Mass Effect 3 Patch and Rebellion video

Mass Effect 3 will get a massive patch soon. Rabidgames lets you have a look at the patch 1.03 notes (the important ones are bold):

Common to all Platforms:
-Fixed an issue where sometimes facial movement would not match the voice over if a hitch occurred
-Fixed an issue where taking cover in a certain area of Cure the Genophage mission would cause players to become blocked from progress
-Fixed Action mode so it will now respect difficulty if set in the main menu
-Fixed an issue where the player would always be walking forward instead of towards objective in The Return mission
–Fixed the Ultralight Materials SMG weapon mod in multiplayer so it correctly affects weapon recharge (good)
-Fixed a rare case where the reinforcement pack purchases could fail and take currency without giving cards
– Fixed the issue where users logged off/disconnected during multiplayer gameplay would not log back in properly until their game is rebooted
-Fixed the issue that multiplayer Geth sentry turret flamethrower would endlessly repeat audio SFX
–Fixed various multiplay maps where a player could fall through the map during multiplayer gameplay (good)
–Fixed the issue that using an ops survival pack consumable immediately before death could have no effect. It now works as intended (damn good)
-Fixed the issue so the Falcon weapon in multiplayer no longer sometimes fire blanks
-Fixed the issue where enemies who were detonated with a biotic power while in stasis would become invulnerable
-Fixed the issue where Banshees who got hit with a rocket launcher would not play the correct death animation
-Fixed the issue where joining a match in progress while a Geth prime turret is active leaves the turret there for the remainder of the game. It now disappears.
-Fixed the issue when joining a match in progress while the host is performing a combat roll would play firing animation on the client for the host character, for the duration of the match
-Fixed an issue so Vanguards who are charging as they die are no longer being routed to the ground
-Fixed Host migration that would sometimes cause players to start on an incorrect wave
-Fixed the issue when a client quitting a match during deep bleedout causes muted/ducked audio to persist into next match
-Fixed the issue that when being revived at the same time as being executed would leave players in an T-Pose state
-Fixed the issue that when a Banshee takes enough damage to stop her charge state, her normal state is not immediately returned
-Fixed the issue where a player could enter a state when completing cover interactions near a ladder which could lead them to becoming invulnerable and unable to deal damage
-Fixed game hitching of 1-2 seconds at start of waves
-Fixed clients occasionally seeing nonstop firing visual effects
-Fixed evaded projectiles having an erratic course
-Fixed an issue where selecting resume after death could occasionally cause henchmen to not spawn properly
-Fixed weapon recoil that could become reversed with a Turian when stability mod and passive power present
-Fixed the cover slot in Meet the Diplomats mission would cause a player to become stuck
–Fixed Geth prime and harvesters taking headshot bonus damage when they shouldn’t (bad)
–Fixed shooting the atlas in the cockpit with a penetration weapon doing double damage (bad)
-Fixed the Kishock Sniper Rifle that would hit head bone (critical hit) on enemies that should not be possible, such as the Brute, Banshee and Ravager
-Fixed and issue where clients in cover cannot do any damage to targets at wide angles relative to the cover
-Fixed an issue where player can glitch their melee combo to only perform cover lean melee animations
-Fixed an issue where while dying in multiplayer, if the player pressed the prolong life button too quickly they could erroneously die
–Fixed an issue so Drell Adept Reave audio plays at full volume for all players (good)
-Fixed an issue that an interrupt could sometimes fail to prevent a Cerberus engineer from building a turret
-Fixed a crash in conversations after Investigate Sanctuary mission
-Fixed an issue where gear items from the Rebellion DLC would unequip at the end of each match.
-Fixed an issue so ammo consumables, such as cyro ammo, would not replicated from host to clients
-Fixed the Memory Leak going in and out of Multiplayer Menus
–Added feature to remove AFK players after a set amount of inactivity (fuck yeah)
-Added a cooldown to Ops Survial consumable
–Made ammo consumables insta-reload and damage bonus (good)

PS3 Only:
-Fixed wrong DLC Text in the Trophy File
-Added Downloadable Content option to PS3 Main Menu

Xbox Only:
–    Fixed an issue where Mass Effect 3 soft locks in character screen if user unplugs Ethernet at “Checking downloadable content…” after accepting an invitation from multiplayer menu

PC Only:
-Fixed an issue where the Online Pass Activation screen would appear for users despite PC not having a need for an online pass
-Fixed the Galaxy Map search and rescue asset GUI not appearing when using eyefinity
-Fixed an issue where users could not scan on galaxy map when right-click is rebound
-Fixed an issue where having the PC hud (heads up display) (left shift) up when a player dies in multiplayer and revived would cause player unable to move and the hud to remain active

For some reason, Bioware thinks that fixing many “bugs” that benefit us would be a good thing. It’s not.

