Game Review - Mass Effect 2

Developer: BioWare
Playtime: Approx. 25-30 hours
Genre: Cover Shooter/Action RPG
Platform: PC, Xbox 360

So, Mass Effect 2. The first game I'll be reviewing on this blog, and hopefully not the last (it won't be, I have some gems I want to talk about). There was a lot of hype surrounding Mass Effect 2, something I never get into (unless it's Iron Man 2) so I didn't care about the game and it flew under my radar until a good friend recommended it to me. We have similar taste in games, so I thought I'd give it a try. Not having played Mass Effect 1, I didn't know what to expect gameplay wise, story wise, or for anything really. I installed it expecting a mediocre experience that would leave me wanting to play Knights of the Old Republic (an earlier game by BioWare that I love). What I got surprised me quite a bit.

BioWare have weaved a masterpiece of a story with this game. Normally they pull stories off well, sometimes it's lacking, but normally engaging. Mass Effect 2 is the most I've cared about a game in a long, long time. The characters are beautifully designed and you end up caring so much about them. Romance is nearly always a subplot of BioWare games, but often you do it simply for the 100% run or the extra influence points. In Mass Effect 2, you actually care. I found myself putting consideration into who I'd romance and why, rather than arbitrarily choosing a character and ploughing through it. The pacing of the story is excellent, giving a well rounded tale suited to a movie while still maintaining an anxious mood for the setting. Most of the characters are fleshed out brilliantly, but the members you pick up later in the game suffer from a much more rushed exposition of their personality and it seems forced for the last two or three characters you explore. The universe in which Mass Effect 2 is set is wonderfully diverse and filled with a huge variety of creatures and environments, but this unfortunately isn't used to full effect. Most of the time you find yourself talking to the same two or three species of alien and killing another two or three, out of the 15 or so that are available, and your missions will almost always take place in a very similar environment, rarely venturing outside of a space ship or station.However great the writing is, Mass Effect 2 can be a very linear game. You can choose to either be a Paragon (goodie), or a Renegade (baddie/badass (as the game describes it)). The problem with this, as is present in all alignment orientated games, is that you always end up choosing dialogue options that max out the alignment you're aiming for. This wouldn't be so bad if there was a middle ground between the two, but unfortunately to do anything useful you have to have significant points in either paragon or renegade, especially in the end game. But back from my ramblings of alignment, combat is always the same. Take cover quickly, let team mates be killed, use a power, wait for enemy to stop shooting, lean out from cover, headshot, repeat. Occasionally an enemy will come along that requires you to run away and shoot at the same time, but often it just comes down to ammo management. Weapon choices are ridiculously limited, offering only two or three different weapons within each category, of which only 6 exist, but don't be fooled by the seemingly 12-18 different choices of weapon. Soldier is the only class than can utilise all of them, over half the classes are limited to only two weapons. And to make matters worse, very few of the guns are truly an even choice. Only snipers and assault rifles truly offer two weapons that are of the same calibre (badum-tush), and then it only relies on play style rather than different situational use. So in effect, there are about 8 guns in the game, not really a good choice. Armour is much of the same; never situational, limited choice, and hard to come by. Another horrible, and overall very boring, part of the gameplay is the upgrading. You can choose to upgrade your armour, weapons, powers, and ship, but all at a cost of minerals. There are 4 types of mineral that can be found on planets by scanning and sending probes to dig it up...Or something. That part isn't explained well. But what's annoying is that some upgrades cost in excess of 25,000 of certain minerals, and at best, you'll get 8,000 of a single one per planet, but 3-4,000 is more likely. So, to