Demodulate: From demo to purchase - Mass Effect 3.

I, like many, have a fairly narrow range of games I really enjoy and purchasing them is generally a no-brainer - no review or demo necessary for a sale. I tend to, like many geeks, keep a list of games worth buying, so when I am out and about, I can refer to what price I am willing to pay. The list is ranked by: A- 80% of full price, B - 60%, C - 40% and D 20%. There is an E of 5-10% just to try something really off my radar.

Where demos come into this is that they allow me to look at games and give me more insight into how much I am willing to pay. So this is my series of looking at demos and essentially, reviewing them. The title Demodulate will be the name of the series because it works for me, meaning separating a signal from the carrier (in electronics).

I post this so I can fully evolve my thinking about a game, writing will do that, and hoping to get some feedback on games you have played, to further clarify my thoughts on whether I should play the full game or not. It is not an in-depth review, just a short analysis. Thanks for any input.

Mass Effect 3.

I downloaded the demo last night on the 360 and played it today. I do own Mass Effect 1 & 2 and my attempts at playing them failed to continue. I do want to like the games, but I just lost interest early. I love science fiction and that explains why I want to enjoy it. What I remember not liking was the questions/interaction. Even though RPG is my favourite genre, it is JRPG I like, not WRPG. For what was a pretty short demo, the 1.7Gb seemed excessive to download it.

Starting out:

I chose to play it as Action as opposed to Role Playing or Story. What attracted me was that all of the annoying questions mentioned before, were assigned to cutscenes. I chose the female Shepherd as I traditionally do. I played it in HD on a plasma television.

The graphics:

Aesthetically, the game looks sensational, with terrific modern structures. However, the characters are really bordering on ugly. They just didn’t feel organic and the mouth movements were bland. Also, the eyes seem odd to me and the clothes had no give, they were just there. Perhaps my time with Final Fantasy XIII made that seem that way. The running looked odd as well. They certainly aren’t game killers though.

The characters:

This is a real strength area of the game. With a clearly strong voice cast and genuinely interesting characters I am certainly impressed. I think I would enjoy seeing how they are fleshed out.

Sounds:

The soundtrack is a major plus in this demo. It sounded terrific and for whatever reasons, reminded me off a John Carpenter film from the 80s. I could listen to it for very extended periods. The sound effects were excellent and a true aural experience.

Story:

I am coming in from nowhere on this as I haven’t played the first two. The story of the Reapers and the 50,000-year extinction is a good theme and for some reason, reminds me of The Shadow in Babylon 5. I could see how I could get engaged with the story.

Controls:

I don’t do shooting games as such, but I found the shooting here easy enough to manage. I did have real troubles with the whole roll and cover movement aspects though. I notch that up to my incompetence. Whilst it took quite a while to beat the mech at the end, I did make it through pretty easily. I did this without understanding any of the options I may have had playing it.

Score:

Enjoyed it.

Buying intention - Rank C (40% of RRP) at best and I can wait for the inevitable price drop to it in 6-12 months time.

Conclusion:

I can certainly see the attraction of Mass Effect and the quality shines through. In fact, I would like to finish the first two games, but I am pretty crap at the shooting parts of it. Perhaps I will have to use a walkthrough to help me continue with the parts that just make me quit and play something else.

So what can you knowledgeable gamers tell me that I should know? What am I missing out on?