Upcoming: Fallout 4

2008 saw the release of the long awaited Fallout 3. After the franchise had been recently purchased by Bethesda, they wasted no time in starting on production of the next installment and gave the world one of the best games to have been released in the past decade. Role Playing Games (RPGs) are often among the most detailed and finely crafted gaming experiences a person can buy and offer hundreds of hours of content. I've played through Fallout 3 multiple times and I refuse to add up all of my play-time hours because that'd probably be a really depressing number.

But it's been five uneventful years since Fallout 3 and Bethesda continues to tease us. They recently announced that they have officially closed the doors on Skyrim and will be moving on to their next project. Anyone with a brain should be hoping that that next project is Fallout 4.

Between Jason Bergman, developer and senior producer at Bethesda Softworks and Erik Todd Dellums, voice actor of Three-Dog, both teasing at it's eventual existence (among a few other teasers Bethesda has released), I'm just going to act like Fallout 4 has already been announced and it's production is underway. Please keep in mind that all of these predictions are simply my own thoughts so you can take them with a grain of salt.

Many people have been speculating as to where the next game might take place. We can already likely narrow down the country. Every game so far has taken place in America. I could see an add-on being set in a different, equally war-torn nation, but since this game will have a number at the end of it's title, that means it's part of the main series, so it will likely be in the United States.

The most recent installment, Fallout: New Vegas, which was an add-on to Fallout 3 as well as a full game, takes place in Las Vegas, as the title suggests. Because that game was in a location from Wasteland, it might be safe to assume that the next game will also take place in a Wasteland location.

What? Don't know what I'm talking about? Didn't know that Fallout is essentially a remake of the 1988 post-apocalyptic, Apple II game, titled Wasteland? The games are all just littered with references. To name just a few:

• Wasteland features a Brotherhood of Steel lookalike faction, referred to as The Guardians who are based in a fortress dubbed The Citadel.
• Power Armor is originally from Wasteland and was called the same thing.
• Ghouls from Fallout appear in Wasteland but are called a variety of names, including Ghoul.
• Robots appear in Wasteland.
• Deathclaws are essentially just a renamed version of Shadowclaws which are mutated Iguanas from Wasteland.
• In Fallout 3, the Children of Atom are a nuclear bomb worshipping cult. In Wasteland, a cult that worships nuclear bombs call themselves Servants of the Mushroom Cloud.
• The Wasteland Survival Guide is named after Wasteland's game guidebook.
• In the first Fallout game, ZAX are advanced supercomputers. In Wasteland, VAX is a recruitable and highly advanced robot NPC.
• In Fallout 3, the character Brick says she loves turning mutants into a "fine red mist" which was one of the descriptions that Wasteland used to describe it's combat deaths.
• Three-Dog jokes that his toaster needs fixing; a reference to the Toaster Repair ability from Wasteland.
• In Wasteland, the first quest given to the Desert Rangers is to fix a water-pump (sound familiar?).
• A fully sentient AI villain who wants to replace the inhabitants of the world with the genetically superior is the main antagonist of both Fallout 3 and Wasteland.

Sorry if your life is now a lie.

So what does any of that have to do with predicting the setting of Fallout 4? Well, Las Vegas is a location within Wasteland and if that weren't enough in both games it's an area that remained relatively untouched by the apocalypse. Therefore, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that Bethesda may be taking Wasteland locations into consideration. Much of that game takes place in the Southwest and Southern United States. This combined with the fact that Fallout Tactics 2, a game which never saw the light of day, was going to be set in Florida, leads me to believe that a Southern setting could be highly possible.

Besides that, I think another likely location would be in New York City, but for totally different reasons. Sure, us Americans are all familiar with our own country but Fallout is an internationally renowned series and NYC is a place that's recognized by people worldwide. Personally, I hope that this is not the case for the game, mainly because NYC as a setting is so overdone and has been featured in literally hundreds of movies and video games to date.

Besides that, I think a Southern setting would be intriguing because it's not the kind of place that is not often explored in gaming, so it would be a unique idea. The only other thing I can think of that would be like it would be Point Lookout the DLC add-on for Fallout 3, which was similar to a deep-south bayou. If Bethesda could do that on a small scale, then it's totally possible to make a bigger version of it for a full game. Furthermore, people think that NYC would be better because it's so iconic but personally, I think that the game would benefit by being somewhere that is the exact opposite, not iconic. That way the developers would have plenty of space to create their own ideas without being hindered by having to include things like Times Square or the Empire State Building.

However, if Fallout 4 simply must take place in a city, I think a much more interesting location would be Boston. Boston is a lot smaller than NYC and it's size is similar, but somewhat bigger than D.C. so it would be an alluring location for the next Fallout game. As the lore goes, after the war MIT becomes a mysterious faction called The Institute which is eventually what becomes referred to as the Commonwealth, who is responsible for all of those blasted robots we love so much, including androids so that would surely play into the game. I think that this idea is much more interesting than NYC.

