Gamer's Edge: February 2010

Site Feed

Cheat of the Week

Thursday, February 18, 2010 by James Dumas

Mass Effect 2 – Useful Hints and Tricks (Xbox 360, PC)

Cheat: Double Your Hacking Rewards

Occasionally, after completing a hacking mini game for credits etc. you can press A repeatedly as the window closes and cause the game to glitch out and let you hack a second time -- for another chunk of credits! This is rare, but it sometime does work -- so get in the habit of mashing.

Hint: Romancing the Yeoman

If you chat it up with Yeoman Kelly Chambers often and choose to be kind to her you can instigate an "unusual" romantic encounter. You'll eventually be able to invite her to dinner. Additionally, you cannot let Kelly die in the final mission (choose a loyal escort for the crew in the final scene). After you beat the game, talk to Kelly and you'll receive an email from her. Go to your quarters and you'll be able to invite her up using your console. She'll appear and you'll be able to watch the evening's awkward events unwind.

Easter Egg: Legion Does the Intergalactic Shuffle

Approach Legion in his quarters and highlight him but do not talk to him. He'll do "The Robot," the traditional dance of his ancestors.

Hint: Anomalies Anonymous

You can find anomalies when scanning the following planets (listed as Cluster, System, and Planet below). Anomaly = Side Quest!

• Caleston Rift, Solveig, Sinmara
• Caleston Rift, Talava, Taitus
• Crescent Nebula, Lusarn, Tarith
• Crescent Nebula, Zelene, Helyme
• Eagle Nebula, Amun, Neith
• Eagle Nebula, Strabo, Jarrahe Station
• Hades Nexus, Sheol, Gei Hin
• HourGlass Nebula, Faryar, Daratar
• HourGlass Nebula, Ploitari, Zanethu
• Minos Wasteland, Fortis, Aequitas
• Omega Nebula, Ariniarkan, MSV Strontium Mule
• Omega Nebula, Fathar, Lorek
• Pylos Nebula, Dirada, Canalus
• Pylos Nebula, Nariph, MSV Broken Arrow
• Rosetta Nebula, Enoch, Joab
• The Shrike Nebula, Xe Cha, Zada Ban
• Sigurd's Cradle, Decoris, Sanctum
• Sigurd's Cradle, Skepsis, Franklin
• Titan Nebula, Haskins, Capek

Easter Egg: Probing Uranus

Head to the Local Cluster and scan Uranus. The first two probes you launch will result in "unusual" statements from EDI.

Hint: Geth Pulse Rifle

Note: The Geth Pulse Rifle can only be found on Hardcore or Insanity difficulty. During the recruitment mission for Tali, look for the rifle in the same room you find Tali. It will be sitting on the ground next to a destroyed geth.

Hint: Slightly Faster Planet Scanning

Need to speed up scanning? Put the scanner all the way to the right or left, and rotate the planet the same way speeds it up a lot.

Hint: No One Left Behind Achievement

For this achievement, develop all the ship upgrades and keep every character loyal to Shepherd.

The crew can die and you'll still get the achievement. Just none of your teammates can die.

This one is pretty easy to get if you remember to:

1.) Remain a fully dedicated paragon or renegade.
2.) Always have full team loyalty. Just do all of their side missions.
3.) Have full/all/maximum ship upgrades. Take time out and do the mining.
4.) Get all the prototype upgrades.
5.) For the assault, use this configuration. I'll list all people you can use, and also who I used:

Tech Specialist
Tali
Legion
(I used Legion)

Leadership
Miranda
Jacob
Garrus
(I used Jacob and Miranda)

Biotic Specialist
Samara / Morinth
Jack
(I used Samara)

Crew Escort
Any loyal character
(I used Thane)

The team you bring with you to fight doesn't matter as long as they're loyal to you. I used Mordin and Garrus for my team the entire time. Good luck!

Hint: Finding Element Zero

Below is a list of the planets where you can mine the ultra-rare Element Zero. The systems for each Zero-laden planet are listed below, followed by the star and planet names.

