Gateway Games

Mass Effect 2 (2010)   To be honest, throughout my replay of the first Mass Effect I was mostly just excited to move onto the sequel. In my memory ME2 was always the standout in the trilogy and its rare metacritic score of 96 certainly supports this. But after the first game’s poor aging I was slightly worried about how ME2 would fare 8 years later.   Immediately the improvements made to ME2’s combat are most evident. ME2 feels much more like a third-person shooter then the original did. Even though initial criticisms stemmed from the game dumbing down the more RPG elements of its predecessor, in hindsight it wasn’t ‘dumbing down’ as much as it was just trimming the fat. Guns have more of a kick to them, and aren’t as clumsy to use as they use to be. Movement has also been streamlined to feel more responsive and moving into cover is as snappy as it should be.   What’s perhaps most impressive about ME2’s gameplay enhancements isn’t just that...

 The Mass Effect trilogy is undoubtably one of the most important series in modern gaming, as well as being acclaimed developer Bioware's defining work. The trilogy reached universal acclaim for it's unprecedented approach to interactive storytelling. Having meaningful player choices effect the story in a game was nothing new by 2007's first Mass Effect, this was a gameplay mechanic Bioware actually pioneered with their early console RPGs; giving players big and small decisions that in some way had consequences effecting the overall experience. What made Mass Effect unique was that these decisions would have consequences following you for the next three games. It was a massive undertaking and not a concept that even Bioware have tried to tackle since 2012's Mass Effect 3 wrapped up their trilogy. So after coming across a disc of one of my personal favourite games, Mass Effect 2, this led me to wonder how successful Bioware's space opera was. Was the Mass Effec...

5 More Studios Microsoft Should Acquire Microsoft shocked the entire industry this year at E3, after announcing 5 new first-party studios: The Initiative, Playground Games, Undead Labs, Ninja Theory and Compulsion Games. This is undoubtedly a result of Phil Spencer’s (Head of Xbox) promotion to the Senior Leadership Team of Microsoft giving him more power and an increased budget. But this news is exciting for Xbox fans as it shows Microsoft is building up to a dominant next-generation and listening to fan’s concerns about the quality of their first-party studios, especially after the success that both Sony and Nintendo have been having with their exclusives over the past two years. Phil Spencer has said in interviews that the new studios they announced at this year’s E3 weren’t thought about as the end of their work when it comes to expanding their studios. With that in mind lets jump into who else Microsoft could acquire in the years ahead. TellTale Games ...

5 Favourite Platformers 5) Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Just visually Brothers looks like a fairytale book brought to life: dwarves, trolls, giants and sinister wolves populate the world. But it’s not hard to see past Brother’s child friendly demeanour and find a game drenched in themes of grief, loss, the hope to keep moving on and most importantly, family. After a single father has become sick, it’s up to two sons to venture across a fantasyland in search of a cure. It’s a simple premise but it’s really the relationship that’s built between the two brothers that makes the game such an endearing adventure.   Throughout the world, anything that looks remotely interesting, you can probably interact with, with both brothers. Seeing both the older and younger one react to the same things differently is a charming character building technique, but the moments where they’re interacting or working with each other are the highlights of the game. They have...