Now Playing: Mass Effect Remastered

When Mass Effect released in 2007 it instantly became one of my favourite games. I must have played it a dozen times on the 360 before later playing it several more times on PC. The thing I liked the most about it was the world and the characters. I loved the universe BioWare had created and the cool aliens that became a part of your team. The overall story was also pretty good, and the way you could shape who your Commander Shepard was through dialogue was pretty fun.

Spin on to 2023 and I just played Mass Effect Remastered as part of the Mass Effect Legendary Edition. I’m pleased to say that the game still holds up well today – although that’s largely thanks to the aforementioned world and characters. From a gameplay point of view, Mass Effect is certainly a little dated.

 

This remastered version does attempt to streamline the combat into something more similar to the later games in the series and it works, for the most part. But Mass Effect 1 wasn’t really that great as a third person shooter in 2007 and this new edition certainly doesn’t change that. What it was good (and still is) at doing was giving you lots of cool abilities to play with – especially biotics – which to me, were always best and most fun to play with in ME1, perhaps because of how ridiculously powerful they are.

The AI is as stupid as it always was, sometimes taking cover, but other times randomly charging at you. Sometimes it just stands still. Sometimes it runs in circles on the spot. I’ll never get tired of hearing ‘Enemies everywhere!’ and ‘I will destroy you!’ though. That shit is seared into my brain forever.

I cleared all of the content in about 20 hours and it’s amazing how much of the dialogue I still know by heart. I’ll also always love Shepard’s vacant expressions which may be even more amusing in this remastered version than the original. The Mako still kind of sucks, but that’s mostly because of how they designed the terrain on many of the uncharted worlds to be as irritating and frustrating to navigate as possible.

If you’ve not played Mass Effect before then this Legendary Edition which includes all three games and all DLC is certainly the best way to go about it. I don’t think ME2 or 3 have had much in the way of an overhaul, but they probably didn’t need it. Just having all the DLC bundled together is the reason I picked it up because ME2 in particular was a real nightmare when it came to additional content.

I don’t think I’m ready to jump into Mass Effect 2 just yet though. I’ll probably take a break and come back to it. And then there’s Mass Effect 3, a game I’ve done my very best to forget and I’m really not sure if I actually want to play again.

Overall, Mass Effect Remastered is a decent upgrade of a classic game that’s worth picking up if you’re a new player or an old fan. Oh, and Tali is and forever will be my waifu.

8/10

Gallery: Uncharted: A Thief’s End

Now Playing: Cereza and the Lost Demon

When I saw the announcement trailer for Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon I really wasn’t sure what to think. A spin off game in an entirely different genre with an entirely new visual style? But because I love the Bayonetta games so much and because I wanted to support the series I figured I’d pick it up and give it a go.

What I wasn’t expecting was for the game to become an early contender for my personal Game of the Year and a potential 10/10 score. Yes, that’s how good Bayonetta Origins is. It’s close to being a masterpiece. And it is, make no mistake, a Bayonetta game. It might not look like it. It might not feel like it when you first start to play. But it is.

The way the DNA, I guess, of the ‘core’ Bayonetta games is woven into Origins as you progress is nothing short of remarkable. From visuals, to sound, to dialogue to gameplay – you don’t realise it at first, but it’s all there and the deeper you go, the more prominent it becomes. The game not only serves as a fantastic stand alone prequel, but as a perfect companion piece to Bayonetta 3.

The visuals are unique and distinct and absolutely gorgeous. The animations are fantastic. And I love how the animations evolve over time to reflect the growing relationship between Cereza and the titular Lost Demon – Cheshire. The UI also changes to reflect this. And I need to highlight just how lovely the UI is when so many games these days seem to, at best, settle for a UI that’s bland, but functional.

Every aspect of Origins has clearly had a lot of thought and care put into it – the visuals, the animations, the art, the UI – in order to connect everything together into a beautifully cohesive experience. And the music? The music is, you might not be surprised to hear, also fantastic, as is the voice acting.

But it’s not just how Origins looks or sounds that makes it special. It’s how it plays. The game eases you into controlling both Cereza and Cheshire independently of one another in both exploration and combat. The pacing is, admittedly, a tad slow at the beginning, but once you’re past the opening, your gameplay progression in terms of new abilities, new areas and new skills is pretty much perfect.

I played Origins immediately after Metroid Prime Remastered and in my review of that game I said ‘It’s one of those few games that should really be studied by developers now and in the future for a perfect example of level design, player progression and gameplay pacing.’ And now I feel like Bayonetta Origins is another game that can be added to the list. That’s how impressive the pacing and progression is handled.

As you play you unlock new ‘forms’ for Cheshire which give you new exploration tools and unlock new areas. But these forms also give you new abilities within combat. The combat is fun and very good. I won’t say it’s great. Not quite. It might feel very simple at first but it does grow more complex over time as you unlock these new forms and encounter new enemy types.

The game does a decent job of introducing new enemies and mixing them up, forcing you to switch forms on the fly in order to destroy them more efficiently. But I do wish there was just one more layer or so added to the combat system as you progress. It just falls a little short of the complexity I was hoping for.

At the very end of the game you do get new mechanics, but only as part of the final boss fight. I can’t be too unhappy about that though because that whole fight is pretty f**king stellar. In fact, all of the boss fights in this game are really f**king good. They’re genuinely some of the most fun boss fights I’ve had in years and they’re all unique in the way they play.

