Mass Effect 3 - Better Final Assault (fan creation)

Fans and critics have complained about the many shortcomings of Mass Effect 3. The relatively linear progression of the game compared to the previous two games, the shallow development of some characters, some odd story decisions, and, of course, that ending. 

The thing that chafes at me personally about Mass Effect 3 is the final combat sections. It's just more of the same stuff we've had throughout the game. One reviewer said he just wanted all these characters we'd come to know so well to each have their badass moment of glory, and I agree that fighting alongside Garrus and Wrex as leaders of squads of turians and krogan would (for me) have really emphasized the coming together of species to defeat the Reapers. The horde mode stuff works, I guess. But what would it take to have made the final ground battle really epic (besides sheer numbers)? 

I have no idea if what I'm about to outline is even programmable. But I would have loved something like this. I hope you enjoy it. There's no professional pride here. If you've got comments, let 'em fly.

(From the game, in London) Anderson: I'll give you a moment with your squad. Pick your team well...

At this point, an option window appears. The assault to the beam will involve five teams: Shepard (up the middle), the left flank, the left wing, the right flank and the right wing. (The “flank” teams are immediately adjacent to Shepard's team, which occupies the middle; the “wing” teams are even further to the left and right.) It might be possible to have multiple routes to the missile battery, allowing Shepard to be assigned to a position other than the middle. But that would have meant more work for BioWare...

(Why five total teams? Because of the upcoming boss battle. Read on.)

Possible default options for command of the four support teams include:

- Admiral Anderson (Alliance)

- Major Coates (Alliance)

- James Vega (lost his own command in Paragon Lost, gets his redemption) (Alliance)

- Garrus Vakarian (will take command of the Turian Armiger Legion) (Turian)

      - Primarch Victus (alternate to Garrus if the latter dies in Mass Effect 2) (Victus is present in London and is characterized as a “soldier's general”, so it makes sense for him to assume a command in the final battle)

- Kaidan / Ashley (Alliance)

- Wrex (krogan shock squad; maybe the new “Arlakh” company?) (Krogan)

      - Grunt (alternate if Wrex was killed on Virmire)

      - Wreav (alternate to Wrex and Grunt if Grunt's tank was never opened and Wrex is dead)

- Liara T'Soni (shadow broker wet squad / asari commandos) (Asari)
These choices will always be available.

Additional choices will be available. These will be strictly optional appearances based upon game actions. Optional commanders and squads include:

- Tali Zorah vas Normandy (engineering squad) (Quarian)

- Admiral Zaal Koris vas Quib-Quib (alternate to Tali) (Daro'Xen is the vocal alternate for Tali in the Geth Dreadnought mission, but Zaal Koris' more moderate stance towards the Geth makes him a better choice for a "coming together of species.") (If Tali is dead and the Quarians are eliminated on Rannoch, the squad does not appear.)

- Prime Ajax (my name for the Prime who appears in London.) (commands a squad of flamers, hunters and soldiers) (Geth) (If the Geth are eliminated on Rannoch, the squad does not appear.) (It'd be nice if Legion didn't have to become a robo-messiah; if that were changed, he would appear here instead of Ajax.)

- Major Kirrahe (commands an STG squad) (Must survive Virmire and the Citadel coup attempt) (indications are that STG would support Shepard regardless of the position of the Salarian government, so getting Salarian support is not a condition for their presence)

 - Jondum Bau (Kirrahe alternate) (If Kirrahe does not survive and Bau's mission is never completed, the STG squad does not become available for assignment.) (I theorize that before he was a Spectre, Bau was STG; thus he would not be a complete stranger to the squad.)

- Aria T'Loak (commands mercenaries) (must complete the Omega DLC for Aria and squad to appear)

- Miranda Lawson (commands a group of Cerberus defectors)

- Jacob Taylor (Miranda alternate) (Jacob doesn't want to be on the front lines if possible, which is why he declines to join Shepard in the game; with everything at stake, though, I think he would step up.) (If Miranda dies and Jacob's mission is not completed, the Cerberus defectors squad will not be available for assignment.)