get some upgrades, you need to go through an hour of mining. This is not fun, and ends up hurting your wrist more often than not. While many of the upgrades aren't essential, if you're playing on Insanity (which I am) you need them to keep alive more often than not. A few bugs are still present in the game, the most annoying of which is one where your character will glitch out on a wall or some cover and be unable to move. I had it happen three times where I was unable to get myself off it and had to reload. Not a game ender, but certainly annoying.The soundtrack to this game is excellent. It could easily be used in a movie (although in my opinion, the Moon soundtrack would suit this game better) and is used to great effect for mood and cues. The battle music is intense, while the music for exploring is calming and suits space to a tee. There's even some great club/dance music for the bars scattered around the various planets you visit. The music absolutely beams in the late game though. In the ending levels, the atmosphere provided by the music suits perfectly and I honestly don't believe they could have done it any better. Sound effects are good, although sometimes intrusive upon the dialogue, especially on ships where various beeps and boops of equipment will distract you from the person you're interacting with. The thing that really shines are the voices. Unlike Oblivion, where the entire several hundred character cast is voiced by 4 people, they've used a huge variety of voices for the hundreds of people found throughout the 'verse. Generic characters have generic voices, but they're rare enough that you don't notice, while every named character sounds different, there's even a Scottish engineer. The massive diversity adds to much depth to the game, making it feel so much realer compared to a lot of other games in this genre.
Another thing that adds massively to the realness of Mass Effect 2 are the graphics. Great textures and optimisation make this game look great even on lower settings, but most recent computers will be able to run it on maximum. My only complaints are that often there's a lot of blur around light sources or characters that give them a very fuzzy look, and occasional clipping of skin through clothes and some awkward model placement, but nothing dramatic that kills the mood. The diversity of environments can be amazing, but more often than not isn't used. There are some breath taking levels that include a military facility overrun with jungle and a 'desert paradise'-esque portion of landscape that you can do battle on. However, you'll normally find yourself looking at the same old ship interior, or industrial landscape that's all grey or brown, and it really starts to wear you down. The different races are all extremely visually interesting, but different members of each race often look so alike you're not sure if they're twins or not. When you can tell the difference, it's normally because of a pallet swap (especially in the case of Quarians).While a lot of this would point towards a reasonably fun game, but not overwhelmingly so (especially because of the combat), for some reason it all comes together to be one of the best games I've played in a long time. This will most likely be the first game I play to completion at least twice for both endings (good and bad) and I may even attempt a 100% run for fun. The last game I did this with was Knights of the Old Republic. While the combat is samey, it still manages to remain fun even when you're doing the same thing for most fights. However, what really saves this game are the plot and characters. Sure, BioWare are always good at this, but I think this is their best work yet. I'll be playing through on the easiest difficulty purely to see as much dialogue as I can. However, to really enjoy this game, you need to play it on the harder difficulties. Playing on easy is boring during combat, but on Insanity it gets really, really fun. You need to think about where you take cover, who you kill first, and who you take on missions with you. It becomes more than a cover shooter and begins to incorporate strategy, something that I think is welcome in shooters these days. I think Mass Effect 2 is a must buy for a lot of people. Shooter fans will like it, RPG fans will like it, action fans will like it. Actually, it's a well rounded game that pretty much anyone will like.

