Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Reaching for the Stars Star Journey Android App Review

Reaching for the Stars-Star Journey [Android App Review]

by Wapmark  


Today we have another game review from Digital Samurai, Star Journey. It is a simple game but very challenging and lots of fun. All you have to do is strap on your jet pack and fly as high as you can, all the time impressing the young lady on the ground!
This game is very similar to  Mega Jump, so if you have played the classic, then you will have no trouble here. To control your flight path, you will simply tilt your device left or right.  I played the game on my Galaxy Note 2 and I found the controls were a bit sensitive. I got a little frustrated trying to maneuver and unfortunately there is no way to adjust the sensitivity. Despite this, it did not keep me from trying to improve upon my high score!
As you are flying, you will need to collect the fuel can to continue your journey. If you run out of fuel, you will begin to fall back to Earth. Now if you get a full tank, you can use a Boost that will increase your speed and allow you to pass unharmed. In addition to the fuel cans, you need to collect the stars (this is the whole reason why you are out here). The more stars you get, the better. There are also magnets and super stars that will make your job even easier.  Also as you are flying you need to try and avoid the asteroids. They will not stop you, only slow you down. If you can get avoid them, great, because I never could!
Your final score is based on the number of stars you collected, how far you went, the boosts you used, and then how many asteroids you hit (minus score). The game comes with a leader board so you can show off your flying ability. The game graphics are simple but get the job done and as it is a free game, there is a small ad along the top of the screen but it does not interfere with the game at all.
Overall I really enjoyed playing the game. Two things that would be neat to have  are 1) a pause button, and 2) the ability to play my own music in the background.  So are you ready to see how high into the night sky you can go?
App Name: Star Journey
Developer: Digital Samurai
Cost: Free
Market: Google Play
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Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Dead Space Review PS3

Storyline

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Isaac Clarke is an engineer who needs to fight hordes of deadly Necromorphs in order to find his fiancee, Nicole, and to escape the spaceship USG Ishimura with 2 survivors, Kendra Daniels and Zach Hammond.​

The mining team (Isaacs team) received a distress signal from USG Ishimura. Isaacs fiancee, Nicole is on the ship, and sent a message to Isaac, which appears to be a goodbye message. Isaac felt something was wrong, and hoped to find Nicole in the USG Ishimura. However, their ship (Kellion) crash landed on Ishimuras dock, forcing them to find another transport after repairing Ishimura. As the team progress, deadly, grotesque monsters called Necromorphs annihilate the team, leaving three survivors, which are Isaac, Kendra, and Zach. The three of them worked together to find a way to escape from the Ishimura while escaping the Necromorphs.

The story is absolutely creepy, scary, and well told. This is one example where a good survival horror game that have good storyline. If you wish to know what happened in the ship, there are audio logs and data logs scattered in each chapters that will help give you better understanding on whats going on in the ship.

I find that Isaacs silent personality works well, however, there is nothing much to know about him, sadly. Other characters have great development, and there is a lot of suspense and plot twists that will make you surprise.

Gameplay

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Different Necromorphs require different strategies to kill them. Headshots do not work in this game. Dismemberment is the only way to kill them, permanently.​

The game plays like Resident Evil 4, except some major differences. You can move while aiming. There is no HUD on the screen. You can check Isaacs health and ammo on his RIG (Isaacs suit). There is no menu pausing, and menu is real time based, meaning you can be attacked while using the menu. You can quickly change your weapons using your D-Pad. 90% cutscenes occur real time.

Shooting Necromorphs heads is a bad idea. They can only be killed when they have their limbs gone. Shooting their heads may only make them much more aggressive. Usually, shooting their arms can kill them immediately, or dealing enough damage to the body. As ammo and items are rather limited in this game, it is highly suggested that you aim for their limbs to conserve ammo and to kill them quickly.

Isaac can also execute two melee attacks. Stomp and weapon bash. Both melee attacks deal minimal damage, and should be used to finish a Necromorph who is down, break breakable objects to get items, and as a last resort if you have run out of ammo.

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You have to mash some buttons to escape from your enemys grab attacks! Failure to do so will result instant kill or heavy damage on Isaac!​

If Necromorph gets close to you, they will initiate QTE grab attacks to kill Isaac. You need to press certain buttons to escape, if not, instant death. Surprisingly, Necromorphs also dismember Isaac when killing him... This is damn scary...

Each weapons have their own secondary firing modes. For example, Plasma Cutters alternate firing mode is firing horizontally instead of vertically. Experiment each weapons secondary firing modes on each Necromorphs for best results.

Stasis is an absolutely handy feature to fight the Necromorphs. It is needed to overcome certain obstacles as well as puzzles. In battle, you can slow enemies down in a certain period of time. It is extremely useful, as you can use this to escape in certain sitations and dismember your enemys limbs.