As far as the plot goes, it's difficult to make an accurate prediction but we can speculate based on what we already know about the lore. Every Fallout game so far has had some circulation around water. Fallout was about fixing your Vault's water-pump; Fallout 2 the wasteland is suffering from drought so you need to find the G.E.C.K. to return life; Fallout 3 there's Project Purity which is the plan to purify all the water in the Capital Wasteland; and in Fallout: New Vegas there's the fight for the Hoover Dam. Without water there can be no life, so it seems reasonable that it's the main focus of a post apocalypse story. Also the games often follow a similar formula. They start with something simple and eventually develop into a horrific plot that threatens the entire Wasteland, so keep that in mind when you're thinking about the future game.

So considering this, it's safe to say that the next game will likely have something to do with the never-ending fight over water. I would guess  that the Enclave would return but considering the state they've been left in at the end of Fallout 3, it's probable that they were never able to recover and died out. Perhaps Fallout 4 would feature a different faction of the Enclave that's based in a new region.

What would be more interesting would be if the Brotherhood of Steel were your enemies. They were good guys in Fallout 3, sure, but if you ever spoke with the Outcasts, they'd tell you that the D.C. Brotherhood is acting alone and, in the Outcast's opinion, is too involved in the needs of the people who live here. In other words, they're saying the Brotherhood should pursue it's main objective, that is collecting technology, with little regard for the wellbeing of anyone else. I could certainly see this mentality leading to the Brotherhood being seen as bullies, going around threatening civilians and such.

If the game is set in Boston, it would be very likely that The Commonwealth and the androids would be playing a big part and they would probably be the bad guys.

Date and time have never been important facets in the Fallout lore. The games are all relatively within the same time period but they never interact with each other so as far as the average gamer is concerned, the continuity is not important. That being said, I mentioned before that Dellum gave a tease a year or so ago. It was a tweet that said, "To all Fallout 3 and Three-Dog fans: there may be more Three-Dog coming! Fingers crossed!" That leads me to believe that Three-Dog's voice will again be accompanying us during our travels throughout the wastes which could conceivably mean that Fallout 4 will be taking place within only a few years of Fallout 3, but be that prior or subsequent is still up in the air.

As the months roll on and still no official statements are made, it's seeming more and more likely that Fallout 4 will see a Next-Gen release and, considering that it hasn't even been announced yet, there's certainly a lot of time between that fateful day and now. I'm following Three-Dog's instructions. I'm crossing my fingers in the hopes that Bethesda isn't about to come forward with Rage 2 or some other bullshit and that they get right on it with the next Fallout. It's been five years and the world it ready for another adventure in the post apocalypse.

Good Game

Are MLG's taking it too far?

The short answer is yes, but that wouldn't be quality writing, now would it?

MLG stands for Major League Gaming and, in the world of video games, it's a self proclaimed title that essentially means, "I'm better than you." As much as that sounds like a humbling experience, all that equates to is a 17-year-old boasting loudly over his Turtle-Beach microphone before telling his mother that he'll take the trash out later. These are the people who rage-quit just before the game ends in order to keep their scores high, count their K/Ds (kill/death ratio) and proudly come in at the top of the leader-board at the end of every match. Instead of rightfully pointing out that MLGs are virgins riddled with inferiority complexes, I'm going to spend this article debating whether or not the idea of taking gaming to the next level is justified.

The way to start would be to ask the question, why does gaming exist? The answer is different to every person. For some it's for competition, for others it's for socialization and for still others it's for fetishists who like looking at pictures of skanks who can't figure out how to come in a place better than 12th while playing Zelda.

Save Hyrule harder.

Looking at it that way, there's really no true answer to the question, "why do we game?" only a plethora of opinions. I would say that it's a combination of everything. We play games for the same reason we watch a movie. To get away from real life for a few hours, enjoy a story and be social. It's recreational and we need that because all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

That being said, what does it mean when you play a video game like it's your job? From what I've seen, MLGs don't seem to like the games they play; they boot up Call of Duty, get on a server,  get one kill and quit. Hooray for positive K/D. What part of what I described sounded like recreation, socializing, story or, fuck, even competitive play? There are people who do this sort of thing and for what? So some guy like me can randomly pull up the stats for xXLe3tSn1p3rXx and think to myself, 'wow, he's pretty good at this game', before closing it and then forgetting you ever even existed? There are thousands of people out there with scores just as good as yours if not better. Who are you trying to impress?

No you fucking don't.

I'm sorry, but doing that is like watching movies on 10X speed or sprinting through an art gallery. Any asshole can do what I just described, it doesn't make you good at video games. Yeah, I'll admit that most MLGs don't do that kind of thing, but think, where does it end?

You see, Major League Gaming isn't a hobby, it's a full time job. Do you think that when you finally have the best score in the world you can just hang up your coat and say, 'well, I did it, time to move on.'? Fuck no. If you have any intention on staying there for more than an hour, you've got to keep playing or else, guess what, you're going to get bumped down. People who are consistently in the top spot don't have scores that are just so high, no one can ascend past them, they just play constantly and I mean constantly. One of the former CoD champs, Kim Dotcom, creator of Mega-upload, got put in prison for a few days and his scores never recovered. Once again, I ask the question, who are you trying to impress? Do you think that people are going to be crowding around their televisions, looking at your score, mouths agape, trying to memorize your gamertag so they can whisper it between each other? It doesn't make you a celebrity.

