Book Review - Mass Effect: Revelation

You could safely say that I wasn’t expecting much out of Mass Effect: Revelation.

I don’t even remember buying the book. It’s been sitting on my shelf for something like two years now.

I don’t remember what was going through my mind when I bought it, other than, “Hey, Mass Effect is a decent game, let’s see what this hack writer managed to do with it,” not realizing that said hack writer was, in fact, Drew, Karpyshyn, the writer/designer for Bioware, who worked on not only the story of Mass Effect itself, but also on Knights of the Old Republic.

So Mr. Author was not exactly a hack.

Still, I think I could be forgiven for my assumptions. It is a book based off of a video game property.

How could that possibly end well?

Sure the video game property it’s based on has one of the better stories seen in modern gaming. Sure the author of the novel is working on the game itself.

But let’s face it, these cross media transitions rarely result in products digestible by your average human.

I don’t know why I decided to finally start reading it the other day, but whatever the reason, you could say I was a bit surprised that the thing wasn’t utter crap.

Mass Effect: Revelation will not usher in a new era of sci-fi storytelling. It will not go down as a hallmark classic in the genre. It probably won’t even be remembered as a stunningly written example of science fiction.

And for good reason. It’s not any of those things.

The story isn’t original. The writing style doesn’t jump out at you. Some of the plot devices are awkward and forced.

But what the reader is left with is a perfectly enjoyable piece of fiction.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about Mass Effect: Revelation is related to the reason it exists in the first place. The reason the book was written was to provide an introduction to the massive universe of Mass Effect in the form of a book. It was essentially a peek into the world of the upcoming game prior to its release.

It would be easy to assume that such a work would be more concerned with introducing races and worlds and historical elements than with telling a unique tale that stands on its own.

Indeed, exposition does sometimes get in the way and make the book feel a little clunkier than it might have otherwise. On the whole though, it’s impressive how little it obstructs the flow of the story. I came away feeling that the book was no less clunky than most other average science fiction novels. Considering the burden placed upon this particular title in terms of positioning and marketing, this is a fairly impressive achievement.

The thing that bothered me the most about Mass Effect: Revelation had relatively little to do with the marketing aspects of the novel. The most troubling element of the book’s construction to me is that the author has a rather annoying tendency to spastically jump from one character’s perspective to another.

In a longer novel this might have been acceptable, but a novel of only just over 300 pages does not feel substantial enough to support the number of viewpoint characters that this book asks the reader to follow. Having four or five viewpoint characters in such a small novel felt erratic - as if the author were using this technique as a crutch to deliver information he had no other way of getting across.

While the story as a whole is reasonably interesting in an “average science fiction/action romp” kind of way, none of the characters are interesting or unique enough on their own to support the book. You really do have to be hooked in by the Mass Effect universe for this book to hook you.

With that said, it’s possible that this book alone might fulfill its intended purpose and suck you into the universe and make you want to experience more of it.

The erratic multiple character perspective may be a detriment to the book’s attempt at storytelling, but it does allow for a more in-depth look at aspects of the universe that we wouldn’t have gotten to see any other way.

Another fear I had when picking up Mass Effect: Revelation is that it would feel outdated and unnecessary by this point in time since the actual game has now been released. I guess I expected it to be a giant, redundant tutorial for the universe.

Thankfully, I do not feel that this was the case. There was plenty of material shared between book and game, but the book did not spend so much of its time on any of these elements that it became annoying. Some of the material was presented from a fresh perspective that made it interesting all over again, and there were plenty of details about the universe I learned only from the book.

Keep in mind that this is all coming from the perspective of someone who hasn’t played the game in many a long month and, in fact, never finished it in the first place, so perhaps I do not represent your average reader of Mass Effect: Revelation.

The novel does tie nicely into the game’s story line, but in an enjoyable fashion that I didn’t think was jarring It tells an unrelated side story that sets up some key elements for the game to come while at the same time acceptably wrapping up its own plot arc.

Not every book needs to be the second coming of its genre. Mass Effect Revelation is a book I could nitpick to death if I tried, but I won’t because that would be missing the point.

This is a short, somewhat forgettable book, but I had a good time reading it, it presented the wonderfully compelling Mass Effect universe from a different perspective than that given to us in the games, and it provided a decent story of its own. It was a little erratic and told from one too many viewpoints, but was compelling enough to see the book through to the end while giving us a look at how the events in the game came to be.