Isaac also have an Oxygen gauge. Going to certain areas will activate the Oxygen gauge, if your Oxygen is reduced to zero, then it is game over, so you need to make sure that you reach a pressurised area ASAP.

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Visit the Store to store your weapons and buy new items, ammo, and weapons.​

Isaac has access to a variety of weapons, and each have their own pros and cons. For example, Plasma Cutter has good ammo capacity and high damage, but can only focus to one target. Pulse Rifle deals lesser damage compared to Plasma Cutter, but has a high firing rate and ammo.

You can visit the Store to keep any unused weapons, items, etc. You can also buy extra ammo, new weapons, and recovery items as well. You can also purchase armor upgrades to increase Isaacs defense, and it is highly recommended you do that as much as possible. Since Credits (money in this game) are rather limited, make sure you spend wisely. There are ammo, healing items, Credits, and Power Nodes scattered in each chapters, so make sure you find supplies as much as possible. Sometimes, killing Necromorphs can drop items, but it is rather rare, and usually they will drop supplies if you are out of ammo and healing items.

Power Nodes are used to upgrade your weapons, Stasis and Isaacs RIG. Each upgrade requires a Power Node. For example, increasing Plasma Cutters attack power requires one. To fully upgrade Plasma Cutters attack power, you need to spend 4 or more Power Nodes. You can only upgrade your RIG and weapons on a Bench, which is scattered through out the chapters.

I have no complaints with the gameplay, as it is extremely well done. It is very interesting to learn that the enemies in this game can only be killed by dismemberment, not headshots. Extremely well done weapons system, balance of difficulty, etc. The only thing I have problem is the rather lame melee attacks. The melee attacks proved to be the last resort on killing the Necromorphs as they are weak attacks, so it would be best to plan accordingly to kill Necromorphs. You dont want ever to fight 10 chapters without enough ammo to kill Necromorphs. That is the worst thing can happen...

Graphics

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Creepy, eerie, bloody, yet awesome graphics.​

The graphics are creepily awesome. Well detailed characters, scary atmosphere, detailed Necromorphs design, well detailed and bloody environments, etc that makes this game one of the best looking survival horror game.

The Necromorphs especially, are super scary yet well designed. Many players that I know of are afraid of them, especially when they attacked you on surprise attacks. I can only agree with them, as they are scarier than some creatures in other horror games...

Sound

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Great voice acting, with an astounding suspenseful, scary atmospheric music.​

Great voice acting in this game. Each voice actors did good job, especially during cutscenes as well as audio logs. They did good performance to realise the survival horror experience in this game well. The only thing is, Isaac does not have voice acting, except for grunts and shouts. If he has a voice actor, perhaps I could relate Isaac to other characters much better, especially with Nicole.

Jason Graves did a good job on scoring the soundtrack for this game. Totally creepy, eerie, and epic soundtrack. He also received a lot of awards for the soundtrack, which he totally deserved to get.

Replay Value

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You can upgrade your weapons to the maximum in the second round, get Achievements, or play harder difficulties.​

After finishing the game, you can play harder difficulties to challenge yourself, get new Achievements, or etc. Most of the players I know are too scared of playing it again, for obvious reasons. I can only conclude that the replay value for this game is medium.

Conclusion

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Absolutely a worthy purchase. Just make sure you can withstand sudden surprises by the Necromorphs...​

I was surprised at first on how good this game is, and how it is way better than Resident Evil 5. Both have similar gameplay, yet Resident Evil 5s gameplay felt outdated. If you must choose between Dead Space and Resident Evil 5 for the maximum horror experience, get Dead Space. It is worth playing it.

Score

Story - 10/10
Gameplay - 9/10
Graphics - 9/10
Sound - 8/10

Final Score: 36/40 or 9.0/10.0.

Pros and Cons

Pros

- Amazing and immersive storyline
- Great characters.
- Addicting, awesome gameplay.
- Provides rather great survival horror experience.
- Scary yet great music.
- Superb graphics, especially the Necromorphs.

Cons

- Lame melee attacks.
- Moderate replay value.
- Game may be too scary for some people.
- Some mission objectives are rather repetitive.
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Final Fantasy X 2 HD Review PS3

Story


Hunt for mysterious spheres around Spira.

This game takes place after Final Fantasy X. Yuna, now freed from her responsibilities as a summoner, decided to go a journey with Rikku to find out about the mysterious man who looked like Tidus in a sphere shown to her by Rikku (this event can be watched at Final Fantasy X: Eternal Calm video from the HD Collection). She became a sphere hunter along with RIkku and a new found friend called Paine, and actively hunting for spheres all over Spira.