Oh, wait, never-mind. It totally does make you a celebrity.

So am I against competitive gaming? Absolutely not. I think competition is a great source of recreation because it's challenging, gives you something to work towards (winning) and rewards you if you succeed. It's certainly fun proudly flaunting your exclusive, unlocked armor to all of your friends. That's one thing. But in the bigger picture, no one is going to care. There certainly was a time when people online would marvel at your Recon but those days have come and gone (2007-2010 you will be missed). 

Now you're essentially the in-game equivalent of a swag-fag.

No one online is going to care that you're a higher rank than they are. So is every fifth person they come across so stop putting out so much effort to impress people you're never going to meet.

When an MLG enters a competitive game, everyone in the lobby breathes an exasperated sigh because your enemies know that they're going to lose horrendously, your teammates know that you're going to lone-wolf and steal every kill in the game and everyone knows they're going to have to put up with your bragging and swearing.

You don't keep scores when you watch movies, read books, or go out to an art gallery. Those are all forms of art and I believe gaming can be art too. Why should we bring that into the artistic world? It's pointless and it's no fun for anyone. There's nothing wrong with being competitive, hell, I don't even see anything wrong with those big gaming conventions where basement dwellers have an excuse to open up a stick of deodorant and go outside once every year or so. I simply abhor the whole idea that gaming should be work. "Game", by definition, is literally the farthest away from "Work" you can possibly get so stop mixing the two. Let's all plug in to have fun and at the end, we'll all pat each other on the back and say, "good game".

Top 10 Underrated Games

With so many games coming out these days

It can be pretty easy to miss out on great titles just because they either get buried under the big blockbuster games or you just can't spare the time or cash to get into a new thing. A lot of times, games are forgotten because they suffer from condemning reviews that were unjustly served towards a game that was a true gem. I took the time to figure out what I think are the best examples of games that either didn't get the respect they should've or faded away and deserve to be remembered.
I give you top 10 underrated games.

10. Spiderman 2

I remember when the first Spiderman game came out. Suffice it to say, it sucked dick. The exploration was hugely limited, it had an obnoxiously linear gameplay which just didn't fit, the combat was a joke and overall the game was a laughable failure.

But then this game comes along in 2004. The graphics were stunning, the control and gameplay fantastic and free-roaming and the open world was massive. When I first played this, I wasn't very used to open world games, so I didn't have much to compare it to, but even so, it's a damn big city you get to play in that's finely detailed with secrets and hideouts.

There was never a time in this game where you had nothing to do. This game had an infinite number of side-quests which that sounds actually better than it is because it's just about a dozen different kinds of "save someone" quests over and over again. Despite that, it doesn't get tiring and even if you don't look for a person in need, there are plenty of times where you happen to randomly stumble upon a crime in progress and get to send some thugs into next year.

Speaking of the combat, it's nothing short of awesome in this game. The player has dozens and dozens of stylized techniques at their disposal and their 'arsenal' increases as the game goes on.

It's not that this game did poorly critically, the reason it's on this list is because I never knew a single person besides me who had it. That's too bad since it's one of my personal favorite games and it's such a "this one time" kind of game and I found I had no one with whom I could share my adventures as the web-slinger.

There's so much more I could say about this game but we've got nine to go so without further adiu...

9. 007: Everything or Nothing

I'll start by saying this is on here for the exact same reason as Spiderman 2. I never met anyone who played this anywhere. Like Spiderman 2, it did pretty well critically and received largely positive reviews. For whatever reason, people then proceeded to forget it ever existed at all. It's unfortunate and surprising because I always felt this game had such a unique feel to it. For starters, it's an over-the-shoulder shooter which may deter a lot of gamers but I assure you, it works really well. The control is intuitive, responsive and makes sense.

You won't find much in the realm of multiplayer, unfortunately, but this game's single player story makes up for it enormously. It's a pretty long game, can't remember how long exactly but I do recall that it took a while to complete. It's full of gadgets, vehicle battles, shootouts and a whole host of other fun shit. I would say that next to Goldeneye, this is the best 007 game ever made. Seriously, I would recommend this to any shooter fan. Just give it a try and I guarantee that you won't be disappointed.

8. Bulletstorm

The best way to describe this game is just to say, it's a fucking blast. All encompassing, maximum badassery, Bulletstorm prided itself on being the man out of all of the kids shooters and it's advertising campaign was making fun of the FPS games like Call of Duty and asked if you wanted a real game.
It received mostly positive reviews but it's on here simply because no one fucking played it. Why, I have no idea. This game is 100% balls to the wall, ass kicking that deserves fans and, I may even be so bold as to say, a followup.

I'm sorry, I must've missed training exercise that went over this exact situation.

