Infinity Ward isn't necessarily the most adventerous game studio out there; after breaking off from the development team that made Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, it went on to make two more World War II first-person shooter games, Call of Duty and Call of Duty 2. Both were exceptional, but they also helped form a glut of WWII shooters that practically drowned consoles and PCs in the early part of this decade.
Now, though, Infinity Ward has updated its game engine for next-generation consoles and has also updated the setting. Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat takes place in a contemporary setting, with real-world guns and a taut storyline that draws upon the issues of the day. It's not going to revolutionize the shooter genre--in the end, you still have to point and shoot--but it's a welcome departure from the world of potato mashers and MP44s. (Well, mostly…)
GameSpot's Primer to Call of Duty 4 isn't intended to be a full game guide with a walk-through and all the works, because the game is pretty simple to play, so long as you can point a gun and pull a trigger. Instead, here's what you can expect from this primer:

Intel Locations

There are 30 pieces of Intel in the single-player game. Finding them will let you unlock new cheats for the single-player game after completing it once. They appear in the game world as laptops; to pick them up, you simply need to find the laptop and pick it up. If you miss a piece of intel, don't worry: you can try to find it again by re-playing the level it's on.
Here's a list of all 30 intel locations. A list of cheats is available after the locations.

Prologue

Crew Expendable

Intel One: This intel is located in the room the drunk soldier comes out of when you first enter the ship, near the two sleeping soldiers.

Intel Two: After clearing the deck, you'll head into the hold of the ship. You'll eventually reach the cargo holds. After Captain Price throws a flashbang through a door, follow him through and head to the bottom of the steps. The laptop is on the floor near the hole in the metal grate.

Act I

Blackout

Intel Three: At the beginning of the level, you'll come to a few Russians standing outside a shack overlooking the swamp. Head into the shack to find the laptop.
Intel Four: On the second floor of the building where you need to use night vision goggles, check the bathroom before you rescue Nikolai. The laptop is near the toilet.

Charlie Don't Surf

Intel Five: After reaching the target building at the beginning of the level, head downstairs into the room filled with weapons. A small room through a doorway from this room will have the laptop near a television set.
Intel Six: After exiting the first target building, stick to the right as best you can. You'll bypass the firefight amongst the corrugated steel. If you stick to the right, you'll eventually come to a building with a light blue interior and stairs leading up. The second floor holds the intel. If you get to the point where you fight someone in a technical (pickup truck with a machinegun in the back of it), you've gone too far.
Intel Seven: After defeating the soldier in the technical (pickup truck with a machinegun in it), you'll cross the main road. It's easy to miss, but one of the buildings on the right will have steps leading up to the second floor. Look for a poster of a red fist on the wall with a star above it; the stairs will be immediately next to it. Head up them to find the third piece of intel in the level.

The Bog

Intel Eight: In the first building that you enter, you'll be tasked with using the enemy machinegun emplacements against them. After doing so, return to the hallway of the second floor, where your soldiers will breach a door. Head through the door to reach the first piece of intel.

Intel Nine: After using the Javelin to destroy the enemy vehicles, you'll head into the alleyway between you and the Abrams. Check behind a pallette of cardboard boxes in one of the alleyway's corners to reach the next piece of intel.

Hunted

Intel Ten: Near the beginning of the level, you'll be hunted by a helicopter. After entering the basement of the building nearby, fight your way to the first floor and out the front door (where you'll likely encounter a flashbang grenade attack). After the flashbang, head outside and into the building on your right to find the laptop.
Intel 11: Eventually you'll head through two greenhouses. When Price tells you "The helicopter's making another pass!", look around for the tin roof between the second greenhouse and the barn where the Stingers are located. The laptop is underneath that roof.

War Pig

Intel 12: Near the beginning of the level, you'll escort the tank out of the bog. After it crushes the abandoned car, stick to the right side of the street. One of the buildings there will have a second story. Take the stairs up and access the laptop to find the intel.
Intel 13: When you find the first piece of intel, jump out of the building and cross the street. To the southeast, you'll find another two-story building. In one of the rooms here, you should find a cot with a laptop on it.
Intel 14: Near the end of the level, you'll reach an alley full of cars, overlooked by a pair of machineguns. Fight your way to the MGs. The room that they're in will have the laptop.

Shock And Awe

Intel 15: The halfway mark will be reached in the same room where you encounter the stranted recon team on the second floor of a building. Look to their right and you'll see the laptop behind some barrels.
Intel 16: After you meet the recon squad, you'll jump down to a firefight with a lot of troops. Some of them will be firing at you from the windows of the second story of a building. Fight your way into the building, climb the stairs to the second floor, and look into the bathroom there for the intel.

Bulletstorm is a 2011 first-person shooter video game developed by People Can Fly and Epic Games,^[1] and is published by Electronic Arts for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. The game was released on February 22, 2011 in North America and on February 25, 2011 in Europe.^[3]
The game is distinguished by its sense of style and crass humor, rewarding players with points for performing increasingly ludicrous and creative kills. Bulletstorm does not have any competitive multiplayer modes, preferring instead to include cooperative online play as well as score attack modes