Score
Plot 9/10
Gameplay 7/10
Sound 9/10
Graphics 8/10
Enjoyment 9/10
Overall 42/50
Grade B+

Pros
- Excellent story and characters
- Decently fun combat on higher difficulties
- Looks good and doesn't need a beast to run
Cons
- Combat can get boring and repetitive
- A few path finding glitches on cover
- Doesn't use the universe it has to full effect

Anime Review - Kimi-kiss ~ Pure Rouge Special

Director: Kasai Kenichi
Length: 1 episode
Year 2007-08

So, clearly not content with torturing myself by watching an entire series that I didn't like, I decided I had to watch the special episode as well. I expected more of the same, in other words, crap. But I was pleasantly surprised by how fun it was to watch. Compared to the main series anyway.

The plot revolves around a minor character of the main series, and I was damn happy about that. I was interested in this character, unlike any from the main series, and although she wasn't expanded on in any significant way, I was still far more interested than I had been for the previous 5 or so hours of watching the rest of the anime. Love is still the main plot point, but it's handled much better. It's about a girl looking for love, not about a few school kids who happen across it because they feel like it. But even then, it's not just about a girl looking for love, it has some twists that make it interesting. Really, it's still not great, but after watching the main series I was happy for it to be better than that, and that was certainly good enough for me.The animation is essentially the same as the main series. A few mistakes in mouth animation, but nothing else significant. However, it felt better since I liked what I was seeing, rather than being bored of it. Nothing else to say about that. In fact, since it's so short, I'll say the same about the music. Same as the main series.Now, onto the fun part. I enjoyed this! well, compared to the series I did. If I watched it as a standalone I'd enjoy it less since it still isn't great in most compartments, but after watching the series this was a huge step up in enjoyment. I almost found myself caring! I'm still not advising that you watch this, but if you liked the series, you should love this.

Score
Plot 6/10
Animation 7/10
Sound 4/10
Enjoyment 6/10
Overall 23/40
Grade C

Pros
- Kind of cared about the character
Cons
- Still didn't care about anyone else

Anime Review - Kimi-kiss ~ Pure Rouge

Director: Kasai Kenichi
Length: 24 episodes
Year 2007-08

I'm not quite sure why I suffered through this. Well, that's a bad thing to say, I know why. I had to. The worst thing about this anime is the reason I watched it fully, it only gets really bad after episode 10. The further along the plot went, the less I cared about the characters, and the easier I could predict exactly what was going to happen, down to facial expressions and body movements. In the last few episodes I was barely paying attention anymore, choosing to talk to people on MSN and check my facebook and twitter. It was getting that boring.

Anyway, enough of me hating on the anime...Well, it's not actually; I'll be doing it for almost the whole review. Especially this part. The plot and, more importantly, the characters of this show were horrible. There were two characters I cared for, sort of. Well, more like one, and she doesn't even get to be with the person she loves which irritated me. There were a few minor characters I liked, but they got screen time so negligible I honestly can't remember their names. Actually, I can't remember many of the names of any of the characters. That's not a good sign really. This anime is generic. So very, very generic. Such a standard childhood friend love triangle that I was angry at anyone who approved of this anime. That being said, the love triangle doesn't show up until after episode 10 or so. That's what annoyed me most. You could almost see it coming, but you dearly hope it doesn't. When it does, you just have to vent rage at the nearest wall, or the internet. However, that's only half the story since there are two love triangles in this show. Thank god. The other is far more interesting, and surprisingly I felt it to be more realistic even if the main focus of it wasn't. I can't empathise with hyper geniuses, but I sure as hell liked Futami as a character more than almost anyone else in the show. The only problem about this second love triangle...Well, there are a few actually. The guy involved in it reminded me far too much of the lead from Fate/Stay Night, Shiro Emiya. I found myself making multiple cracks at this fact, even going so far as to renaming his two love interests to match other characters from Fate/Stay Night just so I had more fun while watching. The other problem with this triangle is that he ends up with the wrong girl. I know this is subjective, but it really annoyed me for some reason. He ends up with the far shallower character in terms of exposition, in my opinion, and I just felt sorry for him. I'm also surprised at how generic I found this anime to be. I mean, I don't even watch romance animes often, or read any romance novels. I'm not knowledgeable in them at all, but this still felt boring and predictable to no end.
I've probably insulted the plot enough. Well, I haven't, but I'll leave it alone for now. The animation was pretty good. That's all there is to say really. Nothing spectacular, nothing horrible. Actually, that's a lie. The mouth movements are pretty bad, a lot of the time sounds are heard but no movement of the mouth. But that's all that was bad really. Crying, something rarely handled well in anime was quite good in this though. I suppose that's a plus. Overall, there really isn't anything to talk about here.
Moving along, the music. Oh dear god the music. Why? Just...Why? I've mentioned generic a few times in this review haven't I? Well, I'm doing it again. Normally when I'm watching an anime, or a tv show, or anything, I'll notice the music and think 'hey, that's a nice tune, maybe I should download the soundtrack.’ Not so here. I didn't notice the music, I can't remember any of the music. I lie actually. The opening song is stuck in my head...All the first line of it that I can't skip quickly enough to get to the show. The closing song is horrible too. An extremely weak effort by anyone involved here. I'm pretty disappointed really. In my pretty unknowledgeable opinion (but still clearly correct one) music makes a scene a lot of the time, even more so in dramatic scenes or the like. So for a romance, which relies heavily on drama and caring about the characters, the music for this series just failed. It failed so very hard.So, you'd think with all these scathing comments and bad words for the series I'd have hated watching it? You're right actually. This is one of the least enjoyable animes I've ever watched. Only surpassed by another romance story called Zero no Tsukaima, but only the second and third seasons (don't ever expect reviews of them, I am not watching them a second time. Ever.) As I've already stated, this series was boring me by the end, or from halfway through really. The biggest problem is that it starts out so well, with seemingly interesting characters and what could become a great romance story, but it falls prey to bad clichés and fails to expand characters properly or in a satisfying fashion. I really can't recommend this to anyone.
Scores
Plot 3/10
Animation 6/10
Sound 4/10
Enjoyment 1/10
Overall 14/40
Grade E+