The play-style is distinguished. It centers largely around trying to get the most stylish kills possible and there are probably hundreds of ways to go about ending your countless foes piteous lives. Kicking is an attack rarely featured in first-person shooters but works well in this game, as does the light whip which sends enemies into slow-motion as they hurtle towards you.
Although the multiplayer is very limited, it's still pretty fun and besides, there's more than enough single player to make up for it.
So yeah, badass game. Check it out.

E3 winner of the most uses of the term "limp-dick".

7. Chibi Robo

Why I was the only person I know who has even heard of this game, I have no idea. Sure it's not exactly a "hardcore gamer's" sort of game but that in no way should mean that it should go totally unnoticed.

Chibi Robo is an adorable little game that centers around a six-inch tall robot who is never referred to as anything other than Chibi Robo. The main focus of the game is to clean this one family's house of dirt, trash and whatever else in order to make them happy. That seems like it'd be boring, but Chibi Robo doesn't fail to entertain as you constantly unlock upgrades allowing you to reach places you've never reached before. Clambering all over furniture in order to get to a high bookshelf is a puzzle in of itself.

Besides that, every character in the game has something wrong in their life and it's your job to help them solve their problems to make everyone truly happy. Not to mention, each of these characters is memorable and unique, one of my favorites being your floating counterpart Telly who has just as interesting a voice as he does appearence.

So all in all, Chibi Robo is a charming little game that actually manages to be quite memorable in both it's highly stylized world and unique concept.

6. Yoshi's Story

Speaking of highly stylized...

I was recently looking over an article published by Game Informer about the upcoming Wii U Yoshi game. In it they listed other memorable Yoshi games of the past to play while you wait. To my surprise, this game was not mentioned. Yoshi's story garnered generally poor reviews when it debuted in 1997 scoring as low as 4.8/10 on some reviewal sites and in fact, one of the very few reviewers to give it a positive number was Game Informer who awarded it an 8.5/10.

How someone could earnestly dislike this game is beyond me. Like Chibi Robo, it's not exactly a challenging game. It's focused more on being a cute little adventure that's highly playable and fun.

The game is so unique in style that it blows my mind that anyone could forget it existed without the aid of a decade and a half (oh wait...). Every level is distinguished and I love the way it looks as though it were constructed by hand. For instance in the screenshot above the entire level appears to be made out of cardboard and in the screenshot below the entire sky is denim and the clouds look like they're stitched together.

The whole concept of the game centers around collecting as much fruit as you can until the boarder around the screen fills up with what you've eaten and you win. Because of this treasure hunt sort of style, each level plays non-linearly and has many branches off into different parts of the world. It's extensive level design and like I said before, no two are alike. The game only takes six levels to complete but it has 24 courses total, four levels per each of the six stages. It only takes one level victory to complete a stage which is an implement that I am inclined to dislike. I sort of wish that you were required to play all 24, but instead going through the full game requires replaying the story line at least four times. Despite that, it does succeed in offering experiences that are distinct among players.

5. Starfox Assault

I don't find myself a big Starfox fan considering that the games can be kind of hard to come by in America and I just never got into it much. That's not to say there's anything wrong with the games, from what I've played of them, they're great. One of the few Starfox games that I did play extensively was Starfox Assault.

Starfox Assault received mixed reviews and like many other entries on this list, went generally unnoticed by most gamers when it released in 2005. That's a real pity because it's a true gem of action games. Weather you're fighting with Arwings, Landmasters or just on foot, the battles are sure to please as they're intense and gripping.

The only major complaint against this game I could voice is the fact that it's as short as it is at a mere nine levels but the best thing about this game isn't in the campaign, it's in the multiplayer. With up to four players, the vs. combat in this game is a blast. A great game to play with friends

I'd say that it's well worth your time to look into it, even if you're not a Nintendo fan. As one reviewer, Kevin Gifford put it, "The game is aimed less at the Mario Club and more toward the hardcore crowd." Check it out.

4. Poke'mon Colosseum

I guess I'll say the bottom line first. If you like Poke'mon, you will like this game. Simple as that. This is honestly, one of my all-time favorite Poke'mon games because it's so different from the rest. It's one of the few to be on a platform console rather than a handheld. I've always wished they did more like this because I generally don't bother myself with any handheld games beyond my Gameboy.

People may dislike this game due to the fact that you can't capture wild Poke'mon which is a staple of the normal Poke'mon games. I'll admit, I'm not fond of that change either, but I love this game regardless and it's method of stealing Poke'mon from other trainers is cool. The rest of what sets this game apart lies in it's visual style whereas most are bird's-eye shots, this game is all over.

But the place this game really excels are in the battles. I've heard people complain that the fighting animations are repetitive but they're a hell of a lot cooler than anything from the handheld installments.

I'm not trying to bash the handheld games as they're all fantastic, I'm just saying that this game deserves more recognition than it got. Great game.

3. Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3

I would go so far as to say that the entire Budokai Tenkaichi series is underrated, but the installment that went way above and beyond what is needed to be a respected game is Budokai Tenkaichi 3. With 161 playable characters, this game has one of the largest rosters in any fighting game and each is equipped with plenty of unique special moves that are true to the show. The cel-shaded graphics translate the animation into the third dimension so well.

As for the fighting? Oh, my fuck. It is so fast and so intense that this game is actually daunting to already hardened fighting game veterans. In fact, IGN said "The sheer speed and complexity of the controls may turn some people off" and "The game [is] remarkably easy to learn, but nearly impossible to master."

Y'see, I'm one of those guys who mastered it. My friends and I will stage tournaments in this game and just fucking go at it. We're at the point in the game where we're absurdly good and absurdly fast and that's what makes this game so amazing.

It's actually much like the show in that respect because you have to train to get better. When you pick up the game, you're comparatively weak next to the masters. That's not to say the game isn't fun, playing with others at your level is still a blast, but it takes awhile to get really good and it's incredible because every time you're sure there's no way to get better or faster, through training you do (just like the show!).

I would say, and I know that almost everyone will disagree with me on this, that this game is my all-time favorite fighting game. Not to say it's the best, but when it comes to fast-paced and intense combat, there's no competition.

2. Kirby Air Ride

This is the game that just barely didn't make the cut when I published the article about my top racing games. It debuted in 2003 and received largely poor scores and was even called "a throwaway game" by one reviewer. I would say that this game is the exact opposite. The are levels crazy in design, the vehicles are all unique and interesting and it's just an all around competitive blast. Playing this with friends generally results in standing up, yelling at the tv and cheering when you win what tend to be remarkably close races.
This game has three modes. There's the standard racing mode titled Air Ride. The second is an overhead, single-screen racing game called Top-Ride which comes off as sort of a mini-game but can be just as engaging as the normal play and effectively changes up gameplay.

Finally, the third mode is called City-Trial. This is the mode that received the highest percentage of positive feedback and is what makes this game great. You and up to three other players, roam about an enclosed city map, scrounging for power-ups and/or stealing them from your opponents. Once the time is up, you're all transported to a competitive game where you vie for first place. These games range from races to battles to objective-based mini-games and force you to rely on your power ups which you'd better hope you got enough of. Running around the city is so much fun and gives you plenty of opportunities to be a massive douchebag to your friends (killing them just before he game ends will cause them to drop many of their power ups and force them onto the default vehicle).

I could probably talk about City Trial for a long time and go into extensive detail, but I'll spare you and just say it's great and it's the best thing about this game. Try it some time.

1. Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom

If anyone ever made a list of surprisingly good games, this would have to be number 1. Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom, despite being a mouthful, is a charming action/adventure game that is actually engaging and consistently entertaining through and through. The game didn't get the attention it deserved likely because it was a licensed game which is not very surprising, albeit, disappointing. 

It gives you control over three different characters: Spongebob, Patrick and Sandy. Each of them have their own set of imaginative moves, intuitive control patterns and are all voiced by the original actors, like every character featured in this game with very few exceptions. The level designs are all based off of locations from the show and are impressively distinct of each other, each one being fresh and original and brimming with creative puzzles that may actually force you to think.

What makes this game so impressive is that it's so well done compared to what you'd expect coming from a video-game adaptation of a children's cartoon. It happens to include one of my favorite OSTs in gaming.

That shit could be in a Hollywood blockbuster. Every song is just as good too, I just picked that one sort of randomly (try the Poseidome theme).

The game has a silly plot about a robot takeover of Bikini Bottom which is an interesting concept and is effectively made goofy through the comical humour this game is riddled with. The enemies are quirky and the boss battles are exciting and anything but repetitive.

The main complaint that someone could make against this game is that it doesn't appeal much to non-fans, which isn't surprising but unless you, for whatever idiotic reason, flat out hate the show, I'd recommend giving this game a try. It's great.

Double Standards

The perceptions and standards of different forms of media

Can you remember all the way back to two and a half weeks ago when I posted about Mass Effect 2? I had briefly talked about how the sex scenes in that game were considerably less explicit than in the first game. This was because somewhere during the three year interval between the games, the first had come under fire from the media which was claiming that the game should be banned due to it's "graphic depictions of sex, nudity and sodomy." One blogger, Kevin McCullough, said about it,
"Mass Effect can be customized to sodomize whatever, whomever, however, the game player wishes," and "with it's 'over the net' capabilities, virtual orgasmic rape is just the push of a button away."

Now, obviously, this is a load of bullshit. After the media had been met with outrage from the fanbase and the devs, they retracted their statements. It turned out (not surprisingly) that not one of these accusers had ever once played the actual game. When they were shown the footage, one of them, an author named Cooper Lawrence, stated that she "has seen episodes of Lost that are most sexually explicit."

So, why the uproar over something that a public channel rated for ages 14 and up could get away with? Mass Effect is rated M for Mature. As the "Mature" part implies, it expects it's audience to actually be mature. But what that rating means, is that the content in the game is not appropriate for gamers under the age of 17. Keep in mind that that rating is equal to the film rating, R. Furthermore, Mass Effect is a video game. The characters, and anything, depicted within the game is digitally rendered, AKA not real people. Now, it's true that animating technology is quite amazing these days. We've come a long way from...

