Rumoured to be the most expensive videogame ever developed, Bioware’s MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic finally saw a full launch at the tail end of December – presumably aimed at those not satisfied with the weight gain already associated with the season and still seeking a method to put on a few more pounds in a short space of time.

I picked the game up having already tried the beta and had been quite impressed – despite having been frustrated by staggered early access rules sprung at the last second, shockingly inflated retail prices, and the general stench of publisher influence surrounding the whole affair. What follows is a collection of first impressions having spent a couple of weeks with the game across numerous classes.

Each time a new MMO hits the market it is, inevitably, overly and tediously compared to World of Warcraft, the apparent all-powerful benchmark for the genre. Were the reason purely based on long term financial success this would make more sense to me, but rarely are these the things used for a comparison. I have a long history with MMO games as my waist line will attest to, yet only briefly does WoW appear in that history and beyond this paragraph it will not be levied towards The Old Republic again for any reasons other than financial ones.

Given the popularity of the Star Wars brand it may seem a given that (at least initially) Old Republic was going to have an easy ride, though it’s worth pointing out that DC Universe and Star Trek Online could also be considered to have strong brands backing them, and we all know where they ended up – the Free-To-Play dungeon where MMOs go to die. That said it does seem like this MMO is off to a strong start yet doesn’t feel overly populated, thanks to instanced planets and numerous servers for both the EU and US regions. I went in also expecting 90% of people to be playing as some kind of Jedi or Sith yet this doesn’t seem to be the case and – with the exception of people not willing to be a healer or a tank which plagues every game like this – classes seem reasonably balanced.

There is of course another draw here for fans of the Knights of the Old Republic games. This game, while set some time after those original games, still follows the events in them and in particular on the Imperial side Revan is often spoke of. There are cameos from characters that appeared in those games too and you can also visit planets from them to see the fallout of previous events, most noticeably Taris.

Another thing which sets Old Republic aside from other games in the MMO category is the inclusion of companions for every class, light/dark alignment and the thing which takes up most of the required 20 GB install – voice acting.

While this is not the first RPG based MMO to include voice acting within quests (I believe it may have been Age of Conan that did it first) it is the first which not only fully voices everything but also has recorded lines for male and female variants of the four starting classes on the Republic and Imperial sides for all possible choices (which can usually be categorised as good, neutral and evil). This is not voice acting on the cheap either, and is almost exclusively to an extremely high standard of delivery.

This is certainly an impressive undertaking and can at times create the impression that you are immersed in a single player game – Knights of the Old Republic 3 – yet then you will see another player running by and remember. The illusion is furthered by having an NPC companion with you to facilitate those who want to play alone that even incorporates a like/dislike system for your choices leading to romance options or companion quests. While there are open air quests across the numerous expansive planets you can visit, there are also instanced areas for your chosen class’s plot line, Flashpoints and group quests.

Play enough of a few different classes or do enough quests and you will start to pick up on things which were cut and pasted to help cover the staggering task of constructing so many fleshed out activities. Given any individual quest dialogue you can be sure that there will either be a standing animation, a hand motioning angrily either at you or to the side, or an animation where the person you are speaking to walks forward a couple of steps then steps back. Rarely will there be a cutscene in which things become any more animated, especially outside of class quests.

Dialogue is often recycled too. For example a Jedi Consular’s ‘evil’ option when undertaking a quest (paraphrased slightly) is “Sounds interesting, but what’s in it for me?” and this will be said a lot regardless of the wording of the option you chose. This is a frequent thing across all classes for generic responses to the process of learning about and accepting a quest. I mention these things not as faults, purely that the longer you play the more obvious they become and it does take some of the sparkle away from the initially impressive façade.

The quest-giving NPCs of the world are also insanely forgiving to rudeness, abruptness and the generally evil manner you can choose to react in if you are after Dark Side points. You can constantly pick the (often amusing) blunt option which insults the person you are speaking with and they will still carry on offering you the quest with a comparatively lax response to what was just said about them. There are also moments where you can actually flat out refuse to be told more only for the NPC to force the information on you anyway.

The reason for this though is clear – you can team up for any and all quests, and outside of class based ones (in which party members can only take up spectator roles in cutscenes) everyone can have input via number rolls with the highest being the course of action you see play out. This means that in order to be fair the rude “I don’t care about the details” option could win the roll on a dialogue choice but those who wanted to know more are still also satisfied.

