an engagement ring if she proposes, and 47% believe that the man shouldn’t be obliged to buy the woman an engagement ring. And just under 11% of men said they’d like their partner to propose so they wouldn’t have to buy her an engagement ring!

While rings were the most popular gifts for a woman to give a man if she proposes, the next most popular at 9% a piece, were a watch or sex. 16% of men felt sex was an appropriate engagement gift to receive, compare to just 5% of women. Incidentally, 7% of males would be happiest with a cash gift.

Don’t Tell My Mates!
The survey revealed that 29% of men would be embarrassed to tell their friends that it was their girlfriend who proposed.

How to Win the Bejeweled Ring
To celebrate the lunar-induced shift in matrimonial power, PopCap commissioned British jewellery designer Ben Day, who has fashioned collections for some of Hollywood’s elite, to create a bespoke ring inspired by Bejeweled. The result is a stunningly beautiful sapphire and diamond ring, featuring approx. 40 blue diamonds surrounding a spectacular blue sapphire set in 18ct white gold, which even Kate Middleton would envy.

Ladies, win a Bejeweled ring!
To be in with a chance to win, PopCap wants to hear womens’ stories on how they’ve gone the extra mile to secure the heart of their Mr Right. They especially want to hear about it if anyone has proposed or plans to propose on February 29th. One lucky loved up lady will be bestowed with the one-of-a-kind sapphire and diamond ring fit for a queen (or princess!).

The competition, which is open to U.K. and Irish residents over the age of 18, runs until midnight on Thursday, February 23rd and can be entered via Cosmopolitan.co.uk or Handbag.com. Entrants simply have to enter their own romantic story or plan in 50 words or less and answer a simple question on Bejeweled. The winner will be announced on the websites on Friday, February 24th. Five runners-up will receive a Bejeweled goodie bag, including a PC/Mac version of the game and lots of money-can’t-buy goodies including a hooded sweatshirt, limited edition picture frame, and more.

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We hope you get a lot of cool stuffs and eat a lot of delicious foods!
Engage the noms!

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If you live in the Netherlands you’ve undoubtedly heard about First Look, which is kind of our E3. Obviously your favourite Gamer Crew, namely us, the Galago Gamers, was there, and we took pictures! Also, there were quite a lot of Booth Babes, see if you can spot them all!

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We are proud to anounce that soon we will start uploading Xbox360 achievement videos. Along with the occasional Xbox 360 gameplay or miscellanious video. We got some new state-of-the-art technology which allows us to capture console footage in pristine and crystal clear quality.

So be on the lookout for Xbox 360 achievement video guides from us. UncleVinnie will bring you guides the most bad-ass achievements on the planet, with his help it will all be a cakewalk. You can trust him, he has over 90k+ achievement points. And you can trust me too, I’m a doctor.

If you have any request, got any achievements you just can’t seem to get. Or just want to challenge us to get a certain nigh impossible achievement you are hereby invited to post a comment below.

Greetings from your neighbourhood Seabeast!

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New on Galagogame.com, downloads! Free stuff for you! Head on over to the new section by clicking here. We’ve started off with a very nifty dragon wallpaper and some Mafia 2 & Diablo 2 trainers/mods.

Check back often for more free downloads! Enjoy!

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Bejeweled 3 is a fun game with alot of colours, and alot of flashy lights. I like it, everyone likes it! Check out this gameplay video to get an impression of the “Classic Mode”.

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Galagogame is taking over the interwebs!
We are now also on bloglovin’ use the link above to follow us.

Stay tuned this weekend for new gaming videos of Little Fighters 2 & Bejeweled 3.

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Dragon Age 2 PC Demo impressions

Last week Bioware told players to secure 1 million downloads of the Dragon Age 2 demo (1 million different people downloading it) and in return we’d get some shiny gear. Judging by the smoking remains of the server at the time of writing, we didn’t disappoint:
“The site is currently down for maintenance or is experiencing extreme load. Check back again shortly!”

I somehow managed to slip through the cracks of the explosion and got myself some demo. I’d like to say it was due to either fantastic skill in timing or my connection in the gaming world, sadly neither of those exist. So through dumb luck I got my hands on what seems to be a demo for a fantastic game.

I’ll be writing about my impressions on the demo, and how it’s different from Dragon Age Origins.
I’ll be writing whilst trying to keep spoilers to a minimum, but seeing as how the demo consists of the prologue and part of a later mission, excluding spoilers altogether is impossible. If I’m going to reveal anything big, I’ll preface it with a giant red /Spoiler tag. So, introductions are out of the way, let’s start.

