BBB Supports Mass Effect 3 "False Advertising" Claims
Uh… what?
Mass Effect 3
Players: 1 Offline Player
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Genres: Action, RPG, Third-Person Shooter
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Genres: Action, RPG, Third-Person Shooter
Release Date: March 6, 2012
Developer: BioWare
MSRP: $59.99
Developer: BioWare
MSRP: $59.99
Mass Effect 3 will follow from the events of the Mass Effect 2 DLC expansion Arrival and follow Commander Shepard as he/she tries to save the galaxy from the Reapers by rallying civilizations of the galaxy together, while also having to deal with Cerberus, who have decided to turn against him/her.
Characters with Character: Grunt
Posted By Rollo T about 2 months, 3 weeks ago
"Oh hey what's that rumbling behind me? OH GOD NO!"
Note: The following contains spoilers. You have been warned.
If you were to ask any Mass Effect fan who their favorite Krogan is, id imagine you’ll receive an almost unanimous answer for Urdnot Wrex. This is perfectly understandable as Wrex was one of the best companions in Mass Effect 1, and his character easily appealed to a wide audience. It also didn’t hurt that he was given the coolest lines in game, had some very interesting stories, and got his own conflict to resolve when you attack Saren’s Breeding Facility late in the game. Suffice it to say, Wrex left a great impression on the players that was going to be hard to top. But, I personally think that Wrex’s replacement in Mass Effect 2, Grunt, was even better than the original.
Yeah. I said it.
To understand why either Krogan is so memorable you must first know about their species. The Krogan are a race of fierce warriors who are renowned across the galaxy for their incredible combat prowess and penchant for getting into fights. They became famous when their numbers helped the galaxy overwhelm the Rachni invaders during the Rachni War, and they became infamous when their numbers had to be quelled by the combined forces of the Turians and Salarians after the Krogan Rebellions. They’re a violent species who already destroyed most of their planet after a nuclear war, and now most Krogan roam the galaxy as mercenaries or gangsters. In short: Big, loud, and angry berserkers who live a life of never-ending battle.
Those who play Mass Effect 1 know that Wrex does share many of those traits, but that he has many other qualities that make him a lot more three dimensional. He’s somewhat of a Warrior Poet; he loves the thrill of battle but still laments the violent path his people have followed. Wrex will tell you about how he desperately tried to lead his fellow Krogans into a new age of prosperity, but after being betrayed by his fellow Krogan, including his own father, he decided to roam the galaxy as mercenary. He’s the patriot who gave up on his people and left them to continue walking their inevitable path towards self-destruction and eradication, and it was really interesting to follow that because we wouldn’t expect that kind of depth from our basic stereotype of the Krogans.
Grunt is the same way, however, in that he is not at all what we expect. When Mass Effect 2 was nearing its release I know a lot of people, myself included, didn’t think too highly of Grunt. A lot of people saw him as a poor replacement of Wrex who lost the “forlorn warlord” traits that made Wrex such a compelling character. Admittedly most of this was due to poor marketing on BioWare’s part as his “Fight For the Lost” trailer didn’t do a lot to ease the concerns of people who thought BioWare was sacrificing depth for edge in the highly anticipated sequel. We already had to adjust to the fact that most of the cast from the first game wouldn’t be returning as squad mates, so why take Wrex, our beloved brute with a heart of gold, away from us? Well, that’s because BioWare had another story to tell.
"I'm more interesting than that trailer lets on! Put the gun down!"
Grunt doesn’t join the crew in Mass Effect 2 in the traditional recruitment manner because he isn’t initially a goal for Commander Shepard. Instead it’s the Warlord, Okeer, that The Illusive Man has his sights set on joining Shepards Dirty Dozen. When you arrive to recruit Okeer from his Blue Sun mercenary bodyguards you learn a disturbing fact about the warlord: he’s biologically creating an army of Krogan. Even worse than that though? He’s letting his reject Krogan run wild around the compound. After a brief meeting with one of these rejected Krogan you see that these aliens are akin to directionless husks that have almost no purpose in life. They’re uneducated, lack any motivation to live, and know only to fight. These failed experiments would be a taste of what’s to come once we meet the only successful experiment of the diabolical warlord.
