Mass Effect via Africa Benson

My Shepard was based on Africa Benson, a character I had created back in 2004 that was supposed to exist in an atypical sense, her story being told across a series of T-shirts, stickers, posters (especially posters), and desktop wallpapers. I ended up writing a few short stories here and there talking about her adventures through multiple dimensions and fleshing out a bit more of the universe she existed in. I have decided that she will be my avatar in any game that allows me to create one. The two of us have a lot in common. We both enjoy the thrill of the new, always take the good and narrow path when we can, love long-range battles but are not afraid to twitch up close when we have to, and I think I could probably learn more about her character by having her in all these different situations, not bound by the pages in a comic book or the fabric of a T-shirt. She would be a denizen of multiple game worlds, in multiple situations, and with a plethora of skill sets. It could make for a hell of a fan-fiction mash-up whenever I get around to writing it...anyway, on with the review experiment.


So. Mass Effect. In summary, I will say I enjoyed the game well enough. I liked most of the game mechanics, and some of the environments were amazing. Having said that, I feel like I am probably going to enjoy it more a second time round as the 'pressure' to get the story over with is now gone and I can take my time and play the game through on what will hopefully be a challenging difficulty. I also feel like it would be a lot more fun as you get to keep all your stats on the next playthrough if you decide to use the same character.

Africa Benson rating - Cool.

Africa Benson exists in a universe with parallel dimensions that contain duplicates of most people across them. In this one, she was called Africa Shepard, a war heroine and only daughter of military parents.

A talented sniper and computer expert with a strong sense of honour and duty, she was also quite open to the idea of relating to other alien races. I figured that since Africa Benson saw so much on her travels through different dimensions that she would have met and rubbed off on her doppelganger in Mass Effect-ruled space.

No, Africa could never be a racist.

I moved her through the Citadel, taking in the sights and admiring the craft of the designers of the structure.

My only problem was that it was just too...blue. As silly as that sounds. Once I got my hands on the Normandy, I was out of there faster than a speeding bullet and I almost never went back.

The galaxy map was a much better fit for Commander Africa Shepard. Here I could realise the dream of exploring the possibilities of the game's Milky Way and travel to uncharted worlds. It soon got dull though. Most of the worlds I visited were just places with rocky terrain and tiny buildings where the only meaningful thing on the planet would occur. I lost interest in exploring these barren landscapes with my trusty rover (the bounciest car in recent memory! Hey, does anyone remember Breakthru? Ah the memories...) and decided to focus on pursuing the main story.

Now this was different! Moving through the worlds designed to be part of the story was always an exciting and interesting experience. From the architecture to the inhabitants of the various systems, to the fact that in these places, my actions had consequences.

The story quickly increased in tension the more I stuck to the main storyline, with only minor diversions brought on by radio messages from the Admiral of the 5th Fleet. This was when I really got into the game. Utilising all the skills I had learned over the course of my playthrough gave me a real sense of accomplishment and I finally got the hang of using the combat menu efficiently and effectively. The real time combat in the game is a bit clunky to be honest. It was also pretty nice to feel that every action I took made its impact felt in the game world and was not just a random aside with no real purpose beyond advancing stats and items.

One fight that I am not sure Africa could win was the one against her inventory. The moment it became full, it was a huge chore going through it all and trying to sell or at least get rid of unwanted items. Minutes went by as I tried to reduce outdated pistols, assault rifles, armour, weapon enhancements, biotic amps and omni tools to omni gel (a sort of mass effect equivalent of hollywood's nanotech). And, there was also the fear that I would destroy or sell off an item that a member of the field team could use just because they were not there for me to compare it against their current equipment.

But, after a while I learnt, and made sure that after every mission, Africa converted or sold off all unnecessary items.

