johng Blog

Definitely. The characters, graphics, story - anything involving dudes talking on screen is the most engaging it has ever been in a game. The decisions you make effect how your companions treat you and even extend to which of your companions survive to see the end of the game. The combat is outstanding - it’s an action packed 3rd person shooter with RPG stylings and just the right amount of squad control. Watching some of the early trailers it came off kind of clunky positioning guys exactly where you wanted them and even taking control of them directly if you needed to. Thankfully you don’t need to do that and can rely on AI performing effectively in most situations while you worry about who is shooting at you.

Disappointments. Texture pop in when scenes change - it’s something we have seen in Gears of War and UT3 so I guess we can blame it solely on Epic’s Unreal Engine. It’s not a major deal when the end result is so amazingly detailed but it would be nice if Epic could iron it out. Also the side missions are rather lackluster after you have done a few. Bombing around on barren worlds in your buggy and going into prefabricated structures to shoot guys is pretty much the extent of it. Maybe they would have been better served randomly generating these planets to give some variety? I’d be surprised if any significant DLC packs are released like they planed.

Overall verdict - go buy it now! I am already planning how I can play through it differently next time. I’m thinking evil female combat and biotic specialist who always chooses the dark path rather than the goody two shoes I played the first time round. Should be fun kicking arse across the galaxy one more time.