Yeah

But that still doesn't excuse the brazen disparity in treatment between the two mediums. Why does the media hold the video game to a different standard? No one ever had an aneurism over the sex or other such graphic content on TV or in the movies; parents bitch about it every so often, but there's generally not a huge upheaval.

The true issue at work here is simply a double-standard and in this case, it happened because something is defying a preconceived notion which, conscious or not, is deeply-held. Someone got word that Mass Effect had some sexual content and ran with it, probably sensationalizing it somewhat and everyone freaked out.

Trust me, if these games were half as graphic as people claim, they'd be much more successful.

So, where is the conflict here? It comes down to the fact that the older generation, the one making all of these accusations, grew up in a time where their kid's games looked like some obscure little bricks and you had to use your imagination. Games were generally aimed at a young audience and the content of those games reflected that. Over the years, as games became more advanced, they could flesh out and try to reach older generations as well. Nowadays, games have the power to shoot for any audience, there's no taboo on an M rated game, but despite this, the generation that knew the first games still holds that image in their mind. They unconsciously expect games to still be for kids. Therefore, the idea of explicit content seems abhorrant.

It begs the question, if the older generation can't handle some sex, but the younger one can and can just move on with their life, which is the more mature?

Behold, the most explicit frame in the entire trilogy.

This doesn't apply just to the realm of video games, although that is one area where it may be the most prevalent. Another area that a censure is held is anime. It's quite true that these days, anime has much more freedom than it did. There are plenty of no-barred, TV-MA shows that you can find.

Fucking ahem

Of course, it wasn't always this way. Back in the 80's, Dragonball Z had first came to the states. The infamous Canadian crew, Ocean, was responsible for the atrocious original english translation and dub of the show. Considerably less admonished, but still prevalent, is the horrible censorship of it; my personal favorite example is in one of the movies, Bardock's entire squadron was murdered by traitors and all he has to say is, "Those... meatheads!"

The older generation at that point was familiar with children's cartoons. The thought of having an animated show aimed at adults seemed silly. In other places, namely Japan, the medium had already reached an older audience, so shows like Dragonball Z were designed accordingly. If you've ever seen DBZ subbed, then you know that just about every other word is "damn". Regardless, the American culture refused to recognize that and the script was rewritten and scenes were cut to accomodate the young audience.

Now, I'm not condemning children's cartoons. Over time, people were slowly able to adapt to the idea of having a sophisticated and mature anime. It took anime a very long time for it to be taken seriously in the western hemisphere and it still isn't truly respected; most people assume it's all powering up and screaming, ignorant of shows like Eden of the East or Death Note.

On that note, this sort of standard is not simply for violence and sex, it also applies in the plot. Video games are at a point where they're finally starting to be taken seriously. That's why games like Heavy Rain can even be made.

That's a very high-brow and adult game. Games have come very far from charming fantasies like Mario or Zelda. Now, those games are great, no one disputes that. They're kids games but can be enjoyed by any age group. This generation of gaming is significant because it's debatably the first where sophisticated games like Heavy Rain and Mass Effect, that are geared towards a mature adult audience, can also see commercial success.

So, is this standard exclusive to anime and video games? No. It applies to cinema as well only in this case it's in reverse. In the modern day, movies are generally rather grounded in reality. Even the ones that aren't, the science fiction and fantasy, moviegoers have a hard time suspending their disbelief. They'll endlessly nitpick at films that have even trivial "mistakes" such as an unrealistic moment. Movies like Godzilla are unwatchable to a western audience; they just can't let themselves enjoy it. It's great to see that movies today can be as intellectual as they are, but it seems that you can never have both ends of the spectrum.

What could be done to refine the gaming standards? Making more games like Mass Effect and Heavy Rain. Over time, the generations will change, and the ones who are familiar with games such as this, will be used to the idea of a mature game and no one will freak out over trivial things like they did with Mass Effect.

Am I saying that all games should be full of violence and sex? No. Am I saying that all movies should be dumbed down? No. I just hate the idea of any medium being limited due to any sort of established precept. You shouldn't have to be forced to restrain a story based on some set of unwritten parameters. These mediums are often about expression. I'm not begrudging those "rules" because I want to see more graphic alien porn. The bigger picture is about the freedom. Throughout history, things like art and literature have been shunned due to this sort of conduct. It's unfortunate that similar things happen today. It's the kind of thing that can only be changed over time.

Mass Effect 3

Damn...

Occasionally, I won't follow a game series at all. I'll know next to nothing about them, maybe I hear a few people chatting about it, it pops up in forums periodically, but ultimately, I lose track of it. But then I turn around a few years later and

This shit happens.

It becomes an extraordinary trilogy of epic proportions, with a badass tagline like "TAKE EARTH BACK", and I'm always like, "How the fuck did I miss out on this?"

