Mass Effect 3 Review

Nowadays it seems that every popular game franchise makes it to a third game.  Few go onto outshine their predecessors.  Well the final act in BioWare’s sci-fi trilogy Mass Effect 3 has arrived and may I dare say it is the best entry in the series and quite possibly frontrunner for my 2012 Game of the Year.  Mass Effect 3 refines all the mechanics from the previous two games in the series to perfectly blend the combat of a third-person shooter with the character building and storytelling of a RPG.

Your sole purpose in Mass Effect 3 is to take back Earth, the human home world which was invaded by the Reapers during the game’s stunning opening.  Every mission you complete, every decision you make, every asset you find from scanning planets contribute to building your army to take on the Reapers in the final mission.  It makes every mission, story or side, mean something to the game’s end result.  You feel the need to explore every corner of the Mass Effect universe taking in everything it has to offer.  Mass Effect 3’s story is among the strongest in the series as it twists and turns and offers choices that make you think, make you cry and make you furious.  You will get emotionally attached to these characters and thinking about the other possible outcomes will circle in your head for days.

While the decisions and story are what you will cling onto, the superb combat keeps you engaged in the game’s various missions.  Just like in the story, there are many different ways of approaching combat.  You are able to run and gun bouncing from different pieces of cover to avoid enemy fire or you can be more strategic, use different biotic, tech or combat powers to take down enemies or use a combination of those approaches.  You can also add upgrades to your weapons at workbenches throughout the game and switch your armour to improve different stats.  The missions in Mass Effect 3 are great.  Some standout over others, but each one offers a lot of variety, which keeps things from getting tedious and repetitive like in other games.  Mass Effect 3’s art direction is absolutely stunning as it brings each locale to life from the wastelands of Tuchanka to the slick, metallic innards of a Geth Dreadnought.  The biggest feature added with Mass Effect 3 is the online co-op multi-player.  While I am not a fan of the multi-player being online only, it is very fun addition to the series.  Mass Effect 3’s multi-player pulls from the game’s great combat to create a fun co-operative experience much like Gears of War’s Horde Mode, but with much more strategy needed to last all 11 waves.  Personally there are a few games that I enjoy playing online, Mass Effect 3 is one of them.

No game is perfect.  Even the best have a couple little blemishes.  In Mass Effect 3’s case, it comes in the way of graphical glitches that happen every once in a while.  It ranges from pop-in to talking to invisible characters.  It can be annoying, but it does not happen enough to consider these glitches as a big problem.  With a game as big as Mass Effect 3, the developers cannot catch every little thing.

At the end of the day no matter all the controversy surrounding it, Mass Effect 3 is one of the best RPGs of this console generation.  Mass Effect 3 improves on the shortcomings of its predecessors and creates an experience unlike any other game out there, a full-on RPG with a real-time combat system of a third person shooter.  It is a game well-worth its 60 dollar price point and the 30+ hours you will spend playing it.  It is Mass Effect 3, quite possibly the best game of 2012 and the best RPG from this side of the world.

Launch Station: Ridge Racer Unbounded

I honestly thought Ridge Racer Unbounded was delayed until this coming fall.  So I was pretty surprised to see reviews popping up across the net and retailers continuing to advertise it's March 30th release date.  A big blunder on Namco's part for not promoting the newest entry in their arcade racing franchise to the point that those interested in the series such as yours truly though it was delayed.  Well after some confusion, Ridge Racer Unbounded is dropping on store shelves this Friday.  Let us take a look at a racer that will definitely fly under most gamers' radars.

Following other Japanese developers lead, Namco has given Finish developer BugBear Entertainment, the studio behind the FlatOut games, a chance to inject new life into the Ridge Racer franchise with Ridge Racer Unbounded.  Instead of a standard Grand Prix mode like in other Ridge Racer games, Unbounded has a story mode for players to enjoy.  You play as an unnamed racer who joins the Unbounded street racing gang.  Test your skills against rival gangs in the city of Shatter Bay, Ridge Racer Unbounded's setting, to gain respect and expand your gang's turf.  With Ridge Racer Unbounded, BugBear created a whole new physics engine and effects that allow players to damage the cars and the environments.  While you have all of Shatter Bay to race in, BugBear has added a City Creator mode, which allows players to create their own tracks to race on and share with others online.  Speaking of online, you can race with your friends or other gamers through Unbounded's online multi-player.

Considering the horrible job Namco did of informing gamer's and press that Ridge Racer Unbounded was coming out this Friday, it is their fault if the game tanks.  From the little I have read and seen on the game, it looks like BugBear has built a Ridge Racer that can compete with the top games in the racing genre.  Personally no Ridge Racer since Ridge Racer for the PSP has really appealed to me.  They all felt like more of the same rather than a step forward.  Ridge Racer Unbounded looks to be that step forward this series has needed for a long time and I am looking forward to try it for myself.  It is sad that Ridge Racer Unbounded will definitely fly under the radars of most gamers due to the lack of promotion and of blockbuster releases that have come out in the last few months.

Hump Day Video: Mass Effect 3 Indoctrination Theory

Ever since I got home from work tonight, I could not think of a piece of video game music to highlight in this week's edition of Hump Day Music.  Since last Friday, I have been playing a lot of Kid Icarus: Uprising, which I have been enjoying a lot.  I was thinking about picking a track to highlight, but nothing has caught my ear yet.  Maybe next week I will have a track from Kid Icarus to share, but this week I have a video to share.  Just a kind warning to those who have not finished Mass Effect 3, there will be spoilers.  Read and watch on at your own discretion.

While looking through my Facebook News Feed, I saw my friend and fellow Mass Effect fan share a 21-minute video on the Indoctrination Theory.  The Indoctrination Theory is a theory about the controversial ending(s) to Mass Effect 3.  It says that from the moment Shepard seemingly gets blasted by Harbinger's laser and the screen goes white, Shepard is caught in an illusion induced by Harbinger to trick Shepard, and ultimately the player, to give into the Reaper's Indoctrination.  While I enjoyed my ending to Mass Effect 3 (the Synthesis ending) much more than the majority of people, I did think there were a few things off.  That there was more to this ending that first meets the eye.  That I would have to experience the Control and Destroy endings before I truly get the full picture on what the ending was all about.  I still need to go back and play through the ending again and experience everything with a fresh pair of eyes.  I have taken a look at quite a few videos on the Indoctrination Theory and I have become a believer of this theory.  We will not know for sure what BioWare intended with the ending until April when Ray Myzyka said BioWare will address what is next for Mass Effect 3.  Right now, this video I am sharing with you today does it's best to bring to light what might possibly happened during the ending of Mass Effect 3.  If you have not completed the game, I again warn you that there are huge spoilers in this video.  Hope you all enjoy.

Nintendo 3DS: One Year Later

Releasing one year ago today in North America, the Nintendo 3DS has had one bumpy year.  Starting out of the gate deemed a "horrible" launch by the gaming media (funny how they forget previous console and handheld launches) and lower than average sales to making a total turnaround with an incredible price drop and the release of some quality first and third party games.  The Nintendo 3DS has sold more in its first year on the market than the best selling handheld of all-time, the 3DS's predecessor, the Nintendo DS.   There are no signs that the 3DS's sales will be slowing down anytime soon.  When everybody jumped on the bandwagon that Nintendo was heading for their doom, the legendary company proved to never count them out.  Having supported the 3DS since day one, I want to look back at what Nintendo has done right with the 3DS this last year and what Nintendo still needs to improve on as the 3DS moves forward.

