Mass Effect: Andromeda

Rating: 6.7

Happy Price: 19.99

Gameplay

Mass Effect expands on the previous trilogy of being a third person shooter/RPG with extensive dialogue, but lacks heavy narrative decision making seen in previous versions of the game. You'll customize armor, guns, and different party combinations. Selecting a class and building it out how you want to play it is one of the most rewarding parts of the game, but at the same time can feel more restrictive than in previous games. 

Quest Design

You'll be flooded with things to do, and not really know what is important or not when you first start playing the game. After a while you realize you're running around doing chores that don't reward much experience points or make any impact on the main story, yet they'll appear in your journal as incomplete which will bother you endlessly. It can be confusing because the dialogue for all these side quests is compelling and the voice acting is done well, which conveys emotion though the screen. You'll really want to save the botanists brother that may have been kidnapped by raiders, but after the 10th time you've heard this story it begins to lose its luster. Sometimes doing side quests unlock cool rewards like heavily discounted black market shops which help you in the long run, and other times you just get a pat on the back. Not knowing what the rewards are prior to doing the missions can result in a massive waste of time at points.

It's not always the content of the mission that takes a long time however, it's how these missions are constructed. You might start out on the Tempest (main ship) and have to fly to another planet [loading screen]. Then land on the planet [loading screen]. Walk around the station on the planet and talk to people [multiple loading screens opening doors and such]. Venture out into the wilderness of the planet which consists of long drives in the nomad which can be painfully slow at times. Then you'll fetch whatever you need to get. Return back to the planetary station [loading screen]. Be forced to read your email, which can only be accessed on the Tempest [loading screen] and then a follow up task from there which repeats this cycle. It made doing side quests a chore at times and it gets to the point where you just want the game to end. 

There are also missions that result in you having to wait for something to happen, and its not clear what has to happen for the follow up mission to unlock. Is it time duration? Real time or game time? A certain side quest? I still don't know. It will literally have a red ON HOLD: statement next to critical missions like companionship quests. I've completed the game and I have two companions still in this state with no idea how to progress. The main story quests are done well and have decent cinematics that progress the story. They consists of a linear set of tasks that have a good balance of combat time and dialogue time. There isn't the issue of multiple loading screens and they have a great flow to them. I enjoyed the main story quite a bit, but the side quests took away from the experience of the game especially when comparing to previous iterations of the game. 

Combat

Gunfights are much improved compared to previous versions, which we've seen steady improvements since the first Mass Effect was released back in 2007. There are new additions like jetpacks, dashes, hovers, and hovering which make you feel nimble on the battlefield and allow you to fly around and wreak havoc. These new tactics also come in handy when in tricky situations and you need to rush to cover or evade a barrage of bullets. The enemy types and their variety of behaviors gave good balance to each skirmish. There was a great range of enemies that included ones that rushed, normal assault rifle wielding enemies that utilized cover, the heavy's, and snipers. This forces you to switch weapons and have strategic loadouts that would make you versatile. I was constantly switching between sniper rifles and shotguns during skirmishes and combining those with my biotics. Each skirmished had enough tension to make me feel challenged, but wasn't overly frustrating.

Choices made outside of battle affect how your skirmishes will go. Wielding a scope on an assault weapon might be a good idea for some, but when I tried this it didn't go so well. Later in the game I had an assault rifle that was single shot but high damage and a low magazine size. The scope on this weapon was a great idea and I felt like I'd created an overpowered weapon and learned from a mistake I made earlier in the game. Guns are balanced very well, they range from high fire rate and low damage with large magazines to the polar opposite of that. There are modifications however that can make something overpowered however, and if you're strategic about how you're modifying weapons you'll have a good edge in battle. For example my high powered single shot assault rifle was equipped with a scope and a modification that increased the magazine size by 50%. I also had a low damage assault rifle with high fire rate equipped with a modification that made all my bullets sticky grenades. This allowed me to damage enemies near my target, or spray tons of grenades on the ground near a group of enemies.