Plot

Bulletstorm takes place in the 26th century, where the universe is run by the Confederation of Planets. Star General Saranno sends his secret black ops team to do his dirty work, the Dead Echo team, led by Grayson Hunt (Steven Blum). Following Sarrano's orders and assassinating those whom they believe are criminals, Dead Echo kill a man known as Bryce Novak, but soon discover he was a civilian reporter, documenting civilian deaths caused by Dead Echo. Grayson and his team realize they have been duped by Sarrano and desert, becoming space pirates on the run from Sarrano's forces.
Ten years later, Grayson drunkenly attacks Sarrano's battlecruiser, the Ulysses, while near the planet of Stygia. Grayson rams the Ulysses, hoping to gain revenge on Sarrano. The ships collide, forcing both to crash land on the surface of Stygia. One of Grayson's men, Ishi Sato (Andrew Kishino), is critically wounded in the crash and Grayson is forced to find an energy cell to drive the ship's medical equipment. On the planet, a former popular tropical-like resort destination, the population has mutated into feral tribes and carnivorous plants. Grayson fights through to one of the Ulysses escape pods, and retrieves the escape pod's energy cell, as well as an "instinct leash." The leash, when worn, begins to provide him strange tactile information, such as points for each enemy he kills.
Grayson returns with the cell, and while Ishi is under operation, the mutants attack their ship, leaving Ishi a disfigured cyborg. Grayson and Ishi, the only survivors, decide to work together to get off the planet, despite Ishi's disapproval of Grayson's thirst for revenge. The instinct leash leads Grayson to another escape pod, where they find Trishka (Jennifer Hale), a Final Echo soldier who agrees to work with Grayson and Ishi, but only after they rescue Sarrano. As they battle through the ravaged city, Trishka explains that Stygia has been used by Final Echo as a sort of training grounds, with the instinct leashes the soldiers wear as a means of ranking those within the test; those that scored kills would be the only ones that could get ammunition and other supplies to survive. When Grayson learns that Trishka was Novak's daughter, he tells her that Sarrano was responsible for her father's death, but claims he does not know who actually killed him.
The three make their way to the top of a skyscraper where Sarrano's pod landed. Trishka accuses Sarrano of her father's death, but he simply pushes her off the side of the building. Sarrano then warns Grayson and Ishi that there is an armed "DNA bomb" on the Ulysses that will wipe out all life on the planet, and they must go and disarm it, as his rescue ship will not arrive in time. As they travel underground, Sarrano explains that prison convicts were used as the labor force to maintain the planet; they rebelled when toxic byproducts, created by the planet's solar radiation shields, were dumped in the underground prison. The convicts destroyed the shields, exposing the entire population to mutating radiation.
Aboard the Ulysses, Sarrano tricks Grayson and Ishi into arming what was actually an inert bomb, and leaves them to die. As fire breaks out aboard the fallen ship, the two are saved by Trishka, who survived the fall by catching a power line on her way down.
The three race to where Sarrano's rescue ship is landing and manage to get on board. They make their way through Sarrano's elite troops and eventually face Sarrano alone. Trishka demands to know who actually killed her father, and Sarrano reveals Grayson's squad carried out the order. As they talk, Sarrano hijacks Ishi's computer systems with his own leash, forcing Ishi to turn on his friends. Grayson manages to break Sarrano's control of Ishi, and Ishi sacrifices himself to save Grayson. Grayson then impales Sarrano on the wall of a ship, leaving him for dead, but Sarrano performs one final act: ejecting Grayson, Trishka and several of his men from the ship back onto the planet.
Grayson and Trishka race back to the Ulysses where one escape pod remains unlaunched; they are able to board it and escape into low orbit, propelled into space by the explosion of the DNA bomb. Grayson and Trishka have a short chat in the escape pod concerning Grayson's revenge, the loss of his team, and Sarrano's escape. The scene fades after Trishka asks Grayson what he is going to do about Sarrano escaping.
After the credits, it is revealed that Sarrano was revived, now a cyborg like Ishi, and Ishi has also been revived now under Sarrano's control.

Gameplay

As a first-person shooter, Bulletstorm focuses on combat, both with firearms and melee attacks. There are a variety of fictional firearms available, although the game also places heavy emphasis on kicking enemies and using the energy leash.
The weapons range from a pistol to a cannon that shoots a bolas weighted by grenades. The player can aim down the weapon's iron sights or optical sights for increased accuracy. Each weapon has an "alternate fire" mode which uses charges; for example, the assault rifle's alternate fire is a single blast of bullets that destroy almost everything in its path. Much of the story and gameplay revolves around the "energy leash", a rope of energy projected from a device on Grayson's left hand. The leash allows him to pull enemies towards him, activate certain devices and traps, and slam down a ball of energy that launches all nearby enemies into the air. The player can also kick enemies and run and slide into them. If an enemy is launched into the air from the whip or by being kicked, the enemy goes into slow motion to allow the player more opportunity to perform skillshots.
One of the game's unique features is the "skillshot" gameplay system, which rewards the player for killing opponents in the most creative and destructive ways possible, from killing an enemy in midair to pushing an enemy into a carnivorous plant to executing an enemy after shooting him in the testicles. The more complicated or unusual the skillshot, the more points players acquire. The points are used to purchase weapons and upgrades. The weapons are unlocked at set points throughout the game, and after a weapon has been "re-armed" by purchasing it, a "charge shot" for the gun is unlocked at another set point.
Points are used as currency at "dropkits" scattered across the planet, which the player can use to replenish munitions. The dropkits include a gun shop, a skillshot checklist, and gameplay statistics. The player cannot upgrade their weapons, but can equip different guns, purchase ammunition, upgrade the amount of ammunition they can carry, and even purchase special-ammunition "charges". The player can equip up to three weapons, the assault rifle being the default weapon; it is always equipped, and is considered the main prop weapon in cutscenes.
Bulletstorm uses a recharging health system, in which damage to the player is reflected by the screen turning red, and the player quickly returns to full health when not taking damage.