When it comes down to it, the Nintendo 3DS is a well-designed gaming machine.  The Circle Pad has amazing feel, the touch screen works like a charm and the no-glasses 3D, while a gimmick, is just stunning that we no longer need cumbersome glasses to see real depth to our video games.  My personal favourite built-in feature on the 3DS is the Activity Log, which logs all the games you have played and how long you played them for.  The Activity Log also keeps track of how many steps you take with the 3DS.  Close to every time I finish playing a game on my 3DS, I check how long I played it for and how it ranks among all the other games I have played on my 3DS.  With the 3DS, Nintendo has looked to improve their online service.  So far I have been impressed with the Nintendo 3DS's online capabilities in the both Mario Kart 7 and Kid Icarus: Uprising.  Everything runs silky smooth with no lag whatsoever and you can always find people to play with.  Both Mario Kart 7 and Kid Icarus: Uprising is how to righty do online multi-player for the 3DS, so developers take notes and hopefully we will be seeing great online offerings from other developers in the near future.  Nintendo's new focus on creating affordable and unique downloadable games for the 3DS is great step in the right direction and has created some great games like Pushmo and Sakurai Samurai so far.  While all that is great, the meat and potatoes of every system be it a console or a handheld are the games both first and third party.  Like all Nintendo systems, the first-party support for the 3DS is phenomenal as Nintendo creates games that use everything that the 3DS has to offer perfectly.  The third-party support is good so far as big console franchises such as Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, Street Fighter and Dead or Alive find a home on the 3DS.  More than the last few generations, Nintendo is looking to strengthen their releationship with third-parties and the 3DS looks like their first step to solving a problem that has plagued other Nintendo systems.

While there is a lot to good to say about the 3DS, there are quite a few things Nintendo needs to improve on and one thing they should avoid at all cost.  I love the Nintendo eShop, but it needs to be re-designed.  The layout now is just too cumbersome to find what exactly you are looking for.  Other than the featured items, it is hard to find the certain games, mainly the DSiWare, as they do not have defined sections.  Nintendo should take a note from the Wii Shop Channel as it has a nice clean design that breaks everything into nice neat sections.  The eShop desperately needs this type of design to make it easier for gamers to find all the games hidden under the clutter.  Hopefully with the inevitable Nintendo Network update, we will see a newly designed eShop.  On the topic of the eShop, in the last few months the support for the eShop has become satisfactory at best.  Nintendo needs to step up their game and start making each weekly update to the eShop be monumental with releases of new demos, new 3DS Virtual Console games and new downloadable 3DS games each and every week.  Also Nintendo needs to let gamers know what is coming out for the 3DS as it seems like we are left in the dark until Thursday rolls around.  The biggest complaints most people have with the 3DS is it's battery life being short and the lack of a second Circle Pad for certain games mainly shooters.  While Nintendo has addressed the lack of a second Circle Pad with the Circle Pad Pro attachment, people and the media have been begging for re-design of the 3DS.  Personally I think that would be a huge misstep on Nintendo's part as it would alienate those gamers like myself who put down 250 dollars to buy the 3DS on day one.  I hope Nintendo does not cave into the pressure and stands by the design of the 3DS now, but improves on these things with the 3DS's eventual successor.

Overall, the 3DS's first year has been one crazy ride, but it was well worth it.  I am very happy I got this system day one as it has provided me some amazing experiences.  Be it completing classics such as Ocarina of Time and Star Fox for the very first time, jumping into an online race in Mario Kart 7, defeating Bowser in 3D with Mario or experiencing Pit's return to gaming glory.  These are all experiences that I could only have on my 3DS.  It is a splendid handheld that is a steal at 170 dollars.  With a rocky yet extremely successful year one in the books, the Nintendo 3DS can only go up from here.

Launch Station: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13

While the game release schedule has finally calmed down as you can see with only one big game to talk about this week.  That game being the newest entry in EA Sport's annual Tiger Woods PGA Tour series.  Just in time for the Masters (golf's most prestigious tournament), Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 looks to grab the attention of golf fans and gamers before their golf season gets underway.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 is like every other annual sports franchise in that it tweaks the formula every year to make it more accesible to newcomers and remove the mechanics that did not work the previous year while adding new course to play and golfers to play as.  The main draw to this entry of Tiger Woods is the whole new story-mode of sorts called the Legacy Challenge.  In Legacy Challenge, you play as Tiger Woods during various points of his life from a toddler all the way to today.  Also Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 marks the first entry to feature full Kinect integration for the Xbox 360 version of the game.  Kinect allows you to use your body and voice to play Tiger Woods in a more immersive way.  Included in this game are 22 golfers to play as, 15 courses (20 if you get the Collector's Edition) and 11 tournaments to compete in including the Masters.

For golf fans, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 is an incredible package that will keep you occupied until next year's entry hits store shelves.  Unless you are a huge fan of golf, all the new features, golfers, courses and tournaments will not do anything to entice you to buy Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13.  Personally I have never cared for simulation golf games.  If I want to play the real thing, I would go to a golf course and play.  I like more arcade golf experiences such as Mario Golf or Super Stickman Golf.  Only if you are big golf fan, you will enjoy everything Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 offers.  If you do not, you probably don't even care.

Bit by Bit: March 18-24

It has been a much busier week than usual.  Balancing two jobs, two blogs and my free time has been fun to say the least.  Once things settle down and I get into the swing of things, Silver Bit will run like usual.  Right now, I just might have to write two posts on one day every once and a while as I might have zero to no free time to write anything.  This week on Silver Bit you will see a Launch Station for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13, a look at the Nintendo 3DS' first year, my review of Mass Effect 3 and the regular posts you have come to expect.  Now let us get to the bests of this week.

Game of the Week
This week I picked up quite a few games.  Got Splinter Cell: Conviction Collector's Edition and Street Fighter Anthology, Final Fantasy VII, Monster Tale and finally Kid Icarus: Uprising.  While I got a plethora of new games, Mass Effect 3 is my Game of the Week for the third straight week.  This week after about putting 40+ hours into this humongous game, I beat the game and witnessed the supposedly controversial ending.  It was a very emotional and incredibly intense ending that had my eyes glued to the screen to the very end.  It had some of my favourite moments in the game and even the series.  Before I even discuss the ending of the game, I need to play the final missions a few more times to experience all the endings Mass Effect 3 has to offer.  Also before playing the final two missions, I spent a good amount of time playing Mass Effect 3's multiplayer in order to increase my Galactic Readiness Rating.  After slogging through my first few levels as a Soldier and Adept, I got into the swing of the multiplayer and really enjoyed my time playing it.  Overall, I really enjoyed the ending more than most people.  I would love to talk more about this topic here, but I will leave it to a later date.

Most Anticipated Game of the Week
My most anticipated game for this week has to go to Square Enix's mystery project.  Set to be revealed next Friday, March 30th, speculation has already started to fly.  From a few places I read that it is speculated to be a full-on sequel to Final Fantasy Tactics.  You can go to this website, cc2012.square-enix.co.jp, and see the teaser trailer for yourself.  Just a warning that it is all in Japanese.  Square Enix has got me interested as I am excited to see what they reveal next Friday.

Video of the Week
Screwattck, Keith Apicary, the Angry Video Game Nerd and egoraptor have all made fans among many gamers for their great video game related content.  Now what if they were all in one big crossover video?  Made as a spoof of an early 90s PSA, Craig and Chad from Screwattack, Keith Apicary, the Angry Video Game Nerd and egoraptor join forces for one funny 2 minute video complete with a 90s like video filter.

Launch Station: Kid Icarus: Uprising

It has been 19 long years since the lovable angel Pit has starred in a game of his own.  While it has been many long years, Kid Icarus has been one of the most requested series that Nintendo revisit.  After Masahiro Sakurai and his team at Project Sora finished work on Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Nintendo had them put on this revival of the Kid Icarus franchise.  Since Kid Icarus: Uprising was first shown at E3 2010 along with the amazing unveiling of the 3DS, it has been at the top of many 3DS owners list including yours truly.

After 25 long years, Medusa and her evil Underworld Army has been reborn and seeks to destroy all of mankind.  The only person able to stop Medusa is our angelic hero, Pit, an agent of the goddess Palutena.  To aid in his battle with Medusa, Palutena grants Pit the "Power of Flight", which allows Pit to fly for five minutes at a time.  Kid Icarus: Uprising is a huge departure from previous entries in the series.  Built from the ground up with the 3DS in mind, Uprising is mainly a frantic third-person shooter.  Each level is broken up into two sections, an air section and a land section.  The air sections play much like an on-rails shooter as you control Pit's projectiles and positioning on the screen while he flies through the environment.  The land sections offer more freedom as Pit can freely move around the environment and battle enemies.  The controls for Kid Icarus: Uprising are very similar to those of Metroid Prime Hunters for the original DS.  You control Pit's movements with the Circle Pad or D-pad, control the camera and the aiming reticle with the stylus and attack and/or fire projectiles with the L Shoulder Button.  Being that Masahiro Sakurai is known to be a perfectionist, him and his team have packed Kid Icarus: Uprising to the brim with content.  There are hundreds upon hundreds of weapons to collect and combine, you are encouraged to replay levels on higher difficulties in order to get better loot and there are tons of achievements to complete, which give you other rewards.  Last but not least, Kid Icarus: Uprising includes a full-on multiplayer mode.  You can play locally with friends or online over the newly christened Nintendo Network in Team Deathmatch or Free for All match types.  Kid Icarus: Uprising also includes a pack of AR cards, which can be used to play minigames with the 3DS' augmented reality features.

