Mass Effect 3 was already released in some regions. So it seems like I’m fashionably late writing about Mass Effect 2 at this point. But there is one last thing I really wanted to talk about before moving on. This time, I’m not going to go into the details of it’s interface design. Instead, I’m going to look at the details of it’s storytelling.

Bromance interrupted. So close yet so distant. Like gameplay and story.

It all comes back to this weird feeling of emptiness I was left with after finishing Mass Effect 2 for the first time. Somehow, the it felt like eating a few boxes of rice crackers. I was utterly stuffed on the one hand, but on the other hand, it didn’t seem to have much substance. Somehow, all the things I went trough rarely connected with me. Even during the game I found myself being slightly bored even though I was going through awesome environments fighting viscous enemies with laser guns and rockets. So let’s take a closer look and find out what the problem is.

Continue reading “Mass Effect 2: Micro Storytelling”

There are very good reasons why Batman: Arkham Asylum is so critically acclaimed. It is a very good Metroid Prime clone, heavily modified to faithfully convey the characters and the world of the Batman universe. It is a good example on how to make license games.

Dramatization of actual gameplay experience.

Yet, Arkham Asylum has some very clear flaws. The reason why they have been overlooked may be because they only become apparent once you put some stress on the game’s systems. This rarely happens during the single player campaign. Unfortunately, it is the very idea behind the combat challenges. I have prepared an entire series of YouTube videos this time, so let us take a look at this dark side of the Dark Knight and consider how Akham Asylum could have avoided those problems.

Continue reading “Batman Arkham Asylum: Combat Breaking Points”

So I got SSFIV:AE and I’m breaking in my Saturn USB pad by playing the Trial mode.

The Trial mode consists of a series of stages. In each of those, the player has to execute one or multiple moves. It starts with the simple execution of a special move and quickly moves on to combos of increasing difficulty. While it sounds like a reasonable learning curve, the concrete implementation doesn’t turn out to be as helpful as it can be.

But let’s start with the minor issues.

For all you busy people: I’ve outlined an alternative concept for game-assisted training at the end.
Continue reading “Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition: Trial Fail”

Nearly 4 years ago i wrote about the great flash based Desktop Tower Defense game.

Over one year i have been playing another great Tower Defense game, this time on PS3: Comet Crash.

But something else first: Nearly one year i had to see the prove for TTP (time to penis) here on Game Design Reviews. So now i think its time for a new review (Of course i can never reach the workload kryst invests into his last page-spanning reviews, but i hope i can at least present a good and sometimes overlooked game here).

As you might have seen on someof my previous reviews, I’m a big strategy / tactics fan.

So in this review i will try to give an overview over the things i liked about the reatltime strategy (RTS) and tower defense (TD) genre mash-up: Comet Crash. I will also try to list what i think makes them good from an objective Game Design Review point of view. (Warning: i will write quite subjective while trying to stay objective!)

Continue reading “Comet Crash: TD meets Casual RTS”