The atmosphere of the game is almost completely different than Final Fantasy X HD, where the story has more humour as well as more joyful atmosphere compared to the previous game. Not to mention, the different style of the soundtrack itself also reflected the new age of the games world, where there is no more Sin around killing people. People may find that this game has bad atmosphere and style, yet I personally feel it is logically befitting. Who wouldnt be happy in a world without a century old beast that terrorises every living being in the world? The game still has some dark story plots, but most of it is explored during the later half of the main game.

What differentiates this game than Final Fantasy X HD is that you can have different approach on progressing the storyline and view optional story scenes. For example, you can go to all optional locations before proceeding to the mandatory locations to view extra scenes in the game. This what makes this game has high replay value: many optional story scenes. Not to mention, there are three multiple endings to be unlocked in the game, with different conditions to be fulfilled to unlock them.

By taking in mind of completing the game with 100% story completion, the story is rather well-told, this time with Yuna being the narrator of the game. The story itself has both humour and deep themes, where players can explore by completing every Missions in the game to understand the whole story of the game.

Characters are more likable this time. Yuna has much more joyful personality, yet still retain her shy and calm traits from the first game. Rikku is the same as always, but she is much more cheerful than the first game now her burden is gone. Paine is a mysterious, cool yet calm character. Many main and supporting characters return from the first game with supporting rules, such as Wakka, Lulu, Kimahri, and many more. New characters are certainly likable on their own, such as Gippal and Leblanc.

Gameplay

1) Introduction

The PS3 HD version is basically a HD version of Final Fantasy X-2: International + Last Mission, which was first released in Japan exclusively. This version includes the main game content as well as new contents, such as new Dresspheres, new Garment Grids, Creature Creator feature and Final Fantasy X-2: Last Mission.

2) Exploration and Progression Section


Linear progression, but with great freedom of exploration.

The games exploration plays similarly with Final Fantasy X HD, but this time you can use the airship as a hub to visit many different locations after completing the first two missions in the game. Besides mandatory locations that are labelled as Hotspots to be visited, you can visit other locations to complete many optional Missions in the game. There are 5 chapters in the game, and there are many optional Missions to be done within these 5 chapters.

Completing these optional Missions may reward you greatly, such as new accessories, new dresspheres, and many more. Many of these Missions are easy to be missed, and it is recommended for players to use a guide to achieve 100% story completion.

Mission objectives are varied in this game, such as clearing a dungeon, fetch an item, as well as completing minigames. It is more varied than Final Fantasy X HDs progression methods, but still linear as to avoid players getting lost.

Exploration controls are similar as to Final Fantasy Xs controls, except now you can jump to climb ledges. There are many sections in this game that require you to jump, whether to proceed the story or when opening treasure chests.

3) Leveling, Customisation and Upgrading Section


Level up like regular Final Fantasy games.

This time, the game brings back the regular leveling system by using experience points to level up. Experience points are gained by defeating enemies. What makes this game different is the AP system.

AP is gained by executing a special move or defeating an enemy. AP is needed to learn new abilities for a dressphere. For example, all three girls need 20 AP each to learn the Warriors Sentinel ability. More powerful abilities may require even more AP to be learned. You can only learn one ability at a time, so it is important if you choose the important ability to be learned from the Dressphere menu. Different Dresspheres offer different abilities and stats to be used in battle. Dresspheres can be obtained by completing the main Missions, or completing optional sidequests and Missions.

You may buy items or accessories from shops. Items such as Potions and Phoenix Downs can be bought easily or dropped by enemies. Accessories can be equipped to gain increased protection during battles, with some useful passive abilities such as increased Defense stat.

4) Combat Section


Fight off enemies using the power of Dresspheres.

Unlike the previous games turn based battle system, this game uses the classic ATB system, where all three girls need to wait for their ATB gauge to fill up before taking an action. Certain actions may delay the ATB after using them, while some of them may requires the ATB gauge to fill up before executing an action. Unlike the previous Final Fantasy games that use ATB system, this game allows you to control all three girls to take action simultaneously instead of one action at a time. This game also features the Chain feature, where all three characters can attack an enemy to create a chain, increasing the damage inflicted to the enemy with more hits counted.

During battle, you can change the girls current Dressphere into a different one to suit the battles nature. However, each girl must customise their own Garment Grids with different Dresspheres before switching to another Dressphere in a battle.

Garment Grids are grids that have different number of Dressphere slots, as well as may have passive abilities included. Some Garment Grids may have less slots but better passive abilities, and vice versa. You can always customise which Garment Grid the girls should use, as well as allotting Dressphere slots on different Garment Grids.

Enemies have different types, weaknesses as well as resistances. It is best to check out each enemys weaknesses to gain advantages. For example, Flan enemies are weak against certain elemental magic and strong against physical attacks. Bosses are tougher than regular enemies, and may have more resistances as well as better stats than common foes.

