Mass Effect
So I spent a good portion of last week replaying the first Mass Effect game. While the story is not anything terribly new (yet another story of a hero/heroine and his/her companions setting out to save the universe from something that is evil). The execution was something that until that point had only been hinted at by other games, particularly those produced by Bioware over the decade or so before its release. The game was far from perfect, but the writing, voice-acting, scope of the story, and the basic mechanics worked perfectly. Ultimately you were left feeling a closeness to your characters that was unparalleled. It sucked when you had to let one of your characters die in order to save another one. You felt like the decisions you made would have far-reaching effects on the universe.
Yesterday saw the release of the second game in the series. So how do you follow up on one of the best sci-fi games (okay, I would argue one of the best sci-fi works, period)? Well, from what I can tell so far on Mass Effect 2, this is how you do it: you refine everything from the first game, cut the parts that didn't work, and get probably the most impressive voice cast for a videogame ever cobbled together. Yes, not everyone is the heavy-hitter that Martin Sheen is, but everyone fits their characters perfectly. The blond chick from Chuck, Yvonne Strahovski, works as the pissy Aussie scientist, Miranda; the woman who played as Number Six on BSG, Tricia Helfer, is pretty solid as the AI for the ship; and the return of Seth Green and Keith David was awesome.
While it's definitely not the first game to couch ideas about racism into a sci-fi universe, this game is interesting in that it places you in a tough position, especially if you choose to play the game out as a "paragon" (their version of good). Your character is manipulated into working for an organization known for it's pro-human, anti-alien stance in the universe. Even if your character does not agree with the ideals of the group, he is being financed by them and must live with the stigma that comes with. Oh, did I mention that on the first game this corporation was responsible for terrorist activities and questionable research practices? Here's the setup for you: you are a person who is responsible for saving everyone in the known universe, an accident causes you to die only to be revived by a sci-fi version of the KKK where you find yourself stuck working for them because even though you may not like their stance, they have the funding and their immediate interests coincide with yours (and did I mention that they are the only ones who take your claims that the threat hasn't been dealt with yet seriously?), so you find yourself stuck with the stigma of working with a xenophobic organization with ties to terrorism and illegal research in order to save the universe (why is it we are always saving the world or the country or the universe? Why can't the stakes be more benign once? hehe). I've loved dealing with that and questioning how I would feel if I was actually in that situation. It would essentially be like you getting backing from someone like North Korea. Regardless, I'm having fun and it's time to end this so I can get in a modicum of studying before lab.
Yesterday saw the release of the second game in the series. So how do you follow up on one of the best sci-fi games (okay, I would argue one of the best sci-fi works, period)? Well, from what I can tell so far on Mass Effect 2, this is how you do it: you refine everything from the first game, cut the parts that didn't work, and get probably the most impressive voice cast for a videogame ever cobbled together. Yes, not everyone is the heavy-hitter that Martin Sheen is, but everyone fits their characters perfectly. The blond chick from Chuck, Yvonne Strahovski, works as the pissy Aussie scientist, Miranda; the woman who played as Number Six on BSG, Tricia Helfer, is pretty solid as the AI for the ship; and the return of Seth Green and Keith David was awesome.
While it's definitely not the first game to couch ideas about racism into a sci-fi universe, this game is interesting in that it places you in a tough position, especially if you choose to play the game out as a "paragon" (their version of good). Your character is manipulated into working for an organization known for it's pro-human, anti-alien stance in the universe. Even if your character does not agree with the ideals of the group, he is being financed by them and must live with the stigma that comes with. Oh, did I mention that on the first game this corporation was responsible for terrorist activities and questionable research practices? Here's the setup for you: you are a person who is responsible for saving everyone in the known universe, an accident causes you to die only to be revived by a sci-fi version of the KKK where you find yourself stuck working for them because even though you may not like their stance, they have the funding and their immediate interests coincide with yours (and did I mention that they are the only ones who take your claims that the threat hasn't been dealt with yet seriously?), so you find yourself stuck with the stigma of working with a xenophobic organization with ties to terrorism and illegal research in order to save the universe (why is it we are always saving the world or the country or the universe? Why can't the stakes be more benign once? hehe). I've loved dealing with that and questioning how I would feel if I was actually in that situation. It would essentially be like you getting backing from someone like North Korea. Regardless, I'm having fun and it's time to end this so I can get in a modicum of studying before lab.