[360, PS3] Mass Effect 2 *(Spoiler Warning)

hehe
Yeah, I missed a couple paragon triggers there because I put down the controller at those times XD Apparently the pick-up items will change if you re-load the save game, so that's supposed to happen (randomized).
 
Textures look like they are higher-res than is IMHO, be it artwork and/or mapping/shading.

Again, they did pull every trick in the book to maximize texture efficiency and put the detail where your eyes focus. Just take a look at your own screenshots where Shepard wears a uniform on the ship and compare texel density on his face to texel density on his shoulders. Or do the same with Garrus, who happens to have a lot more surface area then say Miranda that has to be covered with the same texel budget. Grunt is another case of this but his armor is shiny and new so you're less likely to notice low res textures, compared to all the wear and tear on Garrus (which also has to be asymmetrical to look realistic).

Environments also make use of a lot of instancing and hide it with clever object placement and colored lighting. I've also seen a few textures from the game and they're packed to 99% efficiency, and again they're using downsized normal maps (PC version might use the full versions) and maybe speculars too.
Here's a nice and long article if anyone's interested:
http://www.pixologic.com/interview/mass-effect2/1/
Obviously spoilerish...

And I really love the game's general visual design. It's like they took the best from the greatest SF worlds of the eighties - Star Trek, Star Wars and Blade Runner, with some bits of Alien maybe (and even Tron - so lots of Syd Mead) - and then somehow managed to update it to the 21st century without loosing the essence of it.
I'm also really curious about the movie stuff, not sure if it could become a successful blockbuster but one can always hope...
 
You can get the game really cheap on Xbox360 and PC - so they are surely targeting PS3-only-users with the PS3 version -> I wonder if the release ME2 on PS3 at full price?
 
GAF has some Mass Effect 2 details for PS3:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=24224942&postcount=1

As said, the package will apparently contain;

- An interactive 'Dark Horse' comic that tells the story of the first game, while allowing players to make choices.
- Access to the Cerberus Network and it's DLC.
- The mission pack DLC of Kasumi's Stolen Memory, Overlord, and Lair of the Shadow Broker.
- An additional mission with roughly six hours of game time.

It's a 'rumour', but it is being reported by a German moderator on the official BioWare forums, so I wouldn't be surprised if it were real.
 
Six hours is actually a lot, that's like Kasumi + Overlord + Liara together, right?

(Replaying ME1 right now to also have a female Shepard to import for yet another round in ME2... :D)
 
Yeah, it's a good size addition. I'd say the DLC was kind of bad until the last one, which was great.

The interactive comic book is a great idea for catching people up on the story and letting them make all the pertinent choices.
 
Hum... wonder how the comic will unfold. It just seems strange making those "big" decisions as a succinct storytelling considering that part of it is really about playing the first game for X hours. Plus, players won't get to know Wrex as intended.

Btw, the formula is Bioware hours divided by two for Male/Female Shepards. :p Anyhoo, wonder what the new mission will be. Shadowbroker was awesome.
 
does not sound much value to be honest.
I wonder the price of the game though...I hope that they don't get the idea to go full price:mad:

Why not full price ? For someone who has not played it (like me !), it's a new game.

Of course, I'll be elated if they lower the price. :devilish:
 
Uhm why not Part 1 at all? Players will miss so much IMHO :(
Finished both the second time, man these games are epic for me!
 
from my personal perception it is not a good value at all!

if someone wants to play ME2...why not buy the cheap PC or Xbox version.
so for me, there is really no motivation to buy PS3 ME2 at all just because of the DLC (especially since a downgrade in tec is very likely)

if they are really targeting PS3 users only they should have include ME1!! This is the only way to go IMO, because all people solely playing ME2 will miss parts of the story...it is supposed as a trilogy after all ;-)

so, it is just my opinion that up to now, I don't see for me an additional value...

of course, for PS3 only users, who don't mind ME1 story (or read it somewhere)...look forward to this game, because it is simple one of the best this generation!
 
if they are really targeting PS3 users only they should have include ME1!! This is the only way to go IMO, because all people solely playing ME2 will miss parts of the story...it is supposed as a trilogy after all ;-)

Consider that the ME3 engine is probably based on the ME2 engine with very little changes, so if they are to release the final game on the PS3 they only have to convert and rewrite one engine.

ME1's engine is however very different, lacking a lot of optimizations, so it'd involve a far greater programming effort. And it's a nearly 4 years old game, far too old to sell for full price and it's not going to receive too many game of the year awards in the upcoming months. But a port of ME2 can ride this publicity wave pretty well.

Also, I'm playing ME1 right now and the shooter part is quite bad. I'm playing on hardcore and got stuck at the end of Liara's rescue - the damn Krogan always kills everyone because of the broken game mechanics. Can't take cover, can't shoot fast enough, don't have any other ways to inflict enough damage... It'd be a bad idea to try to sell this game today on the PS3 with all the competing 3rd person shooters.
 
Well, unlike ME2 it's not competing with third person shooters if you ask me. Since when do a couple of wonky mechanics scare rpg fans? I still think it's a far better game in the end and well worth playing, mostly because it actually has an interesting story to tell.
 
Why can't you take cover ?

The Krogan battlemaster was annoying, lucky that I went with the other missions first & got my shotgun upgraded before I went to thet mission while playing the game fors the first time (upgraded shotgun in ME1 > Sniper rifle lol).
 
The cover mechanics are an utter failure, that's why :) and the level design doesn't really help either. Sure it looks a bit silly in ME2, but at least you can rely on your own gameplay skills instead of luck.

And ME2 has better stories IMHO, too ;) Especially the ones in the Mordin and Tali loyalty missions.
 
The other annoying aspect of the shooter gameplay is that even as a level 19 sniper with quite a lot of points on the rifle skill the crosshair still wobbles around a lot unless I use the Master Assassination skill. Assault rifles are a mess too, even firing in short bursts will always spray bullets all around the place. It's just frustrating to play this core part of the game most of the time.

I also just had to go back to the Normandy to grab Tali for some hard level decryption (I'm an infiltrator but don't want to spend that precious 8 or so skill points on decryption), and still play the timed button press minigame. Another factor that benefited a lot from streamlining...

Sure, some stuff got a little to simplified, so in ME3 I'd also like to see a little larger weapon variety (without having to buy DLC, that is) and some more armor options for the entire crew. But I strongly approve Bioware replacing the skill system with powers, and making sure the shooter dynamics work well :)
Will complete ME1 with this female Shepard nevertheless, but I most definitely won't re-play for level 60 or for a Renegade run, one more playthrough is enough.
 
Back
Top