- Samara (squad of justicars) (doesn't really command them, as justicars answer to no one but the code; Samara functions more as a liaison) (If Morinth was chosen, Samara's mission is never completed or Samara does not survive her mission, the squad does not appear.)

- Jack (commands the Grissom Academy Students) (to have them appear here, must not choose the “support role” dialogue with Kahlee Sanders in the Grissom Academy mission. If the “support role” dialogue was chosen, Jack does not survive Mass Effect 2, Jack is not at Grissom Academy when Shepard liberates it, or Shepard does not liberate Grissom Academy, the squad does not appear.)

Every character listed may be chosen as a squadmate for Shepard if not chosen for a command. Zaeed, Javik, Kasumi and EDI are available as squad-mates, but not as commanders. (Javik was military, and could command; I'm simply not sure which allied faction would trust him with command of their soldiers.)

Push forward

There could be some contextual acts requiring the efforts of the support teams. Maybe Shepard gets pinned down by Ravagers, requiring one of the flank teams to clear them before (s)he can proceed (Shep fights a few waves of enemies in a confined space). How quickly the flank team succeeds in clearing the resistance depends on the command rating of the team leader. Maybe use some of those un-used multiplayer maps for this (two of them looked to me like they were planned to be Earth levels). Shepard, in turn, could clear out a few nests of resistance so the flanking teams can advance (maybe a chance to use some heavy weapons again?).

Defend the missile battery

Missile battery defense will happen in five waves. The first Shepard & squad must handle by themselves; the second wave (s)he has the support of one of the flanking forces. The third wave sees the arrival of the other flanking force; the wave ends with the first attempt to launch the Thannix missiles. One of the sides collapses (in the game, it was the left; here it would be randomized, left or right – perhaps based upon which commander assigned to a wing had the worse command rating). Wave four the wing force (the one that didn't collapse) arrives. Wave five is the battle royale (cue the music https://youtu.be/xPLoxSS4aV4), ending with the successful firing of the last two Thannix missiles (as in the game). All surviving support teams could fight alongside Shepard for wave five. After the missiles fire, stragglers from the destroyed wing force arrive at the missile battery in the ensuing cut-scene.
(The idea here isn't that there are dozens of allied troops on the field - that would be hard if not impossible to program. The big set-pieces would appear in cutscenes. During the fighting, the allied troops would be in the distance, with the commanders that Shepard assigned to lead them joining him/her in the fight - perhaps with contextual triggers.) 
(What I mean by a contextual trigger is, for instance, both of Shepard's squad going down, six Brutes being on the map at once, Shepard's health being reduced to a critical level. Any one of those could trigger a cut-scene.
-Shepard's health is low- Cut to Wrex leading the krogan shock troops: "Shepard needs our help! Krogan! CHARGE!" In-game, Wrex and a few krogan would spawn into the map to provide assistance.
or
By not killing fast enough, there are six Brutes or six Banshees on the map at once - the numbers could vary based on difficulty - Cut to Major Kirrahe: "The line is breaking! We have to hold it!" In-game, Kirrahe and the STG squad spawn.
Each squad-leader would have their own cut-scene and moment of glory - except for the ones that were supposed to hold the collapsed flank, of course. Not all squads need necessarily trigger.)

Final push to the beam

(ride in the truck, conversation with Anderson; truck crashes to a halt, they get out and see the beam – all as it happens in the game)

Harbinger arrives

EMS check – if too low, Shepard executes the run to the beam, as we have it now.

EMS check – if high enough, Shepard fights Harbinger (why the EMS check? Because defeating Harbinger will require pulling ships away from the Reaper battle; if too few ships remain in the fleet – i.e. too low of an EMS score – the Crucible would never make it to the Citadel, meaning Shepard & Co. might defeat Harbinger, but the Crucible would be destroyed, resulting in a Critical Mission Fail.)

