The game opens on a kid playing with a toy space fighter. It seems insignficantat first, but it is an early indication of an emotional level that the previous Mass Effect games had minimal amounts of. More on that later, though.
We first see Shepard talk to James Vega, and honestly it's a bit of an underwhelming introduction for someone who supposedly will be an important character for ME3. I can't remember much about him aside from the white shirt he wore. Important characters should make an impression right off the bat that they are, well, important. Vega didn't, but maybe he just isn't all that important after all. Moving on.
We are reintroduced to Anderson -- I guess, or rather hope, that the banter that happens here will change based on the decision at the end of ME1 for those who import saves. Anderson and Shepard run into Ashley, and it's all just functional. Nothing bad, it just serves to set a calm yet urgent tone.
Anderson brings Shepard before the Alliance brass, and here's where a narrative problem pops up. The admirals/generals say they've lost contact with anything past the Sol relay. What? How is this even possible? I would think it to be a major detail, but it just gets thrown out there and leaves me scratching my head. A little more explanation would have been nice. As the attack starts, it seems a little too sudden for the sake of shock value. It makes the Alliance seem almost incompetent in their defense of Earth.
But nevermind the narrative for the moment, there are explosions to be had! Reapers are landing! Husks are swarming over London! There's...
...a little kid in an air duct?
Well done, BioWare. This moment manages to add a human element to the attack. It's made a bit more effective since we know that only minutes ago this boy was happily playing around.
Back to the explosions! Anderson and Shepard make there way through, find a crashed gunship, and hold position while waiting for evac from the Normandy. And here a remarkably stupid thing happens. An Alliance dreadnought engages a Reaper in atmosphere. Whyyyyyyy? If whoever wrote this moment had read the Codex, they would know that dreadnoughts aren't even able to enter and land in atmosphere. It wouldn't have reason to enter the atmosphere anyways, since its main gun is able to fire over tens of thousands of kilometers. But apparently the animators missed the memo about the main gun too, because the "dreadnought" never fires it. It just chips away at the Reaper while sitting still and getting blasted. Really, BioWare? We're barely out the gate and you already have a scene that blatantly goes against what you wrote in the codex for your games? Not a good sign for the rest of the game in this regard. Why did you even bother writing the Codex at all? To pull a bait-and-switch on hard science fiction fans?
The Normandy picks up Shepard and Anderson, but Anderson decides to stay. Anderson tells Shepard he needs
to unite the galaxy. Uh, Anderson? You do realize that, depending on the choices of past games, Shepard is hated by various people throughout the galaxy and you are the one who served as an ambassador to the most powerful political body in the galaxy? Shepard may be the best thing since Jesus to humanity, but he's hardly the one suited for uniting alien races together. If anything, Shepard should be staying, and Anderson should be leaving to unite the galaxy. The lack of sense in Anderson's decision lessens the effect of what should be a heroic action.
Oh well. The Normandy pulls out without Anderson, and we see Shepard watch the kid from before load up into an evacuation shuttle, with a mini-Reaper closing in. My heart sank as I watched this, and sure enough, the kid's shuttle gets shot down. This is the payoff to the kid's previous appearances. The Reapers snuffed him out. And, if you stop to think about it, you realize this kind of thing is happening throughout the city, throughout Europe, and throughout the world. It will continue as the Reapers swarm over Earth. This gives Shepard a reason to fight. It's not just about ideals and causes. It's about saving innocent lives from being murdered by the Reapers. That's something worth fighting for, and I applaud BioWare for putting this aspect in and pulling it off excellently.
I'm not going to analyze the second part of the demo, since much of the actual narrative seems removed in order to focus on the action.
So. There was some good, some ok, and some bad. Overall my anticipation for ME3 has gone up from the demo. Can't wait to play the full game! But I do hope that the some details from the demo don't set the trend for the full game.
Modifié par SSV Enterprise, 15 février 2012 - 10:03 .
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