The game play is similar to Mass Effect 2: a role-playing game with third person shooter action sequences. But a lot of details have been improved:

1. Combat was somewhat static in Mass Effect 2. As your character only moved slowly and couldn’t run very far you had to fight from cover most of the time. Advancing during combat had to be carefully planned. In Mass Effect 3 combat is much more dynamic. Your character is faster in general and can run, jump, climb up latters and most importantly dodge attacks by rolling. This allows you to move around in a fire fight without getting killed while trying to flank your enemies. Close combat is also much more feasible as you character is now able to perform a heavy melee attack.
2. The weapon system has changed significantly. All character classes can carry all types of weapons, even at the same time. But carrying more weapons causes a weight penalty which slows down the use of biotic and tech powers considerably. This penalty depends on the class. Soldiers can carry the most weight but have limited powers to start with. Sentinels on the other hand should carry less weight if they want to use their powers frequently.
   There is now a great variety of weapons.They differ from each other in accuracy, fire rate, damage, ammunition capacity and weight. You can also apply up to two upgrades to each weapon to customise it according to your preferences. This allows you to create a set of weapons that fits your individual play style best.
   Heavy weapons can no longer be carried around all the time. Instead they are only available at certain points in a few levels. While you are carrying a heavy weapon you can not use your normal weapons. If you switch back to them you will drop the heavy weapon.
3. The power system has also been refined. Each power has now six levels. Starting at level four of each power you can even pick one of two variants of the power. You e.g. have to decide whether you want more damage to a single target or damage to multiple targets. This allows you to tune the characters to suite your game style even further.
4. The graphics have been improved as well. Levels for example look much more detailed now. The display of the Mars surface with a sand storm at the horizon looks particularly impressive.

In between the action sequences there is room for a lot of story splot. As the war is taking its toll on the galaxy the atmosphere is quite dark. This is reflected in the mood and behaviour of all the characters in the game. All of them show a lot of emotions and sometimes even require the player’s care. But there are also bits of comedy in form of highly entertaining dialogs that you can either witness or participate in.

As in the previous parts Commander Shepard is sometimes faced with tough decisions. Sometimes the fate of an entire race depends on her leadership. And there is not much room for error as you need to gather as much allies as you can if you want to stand a chance of rescuing Earth from the Reapers.

On top of the brilliant single player mode Mass Effect 3 also features an excellent multi player mode. Up to four players cooperatively fight online against eleven waves of enemy forces composed of either Cerberus, Geth or Reapers.  The battle takes place in one of six different maps. Players have to create a character for playing multiplayer which uses the same classes as single player characters and has similar biotic and tech powers. It is even possible to unlock alien races which enables you to create a Krogan soldier, a Quarian engineer , an Asari vanguard or any other of a dozen combinations. As every character class and race has their different strengths and weaknesses you get a new game experience with each of them. By completing missions you gain experiences for upgrading your character and credits for buying equipment packs in the store. Packs will contain a random selection of useful items like rocket launcher ammunition, medi-gel, weapons or character unlocks. You never know what you will get in advance. Besides being very good training for single player combat the multi player mode is a lot of fun. It can also contribute to the success of your single player campaign by increasing the military strength of the forces that Commander Shepard is gathering.

The only downside of Mass Effect 3 is the ending. It caused a lot of public controversy. Fans campaigned against it and even the BBC reported about it. I was very disappointed by the ending at first:

1. Playing Mass Effect is about the choices you make. And Mass Effect 3 beautifully incorporates all the decisions from the two previous games. Even characters which only appear in the predecessor for a single scene can make a difference. But when the final chapter begins it all boils down to ruthless calculus as Garrus would say.
2. The game has multiple endings with quite different consequences. But the problem is that they all look almost identical. The small nuances in the final cut scene just don’t provide enough feedback. And none of them felt like a victory.
3. The ending doesn’t provide closure. It leaves too many questions unanswered and instead raises new ones.

However my perception changed radically after I watched the following video. Although I still don’t like the ending very much I have to admit that it is a masterpiece.

In the meantime BioWare have  announced that they are working on something that provides more closure. Let’s see what they come up with. I guess that at this point I don’t want them to change the ending, I just want Mass Effect 4.