I saw the romantic interlude, and although it was a bit novel for Africa to 'be' with a blue-skinned omnisexual(?) alien, it felt a bit forced and its novelty was the only reward. It was also almost a given that Africa would go with Liara as the only other potential on board the ship was so uninteresting. Then again, to be fair, even the characters that were not potential romantic interests were a bit dull. Case in point, the Turian cop whose name neither I, nor Africa can ever remember. Also, how come Liara had to look female? Africa definitely took offense to this and found it kind of weird that an omnisexual race would look female and not just androgynous or even something weirder. Heck! Now that I think about it, apart from humans and the Quarians of which you only meet one member, I think they are the only females that one encounters in the game. Wrex only ever mentioned the Krogan in passing to Africa. I never once saw them. I need to check that.

The end of the game, unfortunately, was a big let down, in terms of the final fight and to a much lesser extent, with regards to the story. I think Africa thought so too. She has faced off against strange, warlike races, transhuman beings that could shift their perceptions at the drop of a hat. She had seen beautiful angelic beings on her journeys through dimensions and marveled at their 10-dimensional wings folded through time, space and other dimensions we don't have names or concepts for and escaped the clutches of blind, mad gods at the edges of the multiverse. How could she be happy with a game that was this easy? How could she be happy that she didn't see all its sights and hear all its sounds? Surely there were people to save and problems to resolve all around the galaxy as well as within the Citadel? I heard there was even a suicide she could prevent.

The world of mass effect hinted at so much more than she and I had experienced, and until the inevitable sequel, we still had a lot to see and do. It was at this point that we realised that we were a bit harsh and impatient with the world and the inconsequential plots being revealed in all its nooks and crannies.

So, we went back in, but this time, now that I knew the way it all ended, I decided that it would be worthwhile to take my time and ensure that we see everything there was to see in the world and decided we wanted a challenge worthy of Africa's skills and knowledge. The experiences gained from this world, would undoubtedly help Africa in her journeys through other games.

And I decided, no romantic subplots the second time around. I don't know what it was I was thinking, Africa never had one before, and she certainly wasn't going to start now with such uninteresting people. I blame Fox News for being so curious.

I also switched the difficulty to hardcore. I needed to keep things interesting for Commander Africa Shepard.

Immortal Defense: The Review

"I love you grandpa."


I finished playing Immortal Defense a few days ago, and the night that I finished it I was tired, and elated and I think my mind expanded even only a little bit. THIS is what I want to be able to do with videogames. And in time, maybe I could do more.

Immortal Defense is basically a Tower Defense game. You have a goal which must be defended against a procession of increasingly tough enemies for a set amount of time in every level (called pathspace). You do this by placing 'points' around the level that have different effects. Some just do direct damage to the enemies, others reduce the defence of the enemies and yet others slow them down.

So far so normal. What elevates this beyond the average tower defense game are its visual and aural presentation and its story.




The visuals are highly abstract and are accentuated by very boisterous and highly stylised procedural special effects that end up obscuring the action quite a bit. It can be a bit confusing sometimes, but it also adds to the general ambience of the game. You can almost look at it as a sort of battle induced ecstasy, with your instincts guiding you on your 'path' of destruction.


The sound effects, while nothing necessarily amazing, are very good and quite appropriate to the game's aesthetic. Special mention must go to the music however which is absolutely stellar. From the opening song by Helen Humes, to the custom soundtrack most of which was composed by the designer's father, Walter Eres with some of the songs made by a friend of his called Long Dao. It really gives the feeling of vastness, alienation and just plain weirdness that I think is key to the overall unearthly feel of the game. The entire soundtrack is available free for download here. The sound design doesn't just stop with the gameplay though, even the menu has some very nice incidental sounds that keeps you absorbed in its world from the minute you switch it on.


All this of course would make a pretty solid if quirky game if it were not for the writing and how the story is tied in completely with the gameplay mechanics. The 'points' are aspects of the player's will with names like courage, pride and love. The story constantly challenges the player's perceptions, and I really wish I could say more without spoiling it, but suffice to say, it is very good and it ends very well too. Whenever people talk about narrative in videogames, this should be mentioned alongside Planescape: Torment and Shadow of the Colossus as an example of a peek into the future of videogames as art in their own right.