Harbinger boss battle, Stage 1

Shepard calls down two artillery strikes from the fleet on Harbinger (similar to the Rannoch Reaper fight). Obviously, (s)he must survive while doing so. The strength of these hits is much greater than on Rannoch.

Harbinger boss battle, Stage 2

To keep Shepard from calling down more strikes, Harbinger attempts to control Shepard's squad or assigned commanders, forcing him / her to fight them.

On Easy: 1 squad-mate or commander becomes indoctrinated

On Normal: 2 squad-mates or commanders

On Hardcore: 3 squad-mates or commanders

On Insanity: 4 squad-mates or commanders become indoctrinated.

At the start of this section, you must choose a new squad for Shepard from those who are not indoctrinated. (The in-game explanation is that those not indoctrinated rally to Shepard to help him / her; those who are indoctrinated turn on him / her.) So, for example, Shepard could have Anderson and Tali in his / her squad; (s)he could wind up fighting Garrus, Liara, James Vega and Wrex. Thus choosing the strongest allies to command the support teams or to support Shepard in the squad at the initial stage of the final battle might seem like a safe choice at the time, but could result in an incredibly difficult fight here.

Shepard's indoctrinated allies are encased in a strange shield that Shepard must break through in order to crack the indoctrination (visually, just another layer over their health bar). Once this additional layer is depleted, the target falls to the ground and lays motionless.

Harbinger boss battle, Stage 3

The effort to directly, rapidly indoctrinate (up to) four unwilling subjects quickly tires even Harbinger, and his shields drop (similar to what happened with Sovereign and Saren). Shepard climbs into a Mako, trying to avoid Harbinger's laser beams, attempting to reach another Thannix missile battery. (I wonder whether there should be a wave or two of husks here, but at this point the fight will have gone on for a very long time). If successful, all missiles are fired at once, Harbinger is killed (with something like this (from 1:11 to 1:42) playing over the top of it as he falls  https://youtu.be/HFq-7ecXKFA?t=1m11s).

At this point, between defending the missile battery and fighting Harbinger, the attack force is almost completely wiped out. But, they have reached the beam.

(I don't have a set of numbers to determine who would become indoctrinated and who wouldn't. EMS and maybe a hierarchy of command + loyalty from previous games for each character could come into play.
The LI can never die from indoctrination, regardless of who it is.
Javik and EDI can never become indoctrinated by Harbinger. Javik because his thirst for revenge is stronger than any power Harbinger could wield; EDI because her actual self is miles away aboard the Normandy, not housed in her platform.
Liara and Anderson might become indoctrinated, but cannot be killed. 
Those who had no loyalty mission in the franchise would always die IF INDOCTRINATED (James Vega, Wreav, Major Coates, Zaal Koris, Major Kirrahe, Jondum Bau, Aria T'Loak, Prime Ajax). It is possible to have any of these characters assigned a command or in Shepard's squad, and survive because they do not become indoctrinated.
If a commander or squad member had their loyalty mission completed, they won't die after being indoctrinated / possessed by Harbinger.
As an example: Shepard could go into the Harbinger boss with Tali and Anderson as the squad, fighting indoctrinated Garrus, Wreav, Jacob and Liara. Garrus' loyalty mission was completed in ME2, so he survives after the indoctrination is broken. Liara cannot be killed due to indoctrination, so she survives. Wreav will die. Jacob's loyalty mission was not completed in ME2, so he will also die. Doom is not certain, but the fact that everyone except Shepard + squad could die would bring that choice-and-consequence back to the final fight of the game.)

(Having a Harbinger boss battle creates the issue that a Harbinger boss is never properly prepared in ME3, though I think that could easily be rectified with Harbinger communications at several places throughout the game.)

I drafted several versions of this post. This is the most complex, intricate version. The trimmed down version involved only involved two support squads - one on the left flank and one on the right flank. That version would have been easier to create, no doubt, but I just wanted to go as big and epic as possible.