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Characters with Character: Grunt
Note: The following contains spoilers. You have been warned. If you were to ask any
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Mass Effect 3 Review
Posted By Robert G. about 2 months, 1 week ago
Mass Effect 3 Review
From the 8-Bit days of Pac-Man to the graphic capabilities of Heavy Rain, from the simple soundbites in Berserk to the epic chanting in Halo, and from the innovative gameplay in Super Mario Bros. to the innovative gameplay in Shadow of the Colossus, video games have constantly evolved as time slowly flows towards an unknown future. We look at the past and see pillars of excellence, games that mold the landscape on the whim of what they can represent for all of us. And we look to the future to see what shall join them in this exclusive club of memorable titles and masterful works.
| PROS | Amazing story moments and characters, Galaxy at War, Refined gameplay, voice overs and musical score. |
| CONS | Outdated graphics, Controversial ending and pre-release press, Little time to breathe after its all said and done. |
| WTF?! | The ending. |
Mass Effect 3 is the next god to take a spot in this pantheon. Or should I say,the Mass Effect trilogy. I feel as if I am reviewing just one game five years in the making, the culmination of this bold trilogy, the sum of its total parts. To write off one game of the series as good or bad sadly will not cut it anymore, since all three are accountable for shaping the storyline, and eventually the experience given to us. So really, the final grade behind this title is more of a formality than anything else; people have made their choices in the past week over their own likes and dislikes of the game, so what I say about Mass Effect 3 now will not sway anyone in that regard.
Out of the gate Mass Effect 3 has a lot to live up to. This RPG has evolved in the past five years, refining its shooter mechanics and perfecting the formula of its combat and presentation. Many have seen this as going away from its role-playing roots, but truthfully, how is Mass Effect 3 not a role-playing game at its core? The storyline, for example, begins with the chaos of an all-out war. The Reapers, the boogeymen for the past two titles, have finally arrived and have begun to destroy the galaxy, one planet at a time. As the courageous Commander Shepard, your job is to find a way to stop them, at any cost.
The actual storyline was never a high water mark for Mass Effect, following the traditional tropes of good vs. evil common in the high fantasy/space opera genre. But it was the journey, not the destination, that made it worthwhile trip to go on. Every nuance of a choice found in the previous titles having at least some ramification, both small and large, in Mass Effect 3. In most cases, it boils down to adding war assets to your cause. These war assets are basically how prepared you are for the game’s finale and determine the likelihood of success in destroying the Reapers and obtaining a good ending to the trilogy.
War assets are the closest thing to a statistical table you can get to in Mass Effect 3.
But most of these war assets are obtained through side missions and mini-quest lines that are regulated to simple fetch quests and minor conflict resolutions. Other assets are gained and lost through decisions in the past games; if you saved the council in Mass Effect 1 for example, you have less Alliance fleets for Mass Effect 3, but you gain the use of special assets such as the Destiny Ascension and more alien war assets to compensate. So the trade off is somewhat minimal, but changes based on how you played the past two chapters, reflecting the overall tone of the story you created.
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- March 14, 2012 at 03:08pm
While I never played more than a short bit of ME1, ME3 is probably my favorite next to ME2. Yes, the ending is jarring and incomplete, but that buildup to the end was amazing. There were powerful moments with the games characters, Shepard felt much more likable tome me, being a rather monotone action hero, in this one, seeming more troubled by the weight on his shoulders to try and save not just Earth, but everyone in the universe. Alot of things were fine tuned and though it’s a shorter game than ME2, it was much more action packed and intense. The build up to the end of the game was infinitely better than what we got with ME2, but alot of people didn’t see that once they got to the ending choices. It’s very deserving of scores it’s getting (Not like 90 and up scores), but alot of that is getting swamped in the hate people have for the endings.
I definitely would like to see Mass Effect continue. The trilogy may have ended, but it mostly just means the storyline was brought to…somewhat completion lol Would be interesting to see them do it as a timeskip where the races have managed to rebuild the Relays and started to bring themselves together again.
- March 14, 2012 at 02:47pm
They couldn’t have decent choice-acknowledging endings or sideplot resolutions because that would alienate people who haven’t played other MEs. And as we all know, Mass Effect 3 is intended to be the best entry point to the series.
Because that’s how trilogies work.
And no, it’s NOT ALL the people who decided to hate the game beforehand that are complaining. I’d say everyone in their forums that are complaining can’t be the half-mad oldschoolers or backers of other RPG companies COUGHOBSIDIANFANBOYSCOUGH, since they got themselves banned long long ago.
- March 15, 2012 at 08:52am
I have to disagree. The main sideplots did get strong, emotional resolutions, it’s the main plot resolution that is producing all the rage.
As for the “entry point” issue, i got the feeling that this was what they were trying to do, during the marketing campaign pre-release, but i think they really failed at it. During the 2nd act i was constantly thinking that if i wasn’t a big fan of the series i wouldn’t give a crap about all these emotional moments. I like ME3 but i wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who hasn’t played the first 2 games.
Also, it’s not only the choices made through ME 1&2 that don’t get decent acknowledgement in the ending, the choices made in the final game suffer the same fate.*****SPOILERS!!!*****
I still don’t get how having greater flee support or improved Citadel defences offers me more end-game options…
*****SPOLILERS!!!****
- March 14, 2012 at 12:51pm
Outdated graphics? Should have played on the PC, I was completely blown away on how beautiful it looked.
