Mass Effect has arguably been one of the most influential franchises of the last few years. Combining an intergalactic soap-opera with intergalactic-shooting-people-in-the-face, it managed to tick everyone’s boxes, and aside from the reaction to its ending, the majority of fans were sorry to see it come to a conclusion.
Amidst all the reddit posts, twitter rants and facebook memes, it’s difficult to put a figure on just how many people have been angered by the release of Sim City. Well, now you can; it’s 76,008 people and counting.
So, another seven days have passed here at Reticule Towers. It’s been a busy week all round, so only Chris and I have managed to contribute to this weeks Our Week In Games. Nevertheless, here’s what we’ve both been up to this week.
One of the first PC games I ever played growing up was Doom. On the very second level, if you look out of a small window you might just catch a tantalising glimpse of its most emblematic weapon, perched on top of a pedestal like some kind of religious icon. Placed agonisingly out of reach, it was months before we managed to figure out how to acquire it, leaving my brother and I to dub it the Holy Chainsaw.
Lo and behold, not 24 hours after Bethesda released this picture, they’ve popped up again to officially announce Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall.
When I think of printing, quite naturally I immediately think of Valve’s Portal series. Ok, perhaps not, but going forward I probably will. This month, PrintExpress.co.uk are running a competition to give away a full scale replica Portal gun. Sadly, it’s non-functional, but nevertheless it’s possibly one of the most awesome conversation-starters to adorn any dining-room table. I’m not entirely certain as to where the connection between high-quality printing and portals actually lies, but nevertheless the opportunity to own one of these wonders…
This afternoon, Bethesda dropped a rather stealthy looking screenshot on its official Twitter account. Fans of Dishonored will find the surroundings somewhat familiar, as in the background Dishonored‘s protagonist Corvo converses with Empress Kaldwin, moments before her rather unexpected and stabby demise.
Let’s face it, Sim City’s release hasn’t exactly gone smoothly. Insufficient servers have led to massive queues and losses in service, and the fan reaction hasn’t exactly been positive. A plummeting Metacritic and Amazon rating have left EA in no doubt as to their customers opinion of this new Sim City and its always-on requirement.
Richard Garriott, legendary PC game designer and creator of the Ultima series yesterday announced his plans to reinvent the fantasy RPG genre with his unveiling of Shroud Of The Avatar. Unveiled as the first installment of Richard’s new vision, SotA represents a ‘reinvention’ of the classic, fantasy RPG which the man practically created. A fantasy role-playing game that will focus more on player choices and discovery than on level grinding.
This week Bohemia finally acquiesced to my demands and began the Alpha test for ArmA 3. For the measly price of £20, you can now buy access to an early release build of ArmA 3 from either Steam or the Bohemia store. The alpha is an incomplete version of the game, featuring a small selection of the weapons, units and vehicles you’ll be able to get to grips with in ArmA 3. It’s also limited to the smaller of ArmA 3’s maps, Stratis, but this…