The Post Game - Alan Wake

Alan Wake is a linear third-person shooter whose atmosphere and story attempt to redeem the frankly clunky combat. The game proceeds in six episodes (with two additional DLC episodes that are now included for free). Worth a purchase on sale if you enjoy a combat-driven interactive movie, but there's not much replayability (unless you're a collectibles and achievements fanatic).

Alan's wife, Alice, gets “taken” by a mysterious “dark presence.” The entire game is spent trying to release her from its power. Alan is frequently lost, operating on whim, and not really sure of how to proceed. A writer himself, he begins researching old legends of Cauldron Lake and the power that words written there seem to possess. This is really the best part of the game, as the labyrinth of creation and created and how to balance what is desired with what is needed leads Alan down an increasingly dark path (pun intended). As he discovers, he is not alone in his knowledge of the lake's mysterious power, nor the first to suffer from it. The supporting cast are varied and colorful characters, several of whom have their own history with Cauldron Lake.

The atmosphere is suitably dark and fog-swept at times. Most of the game happens at night, so turn down your room lights and crank the audio to catch the ambiance (the sound design is superb). The setting is a unique one: the woods and small town atmosphere of the Pacific Northwest. The ambiance is captured nicely, and the woods have thick foliage and dark shadows. Old logging and mining gear abounds, providing just the right touch of historical nostalgia and rusty menace. The buildings and architecture are a mix of rustic, country-style structures (built sturdy to withstand the harsh winters) other more attractive, modern structures designed to impress tourists (Cauldron Lake Lodge). The great music score is the icing on the atmospheric cake: moody but melodic, it catches the feeling of solitude at night-time haunted by the supernatural.

A supernatural that is made perhaps more terrifying by the clunky combat. Shine a light at enemies to burn away the darkness, then shoot them with whatever weapon you have to hand. It works well enough, but feels loose and sloppy. The weapons are few, but do feel different: revolver, shotgun (regular and pump-action), flare gun, hunting rifle, flares, and flash-bangs. That's it. They're not all available at the same time, and at the beginning of each episode, Alan only has a flashlight and a revolver. So, no matter how good you were with saving up your gear, thinking there might be a big battle coming up, once the episode ends, you'll lose it all anyway. The enemies offer little variety. You've got the standard hatchet-throwing “taken”, the big “taken”, the fast “taken”, and random flocks of crows that fly out of the sky and attack Alan. Sometimes random objects (like cars, tires, dumpsters) will become possessed and attack Alan. With so many creatures that dwell in the woods of the Pacific Northwest, I expected there might be a boss fight with a bear or a pack of coyotes, but no.

None of these drawbacks would matter if the total experience offered by Alan Wake were more than the sum of its parts. Unfortunately, it isn't. I enjoy it because when I first played it years ago I had no idea that video games could handle narrative in this fashion. I'll always have a nostalgic appreciation for it and it just kills me to provide a mixed recommendation. But if you want more than story and atmosphere, look elsewhere, because you'll be sorely disappointed by everything else. If story and atmosphere suffice, though, get Alan Wake right away.

The Post-Game - Ryse: Son of Rome

Hack. Slash. Shield bash. Repeat. That's Ryse: Son of Rome in a nutshell. The more I tried to objectively assemble a list of positives and negatives, the more I realized that Ryse has little unique to offer (those graphics, though!). However, there is real promise in several areas, and I had fun in an arcade-y way. Ryse is worth a purchase at 75% off or more, but certainly not at full price.

You can view the game's opening here.

What's to like:

+ The graphics for sure. If you have a killer rig and want an awesome-looking game to showcase your hardware, this is your game. The developers didn't phone in the backdrops, either: the vistas are huge, the backdrops extensive. The undergrowth in Britain is deep, detailed and lush. The water looks like real water, not shiny, shifting, reflective plastic. Character detail is superb, though facial animations still look just a bit stiff.

+ The voice acting is great, and carries the game at many points. Everyone delivers a superb performance (player-character Marius and npc Vitallion are both stand-outs).

+ The story has emotional impact, though if you're at all a fan of the time-period, the careless mixing of old and new legends will probably annoy instead of satisfy. Still, it's enough to keep you moving forward.