 

 

This article is about the 2000 video game. For the series, see Deus Ex (series). For other uses, see Deus ex machina (disambiguation).

Deus Ex (abbreviated DX^[3] and  /ˌdeɪ.əs ˈɛks/ DAY-əs EKS) is an action role-playing game developed by Ion Storm Inc. and published by Eidos Interactive in 2000, which combines gameplay elements of first-person shooters with those of role-playing video games. The game received universal critical and industry acclaim, including being named "Best PC Game of All Time" in PC Gamer's Top 100 PC Games^[4] and in a poll carried out by UK gaming magazine PC Zone.^[5] It was a frequent candidate for and winner of Game of the Year awards,^[6][7][8][9] drawing praise for its pioneering designs in player choice and multiple narrative paths.^[10][11] It has sold more than 1 million copies, as of April 23, 2009.^[12]
Set in a dystopian world during the year 2052, the central plot follows rookie United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition agent JC Denton, as he sets out to combat terrorist forces, which have become increasingly prevalent in a world slipping ever further into chaos. As the plot unfolds, Denton becomes entangled in a deep and ancient conspiracy, encountering organizations such as Majestic 12, the Illuminati, and the Hong Kong Triads throughout his journey.
First published for personal computers running Windows, Deus Ex was later ported to Macintosh systems, as well the PlayStation 2 game console, the latter under the title Deus Ex: The Conspiracy. Loki Games worked on a Linux version of the game, but the company went out of business before releasing it.^[13] The game has spawned both a sequel, Deus Ex: Invisible War, which was released in December 2003, for both Microsoft Windows and the Xbox video game console^[14] and a prequel, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, which was released in August 2011.^[15]

Gameplay

Deus Ex incorporates elements from four video game genres: role-playing, first-person shooter, adventure, and "immersive simulation", the last of which being a game where "nothing reminds you that you're just playing a game".^[16] For example, the game uses a first-person camera during gameplay and includes exploration and character interaction as primary features.^[16]
The player assumes the role of JC Denton, a nanotech-augmented operative of the United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition (UNATCO).^[17] This nanotechnology is a central gameplay mechanism, and allows players to perform superhuman feats.

Role-playing elements

As the player accomplishes objectives, the player character is rewarded with "skill points". Skill points are used to enhance a character's abilities in eleven different areas, and were designed to provide players with a way to customize their characters;^[16] a player might create a combat-focused character by increasing proficiency with pistols or rifles, while a more furtive character can be created by focusing on lock picking and computer hacking abilities. There are four different levels of proficiency in each skill, with the skill point cost increasing for each successive level.^[18]
Weapons may be customized through "weapon modifications", which can be found or purchased throughout the game. The player might add scopes, silencers, or laser sights; increase the weapon's range, accuracy, or magazine size; or decrease its recoil and reload time. Not all modifications are available to all weapons; for example, a rocket launcher cannot be silenced, and recoil cannot be reduced on a flamethrower.
Players are further encouraged to customize their characters through nano-augmentations—cybernetic devices that grant characters superhuman powers. While the game contains eighteen different nano-augmentations, the player can install a maximum of nine, as each must be used on a certain part of the body: one in the arms, legs, eyes, and head; two underneath the skin; and three in the torso.^[19] This forces the player to choose carefully between the benefits offered by each augmentation. For example, the arm augmentation requires the player to decide between boosting their character's skill in hand-to-hand combat or his ability to lift heavy objects.
Interaction with non-player characters was a large design focus.^[16] When the player interacts with a non-player character, the game will enter a cutscene-like conversation mode where the player advances the conversation by selecting from a list of dialogue options. The player's choices often have a substantial effect on both gameplay and plot, as non-player characters will react in different ways depending on the selected answer (e.g. rudeness makes them less likely to provide assistance).

Combat elements

Deus Ex features combat similar to first-person shooters, with real-time action, a first-person perspective, and reflex-based gameplay.^[16] As the player will often encounter enemies in groups, combat often tends toward a tactical approach, including the use of cover, strafing, and "hit-and-run". A USA Today reviewer found "At the easiest difficulty setting, your character is pureed again and again by an onslaught of human and robotic terrorists until you learn the value of stealth."^[20] However, through the game's role-playing systems (see above), it is possible to develop a character's skills and augmentations to create a tank-like combat specialist with the ability to deal and absorb large amounts of damage.^[21] Non-player characters will praise or criticize the main character depending on his use of force, incorporating a moral element into the gameplay.^[22]
Deus Ex features a head-up display crosshair, whose size dynamically shows where shots will fall based on movement, aim, and the weapon in use; the reticle expands while the player is moving or shifting his or her aim, and slowly shrinks to its original size while no actions are taken.^[17] How quickly the reticle shrinks depends on the character's proficiency with the equipped weapon, the number of accuracy modifications added to the weapon, and the level of the "targeting" nano-augmentation.
Deus Ex features twenty-four weapons, ranging from crowbars, electroshock weapons, and riot baton, to laser guided anti-tank rockets and assault rifles;^[17] both lethal and non-lethal weapons are available. The player can also make use of several weapons of opportunity, such as fire extinguishers.

 Player choice

Gameplay in Deus Ex emphasizes player choice, which GameSpot's review explains: "Deus Ex is quite long for an action-packed first-person game", it states, "but even so, most of its situations present you with two or three possible solutions."^[23] Objectives can be completed in numerous ways, including stealth, sniping, heavy frontal assault, dialogue, or engineering and computer hacking. This level of freedom requires that levels, characters, and puzzles be designed with significant redundancy, as a single play-through of the game will miss large sections of dialogue, areas, and other content. In some missions the player is encouraged to avoid using deadly force, and certain aspects of the story may change depending on how violent or non-violent the player chooses to be. The game is also unusual in that two of its "boss" villains can be killed off early in the game, or left alive to be defeated later, and this too affects how other characters interact with the player.
Because of its design focus on player choice, Deus Ex has been compared with System Shock, a game that inspired its design.^[24][25] Together, these factors give the game a great degree of replayability, as the player will have vastly different experiences, depending on which methods he or she uses to accomplish objectives.