During battle, you may use regular Attack command, or use special abilities such as Swordplay in batlte, Items may also be used, and you may also escape from the battle if the enemy is too difficult. Completing a battle rewards you with Gil, Experience Points, and possibly items.

5) New Contents Section


Catch a monster and use them in your battles.

One new feature that is not present in the first English release of the PS2 version is called Creature Creator. You can use pods to catch enemies of different sizes and types and use them in your party. Each monster have different abilities and stats, so training the proper ones is vital. They can also level up and learn new abilities, but each monster can only a set amount of abilities, so you ma have to unlearn one ability to learn a new one. The monsters even have their own substories called Fiend Tales, which can be unlocked upon leveling up or completing the Cups in the Creature Creator menu.


Try out the rogue-like styled game in Final Fantasy X-2: Last Mission HD.

The last new addition of Final Fantasy X-2 HD is called Final Fantasy X-2: Last Mission HD, which is sort of an epilogue game that takes place after Final Fantasy X-2 events. This game is considered a separate game from HD Remaster game selection menu as well as having a very different style of gameplay. This game takes place in a tower, and you need to climb 80 floors to complete it.

The game uses turn-based system, where every action includes moving or attacking will consume a turn. The game uses square-based grid movement like strategy games, where the player can move from one square to another. You may choose the girl to attack, move, use items, or etc. Items are randomly generated in this game, and every floor layout is different every time you visit, creating the sense of randomness in the game. You will have to fight bosses on every 20 floors, and they can be troublesome if you do not have good abilities or Dresspheres to be used. Leveling up is similar to the main games leveling system, where you will gain stats increase upon gaining enough experience points.

6) Gameplay Conclusion


Solid gameplay with lots of new content.

Despite the combat difference compared to the first game, I find that this game is a welcome back to regular old ATB system as well as not being too similar to the first game. Not only the combat is fast-paced, but the additions of Dresspheres on real-time combat changes battle situations with great variety as well as additions of many minigames. I genuinely like the overall gameplay as well as the new content, with enough variety to make it distinct compared to Final Fantasy X HD.

Graphics


Nice remastered graphics.

Like Final Fantasy X HD, this game has nice remastered graphics, making it looks better than some of the PS3 RPG games. However, this game reuses many game assets from the previous games, such as NPC models, environment and level designs, as well as monster designs. This is not a major issue since this game is a sequel, but it is noticeable.

Not bugs or glitches that I detected when playing this game, thus I am very happy about it.

Sound


Great voice acting. Suitable soundtrack as well.

None of the previous Final Fantasy X composers return in making the original Final Fantasy X-2s soundtrack, and this is the same. The soundtrack used in this game have very different style compared to Final Fantasy X HD, with more pop tunes and more variety. The soundtrack itself may not be extremely good, but I just love the start menu screens theme, Eternity: Memory of Lightwaves. Unlike Final Fantasy X HD, this games soundtrack is not remastered or rerecorded. The soundtrack is suitable enough for the game, but I do not particularly like it.

The voice acting is amazing, with considerable improvement of Yunas voice actors performance, Hedy Burress. I think this is how Yuna should be portrayed, as the voice actor herself seems much more comfortable voicing her character this time. Other voice actors also did great job in voicing their characters, such as Tara Strong (Rikku), Gwendoline Yeo (Paine), George Newbern (Nooj), Rick Gomez (Gippal), and the supporting voice actors as well.

Replay Value


Extremely high replay value.

Like its predecessor, this game has high replay value. Maybe even higher than Final Fantasy Xs replay value. With lots of new contents like Last Mission, Creature Creator, getting multiple endings, view all possible cutscenes as well as endings, this game can easily takes the playing time value up to more than 100 hours. Not only that, you can play the game again in New Game Plus mode to get anything that you have missed previously.

Conclusion


A good sequel of a Final Fantasy game.

I personally feel this is the best Final Fantasy sequel I have played so far, and it is far much better than Final Fantasy XIII-2 in many ways, such as much more simple yet well-told storyline and higher replay value. The Dressphere system is a welcome addition, as it allows you to choose what class you need in specific battles. The only problems I have with this game is the possible difficulty of gaining 100% story completion, very different atmosphere and the mildly drastic character change of Yuna, the mixed bag soundtrack, and the recycled game models. Some players may even say that this game is an unnecessary sequel, but I think is a well-deserved sequel after so many years not playing this game on PS2. This game is worth playing not only for being different, but as well as being a good sequel.

Score

Story: 9/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Graphics: 9/10
Sound: 8/10
Final Score: 8.75/10.0, or  35/40

Pros and Cons

Pros

- Interesting storyline.
- Many subplots to be explored and unlocked.
- Likable characters.
- Fast-paced and great combat system.
- Many variety of mission progression methods.
- Variety of Dresspheres to be used in combat, suiting different situations and players playing style.
- Great remastered HD graphics.
- Great voice acting.
- Very high replay value.
- Good variety of minigames.
- Lots of new content.