The Demo

The Beginning

Starting up the demo means you have to have a EA account, you can make one in-game, but since I already have one, I’ll skip that step.

So at the start there is the character selection. All models are presets, meaning that you cannot customize your character’s looks. This’ll be different from the complete game in which that is possible. One of the first impressions I had was that they discovered the world is made of more colours then brown, dark brown and even more brown. So far so good. You can still choose from three classes, rogue, warrior and mage, but just one race is available, human. Obvious of course, it makes our race look bad if some pointy-eared bastard saved the world right? I decided on a Male Mage, I called him Galago, which is an awesome name I’m sure you’ll agree.

The game runs concurringly with the first one in terms of timeline for the first part of the story. For those who’ve played Dragon Age: Origins, that means that the story starts after Ostagar, and after Lothering is burned to the ground.
Our journey starts in the future, where Varric, a surface dwarf, whose arrogant and condescending behaviour endeared him to me immediately, is being questioned by a Chantry Seeker on the history of the champion (the player). After a false start he starts the true story.
You are running from the blight with your family, brother Carver, sister Bethany, and your mother. Whilst running towards Kirkwall, you come across some new friends and an old one.

Combat

The game’s combat system seems to be improved, but the basics remain the same from DA:O. You can input character behavior in the tactics screen, insuring that your mage keeps healing, and your warriors attacking and use their abilities at the right times. You can also still pause the action at any time and give manual commands to your party. And you’re going to want to. In a game where three extra potions mean life or death, micromanage is your best friend. First three times I attempted the Ogre boss battle I died, then I reloaded the demo and found the extra potions. Needless to say, I took my revenge. Still, tactically pausing, issuing commands, constantly examining your party’s health, this isn’t an easy game. The combat looks a lot more fluid this time around, with mage twirling their staves around, alternating between beating the darkspawn over the head, sending fireballs and opening cracks in the earth, and those are just their normal attacks! The warriors move a lot better as well, not just one animation, but their swords are all over the place.

Dialog

The dialog system has had an overhaul and is now more similar to the Mass Effect wheel. You get a small snippet of your line, and a symbol when you go over it, which represents the tone. It actually works pretty well, better then both the original DA dialog system, being a lot less unwieldy, and the Mass Effect wheel, because you know the tone which you’ll be taking. I especially like the sarcasm option. There’s been a lot of debate on the player character having a voice, and I don’t see that stopping. Personally I liked the voice, with the brittish accent it meant I was playing an Brittish sarcastic bastard, which is awesome. Others will dislike the condescension which automatically comes with the accent. Only time will tell whether the majority of the gamers will embrace or reject it.

Graphics & Sounds

The game looks good. I had my concerns after earlier screens, but they were put to rest after playing the demo. As mentioned before, the world of Dragon Age is now no longer only made of brown. The character animations may not be the prettiest, and my staff somehow found its way through my back without causing any damage, but you hardly notice these things while walking around the world. The most important thing is of course the blood spatter, this is a Dragon Age game, and once more the blood gets everywhere, splattering generously in all directions and all over the characters. Maybe they should buy some towels for on the road?
The sound is there, it does its job, and while not completely overwhelming, the shouts during battle more then play their part.

Story and Levelling

After running around, fleeing from the darkspawn and beating a boss I was treated to a cutscene featuring a familiar character who looks completely, and I mean completely, different who had a task for us in Kirkwall, in exchange for our safe passage. A timeskip was initiated and me and my party found ourselves in Kirkwall. There we had to help Isabella, who was concerned her duel partner wouldn’t play fair. Isabella is one of the characters from DA:O who return in this game, she’s even a companion later on. While I question her attire during combat situations, judging from her leaping stab maneuver she isn’t exactly defenseless.

After finding the location of the coward Isabella wants dead, we proceeded to beat seven kinds of snot out of him, as evidenced in the video below. Warning, spoilers alert. Duh.

The leveling system is one that looks rather different but functions about the same as in DA:O. You still have several branches of powers or abilities that you can unlock by spending ability points. It looks completely different, but as far as I can tell it’s mostly the same. I say mostly because depending on your companion being either your rival or friend, they unlock an extra ability.

The story so far hits all the right notes, from sarcastic to dramatic and to frantic fighting. The graphics may look underwhelming to some, but when you’re walking around the world, or killing bad guys, the game looks great. The new color scheme, and good-looking environment and the story do a good job of drawing you in to the world.

In conclusion, it feels like Dragon Age, better and improved, but still retaining everything that made the original one of my favorite games of 2009. I can only hope the complete game is just as good.

The gallery can be found here: Gallery

And some video content:

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