+ The soundtrack is a decent emulation of Zimmer's Gladiator score (not surprising).

+ The combat is slick and swift, and easy for newcomers.

+ A lot of effort clearly went into designing the two-player co-operative multiplayer; there are at least a dozen maps and four game modes. It's a lot of fun to team up with someone and slay enemies in the arena, but matchmaking is not that good at the moment, if a match can be found at all.

+ Well-optimized (for Radeon, anyway). In an era of increasingly shoddy PC ports, Ryse ran great on my moderate hardware (A10 6800k + 2GB R7 260X); I averaged around 50fps @1080p Medium settings.

And now, the not-so-awesome stuff.

-  Linear as hell. Rome may look awesome in the distance, but you can't go there.

-  While the story works, even the slightest bit of historical research will reveal there is nothing even approaching “accuracy”. If you were hoping for a cool Roman-era hack'n slash, you'll get it. Historically accurate? Nope. Just a mix of the cool stuff.

-  No real large-scale payoff to the story. Marius has closure, no question. But the larger implications including that he was somehow an instrument of the gods – are never addressed. We just get these god-figures who appear at the end (and are glimpsed throughout) with some decent speeches about purpose, rules, and Rome, and that's it.

-  Combat is limited and repetitive. Hack, slash, shield-bash, repeat. Maybe dodge here and there. It definitely bored me by the sixth chapter (out of eight). A missed opportunity to maybe dual-wield swords, or have a spear and shield, but nope. A sword and shield the entire game.

-  Staying with combat for a minute, finishing moves are a QTE-fest. I don't mean every few minutes; every other second you're performing some kind of QTE. I suppose this was easier than programming more complicated forms of combat.

-  I loved some of the contextual battle choices – where to deploy your archers, advancing on a line of archers in the testudo formation. But these are under-used, and offer little variation.

-  Upgrade skills are ridiculously cheap. I've played enough of the Batman Arkham games to be able to string together a 35-hit combo without much trouble. A big enough combo and correctly-completed QTEs grants tons of “honor” points that are used to level up. If the game were harder, upgrading would have meant more...

-  ...perhaps. Aside from new execution animations, the upgrades didn't seem to have much effect.

Ryse: Son of Rome is a linear hack'n slash that will satisfy in short bursts, but anyone looking for deep gameplay and customization will be disappointed. The potential is there to be something truly great, but sadly that potential remains unrealized.  

The Post-Game: DOOM Multiplayer Open Beta

I played the DOOM Open Beta this weekend and found it rather easy, with not much content on offer at the moment. Get a good team together, and matches are a breeze. That's great for people who are new to the franchise, but come on now. If companies constantly chase a new audience, they'll lose their old one. Yes, I realize the game is still in beta, but only two modes and a handful of maps? There better be a lot of content in the pipeline for release, but with publishers frequently choosing to offer content as DLC, I'm not certain that will be the case. The only thing going for the game at the moment is the great character customization (including weapons).

There are some balancing issues (most related to OP weapons and large hit-boxes), but that's something that is excused because of the beta status. Old-timers looking for DOOM nostalgia will be bored quickly, but newcomers will find it a fun, fast-paced arena shooter. This is a larger problem in the game industry: it's assumed the "old timers" (those who have been loyal fans for years) will be so happy there is something new in their favorite franchise that they'll overlook the "dumbing down" that is designed to appeal to a larger audience. They won't. Which leaves the new folks to carry the burden of the game's success. But there's little that is new or unique on offer; if the final product is anything like the beta, the DOOM multiplayer component will be yet another "flavor of the month" game until something else comes out.

To address the giant demon in the room:

Why would anyone pay $60 for DOOM with the promise of DLC when Xonotic is completely free and offers tons more content (which is also free)?

And this isn't even getting into the single-player campaign, which is still under wraps. If it proves to be another phoned-in campaign that is clearly playing second-fiddle to the multiplayer, I expect DOOM to crash and burn hard. 