Personally, I have been looking forward to playing Kid Icarus: Uprising since Pit appeared on screen at Nintendo's E3 2010 press conference to apologize for keeping all us waiting.  It is the game that I bought my 3DS for and I have patiently waited a year for this game.  Now that I am done Mass Effect 3, I will be spending a whole lot of time playing Kid Icarus: Uprising and I cannot wait.  If you own a 3DS, there is no reason not to pick up this game.

On the Download: March 18-24

It has been a busy week as I start working two jobs.  Once everything settles down and I get more used to all of it, there will not be so many delays here on Silver Bit.  It has been an okay week for new downloadable releases as we take a look at two new iOS games and one HD port of an old classic.  There have been quite a lot of sales.  Chaos Rings and Chaos Rings Ω are both on sale.  There is a huge Square Enix sale on Steam this weekend.  Finally there is Sony's Spring Fever Sale on the PlayStation Store which includes a sale on all things Final Fantasy.  Got Final Fantasy VII for 7 dollars last night so not bad.  So if you use either the App Store, Steam or the PlayStation Store check out these amazing sales on great downloadable games.  Without further ado, let us look at the biggest downloadable games for this week.

Actually Chaos Rings II released for the iOS last Thursday, but considering how many games I was already featuring in last week's On the Download, I decided to hold off a week.  Chaos Rings II is the third game in Square Enix's huge iOS only RPG series.  In Chaos Rings II, time is at a standstill and the Destroyer has brought the world to the brink of destruction.  You play as Darwin, the chosen one, who is sent on a quest to bring salvage this desolate world by sacrificing five chosen people and offerring their souls to the Gods.  When one of the five chosen turns out to be a childhood friend of Darwin's, will he save the world or the girl?  It is up to you the player to decide.  Chaos Rings II features all the great RPG strategy and action that the first two games have with a whole new story, improvements on the graphics and the battle system and a whole new emphasis on the player's choices.  At 18 to 19 dollars depending on if you get the iPod/iPhone version or the iPad HD version, Chaos Rings II is a bit pricey.  If you are looking for a RPG optimized to the strengths of the iOS platform, Chaos Rings II is well worth it.

Well the biggest downloadable release of the week has to go to the sequel to the most popular mobile game of all-time, Angry Birds Space.  With the simple premise of catapulting birds at structures housing the menacing pigs, Angry Birds has gone on the capture the minds of hardcore and casual gamers alike.  Rovio now takes this simple yet addictive premise and has put these Angry Birds in a whole new setting, space.  Space adds many new dynamics to the game such as zero-gravity.  With 60 new levels, new birds, new superpowers, amazing amount of trick shots and regular free updates, Angry Birds Space seems like a beefy package for one dollar.

While Rayman 2 gets a lot of love, the third entry in the series gets overlooked by most people.  Looking to give players another chance to pick it up, Ubisoft has released Rayman 3 HD for PSN and XBLA.  Rayman 3 tells the story of how Rayman stops an evil black lum by the name of Andre from taking over the world with his army of sack-like Hoodlum soldiers.  Rayman 3 HD is the definitive version of Rayman 3: Hoodlum's Havoc and is must play for any fan of 3D platformers.  If you are still on the fence, you try the demo.  If you cannot wait to relive this great game, you can download it for 10 dollars or 800 Microsoft Points.

Hump Day Music: Super Fighting Robot X

This post would have been up yesterday if I did not start playing the last two missions of Mass Effect 3.  Spent the majority of yesterday night plowing through the ending and experiencing all that was going on.  Enough about that, let us get on with this week's Hump Day Music.

For the past week, I have been listening to whole lot of OC ReMix's newest album, Mega Man X: Maverick Rising.  Just go to maverick.ocremix.org and you can download this free 62 track honouring the excellent music from the Mega Man X series.  Earlier this week, I finished listening to all 62 tracks and I have to say it was amazing.  While there are some tracks I prefer over others, they all had a unique take on a track from the Mega Man X series, which can be surprising for some.  Out of all 62 tracks, my favourite has to be the second track, a remix of Mega Man X3's opening stage called Super Fighting Robot X.  WillRock's remix is a much smoother more electronic take on the original music, but it still gets your blood pumping and mind psyched to kick some Maverick butt.  Listening to this track and all the others, just makes me want to pull out my copy of the Mega Man X Collection for PS2 and just play these classic platformers.  If you have not picked downloaded this amazing free album yet, you are definitely missing out.  Take a listen to the track I am sharing with you today and if you you like, I highly recommend downloading Maverick Rising.

Launch Station: Resident Evil: Operation Racoon City

First Resident Evil Revelations for the 3DS, now Resident Evil: Operation Racoon City for the consoles and in a exactly 8 months from today, Resident Evil 6.  Resident Evil fans must be on Cloud 9 because three big Resident Evil games in one year was unheard of until now.  Now let us get right down to the preview of the Resident Evil series' return to iconic Racoon City.

Made by Slant Six Games, the developers behind the PSP SOCOM games and online only SOCOM Confrontation, Resident Evil: Operation Racoon City is set around the same time as Resident Evil 2 and 3. It is a non-canonical "what-if" scenario that has no bearing on the series overall story, which means you can kill off pivotal characters in the series such as Leon Kennedy, Claire Redfield or even Jill Valentine without worry about causing a time paradox.  You play as either as one of the agents from the Umbrella Security Service (USS) set to clean up the T-Virus breakout in Racoon City or a member of Echo Six, a team from the U.S. government's special operations field unit sent to expose Umbrella's illegal operations.  You can play up to six operatives on each side each with their different skills and attributes.  You can play the main campaign either solo or cooperatively with up to three friends.  After playing through the campaign there are some multiplayer modes to dig into.  You can play Racoon Mode, which pits the USS against the US Special Ops against the zombie threat in a three-way battle royale.  There is also Heroes Mode, which allows you to play as the hero characters such as Leon Kennedy, Claire Redfield, Jill Valentine, Ada Wong or HUNK to take down waves upon waves of zombies.

Ever since it was first announced close to a year ago, I had disdain for Operation Racoon City.  The last time Capcom tried to revisit Racoon City in the Outbreak spin-off series, did not go over well.  Instead of focusing on yet another spin-off of the Resident Evil series, they should put all their efforts in making Resident Evil 6 the best game it can be.  Also Resident Evil is a survival horror game at it's core, making a squad-based shooter much in the vein of SOCOM just makes it feel like every other shooter rather than a Resident Evil game.  While some might be super excited that Resident Evil has finally embraced aspects in many other shooters, being able to run and shoot in a Resident Evil game is not good enough selling point.  I am one of the few people that still think the stop-and-shoot mechanic made Resident Evil games tense affairs of just surviving by the skin of your teeth rather than a fault of the game.  Unless you are the most hardcore Resident Evil fan, which will pick this game up no matter what, really look into Operation Racoon City and figure out if it is a game you will enjoy before buying.

Launch Station: Ninja Gaiden 3

March is coming to a close and soon you will not be seeing Launch Station as often as it has been these last two months.  If you look at all the games releasing the next few months, they are pretty spread out.  With that, we take look at the last big batch of games to come out for a while.  To make up for not putting up anything yesterday as I worked from about 8:30 am to 9:30 pm spanning two different jobs,  there will be a double dose of Launch Station today looking at today's two big releases, Ninja Gaiden 3 and Resident Evil: Operation Racoon City.  The first game to preview today will be the third entry in Tecmo and Team Ninja's Ninja Gaiden series.