Pros
- Crying looks nice
Cons
- Don't care about the characters crying
- Or anything else for that matter

Cinema Review - Law Abiding Citizen

"Well, justice should be harsh...Especially for those who denied it to others."

Law Abiding Citizen. Plot holes, gore, and good acting galore. Well, I'm a bit generous on the acting, and overstating the plot holes a bit, but they're there. This movie will be hit and miss for a lot of people, I loved it, but I know that quite a few of the friends I saw it with didn't enjoy it that much.

As I've already mentioned, Law Abiding Citizen has a few plot holes. The biggest one is why Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) is always first onto the scene...He's a lawyer. I know that it's needed in the context of the movie, and I didn't mind it too much, but it's fairly distracting if you stop to think about it. Both myself and the person sitting next to me commented on it more than once. Aside from that, and the slightly farfetched reasoning of Gerard Butler's character, the movie flowed very well. There are some very powerful scenes, both emotionally and physically, and the themes portrayed throughout the movie are valid. Gerard Butler is the star of this movie, in more ways than one. Aside from being the main character, he plays his role spectacularly, from seemingly deranged psychotic to concerned/loving father. Every moment that he's on screen is what makes this film so good.
Where the plot is sometimes lacking in this movie, what's shown on the screen more than makes up for it. This movie is beautiful, albeit in its own special way, but that doesn't change how good it looks. Camera movement and angles are done superbly, although the use of shaky cam does obviously prelude any and all action or explosions, taking away some of the excitement. There's a beautiful explosion in one of the closing scenes that employs some great angles and slow motion. I'm looking forward to getting this on blu-ray immensely.
The music and sound in this movie are also brilliant. The soundtrack is extremely haunting, using some very strange techniques to creep you out. The fairly standard classical score is sometimes pitch changed for a second or two which really jars you, but thinking back on it, it adds a lot to the tension of the movie. In some scenes there are some dubbing issues since what's being played and what's being heard is clearly different (at least from a musicians perspective), but it won't bother many people. Aside from that, nothing stands out, but there's nothing bad about it either. Definitely a solid effort.While all of the above doesn't make for that great a movie, it was surprisingly good. I know I won't be seeing it again until it comes out on blu-ray and dvd, but that's only because of how the plot works. It's good for one use, but upon more viewings it pretty much sucks because you know what's going to happen. I was enjoying myself so much when I was watching this in the cinema, and bad plot be damned. This movie is amazingly fun to watch if you can overlook the plot holes (not really hard at all) and just love it for what it is.

Score
Plot 6/10
Visuals 9/10
Sound 8/10
Enjoyment 8/10
Overall 31/40
Grade B

Pros
- Gerard Butler.
- Hauntingly good music and camera work
Cons
- Decent sized plot holes

Cinema Review - Bran Nue Dae

"It's a bran' new day"

I'll start this review off by saying Bran Nue Dae should not have been a musical. The director, Rachel Perkins, has done a good job with this movie; it's very enjoyable to watch, highly amusing, and looks good. However, it's marketed as a musical, and at this it fails. It also fails at plot, just not as much.

