Mass Effect 2: The Vanguard

Image by Cystie via Flickr

This morning on my way to work I was browsing sites on my mobile broadband as usual, when I came across this gem. Details on the new Vanguard! Mass Effect fans rejoice.

Having a read on IGN, it looks like a lot of work is being put into making sure that this time around, the classes are very unique.

Beforehand, the Vanguard was a mix between the biotic and the soldier – this basically meant that you could pack a punch with “castable” abilities such as lift, throw and singularity and also be pretty handy with weapons too. This changes come Mass Effect 2.

The new Vanguard, as you will read below, has now become a hard hitting, fast-paced class – you will be charging into enemies and pulling them toward you, this means that you’ll have to use the classes ability to deal massive damage at close range with precision and skill – or die trying.

The Vanguard will also be able to put points into improved negotiation techniques, making the class ideal for those who liked the story and conversational pieces from Mass Effect 1.

IGN: What was the most important improvement you felt needed to be made for the Vanguard class?

Christina Norman: We wanted playing the Vanguard to feel totally different from playing a Soldier or Adept. Our mantra for the Vanguard was high-risk high-reward, and we designed the Vanguard’s unique Biotic Charge power to enable this kind of gameplay.

The most dangerous situation you can find yourself in when you’re playing Mass Effect 2 is when an enemy closes with you. At short range all weapons are incredibly deadly. Most classes do their best to stay far away from their enemies, but Vanguards embrace this deadly style of combat.

When a Vanguard charges, he propels himself with biotic energy directly towards his target, striking him with incredible force. On impact, the Vanguard’s defensive barriers are boosted. This gives the Vanguard a few seconds to take down any other enemies, before they finish the Vanguard.

Playing a Vanguard is a constant rush. Every charge is devastating, and taking down nearby enemies when you land is always an intense.

You can read the rest of the article here. There’s also a game play trailer here. Thanks IGN!

Mass Effect, Steam and DLC

Mass Effect! Some people love it, some people hate it. But overall, this is one of my favourite games.  I’m going to get to Steam and DLC for the game – but first I’d like to offer a bit of information about the game to those who haven’t played it.

First off, the story. If you’re into deep, immersive and well thought out plots, this game is for you. Here’s what we have:

Source

Mass Effect has a word count of around 400,000 words – somewhere in the area of 4-5 full novels. But, unlike a novel, we also have visual images and other ways to tell a story. Our word count would be even higher if we had to describe settings or characters, but we actually have art and graphics to do that for us. I think a better comparison to give the full scope of our game is to use movie scripts. In Mass Effect, every line of dialog has full voice over, and we have 20,000+ lines of dialog – roughly the equivalent of 20 movies. That seems like a lot – and it is – but it’s necessary to keep a player engaged in our game and story for the 20+ hour critical path.

The game would take forever to cover here, but in essence the game is an action RPG set in our galaxy, the Milky Way. Dialog offers a number of options when talking to a massive amount of NPCs in game – most of these options feature an “aggressive/violent”, “neutral” or “nice/do-gooder” reply. Talent trees also offer you the chance to put points into ‘Charm” and “Intimidate”, these all affect the game. Which missions you get, which planets you can visit and more.

The game has a huge amount of content besides this, but I won’t review the game here. I’ll let you see for yourself.

Image via Wikipedia

In the year 2148, explorers on Mars discovered the remains of an ancient spacefaring civilization. In the decades that followed, these mysterious artifacts revealed startling new technologies, enabling travel to the furthest stars. The basis for this incredible technology was a force that controlled the very fabric of space and time.

They called it the greatest discovery in human history.

The civilizations of the galaxy call it… MASS EFFECT.

If you think it sounds interesting, take a look at the wiki page. I’ve not had a chance to read all of it yet, so watch out for possible spoilers.

Onto my main point though, DLC on the Steam version of the game. If you bought the Steam version of the game, this is for you. I had to read loads of posts regarding this yesterday, but no one gave an easy step to step guide. The instructions were spread over multiple threads and multiple posts – understandably because the DLC wasn’t working for a very long time on the Steam version of the game.

But here’s what I did to make Bring Down the Sky work on the Steam version:

(note that if you want to follow on-site instructions, click here)

(I actually had to do steps 1-3 on my mobile broadband because my net didn’t want to work on the laptop, but this shouldn’t affect the outcome at all.)

1. Sign into your Bioware or EA account via either one of these links. Alternatively, sign up for a Bioware or EA account via one of these links. I personally signed up for the Bioware account.
2. Log in.
3. Now, register your CD key. You can find your CD key for the Steam version of the game by following this path: Steam\SteamApps\common\mass effect\Binaries\MassEffectConfig.exe. If you installed Steam to the default directory, you should be able to find the Steam at C:\Program Files\Steam. Don’t give out your CD key to anyone/anything over than the Bioware site and the installer.
4. After registering your CD key, the CD key for Bring Down the Sky will be listed. Make sure to keep this page open, or save the key somewhere – you’ll need it on the installer. If you can’t see your CD key or have lost where to find it, it should be here
5. Download the installer for Bring Down the Sky:
   • English, Spanish (309 MB)
   • French (465 MB)
   • Italian (469 MB)
   • German (512 MB)
6. Once this is downloaded, run the file to start the install.
7. Enter your Bring Down the Sky CD key, the one you saved on step 4.
8. Play!

Step 8 seems pretty simple, but it can be a pain in the ass. I actually got a ‘Mass Effect has stopped working’ error after the install. I simply closed Steam and re-opened it via ‘Run as Administrator’. You can also restart your PC or verify the files through Steam if that doesn’t work.

Image via Wikipedia

Hopefully this will help someone install the DLC with a little more ease. As for Pinnacle station, I haven’t tried installing it yet – I want to complete the play through I’m currently on. I’ll edit this post when I do though. If anyone has any info about that, feel free to comment.

Feedback welcomed.

I was also wondering what class people enjoyed the most? I’ve tried a few, but I always go back to my Biotic/Adept Bastion with the Assault Rifle unlockable. There’s nothing like putting a singularity in the middle of a room, or putting a Thresher Maw into stasis and meleeing it!

Update: Getting Pinnacle Station installed onto your steam version of Mass Effect is a cake walk compared to the Bring Down the Sky DLC. Just goto the EA store, buy and download Pinnacle Station and the installer will do the rest.

Pinnacle station is quite fun from what I tried. It has things like Survival mode and King of the hill, very entertaining… especially on Insanity mode!

• mEnglish, Spanish (309 MB)
• French (465 MB)
• Italian (469 MB)
• German (512 MB