- March 14, 2012 at 02:31pm
The graphics might look a little better, but the animation and plastic faces are still very prominent. PC just makes it more tolerable lol
- March 14, 2012 at 02:48pm
The godawful Unreal engine they used has been dragging down the trilogy from day one…
- March 14, 2012 at 03:32pm
Yeah the series has never been that impressive of a game visually outside of maybe some CGI stuff, which never made much sense to me, being that the game is constantly bringing in close-ups of these really emotion-less faces. It stood out alot more with ME2 and while ME3 tried to hide it abit more behind like…face filters or something and some slightly better visuals, alot of the textures are really kinda bad and muddy.
- March 14, 2012 at 01:28am
That was what bugged me the most was the lack of an Epilogue. Shepered i could care less about but i want to know what happens to Garius, Liara as well as all the raced like the Krogan
- March 13, 2012 at 08:02pm
No one, least of all the companies themselves, is claiming that EA or BioWare will never make another Mass Effect game. All that is being said is that Mass Effect 3 is the culmination and conclusion of the current overarching storyline that has driven the series up to this point. You do understand what the definition of a trilogy is right? And that producing one for a franchise does not automatically preclude further stories in said franchise, right?
And as for the second portion of your statement… Honestly words fail me. You cannot really be trying to claim that BioWare is ripping off Gurren Lagann, right? I mean there are a million reasons why that is nonsense not the least of which being both series premiered the same year. Also I don’t recall there being a lot of mechs shaped like human heads in the Mass Effect universe.
- March 13, 2012 at 09:07pm
I’m all for chipping away at the Mass Effect series but I agree with Shaun and am just confused how ME ripped off Gurren Lagaan.
Elaborate?
- March 13, 2012 at 09:30pm
There are some similarities.. the more subtle ones then just giant mechas fighting. GL is a lot deeper than just that.
http://i.imgur.com/acSCH.jpg
(not my image)I suppose it’s questionable, whether GL was the first to have similar themes involved though.
Bioware/EA ripping off other franchise wouldn’t surprise me either. - March 15, 2012 at 08:57am
It’s definitely not staying a trilogy, BW have made it clear they want to expand on the games’ universe. It’s Cmdr Shepard’s story that’s over.
- March 13, 2012 at 06:07pm
I kinda like the endings to some degree, but they are flawed. Without giving a spoiler to what they actually are, I’ll say that if Bioware simply went into more detail on what happens in each ending, perhaps add some epilogue notes like at the end of Dragon Age Origins, then they would be much improved.
Otherwise, a very good game.
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Characters with Character: Grunt
Note: The following contains spoilers. You have been warned. If you were to ask any
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Great article. Like others, I initially saw Grunt as Wrex’s replacement until I started having conversations with Grunt and did his loyalty mission.
Also, for a Krogan without a gun, the poetic Krogan on Illium seems like a good example.
I second your thoughts on the Bioware commercials. -_- Way to paint krogan as the klingon-stereotype, director. So I had barely any expectations for Grunt.
But his character grew on me very very quickly. He reminded me of my own teenage brother; trying to find place and meaning in all that he learned as a child, all the while finding his own place in the world. It was interesting watching the parallels unfold.
I don’t think he’ll be a squadmate in Mass Effect 3. Not because Bioware or the Crowd hates him, but now that he’s grown so much in Mass Effect 2, he has his own job to do and life to live. ^^ And I’m expecting great things.
It’s kinda hard to pick who’s the better Krogan: Wrex or Grunt. I honestly like both of them. Both have incredible stories and they’re very effective in combat. They have their strengths and flaws, but I know that if you question their skills, they’ll answer right back w/ a blast from their shotguns.
Wrex without a gun:
http://th03.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/f/2010/036/5/0/Mass_Effect_2__Wrex_by_MattRhodes.jpg
I’ll admit in the end I like Wrex better, but I grew very fond of Grunt once I started his story. His development was well handled, as you so well put it, and I liked the feeling at the end of his loyalty mission of “Hey, I just raised Krogan Warrior” (not to mention killing a thresher maw was pretty satisfying too)
Gotta say, I don’t agree. Personally, Grunt is one of the least interesting characters in the Mass Effect series for me, down there with Jacob and Kaiden. And it’s pretty much because of what you spelled out: he’s just Krogan who learns to be a Krogan.
The problem is that the Krogan, as a culture, aren’t interesting. They’re just a generic warrior culture, mostly populated by dumb brutes, and I don’t find that in the least bit interesting. The plight they face with the Genophage’s effects, the possible ramifications if those effects were reversed, and how it is affecting their daily lives and the evolution of their culture makes their current circumstances as a race actually very interesting, but that ties more into Wrex and Mordin’s stories, not so much with Grunt’s.
Grunt is honestly one of the very few ME2 companions I will not miss as a squad mate in ME3.
Excellent analysis, Chris. I never really cared much for the Krogan characters, but this does paint Grunt in a more intriguing light.