If I do manage to finish the game, I would have no hesitation in picking up the second Mass Effect novel and seeing where it takes me. From someone who went into the book expecting a cheap marketing gimmick, I’d say that’s decent enough praise.

Mass Effect Revelation makes me curious to see how well it stacks up against other video game to book adaptations. Maybe I’ll do a little exploring and see whether it gets any better than this.

If you are into both books and video games, or have any sort of interest in sci-fi or the Mass Effect universe at all, I’d recommend giving Revelation a shot. It won’t blow you out of the water, but it will likely keep you entertained for the short time it’ll take you to read it and give you a great excuse to spend more time in the world of Mass Effect.

It’s a bit clunky, a bit unwieldy, a bit forgettable, and a bit predictable, but it’s fun. In this case, I think that’s good enough to warrant a recommendation.

Even from a hardened critic like myself.

Twilight: Journey Into the Abyss (Part Fourteen)

Chapter Ten (continued)

We rejoin our giggling schoolgirls as they discuss just how awesome Edward's face is. I know, completely unprecedented.

Chameleon face: "'I mean, do you really like him?' [Jessica] urged.
'Yes,' I said again, blushing.
She'd had enough with the single syllable answers. 'How much do you like him?'
'Too much,' I whispered back. 'More than he likes me. But I don't see how I can help that.' I sighed, one blush blending into the next."

Steph's version of the human anatomy continues to surprise me. Through her I find out that not only can a face produce two completely separate, distinguishable blushes, but also has the ability to blend the two together into one... MegaBlush, if you will.

I didn't even think you could accurately tell when you were blushing, much less control them and put on a little light show in your cheeks for everyone watching.

Very impressive, Bella.

Over-analyzation: "'In English, Mike asked me if you said anything about Monday night,' I told [Jessica].
... 'Tell me exactly what he said, and your exact answer!'
We spent the rest of the walk dissecting sentence structures and most of Spanish on a minute description of Mike's facial expressions."

How sad is it that after all of the needless, plodding conversations I've been dragged through in this book that sounded as if they came straight out of an eleven-year-old's first diary, that this is what I consider an impressive display of brevity in Twilight?

I'm happy when she sees fit to describe the gag-worthy, sleep-inducing material rather than show me every last bit of it.

I hesitate to call it an improvement, but what other word is there that describes something that is less painful, but still decidedly terrible?

Very Zeus-like: "But outside the door to our Spanish class, leaning against the wall — looking more like a Greek god than anyone had a right to — Edward was waiting for me."

I don't really remember seeing "look like a Greek god" in the Bill of Rights, but perhaps I just missed something.

It has been a while since I've looked it over.

An overprotective nature?: "[Edward] led the way into the [lunch] line, still not speaking, though his eyes returned to my face every few seconds, their expression speculative."

Is she still there?

Oh, okay.

Is she still there??

Oh, okay.

Is she still there???

Oh, okay.

OH MY GOD SHE'S NOT THERE ANYMORE! WHAT DO I DO? WHAT DO I DO?

Oh wait, there she is.

Battle of the emotions, round 27: "It seemed to me that irritation was winning out over amusement as the dominant emotion in his face."

In the right corner, standing next to the earlobe, it's Irritation. He's had a long road here, folks, but he's ready for action now. Look at those bulging muscles, built up over time from the impulsive clenching and flexing and tensing that comes with being terribly annoyed. I certainly know the feeling, folks. This emotion's going to be a tough one to beat.

But if anyone can do it, it's Amusement. Indeed ladies and gentlemen, he may not look like much, but his lean frame and gangly build allow him to be as evasive as Edward answering a question. His constant, annoying half-smirk is enough to drive most of his opponents into madness. It's best not to look directly into his face.

We're just about ready to start this fight ladies and gentlemen. It should be a good one.

But wait! Who do we have here? Coming in unexpectedly from the general area of the nose, it's Utter Boredom! His derisive sneer and massive yawn have bested every other emotion in his division! Has this just turned into a three way fight for Edward's face? I believe it has, and I've never seen anything quite like it.

This is going to be one hell of a fight folks.

Contextualization is key: "'If someone dared you to eat dirt, you could, couldn't you?' [Edward] asked condescendingly.
I wrinkled my nose. 'I did once… on a dare,' I admitted. 'It wasn't so bad.'"