Calestone Rift
• Aysur, Arvuna - Moderate
• Balor, Calestone - Moderate

Crescent Nebula
• Lusam, Tarith - Rich
• Zelene, Helyme - Moderate

Eagle Nebula
• Amun, Anthur - Rich
• Amun, Sekhmet - Moderate
• Relic, Preying Mouth - Rich

Far Rim
• Dholen, Gotha - Moderate

Hades Nexus
• Hekate, Asteria - Poor
• Hekate, Bothros - Poor
• Pamyat, Dobrovolski - Moderate
• Sheol, Gel Hinnom - Moderate

Hawking Eta
• Schwarzschild, Etamis - Rich

Hourglass Nebula
• Faryar, Daratar - Rich
• Osun, Erinle - Rich
• Ploitari, Thegan - Moderate

Krogan DMZ
• Nith, Mantun - Moderate

Minos Wasteland
• Caestus, Invictus - Moderate

Nubian Expanse
• Kalabasha, Yamm - Moderate
• Batalla, Nearog - Moderate
• Batalla, thunawanuro - Rich

The Phoenix Massing
• Salahiel, Ekuna - Moderate

Pylos Nebula
• Dirada, Siano - Moderate
• Satent, Boro - Rich
• Raisaris - Rich

Rosetta Nebula
• Alpha Draconis, 2175 Aeia - Moderate
• Enoch, Joab - Rich
• Enoch, Laban - Moderate
• Enoch, Mizraim - Rich

Shadow Sea
• Iera, Prospect - Poor

The Shrike Abyssal
• Urla Rast, Talis Fia - Moderate
• Xe Cha, Tosal Nym - Rich
• Xe Cha, Zada Ban - Rich

Sigurd's Cradle
• Decoris, Sanctum - Moderate
• Skepsis, Watson - Rich

Titan Nebula
• Haskins, Capek - Moderate

Valhallan Threshold
• Micah, Farlas - Moderate
• Micah, Israfel - Moderate
• Micah, Kakabel - Moderate
• Paz, Garvug - Rich

Unlockable: Alternate Costumes/Colors

Complete a Loyalty mission for a party member to unlock alternate color schemes for that character.

Unlockable: Bonus Experience, Resources, Paragon and Renegade Points

Start a new game in Mass Effect 2 using a profile from Mass Effect (1) and you'll get the following bonuses:

• Experience Points (an amount based on your previous level, basically you'll start at Level 2)
• Resources (can be used for weapon and armor upgrades)
• Paragon and Renegade Points (if you have the MAXIMUM amount of either Paragon or Renegade points from Mass Effect you'll get a bonus number in of the same points in ME2)

Unlockable: New Game + Bonuses

Mass Effect 2 features a New Game + feature which allows you to play the game a second time with certain items and stats you accumulated in your first game.

• You get to choose your Loyalty Bonus Skill from the start.
• Your retain Skill Points but can redistribute them.
• Your level and XP carry over; the max level (level cap) is 30.
• Your Renegade/Paragon points are reset to neutral.
• You keep your weapons and armor, but not the upgrades.

Hint: Bonus Paragon or Renegade Interruption Points

During conversations, you may spot a RIGHT or LEFT TRIGGER appear in the top left portion of the screen. If you hit LEFT TRIGGER when the "wings" logo appears you'll get Paragon points. If you hit RIGHT TRIGGER when the "star" appears you'll get Renegade points.

Till next time, keep on gaming and enjoy!!

Labels: Cheat, Games, Mass Effect 2, PC, This Week, Xbox

| »

This Week's New Releases (02/09/10 – 02/15/10)

Tuesday, February 9, 2010 by James Dumas

Here is the list of games that are being released in stores this week.

• BioShock 2 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)

• Dante’s Inferno (Xbox 360, PS3)

• Star Ocean: The Last Hope International (PS3)

• Super Monkey Ball Step & Roll (Wii)

• Shiren the Wanderer (Wii)

• Best Friends Tonight (DS)

Til Next Time, Keep on Gaming and Enjoy!