Cons

- The drastic change of atmosphere from the first game can be unsettling.
- Many reused game models, like NPC models.
- Many of the soundtrack pieces are not memorable enough.
- NPC models dont look good in this game, like Final Fantasy X HD.

**Images are from Gematsu.

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Monday, March 16, 2015

Mass Effect 3 Review PS3

NOTE: This is my new approach of reviewing games.

This is the final Mass Effect game that concludes Commander Shepards storyline. It is one of the best games I have ever played, albeit some flaws that prevented it from being a true masterpiece.

Story

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Commander Shepard is on a mission to unite every species in the galaxy to defeat the Reapers once and for all.​

This game takes place after the events Mass Effect 2: Arrival. Commander Shepard is suspended from military action, due to his/her actions of destroying the mass relay at a batarian space. While he/she is on Earth for meeting with the Alliance Council, the colossal machines that came from the dark space called Reapers have attacked Earth. Commander Shepard and his/her good friend Anderson work their way to escape from the Reapers attacks. Although Shepard managed to escape from Earth, Anderson stayed on Earth and tasked Shepard to bring reinforcements from every species on the galaxy to defeat the menacing Reapers. On his way to convince other species to work with him, he must battle against the Reaper forces, as well as Cerberus forces.

The storyline is nearly perfect. Great character interactions, good story pacing, interesting character developments, good plot twists, and well written. Unfortunately, the games three main endings are not that good and not satisfying. The three main endings are abrupt, not well developed and not well explained. The endings did not explain properly what are the consequences after certain actions being done in this game as well as previous Mass Effect games. This is a truly disappointment to many Mass Effect fans, including me as well.

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Old characters from previous Mass Effect games will return, as well as new ones in this game.​

By importing your save file from Mass Effect 2 (in turn also importing Mass Effect save file), certain characters and story elements will be present in this game. Provided on what have you done in Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, previous characters will return in this game in some form of appearances. Characters from Mass Effect like Wrex, Ashley, or Kaidan may or may not return depending on what you have chosen in that game, and this also applies to Mass Effect 2 characters such as Legion, Tali, etc if they are alive or dead in the final mission of Mass Effect 2. Other minor things such as the results of completing side missions from the previous games will return as well, and may help you in fighting the Reapers.​

If you are new to Mass Effect series, there will be a default storyline where certain story elements are not influenced from the previous Mass Effect games. Although, this is a poor choice, and obviously you will like to play the series from the first game to know the storyline of the series, then proceed to the second game and the final game with the decisions you carry over from each game.​

I am very satisfied with the storyline, complete with the decisions carried over from previous games. My main gripe with the story area is the weak, abrupt, and under-developed endings.​

Gameplay

i) Importing section (Singleplayer)

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Import your completed Mass Effect 2 save file to this game.​

As in Mass Effect 2, you can import your save file from Mass Effect 2 to carry over your decisions in the Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2. Certain details such as gender, class, and personal history will not be changed in this game, but you have the option to carry over your imported face or create a new face for your own Shepard. Most major decisions made in Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 will be carried over to this game, showing continuation between each games and may bring major impacts to the storyline itself.​

For PS3 players, you do not have the luxury of playing the first Mass Effect game because it is a Microsoft exclusive game. The only way for you to carry over important decisions from the first Mass Effect game is to purchase and play Mass Effect: Genesis, an interactive comic that details significant events happened in the first game and allows you to choose important decisions to be carried over to Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3. New copies of the PS3 version of Mass Effect 2 will have the free download code for Mass Effect: Genesis, but if you are playing the second hand copies of Mass Effect 2, you need to purchase it from PlayStation Store.

ii) Exploration, progression and customisation section (Singleplayer)

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Travel to different planets to complete your missions.​

Exploration is similar to previous Mass Effect games, where you need to move your character from a location to another and talk to someone to progress in a Mission. While in the Normandy and the Citadel, you can move around and talk to people to initiate interesting and insightful conversations, or initiate side quests by talking to them.

The Galaxy Map is the same as the previous games, but now you have Reapers invading in certain Systems in the galaxy. You can scan planets for War Assets, but by doing so, Reapers will be alarmed to your presence and will try to catch and destroy you if you use scan the planets too many times. If they have caught up to you, you will get a Game Over, and you need to restart your most recent save again.

After finding planets that have War Assets, you can scan the planet and send a pod to retrieve it by following the pointer on your radar. It can be either Credits (in-game money), or War Assets that help you in the final battle against the Reapers.

