Hi guys yesterday I had the pleasure of grabbing an early copy of AP (one of the perks of working in a video game store) and played it pretty much non stop sense, finished it just a few minutes ago and wanted to write up some of my impressions.
Not gonna write a full review just yet, the game really demands a second and 3rd playthrough to really appreciated all of the content.
As far as the action goes the game really resembles the original Mass Effect, the whole shooting mechanics seems to be governed by number crunching even more so then I expected, which leads to some annoying/frustrating moments.
At times you can empty and entire clip at an enemy standing 4 meters away only to see keep charging at you with a shotgun and 50% of his health.
At other times you can take down the exact same enemy from the same range and weapon in just 1-2 shots, the RNG is pretty wild but you get used to it and the more you specialize in a weapon (and get better gear) the less obvious it become.
But when you do get to that point things just to come together and I was landing headshots left and right, clearing whole rooms in a single "Chain Shot".
I played using the pistol pretty much exclusively (with a dash of SMG) and had a blast , only problem is it seems overly dependent on the use of Chain Shot to the point that on later stages it seemed just outright broken ,taking out the 2nd to last boss in a single use and the last one on two.
Another aspect of the game is that may take some people a while to get used to is the use of ability's and gadgets in and outside of combat.
Some situations that may seems impossible at 1st can be easily resolved with careful planing, don't let the game looks fool ya , it really is an RPG played from a TPS perspective not a TPS with some RPG elements slapped on.
As far as the whole "Choice" thing-
The game really surprised me in the way the different choices and paths presents them self, instead of taking the more orthodox approach of very obvious choices and making sure the player see exactly when and where the path forks , Obsidian gave it a much more subtle feel.
Sometimes even the most seemingly insignificant conversations can affect the story , the way they blend the different paths into dialogs is truly innovative and I can't wait to try out the different paths.
On the flip-side the game really limits you when it comes to exploration , ie there isn't any.
There aren't any "Hub" ares and the only "Side Quests" come at the form of secondary objectives you can do during the mission, for example finding a weapon cash and sending it to one of your contacts or hacking some server to delete the recored of one.
The only replay value comes from exploring the different paths and dialogs.
well I'm tired as hell so I'll just leave it up to you guys to ask any questions you have, and I'll do my best to answer them.