With the departure of Tomonobu Itagaki, the director of the previous two Ninja Gaiden game, from Team Ninja in 2008, Team Ninja was given a great opportunity to take the Ninja Gaiden series in a different direction and also show off that they can create quality games without Itagaki at the helm.  The result is Ninja Gaiden 3 directed by Yosuke Hayashi.  Ninja Gaiden 3 explores protagonist Ryu Hayabusa's human side more than the previous games in the series.  Upon request from the Japanese Self-Defense Force, Ryu is sent to London to fight an unidentified terrorist.  Ryu reaches London too late as the Bristish Prime Minister has been murdered by a mysterious villain known only as the Regent of the Mask.  Ryu tries to take down the mysterious assailant but the Regent of the Mask bonds Ryu's Dragon Sword to his arm and vanishes.  Now Ryu must track down the Regent of the Mask in order to reverse the Regent's bonding and ultimately save the world from destruction.  With the new direction, Team Ninja has added some new mechanics for Ninja Gaiden 3.  The Steel on Bone mechanic adds a more visceral and cinematic feeling to slicing enemies as the game zooms in and slows down when you a finishing blow on a enemy.  At certain points in a level, Ryu can scale walls with the new Kunai Climb mechanic and perform stealth kills on oblivious enemies.  Also Ryu's cursed arm plays into the gameplay as he can unleash his Grip of Murder, an ultimate move that wipes out all enemies in the immediate area.

Personally, I have never even picked up the first two Ninja Gaiden games, so I am not looking forward to it.  From what I have read and seen, it looks fairly good, but other than the odd preview and trailer I have not looked into it that much.  If you are a big Ninja Gaiden fan, you will no doubtfully pick Ninja Gaiden 3.  For everybody else, I would  read the reviews, watch gameplay videos, maybe even rent it before putting down 60 dollars for this game.

Bit by Bit: March 11-17

Well it was a busy week as usual.  Two Launch Stations, a look at OC ReMix's newest and totally free album, Mega Man X: Maverick Rising, which is amazing if I say so myself, a look at five new downloadable games in On the Download and a review of Mass Effect: Infiltrator all up for you all to go back and enjoy.  It will be a little more busier this following week as Resident Evil: Racoon City, Ninja Gaiden 3 and Kid Icarus Uprising all release and you will see a Launch Station for each game on Silver Bit.  Enough looking forward, let us look back at the week that was.

Game of the Week
Before I go into my Game of the Week, I would like to say Mega Man X: Maverick Rising, the free 62 track album you can get from OC ReMix, is absolutely incredible.  I have been listening to it the last half of this week and have made it through the first three discs and now on the fourth disc.  Not every ReMix has caught my ear, but the majority have impressed me with how each artist has brought a different take to these classic songs from Mega Man 1 through 8.  If you have not downloaded this album yet, what are you waiting for?!  Other than listening to Maverick Rising, I have been playing a lot of Mass Effect 3, even though I picked up Blocks That Matter, Chaos Rings HD and Chaos Rings Ω, both of which are on sale for a short time.  For the second week in a row, Mass Effect 3 is my Game of the Week.  I have been plugging away at the lengthy single-player.  I just finished Rannoch, the quarian homeworld.  I have heard all the supposed controversy over the ending and once I watch it, be sure I will discuss what I think of it here on Silver Bit.  First I want to enjoy everything Mass Effect 3 has to offer in both single and multi-player so it be a few more weeks before I get to discussing the ending and reviewing the game.  Everything in single-player has been amazing.  My only problem with the game comes with the graphically glitches that pop up from time to time.  Other than that everything is pitch perfect as my Commander Shepard builds unites all the races of the galaxy to make a final stand against the Reapers.


Most Anticipated Game of the Week
If you paid attention to the games I was looking forward to in 2012 and Bit by Bits dating back to December, you would know that I am looking forward to one of the big releases I listed above.  This game is Kid Icarus Uprising for the 3DS and I have been waiting a good year and more for this game to land on the 3DS.  The more I see of it, the more I believe that Masahiro Sakurai and his team at Project Sora put their heart and soul into bringing Kid Icarus back into the limelight.  While I am a little sad that Canadians don't get the amazing 3D Classics: Kid Icarus upon pre-ordering.  At least we get something with pre-ordering the game.  The release of Kid Icarus Uprising has been a long time coming and Friday cannot come any sooner.

Video of the Week
Keeping with the Kid Icarus theme, the Video of the Week goes to the folks over at Screwattack.  In honour of the release of Kid Icarus Uprising later this coming week, they made a sequel to their classic Kid Icarus fan film.  A spoof of the majority of fan films, which have zero to no budget and are usually crappy.  Kid Icarus 2: The Reckoning is just as bad and as funny as the first with special guest Ryu from Street Fighter.  Enjoy.

Mass Effect: Infiltrator Review

The biggest game release of the month and possibly the first quarter of 2012 was Mass Effect 3.  To coincide with the release of BioWare’s science fiction epic, EA released Mass Effect:  Infiltrator for the iOS. As a companion game to Mass Effect 3, Mass Effect: Infiltrator serves as a portable Mass Effect fix for fans of the series.

Mass Effect:  Infiltrator is a side-story in the expansive narrative of the Mass Effect universe.  You play as Randall Enzo.  Randall is employed by Cerberus, a pro-human organization in the Mass Effect universe, to hunt down and capture aliens for experiments at a secret Cerberus facility.  When the Director of the facility goes too far and starts performing experiments on other Cerberus employees, Randall vows to bring down Cerberus.  

Developed by IronMonkey Studio, the team behind the critically acclaimed Dead Space iOS game, Infiltrator is unlike the console entries in the Mass Effect series.  Instead of a RPG, Mass Effect:  Infiltrator is a cover-based shooter.  Infiltrator implores a control scheme that works to the strengths of Apple’s iDevices.   You move Randall with your left thumb and control the camera with your right thumb.  You shoot at enemies by pressing on a blue reticle over them and can switch between different weapons and biotic powers on the fly.  These controls are both easy to use and allow players to fluidly chain together kills.  After each battle, you gain credits and can collect intel from fallen enemies.  You can use credits to buy new weapons, abilities, biotic powers and armour or upgrade the weapons, abilities, biotic powers and armour you already have.  You can use the intel to boost your Galactic Readiness Rating, which affects Mass Effect 3’s ending, or trade it in for credits.  Other than the fluid controls and combat, Mass Effect:  Infiltrator’s strength is its incredibly fluid frame rate.  The game only crashed once or twice and that was my fault as I had over a dozen apps running in the background. 

The campaign will take about 6 hours as you complete all 9 levels in the game, which includes two boss fights.  For those looking to get the best rating at each checkpoint or to boost their Galactic Readiness Rating, Infiltrator offers tons of replay value as you find new more efficient ways to dispatch enemies.  If you are not into that stuff, Infiltrator will not hold you long after completing the campaign even with the New Game+ option.  Infiltrator is great to play in short bursts while waiting for the bus or sitting in the back seat of the car, but will get very repetitive if you play for hours at a time.  When the battles get a little too hectic or up-close and personal, the controls can sometimes get in the way of making fast precise decisions, which can get a little frustrating when the controls get in the way of dispatching a lethal shotgun-wielding krogan.  While the stories in iOS games are never that strong, you expect a little more from a game set in the narrative-heavy universe of Mass Effect.  Other than a look into the atrocities that Cerberus commits, Infiltrator’s story does not add much to the Mass Effect universe as a whole.  Also the paragon and renegade decisions in the game are completely pointless as they don’t do anything to affect the game’s story like in the main entries in the series.

For 7 dollars, Mass Effect:  Infiltrator might be a steep price for those not already invested in the Mass Effect universe.  For those that can look past the price point, Mass Effect:  Infiltrator is a good iOS game that offers a great control scheme which perfectly works around the limitations of the iOS’ touch controls, a fluid frame rate and a good amount of replay value.  While not a must-own for iDevice owners, Mass Effect:  Infiltrator is a good time sink for those looking for a solid third-person shooter for their iDevice.

