The Good:
Once again, the voice acting is superb. Of course, Jennifer Hale as FemShep was outstanding, but the other voice actors were also excellent. Even the background characters sounded real and fleshed out- something that is a rarity in most video games. I only played as a female Shepard, so I have no clue how the voice acting for male Shepard was. The only character whose voice acting I could not stand was the war reporter, Diana Allers (voiced by Jessica Chobot). It was very clear, especially in comparison to the other characters, that Jessica Chobot is not an actress. Her lines were stilted and not very convincing.

The characters themselves are also a high point. Old friends and enemies show up in various ways, and getting to talk to them (even briefly) made me very happy. The people who have been interacting with since Mass Effect 1, Kaiden, Ashley, Joker Wrex, Garrus, Tali, and Liara have grown and developed in a way that is realistic. Even the squadmate you did not save (in my case, Kaiden) is mentioned numerous times, making your relationships seem much more real. A few new characters appear, such as James Vega. At first I didn’t know what to think about him, but in the end I really enjoyed talking to him. He is pretty damn hilarious, and his conversations with other crew members on the Normandy were a high point. One of the best parts was hearing the characters interact with one another. As I ran from one part of the Normandy to another, I would walk in on shipmates talking with each other. Liara would be talking to Garrus, Joker and Edi would be mid conversation, etc. Stopping to listen to these conversations was fun and enlightening.

Shep is back and she's as badass as ever (or 'he' if you prefer).

The story itself was also great. You start off with Earth being attacked by the Reapers, and it just goes non-stop from there. It is up to you, as Commander Shepard, to reunite the races for the upcoming war. This is not an easy task, and centuries of mistrust and bad blood run through all of the races. Supporting the Krogan to help cure the genophage will result in the losing the support of the Salarians. The Quarian and Geth conflict also comes to a head. It is possible to get almost all of the factions on your side, but you have to play an almost perfect game.

The Average:
The combat system has improved even more from Mass Effect 2, but compared to most shooters it’s still average. There is a new cover system that is good in theory, but doesn’t always work in practice. Many times I found myself running to a point, only to suddenly find myself in cover, facing the wrong way and getting shot at. This was frustrating and made what could have been a really good combat system hard to work with at times. The best improvement was allowing all classes to carry any weapon they want. This is balanced out with a weight system- the heavier the weapons, the longer it takes your powers to cool down. I played as an infiltrator, and after I got an awesome sniper rifle, I only carried that. As a result of having only one weapon, my powers cooled down within seconds, allowing me to use them more often.

Bioware took the complaints of Mass Effect 2 leveling up system to heart and tweaked it for the third game. It has much more of an RPG feel to it, similar to the first game, without all the issues. You have many more choices when leveling up powers, and modifying your weapons is satisfying and shows actual changes. You still don’t have the depth that was available in Mass Effect 1, but I think Bioware found a good balance between RPG and Third Person Shooter.

Multiplayer is something that was added for the third game. It directly affects the single player game by helping your “galactic readiness.” You and three people can choose between the 6 classes and various races and have to hold off ten waves of either geth, reapers, or Cerberus troops and survive. Sprinkled in the 10 waves are different objectives, so you aren’t able to just camp out and shoot people. I played both with random people and with friends, and it is much more satisfying with friends. This is a game you need to communicate with your teammates, and it’s much easier to do that with friends. Plus, who hasn’t wanted to play as a Krogan?

Go ahead punk make my day

Kinect voice commands were also added to Mass Effect 3. I do not have a Kinect, so I was not able to test it myself, but I had a friend (and fellow Mass Effect junkie) test it out for me and give me her results. She said it took a while to get used to using it in combat, but once she got the hang of it she loved yelling out commands during battles and seeing squadmates react. She enjoyed it the most during conversations. She was able to put down the controller and get into the scene, and just speak the prompts and watch her Shepard react. Other people have told me they have trouble with the Kinect system, and there is not guide on what commands to use, so a lot of it is a guessing game on what you should exactly be yelling.