Oh, and here’s a video which sums up Mass Effect 3‘s Rebellion DLC quite nicely:

Yes, it’s out, but if you have the kind of luck Rabidgames has had, you only got the Reegar shotgun and no new character out of 700.000 credits. Sucks. So, unfortunately, there is nothing Rabidgames can say right now about the new characters. Well, except for the Reegar: It is a close range weapon that fires electrical currents … while its uses are limited, it is incredibly useful to fry bosses like Primes or Atlases within seconds – if you dare to get close.

Rabidgames refuses to pay: Yes, he wants the new characters, but no, he won’t pay a single dime for them. If it means unlocking them just some weeks from now, so be it.

Max Payne and Rabidgames: Friends no more

Attention. [SPOILER ALERT] Big ones in there.

Rabidgames was really, really disappointed with Max Payne 3. There are several things wrong with the game:

Atmosphere: If a game says Max Payne, it should feel like Max Payne, it should breathe Max Payne it should contain Max Payne, not Die Hard in Brazil. Yet that’s what Max Payne 3 is all about: An old fat bald man on a mission to blow up all the baddies in shiny yet gritty Brazil. The boat scene, the bus scene … is this really Max Payne? Actually, Max Payne even wears a bloodied shirt when he takes down the bosses at the end … and what about blowing up a plane? Yep, check. To Rabidgames, this game is generic shooter stuff, made in 2012. Also, instead of stylish comics we have an over-abundance of annoying cutscenes and blurry vision (well, that one makes sense since it depicts Max Payne‘s addictions), which hardly stand out nowadays.

For the record, watch the dream sequence and some gameplay from the original Max Payne to really realise how much the tone has changed:

Rabidgames dares anyone to show him where Max Payne 3 can create as atmosphere similar to this one.

Story: It’s bland. And while bland can be fun, this one is not. Worst of all, it is plain obvious early on who the evil mastermind of Max Payne 3 is. Of course, it’s a right wing politician. Of course, he sells his brothers for wealth and glory. Of course, everyone else is corrupt, too. At least, there are a couple of things Rabidgames has not seen coming: Just to make Max a morally upright guy, Rockstar threw in a ridiculous illegal organ dealing plot – out of nowhere.

Gameplay: Actually, gameplay is rather fine. Rockstar’s Euphoria engine is a blast, and the destructible environments are great. However, it does not really feel like Max Payne. Sure, you have bullet time and slow-dodging – but Max runs, shoots and takes cover just like John Marston from Red Dead Redemption did. Yes, it’s the same engine, but come on! Max Payne 3 also took a couple of shots at the most crappy bullshit games have ever seen: QTE. Admittedly, it’s not often and mostly disguised as slow-mo aiming reaction tests you possibly can’t fail but it is shit anyway except for one annoying proper QTE clusterfuck which did not make any sense.

The shoot-outs are definitely fun, but there’s one problem: More often than not, your only option is to take cover and pick off one enemy after another. You can do it in bullet time, yes … but somehow, there are too many enemies at the same time so there’s no use in doing anything else like dodging or jumping in the middle of them and going crazy. And one more thing – why does Max Payne 3 bring you always back to your standard weapon after each fucking cutscene? That’s just lazy.

