Getting To Know The Tempest: Mass Effect's New Normandy

When you’re exploring the far reaches of space, it helps to have a home away from home. In the Mass Effect series, your ship serves a variety of purposes. It can be a military base, where you plot your next tactical move; it can be a clubhouse, where you hang out with companions and get to know them better; and it can be a command center, where you make decisions about your character’s progression.

In the Mass Effect trilogy, players had the Normandy, which became almost as iconic as Commander Shepard. In Mass Effect Andromeda, you have the Tempest, a ship that functions like the Normandy in some ways, but also stands out with its own distinguishing features and innovations. Since players will spend a lot of time aboard this vessel exploring its corridors and interacting with its crew, we’re taking a closer look at what you can expect from the Tempest and how it helps in your mission to find a new home in Andromeda.

Areas of Interest
During our trip to BioWare’s Montreal studio, we got a limited virtual tour of the Tempest. The team wasn’t ready to show off every corner of the ship, but we saw some of the major areas, like the bridge, the galley, the garage, and the Pathfinder’s quarters. You can seamlessly travel between these locations, with no loading screens or painfully slow elevators to hold you back.

The bridge will be a more regular destination than it was aboard the Normandy. You still can drop by to talk to the pilot (a salarian), but handling navigation is your most common task there. Instead of going to a galaxy map in the middle of the ship, you stand on the bridge and stare out at the stars in front of you as you select your destinations.

After passing through an elliptical corridor (similar to one seen on the Normandy), you are in the galley. This area has more of an atrium-like feel, with windows offering a nice view and stairs leading up to a seating area on a second level. One of the most conspicuous objects in the galley is a holographic interface that allows Ryder to modify skill-point distribution, which is how you change your abilities between missions.

Farther back is the garage, which is where the Nomad (your Mako-like vehicle) is parked. Any visual customizations that you’ve made to the vehicle, like its paint job, are visible as you look down on it from the upper part of this tiered area.

The Pathfinder’s quarters is Ryder’s personal space. BioWare tells us that players will have some control over the décor here, and the room gets more of a moved-in feeling as the game goes on. You might see various mementos in this room, like reflections of your progress in the critical path, or simple souvenirs like a rock.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2016/11/21/getting-to-know-the-tempest-mass-effects-new-normandy.aspx

Pokemon Moon Review

Pokémon is a series that nailed its mechanics on the first try. It was a massive success and follow up entries have mostly stayed the course: Capture monsters, collect badges, and share your collection with friends. Sun & Moon is not a radical reinvention of Pokémon, but it does re-examine some ingrained mechanics and the result is a better, more diverse Pokémon experience that feels different from past games, even if it does have a familiar core.

The first thing I noticed is human character models and their animations have been dramatically improved. The Pokémon feel mostly unchanged, but the way your character and other NPCs move is significantly better. Grid movement is finally dead, and I couldn’t be happier. Animation improvements even help in storytelling. The narrative delivers familiar messages of kinship and working with your Pokémon friends, but it does hide a few surprises, as well as mysteries extending beyond the credits that are worth exploring.

http://www.gameinformer.com/games/pokemon_moon/b/3ds/archive/2016/11/15/game-informer-pokemon-sun-moon-review-3ds.aspx

Mass Effect Andromeda's New Approach To Romance

Romance is one of the most popular elements of the Mass Effect series, and deciding which relationship to pursue is the most difficult choice for some players to make. After all, who wants to be lonely in space? And who wants to spend their time on the wrong partner?

BioWare has let us cozy up to various party members through the years, and each have their own memorable moments. The best part of exploring romantic arcs is that characters often reveal different sides of themselves, such as Jack allowing you to see her emotional side, and Garrus showing he's not always calm and collected when it comes to matters of the heart. For Mass Effect Andromeda, BioWare wants to make romances more natural and realistic, featuring different levels of intimacy. While the team isn't ready to talk about these love connections in detail, we did uncover some basic info by chatting with creative director Mac Walters.

Moving Forward From The Trilogy

BioWare is trying to evolve what it has previously done with romances; the team has learned from the original Mass Effect trilogy, and is taking those ideas in more interesting and believable directions. "We've built on it [from the trilogy]," Walters says. "We had a strong foundation for how [romance] was working. For me, typically in the trilogy it was a bit formulaic. You'd talk to them and then get to that one point in the game where there was no going and back and romance was going to happen. That's not real life. There should be some people who just want to hop in the sack immediately. There should people who are interested in a long-term relationship. There are people who aren't interested in romance at all."

This means more mature situations and dialogue, as Walters notes the first Mass Effect spent a great deal explaining the lore of the world and the different races through the characters than focusing on their individual personalities. "I think we've moved beyond just doing info dumps on characters," Walters says. "It comes back to the circumstances. That is what we should be talking about. What are those people actually thinking right now? I think that's the mature aspect of it. Let's not ignore everything that's going on just so we can have a moment to say, 'I love you.'"

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2016/11/18/mass-effect-andromeda-39-s-new-approach-to-romance.aspx

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare

Campaigns in the Call of Duty series can often be distilled down to a series of setpieces, clichéd villains, telegraphed twists, and ridiculous monologues punctuated with excessive explosions. In Infinite Warfare, you still get some of all that, but if you’re not careful you might also find yourself shedding a solitary tear for the brave soldiers and their sacrifices in the brutal war against the Settlement Defense Front. While the characters are cut right from archetypal cloth, real empathetic weight seeps through the story from beginning to end. Nothing is lost in terms of gunplay or the big moments, either; you still have a diverse roster of weapons to choose from, and the shooting is on-point.