Multiplayer

Deus Ex was designed as a single player game, and the initial releases of the Windows and Macintosh versions of the game did not include multiplayer functionality.^[26] Support for multiplayer modes was later incorporated through patches.^[27] The component includes three game modes: deathmatch, basic team deathmatch, and advanced team deathmatch. Only five maps, based on levels from the single-player portion of the game, were included with the original multiplayer patch, but many user-created maps now exist.^[27] The PlayStation 2 release of Deus Ex does not offer a multiplayer mode.^[28]

Plot

Setting

Deus Ex takes place in a dystopian future in a world that draws heavily upon present day conspiracy theories. This dark setting is enhanced by the fact that the entire game takes place at night, a backdrop that adds to the atmosphere of conspiracies and stealth. The game contradicts itself in several instances regarding the exact year in which the events of the story take place, but information in the sequel Deus Ex: Invisible War reconciles this inconsistency via retroactive continuity, placing the events of Deus Ex in the year 2052.^[29] Most of the game takes place in fictionalized versions of real-world locations, including New York City, Hong Kong, Paris, Vandenberg Air Force Base, and Area 51.
The plot of Deus Ex depicts a society on a slow spiral into chaos. A lethal pandemic known as the "Gray Death" ravages the world's population, especially within the United States, and has no cure. A synthetic vaccine, "Ambrosia", manufactured by the company VersaLife, nullifies the effects of the virus, but is in critically short supply. Because of its scarcity, Ambrosia is available only to those deemed "vital to the social order", and finds its way primarily to government officials, military personnel, the rich and influential, scientists, and the intellectual elite. With no hope for the common people of the world, riots occur worldwide, and a number of terrorist organizations have formed with the professed intent of assisting the downtrodden, among them the National Secessionist Force of the U.S. and a French group known as Silhouette.
In order to combat these threats to the world order, the United Nations has greatly expanded its governmental influence around the globe. The United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition (UNATCO) is formed, with the intent of maintaining peace internationally and combating the world's ever-growing number of terrorist groups.^[30] It is headquartered near New York City in a bunker beneath Liberty Island, placed there after a terrorist strike on the Statue of Liberty.^[31]

Synopsis

The player assumes the identity of JC Denton, a nanotechnologically-augmented ("nano-aug") UNATCO agent. After completing his training, JC takes several missions given by Director Joseph Manderley to track down members of the National Secessionist Forces (NSF) and their stolen shipments of the "Ambrosia" vaccine, the cure for the "Gray Death" virus. Through these missions, JC is reunited with his brother, Paul, who is also nano-augmented. JC tracks the Ambrosia shipment to a private terminal at LaGuardia Airport. Paul meets JC outside the plane, and explains that he has defected from UNATCO and is now working with the NSF after learning that the Gray Death is a man-made virus, with UNATCO using its power to make sure only the elite receive the vaccine.^[32]
JC returns to UNATCO headquarters and is told by Manderley that both he and Paul have been outfitted with a 24-hour kill switch, and that Paul's has been activated due to his betrayal. Manderley orders JC to fly to Hong Kong to eliminate Tracer Tong, a hacker whom Paul has contact with, and who can disable the kill switches. Instead, JC returns to Paul's apartment to find Paul hiding inside. Paul further explains his defection and encourages JC to also defect by sending out a distress call to alert the NSF's allies. Upon doing so, JC becomes a wanted man by UNATCO, and his own kill switch is activated by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Director Walton Simons. JC is unable to escape UNATCO forces, and both he and Paul (provided he survived the raid on the apartment) are taken to a secret prison below UNATCO headquarters. An entity named "Daedalus" contacts JC and informs him that the prison is part of Majestic 12, and arranges for him and Paul to escape. The two flee to Hong Kong to meet with Tong, who deactivates their kill switches. Tong requests JC infiltrate the VersaLife building. Doing so, JC discovers that the corporation is the source for the Gray Death, and he is able to steal the plans for the virus and destroy the "universal constructor" that produces it.^[33]
Analysis of the virus shows it was manufactured by the Illuminati, prompting Tong to send JC to Paris to try to make contact with the organization and obtain their help fighting Majestic 12. JC eventually meets with Illuminati leader Morgan Everett, and learns that the Gray Death virus was intended to be used for augmentation technology, but Majestic 12, led by trillionaire businessman and former Illuminatus Bob Page, was able to steal and repurpose it into its current viral form. Everett recognizes that without VersaLife's universal constructor, Majestic 12 can no longer create the virus, and will likely target Vandenberg Air Force Base, where X-51, a group of former Area 51 scientists, has built another one. After aiding the base personnel in repelling a Majestic 12 attack, JC meets X-51 leader Gary Savage, who reveals that Daedalus is an artificial intelligence borne out of the ECHELON program. Everett attempts to gain control over Majestic 12's communications network by releasing Daedalus onto the U.S. military networks, but Page counters by releasing his own AI, Icarus, which merges with Daedalus to form a new AI, Helios, with the ability to control all global communications. After this, Savage enlists JC's help in procuring schematics for reconstructing components for the UC that were damaged during Majestic 12's raid of Vandenberg. JC finds the schematics and electronically transmits them to Savage, but they are intercepted by Page as well, who launches a nuclear missile at Vandenberg to ensure that Area 51, which is now Majestic 12's headquarters, will be the only location in the world with an operational UC. However, JC is able to reprogram the missile to strike Area 51. JC then travels there himself to confront Page.
When JC locates him, Page reveals that he seeks to merge with Helios and gain full control over all nanotechnology. JC is contacted by Tong, Everett, and the Helios AI simultaneously. All three factions ask for his help in defeating Page, while furthering their own objectives, and JC is forced to choose between them. Tong seeks to plunge the world into a second Dark Age by destroying the global communications hub and preventing anyone from taking control of the world.^[34] Everett offers Denton the chance to bring the Illuminati back to power by killing Bob Page and using the technology of Area 51 to rule the world with an invisible hand.^[35] Helios wishes to merge with Denton and rule the world as a benevolent dictator with infinite knowledge and reason.^[36] The player's decision determines the course of the future, and brings the game to a close.