This movie's plot would work well as a comedy, but it doesn't as a musical. In fact, at some points the plot seems to be rushed forward to get to a song, rather than letting songs tell the story. Actually, for a musical, not much of the plot is told through the songs really. The ending to this movie, while completely and utterly trash, is absolutely hilarious. It rushes to get plot points tied up, and does so in such a ridiculous fashion that it's impossible not to laugh. The same can be said for character development. There are at least 5 'plot twists' in the last 10 minutes of the movie and they're all stupid. Yet, they're fun. This movie can't be taken seriously, but it feels like that was intended. That's one of the best things about this movie. I was laughing A LOT at this movie, something that I really don't do that often. I probably haven't laughed so much, or so loudly, at a movie since The Room (directed by Tommy Wiseau). Some of this laughter was from ridiculous plot, but a lot of it was from the humour that Perkins wanted us to feel, and it's definately there!If you're looking for a deep and meaningful plot, go see Up in the Air, not this. Another annoying product of the musical nature of this film is that you can clearly tell the actors from the singers. Missy Higgins in particular puts up an awful performance, and in all honesty doesn't even sing that well, but I'll say more on that later. Ernie Dingo, on the other hand, puts up one of my favourite performances in a movie in a long time. He suits his character perfectly, from the rough shod look, to the off colour humour. It's clear that he's a brilliant actor, as well as his character being extremely well written. Ernie is probably the clearest redeeming factor for this movie.The way the movie looks is not very dissapointing at all. The desert outback is portrayed wonderfully in this movie. Some great shots of the desert and towns are seen, and the camera work is solid. It's not often that I feel engrossed by a set, but for some reason this movie seems exceptionally real, but that could be because I live in Australia and the architecture is more familiar to me. The use of 'shaky-cam', or handhelds, seems out of place in many of the scenes it's employed in, and really throws you out of the movie, destroying any sense of feeling that you were there, but since it's used sparingly, it doesn't infringe too much, and overall it's not a huge detractor. This also goes for some of the more hectic scenes where very fast, jarring camera movements are made, especially in dance scenes, and it feels unreal and out of place.Now to my biggest complaint, the sound in this movie. I've already mentioned that the songs had no real plot significance, and I'm going to say it again. This movie would have been so much better off if it weren't a musical. The songs are all overly digitalised, and don't fit in with the scenes they're in at all. The best example of this is when Missy Higgins is singing in a hippie van. There is no background noise that's distinguishable. Hippie vans are not quiet beasts, and any singing would not be so clear in one. I realise that the singing has to be clear, but there was no feeling that they were actually singing where they were on screen, something that really detracted from the movie, in my opinion. Another horrible by product of the musical nature of this movie is that the lip-synching is pretty awful. Within five minutes of the movie starting, I was thinking that a large majority of the film was dubbed, and not that well either. A lot of the voices sounds fake, and much of the singing is largely ignorable. The sound in this movie is a massive downfall. That being said, some of the songs were extremely catchy, and once again Ernie Dingo has the best performance with one scene featuring traditional (or so I'd assume) aboriginal dance and song. This song is probably the best in the movie, and while it still felt forced, I was somewhat sad at how short it was.

This movie, while certainly fun, isn't really worth watching. The humour is great, and Ernie Dingo is pretty much priceless, but the sound and plot just fail to engage and for a musical, that's pretty fatal. If you love musicals or movies, avoid this, it's not really worth the time. Maybe for a quick laugh if you can ignore the seriously bad plot and the way it progresses, or the essentially worthless musical components, but even then, I'd prefer to see a proper comedy.

Score
Plot 4/10
Visuals 7/10
Sound 2/10
Enjoyment 6/10
Overall 19/40
Grade D+

Pros
- Ernie Dingo
- Very funny at points

Cons
- Horrible music and sound
- Bad plot and plot pogression
- The music. It's really that bad