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.