On the Download: March 11-17

When the console games release schedule seems to calm down, the downloadable games seem to pick up.  We got some big releases on each of the Big Three's downloadable services.  On another note, a week after Mass Effect 3 released on consoles and PC, EA decided to release their Mass Effect 3 companion app, Datapad.  While this app should have been released a week ago, I am just happy it has come out.  Datapad has a little Galaxy at War mini-game that will help boost your Galactic Readiness Rating, but other than that it is not much of a game.  Datapad is more of a resource for hardcore Mass Effect fans to interact with their favourite game while on the go and for free, it does not hurt to download.  Enough of my Mass Effect tangent, let us get down to the biggest downloadable games of the week.

Not one, not two, but three new Virtual Console games landed on the Nintendo eShop today.  Why the release of three new Virtual Console games you might be asking?  It is to celebrate the first batch of Game Gear games to release on the eShop.  The three games are Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble (5 dollars), Shinobi (4 dollars) and Dragon Crystal (3 dollars).  Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble follows Sonic and Tails as they race against Dr. Robotnik, Knuckles and Nack the Weasel to collect all five Chaos Emeralds. Platform through six zones, five bonus stages and a 3D stage.  Joe Musahi goes portable in the Game Gear Shinobi game.  Fight through tough side-scrolling levels of Neo City as you look to save your kidnapped students from the forces of evil.  Finally Dragon Crystal is a classic turn-based dungeon crawler.  You are given 30 randomly generated dungeons to conquer on your quest to find the Magic Goblet.  For those who never experienced the Game Gear or remember it fondly, at a few dollars each these games should be a great download.

The final game in Microsoft's XBLA House Party, Ubisoft's I Am Alive has been the most anticipated.  First shown off way back in 2008, I Am Alive has been on many gamer's radars as it is a unique take on the survival horror genre.  Instead of fighting evil supernatural beings like zombies, you are just fighting to survive the hostile post-apocalyptic environment and other survivors.  I Am Alive takes place one year after a cataclysmic event that wipes out most of human civilization and leaves the world barely habitable vaguely known as the Event.  You play as a man named Adam.  Adam has just returned to his hometown of Haventon in order to reunite with his wife, Julie, and daughter, Mary.  I Am Alive is all about surviving.  You will have to fend off hostile survivors with anything from an empty hand gun to a machete or intimidating them to the point they just leave you alone.  I Am Alive also has a big emphasis on climbing and exploration.  You will have to scale wrecked structures and navigate hostile environments.  While completing these tasks, you will have to watch your stamina because if you run out of stamina, you die.  I Am Alive sounds like a fairly interesting downloadable game.  For those interested in picking it up, I Am Alive will run you 1200 Microsoft Points or 15 dollars when it releases on PSN later this spring.

From the creative minds of thatgamecompany, the studio behind great PSN downloads Flow and Flower, comes Journey.  Exclusive to PSN, PlayStation Plus users have been able to pick this game up for a week now.  In Journey, you play as nameless robed figure.  You are dropped in a vast desert.  You see a mountain off in the distance and decide to walk in that direction.  That is all the exposition that Journey has.  You are dropped in the world and let loose to explore in whatever way you see fit with no map or instructions to tell you where to go.  If you are online while playing Journey, you can encounter another player.  While you cannot speak to each other directly, you can use wordless shouts to communicate if you want.  You are not forced to play with this person, you can go your separate ways or stay together and help each out.  It is all your choice.  A lot of good things have been said about Journey and it looks to be another innovative and artistic adventure from thatgamecompany that gamers should pick up.  If you have 15 dollars to spare, this is a journey that you should not miss.

Hump Day Music: Maverick Rising

Some of the best and most iconic video game music came in a day and age where video game composers were limited by the sounds they could create with the sound chip of many older consoles.  Changing mere beeps and boops into incredible pieces of 8-bit, 16-bit and even 32-bit music just showed how great these composers were.  Many video game franchises still around today such as The Legend of Zelda, Castlevania, Sonic and Final Fantasy became known for their music.  Among those gaming series, a certain blue bomber made by Capcom became known for it's great 8 and 16-bit rock music that got players pumped to play through each level and beat it's Robot Masters.  That series is Mega Man rocking gamers since 1987.

Today, I am going to do something a little different.  Rather than highlighting one particular piece of music from Mega Man, I am going to highlight a whole album.  In honour of getting their 27,000th like on Facebook, OC ReMix released their newest free album, Mega Man X: Maverick Rising.  Maverick Rising is a collection of 62 ReMixed tracks from the Mega Man X series by 49 incredibly talented artists.  Maverick Rising is broken up into five disc.  Each disc is music from a different character in the Mega Man X series from X all the way to Dr. Light.  I have only listened to the first eight tracks and I am enjoying it.  For those interested, go to maverick.ocremix.org and download the album for yourself.  It comes at the excellent price of free, so there is no excuse not to download this collection of great video game music.  If you are not convinced yet, maybe the trailer will convince you to download it.

Launch Station: Silent Hill: Downpour

Once a big name in the survival-horror genre, Silent Hill has fell into obscurity in the last few years with some abysmal entries in the series.  Looking to bring Silent Hill back to the glory days, Konami has decided to inject some new blood into the series.  Czech game developer Vatra Games has been given the reins to bring Silent Hill back to the limelight in a genre dominated by Resident Evil and Dead Space with the new Silent Hill: Downpour.

Unrelated to previous entries in the Silent Hill series, Silent Hill: Downpour follows Murphy Pendleton, a prisoner.  During a prison transfer, the prison's vehicle careens off the road, which strands Murphy in the town of Silent Hill.  What awaits Murphy is not freedom per se, but mysterious locals waiting to welcome Murphy into their own personal hell.  Being a survival horror game, players are placed in tense and scary situations be it exploring abandoned environments or fighting a dangerous monster.  Vatra Games has looked to improve the combat for Downpour as it has been one of the series weakest features.  Downpour's combat looks to give the player some way of defending themselves against enemies while also creating tension as weapons deteriorate as they are used.  Downpour allows players to explore the town of Silent Hill unlike any other game in the series.  There are plenty of side-quests to complete, areas to unlock and special items to discover as you explore the world of Silent Hill: Downpour.  Playing off of the game's subtitle, Downpour features a real-time weather system.  The change in weather indicates to the player that some kind of danger is approaching.

While Konami and Vatra Games seem serious about bringing Silent Hill back to the glory days, I personally am not excited.  I am not a huge survival horror fan even though I do enjoy Resident Evil and I could care less for the Silent Hill series.  From what I have read and seen on this game, Silent Hill: Downpour does not impress or excite me.  It feels like the series is more or less treading water instead of moving forward.  Hardcore Silent Hill and/or survival horror fans will most likely enjoy Silent Hill: Downpour.  Those looking just for a good scare may want to wait a week and pick up the Silent Hill HD Collection when it comes out next Tuesday.

Launch Station: Mario Party 9

While the storm of releases is over, there are quite a few noteworthy releases coming in the next few weeks.  It is not as crazy as what we have seen for the past month, but at least the game release schedule is starting to be more spaced out rather than dropping all at once like last week.  To start of this week, we will be taking a look at the newest entry in Nintendo's long-running party game series, Mario Party 9, which released yesterday.

It has been close to five years since we have seen a new entry in the Mario Party series.  This time around Nintendo has handed the series over to the team at Nd Cube.  With the new developer, there have been some changes to the regular Mario Party formula in the ninth entry in the series.  Now players move around the game boards at the same time as they travel on a vehicle.  Coins and stars are no longer the key to winning a game of Mario Party anymore as Mini Stars have replaced them.  As players collect Mini Stars, they also have to avoid Mini Ztars, that will take away some of your Mini Stars if touched.  In Mario Party 9, mini-games no longer appear at the end of each turn.  You can only trigger one of Mario Party 9's 80 mini-games once a player ends up on the corresponding space.  Each board culminates in a boss battle followed by a final tally of Mini Stars to determine who won the game.