Literary and popular culture allusions

Name etymology

The title "Deus Ex" is derived from the Latin expression deus ex machina, literally meaning "god out of the machine". It is used in drama and literature to describe an outside force that suddenly solves the seemingly unsolvable problem(s) the characters face in an extremely unlikely or impossible way. Warren Spector, executive producer for Deus Ex, has stated the name was both meant as a reference to the various factions in the game who aspire to god-like powers, as well as a dig at the typical video game plot, which tends to be laden with "deus ex machina" artifices and other poor script writing techniques.^[37]
What the JC initialism in the protagonist's codename, JC Denton, means is unclear. The story itself makes no references to what the initials stand for. Harvey Smith, lead designer for Deus Ex, has stated that originally JC was supposed to be a descendant of Jesus Christ; however, Warren Spector has said the name "JC" was chosen for its unisex qualities when the developers were still planning to let the player choose the gender of the main character, which was used later in the game's first sequel, Deus Ex: Invisible War, where the player took on the unisex name 'Alex D' and could choose for the protagonist to be either male or female.^[38][39]

Literary works

Deus Ex features a text-reading system that allows the player to read terminals and notes, as well as excerpts from newspapers and books found in various locations within the game level. These various bits of media serve a variety of purposes, from providing the player with useful gameplay information (such as a needed keycode), to the advancement of the plot, to the creation of atmosphere and metafictional irony. It is this last aspect that is most prevalent in the novels found in Deus Ex, with excerpts usually providing reflective commentary on the player's current situation. Such real-life works as The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton, Sun Tzu's The Art of War, Common Sense by Thomas Paine, and Shakespeare's Richard III are used for this purpose throughout the game.
Along with these is Jacob's Shadow, a work of fiction created by Chris Todd, one of the writers for the game. It is attributed to the fictitious author Andrew Hammond (in homage to crime writer Andrew Vachss).^[40] The first chapter displayed is Chapter Twelve with a subsequent six other chapters (fifteen, twenty, twenty-three, twenty-seven, thirty-two, and thirty-four) that portray the cyberpunk themes of the game in the style of William Gibson. The book appears to be a violent, spiritual journey of a man named Jacob as he searches for a woman, who is never named, through a city described as 'Hell'.^[41] A chapter from a "sequel" to Jacob's Shadow, titled Jacob's War, can be found in the game's sequel Deus Ex: Invisible War.
A number of other more subtle fiction references also permeate the game. For instance, The Man Who Was Thursday protagonist Gabriel Syme's name appears in a hotel register, along with the names of fellow literary characters Gully Foyle, Oberst Enzian, Smilla Jasperson, and Hippolyta Hall (from the The Stars My Destination, Gravity's Rainbow, Smilla's Sense of Snow, and various DC Comics series respectively). Another comic reference is "Harleen Quinzel", being an MJ12 employee who sends an e-mail out about a "company picnic". Other literary sources alluded to include Olaf Stapledon's Last and First Men, Neal Stephenson's cyberpunk novel The Diamond Age, Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, and the Ancient Greek myth of Icarus and Daedalus.^[3] The name of the AI Helios and the merging of JC with it may also be a reference to Euripedes' Medea, Medea appearing at the end of the play in the sun god Helios' chariot (a machine from the gods). Continuing the seam of literature references "O" and "René" from Histoire d'O can be found in conversation in Flat 12 in Paris.
Allusions are also incorporated into computer security passwords and e-mails encountered during the course of the game. An instance of this is the code "reindeerflotilla", a password originally used in the 1982 science fiction film Tron. Another is an e-mail found on Paul Denton's computer containing a notice from a movie rental company. It mentions the fictional movies See You Next Wednesday and Blue Harvest. "See You Next Wednesday" is a reference to the famous signature appearing in most of John Landis' films, while Blue Harvest was the code name used during the filming of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.
Gunther's killphrase "Laputan Machine" is a reference to the fictional island of Laputa from Gulliver's Travels.
This practice also extends to the ubiquitous key codes found in most levels of the game, with examples including the first door-code in the game being "0451", "an allusion to System Shock's allusion to Fahrenheit 451 (the first code in System Shock was also 451)" according to Harvey Smith,^[40] as well as the sequence "8675309" opening the only 7-digit key code lock in the game. There also exists a "Lord Brinne" tombstone found in the Baltimore Cemetery level, which is actually a memorial for the real life Bill Iburg, an RPG fan and regular of multiple forums who died in 1999.^[42][43]
The name "Marcy Plaigrond" is also tucked into a message cube in Paul Denton's secret computer room, referring to the name of the band "Marcy Playground".