Exploration

Most of the time exploring hostile planets will be done in the Nomad, which is the 6 wheel drive all terrain vehicle that features no weapons to shoot at all and extremely slow uphill speed. In order to upgrade things like speed, shield, and life support in this vehicle you'll need to mine some pretty rare resources. By the time I had enough resources to spend on the Nomad, I was debating if I should spend them on weapons, so I didn't spend them at all until later. When later came, the game was pretty much over. Despite that, the worlds you explore are beautiful and it's somewhat of a fun experience. The occasional jump here and there makes things bearable, but this vehicle needs guns so I can shoot at stuff as I drive across a planet to fetch someone's data pad that had missing research on it. 

A good game will feature something to do while driving, take lessons from a game like Forza Horizon which rewards things like getting air or burnouts. Things like this should allow for upgrades of the vehicle, or offer some reward so I have something to do while driving. Instead I spent my time looking around and being pretty bored while driving actually. Driving in real life was more fun than driving the Nomad which is a rarity in video games. The trailer made driving the Nomad this super cool experience of this badass vehicle. It doesn't become that until much later in the game when there are resources available to upgrade it. 

Progression

There are a limitless amount of abilities that can be upgraded, but at any given point only three are accessible abilities. Instead of the ability wheel we've seen in the past, you are now restricted to three abilities that are mapped to controller buttons. Abilities can be changed at fixed points in the world when your loadout is changed, places this can be done are on the Nexus which is your ship or resupply stations on planets. It is a bit counter intuitive that an "ability" needs to be changed out at the same location as armor and guns, since an ability is something housed inside your body. Because of the hassle of changing abilities at these stations, I just built out three main abilities I never changed and then built out all passive skills. I essentially became an expert at using my abilities, but at the same time was stuck with the same stuff for 60 hours of gameplay which made things feel stagnant.

What was surprisingly cool is the different combat archetypes that are unlocked. I started as a tech specialist that constructed turrets and disabled shields. When I started building out passive Combat skills like more damage from specific guns, I allocated enough skill points between the combat/tech trees to unlock a new archetype known as the Infiltrator. I unlocked an ability that allowed me to go invisible for a second while dashing which was surprising, and then also had a new set of buffs that combined damage and shield damage. Experience points are gained by both completing missions and killing enemies. Sometimes a skirmish that takes 60 seconds can yield more experience than a side quest that lasts 45 minutes, so this part didn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

Art and Animation

There are plenty of articles written about the animations in this game underachieving what a AAA studio like Bioware should be capable of doing. I'd like to highlight some of the positive artwork this game presents. The planets are highly detailed and beautiful to explore. Something I found a bit cheap was the main planets you go to follow common Earth environments but to an absolute extreme. You'll be on a planet that is full of ice, one that is a desert, one with poisonous swamp gas, etc. Even though they were not creative in this sense, the artists brought these places to life and made them worth exploring and spending time in. I found places where I could drive and see a spectacular sunset, or even appreciate something like the fauna on the tropical planets. There is a lot to complain about with this game, but the artwork was something that kept me going.

Summary

Combat has been much improved, but the franchise lost ground in terms of narrative, quest design, decision making, and animation. The thought of a sequel to this made me cringe. I'm not sure if I have much more faith in Bioware after this game, by the end of it I felt like I was playing a game that had a good story but was full of chores. 

Art: 9
Animation: 3
Design: 5
Combat: 9
Story: 6
Acting/Cinematics: 8

Total: 6.7

Mafia 3

Rating: 7.2

Happy Price: 19.99

Taking place in the turbulent late 60's in New Orleans, Mafia 3 has a lot to offer from a historical and cultural perspective in many different ways. Cars, racism, language, music, weapons, and countless other aspects were nailed perfectly. There is a great sense of authenticity in every aspect of gameplay which is a difficult thing to pull off right. 