The Bad:
The scanning system is back. No, you aren’t scanning for minerals like in Mass Effect 2, or driving around planets on the Mako finding hunks of rocks, but it’s still just as irritating. Now you fly your Normandy around the galaxy map, and scan the systems for “war assets” that help you in your cause. That in itself is not a bad thing, but now if you scan too much, the Reapers fly in and you have to evade them. Essentially you are playing Pac-Man with the Reapers. I found this system to be jarring and it took me out of the game.

If you play the game without playing Mass Effect 1 and 2 first, you will have a perfectly fine game, but I don’t think you will be getting the full experience. As much as Bioware claims you can jump in without playing the first two, I think that is doing yourself a grave disservice. Part of my enjoyment of the game was seeing the loads of people from the first two games show up. Actions I did in the first two games directly affected my galactic readiness. Conversations that brought up past actions were common. I can’t imagine I would have any clue what was going on if I hadn’t played the first two games. I cried a few times during the game when certain characters died. I don’t know if the emotional impact would have been there if I hadn’t gotten to know the characters previously. This is truly the end of a trilogy. It would be like reading the last book in a trilogy without reading the first two. You will probably enjoy it, but miss a lot of the backstory and richness of the culture and world as a whole.

The Romance:
Bioware certainly stepped up the gay factor on this one, and I love it. Our gay brothers finally get same sex romance options. Yes, that’s plural. There are two males that can romanced by a male Shepard: Kaiden and Cortez, a shuttle pilot. For the ladies, there are three options. First, you can continue your romance with Liara, start a relationship with your com officer Samantha Traynor (lesbian only romancable by female Shepard), or hook up with war reporter Diana Allers. You can also continue your relationships from Mass Effect 2, with a few exceptions. I found my relationship with Liara to be the most in depth one of the three ladies. You have many conversations with her about the past, the future, and your relationship. I haven’t done that much processing since my last real life relationship. The romance with Samantha Traynor was sweet and definitely sexy (one word: shower.) I thought the relationship with Diana Allers was forced and not very realistic, and was my least favorite of all them, gay or straight.

Great game and then there was that ending we can't discuss due to spoilers.

I applaud Bioware for taking the time to add the same-sex relationships to Mass Effect 3. It made the universe seem much more realistic. You will randomly hear conversations from people of both sexes talk about their husbands and wives, and no one so much as bats an eye. The first time I talked to the shuttle pilot Cortez and he casually mentioned he lost his husband, I about dropped my controller in shock. My second thought was “That was so cool!” It takes a lot to shock me in a video game, and Bioware did it in a good way. My only complaint was that I was unable to romance Ashley Williams as a female Shepard. Kaiden is romanceable by both genders, but Ashley is not? I don’t understand why that was overlooked, Ashley really grew on me over three games and I would have loved have romanced her. That is, hoever, a small complaint in what is otherwise a great game.

The Ending:
No, I won’t spoil the ending for you. All I will say is that I thought the last 5 minutes were jarring and seemed very out of place in the Mass Effect Universe. The “optimal” ending (or what constitutes as one) is up for debate, and is very difficult to get if you do not play multiplayer. Not impossible, but difficult. If anyone wants to talk more about the ending privately, feel free to PM me on the forum (Name: Xan) or hit me up on the Lesbian Gamers Facebook page and I am willing to discuss the ending in depth. But it does bring closure to the end of a trilogy, and that is the important thing.

Overall, it’s a satisfying conclusion to 6 years, three games, and countless novels and comics. I love this universe, I love Commander Shepard, and I did love this game. It has some flaws, and there are a few things I wish was done different, but I felt like it was telling MY story of MY Shepard. In the end, I think that was what made the game great.