This quote is vastly more amusing out of context, isn't it? Take my word for it. Just bask in the weirdness and don't worry about it what the hell they're actually talking about.

It's not important anyway.

In full agreement: "The mention of Jessica brought a hint of [Edward's] former irritation back to his features."

For once I can say without even the slightest hesitation that I agree with Edward completely.

I don't expect that will happen too often.

From the garbage bin to printed page: "His voice was husky, and he glanced up from under his lashes with troubled eyes."

Oh, eew. Eeeeeeeew.

I'll be damned if this doesn't sound like it was pulled straight out of a Harlequin novel, and in the worst possible way.

Not that the caliber of her writing is typically much above that level anyway....

Taking creepy to a new level: "'... I warned you that you didn't want to know everything I was thinking.'
'You did,' [Edward] agreed, but his voice was still rough. 'You aren't precisely right, though. I do want to know what you're thinking — everything.'"

Boy, you're moving this relationship along rather fast, aren't you?

Edward sounds like the perfect guy to date if you've always wanted to know what it would be like to date Big Brother from Nineteen Eighty-Four.

I mean, wow. There are just so many wonderful adjectives you can throw at that statement. Abusive. Creepy. Controlling. Creepy. Greedy. Creepy. Selfish. Creepy.

Creepy.

I have no words: "'You're doing it again,' I muttered.
[Edward's] eyes opened wide with surprise. 'What?'
'Dazzling me,' I admitted, trying to concentrate as I looked back at him.
'Oh.' He frowned.
'It's not your fault,' I sighed. 'You can't help it.'"

...

...

Oh. My. God.

See, I had been led to believe this whole time that Edward was the creepy one.

I believe I might have been mistaken.

Final thoughts: I’ve heard from outside sources that Edward and Bella’s relationship is sort of an abusive, unhealthy one, and boy is that ever beginning to become startlingly obvious in this chapter.

Both characters are turning into obsessive freak shows. Bella’s fixation with Edward is clearly not normal, for starters. And Edward is showing distinct signs of being a controlling, constantly irritated, angry, abusive partner.

This is not going anywhere good.

Continue to Part Fifteen

Undead Animosity

I’m going to be honest. I don’t have clue why the fuss over Left 4 Dead 2 just simply refuses to go away.

“OMG! Valve is releasing a sequel in only a year! They’re the devil!!!”

People, you do realize this is Valve we’re talking about here, right? The company that has made some of the greatest gaming experiences of all time? The people who brought us the Half-Life series, Counter Strike, Team Fortress, the original Left 4 Dead, Portal, and more?

The company that can basically do no gaming wrong?

Well, aside from the Half-Life episodes, but that’s another argument....

It’s as if Valve has earned itself not a single ounce of trust. It’s as if years and years of delivering some of the best games on the market have earned it nothing but suspicion and hatred.

I don’t get it.

Sure it’s unorthodox for them, but shouldn’t that be why we should accept it? Or at least not revile it?

Valve is one of the only companies around that doesn’t do this on a regular basis; that doesn’t exploit its customers for all they’re worth just because they have a couple of new map ideas and want to squeeze a whole sequel out of them.

Left 4 Dead 2, from all reports I’ve heard, is going to be a solid, complete package far beyond anything we would have gotten through DLC chunks and most assuredly quicker than we would have gotten it through little DLC bits.

That’s perhaps the most baffling thing. The people complaining about this the loudest are obviously fans of Left 4 Dead. I just don’t see what the negative is here.

In just a year, for just the price of one measly new game, the same price these gamers are likely willing to pay many times throughout a single year for new experiences, they’re getting more content in a sequel than was present in the entirety of the original Left 4 Dead.

How is that bad?

Do you think we would have gotten that much content in just a year otherwise? Probably not. Do you think that it would have pulled together into such a nice whole otherwise? Probably not.

Do you have any idea how much Xbox 360 owners would have been gouged for that content? Probably a pretty good chunk of that $60 price for far less content is my guess.

But again, that’s a somewhat different argument....

I’m not saying I don’t understand at all where that animosity comes from. I was just as angry as anybody else when I first saw the Left 4 Dead 2 trailer. I understand it’s unusual for Valve, that it would be easy to interpret this as money grabbing, or even a stab in the back to fans if you want to get melodramatic about it. Valve is not playing by their usual rules and I guess that scares some people a great deal.

