Game Ranter Banter: 007 Legends, God of War, Pokemon & Another Mass Effect 3 Ending Opinion
This week saw some interesting developments on the news front: God of War: Ascension, the game we all knew was coming was revealed. Crysis 3, the game we all knew was coming, was revealed. Dead Space 3, the game we all knew was coming... wasn't revealed. Well, 2 out of 3 isn't bad, and at least we have the Game Ranter Banter to make up for it.
This week, our writers disuss the recently revealed God of War prequel, new 3DS exclusive features for Pokemon Black & White 2, the Ubisoft/Assassin's Creed 3 lawsuit, and lastly, another one of our writers opens up on the controversial Mass Effect 3 ending.
Let's begin.
A Novel Idea (By Anthony Taormina)
While John Beiswenger's claims that Ubisoft stole the idea for Assassin's Creed from his novel Link seem a bit unfounded, the fact that fans took to the Amazon listing for Link to down vote the book paints gamers as petty immature "activists." No one who scored the novel a 1/5 actually read beyond the book's preview nor would they care to read a book written by a guy who is trying to stop Assassin's Creed 3 from releasing without some compensation.
Obviously it seems too convenient that Beiswenger came forward now rather than when the first Assassin's Creed released, but the fact that fans went out of their way to down vote a 5-year old book only adds fuel to the fire. Both parties involved, Beiswenger and AC fans, are in the wrong here, but ultimately its only the gamers that are going to look foolish.
Bonds, Lots of James Bonds (By Rob Keyes)
Activision keeps on trucking with the franchises they have, one of those being their prized James Bond license. They remade GoldenEye for the Wii and then re-remade GoldenEye to port it over to the PS3/Xbox 360, while at the same time having Bizarre Creations develop James Bond 007: Blood Stone before shutting them down.
Now, instead of doing a sure-to-fail movie tie-in to this fall's Skyfall film featuring Daniel Craig, they're trying to get creative in celebrating Bond's 50th anniversary with the just announced 007 Legends, a game that includes villains and locations from six different classic James Bond movies.
And wouldn't you know, there are six James Bond actors. Coincidence? Make them all playable.
Catching Fans Off Guard with a Little Incentive (By Riley Little)
When Pokemon Black 2 and Pokemon White 2 were revealed this past February, fans who had already invested in the Nintendo 3DS were immediately disappointed to learn that they wouldn't be exclusive to their new handheld. Instead, the Pocket Monster games were confirmed to be launching on the original DS system. The biggest problem was that it simply didn't feel like there was much of an incentive to buy, or even own, a 3DS, and loyal consumers were understandably upset.
Yesterday however, Nintendo announced that Pokemon aficionados will now be given a fuller experience in Black 2 and White 2 only on the Nintendo 3DS — courtesy of the upcoming downloadable Pokemon AR Searcher game. The eShop title will allow players to transfer Pokemon they've caught in that game directly to their Black 2 or White 2 version, giving those with a 3DS a cool new option and bragging rights over DS owners. This may not be the 3D enhancements that fans were crossing their fingers for, and it'll cost about $3 for AR Searcher, but it's a nice way of showing 3DS owners that they'll be exposed to the benefits of upgrading handhelds sooner rather than later.
Rise Above (By Anthony Molé)
I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't excited for God of War: Ascension. I still hold the original game in high regards, and I genuinely enjoyed the story in God of War 3. However, as rumors began to appear of a fourth God of War game, I got a bit wary. I'd hate to see the franchise bogged down by unnecessary sequels. However, even when the first God of War: Ascension teaser brought news of the game being prequel, I still wasn't too happy.
The thing is, we've already heard of Kratos' past, many times. We know about his wife and his child, and if Sony Santa Monica thinks it's important to revisit that story line again, Ascension will suffer. We need something new, and despite little of the story being revealed in the trailer, I hope we get to experience a part of Kratos' past that has been unexplored. I can't wait to wield the blades again; I just don't need to hear anymore about his family.
Not Enraged. Baffled, Disappointed? Massively. (By Andrew Dyce)
Forgive me for being late to the party, but I feel I have to speak out about the ending of Mass Effect 3. Despite it having taken this long for me to complete the campaign, believe me when I say I am a massive Mass Effect fan. 70+ hours and multiple playthroughs in each game, and going into Mass Effect 3 with as guarded expectations as possible. After the most vocal fans spoke out against the ending, since it obviously wasn't what they had hoped for, I expected the majority to be overreacting, and were likely the type of gamers to be easily outraged. Since having beaten the game myself, I can only feel sorry for those people who were obviously even more emotionally invested in this franchise and space opera than I was.
Let me make myself clear here: the ending wasn't offensive because it wasn't what I had hoped for, since I would have respected a bold, well-realized artistic decision even more (once enough time had passed). My problem is that Mass Effect 3's 'climax' was unnecessarily preachy, formulaic, uninspired and completely removed from emotion, and every single event in the game that preceded it. There was honestly less sense of accomplishment, carried off with even less grace than the end of a Call of Duty title.
What makes it worse is the fact that apparently, the writers agreed. Even the most predictable ending possible would have offered a more satisfying close (seriously, read that rumored confession), which only highlights how fantastically BioWare fumbled their third act. And fans who are obviously smarter than the ones who had the job doesn't change anything. The developers will try to fix what they flubbed with an 'extended cut,' but they're not fooling anyone either. Especially me. The Mass Effect 3 ending controversy isn't about expectations or artistic differences: they had a terrific story, and told it poorly.
Conclusion
That's all for this week's Game Ranter Banter. This week's participants:
- Anthony Taormina (@ANTaormina)
- Rob Keyes (@rob_keyes)
- Riley Little (@TheRileyLittle)
- Anthony Molé (@AnthonyMole)
- Andrew Dyce (@andrew_dyce)
As always, let us know what you think of this week's news in the comments, or on Twitter @GameRant and Facebook.com/GameRant and if you have specific topics you'd like any of the team to cover, don't hesitate to ask.