The overall package is definitely worth the asking price. With the demo you get to fully explore two chapters of the game, and this alone should give you a very good idea of how the game plays, so you should definitely get the demo (sorry mac fans, no version for you guys.)

The gameplay is nothing new, but it is executed in a very fresh way. It has a killer story, very nice music and pretty graphics. What more could one ask for?



Oh, and here's a video in case you were wondering what all the pretty lights actually do -

Rescue the Beagles: The Review

Ok, time to finally put up this review as it has been long overdue.

Rescue the Beagles was created as an entry into the TIGSource's Procedural Generation Competition that finished not too long ago. It also emerged as the winner out of some quite worthy entries. You can check out all the other entrants here.



Rescue the Beagles started pretty well for me. The menu screen is really simple, and has the wonderful background art as its background. The pixel art is also very nice and the music set the tone for the excellent ingame music.

The aim of the game is rescue the titular beagles from the evil forces of cosmetic testers while navigating a procedurally generated three-tiered landscape and avoiding lawyers, radioactive lip balm and giant yeti-looking creatures. I shouldn't forget to mention that you can defeat all the enemies (except for the lip balm, 'cos that would just be weird) by well aimed throws of owls...or their poop...yeah.

If you're like me, once you read that and see what it looks like, you would be drawn in like a fly to a fly zapper.

And after my first couple of play throughs I was hooked! The fact that Bibi could serve as a spotter of beagles and in that way collaborate with me was also a major plus.

The pacing of the game, the graphics, the sound, it all comes together to form quite an interesting arcadey title. The integration of an online high score table is also a definite plus.

Sometimes I do feel like whatever code was used to generate the levels may be a tad unfair, but that could also be me just being crap of course. I also feel that it requires a few more animations to help players get feedback about certain activities. The falling distance of the player is very short and it takes some time to be able to gauge a safe distance to fall reliably. The addition of a panic animation or something similar could alert the player to the fact that they may be about to bite off more than they can chew. And maybe some sort of indicator could be used to let players know when they are close to losing a beagle.



Aside from those little niggles, I am quite happy with the game. It is perfect for a 5-10 minute break, and there is enough depth in the level flow and control schemes to allow for 'advanced' play.

You can get it here.

It's Over...

I finished Metal Gear Solid 4 just before 1am this morning. I saw the full credits roll at about 1.30am. I was spent, I was giddy and I was satisfied. It seems weird to be so pumped about playing through and finishing what some could cynically call an interactive movie experience, but hey, I can't help what I felt eh?

So, what did I think? It was awesome! Well worth the play time and everything. The last boss fight is really of epic proportions, and if you have played through the previous MGS's, a major reward for all the effort. I am still getting the hang of actually writing on the internet, and in this whole blog style, so I won't go into any complicated review or what-have-you, suffice to say that the game was very good and will be time well spent for anybody who does not mind not being in control for the a good portion of the game...well, that and the awkward script and some OTT scenes. I loved that stuff by the way.

Pros
1. Excellent production values
2. The last three boss fights are really, really great. Wonderful set pieces all of them.
3. The music!
4. The fanservice and random meta-statements.
5. Snake is really one of the coolest characters in videogames...period.

Cons
1. Kojima really could have used an editor and I know some people say that is part of his charm and so on, but really, the whole experience could have been a LOT better without some of the dialogue and scenes.
2. Odd difficulty spikes here and there, but on the whole, I felt it didn't provide enough of a challenge on the first playthrough. Will see if this changes once I try to it on the harder difficulty setting or go for the Big Boss medal (crazy I know!).
3. In terms of gameplay mechanics it is not doing anything interesting.

I can't really think of more to say really. I think it was an excellent game, but I can completely understand sites like eurogamer that gave it an 8/10. It is really good, but stops just short of that 9/10 that marks the introduction of something truly outstanding as a game. As an experience though (and this is of course entirely subjective) it would be a 9.5/10 for me and a fitting end for the old man.