The multiplayer aspect works well because it operates a drop-in system whereby players can join and leave at will and it doesn’t overly affect the gameplay. There’s a lot of fun to be had here, though you really need to be into these cutesy, fixed camera multiplayer titles to find it. For me untimely death by being forced off a ledge was a real shame and certainly dented the overall experience.

Gameplay though is pretty cool, other than that annoying camera issue and untimely death thing, overall it works as a multiplayer experience. You can also upgrade weapons and of course team-up to dispatch enemies.

Graphically this is a “Ratchet & Clank” game, so environments and character models are as cute as ever, though there’s nothing really new here, not to say it’s bad, just don’t be expecting some sort of new dynamic, as there isn’t any. The sound is familiar to fans of the series, the only real negative that could be thrown at this title is slightly repetitive voice-acting lines. The story too has the usual humor interwoven, which is always welcome in this game series.

Overall “Ratchett & Clank: All 4 One” is a good, but not great game. There are better games in the series, though if you are a fan of multiplayer, this is probably going to be the one for you. If you’ve got a few youngsters in your family and you’re looking for something you can play with them, you could give this a try. Oh and for those of you with a 3D system, the game is 3D compatible.

This video is for fans of “Warehouse 13″ and please be aware it contains MAJOR SPOILERS for the end of season 3 (the finale that recently aired in the US). If you’re a fan of Myka and H. G. Wells and their ongoing love story (okay so it’s subtext, we all know it’s real!), you’re going to say words you never thought you would say after watching this video. Those words are “I totally agree with Hitler”. Hope the lesbian geek in you enjoys this, I know I did and yeah.. I totally agree with Hitler.

Alice: Madness Returns – Has it really been 11 years since we were graced with the joy of American McGee’s Alice on PC? As someone who is more of a console gamer than a PC gamer, back then, American McGee’s Alice was just too good to resist. The game was creepy, gothic, funny and engaging, and by using the Quake 3 engine, it was a game that was definitely advanced for it’s time.

Story
Now here we are in 2011 and we have American McGee back, brining us more trippy gameplay from the dark and unnerving Alice, in Alice: Madness Returns on Xbox 360. The story kicks off with Alice as a teenager, under the watchful eye of Dr Bumby, a psychiatrist. For those who have played the first game, this probably isn’t too much of a surprise, since Alice’s mind and her adventures in wonderland have clearly taken their toll on her idea of reality. The story progresses from there, and it’s not long until Alice is thrown back into a world of gory, creepy, gothic horror.

Gameplay
Alice: Madness Returns, is a solid platformer which has its fair share of hack and slash goodness. The controls feel effortless and you can easily shrink Alice down to enable her access to smaller areas in the game. The weapons such as the Vorpal knife and the pepper-grinder, are sufficiently gruesome and weird that they fit perfectly into the overall feel of the game. At times there are plenty of enemies on screen and the AI is pretty good, so the controls and the weapons work perfectly well together to make hacking and slashing your way through levels quite enjoyable. You can lock on to target and kill them at long range, as well as hop around on different levels to avoid them if you need to. As well as Alice’s excellent fighting abilities, she’s also perfectly capable of jumping and floating effortlessly around the levels. The checkpoints are strategically placed so that it doesn’t become infuriating if you need to do part of a level again and the fact you can’t fall off ledges helps ensure you make it through many levels unscathed. There’s no multiplayer in Alice, which is probably how it should be, but there are cute rhythm mini-games in it, although you don’t need to play these if you don’t want to.

Graphics
One of the most impressive aspect of this title is the graphics. From the beginning, it has a very surreal feeling to it, reminiscent of the French animated classic “The Triplets of Bellville”. NPC’s are as full of character in their faces as the characters you can interact with and you feel that Alice’s madness pours out through the depiction of these characters beautifully. The backgrounds and levels of the game are also absolutely gorgeous to look at, accurately representing Alice’s troubled mind. The game grabs you with it’s aesthetics and although there are a few pop up issues here and there, the frame-rate is solid throughout.