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Complete side quests and optional missions to obtain more War Assets.​

War Assets have their own Effective Military Strength (EMS). By completing missions and side missions, you will obtain War Assets that will boost your EMS to fight the Reapers. Provided that you do not have enough EMS when you are fighting the Reapers in the final battle, the consequences might be fatal. It is best if you complete side missions to achieve the minimum EMS to fight the Reapers.

Each Missions have their own objectives, and you can only progress in the Mission by completing the require objectives. Some missions have Priority in the name, whereas some dont. By only completing the Priority missions that you are allowed to progress in the game. Completing missions that do not have Priority are optional, but it is best to complete them to obtain more War Assets.

Side quests are obtained by hearing NPCs talking aloud in the Citadel. Most of it require you to scan a planet, and retrieve something from there. It is quite boring to do so, but most of the side quests offer you some good rewards such as War Assets and Credits. The method of retrieving something from a planet is the toned down version of Mass Effect 2s mineral scanning.

The Morality system returns in the game, but it also features the Reputation system. Reputation acts as a multiplier to your Paragon and Renegade points, and you will get more Reputation points by completing Missions and Side Quests. The conversation system is the same as in previous games, where the conversation come in a form of dialogue wheel. You can inquire further information from a character in the game, or ask him/her to do something. Certain important decisions can only be done by choosing a Paragon option or Renegade option. You can only choose the Paragon or Renegade options only if your Paragon and Renegade points are high enough. You can also interrupt a conversation by doing a Paragon action or Renegade action. Doing so allows you to change the intended outcome of the conversation and also nets you more Paragon or Renegade points.

When you play a default new game, you can customise on how your Commander Shepard looks like, gender, class, and personal history. Some of these details may affect certain things in the game, such as your potential romance interests, your power sets, etc. If you import the completed save file from Mass Effect 2, all of those details will be carried over to this game.

Your Shepards appearance can be changed, such as you can change his/her casual clothes, or customise armour parts for combat. Some armour parts may have different bonuses, such as slight health bonus, etc. So try experiment a bit with the armour parts. In addition to that, your armour will look different if you use a new and different parts. You can also purchase complete armour sets from the Stores, but they are quite costly, and you better spending off your Credits in buying other stuffs.

iii) Combat section (Singleplayer)

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More refined combat from Mass Effect 2, as well as certain combat elements taken from the first Mass Effect game.​

The combat system is similar to Mass Effect 2 games, with certain refinements. This time, you can use heavy melee attacks that allows you to kill enemies close by easily. If you do not like to use it, you can use the normal melee attack for a quick kill. Pressing the melee button repeatedly will result into a combo melee attack.​

Grenade returns in the game, albeit in a more traditional form of grenades that are often used in most third person shooter games and act as grenade Powers. Instead of a disc based grenades, the grenades in this game are thrown out like normal grenades in real life. Since grenades still require ammunition to be used, you wont be able to use it if you dont have any grenades. Grenade powers can be upgraded to improve its potency and usefulness in combat.​

Other than those two new additions, you have the ability to sprint infinitely, rolling to dodge attacks, and faster cover trekking. BioWare did a great job in improving both actions, since Shepards movements are kind of limited in the previous game. Dodge rolling is an important feature in this game, since many enemies in this game are dangerous and relentless. The cover system is more faster and refined, as it allows you to quickly transition from one cover to another.​

There are three main factions that act as your enemies in the game, which are Cerberus (human soldiers), Reapers (alien enemies), and geth (robotic enemies). Each faction have different style and enemies for you to combat with. For example, Cerberus often uses Atlas mechs to fight you, and Reapers often use Banshees or Brutes to fight you. Depending on where the missions or the side missions located, you will fight different factions of enemies.​

Each enemy have their own Health points, which is brought down by shooting at them or using Powers at them. Certain enemies such as Banshee have extra HP called Barrier, which is extremely susceptible to biotic powers but is strong against normal gunfire. Depending on the toughness of an enemy, they may have extra health bar that needs to be depleted before depleting their real health bar.​

Obviously, you will die if your health is depleted enough. Depending on what class you are, your character will have a Shield or Barrier acting as an extra health bar. Either one will regenerate over time if you stay in cover or being undamaged for a certain period of time. If your Shield or Barrier is depleted, your Health is in danger of being depleted by enemies. This time, your health have 5 bars, and if one bar is depleted, your current health will remain at 4 bars. Your health will be restored fully after certain conditions, such as using the First Aid power. First Aid power can only be used if you have any remaining Med Kits. If your squadmates KOed in battle, you can manually revive them by going to them or use the First Aid power to bring them back in action quickly.​

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Devastate your opponents with your powerful weaponry as well as Powers.​

As in previous Mass Effect games, you have to use your high-tech weapons to kill off enemies. There are several categories of weapons, such as heavy pistol category and assault rifle category. Each weapons have their own pros and cons, so experiment on each weapon to suit your play style. Weapons can be bought in the Stores, or can be found while playing Missions in the game.​

