Mass Effect 3

Only a couple of hours into ME3 at the moment but so far, it's an averagely decent game. Nothing really ground-breaking about it although there have been a few moments in the game which made me LOL.

If any of you remember, there was this reporter that you can punch out in ME2 cause she kept asking you very intrusive questions. Turns out she's back in ME3...and you can punch her out. AGAIN. Even better, she will dodge your first blow and you have to click the renegade option again to knock her out for real. I'm not sure whether to laugh at this or think the game is secretly promoting violence against journalists.

Noooooooo, the last slice of pizza!!

Another issue is the sheer amount of melodrama in the frigging game. Yes, Earth has been invaded and lots of humans have been killed. But the scripting is just so cheesy. For instance, in this pic, Shepard is dreaming about a little boy (man, that sounds so much worst than it really is). He saw this little boy when he was escaping from the reapers on earth and he had the option to tell the boy to beat it or try to help him. Anyway, TLDR; I called it and the little boy basically dies and Shepard ends up watching him die. I'd say it's a reflection of Shepards loss of innocence or how war badly affects innocents if it wasn't for the fact that a) ME1 and ME2 have both shown this and b)it's done in a very VERY emo way, with action slowdowns and everything. Seriously, it hits all the cliche markers.

And then he has a dream about the little boy -_- in which he has to run after the little boy in a dark forest...except you can't run and you have to walk slowly after the little boy...and then it takes a DAMN long time for this goddamn useless melodramatic cutscene equivalent to be over with. And when he finally reaches the little boy, the little boy bursts into flames. Hence Shepards distraught (and imo hilarious) expression.

Couple of complaints I have about the game is that even several hours in, I feel like I'm being herded by a railroading DM. I may be recalling incorrectly, but it felt like I had more choices on where to go in ME2, or at least several choices. In ME3, it's "here, go here. okay, finish this quest. Ok, there, go there. Finish that quest" or so it seems so far. It's not really something I like because if I wanted a linear RPG, I'd go play FFXIII. I hope this changes further in and they're just setting me up for a loooong prologue.