Narrative

The strength of this game lies within the story and supporting characters which are incredibly detailed and developed for a video game. You play as the main character, Lincoln Clay, who is an ex Green Beret that conducted covert operations in Vietnam. When betrayed by the Italian Mob, he uses the same tactics in Vietnam to take down the gangsters that flood the streets of New Orleans. The game is portrayed like a documentary, with members of the senate interviewing your CIA correspondent that provides all the tactical data for your missions. It's a great way to show your characters past as a complete story, all the while developing your character in the present moment. It's one of the best narratives I've ever seen in a video game. 

Gameplay

It's a semi realistic open world with cars and guns, if you've ever played Grand Theft Auto or any previous Mafia games, it doesn't deviate much further than that. There isn't anything innovative here, its just stays true to the platform. 

Driving

Controls are tight and the driving physics are very good. Each car has a unique feel to it, and the shitty cars far outweigh the cool and fast ones, creating a nice system of always seeking and wanting the faster cars. Shooting while driving is simplified, as there is an auto targeting system that allows you to switch between what you want to shoot. This switches between the tires of a vehicle, the driver, or the engine, depending on what you're attempting to damage. You can only fire with your secondary weapon, so if you're built for stealth and have a silenced pistol you'll have a tough time shooting while driving. Wielding a .50 caliber revolver however, you can do some serious damage while driving. 

Stealth Combat

The best way to go about any mission is to use stealth, due to mob bosses having the police on their payroll, it's best you don't draw too much attention to yourself. Having the police and mob on you at the same time ensures death, or a loss of time since you'll have to evade the area to get them off your back. That said, enemy placement is designed for strategic stealth combat. It's very easy to lure enemies into your area and do stealth attacks, all the while avoiding others seeing it happen. The stealth attacks are gruesome and satisfying, usually involving multiple stabs to the neck and chest with a military Bowie knife, or quick throat slashes followed by a hug to break the fall. The green beret methods are reinforced and demonstrated. Headshots with a silenced pistol are a guaranteed kill as well, which is a huge plus over games that don't do this. I've never understood why it matters the damage rating of a gun in relation to headshots. Aside from bosses, headshots kill all enemies. There are some James Bond moments where you have to take out multiple enemies to remain detected, and getting three headshots in a row is very satisfying.

Shooting Mechanics

Mafia 3 uses a third person cover based system, and as stated earlier, rewards headshots and silenced weapons greatly. When shit hits the fan, or you anticipate it's going to, you can change up the arsenal to include more powerful weapons like an AK-47 or M-16 assault rifle. These more powerful weapons greatly enhance stopping power and allow for shots to the body to deal much more damage than the stealth based weapons which have very good accuracy. Getting into a shootout is not advised until much later in the game when your character has better weapons and more health. The AI is pretty good and will flank when they can, or will force you out of cover with grenades and other explosives. Many times I've died by being reckless, and one good shotgun blow will take you out. It's essential to be tactical since you're essentially a one man army. 

Progression

Conceptually the system is creative and makes sense with the world, but the execution of this is awful. Essentially your character has three underbosses, each with a specialties. One might be cars and explosives, another might be health related, etc. There are missions you can do to enhance your underbosses operation (which doesn't make a whole lot of sense as the person they kick money up to). The problem is when doing these missions, the game makes you drive across the entire map, get into a firefight, then return whatever you're trying to get back to base. Each of these missions can take 30-45 minutes, and they might not even progress the character right away. These missions increase how much your underbosses' operation revenue, and there are milestones as the revenue goes up. This makes it a very painful process to level up your character. These missions don't pay either, so not only will you not level up in every case, but you also don't get paid. So it becomes a gigantic waste of time.

There comes a point in the game where you're assigning rackets to each of the three underbosses, but then have to assign a district to someone. So this gets strange as well, and doesn't make any sense. For example, if I have region New York that has 2 rackets available. I can take over both rackets, and assign them to person A. But then, when I've done all the missions in region New York, I can assign that to someone. If I assign it to person B, they get all the rackets inside that region, and person A loses them. It's a strange system, and I'm not sure what the purpose behind that is. I guess it gives the player some short term flexibility, but ultimately the person that takes over the region's revenue increase, hence progressing your character.

