Gamerscore Blog

*waiting for the 'I have to start over' comments*

And.... go!

It's a fair point though.  I'm not exactly upset that I have to play through the game again, as I was always intending on going back to it, but it's the idea that when I do, I need to be careful not to finish it again, because I'm sure there's more content on the way.

The best game to implement DLC is, surely, Oblivion.  You can finish the game, and then still go off, do side quests, explore new places.  I think that that's really the way these games should handle DLC.

From a story telling point of view, I do understand that the game finishes as a cliff hanger, and maybe going off and helping a few people track down their family isn't going to be the best way for a hero to spend his time when there's a universe that needs saving, but still....

Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting stuck into the game again at the weekend.  It's my favourite game from last year (alongside Crackdown) for me.

This whole business of paying for Achievements is retarded and NOT the direction DLC should be heading.

90 minutes of additional gameplay is retarded as well.

No Pulse, I'm glad I had to start over.  Gives me a chance to get more achievements unlocked.

Ali, do what I did...  Save the game right after you do the DLC, or before you go to the last "important" planet, and when there's DLC, load that one.

90 minutes of gameplay is not "retarded" - you'd pay more to see a movie that is 90 minutes long.  I like the idea of episodic content, and its great that xbox is driving this forward through DLC.

One of my editors just wrote a review on the new content.


Sounds like he really likes it.

http://xboxcollector.blogspot.com/2008/03/mass-effect-dlc-review-bring-down-sky.html

I had a save just before hitting Ilos and stuck that one away to load up for DLC later, so i didn' thave to re-start.  A little pre-planning on my part.  Although i am restarting a new character anyway, probably an influtrator class.

Anyway i played through this new DLC with my level 60 soldier.  Really, this is only about 30 minutes of content if it weren't for the rediculous number of turrets everwhere with blast shields that only retract when you get close enough.  So you can't snipe them from a distance.  They're also clustered so you set off 3 or 4 of them firing at you at once.  Then one of the rocket engine complexes you have to get into has proximity mines all around it so you have to first take out the turrets, then you need to on foot get across the mine field all the while being shot at by 3 bad guys bunkered down in a safe area.  This stuff's not fun gameplay in my opinion, it's extending gameplay through frustrating the gamer as far as i'm concerned.

On the positive sides though, i did enjoy the actual combat with the new aliens.  They fight like mercs and use their powers efficiently so they are worthy opponents.  You also get your choice of reward for finishing the mission in the form of armor, weapon or tool.  I picked human armor and got collosis level X armor.    Other than that, with this extra side mission DLC, you can totally make it to level 60 in 2 playthroughs of the game.  I ended my 2nd go through 18 points shy of level 60 so the added points of this side mission would have made all the difference.

Overall i'm glad it was 400 points, i wouldn't have spent 800.  I just hope future DLC ups the fun factor and downs the frustration factor.  It's really not necessary to put 30 turrents outside a base to slow down the gameplay so you can claim the runtime is longer than what it actually is.  We aren't stupid, we know what you're doing ....

I don't agree with you Butwheaty, these guys put in a bucketload of work to give us 90 minutes worth of enjoyment.

I for one am quite happy to pay for work that people have done. Mass Effect is a truely enjoyable game that I am quite happy to go back into. Buying this downloadable content is justified to me by the game itself.

I don't know about you, but if I work pon something, I expect to be paid for it.

I dl'it haven't played it just yet too busy with army of two but its next on my list by the way I the way I want to get dirty with diva

1.- Is there really anyone out there who has played the game that doesn't have a save file where you can access the Galaxy map??

I'm totally perplexed. What if a file becomes corrupt? What if you missed some Item you can only get by going through the storyline? Then what would you do? Start anew??

2.- TANK - Perhaps your idea of a game is actually a game editor where you can remove any obstacle from it and go straight to the end?  

Saying that 'having "Proximity Fortified Turrets" or "Anti-Vehicle Proximity Mines" or  "Enemies that protect themselves" is not fun', I find  preposterous.  

Those are actually the things that ADD to the diversity and variety of gameplay.  Something I found pretty gratifying on this piece of DLC.

Hopefully there's more to come, sooner rather than later.

BTW, once you pass those mines, if you do a little sprint to the side so the enemies kind off get out of cover, (remember you got two team-mates besides you) use each's biotic powers (they work over any distance) and that became no fight in 5 seconds flat.

Do you really have to start over? That seems like a bad design...