Level design: Here, we have one giant flaw, the most blatant flaw of Max Payne 3: Linear levels are fine, but small sections which doors that just close randomly? Come on, Rockstar! Magical doors? And then the cutscenes … if Rabidgames is in a room how is he supposed to know where he should turn in order to find collectibles – instead of triggering a cutscene, and all is lost? Even worse are the occasions where you kill dozens of bad guys, you’re almost out of ammo – and then there’s a cutscene and all of a sudden, you’re somewhere else without ammo, of course. Oh and those cutscenes … do we really need one each and every goddamn time when Max enters a new fucking room? No, we fucking don’t. But then again, it’s part of the magical level design …

And that’s not all the awful level design: One step forward, two enemies appear from out of nowhere. Next step, same thing happens. Rinse and repeat. Gladly, this does not happen all the time, but when it does, it’s stupid and feels like a relict of the past. It’s 2012 after all.

Characters: Remember playing Max Payne 1 and 2? Remember Mona? Alfred? Lem? But Max Payne 3 … there are only stereotypes around (wealthy mob boss, his greedy wife, corrupt politicians, corrupt cops and so on), and they are boring. Who will we remember Passos? The guy who Passos rescues Max once probably to atone for leaving him twice before. Does this make any sense to anybody? Giovanna? Oh, she’s pregnant. Should that make us care? Becker? Victor? Fabiana? None? And our dear hero himself? After his boss is killed, he shaves is head and swears abstinence (which doesn’t work out, he still takes painkillers and drinks a beer in the epilogue). But the shaving is in the middle of the game, and that’s where his character progressions completely stops. Afterwards, the legendary Max Payne handles everything just like any other videogame hero would have.

At the end of the day, Max Payne 3 is not as bad as it may sound. It’s still an enjoyable, challenging shooter with pretty amazing graphics and the realistic Euphoria phyiscs engine with cool destructible surroundings. You might need 10 to 15 hours to complete the campaign – way more than the industry shooter standard of about 5 hours.

And maybe Rockstar wanted to get arty with Max Payne 3: The journey from the well-known and dark New Jersey to the lively Sao Paolo as a wake-up call. Our protagonist in a foreign country with a foreign language as a fresh start. And the new atmosphere might be supposed to reveal Max Payne for what he has become … after all, he realises his habit of wasting his life away in booze and pills and tries to change, even it is not “for redemption, but for despair”. And yes, the New Jersey levels have at least contained some of the old feeling while Sao Paolo is a strange new world and Max tries to reinvent himself (by growing a beard and shaving his head). There is even closure at the end for once. So yes, maybe Rockstar tried to bring art into games once more after excelling in Red Dead Redemption … so let’s just give them credit for it.

However, story and characters are bland, and the gameplay relies too much on Call of Duty-like scripted events at virtually all times. And Max Payne 3 is alright but not that much fun to play: It’s simply cutscene after wave of enemies after cutscene after wave of enemies all over the place. The pace is simply not right. Look at Bulletstorm, Crysis 2, hell, even Duke Nukem forever was more fun to play (the latter at least until halfway through): The gameplay had a diverse feeling – one game was over the top, the other had an open world, the last one was retro … in contrast, Max Payne 3 simply does not stand out in any way. If it wasn’t for the name.

Rabidgames did actually give one fuck about the multiplayer of Max Payne 3. But after just a couple of matches, Rabidgames was bored to death. As the rest of Max Payne 3, it is just bloody generic.

Rabidgames’ hangover: Oh boy, Max Payne has become old. He turned in his individuality to change into one of the mainstream guys. Still, it’s not that he turned into a patriotic asshole or a dumb, obeying soldier. He’s still an alright buddy … but he lost his noir magic. He’s just one of the many faces who make a living saving the world nowadays, just worth paying a visit a once in a while but not worth hanging out with on a regular basis. At least, he hasn’t become a senile turd just like his old pay Duke has.

Dragon’s Dogma and an Ingenious Pawn System

First off: Sometimes you have to advertise … and today Rabidgames does this: Please rent Rabidgames‘ Dragon’s Dogma Pawn.
By the way, gamertag is Rabidgames  and the pawn is a very old and snarky fighter named Cohen (some of you might get the hint) … Thanks.

OK, with that out of our way, the Pawn system definitely is one of the best achievements of Dragon’s Dogma.
Without a doubt, it is a unique way of finding a mix between co-op and NPCs. Not only can you choose your appearance and class, you can also teach your main pawn how to behave in and outside of battle (do it at inns at “knowledge chairs”). Please do it. It’s really useful, especially for mages.