The currency system offers some nice flexibility, but currency is not consistently rewarded and it's difficult to plan out your personal progression tree. There is no telling when you'll receive a mission that is heist related, or assassination related. Missions that require you to steal large amounts of cash, result in a cash reward which is the lifeblood of staying fully equipped and ready to take on harder missions. When the objective is to eliminate a target, nobody is paying you to do that. You have to search the facility for cash, and it's not guaranteed that there will be a sizable amount. The advantage of the currency system is if you're skilled enough using stealth, you can save up enough money to buy powerful weapons regardless of whom you have running rackets or districts.  

Soundtrack

The soundtrack is amazing, and was the most inspiring part of this game. They've taken hits from the era and tend to sync up songs with storyline missions that bring you inside of Lincoln Clay's emotions. The problem is these works of art were not created by the game developer, but the execution of applying them was done very well. It made driving those long distances doing side mission chores that much better. They also had great voice acting with the radio DJ's that complimented the radio stations. For a sense of the music, check out this playlist.  

Summary

Mafia 3 passes as a decent game, but it had some technical issues as I've had the game crash THREE times during my 30 hour campaign. It's generally unacceptable to have a game crash even one time, but three is terrible. It would leave me frustrated because I essentially lost about 45-60 minutes of my life due to them. The gameplay was ok, the story and characters were fantastic. This is not something you need to play, but if you're looking for a great story pick this up on sale if possible. 

  

Madden 17

Rating: 8.8

Happy Price: 59.99

Gameplay

Building off of the previous iterations of the franchise, it's the same football simulator that allows for dealing with the off field dynamics as well as executing everything on the field. With a variety of game modes, there is something for everyone. Franchise is for the RPG oriented user, Madden Ultimate Team for the fantasy football player, and online games for the social player. 

New Features

The focus this year was on ball carrier moves and giving the player more control over the outcomes of one on one situations with defenders. Offensive lineman A.I was also improved so the running attack has taken a front seat in this iteration, something that hasn't been done in years. I haven't had such an experience since Madden 2001. Many things went into bringing this feature set to the forefront. They tightened the controls quite a bit so moving around didn't feel so loose. The previous ten years of Maddens did not have very precise controls which made it difficult to hit a hole correctly, usually you'd see where you want to go and then run into your own lineman when trying to run the ball. If the option is turned on, the game will tell you what to do in order to elude a defender or break the tackle. Above the player a button will appear that must be pressed at the correct time. They've also added a precise mode, which allows you to break multiple tackles or juke multiple defenders with the penalty of increased fumble rates if you mistime it. 

Franchise Mode

The approach this year was to make things more simple and to broaden the audience to a mode that is deep and has a heavy menu set that can be overwhelming. It appeals to both new and old players because you can follow the prompts they provide you and get everything done, or dig into the sub menus if you're very detailed. Depending on if you pick a coach or owner, the experience will be different. The owner has all the same features as a coach, but you can also change the prices of hot dogs, rebuild a stadium, move a team, and sign players. You have far more control over a franchise this way, and it's the preferred way I like to do it. I was very proud that I was able to take the 2-14 Titans to the Super Bowl my third year after drafting and trading players that make my team an absolute powerhouse.

The Titans start with a young quarterback, formidable defense, and a behemoth of a Running back named Derrick Henry sitting on the bench. They lack a receiver corp, have aging linebackers, and a below average secondary. I knew right away after playing eight games I absolutely needed a wide receiver with size and a shutdown cornerback. The deep scouting and combine system allowed me to select the receiver I needed, and he ended up being an all pro which is very fulfilling since a lot of time goes into scouting players and getting ready for the draft. Without this WR, I would have never won the Super Bowl. I could get into a bunch of these scenarios but it would take forever, but when you've wheeled and dealed for players or drafted them and they make plays in the super bowl and playoffs that get you over the hump, it's very fulfilling.

