Watching the first 20 minutes of Mass Effect played by a cute BioWare representative, I couldn't help but be reminded of a ventriloquist I saw on America's Got Talent a few nights ago. Why I happened to be watching America's Got Talent is none of your business, but let it be known that I wasn't happy about it.
Now, the thing about Mass Effect is that it seemed, more or less, like a ventriloquist's dummy. Of course, it was a very nice-modeled, well-rendered dummy with nice textures, but nothing more. The game, much like Pinocchio, lacks life.
The gameplay looks like your standard FPS fare, which is to say that I didn't see anything great or remarkable. There's a variety of weapons and abilities to use, but my pants didn't get wet or tight because of them. Gameplay is kind of hard to judge without an actual controller in your hands, so I'm going to reserve judgment on that.
Where the presentation really fell short, however, is in the emotionless voice acting and subpar facial animations. Not only did the conversation lack the natural ebb and flow to which we were all looking forward, but it was as if the voice actor's took commas, question marks, and exclamations points out of their repertoire. The dialogue has about as much emotional engagement as a grocery list. Even worse, the facial animations match the shoddy voice acting: the mouths move, and that's about it. It'd be great for a Joan Rivers botox sim, but it doesn't really make for a compelling video game.
At worst, Mass Effect is disappointing. The best reaction I've heard all day was this: "It wasn't that bad, just more of the same." If "not that bad" is all you've got going for you ...
Ho hum.
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21 comments + 95764 views
Katamary will be better
@ orcist Awesome and i mean awesome. To see someone with a honest opinion, most people even if the game is an abortion. They will praise it anyways, so awesome keep it going.
Was the game a final build or was there more voiceover to be done? I really hope BioWare cleans this up.
I bought an original xbox for kotor and although I enjoyed the game and played it all the way through it wasnt like I expected the game to be the best ever. I just feel like this game is going to be good. Good enough to purchase and feel good about it. The mulitple choices in conversations in Kotor I thought were what Fable wished it would have done. I think that this game is going to take it further. And the gameplay seems cool enough so
Well, I guess this one won't be taking the so-far GOTY away from Bioshock eh?
Dude, Cas Haley totally should have won. Also, bummer about Mass Effect. Maybe they have time to polish it up.
I'm very surprised by this. Ever video I've seen for Mass Effect is them wanking off the facial expressions and voice acting. Seems weird that they've fucked up the feature they've been touting the most.
I saw a gameplay video a few weeks back and it totally put me off buying the game. It looks kind of sticky and lumpy. There was no fluidity to the way the character was interacting with anything and the shooter elements looked very primative. There was a distinct lack of "gloss" to the whole mechanic, or it certainly looked that way to me...
...but I'm an idiot, feel free to disregard.
You really can't "polish" up the voice acting at this point in the development.If the voice acting lacks emotion than they would have to redo all the dialog which they won't unless they feel like delaying it till next year.
At least this game's existence allowed you to post that picture you posted with this post... I laughed.
im not sure why but ive never had high hopes from the game. The screens just dont impress me. awesome developer ≠ awesome game.
well crap
This makes me sad.
They should let fans, and journalists play the games a few months in advance to point out this kind of stuff.
Maybe they should just let you play in advance. :]
It's a bit surprising since Bioware has a proven trackrecord and their voice work has always been among the best in the business.
didn't read anything posted. But all i have to say is overall, Mass Effect still has me excited. I am a big fan of Bioware. the game is pretty and the battles and abilities look pretty sweet.
But the animation straight up sucks fucking balls. More specifically, the facial animation. HL2 came out 3 years ago and still has the best facial animation to date. Games on the 360, especially big budget title has no fucking reason to have shitty 50 morph point sucky facial animations. The mouth moves crappily and there is almost no expression whatsoever. An occasional eyebrow raise looks terrible and at all other time, there is absolutely no expression on any characters face during the game.
I'm reserving judgment.
Mainly because I am a BioWare fanboy.
