Posts tagged DLC
Review: Mass Effect 2: Arrival
Apr 1st
Alright, so here’s the deal: Before the jump, I’m not going to spoil anything. After the jump, I will try to avoid direct story spoilers but discuss what Arrival means in terms of Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3. It’s a hard topic to avoid when talking about this DLC pack, and needs to be addressed. Capiche? Capiche.
At Silicon Sasquatch, we love ourselves some Mass Effect. I’ve played through Mass Effect 1 and 2 twice each, bought and played through all of the ME2 DLC, and earned almost all the achievements in both…and I’m the person on staff who is the least hardcore about the game! Put simply, we enjoy the game’s mechanics and universe so much that the opportunity to dive back into ME2 one last time and get a nice bridge between it and the highly anticipated Mass Effect 3 is very, very hard to avoid.
That said, I enjoyed it but as a DLC package for Mass Effect 2, I find it hard to put Arrival ahead of some other extra missions Commander Shepard has gone on. It’s not quite as interesting from a gameplay standpoint as the Overlord or Kasumi: Stolen Memory missions were, and I don’t think the storyline was handled as well as The Lair of the Shadow Broker. There are times in Arrival where I felt like the level design was a touch convoluted. I think Arrival also relies a bit too much on combat — one of the new achievements in this DLC is tied directly to a specific combat sequence, and I can’t for the life of me think how you could get it the first time around. Hell, the second half of the mission has an almost-bewildering amount of shooting dudes given the context of the situation.
That said, Arrival does tell the story that bridges Mass Effect 2 and 3. And it does provide additional context and, above all, gets you excited for Mass Effect 3 to get here NOW. So, it has that going for it. Lastly, it provides you another chance to go back into the game — and even with some issues, more Mass Effect 2 is always a good thing. It may be a bit fanboy-ish, but when the topic of ME comes up, it’s hard to be completely subjective. The game series has proved itself to be that good.
So dig in. Whether now, to avoid as many spoilers as possible, or as an appetizer to get back into the mood for Mass Effect 3, this deserves to be played, for better or worse. It’s a shame that the hook of being the gap between Mass Effect 2 and 3 can be used to get fans to struggle through an average experience.
Review: Dead Rising 2: Case Zero (XBLA)
Sep 10th
Developers have come a long way since the abysmal, early dark ages of downloadable content. What started with overpriced horse armor has evolved into a product that can defy typical classification.
Is Case Zero a demo for Dead Rising 2? Yes. Is it a prelude DLC package that adds to the full game with character development and carry-over bonuses for the final retail product? Certainly. To the great chagrin of forum-goers and blog posters, Dead Rising 2: Case Zero is but the tip of the iceberg for the industry, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the idea.
Welcome to the future of videogame demos. I hope the critics have developed adequate coping mechanisms.
Revitalizing World Tour in Rock Band
May 19th
It’s no secret that I’m a die-hard Rock Band fan. Ever since Frequency came out nearly a decade ago, I’ve avidly followed Harmonix’s rise from a small studio building relatively niche rhythm games into what is now the undisputed leader in high-quality music gaming. From the time Rock Band first arrived in 2007, I don’t think a week has gone by where I haven’t picked up a guitar or banged on the drums for at least a few minutes. It doesn’t hurt that I’ve amassed a pretty substantial collection of songs, either.
But years have passed, achievements have been earned, and world tours have been demolished. With more than a year and a half having passed between Rock Band 2′s release and now, it’s highly unlikely that many players are still regularly hitting up the World Tour mode; instead, most people are probably opting for the pick-up-and-play simplicity of quickplay. That’s not a bad thing, necessarily, but what if World Tour could be reworked to be more robust, more engaging, and more enduring?
I’ve done my best to compile all my thoughts and suggestions into a relatively ordered list below. While it looks like we’ll be getting some new insight directly from the Harmonix design team based on this short article Lead Designer Dan Teasdale posted today, I figured I’d post my own impressions of what the series’ strengths and weaknesses are, and what can be done to specifically improve the World Tour experience in Rock Band 3.
Just bear in mind that this is only speculation from a guy who maybe loves his music games a little too much, and as a result it’s best if it’s not taken too seriously.
Review: Red Faction: Guerilla: Demons of the Badlands (Xbox 360)
Oct 19th
It’s hard to review Demons of the Badlands without addressing its parent game, Red Faction: Guerilla. Although Silicon Sasquatch hasn’t published a review, the general consensus is that it delivered an unabashedly fun orgy of destruction in both single player and multiplayer, even if both modes had their limits.
Guerilla launched in early June of this year, and Demons of the Badlands followed in mid-August. Promising new weapons, a new protagonist and a whole new landscape to demolish, it was devised as an encore to a relatively one-of-a-kind experience. In developer Volition’s defense, Demons of the Badlands delivers on exactly what was promised: The add-on feels just as polished and exhilarating as the rest of the game, and the new weapons add a much-needed dash of variety to keep the experience from feeling stale. However, for a ten-dollar add-on, Demons of the Badlands is woefully short, comprising three story missions and eleven side missions that can be completed in a mere two hours.