We do need to talk about the map, though, which is easily the worst part of Origins and why it’s falling short of that 10/10 score. The funny thing is, you probably won’t ever use the map when you’re working your way through the game because the level design is fantastic and you always know exactly where to go next.

No, the problem is when you hit the post-game and if, like me, you want to see everything Origins has to offer and find all of those missing collectibles. Then you realise how f**king bad the map is. Why? The map is deceptive. And the last thing you want a map to be is deceptive. The map is misleading. It f**king lies. You want a game map to be easy to read and precise.

But the map in Origins often appears to show two paths connecting – only for you to realise they’re actually not and then you realise – to your annoyance – you’ve spent 15 minutes running in a big circle. The game also doesn’t annotate which exits on the local map lead into which nearby regions. This alone would solve a lot of the problems, but the game doesn’t do it (unless they patch it in).

This is a real problem because some collectibles in one region require you to access them through a path from another region, but because the exits aren’t marked, you don’t know for sure which region to start from.

I’m really glad I did take my time and collect everything though (and I’m not ashamed to admit, I used a guide for a few of them) because there’s some really cool stuff to see and unlock, including entirely optional, beautiful areas. There’s also a lot of cool, post-game stuff to unlock like new costumes for both Cereza and Cheshire. Oh, and there’s also a Jeanne focused mission which ties into Bayonetta 3.

In total, I probably spent about 20 hours playing Origins. I didn’t hit 100% completion because I didn’t play all of the Tir Na Nog time trials. The Tir Na Nog challenges are a fun addition to the game, but I do wish so many weren’t entirely combat focused because the puzzle ones are really good and I wanted more like those.

Overall, Bayonetta Origins is an absolutely fantastic game. Yes, it’s a very different kind of Bayonetta game but it is, without a doubt, a Bayonetta game at heart. If you’re a fan of Bayonetta as a character and the story surrounding her then this is a must buy. But even if you’ve never played a Bayonetta game before, this is still a game you should pick up and play. It’s an absolute masterclass in design from visuals, to sound, to animations, to gameplay pacing and progression.

Shame about that map, though.

9/10

Tears of the Kingdom: First Impressions

I’ve played The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for about 12 hours and I’ve just completed the first dungeon so I figured I’d pull myself away from the game and share my initial (spoiler free) impressions.

I think it’s safe to say that if you liked Breath of the Wild, you’ll also like this because this is more BOTW. It’s a direct sequel and many features of BOTW carry directly into TOTK. Combat, cooking, korok seeds, shrines . . . all work (mostly) the same. Even the horses you had stabled in BOTW will transfer over to TOTK. Not your money though, unfortunately, or your perfectly completed Hyrule Compendium, which kind of sucks.

I understand that TOTK is designed for people who may not have played BOTW, and I understand the need to (literally) strip Link of gear, hearts and stamina at the beginning to reset everything for a new adventure, but I do kind of wish more stuff had transferred into TOTK from BOTW. Mostly I’m just salty about the Compendium.

The opening of TOTK is, structurally, almost identical to BOTW. You’ll begin in an enclosed tutorial area in which you’ll visit a handful of shrines and gain access to the key abilities you’ll need to complete your quest. Once you have those, you’re pretty much free to go where you want and tackle the content in any way that you want.

I would recommend following the main quest, at least at first, because your initial few missions will unlock your (essential) glider and the ability to reveal the map via the new sky towers. But, once those are out of the way, it’s really up to you. Like BOTW you’ll be directed to the four distinct regions of Hyrule each with a problem to solve but the order in which you tackle these is really up to you.

The game does suggest heading in one particular direction to begin so that’s the way I went. After retrieving one of my horses from BOTW I set out across the world, solved some shrines, explored some (new) caves, fused what looked like a dildo onto the end of my sword and eventually arrived at my destination and my first ‘dungeon’ and boss fight.

I say ‘dungeon’ but don’t expect a more traditional Zelda style dungeon. I’d say it’s closer to those than the Divine Beasts were in BOTW, but it’s still a more open ended approach to dungeon design that lets you use your abilities how you see fit to solve it. The boss fight was pretty fun too and felt uniquely themed and designed for this location. I’m assuming the other three bosses won’t just be a colour coded copy but their own unique thing. At least, I hope they are.

There’s a comfortable familiarity to TOTK and I’m really glad we’re getting a story that moves on from and builds upon the events of the first game. We get a chance to see how the world and characters have changed. I’m genuinely excited to return to locations from BOTW to see what’s new and to see what everyone has been up to.

But if you think this is just more of the same, you’re in for a shock. The world is bigger than before – much bigger – with new locations to explore both above and below. I won’t say more than that, but when you realise the scale of TOTK, it’s pretty f**king amazing. Nintendo must be f**king wizards to get this game running on a Switch.

The size of the world, the incredible draw distance, the realistic physics . . . and everything is so smooth and seamless. Yes, there are odd frame drops here and there but I can forgive those considering everything else. And your new abilities really do change everything. The way you fight, the way you traverse the world. They encourage creativity and I’m already seeing some pretty incredible creations being shared online. And laser dicks – because of course people will make laser dicks.

From a story perspective, I like what I’ve seen so far. It hits a lot of the same structural beats as BOTW, but it also builds upon those and I’m really curious to see where it goes. If it does follow the same pattern as BOTW then it may end being a little predicable, but maybe it won’t. Maybe it will surprise me.

Overall, I’m having a great time with TOTK but I don’t expect to finish it anytime soon. I hope to have the review up by the end of July, but we’ll see.