Yeah, you read that right. So... who wants to touch me? Huh? Huh? Handshakes are $20 each. Any takers?
...
*ahem*
So yeah, got to play a few hours, spread over both campaign and co-op multiplayer. I'm aware that there's quite a few people here who are looking forward to (or dreading) the game's release so I figured I'd share my impressions.
First off, the RPG elements. They've been deepened somewhat from ME2. Shepard's various classes and all companion characters get a couple extra abilities on top whatever they had. Each ability can be upgraded six times rather than four. The first three upgrades are just basic improvements, but after that each upgrade requires you to choose between two variants. For example, Garrus can now drop proximity mines. When upgrading his mines to the fourth level you can either get a straight damage boost or a widened area of effect, then at the fifth level you choose between mines that slow enemies down or increase the damage they take from other sources. (Can't remember what the sixth level was.)The end result is a system with a bit more depth than what we got in ME1.
Weapon selection is a combination of ME1 and ME2. You choose your loadout like in ME2, but each weapon has upgrade slots like in ME1. I ended up using a shotgun with increased magazine capacity and fire rate complemented by a pistol with a scope and increased damage. Sadly I didn't get the chance to play around with armour customization.
One thing that really stood out was a huge increase in enemy variety. You've still got the usual dude-with-gun and armoured-dude-with-gun, but now there are guys who lay down smoke screens (surprisingly annoying), guys with riot shields (flank them or pull the shield away with biotics), guys who deploy sentry guns (wrecked my shit in short order) and some kind of fast-moving, melee-based biotic ninja thing that severely messed me up whenever it got close. And that's just the human enemies. The husks from previous games now come in tons of different flavours, each based on one of the different species and retaining some property of that species. For example, Krogan husks regenerate and Asari husks (surprisingly nasty) can use biotics.
There are a bunch of smaller changes as well. Shepard is a fair bit more mobile now, being able to transition from cover to cover and perform Gears-style dodge rolls. The melee system is different too, now you can tap the button for a basic combo or hold it for a class-specific special attack (soldier uses that omni-blade thing, engineer has a flamethrower, my vanguard used some kind of biotic falcon punch). Also, in a move that I am sure will spark howls of derision, there are now Battlefield/CoD-style hitmarkers.
Also of note is an increase in the use of in-gameplay Valve-style scripted events. They're generally pretty cool, although sometimes the animation gets rather clunky.
The writing and dialogue is typical Bioware. It still fluctuates infuriatingly between brilliant and horrifically corny. The corniness tends to spike dramatically whenever Shepard opens his damn mouth.
Lastly, there's the co-op multiplayer. I doubt I will be surprising anyone when I say it's painfully mediocre, not terrible but definitely not good either. It's exactly like Gears of War's horde mode, but not as polished. You just fight off increasingly tough waves of bad guy. I honestly feel a bit sorry for the people who's time was wasted in putting it together.
That is all, I hope this was informative. If anyone has any questions then I can try and answer them.
...
*ahem*
So yeah, got to play a few hours, spread over both campaign and co-op multiplayer. I'm aware that there's quite a few people here who are looking forward to (or dreading) the game's release so I figured I'd share my impressions.
First off, the RPG elements. They've been deepened somewhat from ME2. Shepard's various classes and all companion characters get a couple extra abilities on top whatever they had. Each ability can be upgraded six times rather than four. The first three upgrades are just basic improvements, but after that each upgrade requires you to choose between two variants. For example, Garrus can now drop proximity mines. When upgrading his mines to the fourth level you can either get a straight damage boost or a widened area of effect, then at the fifth level you choose between mines that slow enemies down or increase the damage they take from other sources. (Can't remember what the sixth level was.)The end result is a system with a bit more depth than what we got in ME1.
Weapon selection is a combination of ME1 and ME2. You choose your loadout like in ME2, but each weapon has upgrade slots like in ME1. I ended up using a shotgun with increased magazine capacity and fire rate complemented by a pistol with a scope and increased damage. Sadly I didn't get the chance to play around with armour customization.
One thing that really stood out was a huge increase in enemy variety. You've still got the usual dude-with-gun and armoured-dude-with-gun, but now there are guys who lay down smoke screens (surprisingly annoying), guys with riot shields (flank them or pull the shield away with biotics), guys who deploy sentry guns (wrecked my shit in short order) and some kind of fast-moving, melee-based biotic ninja thing that severely messed me up whenever it got close. And that's just the human enemies. The husks from previous games now come in tons of different flavours, each based on one of the different species and retaining some property of that species. For example, Krogan husks regenerate and Asari husks (surprisingly nasty) can use biotics.
There are a bunch of smaller changes as well. Shepard is a fair bit more mobile now, being able to transition from cover to cover and perform Gears-style dodge rolls. The melee system is different too, now you can tap the button for a basic combo or hold it for a class-specific special attack (soldier uses that omni-blade thing, engineer has a flamethrower, my vanguard used some kind of biotic falcon punch). Also, in a move that I am sure will spark howls of derision, there are now Battlefield/CoD-style hitmarkers.
Also of note is an increase in the use of in-gameplay Valve-style scripted events. They're generally pretty cool, although sometimes the animation gets rather clunky.
The writing and dialogue is typical Bioware. It still fluctuates infuriatingly between brilliant and horrifically corny. The corniness tends to spike dramatically whenever Shepard opens his damn mouth.
Lastly, there's the co-op multiplayer. I doubt I will be surprising anyone when I say it's painfully mediocre, not terrible but definitely not good either. It's exactly like Gears of War's horde mode, but not as polished. You just fight off increasingly tough waves of bad guy. I honestly feel a bit sorry for the people who's time was wasted in putting it together.
That is all, I hope this was informative. If anyone has any questions then I can try and answer them.