Audio
As with the graphics, sound plays an important part of this title and the creepy score which accompanies the game is spot on. It adds to the overall experience and the dialogue from the characters is great. At times it becomes a little cliched, but there are some stand out characters, including of course the dryness of the Cheshire Cat. Alice herself sounds a lot like Lara Croft which is always a nice bonus.

Female Character Angle
Obviously the female character is the lead character in this title, so it’s always welcome to see that. Alice is a very interesting character and her background and decent to madness is quite gripping. Through the 15 hours or so it takes to play the game, you’ll find yourself becoming more and more intertwined in Alice’s psyche and she’s definitely a character that can hold her own on screen.

Overall
Alice: Madness Returns is a welcome return to gaming for American McGee. The game is eerie, interesting, gory, surreal and extremely dark. It’s a very close likeness to Lewis Carroll’s original vision for Alice and the levels and gameplay compliment this perfectly. If you haven’t played the original, you can still pick this up and will enjoy it as it’s a solid platformer with great aesthetic touches.

8/10

Just a quick heads up since this involves one of the first ladies of gaming, BloodRayn. Sure her games have kind of sucked in the past (pun intended), but she is a kick-ass female character, so we had to give her some news coverage. Of course she’s as sexed up as ever, what with her being “The Sexiest Dhampir Ever” and all. Full press release for your fangtastic selves below.

BloodRayne: Betrayalis Now Available!
Epic 2D hack ‘n slash reboot of legendary franchise hits PlayStation®Network today and Xbox LIVE Arcade tomorrow

Majesco Entertainment Company announced today that its highly anticipated side-scrolling BloodRayne: Betrayal launches today for PlayStation Network followed by a release tomorrow on Xbox LIVE Arcade for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. The PlayStation Network version is included as part of the PlayStation Network PLAY program.

The original video game femme fatale, Rayne, has returned to battle and feed in a brand new hack ‘n slash adventure developed by WayForward, the seasoned team behind some of gaming’s most critically acclaimed brand reinventions. BloodRayne: Betrayal delivers over-the-top stylish action with a healthy dose of bloodshed. You are Rayne, the sexy dhampir with superhuman strength, speed, and agility, recruited by the vampire hunting Brimstone Society for one last mission. The target is a lavish, yet sinister, ball in a secluded castle with plenty of dark surprises. With the help of a mysterious friend, and members of Brimstone, Rayne must infiltrate the manor, take out the fiendish horde, and stop an evil master plot once and for all.

BloodRayne: Betrayal is available now on PlayStation Network for $14.99 and tomorrow on Xbox LIVE Arcade for Xbox 360 for 1,200 Microsoft Points. For more information about BloodRayne: Betrayal, please visit the official game site at www.bloodraynebetrayal.com and be sure to Like us at www.facebook.com/bloodrayne.

According to Bethesda same-sex marriage in game isn’t a big deal, so they’ve not really thought to mention it before someone on Twitter asked them directly. The question was posed: “Is same sex marriage in Skyrim? I know the option to get married to ppl is in. The subject seems like hush hush”, to which VP of PR and Marketing at Bethesda Pete Hines responded: “Not hush hush, just not making a huge deal out of it. You can marry anyone”. Hines then added: “Sorry, should clarify. Not any NPC, just mean any male or female. Doesn’t matter what you’re playing.” Well who’s all happy now huh? Good news.. Thanks Bethesda.

We’ve had a bit more use on Facebook the last couple of weeks, so we’ve decided to ramp things up over there. If you’re on facebook and you haven’t liked us yet, you can of course do so: Lesbian Gamers Facebook page. Whereas the website (that’s the thing you’re on at the moment) will remain the hub of relevant gaming news and of course our wonderful forum, the Facebook page is more of an engagement space, well it is a social networking site after all, so let’s be social! We won’t be posting a multitude of crap and filling your facebook pages, we hate when other facebook pages do that, but we will be having fun hopefully, so if you haven’t liked us yet.. get on over and do it you cheeky devil.. go on.