For the first time in a long time and with the help of Nd Cube, Nintendo has injected some new life in this rather stagnant series.  For Mario Party purists, the changes in Mario Party 9 might turn them off, but it will definitely bring in a new audience that may have never played a Mario Party game before.  Mario Party is an excellent game with four people sitting on the same couch.  Personally, I believe you only need one Mario Party game in your gaming collection be it on the N64 or Gamecube or Wii.  My brothers and I already own Mario Party 6 for the Gamecube and that is all the Mario Party that I honestly need.  So as big of Nintendo fan as I am, honestly I am not going to pick up Mario Party 9.  For those who have never played a Mario Party in their life or casual gamers look for a great party game, they should definitely consider picking up Mario Party 9.

Bit by Bit: March 4-10

The storm has now passed.  While there are a steady amount of game releases coming in the next few weeks, nothing will compare to the amount of games that were released this past Tuesday.  Expect there to be quite at least one or two Launch Stations a week until April.  This week I will be previewing Mario Party 9 and Silent Hill: Downpour.  If I can complete Mass Effect: Infiltrator this coming week, I will be putting up my review next Friday.  A few things that you can expect in the coming week.  Enough talk about what will be coming next week, let us look back at the week that was.

Game of the Week

There should be no surprise that my Game of the Week is Mass Effect 3.  So far I am 11 hours in to the game and it is just amazing.  The combat is best it has ever been.  The story resonates in everything you do from the pivotal story missions to even the side missions.  Every task in the game gives you resources for you to use in building an army to take down the Reapers.  It is also amazing how Mass Effect 3 pulls from the expanded universe content.  You meet Kahlee Sanders, a pivotal character in the Mass Effect: Revelation novel.  You can now find Aria in the Purgatory night club on the Citadel as she had to flee Omega during the events in the Mass Effect: Invasion comic.  The scale of the environments in the game is incredible.  Just seeing the Turian home world of Palaven while fighting on the Turian moon or Reapers destroy Vancouver as Shepard and Anderson make their escape are just breathtaking even on my family's standard-definition TV.  I cannot wait to sink more hours into completing everything this game has to offer in the coming weeks.  Ever since I watched Mass Effect 2's incredible cliffhanger ending, I have been waiting for Mass Effect 3 and so far it delivers in spades.  

Most Anticipated Game of the Week

The more I see, read and hear of the new SSX, the more I want to play it.  The demo is just not enough to satisfy me.  I want to get the full game, but I need to conserve my cash at the moment.  I bought quite a bit of games these last few weeks and I need to save some money for Kid Icarus Uprising and Xenoblade Chronicles, which both release in the coming weeks.  So unfortunately I will have to postpone picking up SSX for the time being, but it remain high on the games I need to pick up in the future.

Video of the Week

Last Friday, I finally became a backer of Double Fine's new adventure game that they have been raising money for on Kickstarter for the past month.  The deadline to back the project is this coming Tuesday.  If you want to support Tim Schafer and his talented team at Double Fine in their new adventure game, you better do so in the coming days.  As a reminder to those who read this blog, my Video of the Week is the latest update video from Tim Schafer himself.  So let me pass it off to Tim and hope you can support this amazing studio in their new project.

I Heart Mass Effect

Since it released this past Tuesday, most of my time gaming has been dedicated to one game, Mass Effect 3.  The several hours I have spent playing both Mass Effect 1 and 2, reading the comics and reading one of the many books have all lead up to this one game and so far it is delivering in spades.  To close out this Mass Effect-filled week here on Silver Bit, I want to share why I love this series, why I am so enamored with this universe.

Ever since it released back in November of 2007, I have heard great things about the first Mass Effect game.  IGN even went as far to say it was the best game for the Xbox 360.  So when my brothers and I pooled together our money to buy a Xbox 360 during the summer of 2009, one of the very first games I bought was Mass Effect.  I played through Mass Effect quite a bit, but I did not really start plowing through it until a month before Mass Effect 2 released.  The gameplay was a great balance between the strategy of a RPG and real-time action of a third-person shooter.  What really got me was the story and how you could shape the story through your dialogue choices.  From choosing between Kaiden or Ashley to letting the Council live or die, the choices really personalized your playthrough.  You could even talk Saren into committing suicide and avoid the first part of his boss battle if your charm or intimidate is high enough, which I find incredible.  Also Mass Effect has one of the best final level I have ever played.  Throughout the two long hours it took to finish it, it was one exhilarating roller coaster ride fighting Geth on the Citadel.  Immediately after that I went right into playing Mass Effect 2 considering that I finished Mass Effect the day I bought the second game.  After watching the excellent launch trailer, I hunted down a Collector's Edition of Mass Effect 2 the weekend after the game released.  Luckily I found on at my local Wal-Mart because it made for a great early birthday present as I was in school and low on disposable income.  Imported my Shepard from the first game and watched the magic begin.  From the moment the Normandy was shot down by the Collector's to finding out the Collector's were indoctrinated Protheans to the final suicide mission, Mass Effect 2 was everything I loved about the first game.  It was an improvement on what I already considered gaming perfection.  The action, story and interactive dialogue were all phenomenal and it made me really care for my entire crew from my squad mates to Dr. Chakwas and Joker.  I still get sad over losing Garrus in the final suicide mission and in all honestly Mordin singing Gilbert and Sullivan is one of favourite moments in the entire series.  My love for Mass Effect comes from the fact that this game feels like an interactive science fiction novel where I am writing the story.  I have a personal connection with the game and with all the characters involved because I am the one choosing what my Shepard says, what my Shepard does.  The actions I ultimately do define who he/she is, who he/she loves and what people think of my Shepard.  My actions also have consequences that go onto affect other parts of the game and possibly even the subsequent games in the series.  No game series has done something this ambitious before and there will be no game that will ever re-create.

I was not alive to experience Star Wars, arguably the greatest piece of science fiction ever, when it first released in theatres and just caught the hearts and minds of my parent's generation.  Well to me Mass Effect is the piece of science fiction that has caught my heart and mind the same way George Lucas' sci-fi classic did to my parent's generation over 30 years ago.  I could go on and on about it everything I love about this series, but it would take too long.  Simply I love Mass Effect.  I revel in the small touching moments between your crew.  I am blown away the incredible set pieces.  I geek out when BioWare alludes to a character or event from the expanded universe.  Mass Effect is the greatest game series of this console generation in my humble opinion and I do not care what anybody says.

On the Download: Mass Effect: Infiltrator

Need to a little catch-up today.  Will be putting up two posts today.  On the Download right now and a special look at the Mass Effect series much later tonight.  So without further ado, let us get into this week's On the Download.

The biggest game to release this week was BioWare's final entry in their Mass Effect series, Mass Effect 3. Coinciding with the release of BioWare's epic sci-fi RPG, EA released Mass Effect: Infiltrator, a side story in the Mass Effect universe, for the iOS.  Mass Effect: Infiltrator follows Randall Enzo, a veteran Cerberus agent who captures aliens for experiments at a secret Cerberus facility.  When the Director of the facility goes to far, Randall vows to bring down Cerberus.  Mass Effect: Infiltrator is made by IronMonkey Studios, the developers of the critically acclaimed Dead Space game for iOS, so it is much similar to that game than the Mass Effect games for the console.  Mass Effect: Infiltrator is a cover-based shooter.  You move Randall with your left thumb and control the camera with your right thumb.  You shoot at enemies by pressing on a blue reticle over them and can switch between different weapons and biotic powers on the fly.  After each battle, you gain credits and can collect intel.  You can use credits to buy new weapons, abilities, biotic powers or armour and also upgrade everything listed above.  You can use the intel to boost your Galactic Readiness Rating, which plays into Mass Effect 3, or trade it in for credits.

Since Tuesday, I have been bouncing back and forth between Mass Effect 3 and Infiltrator.  It is amazing that by playing Infiltrator I can influence Mass Effect 3 on the Xbox 360.  So far I have been very impressed with Mass Effect: Infiltrator.  It perfectly creates a third-person cover-based shooter around the limitations of the iDevice's touch controls.  Also it runs beautifully.  In the few hours I played it, it only crashed once.  Sometimes the controls get in the way of making fast precise decisions when battles get too hectic and up-close and personal, but it never got to the point of frustration.  Overall, I am enjoying my time with Mass Effect: Infiltrator and hopefully will have a review of it up in the coming weeks.  If your a Mass Effect fan and have an iDevice, make sure to pick this game up it is worth the 7 dollar price tag.