The Post-Game: Tomb Raider Legend

Tomb Raider Legend is a story-driven platformer that is fun to play, but a near-game-breaking bug and some awkward mechanics belittle the overall positive experience.

The story is decent, if a little disconnected. Lara is searching for an artifact that killed her mother years ago. A great excuse to send Lara to a variety of diverse locations, from a sleepy South American town to the frozen mountains of Nepal. Zip and Alistair provide some snarky commentary as she proceeds through the levels – some of it almost breaking the fourth wall. It helps keep the proceedings light-hearted and fun, even if what is happening is quite serious. Lara herself is keen, quick-witted, whip-smart, and always ready with a snappy come-back. TR: Legend was actress Keeley Hawes first time voicing Lara, and she does an absolutely fantastic job.

The platforming is well-executed and slick, with timed movements (move quickly before the platforms collapse) and required momentum (remember to HOLD the spacebar to jump in some places, or Lara won't jump far enough). Gun-play just feels odd; lock on to a target, use the arrow or WASD keys to switch the lockon from target to target. While doing this, Lara can run, jump and dodge. There is a free-aim mode, but once engaged Lara cannot move at all, so the lockon mode will be the one used most often. I rebound the keys to what I wanted, so there is that. There are no waypoints; not really an issue in a game this linear. The climbing puzzles are generally well done; remember to use Lara's binoculars first to scan an area for hints before trying to solve a puzzle. Some bosses can only be defeated with the help of the environment, so if a boss seems like it is taking no damage, start looking around for switches and levers (and things to grapple). Nothing is handed to you in this game, though once you figure out a puzzle or boss, it will be solved or defeated in a matter of seconds.

Now for the issues, and there are more of them than there should be. Lock-on would sometimes result in strange camera movements, and the camera doesn't immediately auto-rotate to the forward direction when riding a motorbike. The platforming direction controls aren't always intuitive. A similar issue plagues the QTEs; the onscreen arrows don't always indicate the correct direction, resulting in multiple fails until finding the right button-press. Disable Next Generation Content in the graphics settings; TR: Legend looks better with it, but this will eliminate nearly all crashes. And there is the near-game-breaking bug in the Nepal temple level. A cutscene, then Lara needs to run to a door, hit it (I won't say with what, because spoilers), the door will open, triggering another cutscene and a platforming section. But hitting the door doesn't always make it open, meaning progression through the game is blocked. Just keep re-loading a save until the game works the way it is supposed to (it took me seven tries the last time I played it). Ridiculous, but there it is.

The saving grace through all of this is Lara Croft herself. Unlike more recent versions of Lara, this one has no lack of confidence. You never hear Lara telling herself, “I can do this.” She already knows she can, and can worry about other things. I still highly recommend Tomb Raider: Legend despite the game's issues, because there is nothing truly game breaking, and this remains one of my favorite “older” versions of Lara. If story-driven platforming and puzzling is your preference, or you just want more Lara Croft, absolutely get this one.

The Post-Game - Murdered: Soul Suspect

Ronan is a criminal-turned-cop who is killed by the mysterious Bell Killer. Playing as Ronan's ghost, investigate a series of crime scenes (sometimes with the help of teenage medium Joy), searching for the identity of the killer. Many supernatural elements come into play – ghosts, witches, demons – and some flashbacks of the witch trials are pretty gruesome (drowning, burning, hanging).

As the investigation progresses, you'll explore a graveyard, an apartment house, an old mansion, a police station and of course the obligatory asylum level. While the game world is small, it is open, with the ability to just wander around the town of Salem. It's a gloomy place – the game occurs entirely at night – but is well-dotted with NPCs and collectibles. Obtaining collectibles can unlock other stories (usually brief, narrated cut-scenes), and some NPCs will provide side-missions. There's a decent amount of stuff to do, but most collectibles were easily found as I explored the town or level.