If there’s a Left 4 Dead 3 in November 2010, then I’ll most certainly be joining the boycott list just as quickly as anyone else.

In the meantime, I’m getting a whole lot of Left 4 Dead in a relatively short time frame in a more cohesive, satisfying package than random DLC chunks. Not to mention the fact that not only are they still supporting the first game, but they’re promising continued DLC for the second as well.

To me, that’s awesome.

I think we should give Valve a little credit here. I’ve had some of the most fun I’ve ever had while playing a video game while playing games with the Valve logo on them. I’m going to give them a little bit of slack before I start decrying them for being money-grubbing bureaucrats with dollar signs plastered onto their eyeballs. I think they’ve earned a little more of my trust than that.

I know some people are seeing this whole situation and screaming, “Worst case scenario! Best developer ever goes rogue! Begins craving lots of money really fast! Starts whoring out its precious franchises!” But Left 4 Dead 2 is pretty damn good as far as worst case scenarios go.

After only a year, you pay the price of one full game and you get more game than what you bought with your $60 a year ago.

Oh drat. I’m getting more content than the first time and I’m getting it quicker than I expected to.

How dare they.

Look, Left 4 Dead 2, from every interview I’ve read about it, is a project of love if I’ve ever heard of one. Just like all of Valve’s other projects, come to think of it. The only reason Valve is doing this, the only reason Valve is going against their norms, is because they loved the original so much that they wanted to make a lot more of it than they could through little DLC packs.

I respect that. They love what they’re doing and they want to do more. They wanted to explore more ideas and share them with their fans, gamers they thought would stand behind them and appreciate what they were being given.

I think that’s great. I wish more developers would do that. If you’re going to make a sequel, at least be passionate about it; at least be excited about it.

This is the kind of sequel I’m enthused about. This is the kind of sequel I can stand behind and firmly say I don’t mind paying for.

Ultimately, whether or not Left 4 Dead 2 is going to go over well with fans is something we’ll only be able to tell in November when the final game is released. Even I am holding back my final judgment until I actually have a chance to play the game.

I’m remaining hopeful, but despite my optimism, I still don’t know whether the full $60 package is going to feel like it deserves a full $60 package. I certainly hope so, the interviews lead me to believe so, but I’ll only be able to tell when I play for myself.

But it still saddens me that a company as passionate and talented and creative as Valve gained so much animosity from its supposed “fans” the very second it decided to do something slightly different. A move that, were it to come from any other company in the gaming industry, would be recognized not as a traitorous move, but as business as normal.

Where’s the love, people?

Half-Life: Episodic Screwup

Valve screwed up.

Valve screwed up in a major fashion.

There. That should have sufficiently gotten everyone’s attention.

No, I’m not talking about Left 4 Dead 2. I’m actually on their side with that one.

I’m talking about a different issue entirely. One which is admittedly less timely but still close to my heart. A recent interview with Gabe Newell, co-founder of Valve, brought this issue back into my mind and I realized that I had never written down my thoughts on the subject before.

Quite simply, the decision to make Half-Life 3 into a series of episodic installments was a mistake.

Half-Life 2 remains one of my favorite shooters of all time. The combat, pacing, story, environments, and character development are all nearly unmatched.

Valve decided to follow up on this smashing success with three episodic installments with the idea being that they would take the place of what Half-Life 3 would have been.

We’re approaching five years since the release of the second Half-Life and I find myself decidedly unfulfilled.

Not only has Valve not yet even finished the three Half-Life “episodes” yet, but Episode 3 has some wickedly difficult work ahead of it if it hopes to finish off the episodes in a fashion even a fraction as satisfying as a full game would have been.

I had fun with the episodes, sure, but it felt like they were meeting me halfway. For every step forward they took, it felt like there was an accompanying step back.

The strong point of the Half-Life episodes was clearly story. That’s just about all Episdoe 1 had going for it. There were no new weapons, the campaign was very short, it reused many of the same obstacles and scenarios we had already seen in Half-Life 2, but Episode 1 was a short but significant little chunk of story.

But in exchange for that story, we got what felt like a rehash of Half-Life 2. It did not feel like the beginning of a proper new story arc or gameplay experience. It felt like a tacked-on extension of the previous story arc with recycled gameplay ideas.