And erm, why are many players keen on showing off really small, child-like looking female pawns with raunchy clothes? What’s going on there, guys?

Rabidgames smiles: Dragon’s Dogma just feeds the adventurer in us gamers. You can do whatever you want, go wherever you want and kill whoever you want – unless it kills you. The challenge is part of the game.

Rabidgames is a Mass Effect 3 Elitist

Rabidgames admits: He has become a Mass Effect 3 multiplayer elitist.

Operation Shieldwall has revealed that Rabidgames arrogantly hates those motherfucking event gamers who only play Mass Effect 3 multiplayer during weekend challenges to get their reward packs while they contribute virtually nothing. It’s hate with a burning passion.

Let Rabidgames give you some examples what’s going on on Gold in Mass Effect 3 multiplayer during weekends:

• Level 1 guys trying Gold.
• A combination of 3 Soldiers and one Human Engineer.
• Asari Adept with sniper rifle AND shotgun. Seriously, what the fuck?
• Leechers all over the place.
• People not reviving anyone.
• No teamwork at all. Remember the one guy trying to solo 2 Primes, a Banshee and 3 Pyros at the far end of the map?
• Dear Vanguards, don’t Charge a Banshee. Don’t.
• Rabidgames seemed to be the only one with missiles in stock. Admittedly, Rabidgames had 44 missiles on Thursday. Sunday, the count went down to 11. What were you guys doing? Saving for christmas?

And the weirdest thing was, the N7 rank didn’t make a difference … rank 30 players were as shit as rank 1000 players. Rabidgames needed to promote his Soldier from level 18 to 20 – usually a simple task of 3 Geth/White/Gold rushes. Not this weekend. It took Rabidgames more than 3 hours to reach level 20 (half of the time spending revive packs after dying trying to foolishly revive team mates who then fail to revive Rabidgames back, even if there is no danger). When Rabidgames tried to look for general Gold games, the lobby would not fill – even after 10 minutes … Lesson learnt: Always have some Mass Effect 3 classes you never use ready for promotion – and so so BEFORE the fucking weekend.

Rabidgames fumes: If it wasn’t for Rebellion coming out on Tuesday, Rabidgames would rest the multiplayer for a week or so. That was simply too much. But at least Rabidgames now knows why multiplayer elitist douches always slack off noobs for being noobs … sometimes, sometimes they have a valid point!

Rebellion brings new food for hungry Mass Effect 3 multiplayers

If you can’t get enough of Mass Effect 3‘s cooperative multiplayer, you’ll be in for a treat:
The Rebellion Pack will launch on May 29 for European Xbox 360 and Pc gamers, one day later for PS3 users.
And yes, it’ll be free!

We’ll get 6 new classes:

• Vorcha Soldier: They’ll have “Bloodlust” and are supposed to be tough fighters. Hopefully, Vorcha will regenerate their health, too.
• Vorcha Sentinel: They are supposed to be even tougher and have a mysterious “Flamer” skill. Maybe a biotic version of Incinerate?
• Male Quarian Engineer: All we know so far is they’ ll have “Arc Grenades”. More grenades? Really?
• Male Quarian Infiltrator: They will rely on their “Tactical Scan” … sounds like Hunter Vision, doesn’t it?
• Ex-Cerberus Vanguard: Those defectors will have “Lash”, maybe a biotic whip kind of thing?
• Ex-Cerberus Adept: They’ll have “Smash” (sounds like a mix of Slam and Throw) and the rather useless Singularity.

While Vorcha sound pretty cool, more Quarians and especially more freaking humans to the already humanised worlds of Mass Effect 3 sounds rather lame – and please, couldn’t we just have gotten proper Phantoms then? Now that would be cool. But hey, it’s free so there’s no harm done at all if we don’t like the new N7 members.

Also, Bioware hasn’t stopped with 6 more characters, we will also get two new maps, Firebase Jade, a map set in a jungle and rotten buildings, and Firebase Goddess on Thessia. There’ll also be a new mission objective, some kind of “capture the mail” where we’ll have to carry a special package from A to B (hopefully, Cloak works wonders although Rabidgames highly doubts it). And we’ll get a more permanent equipment slot. Its equipment “will vary from weapon upgrades to character enhancements and will be available through reinforcement packs“.