The Backlog: It’s Like E3 Again Edition
Aug 21st
Why hello there, future purchase
What a week it’s been. The inaugural Gamescom in Cologne, Germany opened on Wednesday and guess what: Sony kindly unveiled the new PlayStation 3 Slim. Media outlets weren’t exactly surprised by the announcement, but I think we’re all glad the rumor mill has finally ceased its incessant turning about the damn console. Looks like I finally need to go get a PS3.
Oh, and a little event in Anaheim, California called BlizzCon flung its +10 Doors of Nerd Barricading open to the (literally) unwashed masses of Blizzard fanatics today, and so far we’ve already been made privy to the next World of Warcraft expansion, a new Diablo III class and StarCraft II being confirmed for release in 2010.
You know, as a gamer I like it when these big gaming-related events run back-to-back with one another. The ESA might as well wedge E3 2010 between next year’s Gamescom and BlizzCon to mentally and physically destroy every games journalist in existence. That could be Silicon Sasquatch‘s in! Read the rest of this entry »
Review: Fallout 3: Mothership Zeta (XBL)
Aug 20th
Here we are, dissecting the final downloadable addition to the Fallout 3 universe.
Throughout the year, Bethesda Softworks has given gamers a grand total of $50 worth of extra content to one of 2008′s finest games. The finale, Mothership Zeta, is certainly a bold move on the studio’s part to try to go out with an edge-of-your-seat bang. Putting Fallout in space, even with the series’ trademark exorbitant scenarios, is definitely a head-tilting decision. But cosmic setting aside, don’t expect any climactic end to the story of the Lone Wanderer here; the developers are smart enough to realize that after rectifying Fallout 3′s ending with Broken Steel, setting a finite conclusion to the mythos would kill the immersion.
Unfortunately, the end is nigh…and not that great. Zeta is a linear and uninteresting bookend to a fairly massive collection of expansions. It’s not as bad as Operation: Anchorage, but that’s not saying much.
Thanks to Zeta, most gamers are going to feel like their wallets have been probed. Take me to your refund counter, please. Read the rest of this entry »
Review: Fallout 3: Point Lookout (XBL)
Aug 18th
It’s comforting to trek through the swampy bogs of Fallout 3′s fourth downloadable content pack — it’s just like the Capital Wasteland, only with (slightly) more inbreeding.
That feeling of being at home within the game is Point Lookout’s strongest asset. Unlike the uneven experiences in both Operation: Anchorage and The Pitt, this DLC effort takes a page out of the core Fallout 3 experience. Players are given a familiar set of rules and goals: explore, scavenge, kill and quest. Even Broken Steel, which was a remarkably solid piece of extra content, timidly reproduced the basics of Fallout 3. But with Point Lookout, Bethesda Softworks has created a real sidestory to remind us why its rendition of the Fallout franchise is so supremely addictive.
Daily Recap: May 14, 2009
May 14th
Today Nick posted his review of Fable II’s second downloadable expansion, See the Future. He wasn’t exactly impressed.
The criticisms largely echo mine in reviewing the first add-on, Knothole Island, and it’s an overall shame to again see Lionhead botch its DLC. Costumes and potions will only get your game so far, you know.
You got all excited for nothing, pup
It’s also unfortunate that my predictions of See the Future being more worthwhile turned out wrong–that’s what I get for speculation, I suppose.
News for Thursday: Sony loses cash, a lack of funding shutters another development studio and Telltale Games sells a lot of Strong Bad. It’s all very money-oriented today. Read the rest of this entry »
Review: Fable II: See the Future (Xbox Live)
May 14th
A beautiful vista symbolizing great things on the horizon. But a chance to see the future? Well…not so much.
After our last journey to Albion’s Knothole Island left us feeling cold, dampened our spirits and hung us out to dry, Lionhead brings us another content pack with See the Future. It promises new dungeons, new items, plenty of new achievements and an enticing glimpse into Albion’s (and the franchise’s) future.
But just like any of Murgo’s wares, this new purchase will probably leave you feeling swindled.
Daily Recap: May 13, 2009
May 14th
I’d like to apologize to our readers for a late Daily Recap. Our goal is to post these summations of the day’s news in a timely manner, but sometimes that doesn’t always happen. Yesterday a plethora of Windows Update-related problems and a strangely spotty Internet connection got in the way of my non-paying job.
Also, the two-hour season finale of Lost didn’t help much.
Hurley certainly isn't happy with the lateness of this post
Thankfully, it seems, Wednesday was relatively calm as far as news goes: DICE learned from its console prejudices, Blizzard reaffirmed its next MMO is not World of Warcraft: Part Deux and Microsoft bolstered its Platinum Hits collection.