Long term, Old Republic does have a distinct advantage over something like DC Universe in that even if the current maximum level of fifty can be reached fairly quickly, the unique storyline to each class and the engaging manner in which they are presented compels you to try them out just to see another interesting plot. This is not to mention having the Republic side and Imperial side, each giving access to different planets (some are shared eventually though).

In the long, long term we do wonder though how additional content could be produced that matches the same standard currently present. Adding new quests isn’t as simple as putting in a few screens of text – they would have to record all options for all classes on each side. It isn’t much of a surprise then that thus far it is only expanding how PVP currently operates that is being discussed and an additional Flashpoint or two. I do worry though that rather than add fully fleshed out quests as part of the MMO tradition, that it evolves and grows over time to keep justifying your subscription, they may release micro-transaction additional content citing the voice work and so on as the reasons why.

With solid gameplay that offers traditional MMORPG style interaction mixed with different concepts not usually seen in the genre (such as a cover system for Smugglers and Imperial Agents) and excellent parts borrowed from single player RPG mechanics, Old Republic is off to a very strong start. Of course, quite a few MMOs have had strong starts and what really matters will be how strong it remains a few months down the line as people run out of things to do and look to the developers for more content. It does also fall into some typical trappings of the genre such as repetition by design, a lack of quest variety and some areas being needlessly large.

Star Wars: The Old Republic has a good chance of being financially successful for a moderately long time depending on the quality of continued patching and additional content and is a very interesting experience for experienced MMO players and new alike. Fans of the Star Wars brand will already probably be playing, so that leaves fence-sitters and those already subscribed to a different MMO and to them I would suggest waiting for the inevitable release of a free trial which, unlike some trials, will give a taste of what the whole experience is like as this is a game less about getting max level as fast as humanly possible and more about the enjoyable plot driven journey to get there.

Mass Effect fans got a huge treat at the Spike VGAs the other night, with a new gameplay trailer that shows off a minute and a half of in-game footage.

We get to see a male Shepard take on one of the massive, planet smashing Reapers, narrowly dodging its attacks and reinforcements.

Another welcome sight comes at the end of the trailer when the date March 6, 2012 appears; reinforcing the release date we’re all hoping will stick.

Mass Effect has always been a series highly rated for its storytelling techniques (besides, of course, the gameplay itself). Mass Effect 3 will definitely uphold this tradition.

The E3 lines for this title were huge. And I mean huge. Even members of the press had to stand in line to get a ticket, and then come back half an hour later. But it was worth it.

In Mass Effect 3 humanity has to fight the Reapers, who have landed on earth. Shepard, who is re-hired as a Commander (because he was right, duh!!),  is sent all over the universe to mobilise other races and planets to fight them.

Many gameplay elements will return, which will make Mass Effect 3 feel familiar for the fans. Although there was very little information given on any new elements, we do know that weapon customisation is a lot more elaborate this time around. You can completely disassemble your weapon and customise and change it in numerous ways. The game, according to Bioware, will also require more combat tactics. To support this, Shepard can now throw grenades and use the OmniBlade, a heavy melee holographic sword.

The demo shows how Shepard yet again has to make some tough choices. As he runs into a small child hiding in a vent, he tries to help; but the child crawls away. Shepard is in doubt, but eventually continues his own mission. As he later watches the same kid run to a ship that is supposed to get him out of the danger zone, the ship is shot out of the air seconds later. Shepard knows the kid is dead, and he knows he may have been able to prevent that.

Oh, and did I mention the game looks gorgeous?

• Format: PS3 (version reviewed), Xbox 360, PC, Mac
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: EA
• Developer: BioWare
• Players: 1
• Site: http://dragonage.bioware.com/

Comparing Dragon Age II to its predecessor, Dragon Age: Origins, doesn’t do it any favours. Despite offering a deep and engaging adventure it is difficult to shake the feeling that it’s a wasted opportunity – neither building upon nor matching the achievements of the first instalment of Dragon Age.

You assume the role of Hawke, one of a group of refugees fleeing from war-torn Ferelden. Making your escape to the sprawling city of Kirkwall, you soon discover that the demonic hordes of the Archdemon are not the only hostile forces in your way. Rife with in-fighting, turmoil and segregation, the city plays host to your rise from illegal immigrant to hero over the course of a decade.