That's precisely how I felt when I first saw that trailer. I knew of Mass Effect, but I didn't know much about it. I deeply regret not getting into it sooner. Over the short time I've been playing Mass Effect, it already means a lot to me. It's all I do with most of my free time (besides writing the reviews for my devoted readers), my friends hate me because it's all I talk about... y'know, standard addiction stuff.

Mass Effect 3 was an exhilarating blockbuster of gaming. Everything that was great from the previous titles came together and was polished to perfection. From beginning to end, it's a high-staked, action-packed blast.

The game starts off on Earth for the first time. Right in the first cutscene, the shit hits the fan and the Reapers attack Earth. As Shepard reluctantly flees the dying planet, you see a kid climb into an escape shuttle that is immediately shot down and ignites into a fiery explosion, letting you know right off that this installment is not going to be a blissful, deep-space romp. It's gloomy, it's dark, it's doomy. I don't think it's any real spoiler to say that a lot of people die, both the unnamed and the named. It's a much more emotional game than the others which is, I think, where this game excels beyond most. Most games are about the action and yadda yadda, but I can't think of a game of this type that's as emotionally driven as it is. It makes you feel for what's going on and actually drives you to form a veritable hatred toward the Reapers, which then only further heightens the emotions. After following these characters for 50+ hours, you start to really care about them and want to see them live which makes it all the more painful to see them die. I dove through the story, not desperate for the gunplay but to find out what would happen next.

One of my favorite things about this game is the sound. Playing this game warrants the use of a surround-sound, badass stereo-system. The sound effects are amazing. Bullets cut the air and whizz by, spaceships blast into hyperspeed like never before and Reapers produce an earth-shuddering rumble.
And speaking of which, the fully-orchestrated score in this game is immaculate and perfectly heightens the action as well as reminding you of the dark and emotional undertone. My favorite piece being the one that plays as you helplessly watch the Reapers ravage your home-world.

See this for reference.


It all makes for one hell of a cinematic and gripping experience which is hard to describe until you're playing it yourself.

And yes, the game is as badass as all of this promotional artwork.

The cutscenes are as great as ever, but the coolest thing about them is that every cutscene flows seamlessly with the gameplay. Never is there a loading transition. It's somewhat amazing. I can't think of many other games that are like that, and it doesn't break up the tension nor does it the combat.
And speaking of the combat...

It's fucking incredible in this game. The battles feel so much closer than they ever did. Diving out of the way of incoming brutes is enough to get your adrenaline going.

Severe amounts of pain in 3...2...

The combat just flows so well. The gunplay is tuned up and perfected. It doesn't feel like I'm sporadically flinging bullets towards my enemies, but rather like I'm taking my targets down with precision and tactics. I also love the addition of the "heavy melee" which is just plain radical. Plus, you can finally curb stomp those fucking Husks.

Do you have any idea how long I've ben waiting to do that?

Unlike the previous installment, this one succeeds at changing up combat more effectively with levels that have intermittent shockwaves exploding down the hallways or ones with giant flashing lights that obscure the battlefield every few seconds. It's awesome and it keeps the game from feeling repetitive. As for the Reaper fights...

Holy. Fucking. Shit.
I can honestly say that the one on one Reapers battles were among the best moments in gaming I've experienced over the course of this generation. Frantically rolling out of the way of massive blasts that annihilate anything it touches as the behemoth utters it's haunting groans. These battles are of apocalyptic proportions. I was on the edge of my seat, completely wired during each encounter.

As far as technical shit goes, for one, the graphics are phenomenal. The controls feel better than the previous installments, taking cover isn't finicky as it would sometimes be in the others. The navigation is improved again from the second one. When I was first using it in this, I thought it made it almost too easy, but I think it works very well, overall. Also, the maps are easier to read too. As well as labeling every area, it also lists significant characters under each area's name. That way, you spend little time combing the area, trying to find that one guy that you want to speak with or forgot the location of.
Not to mention, this game has one thing that every RPG should have: a hot-keyed save feature. All you have to do is hit the back button and 'ping!' game saved. It's interesting because I saw that exact idea printed in a Game Informer article awhile back in a list of "Things Every Game Should Have". I guess someone was actually taking notes.
I generally had little frustration upon death. For the most part, I felt like I deserved it whenever I died, not like I was cheated by some bullshit mechanic or glitch which tends to be the case frequently in other games.
Speaking of glitches, in my experience, I found that this game was surprisingly devoid of them. Not once did I see so much as a clipping limb. That's pretty impressive for a game on this scale. I can stomach the graphical issues, but the ones that involve losing significant amounts of save data...