AI

The first few times you fire the game up, its evident the AI has been improved on both the offense and defense. However there are still frustrating episodes where blockers will run right past the guy they were suppose to block, and you end up getting tackled since you followed the blocker and they didn't do their job. Also there is an issue on kick returns where blockers will be out of bounds looking for someone to block, so you can potentially lose two or more blockers during kick returns. The offensive AI is pretty smart though, they will adjust to your defensive looks if you repeatedly blitz, use man coverage, or use zone coverage. After about two seasons, I finally found a few defensive plays that turned me into the #1 defense in the league. I would run a nickel package where the two middle linebackers blitzed, while everyone else was in man coverage. This would handle both runs and passes since it was always a six man rush with five dbs covering everyone else. Screen plays and outside runs killed me though, and I found the AI would start calling those plays if I kept using the play over and over again. I thought it was very fun having to switch things up into zones, man zone combos, and blitzes to keep the offense at bay.

Presentation

Each year EA does a good job at improving the character models and animations. The tackling has however taken a huge leap as they have greatly improved the responsiveness of the physics when someone is getting tackled. It's difficult to tell how they are doing it, but it seems that the player being tackled will contort their body from whichever direction is generating the most force. This applies to double and triple tackles which creates really cool tackle animations where players can be spun into the air, or be lunging forward off balance and a hit stick will jar the ball loose. The couple of times I've taken advantage of a situation like that, it looked just like a NFL fumble where players try to do too much and get blown up and lose the ball.

The commentary is repetitive and annoying, there isn't anything like the Madden Summerall days. I actually heard one of the commentators use a line during a real NFL game where he says "You know what my tall tight end used to tell us? Put the ball up on the top shelf where the kids can't get it". When you've heard this 100 times in a video game then hear it in real life, it makes things seem unoriginal and lazy. The commentators make a billion references to the "old days" where things were done a certain way and how the approach to football is so new and finesse. It just sounds like two old guys talking how their NFL was different than today's, however this doesn't contribute to what is happening on the field at all.  

Summary

If you're a football fan, you've probably bought each Madden since you've owned a video game console. Madden 17 is the best iteration in years, probably since Madden 2001 that debuted on the PS2. If you decided to skip a year due to repetitive gameplay and feeling EA steals your money each year, it's not the case with this game. 

The Division

Rating: 8.0

Happy Price: 59.99

Gameplay

The Division is a third person MMO that deals with "Division" Agents restoring order to a near apocalyptic Manhattan. The player is guided by main missions that drive the storyline, and many side missions to level up and get better gear for the main missions. Different sections of the city have a recommended level, and the player has the option to enter matchmaking and pair up with other "Division" agents. Four people can be in a lobby. 

Combat

Like with any Tom Clancy game, there is a nice sense of realism and grittiness when engaged in a firefight. Many different enemy types will be thrown at the player consisting of snipers, rushers, and general support. Strategy is required to be successful, however rarely is it ever used. Doing things solo is extremely difficult and will would require heavy grinding. When matched up with other players the game difficulty increases. However when paired with random players, it can be difficult to be on the same page when it comes to loadouts, classes, and strategy. 

When things get intense, naturally players will aim for headshots to get out of trouble. However enemies usually require 5-7 shots to the head before they go down on a standard assault rifle that holds 30 bullets. To kill an enemy without headshots can take 45 bullets, requiring a full clip of ammo to be used and a reload, for just one enemy. It's a bit contrasting in a bad way. One one hand there is this super realistic environment and battles require all this strategy, but then headshots aren't really headshots. However, if headshots killed enemies in 2-3 shots, the game would be too easy. I don't agree with the logic though, that making the game too easy for skilled players would mess up the balance or the experience they are going for. It usually just keeps players frustrated.