Hawke’s story is told through prolonged flashbacks with Varric the dwarf, one of your more charismatic companions, recounting the tale. Varric has the gift of the gab – never afraid to let the truth get in the way of a good story – with his audience, and the player left to question the validity of his claims. This framed narrative lends weight to your actions, even if it makes their outcome inevitable, as you are aware your quest is destined to become legend.

This fantasy yarn lacks a clearly defined goal, a deliberate choice on the part of the developer. It’s not always apparent what exactly you are striving towards, with a number of subplots simmering under the surface, only some of which are fully developed. It’s an interesting approach which succeeds in keeping the story fresh, but it falters when pacing issues make it easy to loose sight of your overall objective.

Hawke’s rise to power is assured, but how you get there is largely at your discretion. There is no shortage of side missions which line your pockets with gold, award experience and swell the ranks of your party. Most of these quests are generic, but they succeed in keeping the player engaged by showcasing interesting characters and plotlines, as well as affecting other aspects of the game. Each of your companions have their own side missions which uncover more of their past, either distancing or ingratiating themselves to Hawke. Suitably fleshed-out, you come to genuinely care about your crew – ever wary of the impact of your words and actions on these delicate relationships.

Across each play through you take part in hundreds of engrossing conversations. Utilizing a similar system to the morality based Mass Effect dialogue wheel, almost every response comes with a number of disparate options clearly labelled as being romantic, fair, sarcastic or stern. Brilliantly scripted and well voiced, these interactions remain entertaining throughout, and you may find yourself rushing through the combat in an effort to return to the rich and immersive dialogue.

Battles are fairly straight forward, at least on consoles; a satisfying mix of button-mashing and none-too-taxing tactics that is missing some of the nuances of its peers. What it lacks in depth it gains in accessibility, though at times you may find yourself yearning for more challenging foes. The equipment system has been streamlined, removing the ability to tinker with companion’s armour, which frees up precious inventory spots to better prepare Hawke and ensures continuity in character appearance.

Dragon Age II’s most prominent failing is its claustrophobic setting. For most of the game you are stranded in the city of Kirkwall. Throughout the first third you are teased with the prospect of visiting different locales, eventually breaking free from the city around the ten hour mark to embark on an expedition to the cavernous Deep Roads. This is an exciting but painfully brief sojourn which concludes by dumping you back into the city. It soon becomes clear that your wanderlust will go unsated, as Kirkwall becomes the permanent setting for the remainder of your geographically challenged adventure.

Stuck in one place for tens of hours, it is easy to dwell upon abundant rough edges and questionable mechanics – faults that are more easily forgiven when on the move. The constant load screens become frustrating, marking what, in-game, is just a short jog from one street to another. Having to speak to a merchant’s chest of wares instead of the tradesman himself is a tricky job of finding just the right angle, and will try your patience well before the hundredth attempt. As cabin fever takes hold, these small grievances are magnified and start to spoil the experience.

On the rare occasion that you do venture outside of the city walls – usually for a side mission in the surrounding mountains – you quickly come to realise that art direction and variety weren’t two of BioWare’s primary concerns. Dungeons are recycled ad nauseum, as what was once a mine shaft will soon reappear in countless others missions as a dragon’s den or a smugglers hideout. These dull labyrinths soon make you long for the familiar streets of Kirkwall.

While it clearly lacks the scope of other BioWare RPGs, the contained setting does allow for a full realising of Kirkwall. It feels like a real city, populated by characters you come to know and trust, or distrust. When a character is missing from his regular spot you take note, and likewise you are instantly aware of any new, unsavoury characters. Informative scrolls and codex are littered throughout the city, contributing to Kirkwall’s extensive back-story, making it easier to believe that it has stood for hundreds of years. The brilliantly atmospheric soundtrack adds character to the repetitive settings, yet it inexplicably drops in places, leaving long periods of silence before it suddenly returns for no apparent reason.

Dragon Age II is repetitive and confined, yet anyone who enjoyed Origins is sure to find something that will take their fancy. It falls well short of expectations yet the interesting characters, their riveting interactions and the tantalizing details of the land they call home do, in part, make up for its shortcomings. Dragon Age II is a limited yet enjoyable entry in a series which we have yet to see the best of.