Real world parallels

Conspiracies are one of the main themes of Deus Ex, and the game draws heavily upon popular real world conspiracy theories for many of its plot elements. These include speculations regarding black helicopters, vaccinations, and FEMA, as well as Area 51, the ECHELON network, Men in Black, cow mutilations, chupacabras (in the form of "greasels"), and extraterrestrials. Mysterious groups such as Majestic 12, the Illuminati, the Knights Templar, the Bilderberg Group, and the Trilateral Commission also either play a central part in the plot, or are alluded to during the course of the game.
During sections of the game where the New York skyline is visible in the background, the two towers of the World Trade Center are noticeably missing; the real towers were destroyed a year after the game was released. Harvey Smith has explained that due to texture memory limitations, the portion of the skyline with the twin towers exists in the game's data files but had to be left out of the final game, with the other half mirrored in place of it. According to Smith, during the game's development, the developers justified the lack of the towers by stating that terrorists had destroyed the World Trade Center earlier in the game's storyline.^[38]

 

 

 

 

Mass Effect 3 is an action role-playing game developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.^[9] Officially announced on December 11, 2010,^[10][11] the game was released March 6, 2012^[12] and marks the final chapter in the Mass Effect trilogy of video games, completing the story of Commander Shepard.^[13][14]
Gameplay in Mass Effect 3 is influenced by decisions made in Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, for players who have completed those games. Combat has been changed and refined; in particular, the cover system has been improved, there are more options for moving around the battlefield, instant melee kills and more conventional grenades are introduced as well as improved artificial intelligence. A four player multiplayer co-op mode is also available.

Gameplay

Players with saved files from Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 are given the option of importing them into Mass Effect 3.^[16] If a saved file is imported, over 1,000 variables are pulled that will help shape how the final chapter is experienced.^[17] If there are no saved files available, there are no origin-story comics for new players to help them make quick decisions like there were in Mass Effect 2.^[18] Imported characters' appearance and class are changeable, with more features and hair-styles included in the character creator than in Mass Effect 2.^[5][19] Commander Shepard will always start the game with some powers.^[20] Upon finishing the game, there is a New Game+ option that allows players to continue playing after the main story ends or start again with their finished Shepard and collect items they missed the first time around.^[21] The game has 82 minutes of cut-scenes.^[22]
Mass Effect 3 has three pre-set campaign modes: Action Mode, Story Mode, and RPG Mode.^[23] In Action Mode, conversations will have automatic replies and a normal combat difficulty. In Story Mode, conversations will have manual replies and a minimal combat difficulty. In RPG Mode, conversations will have manual replies and a normal combat difficulty. This last mode is reflective of the typical Mass Effect series experience. Overall, the RPG elements in the game have been improved over those in Mass Effect 2, with a more detailed leveling up system and increased weapon customization.^[24] To level up characters, players will have skills that start along a single path and then eventually splinter into two branches where they can select only one upgrade or the other along a sequence of possibilities.^[25] Players will also be able to customize their weapons with different scopes, mods, barrels and ammo types.^[26] There are 25 weapon mods total — five per weapon type — and each of them will have multiple power levels to collect.^[27] To select dialog options, players can use Kinect to speak their choices instead of selecting them with a controller.^[28]
As of August 23, 2011, BioWare has confirmed the return of previous characters Liara T'Soni, Kaidan Alenko or Ashley Williams, Miranda Lawson, the Illusive Man, Garrus Vakarian, Legion, Samara, Morinth, Tali'Zorah, Urdnot Wrex, Jack, Mordin Solus, David Anderson, Zaeed Massani, Kasumi Goto, Kelly Chambers, Thane Krios, Jacob Taylor and Ambassador Donnell Udina from Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2.^[5][20][29] Some characters will not return if they were killed at any point during the previous games. The number of characters available as permanent squad mates are smaller than in Mass Effect 2 for the purposes of deeper relationships and more interesting interplay, including same-sex relationship options for both male and female Shepards.^[30][31] If players achieved a love interest in both Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, then both previous love interests vie for Shepard's attention in Mass Effect 3.^[32] This "love triangle" is resolved by the end of the game. BioWare has also confirmed new characters names James Vega ^[33] (voiced by Freddy Prinze Jr.) and Diana Allers (voiced by Jessica Chobot, a staff writer from IGN).
The search and analysis mini-game has been changed from Mass Effect 2. Rather than scan individual planets, a setup described as tedious and boring^[who?], the Normandy scans a region of space for salvage or War Assets. If these are detected on a planet, the scanner system is still used to locate, but planets are no longer scanned individually. If an area being scanned has been invaded by the Reapers, the Reapers will eventually detect the Normandy's scans and move to intercept it.
The ongoing war against the Reapers is controlled by War Assets and Military Readiness. War Assets are collected throughout the game or are provided from previous game accomplishments. Military Readiness is predominantly affected by the multiplayer aspects of the game. As the players Readiness increases, the War Assets become more valuable. The number of Assets and the players readiness determine the players success in the final war against the Reapers.