Last but definitely not least, we will be presented 3 new weapons:

• Cerberus Harrier Assault Rifle – These Cerberus-modified Mattock rifles are fully automatic. Cerberus gunsmiths reined in the recoil issues, resulting in a gun that stay on target, but delivers slightly less punch per round than a standard Mattock. As such, the weapon is typically utilized by Cerberus’ elite troopers, who train constantly to make every burst count.
• Reegar Carbine Shotgun – This electrical weapon improves upon the arc pistol’s design by generating a sustained current on its target. This weapon is named for the Quarian Reegar family, whose marines have served valiantly against the Geth.
• Krysae Sniper Rifle – This Turian antimaterial rifle is modified to kill Reaper enemies. The Krysae’s scope uses a rangefinder that adjusts to keep the target in proper proportion to the shooter, which comes in useful when the sniper is forced into close range. Its specialized ammunition is both armor-piercing and explosive. In a desperate move, the Turians released its specifications over the extranet so that nearly anyone with a fabricator could manufacture this weapon to help the war effort.

Fully automated Mattock, Quarian energy shotgun and a powerful new sniper rifle sound all great!

However, there’s a well-known catch: While the two new maps are ready from the start, we’ll have to unlock the new characters, new weapons and new equipment once more. This means most people will save the money they’ll make from Operation Shieldwall this weekend. Of course, let’s not forget why multiplayer DLC for Mass Effect 3 is free – you can always take the easy way out and pay for reinforcement packs with real world money.

Rabidgames looks forward: More food for Mass Effect 3 is always a good thing. And let’s be honest here – as long as it’s free and diverts our eyes from the fucked up ending, it’s all fine.

RIP, Kingdoms of Amalur

So apparently, 38 Studios, the makers of Kingdoms of Amalur: The Reckoning, are dying – laying of all staff speaks a clear message, doesn’t it?

While this is sad news for all employees and their families, it is also sad news for the gaming world since an absurd fact has been revealed: Kingdoms of Amalur: The Reckoning sold a whopping 1.2 million units – not bad for a new franchise.

But folks, it is 2012 … which means, 1.2 millions is considered a failure!
Let’s sink it in.

Now, it seems the fact that Kingdoms of Amalur: The Reckoning would have to be sold 3 million times in order to be a financial success might have something to do with the idiotic Amalur MMO concept – developing a game for 5 years before finally releasing something somehow connected to your original idea …

If it was EA making promises and not keeping them, if it was 38 Studios and/or Big Huge Games (also shut down) having lost their financial mind over their MMO delusions, if it was paying too many high figure faces (including author Salvatore who reportedly “earned” 1.5 millions) … something has gone horribly, horribly wrong there.

Rabidgames is sad: While no one knows what has exactly happened for now, this shutdown is clearly a sign of things going wrong in our beloved industry. How comes small studios are allowed to handle big lumps of money – without back up? How comes more than a million of sold copies is considered having failed nowadays? Something stinks, and this body might just be the tip of the pile of rotten corpses. Anyway.  Farewell, Kingdoms of Amalur. For now at least.

Mass Effect 3: Operation Shieldwall means Banshee Galore

So, the next Mass Effect 3 multiplayer challenge awaits: This time, it’s all about promoting characters – and Bioware promises our loudmouth Banshee friends will return – even with Geth or Cerberus (which does make no sense at all, by the way)!

Operation Shieldwall might not be the greatest challenge since we don’t need to survive waves after waves on Gold … it’s just promoting characters after all:

“The Reapers are targeting our training centers, and your mission is to draw their fire and attention. Put them on the defensive! Buy us time, and the reinforcements in training will soon back you up.

Allied Goal: Promote 50,000 characters.
Squad Goal: Promote 3 characters.
Special Circumstance: Due to the failure of Operation SILENCER, more banshees will spawn with Reaper enemies and might also spawn with other enemies.

Squad Goal Success: Squad members awarded a Commendation Pack.
Allied Goal Success: All players awarded a Victory Pack (high chance of containing a Rare weapon).”