Here we have a trailer for the third, and apparently final, Mass Effect game. Hmm, this guy’s got a funny accent. It’s certainly not an American accent – is he a bad guy? He’s sniping from… is that some sort of clock behind him?

It’s Big Ben (that’s the name of the bell by the way, not the clock; you learn something new every day at CG folks)! He’s in London! Whacking great aliens are in London, making a big mess!

CG predictions: Shepherd dresses the aliens up in scarves and messy haircuts. The metropolitan police subsequently mistake the aliens for students, and kick the crap out of them.

The last couple of days have not been good for EA (except for beating down copyright bully Tim Langdell in court), stock prices in the company plummeted after a generally poor critical reception for the latest in the Medal of Honor series. Now an insider purporting to be an employee of EA Mythic has let loose with both barrels a full blown rant on some of the internal issues allegedly plaguing the publishing giant. Whilst most of the bile vented is aimed at the managers at Mythic, EA Louse has some choice words to say about Bioware too and the highly anticipated Star Wars – The Old Republic MMO.

We here at Critical Gamer have no way of telling if claims made within the blog are true especially as it comes from an unverified anonymous source, but industry insiders using the internet to vent their frustration is not a new phenomenon, with EA Spouse and a controversy at Rockstar San Diego earlier this year making headlines. But you’ll have to decide for yourself if you believe what the author is saying.

We’ve highlighted a few choice phrases from the blog below, to read the whole article head here

Warning! Strong Language below:

“So what do they all have in common? All of them failed, badly, in Warhammer, and each of them is in a position of authority in the new company, while the rest of us are facing pink slips. How do they sleep at night? They spin aruond, blame everything on Mark, divide his old salary between them, and never speak about it again. Oh, and they fuck us little guys as well. “

“And Bioware? Don’t make me laugh. They’ve spent more money making the Old Republic than James Cameron spent on Avatar. Shit you not. More than $ 300 million! Can you believe that?

And you know what they’re most proud of? This is the kicker. They are most proud of the sound. No seriously. Something like a 20Gig installation, and most of it is voiceover work. That’s the best they have. The rest of the game is a joke. EA knows it and so does George Lucas,they’re panicking , and so most of Mythic has already been cannibalized to work in Austin on it because they can’t keep pushing back launch.

Old Republic will be one of the greatest failures in the history of MMOs from EA. Probably at the level of the Sims Online. We all know it too ……”

Strong words indeed, what do you think readers? An anti-EA gamer stirring the brown stuff, or a genuine disgruntled employee? Let us know in the comments below.

Bear with me fans of Dragon Age, I never played the first one so I have no idea how cool it was nor, for that matter, how bad it might have been. All I know is it was long and it had a huge back story.

Finding Dragon Age II in here took a day, and if anyone who went to Eurogamer 2010 and wanted to check this game out but never spotted it (it wasn’t listed in the guide map handed out on the way in), don’t worry too much, I doubt very much you would have been able to tell whether this new one’s going to be a winner from this demo.

The queues were three men deep (well, it was all men queueing when I was there), which doesn’t sound too bad considering the mile long line of gamer nerds stretching out round the back of Brink’s 8+ screens, but when each demo takes twenty minutes to play through, an hour of staring over someone else’s shoulder makes a man want the game at the end of it to be worth the wait. Which it wasn’t. What you get at the end of that hour is twenty minutes of hack and slash coupled with the pleasure of straining to hear any audio through the headsets provided. Now does that sound like worth an hour of your life waiting for? If it does, good for you. Off you toddle now, there’s nothing else to see here. You can pre-order it all over the net and it comes out in March next year. What else do you need to know?

And now they’ve gone, let’s get on with the bitching. Nah, just kidding, there’s nothing much to actually bitch about except that after the short demo I’ve come away with no idea whether this game’s good or not.

You start out dropped into a barren, scorched earth wilderness with a sidekick, after you’ve chosen which class you’re going to be – Rogue, Warrior, some kind of spiritual type that I can’t remember even though in the demo there was both a paladin and an apostle so it’s going to be one of those – and then the slashing kicks off. A few waves of Hurlock come at you, some with crossbows, others with swords, and it’s pretty easy to cut these grunts down. They look like a cross between the warrior gorillas from Planet Of The Apes and the freaky aliens in Pitch Black. So that’s alright then.