>mfw

Not surprisingly, the characters aren't elaborated on much in this game. That's generally expected of a third installment in a trilogy. The first is where they're all introduced. the second is where all of the character development takes place and the third is where all of the action goes down.
I didn't see every character from the last game reappear, but that was probably due to something I missed on this play-through... oh well, there's always next time.
Something that is pretty nifty in this game is the dialogue that happens between the characters that actually exclude Shepard. Rather than just stick to their respective posts all of the time, characters will venture about the Normandy and there are plenty of times where you can walk in on a conversation and just listen to it play out. These interactions range from hilarious to dead serious and are not limited to just the normandy, it occurs during combat as well.
One of the most poignant moments in the game is right before you start the final suicide mission. Rather than just the usual "it was an honor" sort of thing, each character gives a unique speech, my favorite of these being the one from Garrus ("Meet me in the bar"). Again, this is only effective in even the most remote way if you're invested in the characters, which, after playing through all three games, I don't see not happening. To invoke that sort of feeling can only be done by master writing which is backed up by what's among of the most solid cast I've ever seen in a video game that improved with every succeeding game.

So, is there anything I disliked about this game or is this just some sort of overselling of it because I just picked up a new sponsor? Well, there were a few nit-picky things that I didn't like, but they're almost not worth mentioning. But, hey, since you've read this far, you probably care at least a little, so I'll speak my mind.
I found that when I imported my female character from ME2 she looked pretty weird. I have no idea why that is, but she looked quite different from the face I'd gotten used to over the course of the first and second game. The game gives you the opportunity to touch it up, but I wasn't able to get it to look quite right. This was only a one time issue though, my male character looked fine.

And in case you were wondering, she had sex with this.

Probably the only real complaint I have is that the game takes too much narrative away from the player. In the other games, Shepard very rarely spoke without first being orchestrated by the player to tweak the conversation in certain directions and shape your attitude. In this one, it's much more limited. I guess the game assumes things based on the personality you've already established, but I'd prefer to have total control like before.

The Ending

Ah, yes. The highly controversial conclusion to the franchise. Do you really want to know what I thought about it?

Satisfying.

Yep.

Not giving anything away here, but you can all suck my dick because I thought the ending was fine just the way it was. I'll admit it was somewhat disappointing not fighting Harbinger, but the fanbase went way fucking overboard with the hate for it which morphed into pure antipathy. I think it stemmed mostly from over-analyzation, which is when plot holes can emerge and then from there, it just became a trend (like people that hate Twilight). I suppose I may have felt different had I been following the coverage of Mass Effect 3 before it was out and seeing all of the promises, but I didn't because I wasn't into it back then and thus, my opinion is my own.

I didn't necessarily like the ending, but I approved of it and, honestly, if I'd never heard anything about how much of an inhumanity to man it was, I never would've thought twice about it.

Besides, I was far too wrapped up in the exhilaration of the last act and excitement on completing the trilogy to care. I was practically shaking as I walked up to the terminal.
I looked around on the internet to try and understand what it was that was so abhorred because when I beat it, I honestly had no idea what the issue was. Much of what I found was pleb; either over-analyzation or just nit-picky, like, "Well, I didn't like it!"

As for people bitch that it didn't have enough closure, I say fuck you. Too much closure demystifies it. It'd be like if at the end credits of Inception they just showed the top fall over. Moreover, these same people were also saying that the ending demystifies the Reapers mythology too much. So, please make up your mind before you open your mouth.

Furthermore, an Extended Version DLC and one exact year later, this issue is somewhat dead and no one seems to care anymore, which stands to reason that it was indeed an overreaction.

All in all, this game is a masterpiece and the fact that I've got the thesaurus open here, looking for synonyms for "amazing" is testament to this. Any complaints in this game I could voice are inconsequential and are overridden by the greatness of everything else in it. Bioware really went all out on this game and it shows. Games don't get much closer to perfection than this. Well done. This is one of the best games to come out on this generation and I'm kicking myself for not getting it sooner.

10/Fucking 10 - Just about flawless

I'm going to take a moment here to reflect on the trilogy as a whole, considering how tightly wound they all are and I'll grade it accordingly.

Mass Effect is essentially the fusion of already well-loved genres such as shooters or RPGs. It takes the best of other genres and combines them to achieve perfection. If that's not enough, throw in fantastic writing and some of the most likable and believable characters in gaming.

These games go above and beyond and stand to represent everything that a game can be. It's an intelligent and heavily story-driven plot that could be used to silence any allegation claiming that video games are all violent, murder-fests.

Games that are done similarly are few and far between, but I tend to prefer them immensely  I've always been partial towards games where the plot comes first and the gaming, second and Mass Effect is just that. Games of this caliber are always classier and more memorable as it's story-lines stick with us and we become emotionally invested in it rather than just wired in, wasting some aliens, which, don't get me wrong, I'm fine with, but those generally lack a lasting impression.
Bioware never decided that what they had was "good enough." They knew there was always room for improvement and didn't play it safe by sticking to what they know works. It comes off as being a game that exists for no other reason but to communicate a compelling story, not just so someone could get rich, which is amazing considering they're now owned by EA.

Where did we go wrong?

So while people on the internet will be whining about how they "deserved" a better ending, I will give Bioware a sincere thank you for giving me one of the most memorable gaming experiences of this generation. Mass Effect is a monument of gaming, through and through.
Now, if you'll excuse me, there are some Reapers who require my bullets.

10/10 - Would put high on a list of best games this gen