Hump Day Music: Leaving Earth

Sorry, I did not put this post up after work last night.  I got home and decided to play some Mass Effect 3.  The next thing I remember is it being 2 o'clock in the morning and I really needed to get some sleep.  It is incredible how Mass Effect 3 can just draw a person like me in for hours at a time.  I got the Collector's Edition of Mass Effect 3 on Tuesday.  Included among the art book, the special edition comic, the lithograph and N7 patch is a download for Mass Effect 3's official soundtrack.  After having to wrestle with BioWare's social site to confirm that I indeed owned the Collector's Edition of Mass Effect 3, I downloaded the beautifully orchestrated soundtrack for this epic RPG.  I have not gotten a chance to listen to the entire soundtrack yet, but the tracks I listened to are phenomenal pieces of music.

Out of all the tracks I have listened to so far, my favourite is Leaving Earth.  This beautiful track plays when Commander Shepard and the Normandy leave Earth during the Reaper invasion.  As the Normady pulls away from the Vancouver dock, Shepard watches as the child tried the help broad a crusier, which upon take-off is blown out of the sky by a Reaper.  Right there we see sadness on Shepard's face as he cannot do anything to save that innocent child and innocent population of his home, Earth from the Reapers.  It is a tragic piece that uses the piano to really hit that sombre feeling and the huge tuba blasts to emphasize the Reaper's laser blasts.  Still keeping the sombre tone, the ending of the track embues hope as it the volume rises for a bit then fades out for the end of the track.  Leaving Earth is just one example how the developer's at BioWare expertly use music to engross the player in the story and heighten their emotions.  Honestly hearing this track play while watching the corresponding scene, it was hard not to feel sad and a little useless as there is nothing at this point and time that we can do to save Earth.

Launch Station: Mass Effect 3

Here we are close to seven years since BioWare announced they were planning a trilogy of RPGs for the Xbox 360.  An announcement that was extremely ricky considering nobody knew how the game would turn out and that planned gaming trilogies such as Advent Rising plummeted before even reaching the second game.  This day is a testament to incredible men and women who work at BioWare be it in their Edmonton, Montreal or Austin studio who over the past seven years took one unique intellectual property and made it one of if not the greatest stories told in this medium that we love.  From the first time we stepped foot on Eden Prime to choosing to save either Kaiden or Ashley to all the crew mates that we may have lost in the suicide mission on the Collector's Ship to our inevitable final stand against the Reapers, it will be our personal story as our personal Commander Shepard.  There has never been a game that has done this before and there will never be a game that will ever re-create it.  Come this day, March 6th, 2012, we do not just end the fictional character Commander Shepard's journey, we end for some their five year journey with these characters and this universe.  It is the day the Earth will fall and we will fight to take it back.  It is the day the greatest trilogy in gaming comes to an end.

Mass Effect 3 is the culmination of all the storylines and decisions players have made in the two preceding games.  You play as Commander Shepard, the captain of the Normandy and the first human Spectre.  Beginning immediately after the events of Mass Effect 2's Arrival DLC, Shepard has been stripped of his rank and awaiting trial on Earth.  During Shepard's trial, the Reapers, an all-powerful race of machines that's sole purpose is to wipe all sentient life off of the face of the galaxy every million years or so, invade Earth.  Caught in all the turmoil, Sheppard flees Earth in order to seek the support of all the alien civilizations in the universe to make a final stand to take back the human home world.  BioWare has added three ways to play the story, Action mode (more focused on the combat than story and RPG elements), Story mode (emphasizes story over combat and RPG elements) and RPG mode (the regular way of playing Mass Effect).  These three ways opens up the series to more gamers than just RPG fans.  For Mass Effect 3, BioWare has put an emphasis on improving the third-person combat.  There are more options for moving around the battlefield as you can easily move through cover, climb ladders, jump over gaps, sprint for short periods of time and evade enemy fire by rolling.  The edition of the omni-blade for a devastating melee attack allows you to get up close and personal with your enemies.  For the first time in the Mass Effect series, a Mass Effect game features multi-player.  This co-op multi-player is called Galaxy at War and affects your Galactic Readiness Rating, which will affect the ending of the single-player game.  The co-op multiplayer is wave defense much like Gear's of War's Horde mode with a few additions. You and up to three others have to survive 10 waves against increasingly difficult computer-controlled enemies.  During certain waves, you have to complete a special task in order to collect credits that can be used to buy other races, weapons and powers.  At the end of 10 waves, you must defend the extraction point needed to win the complete your mission.  No matter if you win or lose, you gain experience to level up your character and all the credits earned during the mission.  The multi-player is sadly online only so you cannot play split-screen with a buddy.  For Kinect owners, Mass Effect 3 allows you to issue voice commands and pick dialogue choices by reciting your line of choice.

If you have been following this blog for the last few months then you know how excited I am for Mass Effect 3.  It is my favourite franchise of this console generation and I would go as far to say it is one of the greatest pieces of Science Fiction of this generation.  My Tuesday will be dominated in my Shepard's  quest to take back Earth and indulging in all the goodness packed in the Collector's Edition of the game. If you are a hardcore gamer, I cannot recommend this game and franchise enough.  Go out pick up Mass Effect 3 and show the world that gaming is not just about shooters and sports games.

Launch Station: Street Fighter X Tekken

Here we are.  The biggest week for video games in the first quarter of 2012.  GDC is talking place in San Francisco and a huge amount of games are releasing this Tuesday.  Tomorrow will see hardcore gamers, fighting fans, RPG fans, baseball fans and gamers of all kinds flocking to their nearest EB Games, Best Buy, Future Shop or possibly Wal-Mart to pick up at least one of the games that will release tomorrow.  Personally I will be at my local EB Games when it opens at 9:30 to pick up my Mass Effect 3 Collecter's Edition.  While Mass Effect 3 is a big game, it is not what I will be previewing in today's Launch Station.  That honour goes to the biggest fighting game since Marvel vs. Capcom 3 released last year, Street Fighter X Tekken.

In the past Capcom has joined forces with the likes of Marvel, SNK and Tatsunoko to create some great fighting games.  Now Capcom has joined forces with Namco to bring together the fighters of Capcom's iconic 2D fighter, Street Fighter and Namco's iconic 3D fighter, Tekken for two games, Street Fighter X Tekken (a 2D fighter developed by Capcom) and Tekken X Street Fighter (a 3D fighter developed by Namco).  Street Fighter X Tekken releases tomorrow for consoles while nothing for Tekken X Street FIghter has been showed off yet.  Street Fighter X Tekken uses the Street Fighter IV engine meaning that all the characters and environments share the same beautiful cel-shaped aesthetic that Street Fighter IV has. Each match in Street Fighter X Tekken is a two-on-two tag match.  The first player to have one of their fighter's health be reduced to zero loses the round and the first player to win the best two out of three rounds is declared the winner.  With each match being a tag affair, you can tag between fighters on the fly, which can lead to some incredible combos and special moves.  There are two new mechanics in Street Fighter X Tekken that can change the tide of battle for some.  The first new mechanic is the Gem System, which allows players to equip up to three gems that boost different stats.  There are six types of gems that you can equip; attack, defense, speed, vitality, assist and Cross Gauge (the name for Street Fighter X Tekken's super meter).  The second new mechanic is Pandora Mode, which can only be used when one fighter on the player's team has less than 25% health remaining.  You can sacrifice that character to activate Pandora Mode, which gives the remaining fighter increased strength and infinite Cross Gauge with one catch.  That catch being that you have to defeat your opponents before Pandora Mode runs out or you die.

I have never been that great at fighting games, but I have always loved them.  While Street Fighter X Tekken has pimped my interest, I am not going to run out and buy it.  Also I am going to wait a few months or so to see if Capcom plans on releasing an updated version of the game with all the DLC characters like they did with Super Street Fighter IV and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.  If you are a fighting fan that has waited years for the chance to see Ryu fight Kazuya Mishima or Chun-Li fight Nina Williams, Street Fighter X Tekken is definitely that game for you.

