“Mass Effect 3″ is coming up, just when you thought you might escape from “Kingdoms of Amalur” and actually get outside for some fresh air. As the sequel to one of the most deservedly popular and best reviewed games of all time, there are a lot of expectations.
We’ve heard about the revised combat system, and we’re looking forward to trying it out. And, of course, we’re looking forward to digging through all that dialogue to find side quests, more information about the various species, and to get into our secretary’s pants.
But there are a few other revisions we have in mind, some little touches that would substantially improve the experience.
#5) Adjustable Subtitle Sizes
The biggest nitpick with “Mass Effect 2″ was the fact that BioWare doesn’t test their games on a screen smaller than, say, 50″. Which is great for them, but even people with smaller modern TVs were squinting to catch every word.
#4) Zoomable Maps
Another result of the game being optimized for a TV the size of a small child. Come on, guys. Not all of us own 70″ plasma screens, but we all want to figure out how to get around. And on the subject of maps…
#3) A Mini-Map in the HUD
Seriously, we don’t need an elaborate radar or anything, but a freaking mini-map, like every other open world game, would be useful.
#2) For God’s Sake, Let Us Pause During Dialogue Sequences
This was probably the most annoying thing in the entire game. Every now and then, BioWare, we’re in the middle of a dialogue tree and we have to take a dump. Don’t make us just leave the characters awkwardly standing there. Let us pause.
#1) A Morality System Tied To All Your Actions
It was great how you could level up both your Paragon and your Renegade actions through dialogue, but it also created this weird moment where Shepard was nice to somebody…and then robbed their wall safe, right in front of them, or maybe hacked an ATM and cleaned it out of all its credits after comforting somebody who was a dick to him, immediately followed by, say, yanking some poor shmuck out of cover and shooting him in the crotch. It’s a bit jarring that you’re a paragon of virtue when you’re following the usual gaming pattern of stealing everything you can pick up.
image courtesy EA
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I can’t speak for the PS3 or PC versions, but at least on the Xbox, all I had to do was hit the guide button on the controller, and it would pause their dialogue. Helped me out several times.
Yeah, but hitting the ESC key or the PS button just seems…inelegant somehow. This is an INCREDIBLY minor detail, for the record.
On the PC, Im pretty sure you can hit the ESC key at any time and go back to the main menu. Possibly not for cutscenes though. I cant remember.
I’m just hoping that they finally show what Tali looks like.
Shes going to be hideous. You cheated on Ashley/Liara with Mrs Cyclops when you could have gotten Miranda.
I did go with Miranda, I’m a Chuck fan.
I went with Tali, that ass can’t possibly belong to an ugly girl.
She’s got claw feet. M,kay?
Speak for yourself buddy. I cheated on Liara with Thane. Luckily, Mordin gave me that ointment for the resulting skin infection.
Also, I’m totally not into the fact that you’ll be able to use the Kinect and skip out on using a controller. How long would that take to annoy the shit out of your roommates/family and get your ass kicked out of the house?
Looking forward to finishing the story, NOT looking forward to the further neutering of the rpg elements that EA forced in because they wanted broader appeal. Broader appeal on a 3rd game in a series that supposedly concludes it? Yeah ok.
*fingers crossed*
I think hardcore gamers are like Star Trek fans – there aren’t a billion of us, but we are fiercely loyal and we clearly know what we want. It would be extremely foolish to sacrifice this market for a bunch of drooling button-mashers.
It just shows how incredible this game is – we can get down to the level of complaining about pause options. We don’t have to worry about lousy story or broken game mechanics. Bioware usually does a fantastic job – and I love the fact that my Xbox imports my character from the last iteration. This gets us a step closer to paper and dice RPGs.
Oh, “Mass Effect 2″ is undeniably a great game, like I said, it deserved all the praise. That said, I am looking forward to the combat system tweaks, and a melee attack being more important.
Dan:
I can’t recommend enough getting an HD set at least 52 inches – I’ve had a Sharp Aquos LCD for a couple years and I’ve been very happy. If you have a sig other it may be a tough sell, but I think it would be worth it. A wall mount is a must. I’m playing Crysis 2 right now and it looks beautiful.
Honestly, right now, I just cannot justify it. I don’t have the room in my apartment. I got a very nice off-brand LCD off of Newegg a few months ago, though, and it’s 37″.
Just for a lark I went back and played a bit of the first game. Oof!! I forgot just how clunky the gameplay is in ME1. I’d gotten so used to the smoothness of ME2 that the previous game is almost unplayable now.
I can’t wait for ME3 I romanced the shit out of Tali last time. I want some more of that ass.
I think you mean DAT ASS: [memegenerator.net]
I romance female characters and my Shepard is also female. I believe in inclusiveness.