Unlike in previous Mass Effect games, this time, you can use all 5 types of weapons. However, each weapon have its own Weight. Powerful weapons such as sniper rifles are heavy, whereas weaker weapons such as submachine guns are lighter. If your total weapons weight exceed your current weight percentage, your Powers will have much more slower cooldown period. Obviously, if your weapons are light enough, you can use your Powers more often. Choose weapons for different missions wisely.​

Weapons in this game can be upgraded by purchasing upgrades from the Normandy store using Credits. The maximum level for a weapon you can achieve at first playthrough is level 5, and can be upgraded to level 10 (the maximum) in the next playthrough if you find the weapons again during missions.​

The weapons mod system also returns in this game from the first Mass Effect game, albeit in more simpler and user friendly approach. Instead of extensive customisation on weapons, this game features more simpler way to mod your weapons, where each weapons can only have 2 mods at a time. Each mods have different effects, and should be experimented regularly. The mods can be found while playing a mission or by buying from stores.​

Your Shepard have his/her own set of Powers depending on what you have chosen as your Class, as well as your squadmates. For example, if your Class is Adept, your Powers set will focus on biotic powers. As you reached a new Level, you will receive upgrading Points to upgrade a Power. Each Class have their own sets of active Powers and passive Powers. As you increase a Power level, you will reach a branching point where you have to choose one of the two Power bonuses. However, this do not occur at your Powers final level, but at midpoint of your Powers level, You have to choose three times between the Power bonuses before upgrading your Power to the maximum.​

Of course, your squadmates have their own set of Powers, and depending on what their skills are, they might or might not be a powerful asset in battle. For example, Liara has powerful biotic skills, but her health is too low and she only has Barrier to make her last longer. Since each squadmates have unique Powers and weaponry, having a balanced team to offset your own Shepards weaknesses is highly recommended. In most situations, having a team of soldier squadmate, biotic squadmate, and a tech squadmate is the preferable team matchup.​

The level up system is similar to the first game. You will receive experience points (XP) by completing your sub-objectives in a mission, completing side quests, etc. As soon as you have obtained a new Level, spend some time on upgrading yours and squadmates abilities. The maximum level in the game is 60, so you will spend quite some time if you want to get the maximum level.​

iv) Multiplayer section (Multiplayer)

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Play online with other players in Galaxy at War (Multiplayer Mode)​

This is the first Mass Effect game that features a multiplayer component, called Galaxy at War. The multiplayer matches consist of entirely fighting waves of enemies in a map area. There can be up to 4 players playing in the match. For an online match, you can customise the difficulty, map, and etc to your liking. You can also choose a random match and play, but it is not recommended since you might be thrust into a very difficult online match.

The multiplayer does not feature competitive play with other players, but cooperative play with other players, meaning no friendly fire. In the online matches, you need to fights waves of enemies (Cerberus, Reapers, geth) in a map. There are 10 waves, but some waves require you to complete certain objectives, such as disabling a device, hacking a device. After surviving all 10 waves, you will need to go to an evacuation area, and you will need to wait until a time limit runs out to complete the match.

Killing an enemy rewards you XP points to level up your multiplayer character. Depending on how much the health the enemy has, your XP gained will vary accordingly. Completing online matches will reward you Credits to purchase in-game equipments for your multiplayer characters, such as weapons, mods, power bonuses, etc.

You can choose a different multiplayer character with different race and class. Each variation has different sets of Powers to be used. For example, an asari Vanguard has exclusive access to Lift Grenade, whereas the human Vanquard does not have it. However, human Vanguard has exclusive access to Nova but the asari Vanguard does not have it. Choose a proper Class and race to suit your own playstyle online. Be reminded that each multiplayer character in the game does not share levels, but individually.

Your multiplayer character levels is capped at 20. Once your multiplayer character reached level 20, you can import the character to the single-player mode as a War Asset, boosting your EMS.

The multiplayer mode is not essential to complete, but it is an incentive to play because completing online matches allow you to boost the Galactic Readiness in the singleplayer mode. Galactic Readiness acts as multipliers for EMS gained from the War Assets. Essentially, if your overall Galactic Readiness is high, your EMS points gained from the War Assets will increase as well. In short, you dont have to do a lot of side quests in order to get the minimum EMS requirement. It is noted that to to obtain a certain extra scene in one of the endings, you need to get more than 5000 EMS points. To obtain that extra scene, it would be best if you play the multiplayer component to boost your Galactic Readiness to get more EMS points.

