|
Bring down the skies: A DLC review
***Minimal Spoilers***
When new downloadable content is realeased there's always one thing that comes to my mind "Is it worth my money?", For 400 microsoft points though and with mass effect being the great game that it is i bought it regardless. However it takes a bit more to persuade some people so here's my impression.
The introduction instantly gave me a slightly lackluster feeling, the normandy is approaching an asteroid on a collision course with a highly populated planet, and instead of the voice of joker breifing me it was some bland voice of an artificial intelligent woman, obviously thats understandable that the highly paid actor (seth green) wouldent get pulled back in to just to voice cast for a small role.
Graphics: The graphics haven't changed, im on about the detail put into the scenery, If you've played enough side missions on mass effect you will know that a majority of outposts and bases on different planets look... identical, unfortunately that hasn't really changed in bring down the skies, 3 of the main buildings look pretty much identical on the inside and it doesn't feel tactical because as your going into the next building you can repeat just what you did in the first. However the final building where most of the plot takes place is better, plenty of oppurtunity for flanks and cover and just looks more detailed in general.
Gameplay: Feels short lived because of the lack of conversations, you dont get to make many decisions and thats what i needed for my renegade points acheivement, There are plenty of new enemies though and this helped get some weapon achievments a lot quicker. I was expecting bring down the skies to play out like a main story planet like "feros" or "noveria", instead it plays out more like a big sidequest because...well the lack of sidequests.
Length: A couple of hours at most, easily finished in one gaming session, unless you die a lot there is no way of really breaking it up. I planned to see if i could stretch it out over the weekend instead of buying a new game, instead i managed to finish it within a few hours. While short the few hours you get are fairly good ones.
Replayability: You dont need to return to the asteroid because there is nothing else to do, on a next playthrough maybe to add up to some easy weapon or ally acheivements maybe but thats it. Possibly an alternate ending because of the choices at the end.
Value for money: Pros- Cheap, 50 Gamerscore, New codex entries, New enemies, New plot and a neat little reward at the end.
Cons- No cinematics, Short, No Joker, 1 other sidequest, Locations in plot all look the same.
|
Linear Mode