Episode 2 was better. At least in the finale you got one new weapon to play with. It wasn’t enough to make up for the lack of new stuff in the episodes to that point, but it was something and it was coupled with a fairly spectacular finale that actually did manage to change up the gameplay a bit, however briefly. Episode 2 also nicely continued the tradition of great story in the episodes.

But again, problems struck.

The gameplay mechanic of stripping all the player’s weapons away and forcing the player to slowly find them over the course of the game works well over 10 to 20 hours. It does not work so well over the course of two five-hour episodes.

It got old. It just added to the feeling that Valve was just reusing tricks to make these episodes feel more substantial than they really were.

The only real innovation present in the episodes was the story. Everything else was like tiny chunks of Half-Life ripped out of a full game that did not feel as substantial without the context of the rest of the game around it.

I haven’t even mentioned the most significant thing that I feel is missing from the Half-Life episodes, and that is substance and pacing.

By far my favorite thing about the Half-Life series is that the full games feel meaty. They feel satisfying. From start to finish you get a compelling story arc, you get tons of places to go, you get a great story, lots of fantastic set pieces, terrific character development, a great variety of things to see and do, and places to explore. The games feel worth your time and keep you interested for the entire ride; a ride that is not only longer than most other shooters but far, far more interesting.

I think there is a reason that most shooters today only last six to eight hours and I don’t believe it is because the budget only allows them to be that long. I think the true reason is that they can’t be interesting for any longer.

But Half-Life games can.

They’re more than just the same old run and gun shooting mechanics. They give players a true adventure, not just a shooter. The Half-Life episodes remove this adventure aspect.

By repeating the same “lose your weapons and then find them all again” arc, by doling out the Half-Life experience in such small, disconnected chunks, you lose that grand feeling of adventure that I so loved in the Half-Life games, and that is the most egregious sin of all.

Stripping the Half-Life series of their adventure spirit is taking the Half-Life out of Half-Life.

It’s entirely possible that once Episode 3 is released some mystical day in the far off future, that it will, somehow, manage to connect all of these disparate elements, to pull all three episodes together, and to finally make all three episodes into the proper Half-Life 3 story arc that was supposed to have been.

But it’s got a hell of a lot of work cut out for it if it hopes to do that.

Long story short, Episode 3 needs to be Half-Life 3 for this to work in Valve’s favor.

Now don’t go misunderstanding me. The Half-Life episodes, despite all my gripes with them, despite my lamentations over what could have been, still remain some of the best shooting experiences out there.

Sure I vastly would have preferred a longer wait for a fuller, more satisfying installment. Sure I think that breaking the experience up into episodes was a mistake. Sure I think that Valve completely and totally missed the point of the whole “episodic” fad it was so desperately trying to latch onto (not to mention overestimated its capability to deliver an experience catering to that formula in a timely fashion). Sure I think that the Half-Life franchise just does not translate well to episodes.

But, they’re still better made than the vast majority of shooters on the market and they’re still more fun.

That’s the amazing thing about Valve’s creativity and talent. Despite the fact that I feel that the Half-Life episodes are too short, not as satisfying, and reusing many of the tricks of their bigger, fuller Half-Life 2 sibling, they’re still better than just about everything else out there.

That is why I want to see Valve finally put the full force of their talent into a full Half-Life 3.
It’s time.

It’s been close to five years since Half-Life 2 and we don’t even seem close to getting Episode 3, much less Half-Life 3 proper. If Episode 3 is just another short episode, I don’t even want to think about how long it’s going to take them to actually get us Half-Life 3 proper.

The bottom line is, the Half-Life series is one of my favorite of all time. It is for only that reason that I am being so hard on it. I feel like the episodes, while great for what they are, do not live up to the full potential of what a Half-Life experience could really be.

Hopefully Valve will find some way to make good on that potential sooner rather than later.

Fixing a Past Mistake

When first launching Zestfulcontemplation.com, I made a video that I was relatively proud of  - a concise video review of Guitar Hero Smash Hits.

Subsequently, not even one person watched the video.

I was sad.

Until I realized that I had made the video private by mistake, never discovered it, and was never told.

Then I was mad at myself for being an idiot.

I would greatly appreciate it if some of you might have a look at that video now and tell me what you think of it and whether I should bother doing more of them.  I know it's probably far from perfect, but I was still decently happy with the results and I want to know what other people think of my little video experiment. 

Thanks, and sorry for screwing it up earlier.  Hopefully someone actually watches it this time.