As an interesting side note, the mention of training centers might be a hint to new characters who will be deployed soon. Maybe it’s time to lead the Vorcha into battle soon …

Rabidgames yawns: Promoting 3 characters is a rather easy task – you could even “cheat” and level some to level 20 now. Geth/White/Gold is it then. However, if Bioware throws some Banshees in there this will be quite interesting (don’t expect many random teams to survive) …

Dragon’s Dogma: First Impressions

Yes, Rabidgames did it. He bought Dragon’s Dogma.

And yes, Rabidgames knows Capcom has put some fucking DLC (as disc locked content) in there; the first ones are 8 hair styles and some armour for 160 MS points and some quests for 80. Worth it? Who knows … but it surely can’t be any worse than THQ’s lousy Penthouse crap!

OK, here’s a word of advice: Before you want to start playing the 360 version of Dragon’s Dogma, you might want to install it to prevent lags, tearing or realising you’re in the middle of 20 enemies …
However, the first thing you hear when installing then is a terrible noise – it sounds as if the 360 wanted to eat the game. Nothing else happens at first.
Don’t worry, it’s fine. Apparently, your 360 needs to index files or something … keep calm, everything’s fine after 10 minutes.

In the meantime, you can watch the Launch trailer for Dragon’s Dogma:

Alright, Dragon’s Dogma installed, let’s go!

After the intro (known from the demo version), you start with building your character, and a short while later, your pawn.
There are tons of options how to build a character in Dragon’s Dogma, apparently even height and weight matter in terms of stamina! Later on, you can branch out your specialisation (actually, Rabidgames is not even there yet). You’ll have one pawn as your main pawn and two replaceable ones. Even at the beginning, you can hire powerful pawns from the online community, although that would take away the fun, wouldn’t it?

About that “short while later” … well, Rabidgames spent actually almost 2 hours scavenging the village where you start – and doing so, you get a grasp what Dragon’s Dogma is all about: Exploration. You can climb roofs and cliffs, you can explore the beach (although the water is not accessible because of some micro bacterial demons; that’s an original way to hide you don’t want us to swim), you can shoot seagulls and gather fish … and you will find tons of items. Yet, you have no clue what to with them initially.

The same goes for your equipment: You cannot only equip your usual armour, but also clothes as well. Your character might not always look better, but he will survive. You can also upgrade your equipment – while the first upgrade only requires money, later ones also require certain items.

When leaving the peaceful village, you meet your first enemies: Wolves and goblins. A word of warning: In Dragon’s Dogma, Wolves can kill you within seconds. Be careful. The key to battles is preparation and a balanced party. A couple of hours, Rabidgames went to explore the lands … the pawns were talking about “don’t go there” – and indeed, one bandit almost killed off the party.

The fighting system itself is really good: All 3 basic classes of Dragon’s Dogma play out completely different: While the fighter is all about giving and taking damage, the strider is a quick blade-and-bow wielder and mages cast their powerful spells from afar. Sadly, mages miss out on the fun that is climbing enemies and slashing at their ugly faces (they can do it but it’s a waste of time since the damage is close to none). There are quite some tactical things to take into consideration and many, many options available (you can hurl water, oil or rocks at enemies, a fighter can call for the attention of enemies etc.). It will take time get to know all the small and useful things the battles in Dragon’s Dogma can offer.

Rabidgames could write on and on, but bottom line is: While the quests are rather mundane, the dialogues rather weak and the narratives hardly develops, Dragon’s Dogma is a dragon-given gift for fans of huge, open worlds. Think of a hybrid of Dark Souls‘ tough battles, Skyrim‘s open worlds and Kingdoms of Amalur‘s quickly accessible fighting system. If you don’t mind adventuring yourself instead of being guided by the game itself, if you can stomach some unexpected and sudden deaths in the wilderness and if you can overlook long loading times and occasional frame rate crashes and San Andreas like pop-ups, Dragon’s Dogma definitely is your kind of game.

Rabidgames is content: So far, Dragon’s Dogma has been even better than expected. Capcom really managed to create a fresh franchise. Taking into account the various reviews that said the game gets good after the first couple of hours, Rabidgames might well be a happy adventurer in Dragon’s Dogma’s world for quite a long, long time …

THQ now completely lost it with Saints Row The Third …

So, apparently there’s a new DLC pack available for Saints Row The Third players …

This time, you can roam the streets of Stilwater as Penthouse girls Nikki Benz, Justine Joli, Ryan Keely, and Heather Vandeven (apparently those names are supposed to ring a bell) … well, actually, they are just part of your gang.