That is all.
i soooo could care less about this game...i understand everybody else's hype but its just not my type...its sad that its not looking great as it would help promote the RPG genre on the 360
Ever since the first videos people have noticed the bug eyes, souless facial expressions. I keep hoping they will fix them up, but goddamit its still the same. Maybe Bioware should hire whoever is doing the facial engine for Uncharted.
Wow...easily swayable much? You have to be kidding me right? The E3 conversation example was really well done. And the gameplay looks like Gears of War meets Rainbow Six with RPG elements. I can't see how this game is a disappointment. Perhaps your expectations are a little lofty? Remember what they tried to accomplish(and probably did...) here. Then take into account how difficult it would be. Then try to think if what was posted is a little hasty...maybe just a little...c'mon...just a tiny itsy bit...
A month ago people were shitting themselves. Now with one little reflection it seems people were swayed to a negative feeling... you gotta have more independence and back bone than that!!
The quality level of this game looks to be refreshing. Disappointed is a bit of a harsh term when you're wishing for 10 steps past excellence...forget the hype.
oh yeah and I bet it's fun too....remember fun? Not too many games bother with that anymore haha
It might be a little bit early to judge Mass Effect, but to me it's always been that HUGE game that everyone is gushing over that I have absolutely zero faith in. This coming from a certified Bioware zealot.
This just backs it up. Thanks for being honest, Orcist. Rock.
This post fucking scares me. Bioshock has me by the balls and I'm hoping some of these holiday titles can live up. By the way, where the fuck has Assassin's Creed been hiding? Doesn't it come out next month ? lol
hmm, being a bioware fanboy, i'll just wait until the release and experience the game from my own perspective rather than rely on that of others. If a game just lacks "life" from what you say, then that is about one of the most opinionated statements if i've ever heard one, and we all know how opinions vary greatly. Everything Bioware has ever done has always been spectacular, from KOTOR till now, so why would they flop on what is arguably their greatest release ever? Yeah, doesn't exactly make sense to me either.
"hmm, being a bioware fanboy, i'll just wait until the release and experience the game from my own perspective rather than rely on that of others. If a game just lacks "life" from what you say, then that is about one of the most opinionated statements if i've ever heard one, and we all know how opinions vary greatly. Everything Bioware has ever done has always been spectacular, from KOTOR till now, so why would they flop on what is arguably their greatest release ever? Yeah, doesn't exactly make sense to me either."
Damn good point.
are you serious? you can't possibly be serious.
are you serious? you can't possibly be serious.
after watching all the previews and voice dialog, this is no surprise. even at early stage, but, ive seen so many people blinded by the people who made it or fanboysm.
I am very proud to read destructoid articles that keep it real, specially Orcist, when you see something sweet u say it, when u see shit, u go with diarrhea to the rest room.
even that Car that does a jump, wtf is that, and when it roles on water, theres nothing realistic or detailed there.
@FreQ
Thanks man.
Bioshock possibly sacrificed extending the KOTOR series "which was a very big deal mind you, especially since i am still clinging to hope for KOTOR3" themselves in favor of developing mainly MASS EFFECT, and a little Jade Empire i believe. Regardless, Mass Effect has been in the works for quite awhile, and to say that such an accomplished developer like Bioware will disappoint us b/c Mass Effect's dialog system was "lifeless, lacked flow", or because "the gameplay is kind of hard to judge without a controller in your hands" just seems ridiculous to me. I guess people around here are not done jacking off to Bioshock yet, being the big ex sponsor and all.
looks like God of War Betrayal will be getting a 10 out of 10.
dialogue: full of life
gameplay: totally judgeable without a controller in my hands....
...while blindfolded.
An honest opinion is hard to find, but the game is still a few months away from completion. No doubt they're in the testing stage by now, and whoever is testing this monster of a game (MSoft? I dunno) surely has a massive team combing over every line of dialog as well as gameplay
I don't know how they're working the animation angle, but I figure with their engine it would be simple to drop a few quick graphical tweaks into a line of speech to add to the conversations. No doubt the system is automated considering the amount of speech in a title like this.
I remove my nonexistent hat to those on the QA team for this game. I hope you guys get a boatload of overtime and can pay off those student loans.