Investigations require exploring a a crime scene, finding evidence (“Press E to analyze”) and sorting through the collected evidence (“Press Q to conclude the investigation”). Walking (or later, teleporting) around as a ghost feels fun; Ronan can walk through walls, possess people (mind-reading), and turn on random stuff to mess with the townsfolk (poltergeisting). Especially cool were the impenetrable “ghost walls” from past times that can block Ronan from exploring – or even provide new hazards (watch out for the ghost train!). Oh, and you can possess cats, too. This is actually crucial to progress through several stages of the game.

The demon sections, though, dragged the experience down a bit. Demons will sometimes spawn after completing an investigation. Their existence does have a crucial part to play, and they're easy enough to defeat with a little patience. Given that this is a supernatural tale, it would be rather weird if demons of some kind weren't in the game, and having some stealth sections added some variety to the gameplay. But after a while the demons became annoying distractions from the story.

And the narrative is where Murdered: Soul Suspect stands strongest. There is a lot of backstory to be found about Ronan and his wife (via collectibles). Sometimes collectibles are merely annoying, but they are worth pursuing here. Jason Brooks (as Ronan) and Cassidy Lehrman (as the medium, Joy) provide stand-out vocal performances. The graphics (Unreal 3) are great – murky and dark. Jason Graves' score provides a classic horror-story undertone. Murdered: Soul Suspect is a well-crafted detective game with a few quirks that holds its story aloft as its best attribute. If that sounds good to you, then go ahead and get this one.

The Post-Game: Consortium

Consortium is a short, dialogue-driven indie drama defined by the choices you make. Short, because its length feels like an episode rather than a full game (took me four hours to complete a run-through). You have the ability via some satellite thingy to travel into the future and inhabit the body of someone else in that future. You wake up in a cabin aboard a plane / airship and have to immediately come to grips with your new surroundings. The entire game is spent aboard this plane; you'll look for a traitor among the crew, negotiate with a mercenary, and try to keep the plane repaired and running. The moment gameplay starts, the conversations and choices begin.

Which are two of the primary strengths of Consortium. Choices abound, and result in genuinely different outcomes – NOT the same out come with minor variations. This means that, though short, replayability is high. There are a lot of dialogue options, with staying silent being a valid choice as well. With so much talking, the voice acting needs to be top-notch, and it is. A few characters seem a little flat, but the primary characters are unique and reactive. There are some very funny sci-fi references as well; like when you find someone dead, one of the conversation choices is, “He's wearing a red shirt; why should I care?” (Star Trek fans will know.)

A supporting strength of Consortium is the lore. This is never forced on you – you have to go find it – but there are questions that can be asked, and bulletins to read that explain a lot of the world you find yourself in. Ranks are modeled on chess pieces (you play as a “bishop,” while answering to a “rook,” and primary crew are “pawns”). And gun play is good, though shooting doesn't need to happen much if you don't make certain choices. I did choose the more violent route, and the shoot-out on three decks of a plane / airship, blacked out, with only red emergency lights pulsing on and off, was a creepy yet exhilarating setting for a deadly game of cat and mouse.

The three decks of the plane / airship are fully explorable (including the crawl spaces). Characters are generally well-modeled, though assets are re-used frequently (while every character's face is different, all men have the same body type, as do women). The graphics and environment are fully 3-D, which is an interesting choice since the game could have gotten away with being a 2-D point-and-click (would have lost that feeling of freedom to explore if the devs had done that, though). The graphics quality is plain but utilitarian; it fits the setting.

Usually a game's shortness would count heavily against it, but the high level of replayability counters that. Go into Consortium expecting dialogue-driven drama, and you'll easily get your money's worth. The game ends on a cliffhanger, but with the sequel recently Kickstarted, I hope the next episode comes soon! Value-wise, worth getting on sale for around $5, but if you want to support the developers, consider purchasing at full cost. Highly recommended.

Note about crashes:
I had a few where the game would just lock up and CTD. I set the game to run in Windows XP SP3 compatibility mode, and the crashes disappeared. The load times are long, though, and if you open the Task Manager it will say Consortium is “No Longer Responding”; ignore that and be patient, the game should eventually load.