After watching everyone in front of me choose to be warriors, I plumbed for the more personally realistic rogue fella – two blades and lots of sneakiness. It didn’t make much difference, it was all button bashing mayhem whatever character you chose to play as.

The face buttons have one for the basic attack and three for little extras that you could only pull off when their onscreen meters filled up. These you can upgrade and juggle as and when you level up with some weapon/upgrade tree menus.

I hope this isn’t the finished product because the graphics in the cut scenes need sharpening up. There were plenty of blocky, jagged lines in every one, though the emotional expressions on the characters in those scenes looked really impressive, enigmatic even at times.

At least standing in the queue gave me an opportunity to see the differences between each character’s storyline, and I can’t say there was much of a difference to any of them in this demo. It’s completely linear, funnelling you along a path, popping up Hurlocks along the way, giving you a big, meaty Ogre to have a go at, adding new members to your team as you go and letting you jump from each one at will. Magic or sword, speed or strength, you had all the options at your finger tips for every fight.

The Ogre was having a few problems, getting stuck mid-charge in a boulder but still running away like mad as if he’s doing the ogre Moonwalk. Then after a bit of this chopping and hacking a Dragon/woman shows up, flame grills all the bad guys and hands you a mission. And that’s all you get. It wasn’t exciting, thrilling or any other ing with a positive word in front of it. It was, to be frank, pretty standard gaming.

Now if you did play the first game and you can tell me it was awesome, had a great plot, loads of amazing battles, some jaw dropping attacks and weaponry and everything else then here’s hoping this game is every bit as cool. But there’s no way in the world anyone could make a judgement on this game after 20 mins except the flippant, the mad and the people who like to leave gobby messages in comment boxes. So I’m not going to.

The news all PS3 owners have been waiting for since EA acquired Bioware has finally happened. Mass Effect 2 will be coming to PlayStation 3 in January 2011. The PlayStation 3 edition will include the full Mass Effect 2 game and hours of bonus content.

The only problem for PS3 owners is – where is Mass Effect 1? The series is set to be a trilogy and PS3 owners without a 360 or beefy PC may have to skip straight to the second chapter, leaving many gaps in the story. And then there’s the much boasted effect that your decisions in the first game have on what happens in the second.

Let’s hope EA and Bioware make sure PS3 fans aren’t left scratching their heads when Mass Effect 2 lands on their system early next year.

Done everything in Mass Effect 2 and want a little bit more? Of course you do, it’s probably turned you into the gaming equivalent of a drug addict thirsty for more. Well, lucky us then, as BioWare have just announced the Firewalker DLC pack due for release in late March.

As if this wasn’t nice enough already, the pack will be free of charge to all of us who are on the Cerberus Network.

The Firewalker pack is set to include the Hammerhead hover tank and five brand new missions to use it in. Hopefully it will handle better than the Mako from the first game, but as long as it doesn’t feel like prodding a hippo across a frozen lake with a long stick then this shouldn’t be an issue.

Spotted on Eurogamer

In the first part of this article we looked at some of the ways in which Mass Effect may have fallen flat or disappointed. But in part two we plan to set the record straight, Mass Effect 2 is a fantastic game brimming with good ideas and excellent writing. A few mistakes or missteps along the way don’t change that. As with the previous part of the article, this contains MAJOR SPOILERS, so please only proceed if you’re comfortable with that.

In Part one I mentioned aliens who are like humans, having recognisable human emotions and institutions such as marriage. I decried the lack of mystery and intrigue surrounding Shepard’s team members, which several of you picked up on and disagreed with rather eloquently. But despite my protestations previously, there was always one team member who I felt broke that barrier, or at least chipped away at it.