Bit by Bit: February 26 - March 3

Work wise, this week was busier than usual.  I picked up a few more shifts at work, which changed my planned 19 hour week into about a 30 hour work week.  Between work and blogging, I did not have much time to play games this week.  At least I will get a nice pay check that will help fund school and pay for three new games I am buying in the next month.  The first of those release this coming week in Mass Effect 3.  Like I mentioned in Hump Day Music, next week has been deemed Mass Effect week here on Silver Bit.  So I hope you all enjoy.

Game of the Week
Considering that I did not play many games this week, it is really hard to pick a Game of the Week.  Because I have to pick one, I will say Mario Kart 7 is my Game of the Week.  Between spending time racing online and playing 150cc Grand Prix solo, I spent the most of my limited free time to play Mario Kart 7.  While I was introduced to the frustrations of Mario Kart's infamous rubber band AI that actually made me rage quit a few races, it was still satisfying playing online Mario Kart.  Playing against actual people is where Mario Kart shines.  Unlike the single-player Grand Prix mode, all you are concerned about is not finishing as you receive points for every position except last place where you actually lose points.  No matter where I placed other than last, I was never upset as I could do better in the next race.  I also have to commend Nintendo on making such a robust online for Mario Kart as I have never had any problems with lag or lossing connection.  If you ever want to race me in Mario Kart 7, here is my friend code, 0774-4254-9824.

Most Anticipated Game of the Week
If I did not say my Most Anticipated Game of this Week was Mass Effect 3, I would be lying.  Tuesday cannot come soon enough as I crave to finish Commander Shepard's story and take back Earth.  Also I cannot wait to get my hands on everything I get in the Collector's Edition of the game from the art book and soundtrack to all the exclusive in-game content.  All-in-all, Tuesday why aren't you here yet?!

Video of the Week
Last week, I put Mass Effect 3's incredible CG trailer as my Video of the Week.  This week it it is the launch trailer for Mass Effect 3.  The Mass Effect 2 launch trailer was the main reason I scoured Cambridge for a Collector's Edition of that game the weekend after it launched.  While I personally think the launch trailer for Mass Effect 3 is not better than the launch trailer for Mass Effect 2, it sure as hell is a great trailer.  Using only in-game footage, BioWare again has made a trailer that rivals the best movie trailers out there.  BioWare has been building two whole games to this one huge Galactic War and I cannot wait to see how it all turns out.

First Byte: Mass Effect 3

Over a month ago, I put up a what will become a recurring article that went by the tentative name of Demo Impressions.  Looking for the audience to help me out with coming up with the final name for demo impressions articles, I got only two suggestions both from my good friend Kent Power.  As you can see by the title at the top of the screen, the new permanent title of this recurring article is First Byte.  Considering that we are just days away from the release of Mass Effect 3, today I will be giving you guys my impression on the single and multi-player demo that has been out for the past few weeks.

Mass Effect 3 is the final chapter in BioWare's trilogy following Commander Shepard's fight against an all-powerful race of machines known as the Reapers, whose only goal is to wipe all sentient life off the face of the universe every millions of years.  The single-player demo for Mass Effect 3 picks up right at the end of Mass Effect 2's Arrival DLC.  Shepard has been stripped of his rank and is waiting trial on Earth while the Reapers creep ever closer to the human home world.  You are brought to the head of the Human Alliance by Admiral Anderson when everything goes to hell.  The unthinkable happens and the Reapers land on Earth.  With the Human Alliance building in shambles, Shepard and Anderson must get to the Normandy before it is too late.  Armed with a pistol and an omni-blade, Shepard and Anderson crave their way through husks and other Reaper forces as gigantic Reapers destroy the landscape around them.  The sense of scale in this opening mission is just incredible as it is very hard not to at least stop and take everything that is happening around you in.  It feels like Earth is being invaded by humongous machines.  After activating a beacon and fighting a few waves of husks, the Normandy flies into rescue you and Anderson.  Anderson decides to stay behind in order to help the human resistance, but restores Shepard's rank before parting ways.  The single-player demo picks up much later in the story as Shepard, Liara and Garrus have to help Mordin escort the only female krogan in the galaxy safely to the extraction point.  Along the way you will dispatch the attacking Cerberus soldiers on the way to the final battle of the demo against Cerberus' Atlas mech.  The single-player portion of Mass Effect 3 feels unchanged from Mass Effect 2, which is a good thing considering how great the combat was in that game.  The environments are more vertical as Shepard can now jump over gaps, climb ladders and interact with other parts of the environment in different ways.  Also the omni-blade is an amazingly powerful new melee attack that is very satisfying.

For Mass Effect fans the story is above all else, but the meat of this demo is found in the multi-player segment.  In the multi-player portion of this demo, you get to two maps to play on, one enemy to face (Cerberus) and three difficulties to chose from (gold, silver or bronze).  You choose your class, your race and appearance then you are ready to play online.  Mass Effect 3's multi-player is wave-defense mode much like Gears of War's Horde mode with a few new additions.  You and three others have to survive 10 waves against increasingly difficult computer-controlled enemies.  During certain waves, you must complete a special task in order to collect credits that can be used to buy other races, weapons and powers.  At the end of 10 waves, you must defend the extraction point needed to win the match.  No matter if you win or lose, you gain experience to level up your character.  In the final game, successfully winning matches in multi-player will affect your Galaxy Readiness rating allowing you to get the best ending.  Mass Effect 3's multi-player is not the best out there, but it is great in it's own way.  The only thing I did not personally like were the inability to play the multi-player locally as I would rather play split-screen with my brothers and other friends on the same couch as it makes communication, which is really needed to succeed in multi-player, much easier.  I know this is the necessary evil of online multi-player, but there were times when I got paired with people online who could not work as a team and it was not fun at all, so I would rather play with those I can cooperate with.  After playing through the single-player demo two times (once as male Shepard and another as female Shepard), the multi-player was kept me coming back to the Mass Effect 3 demo.  That is saying something considering I am not a big fan of online multi-player.  For those itching for next Tuesday as much as I am or not, download the Mass Effect 3 demo it is a great demo worth any gamers time.

On the Download: February 26 - March 3

This week has not been a busy week for game releases for both console and downloadable games.  Like I mentioned in the Launch Station for SSX, it is the calm before the storm.  We know there should be great games coming, but not for a couple weeks or so.  Case in point, Japan and Europe are getting these great 3DS Virtual Console games yet they have not reached the North American eShop, which is getting a little frustrating for this Nintendo 3DS owner.  We did get Metroid, which I already have thanks to the Ambassador Program, and a demo for Crush 3D this week.  I am just craving more.  So what I am trying to say is that it will not be your full-dose of downloadable goodness I like to spread every Thursday.  I do have two new released downloadable games that might be on radars of some.

Microsoft's XBLA House Party continues on with the release of Nexuiz, a fast-paced, extremely competitive arena FPS much like Unreal Tournament and Quake.  Originally a free open source game made by Alientrap Software, IllFonic has picked up the license for Nexiuz in order to bring it to XBLA, PSN and Steam.  As Nexuiz is part of the XBLA House Party, it will releasing on PSN and Steam at a later date.  Powered by the CryEngine3, Nexuiz has incredible graphics for a downloadable game, but it also features a Victorian art style that is futuristic yet still sophisticated.  Nexuiz offers players both solo and online play on nine maps with hundreds of mutators from jetpacks to low gravity to Big Head mode, which will keep each match from growing stale.  At 800 Microsoft Points, Nexuiz should be a great FPS for those who miss the days of Quake and Unreal Tournament.

It might be an unconventional name for a game, but AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! has made a name for itself on the PC.  This unique first-person jumping game has you diving off on skyscrapers, spray painting buildings and flipping off of protesters.   Now Owlchemy Labs has brought Dejobaan Games' award-winning PC game to the iOS in AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! (Force = Mass x Acceleration).  AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! (Force = Mass x Acceleration) contains all the features of the PC iterations of the game, but with a few control tweaks to make it work on each iDevice.  You are given tilt controls to control your character while diving and touch controls for interactions with fans and protesters.  AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! (Force = Mass x Acceleration) is a universal app that will run those interested in downloading this game 3 dollars.