Grave Gamer News & Views — mass effect 3

Under Fire by Drake Tsui

THIS DAY IN DLC:

Bioshock Slapped with a Season Pass and Mass Effect Delivers Its Last Hurrah

Little more than a month away, the extremely belated, but anxiously awaited, Bioshock Infinite will hit stores, finally letting players wreak all manners of havoc within the airborne confines of Columbia.  Fearing you might find your time with the game…finite (fuckin’ nailed it), Irrational is prepping three separate DLC packs to pad out the narrative.

And like any DLC preemptively announced before a game’s release, you can bet your bottom dollar, friend, that a Season Pass is on its way.  All three mystery content packs can be yours with the $20/1600 MS Pass; for your troubles, an additional content pack containing a what’s-what of weapon upgrades and stat-increasing Infusion bottles is thrown in with the Pass.  Bioshock Infinite takes off March 26th.

While a new chapter for Bioshock begins, Mass Effect 3’s long running series of downloadable add-on’s comes to an end beginning Feb. 26th.  Starting with a free multiplayer update, Reckoning brings with it four new classes – if you were curious: Geth Juggernaut, Cabal Vanguard, Talon Mercenary, and the Alliance Infiltration Unit – as well a pretty, pretty arsenal of seven new weapons.

March 5th sees the game’s very last shred of single-player DLC as Citadel becomes available, priced at $14.99/1200 MS.  Returning you to the content’s colossal namesake space station, Shepard finds himself at the center of an insidious conspiracy only snappy decision making and generous biotic-blasting can quell.  The fan-servicing attraction here is the rogues gallery of Mass Effect Trilogy alumni you’ll encounter on your journey, allowing players to bid farewell to their assorted favorites (“Godspeed, Miranda’s ass.”).

Rumor – the invisible force said to actually power the internet – has it that this console generation is coming to a close.  If this truly is the last year of this triumphant generation, a generation that began as any other (with pretty graphics and prettier promises) but evolved into a full blown fusion of home media and dedicated gaming, then it’s all the more important to reflect on the virtual adventures 2012 gave us.

We laughed, we cried, we cried even harder trying to slog through Halo 4 on Legendary…2012 was the culmination of six years of advancement, where devs’ were past their growing pains fumbling with new technology and knew how to fully utilize the tools at their disposal.   2012 was a year in which we reaped the benefits tenfold through the sheer amount of excellent games rapid-fired onto store shelves (or, more realistically, Steam shelves.  Yeah.  Steam shelves).

10/15/12

I’ve resurfaced from ceaselessly playing Resident Evil 6 with all limbs and most bodily functions intact if a little scarred, so I thought I’d bring you humble folks another award winning dose of the Roundup (and, yes, giving yourself awards is almost as sad as coining your own nickname – same ballpark, really).

Last week in games we laughed, we cried, and we bore witness to the internet leaking the shit out of Halo.  Just another week in this wonderful industry.  Welcome back to the Roundup.

Mass Effect 3’s ‘Leviathan’ DLC Incoming This Summer (Wii U Release…Er, Later)

The first story-based DLC to drop for Mass Effect 3 since the Extended Cut, EA and Bioware have confirmed that Shepard’s the universe over will be able to download the Leviathan DLC sometime this Summer.

Given the somewhat final nature of the game’s closing, Leviathan is a side-story taking place during the Commander’s last minute shuffle to prepare the galaxy for (hopeless, one-sided) war against the Reapers.  In his/her travels, rumors circulate around tales of an entity or creature of immense power; maybe powerful enough to stop the Reapers.  On the hunt for this supposed Leviathan (a being that may just be a Reaper itself), Shepard will visit new systems, tread unseen ground on the Citadel, befriend new characters, and learn more about our sentient doom-bringers than ever before.

Leviathan, to be made available at either $10 or 800 MS on PC, PSN, and Xbox Live, also comes packing new arsenal: the AT-12 Shotgun and the M-55 Argus Assault Rifle.  If that’s not enough for you to take on the cosmos at large (and you’d be right), August 7th brings the Firefight Pack, a weapons payload for single-player campaign use that features two brand new guns as well as an additional five space heaters to the tune of $2.  In case you want to be…thorough.

If you’re one of the few holding out for the Wii U version of Mass Effect 3 (…anyone?  Anyone out there?  I literally hear cobwebs), your bewildering patience will pay off as Bioware is bundling most of the game’s current DLC as on-disc content, including both the Extended Cut and Leviathan.  An interactive recap of the first two ME titles will also be thrown in so you Nintendo faithful can catch up on all the sci-fi goodness without being bogged down by all that unnecessarily fun gameplay.  Like the Wii U itself, no date was placed on the ME3 port.

Catch a glimpse of Leviathan hereabouts.