His name is Legion and he is my favourite of all the companions in Mass Effect 2 – despite a woeful introductory chat in the AI Core of my ship. As I welcomed him onto my crew with a stilted handshake, I thought ‘Wait.. a handshake, what the hell?’. Even with my friendly Paragon Shepard I expected a bit more caution, perhaps a period of probation before letting someone who looks like my former arch-nemeses the Geth free onto my ship. Niggling doubts too about ret-conning the previous game came up, with the introduction of a second faction of the Geth. But as the game continued, something happened. After every mission or side-quest I’d find myself skipping off down to the AI core, to further delve into Legion’s psyche or programming or… whatever. Legion gives us the opportunity to explore and come to understand a race whom I’d spent close enough to 30 hours blowing up without so much as a ‘Hello’ in the first game. More than that though, Legion is a result of Shepard’s actions. An advanced Geth capable of operating freely, sent out on a recon mission and pretty much allowed to make his own mind up. He is essentially the Geth’s attempt to recreate me, even he can’t satisfactorily explain why he’s wearing an old piece of Shepard’s armour. There’s an eerie intelligence and sense of mystery to Legion. On the mission where you visit the Heretic Geth base and have the choice to blow it up or rewrite them, Legion explains that the programs running through him haven’t yet met a consensus. He leaves the choice up to Shepard and the thought crossed my mind that he was both testing me and gethering (see what I did there) data on me, to better emulate my Shepard. The fact that I was projecting thought processes and trying to second guess my companion is perhaps testament to Bioware’s writing of this particular character. I loved Mordin Solus too, but even his emotional and moral complexity didn’t send shivers up my spine in the way Legion did.

Early on in Mass Effect 2 I was worried. I still only had two types of pistol and a pretty basic array of armour. The stats I was allowed to choose between on levelling were sparse and trim, especially compared to the first game. As an RPG fan I’m used to being presented with a diverse array of statistics, abilities, weapons and armour, then finally working out what the hell they all mean about halfway through the game. Not so in Mass Effect 2. As the game progressed, I began to appreciate that simplification doesn’t just mean less choice, but it emphasizes meaningful choice and allows each ability to become a key part of your arsenal. Every point you spend on your character in ME 2 matters, every ability serves a function and every weapon will be used, because of the introduction of ammunition. In Mass Effect combat became repetitive, with the same abilities being levelled and used for every combat. In Mass Effect 2 you’re forced to innovate, combine your attacks and experiment. Team member selection isn’t so much about balancing the right level of tech and biotics as it is selecting the right people for the job. The combat in Mass Effect 2 was dynamic, exciting and varied in ways Mass Effect didn’t even approach.

The other key thing Bioware did in terms of character development was to separate conversation skills from your statistics. This not only frees up points for combat abilities, but lets you shape Shepard’s personality on the fly and approach each situation differently, without necessarily tying you to a Paragon or Renegade path. Speaking of which, I normally play through good RPGs twice, once as a good guy and once as a bad dude. Bad guy playthroughs are usually a disappointment in terms of how much difference you actually make by acting like a tool. But Bioware have introduced a dynamic conversation system, where you can perform Paragon or Renegade actions mid-conversation at certain points in the game. These range from brutally beating a criminal under interrogation to kicking mercenaries out of windows mid conversation. Though used sparsely these new interactions are hugely entertaining and can bring an urgency to Shepard previously lacking. No longer do we feel the need to let the bad guy finish his cackling speech, or quiz him on every aspect of his cultural heritage; we can just shoot him in the face mid-spiel.

Perhaps the most interesting thing Mass Effect 2 does though, is adapt the narrative to the player. In giving us so many important decisions in the original Mass Effect, there was a worry that Bioware’s next game would become bloated and the story would have too many different paths to form a coherent whole. But it hasn’t turned out that way. What it does instead is reward the player for having gone through the original Mass Effect. Characters you’ve impacted will show up or send you messages and the universe will change subtly depending how you acted previously. It’s been suggested elsewhere that playing without importing a character allows you to experience Bioware’s directors cut of the game, their canon as it were. But to me it seems their Shepard made a complete hash of everything, allowing friends to be killed and appointing the rat-like Udina to the Citadel council. The game is infinitely more satisfying to play through in a universe you shaped, with the Shepard who shaped it. Even if there are only a limited number of different paths Shepard could have taken, the story becomes almost unique and personal to an extent few sequels or indeed games ever manage. This kind of collaborative narrative is something that only games can do and something I’d love to see more of, where it doesn’t feel as though I’m walking through a railroad of a plot. Instead I’m impacting lives and shaping the universe with every decision made and crafting a unique tale within the broad boundaries Bioware have given us.

So there we have it, Mass Effect 2 is a game that manages to produce moments of the sublime, yet which has niggling problems that can significantly detract from the experience. Few would ever claim it’s a bad game and we’re sure it will win all kinds of awards. What about you? Were there moments of disappointment, or did you air punch as Shepard blew the crap out of the Collector ship? What do you hope to see improved upon for ME 3? Please share your thoughts with us in the comments below.