Xbox 360 Preview - 'Mass Effect'
by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2007

Genre: RPG
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Developer: BioWare
Release Date: November 2007
Mass Effect may be the most highly anticipated Xbox 360 title to not be spawned from an established franchise, but the universe-exploring RPG has something else going for it that might be worth as much as a million-selling predecessor: the BioWare logo emblazoned on its packaging. More importantly, BioWare’s trademarked style of highly customizable experiences, introduced to console gamers with Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire, infuses every inch of Mass Effect, its most ambitious project to date.
Following three-plus years


We live in perilous times, my friends. These days, the game industry is either all about the single-player experience, or the dynamics of (God help us, sometimes massive) multiplayer. Remember back in the day, when it was only about two people? In games like Streets of Rage, Contra and Final Fight, you had to help out your partner every step of the way, or face mutual destruction. These days, we're lucky to get a "cooperative mode" in the games of our choice.
This year's E3 featured an astounding number of PSP titles that were just plain fun to play, which is something that the handheld console has been lacking until now. Tekken: Dark Resurrection was among those titles, and it was perhaps the single game I put in the most time with during E3. While it is largely a straight port of the limited arcade release by the same name, T:DR is certainly more portable than an arcade machine.
It's been long enough that quite a few gamers have never heard of the System Shock games, two benchmark PC games that set the bar for challenging FPSes and, in their own way, for survival horror. When you hear older gamers talking about SHODAN or crawling through hallways with only a wrench to defend themselves, they're referring to the arguably classic System Shock 2.
For the ninth core release of the venerable Tony Hawk franchise, Neversoft appears to be tossing in everything but the kitchen sink — though we wouldn't be especially shocked if such an item appeared in the game's compelling new Skate Lounge mode. As expected, Tony Hawk's Proving Ground will build around the modernized core developed for last year's Tony Hawk's Project 8, but the amount of new content (in the form of features and new gameplay mechanics) is simply staggering.
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