Oh we also added one of those facebook widgety things to the side of the main site.

Let me preface this piece by saying I love BioWare, they are one of my favorite developers and I support them by buying their games and even their merchandise, I have done so for many years. I’m however upset with the FemShep debacle. Firstly it being touted as a ‘beauty contest’ (by some) demeans what the female Commander Shepard (FemShep) is all about, it belittles her as nothing but an object of beauty, a woman to be judged on her appearance rather than action and that angers me. Somehow this “vote for your preferred FemShep” thing went from “cool they’re finally using FemShep on some marketing” to “oh shit FemShep was voted on and now she’s a young blond bimbo”. I don’t understand why BioWare put it to the vote. I don’t understand why BioWare didn’t take control and make a decision to make the marketing material feature the base model FemShep, with her bobbed hair and non-pouting lips.

Turning FemShep into this young looking blond Samus Aran type just irks and it irks a lot. This isn’t a ‘lesbian thing’, though I’m sure there will be those closed minded fools who assume as a lesbian of course I would prefer the short-haired ‘more-masculine’ female Commander Shepard. To them I say, give me a break, I just prefer the female Shepard who looks like you’d listen to her if the galaxy were in peril and frankly if some jumped up 18 year old blond pouting kid needed me on the front lines, I’d be questioning things big time.

The standard female Shepard looks like she can tote a gun, she looks like she’s a leader and most importantly she looks severe and old enough to have lived through battle. The new FemShep we’re now stuck with for marketing and merchandise just doesn’t cut it. I was so excited to purchase a “Mass Effect” game with female Shepard I’ve ranted it to all my gamer friends, now I’ll be buying the male version because frankly I just can’t take blonde kiddy Shepard seriously.

I realize the result of this ‘beauty contest’ was never going to please everyone, after all, we all have our own FemShep versions and the chance of seeing your exact version on packaging or as an action-figure was never going to happen, but come on BioWare, Seriously?!!! Shepard number 5 is bland, bland, bland, bland and worse than bland, she panders to an audience that don’t and possibly never will ‘get’ what FemShep is all about. Thanks for that Bioware, thanks for placing the decision of iconic female leader in the realm of what statistics suggest is the mostly male voting audience, rather than clasping your testicles and saying fuck it let’s make her the Shep most people know from the game. To those male gamers who did vote for a different FemShep (and judging from the comments I’ve read and received since the announcement), thank you, clearly all our votes just didn’t amount to enough. Sadly the “Gentlemen Prefer Blonds” thing is already doing the rounds on the various male run gaming sites, along with ‘Miss Universe’, ‘Pageant Queen’ and other demeaning headlines. It just makes me want to shed a tear because it feels like gaming has once more taken one step forward, two steps back.

Oh and for the record, none of the choices were all that great.

Check out this awesome female Commander Shepard (femShep) video by YouTuber “gametourists”. The video shows off many of the female Commander Shepards in game, all so neatly knitted together with a funky soundtrack. There’s even some girl on mono-gendered alien lovin (and femshep with dudes.. ugh). I know I spotted someone that looked very like my Commander Shepard, how about you? check out the awesome video and let us know. “I’m just here to get the job done, let someone else be on the poster”. Genius.

According to the rather lovely Heather Peace, she plays cop Sam Murray in UK TV series “Lip Service”, series 2 of the show is in the can. There’s still no official release date, though rumors suggest it will air 2012. Peace stated “Officially wrapped on series 2 of Lip Service….. It’s all in the can!! X”. Who else can’t wait to see what becomes of Frankie, Cat, Sam and of course Tess and her hot electrician? Aussie TV viewers, “Lip Service” season 1 is presently airing on Foxtel channel Showcase.

Via Twitter and TVGuruAU.

Previous Lip Service series 2 coverage here at Lesbian Geek.
Lip Service gets second season – Now we can relax!
Help Lip Service get a second season.