Surprisingly, Game of Throne’s Kit Harington as a critical commander of the enemy forces is the one notable misstep in the cast, as he fails to create tension or animosity as an antagonistic presence. Other characters, like the robot-soldier Ethan are surprising in a good way, as often the wisecracking sidekick trope is the stuff of annoying nightmares, but he’s handled masterfully and ends up stealing every scene he’s in.

Along with the solid boots-on-the-ground combat the franchise is known for, Infinite Warfare features flight missions in your jet-like Jackal that task you with shooting down other fighters, taking out enemy starships with cannons, and placing flares at the right moment to avoid enemy missiles. This isn’t some tacked-on gimmick just to add a wrinkle to the established conventions, and I enjoyed many intense moments dodging debris while attempting to get a lock on enemy ace pilots. You also venture into the void of space without your ship during several segments, providing a taste of zero-gravity combat to go with the rest of the in-space meal. While the zero-gravity combat is a good deal less compelling than the rush of adrenaline the Jackal fights provide, it doesn’t feel forced or out of place.

Weaponry feels rooted in realism, despite adding energy weapons and other elaborate future design tech to the mix. The weapon tech is somewhat dialed back from the flashy laser beams and other futuristic fare found in other recent Call of Duty titles. The mobility suite mirrors Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, offering boosted jumps, slides, and wall-running, and these elements are again more of an accent than essential. Mobility seems to almost hearken back to much older games in the franchise, with these elements mainly providing some alternate traversal options on maps. As I vastly prefer a slower experience to the frenetic pacing of Advanced Warfare, the pace of combat here suited me quite well.

Dishonored 2

Revenge is one of the oldest and most pervasive storytelling themes found in literature, film, and theater. Interactive entertainment frequently trades in this convention as well, giving players the tools to pursue justice unbound by the restraints of law and order. Arkane Studios has made the conceit the calling card of its Dishonored series, preserving the quest for vengeance as the sequel’s central theme. 

Fifteen years after Emily Kaldwin ascends to the throne following the assassination of her mother, Dishonored 2 begins with an unexpected (and abrupt) coup. Depending on the choice you make in this pivotal turn of events in the throne room, either Emily or her father Corvo Atttano (the original Dishonored protagonist) must voyage to the southernmost point of the empire to unravel the conspiracy of this successful putsch and exact vengeance. 

Dishonored 2 wisely preserves the play style flexibility of its predecessor, but better balances the scales between choosing a blood-soaked, high-chaos approach and a nonviolent, low-chaos solution. Whereas the first game failed to deliver a compelling progression for stealth-minded players, the distinct powers Emily and Corvo wield are equally useful for avoiding detection and taking a pound of flesh from every enemy you encounter. Stealthy players will also appreciate the addition of nonlethal drop takedowns and a small timing window that allows you to choke out enemies after stunning them during combat.

Corvo retains the same supernatural arsenal as the first game – allowing him to bend time, sic swarms of rats on enemies, and possess animals for a brief moment – but each skill now upgrades in multiple ways via branching paths using runes you can find hidden throughout the levels. On the other hand, Emily brandishes a suite of brand new abilities, making her the more interesting choice for a first playthrough. The doppelganger and mesmerize powers are useful diversions, and the shadow walk skill makes her much harder to spot when moving through heavily patrolled areas. Each of these has value, but the star power of the game is domino. Once fully upgraded, domino allows you to tie the fates of several enemies together via a psychic bond. Incapacitating or eliminating an entire room of guards in one fell swoop always feels gratifying.  

Watchdogs 2 review

Set in a world similar to our own, Watch Dogs 2 casts you as a young hacker named Marcus Holloway. He and his DedSec hacker group attempt to expose truths by breaching the security of large corporations and government administrations – all with a powerful smart phone that grants godlike control over San Francisco’s citizens and infrastructure. Brimming with opportunities to mess with machines on a large scale, the freedom of Watch Dogs 2’s open world is alluring and fun, with some improvements over its predecessor, but has missteps in other critical areas.

The original Watch Dogs fell short of presenting the hacker fantasy many envisioned. Hacking abilities had limited results that were more repetitive than engaging, and loose driving mechanics gave the impression that you were skidding on ice. These flaws have been addressed, with hacking put at the forefront of gameplay, and vehicles that handle much smoother on the road.

Watch Dogs 2 gives you plenty of ways to cause compelling havoc. You can control something as large as a crane, or cause an enemy’s phone to buzz to create a small disruption. Performing quick hacks with the touch of a button makes hacking easily accessible. You can also be precise, with deeper options including proximity traps and luring enemies towards imploding electrical fuses. Remotely controlling vehicles to spin them out of control is an immensely amusing way to lose pursuers during a car chase. I enjoy how Watch Dogs 2 gives you enough creative fuel to achieve the wackiest hacks, from blocking off entryways with forklifts or altering a foe’s data to become the target of a gang. This sense of variety and seeing the immediate repercussions of your hacks makes you feel powerful, giving you the illusion that almost anything is possible.

http://www.gameinformer.com/games/watch_dogs_2/b/playstation4/archive/2016/11/16/game-informer-watch-dogs-2-review.aspx

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