Progression

When talking about progression in a RPG, there are two things to consider, the narrative and the player. The game starts out with a great cinematic that clearly states what is going on and what your role is in the universe is. The first couple of missions do this as well, and there is a steady progression with the story and things start to develop in a way that is endearing and captures your attention. However at about the 10 hour mark, things start to get a bit strange. You start to go on missions and saving random people with important names, but then there isn't any follow up with these characters. This happens over and over again and you begin to wonder, why am I doing this? Who are these people? Why do I care about them, and how are they going to help my cause? Missions in general are difficult and frustrating, so caring about these things matters. Especially when missions can last 20-30 minutes. 

Character progression does some things well and some not so much. Leveling up weapons starts to get pretty boring after a while, due to the fact that really only the damage on them increases with a few alternating bonus effects like increased headshot damage or 18% increase in magazine size. When comparing to a game like Destiny where there can be massive upgrades to a weapon as you level up, it feels like you just keep getting the same weapon over and over again that is leveling up with you, but you still have to pay for it without your life getting much better. Upgrading skills is fun though, since these get you out of tough situations and you can target missions that will improve your skills. The upgrade system for skills is deep and if paired will with other players, can make huge differences in firefights. However matchmaking doesn't allow you to focus on playing with other class types. You have to rely on friends or people you've played with in the past that are building out a different class.

One issue with character progression is that it's very broken when you play with someone that is many levels above you. You can pair up with that person, and you can play a mission that is recommended for level 30 but your are an 18. The amount of XP awarded will level players up at a quicker rate as they just hide in a corner and let their partner do all the work. Doing this once can alter the entire landscape of someone's experience. I tried this one time, jumped up two levels, and then completed everything I had to do in a breeze. So if the game gets too difficult, just do that and now the game becomes extremely easy.

The Dark Zone

I'm not quite sure what the point of the dark zone is. It's like the only online game mode this game has is Iron Banner. In The Division, levels matter a lot. A level 14 will not compete against a level 16. Yet, the dark zone will have a range of "levels 10-15". If you run into a player at level 15 but you're at a 10, you don't stand a chance. Then, once at level 30 which is the max for the campaign, you enter the dark zone and can be paired with players at level 35 as well but with much better  weapons, so the same problem continues to persist. It would be more proper to flatten everyone out and allow for weapon buffs to allow for minute differences in battle the way Destiny does to allow everyone to play in an online mode. I love PvP but I always felt under powered and like I was missing out on this huge part of the game. It got to the point where I was frustrated with it, grinded to compete, then realized that's just dumb, and there are better games to play.

Art

I can't say enough on how good the artwork is in this game. The art style is very gritty and realistic which matches the mood of what is going on with the narrative. Manhattan is filled with texture and it's all done very well. It looks like people had just abandoned the place and there was chaos everywhere. This ties well with gameplay because there are always garbage trucks to climb on, cars to hide behind, places to explore, signs to read, and just things to keep you occupied. It's very gratifying to shoot an enemy full sprint in the head and watch the animations take over as they properly fall in a way that looks natural. Weather plays a factor as well, during a snow storm that particles will render your range of vision to be limited and it's very difficult to see enemies or navigate the terrain. From what I can tell, the A.I also can't tell where you are as well which results in cool close range battles. One of my favorite parts was opening up the map, which opens via a gadget on your wrist into a 3d hologram showing where you are and other key parts of the world. Panning to a key area will start an audio dialogue over a radio signal, which is something I've never seen before and creates an immersive experience as this super "Division" agent.

Summary

The beginning of the Division is great, but then it tends to wear off after about 10-15 hours. It's a great concept, but it just doesn't live up to the hype I saw in the animatic two years ago. The art and environment really carry the game. This game is a grindfest, and I simply don't have time to do things that are meaningless (side missions) to do things that are somewhat meaningful (main missions). There is tons of content in the game, and some people can get captured in the world. I think if I was unemployed I would like it more, but there are more fun games to play.