Labels: Games, New, Releases, This Week

| »

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 Reviewed

Thursday, February 4, 2010 by James Dumas

Release Date: September 15th, 2009
List Price: $59.99

One year before the main game itself starts Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Wolverine, led by Colonel Nick Fury, are on an unsanctioned attack mission to Castle Doom in Latveria after discovering that the elected prime minister Lucia von Bardas was supplying advanced weapons to the Tinkerer, who then turns around and supplies them to the world’s worst super villains. The attack is successful and Castle Doom is reduced to rubble, with Von Bardas assumed to be dead during the chaos.

The game then shifts to present day. Ms. Marvel is reported missing after being sent to recover info on recent criminal activity in and around New York City. A team is sent to investigate her disappearance and find her being held by the super villain The Shocker. They also discover the Latverian military plans to destroy a large portion of America, led by a now cyborg Lucia Von Bardas. The group is able to stop her mid plan but many city blocks are destroyed in the process, prompting the government to ponder the Superhuman Registration Act (SRA), which forces all people with super powers or abilities to register their powers, secret identities and any other information with the government and make it public knowledge.

Three days later, during a taping of a reality series featuring the super hero group The New Warriors, Nitro (a villain being hunted by the Warriors) creates a large explosion in Connecticut, killing more than 600 civilians in the process. This causes the SRA to be put into effect immediately. Iron Man teams up with the government, while Captain America opposes the act and must go into hiding underground. At this point, the story branches into two segments; Anti-Registration and Pro-Registration, depending on the players choice. And this is where the true game begins.

First off let me say this. I myself loved the first Marvel Ultimate Alliance. I loved the ability to make a team of my favorite superheroes and see the carnage you could inflict on countless super villains. It was fun and I spent many hours trying out as many combinations of teams I could through multiple plays. I am a little bit of a comic book geek so games like this are right up my alley. I was ready for a second game as soon as I finished the first and could not wait to see what the future held.

Well, my prayers were thankfully answered and we were giving Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. Along with another addictively solid game with a pretty cool story, we were given some new functions (Fusions) and new characters that make this game even better than the first. While it does have some flaws and a few things that I wish they did differently, all around this game is top notch.

The Good:

Graphic/Animations: This game looks great, from the fine detail in the environments, down to the little details in the character costumes; they really tried to improve upon the first games look. This game is very well put together and they made sure to add as much detail and effects as possible in every scene to really improve the game. While I did notice on a few of the cut scenes which don’t look anything special, some screen tearing and pixilation appeared, as well as some movements were a little choppy in game due to the amount of things on the screen all at once, I can’t complain and think that this game looks very good. I do wish the edging was a little bit smoother on the characters themselves to really make the extra detail pop. It’s not 100% perfect or as high quality as say Batman Arkham Asylum or some other recent titles to come out but still pretty impressive.

Dialogue/Story: I was really impressed with the level of conversations in the game and how many different characters you interact with. Whether you’re having a chat with Mr. Fantastic from the Fantastic Four, or going over mission details with Iron Man, each character had a solid story and multiple different options of conversation. It really made the game interesting to hear a little bit of back story on each character as well as how they thought and what kind of personality each of these characters had. The great thing with all these options was that it is actually a part of the game and can affect the game/story as you progress, so you need to actually stop and think about what to say next to each character because you never know it may be something that causes them to no longer trust you or cause them to turn against you. I love games that make you have to stop and think of what you’re going to do next and how it may change the very game itself. I also love the fact that they are using the SRA story line from the comic books. Making you choose to register and join the government or rebel and go underground is pretty cool and makes it one of those games you have to play through at least twice to see the different story lines pan out.

Game play: While this game is for the most part a button masher where with only a couple buttons you for the most part can punch and kick your way through it, the developers made sure not to make quite that easy. Sure you can punch and kick through chunks of the game but other times you will need to try other techniques to get past certain enemies. On top of that the game now has a thing called Fusion Powers. Fusion is an awesome addition, with it you are able to team up with another member of your team and unleash a combination of your special powers to obliterate the enemies you’re fighting such as while using Captain America you can blast away multiple bad guys by reflecting the lightning bolts of Storm, or do a double ground pound with The Hulk and The Thing. I love the Fusion powers and found myself using them on a regular basis.