1. Lose some weight.
2. Save the galaxy from the Reaper invasion.

I achieved some progress on the first part and lost a few kilos so far. Naturally not as many as I hoped for but my weight is definitely going down.

I have however fulfilled the second part by finishing the single player campaign of Mass Effect 3 today. The Galaxy is once more save. No reapers, no Sith and nothing else lurking out there.

Let’s hope that will change soon.

Dead Space is such a masterpiece: a third person shooter set on a gigantic starship drifting through space. Your character Isaac Clarke has to fight his way through a nightmarish maze of dark corridors and find a way off the doomed ship. Most of the crew members have been killed and turned into horrible monsters called Necromorphs. Their relentless attacks turn Isaac’s odyssey into a merciless struggle for survival.

The game rivals a good horror movie: gloomy atmosphere, scarce lighting, creepy sounds and things moving in the shadows. The references to Aliens and Starship Troopers are unmistakable. You know that there is a monster lurking around the next corner because you can hear it. But when the monster finally attacks from just the direction you didn’t expect the game still makes you jump.

If you like a game with an interesting plot, tough fights and a good scare you should definitely try Dead Space. I loved and hated it, both at the same time.

Rid of whom? Oh, sorry. I’m talking about that annoying (almost) unkillable monster in Dead Space. The damned thing is extra crispy now.

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood is very similar to Assassin’s Creed II. You move your character Ezio Auditore through three dimensional historic scenery. At any time you can either play one of the many missions or just roam through Rome during the Renaissance. Some new aspects make the game even more interesting:

1. You can rebuild Rome after freeing a district from Borgia influence. You can reopen shops, fix broken aqueducts or renovate famous landmarks like the Pantheon.
2. Ezio can recruit citizens of Rome for the guild of the Assassins. These assassins can either assist him in a battle or undertake missions to earn money and acquire trading goods. Each mission contributes to an assassin’s experience and over time they can reach new levels and learn new skills.
3. New weapons like a crossbow or a battle axe make Ezio an even more formidable fighter than before.

And I’m quite sure the nervous twitching will stop after a few therapy sessions.

Over the next few years two extra episodes which continue the story of Half-Life 2 were released on Steam. But my initial experience with Steam was very bad. I spent hours to find out why I got a network error when I tried to login. A few days later I learned that Steam suffered from a massive outage and there hadn’t been anything wrong with my setup in the first place. I never bothered to try Steam again after that incident and therefore never missed out on the extra Half-Life 2 episodes and Portal, another popular video game released by the same company. When the release of Portal 2 reminded me of this loss I bought The Orange Box for my PlayStation 3.

The Orange Box turned out to be really good value for money. You don’t only get the original Half-Life 2 (which I played through once again) but also its two sequels. They feature more excellent levels from a dark underground labyrinth full of zombies to urban warfare and finally peak it the fulminant Half-Live 2 homage to the Battle of Hoth.

But let’s not forget about Portal. It is a first person puzzle game where you have to teleport your character via portals that you create with a portal gun. The levels are simple at the beginning but get more and more difficult as the game progresses. You e.g. have to use portals to gain velocity or to dispose of your enemies. Who would have thought that bending the laws of physics could be so much fun?

Overall The Orange Box is hours and hours of excellent game play for not much money and I can highly recommend it.

The splash screen revealed the first pleasant surprise: Mass Effect 2 was created by BioWare, the very same company that published KoTOR many years ago. And the game cannot deny its origins. Mass Effect 2 features a lot of the qualities that made KotOR such an excellent game:

1. The game tells a fascinating story. It takes place two years after the events in Mass Effect. Its plot is full of action, mystery and twists. It combines elements of various Science Fiction books, movies and TV series like Babylon 5 (also one of my all time favourites) into a gripping tale. Frequent cut scenes help to bring the story to life.
2. The game features a lot of very well written and excellently voiced characters. They all have a history, particular quirks and frequently a hidden agenda. They interact not only with your protagonist, Commander Shepard, but also with each other. Some of the resulting conflicts can even jeopardise the mission and you have to deal with them carefully.
3. At various points you are faced with different choices. It is not always obvious what the right thing to do is. You have to consider your actions carefully because there will be consequences. Some of these choices will even influence the events in Mass Effect 3.
   This concept was already available in KotOR. But Mass Effect 2 leaves you much more freedom and the outcome is much less predictable.