There’s also a trailer to the Penthouse Pack DLC:

But the best thing is not even the obnoxious line “For the first time in your life, when you call Penthouse Pets, they’ll actually answer” – you actually have to pay 240 MS points for this garbage! Yes, you have to shell out real world money to be able to watch some badly animated Penthouse girl lookalikes running next to you … and they’re not even nude!

Rabidgames deems: Whoever actually pays for this shit should be judged to spend the rest of his life without sex. It is a fucking shame what has happened to Saints Row The Third, to the Saints Row franchise, to Volition and to THQ … what next? A DLC where you have to pay 160 MS points to buy a red or blue dildo for a change? 320 MS points to buy some new, hot purple underwear? Or what about we pay 800 MS points so our female Saint can finally show off some amazing DDD cleavage?

Rabidgames’ Guide to Mass Effect 3 classes – Lesson 6: Vanguard

Welcome to the last Mass Effect 3 class to be explained – the feared Vanguard. Feared by enemies … and allies …

Who should play the Vanguard? If you like rushing across the battlefield and slamming into enemies before ramming a shotgun down their throats, Vanguard is your class.

Which powers are useful? Biotic Charge and Nova. Bear in mind that Biotic Charge and Nova work together exceptionally well:  Charge, Nova (thus depleting your barriers), followed by another Biotic Charge to replenish your barrier (if your squad mates cast Reave, Warp or Dark Channel each step along the way, every action will result in biotic explosions). Fitness is extremely important for Vanguards – level it up early. Shockwave and Pull can be neglected. If you solely go for Charge and Nova you don’t need your ammo powers most of the time – however, investing a couple of points won’t hurt.

Who to bring along in the campaign? You are the tank so have another biotics in your team to create those beloved biotic explosions with your Charge (choose Liara for Warp, Kaidan for Reave or Javik for Dark Channel). A tech expert to get rid of shields is another idea, although not necessary.

Bonus ability? Good question. Reave or Dark Channel come to mind to set up biotic explosions yourself. Energy Drain makes you able to deplete shields yourself and to quickly recharge yours. If you want some extra protection go for Defense Matrix.

How to excel in multiplayer? Rabidgames recommends that only hosts play Vanguards; that way, you will have the least possible amount of lag – and lag can easily kill a Vanguard when Charging! Vanguards all play differently, way more than the other classes do: The humans ones don’t need any heavy weapons – they should solely rely on the Charge-Nova-Charge route. However, this works fine on Bronze, but to pull off a manguard on Silver, you need skill and good timing. A human Vanguard on Gold will most likely be a burden to his team (Rabidgames has not seen one pull it off at least).

Drell Vanguard … honestly, Rabidgames has no clue what to do with him. Sure, Cluster Grenades can take out many enemies, and Pull and Biotic Charge work well … but a squishy Vanguard is bad per se. Yes, he’S fast and has decent melee attacks – but he’ll simply die too fast. The Asari Vanguard is a rather unique character: While melee or CQC is not her strength and Lift Grenade might work in connection with Charge, her strength is her Stasis power – cast a Stasis Bubble, followed by Charge to set off a biotic explosion – or alternatively (as recommended by a GameFAQs guide), use her as an effective sniper.

The Krogan Battlemaster is THE tank of Mass Effect 3’s multiplayer – 1000 health and 1000 shields plus his offensive capabilities make him a force to be reckoned with. His play-style is simple: Charge, melee, kill, rinse, repeat. Biotic Charge and Barrier complement his stone skin, while Carnage kills off anything that has survived the first attacks. Give him the Graal Spike Thrower or the Geth Plasma Shotgun and he will reign supreme.

Oh, and one last thing: Don’t Charge Banshees – ever! They will insta-kill you. Phantoms are helpless against Charge though so make the most of it.

Rabidgames’ opinion: Honestly, Vanguard has never appealed to Rabidgames. However, its fun is obvious – point blank kills, enemies flying across the screen etc.