Well, I wouldn't call it jacking off dude. Bioshock is the best game to come out in a while. There's a reason it's getting the acclaim it has; it fucking owns.
lifeless convo or not, I'm sure ME will be good enough to justify playing.
I just hope i can overlook said lifeless convo
I've been saying this for months now... I hadn't been dissapointed in the conversation though. The game looks pretty good, but the gameplay looks pretty boring and the animations all look stiff.
Indeed it is, mainly by reviving what was left of the entire single player campaign aspect of modern gaming. However, is it just hands down GOTY? Just brush aside Mass Effect, which is where Bioware has arguably put its greatest effort yet...just brush it aside with a big "meh" because its supposably "lifeless"? To do that is nothing short of folly.
Damn, you're good.
Oh shizzle Penny Arcade is gonna be ALL over this!
That's disappointing. Well, I'll reserve judgment for the final game. Maybe they'll hear the response and tighten things up. I hope. Still, I'm sorry to hear that.
Since your lovely system won't let me post all comments together, here goes... 1) You weren't playing the game, but WATCHING IT.
2) You saw 20 minutes of a 40+ hour game. So you watched 1/120th (less than 1%) of the game and have drawn the conclusion that the game is lame or disappointing.
3) This is the first game where you can actively cut-off the character you're conversing with and respond in like. So guy, name another game where that is possible? What other game has MORE REALISTIC DIALOG??
4) This is Bioware. Is this a 'new gametype' to them? NO. Were KOTOR or Jade great? Yes.
5) Every video/screenshot/preview screams "POLISH". This isn't a game that by watching someone play 20 minutes you can a) immerse yourself in and b) draw a conslusion to it's greatness or lack thereof.
6) THE FRICKIN GAME IS HUGE!!! (again, how do you draw conclusions so quickly) There's even a novel that you can get the backstory on the universe. There will be 2 sequels to Mass Effect. The doctors claim that NO ONE will be able to see everything in a single play-through. Once you're home alone and begin playing it YOURSELF, give us your opinion after, let's say, 10-20 hours.
I like men.
7) You complained of lifeless dialog. There's gotta be ton's of dialog in the game. Should it all be 'overly dramatic' or would alot of it be giving you back story ..like normal conversation.
8) Gamespot saw a recent build in Leipzig (assume where you did as well). Quick notes from Gamespot.. 'dramatic story points', 'heated discussion', 'tense, pivitol situations', 'dialogue sequences exhibiting a lot of polish and flowing smoothly'.
Does this sound like lack of drama or lifeless dialog?
Yes, you've just been owned.
Orcist's Mass Effect impressions bring all the fanboys to the yard...
Most likely not as great as all the hype would lead you to believe, but all in all, probably a good game. Entertaining at the least.
@jasman He got owned? I think not, because the last time I checked you have NEVER played the game or even seen it be played live. I think you fail to understand the meaning of "opinion" His opinion of the game is based on what was shown to him knowing full well he is a member of the press and will be writing about his experience. If he feels disappointed then he is disappointed. No one cares what gamespot said because this is destructoid not gamespot. Just because his opinion and impression doesn't agree with you, doesn't make it wrong. So I think you need to get off your fanboy soapbox and take the article for what it is. While your welcome to disagree with him and post your own opinion there isn't a need to attack him.
This comment had me very surprised. I watched a dialogue scene and it looked really good. Didn't think much about the facial expressions, looked normal to me. Like how it would look if two people talked with eachother in a normal conversation.
But then again, I'm swedish, and we rarely show any emotions.
Frankly I've had no big expectations for this thing since I saw my first gameplay footage of it. Had no idea why everyone was so high on it.
*sticks fingers in ears* LALALALALALA Can't hear you!!!!
It still looks good to me, but it would even look good if it ran on the Infinity Engine :P
I'm sure it'll be a really cool game, though not for everyone. I'm just hoping it doesn't stick to the Bioware template too much. After all, Jade empire was JUST Kotor in so many ways, if Mass effect went down the same route I'd be pissed.
Fanboy hype knows no boundaries, so this game will sell millions.
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