Overall it feels like you are playing an interactive Science Fiction movie. While the plot is mostly predetermined the game still leaves you a lot of freedom and you don’t feel restricted.

The gameplay looks similar to KotOR on a quick glance. You control a party of up to three characters which moves through a three dimensional landscape . Your party collects items, talks to other people and has to solve puzzles. But when you get into your first fight you noticed a big difference.

KotOR is a turn-based AD&D role-playing game. You have full control over all three members of your party and you can plan their actions multiple turns in advance. At any point of time you can pause a fight and change your tactic. If one of your characters gets incapacitated you can use the other two to revive her or him. You only get defeated if all three characters are knocked out at the same time.

Mass Effect 2 on the other hand is a third person shooter with elements of a role-playing game. Fights happen in real time, they just pause while you select weapons or special powers. You can only fully control your main character, and if he or she gets overwhelmed you have lost the fight. While your two companions in arms will fight alongside you autonomously the game allows you to give commands to influence their behaviour. You can e.g. tell them to use certain weapons or powers, focus on a particular enemy or to take up a defensive position. While this appears to be a bit limiting initially it makes the game feel more realistic. Giving the right commands at the right time is often challenging but crucial for the success of your mission. The wrong decision can even get one of your squad members killed. Between fights you can acquire better weapons, shields and other technology which will help you during your next conflict. Successful missions contribute to your characters experience levels allowing you to develop their powers.

Mass Effect 2 has a lot going for it: story, characters, gameplay, atmosphere, graphics, sound and much more. If you like Science Fiction role-play games you should definitely have a look. Mass Effect 2 is also as close as you can get to a Babylon5 computer game. I’m really looking forward to Mass Effect 3.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is a mixture of a jump and run game and third person shooter. What really sets the game apart is the cinematic atmosphere. The plot is a mixture of Indiana Jones and Die Hard featuring a lot of very well written characters. Superb graphics, bombastic sound and excellent voice acting make the movie experience perfect.

But this is also the weakness of the game: the course of events follows a script. You cannot decide what to do next, you can never go back to a region that you just left and there is no development of your protagonist, Nathan Drake. He cannot acquire new skills and is limited to carry two weapons based on which kind of ammunition you can find in the current level. After playing an open world game like Assassin’s Creed II I felt very restricted by this design.

There is however one thing that I missed in the assessment above: I actually had a lot of fun playing Uncharted 2. So if you like interactive action movies this is your game.

The game’s story follows the adventures of John Marston, a former outlaw who became a farmer. His past catches up with him when ruthless government agents take his wife and son hostage and force him to hunt down the members of his former gang. Marston’s quest turns into a brutal fight for survival when he is caught between the fronts.

Red Dead Redemption is a third person shooter and adventure game set in the Wild West at the beginning of the last century. It features a vast beautifully animated landscape. There is so much to look at, so much to explore that just riding through the countryside will keep be you occupied for a long time. You can also pursue all the cliché activities you can imagine:

• horse riding and driving horse carriages
• shooting with historic weapons like a Winchester rifle
• hunting all kinds of game including buffalos and grizzlies
• herding cattle
• catching and breaking wild horses
• poker
• bounty hunting
• duelling

You can spend hours trying out all these things, becoming a famous hunter, improving your sharp shooter ranking or searching for treasures. There seems to be no limit to this fictional world.

Once you have satisfied your curiosity (at least temporarily) you can play one of the main missions. There are usually several missions available at any particular time, all linked to one of the characters featured in the game. Speaking about the characters: there are a lot of them, all excellently voiced and very well written. You meet a snake oil selling fraud, a hardened marshal, a drunk scoundrel, an old gunslinger, a mexican rebel and all the other stereotypes which belong into a good western. All encounters with them move the excellent plot of the game forward. It is a relentless tale of violence which none of the protagonists can escape. After many hours of excellent game play you finally reach the grand finale which is as merciless as the rest of the story.

Red Dead Redemption combines technology, story telling and entertainment into a gripping mix. If you like western movies this is definitely your game.