Game Modes/ Extras: Not only do you have the campaign mode which lasts around 6 hours (I do wish it was a little longer) but they also included training/challenge modes which gives you the ability to go into a free for all, stand off to see how long you can last against an onslaught of bad guys in multiple different levels. Man, can this get tough but it is oh so much fun. This is a good place to learn different fusion combos and which characters you want to build your team with to make it through the game. On top of that they have included from the first game a nice trivia game that earns you extra experience points to buy character power upgrades by testing your comic book knowledge. Also the game has some extras unlockable items such as info pages, alternate costumes and a few other things that I won’t spoil for you. This game has a ton in it and unlocking everything can be a game in itself and worth trying to do.

The Bad:

Not a whole lot but there was a couple things that caught my attention.

While the game tries to change up the locations you fight in and the different super villains you face off against, the main enemies you fight throughout most of the game are all basically the same exact characters, basic henchmen/military types or a couple different robot types. There really isn’t a lot of difference between the look of each enemy and they all for the most part fight the exact same way. Not a lot of intelligence to the enemies as well, they basically run in and constantly hit you till you beat them, and that can tend to make the game quite a bit repetitive. If it wasn’t for the sheer amount of enemies on the screen at one time that can make the game feel like pure chaos, the lack of different enemies would probably make you second guess playing this. Thankfully the games story and super villains you face off give more than enough reason to keep playing to see what’s coming next.

One thing that was more of an annoyance for me was that if while playing the first part of the game you made up a team with certain heroes and you got use to playing with them and enjoyed using them, when you chose which side you were on some characters would become unavailable to play with because they were on the other choices side. Like I said a bit of an annoyance but thankfully it’s not too bad.

Another gripe I have is the lack of alternate costumes for each character. In the first game you had roughly 3 or 4 for each character which was pretty cool but in this game you only get one which I felt was a bit of a letdown, and to add to it the length of time to load the alternate costume takes forever (like 6-7 seconds) and all it really is, is nothing more than a quick change of character skin, not a crazy detailed look or anything special that enhances the game play. Like I said before it’s a bit of a letdown.

Also I had an issue with the overall look of the cut scenes. While still pretty good for a next gen game they just seemed to me very flat and under produced. They lacked a lot of extra details and background detail that probably could have made this game one of the best. It is almost like the developers got to a point and said ok that’s good enough and didn’t put any extra effort to really make the game shine as a true next gen title. I have seen cut scenes from older generation systems that at times looked better than a few cut scenes from this game. I also did notice on occasion some graphical glitches or pixilation during game play that if you were not looking for them you might not even notice.

Other than it I really can’t find much to complain about. This game is great and I had a blast playing it.

The Bottom Line:

This game is worth checking out. While it’s not spectacular or the greatest game I have ever played, it is definitely a step better than the first game and has good graphics, great story with a bit of user choice thrown in, and game play that absolutely will keep you playing and addicted to all night button mashing. It has a replay value that will keep you busy for many hours till the late hours of the night trying every combination of team powers and story choices till your fingers fall off.

I recommend this game to anyone looking for a game that will not only entertain you but also give you a bit of a challenge while entertaining your inner comic book geek. Some may love this game and others may not, I say go get this game and try it out for yourself I don’t think you’ll be disappointed, I know I wasn’t.

If still not sure if you want to pick it up, go download the demo for the game from Xbox Live or Playstation Network and try it out before you buy.

Till next time, keep on gaming!!

Labels: Games, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, PS3, Review, Xbox

| »

About

Not only is James Dumas the Senior Network Operations Tech at Captivate, but once he gets home he’s in a constant battle of button mashing, extra lives, and power ups to reach that next level.

With the countless hours behind the controller and multiple bottles of Mountain Dew comes experience and knowledge (and maybe a few sleepless nights) that will hopefully guide you to that high score you’ve only dreamt about. Time to jump into the virtual battlefield – once you’re in there’s no turning back.

My Profile

Cheat of the Week

This Week's New Releases (02/09/10 – 02/15/10)

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 Reviewed

About

Search

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Archives

Other Cool Captivate Blogs