Grave Gamer News & Views — mass effect

N7 by muju

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).

Tali’s Fate by Avanguardian

What the Hell is a “Shepard 2”?  Something the Next Mass Effect Won’t Have

“There is one thing we are absolutely sure of – there will be no more Shepard, and the trilogy is over.”  That verdict was laid down by Bioware Montreal’s own Fabrice Condominas when the producer was asked by VG247 what was next for the Mass Effect series.

Apparently, we may not even be presented with a protagonist in the same fashion as the Commander was.  “So first, we don’t want to make ‘Shepard 2′, or Mass Effect 4 with like, ‘oh there’s no more Shepard but you’re a soldier in the universe,’“ states Condominas, "So this will be a very, very different context for sure, and nothing has been decided on the rest.”

What’s more, the next Mass Effect may not even continue on after the first trilogy’s events, which after three game’s worth of choices and actions (and after some particularly definite endings) has been made a vastly different universe than the one we began in at the start of Shepard’s adventure.  "At this point in time, we don’t even know what kind of time frame we’re going to be in,” admits Fabrice.  “All we’re doing is more gathering ideas from the teams, gathering feedback to see several things.”

Take that as you will, but even without the Commander at the forefront (despite the awesome revenge-thirsty, half-cyborg images the name "Shepard 2” conjures), it’s pretty exciting to know that the Mass Effect universe will press on regardless.