Marvel: Ultimate Alliance doesn't really need a serious introduction - just take the action RPG elements of the two mega-popular X-Men Legends games and add about 20 new characters. It's not the gameplay that'll bowl anyone over (at least from what we've seen so far), but the sheer amount of Marvel-ness is staggering.
At the recent San Diego Comic-Con, three new playable heroes were revealed: The Fantastic Four's Invisible Woman and Human Torch, and Iceman of X-Men fame. We saw these
Tuesday 17 October 2006
X-Men Legends had a good run as an Action RPG but what about those of us who like our superheroes with a little less social outcast to them? Publisher Activision is embracing the entire Marvel universe with Ultimate Alliance, and allowed us to embrace every next-gen version at a recent hands-on event.
The cast is a veritable who's-who of the heroic elite (in the Marvel universe, anyway). We were able to formulate our team from the following icons: Captain America,
With its beautifully refined sci-fi universe and the mind-boggling enormity of its galaxy-spanning adventure, the best way we can describe what we've seen so far of developer BioWare's interstellar action-RPG, Mass Effect, is to say that it's out of this world.
Our first contact with Mass Effect showed off the neat character interaction system as well as offering a glimpse of some of the squad-based, real-time combat, and the latest Mass Effect demo we were shown launched us deeper into space
Mass Effect is about many things - exploration, war, adventure, romance, politics and, of course, lots of weird and creepy space aliens. But above everything else, Mass Effect is about choice. Watching the game for just half an hour at this year's E3, we were positively staggered by the number of large and small decisions the player was forced to make, and how reaching an impact each one had.
It begins before you even start the game. Do you want your hero, Commander Shepard, to be male or
Tuesday 16 May 2006
RPGs are frequently measured in how many hours it would take someone to complete the whole game, but with Mass Effect, perhaps months would be a more effective yard-stick. Our private viewing of this game revealed an adventure so huge, it strains the capacity of your brain to attempt to encompass what it's all about... but we're going to try anyway.
You play as Commander Shepard, a sort of space federal agent in the employ of a peace-keeping organisation called Specters.
Next-gen games routinely come equipped with astounding graphics, so it should come as no surprise that Mass Effect oozes hi-def hotness out of every pore. What separates this game from the mob of other beautiful titles is exactly what players of the role-playing genre demand from their games: scope.
As a member of the futuristic human space soldiers known as the Specters (insert techno theme music here), you embark on a mission to capture or otherwise contain a rogue military general. But, as
We just got our mits on the X06 Demo for the upcoming planet-hopping, RPG saga, Mass Effect. As Commandeer Shepard, you'll have to master the art of conversation, in addition to the art of war during your quest to prevent a race of evil machines from playing wicked with the galaxy. Similar to developer Bioware's previous games, Jade Empire and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, outcomes in Mass Effect hinge upon the haste and/or compassion you show in your words and
“Shepard! But... but you’re dead!” cries a baffled Asari crime lord having been backed into a corner by our hero. “I got better,” replies Shepard, as cool as a penguin’s bum. It’s not a dialogue choice, it’s right there in the cutscene; otherwise we’d have chosen the option along the lines of “I know, after that E3 trailer I’m just as confused as you about the whole thing."
If you felt Kasumi's Stolen Memory was too short and Overlord was too side-storyish, Lair of the Shadow Broker may be precisely what you're looking for in Mass Effect 2 DLC. According to BioWare, it's set to be the "richest in scope" of all existing add-ons, and also claims to bridge the events of ME2 with any future products. So, even though BioWare won't admit this DLC pack will likely affect your Mass Effect 3 game, it was definitely giving off that vibe during our hands-on.
Life or death decisions. Forsaking the fate of the Galaxy for greed and power. Shooting cherished allies in the face. Mass Effect was a pretty dark game. It’s got nothing on its sequel, though, which combines the same tough RPG decision-making moments with grittier, more morally ambiguous action. It’s also a game where death matters like never before. And this time, if you die as protagonist, Commander Shepard, you might not be