The multiplayer is good, and provides great incentive to play. Unfortunately, there is only one type of match to play, which is to survive enemy waves.

v) Gameplay conclusion

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Overall gameplay has improved further from previous two Mass Effect games.​

The gameplay of this game is simply magnificent, and it has improved further since the first two Mass Effect games. I am glad and surprised on how well BioWare did with the gameplay area. The only disappointment I had with the gameplay area is the lack of bosses, and boring side quests. Surprisingly, in the artbook included in Collectors Edition of the game, there is a boss design of The Illusive Man, but it was scrapped earlier on. I felt that it was a waste to scrap that design, since it would have been an epic final boss fight in the game. Side quests are not varied enough, and most of it requires you to find something from a planet by scanning it.​

Graphics

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Impressive and improved graphics from previous Mass Effect games.​

One thing I like about Mass Effect games is the graphics. Mass Effect 3 is the best looking Mass Effect game, and perhaps one of the best looking games this year. I personally like how BioWare improved the graphics since Mass Effect 2s release, such as the more detailed appearance of default male Shepard, Anderson, Jacob, and etc.

Unfortunately, this game suffers minor technical issues such as freezing and glitches. Luckily, most of it are not gamebreaking, and I hope there will be a patch to fix those problems soon, especially the freezing issue at the Citadel.

Sound

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The game has one of the best voice cast ever, as well as impressive music.​

As in previous Mass Effect games, the voice acting plays an important part in delivering the story to make it believable to players. The voice actors simply did magnificent job in this game, and all of them did great performance in delivering their lines. I simply like every voice actors in this game, and it is hard for me to choose which one has the worst voice acting since they did great job in voicing their characters. My favourite voice actors in this game would be Mark Meer (male Shepard), Martin Sheen (The Illusive Man), Keith David (Anderson), Troy Baker (Kai Leng), Ali Hillis (Liara), Brandon Keener (Garrus), D.C. Douglas (Legion) and many more.​

The soundtrack more or less great, with some recurring themes from Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, such as Vigils theme, battle theme used during the Mass Effect 2: Overlord DLC, etc. Some of the new themes used in the game are really well done, with one particular theme played when Shepard leaves the Earth and watches the people getting killed by the Reaper. That theme stood out the most. Other new themes used in the game are electronic, and most of the themes have the cinematic feeling.​

It is also to be noted the weapon sound effects sound different this time. In Mass Effect 2, the weapons sound effect sound close to real life firearms sound effects. This time, the sound effects of the weapons sound more futuristic. It is nothing much, but the sound design is excellent.​

Replay Value

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Replay value is high. Play the game in different gender or class, try a different playthrough such as all-out Renegade route, play the multiplayer online, or play the game in harder difficulty modes.​

The replay value is high. You can start a new default game by choosing a different gender or class for another Shepard. Alternatively, you can import a different Mass Effect 2 save file to be used in the game and see how things carried out differently this time. You can also play Galaxy at War with other players if you want to, or play the singleplayer mode with harder difficulty modes such as Insanity mode.​

There are a lot of things to do, especially the singleplayer mode where you can try to uncover all possible scenarios in the game by choosing different decisions and actions that you previously have done in your first playthrough.​

Conclusion

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The best Mass Effect game, but parred by some flaws such as underdeveloped game endings and some technical issues.​

I would like to say this is one of the best games I have ever played this year, and it beats most of the recent third person shooters such as Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, and Binary Domain for being much more in-depth in game content. This game has almost everything. Compelling storyline that can be affected by your past decisions in previous games, addictive and improved combat system, great music, stellar voice cast, and impressive looking graphics. The only major flaws I could seriously point out in this game are under-developed and poor endings, lack of boss fights, freezing issues, lack of types of online matches, etc.​

Score​

Story: 9/10​
Gameplay: 9/10​
Graphics: 10/10​
Sound: 10/10​

Final score: 9.5/10 or 38/40​

Pros and Cons​

Pros​

- Epic conclusion to Commander Shepards storyline.​
- Improved, refined, and awesome combat system.​
- Past decisions from previous Mass Effect games give major impacts (only by importing save file)​
- Compelling, interesting, and believable storyline​
- Intriguing game mythology (in-game terms and universe)​
- Excellent voice cast.​
- Impressive and improved graphics.​
- Great cinematic and electronic music.​
- Galaxy at War provides great incentive to play.​
- Overall gameplay system is well-made.​
- Interesting new characters such as James Vega, Javik, Kai Leng, etc.​
- Many emotional scenes, such as death scenes of certain characters.​
- Excellent sound design.​
- More challenging and exhilarating combat sections.​
- Good replay value.​

Cons​

- Underdeveloped and abrupt game endings.
- Many Mass Effect 2 party members are not available as party members in this game.
- Multiplayer only has one type of online match.
- Minor glitches and bugs. Freezing issues is prevalent in Citadel elevator.
- Serious lack of major boss fights.
- Galaxy Map exploration is still mediocre and does not improved.
- Boring side quests initiation and objectives.
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