Combat

Combat in Mass Effect 3 has been changed and refined from Mass Effect 2, and further emphasis has been put on third-person perspective aspects to make the game more commercially viable.^[34] In a preview for IGN, editor Arthur Gies went so far as to say the game "plays like a shooter" and that "combat-wise, Mass Effect 3 is in an entirely different space" from the first two games. In an article for bitgamer, Joe Martin gave a conflicting impression, noting that with regard to combat, "not a lot has changed".^[35]
The series' cover system has been improved so players no longer need to slide into cover and then hop over objects. Players will have more options for moving around the battlefield, including a refined sprint capability, combat rolling, and the use of climbable ladders. Players can also blindfire their weapons from covered positions, and have opportunities to shoot selected armor pieces and limbs off enemies.^[21] Verbal orders can be issued to move squad mates and use their powers with the use of Kinect.^[28] Moving and shooting, a "suicidal maneuver" in Mass Effect 2, will be a viable option because of a revised melee system.^[36] Players are able to execute formidable punches and attacks, and instant melee kills are introduced specific to each class; for example, by holding down the melee button, a soldier Shepard will deliver a killing blow with a tech-blade in his/her wrist armor. Actual, round, conventional grenades will also be available.
Mass Effect 3 plans to be the most difficult in the series, with increased artificial intelligence to challenge players and increase the sense of reward.^[37] Enemies no longer act as individuals as they did in the previous games, instead fighting and supporting each other in units. Enemies include 15-foot (4.6 m) tall Cerberus mechs, assault troopers, and ninja-style shock troops, as well as Reaperized husks of all races and Reaper ships ranging from 500 to 2,000 metres (1,600 to 6,600 ft) long.^[38][39] Some changes are made to already-existing class types; for example, Engineers are able to build turrets.

Multiplayer

Mass Effect 3 will offer a multiplayer co-op mode called "Galaxy at War".^[40] In the mode, players are able to play alongside up to three other players in unique missions that can impact the outcome of the single player campaign.^[41] Each mission was designed specifically for multiplayer, and will involve taking over enemy strongholds. By completing these missions, players will give themselves a better chance of attaining a perfect ending in the single player campaign; although, they are not necessary to do so. The mode has been compared to Gears of War's horde mode.^[42]
No characters from the single player campaign are featured in the multiplayer mode. Players will create brand new characters for themselves and be able to play as members of non-human species, including asari, drell, krogans, salarians, and turians.^[43] Every race will have unique powers – such as a "Krogan Charge" for krogans and different movement options out of cover between drell and humans.^[44] All classes are playable.^[42] The maximum level that created characters are able to reach is 20, and just like in the single player mode, leveling up will include skill branches.
The majority of missions are wave attacks in various locations against different enemy factions. The selections during configuring the game can affect experience gained and the overall difficulty of the mission. During the missions, random tasks will be assigned, allowing for the collection of credits to purchase equipment between missions. After a certain number of waves, the players retreat to an extraction point which they must hold until extracted.
Equipment and characters are acquired by the purchase of kits which contain random weapons, characters, and mods. The kits are purchased with multiplayer in-game credits or Microsoft Points.
Gameplay in the multiplayer mode will only allow for players to carry two guns at a time in their inventory, and there is no ring menu to change weapons; instead, weapons are changed by holding down a button.^[44] Only three powers per class are also available as opposed to those available during the single player game.

Downloadable content

As with the previous games, downloadable content (DLC) allows players quests that may or may not be tied to the main story. The first DLC mission being called From Ashes, which was leaked onto Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade. This gives players a Prothean squad mate, one weapon, an alternate costume for Shepard's squad, and lets them revisit a world from the original Mass Effect, Eden Prime. It is available as a free incentive to those that pre-order the N7 Collector's Edition. It was available the same day as the game.^[45] The second DLC pack was called the Resurgence Pack, released on April 10, 2012, for free. It included 2 new multiplayer maps, new weapons and new character classes and races to be unlocked in multiplayer, including the Asari Justicar Adept, Krogan Battlemaster Vanguard, Batarian Soldier, Batarian Sentinel, Geth Engineer and Geth Infiltrator

Synopsis

Background

The Mass Effect series of videogames details the adventures of Systems Alliance Commander Shepard as he/she tries to defeat a race of machines called the Reapers. In the Mass Effect 2 DLC Arrival, Shepard is contacted by Admiral Steven Hackett, who requests Shepard go into batarian space to rescue a deep cover agent named Dr. Amanda Kenson. After rescuing Kenson, Shepard learns that the Reapers are close to returning and delays them by destroying a mass relay. Consequently, 300,000 batarian colonists are killed and Shepard is ordered to appear on Earth for a trial regarding his/her decision.

Setting

Locations in Mass Effect 3 will include the salarian homeworld Sur'Kesh, the asari homeworld Thessia, the turian homeworld Palaven, the quarian homeworld Rannoch, a human mining base in a Martian crater, and a giant city on Earth representing the combination of Vancouver and Seattle.^[47] Players will also return to Tuchanka — the krogan homeworld — and the Citadel.^[48]

Plot

Mass Effect 3 begins on Earth, with Commander Shepard relieved of duty for the consequences of his/her actions in the Mass Effect 2 DLC pack Arrival,^[20] as the forces of Earth are overwhelmed by an oncoming Reaper onslaught. Admiral Anderson tasks Shepard with uniting the forces of the galaxy while he coordinates human resistance forces on Earth. Before leaving the system, Shepard stops at a research facility on Mars and saves former squadmate Liara T'Soni from Cerberus troopers. T'Soni has discovered blueprints in the Prothean ruins to a weapon that may have the power to destroy the Reapers. The blueprints are forwarded to Hackett, who dubs the weapon "The Crucible" and begins preparations for its construction.
The Citadel Council is reluctant to provide aid to Earth with Reapers attacking their own systems. To foster goodwill, Shepard is sent on various missions throughout the galaxy, gathering allies for the ongoing war and resources for the Crucible. In addition to opposition from the Reapers, Shepard must also fight the pro-human organization Cerberus, as the organization's leader, the Illusive Man, believes controlling the Reapers is better for humanity than destroying them.
Key missions include:

• Delivering a cure to the krogan genophage, to unite krogan and turian forces. Shepard must decide whether or not to actually cure the krogans or trick them to gain support from the salarians, who first devised the genophage to stop krogan expansion.
• Repelling a Cerberus attempt to take over the Citadel. If Shepard can't convince former squadmate Kaidan Alenko or Ashley Williams (one is guaranteed to have died during Mass Effect 1) that Councilor Udina organized the attack, Shepard must kill him/her. Udina dies in the process and Shepard encounters to Cerberus operative Kai Leng for the first time. Shepard may also be able to win salarian support by saving their Councilor from death at Leng's hands.
• Dealing with the quarians' attempt to retake their homeworld Rannoch from the geth. Shepard can side with one group in annihilating the other, or unite them.
• Defending the asari homeworld, Thessia, from the Reapers, whilst simultaneously attempting to gather information critical to the Crucible's construction. Shepard is directed to visit a specific asari temple, which contains a secret Prothean VI, Vendetta. Just as it is about to reveal information on the Catalyst, a crucial component of the Crucible, Kai Leng ambushes Shepard's team and steals it.
• Attacking Cerberus headquarters, as the first step towards repulsing the Reapers. The Illusive Man escapes, though Shepard kills Kai Leng and recovers Vendetta. It reveals that the Citadel itself is the Catalyst. Because the Illusive Man has been indoctrinated, he has shared this information with the Reapers, who have moved the Citadel to a defensive posture in Earth's orbit; as such, the series' final battle takes place there.

Admiral Hackett assembles the galaxy's forces and delivers an attack on the Reapers designed to retake the Citadel and combine it with the now-completed Crucible. Shepard is part of the assault on London, identified as the focal connection point from Earth to the Citadel. Due to heavy opposition, Shepard and Admiral Anderson are the only ones able to actually make it aboard the Citadel. They meet an obviously indoctrinated Illusive Man and manage to stop him, but not before Anderson is mortally wounded. Shepard opens the Citadel and the Crucible docks with it.
Shepard is then transported to the pinnacle of the Citadel, where the Crucible is docked and an artificial intelligence (resembling a child Shepard saw die on Earth) appears, identifying itself as the Catalyst and the Reapers' creator. It reveals that the Reaper cycle is an attempt to prevent organic life from wiping itself out by creating synthetic life; creators, the Catalyst argues, are always doomed to be destroyed by the created. The Catalyst characterizes the harvest as an ascendance, wherein advanced organic races are preserved in Reaper form and space is left for more primitive species to rise, evolve, and advance.
Since no other cycle had ever assembled the Crucible, the Catalyst has lost faith in the Reaper Cycle's ability to achieve its goal. It gives Shepard two choices: destroy the Reapers and all synthetic life (including Shepard, who is partly synthetic), take control of the Reapers directly; depending on in-game choices, Shepard may also have the option to convert all galactic life into a new form that is a synthesis between organic and synthetic life. Regardless of Shepard's choice, all three endings result in Shepard's apparent death and the destruction of the entire mass relay network. London, and by extension the rest of Earth, can suffer varying degrees of additional damage, dependent on the number and strength of the allies Shepard gathered. The Normandy, fleeing Earth via a mass-relay jump, crashes and becomes stranded on an alien planet.
If the player's Effective Military Strength is high enough and the "destroy" ending is chosen, Shepard is briefly seen lying in ruins, potentially still alive. Finally, a post-credits sequence depicts an old man and a child on an alien planet. looking at the stars. The child asks the old man to tell him another story about "the Shepard", implying that Shepard's legacy lives on.

Development

Origins

From the start, BioWare envisioned the Mass Effect series as a trilogy, with the first two games being a preamble to the third.^[50] For this reason, BioWare was able to begin production on Mass Effect 3 before Mass Effect 2 was even released.^[51] The game was directed by Casey Hudson, who previously led the production of the first two Mass Effect games and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. To design the game, BioWare made sure to use fan feedback, similar to what they did for Mass Effect 2.^[52] In particular, the game's development team paid close attention to past mistakes in the series as well as the critical failings of other BioWare titles such as Dragon Age II.^[53] The team was able to devote most of their time to gameplay and storytelling because, according to BioWare Edmonton General Manager Aaron Flynn, they didn't have to worry about technology as it was "pretty maxed out".^[54] Initially, the game was predicted to be released at the end of 2011 or early 2012.^[55]
The lead writer of Mass Effect 3 is Mac Walters, who previously wrote on other games in the Mass Effect series as well as Jade Empire.^[56] One of the goals set by the writing staff at the beginning of production was to treat the game like a movie and make sure that players playing it for the first time would "just be able to jump in".^[57] Emphasis was put on making the story user friendly for players inexperienced with the franchise because BioWare felt they "didn't do a really good job of new player orientation" in Mass Effect 2.^[58] To begin the writing process, Hudson and Walters sat down and created a story document no longer than three or four pages that contained all the major plot points.^[57] Once the document was complete, Walters took the document to the writing staff and began filling out minor details including minor plot points and missions. Once these details were complete and the "backbone of the story" was established, each writer was put in charge of specific levels and missions. Work done by each writer was reviewed in-depth by the rest of the writing staff and others.^[59]

Reveal

On December 10, 2010, Electronic Arts posted the official synopsis for Mass Effect 3 on their website, although the listing was later removed pending an official announcement at the 2010 Spike Video Game Awards.^[60][61] The following day, the game was confirmed for a "Holiday 2011" release and accompanied by a teaser trailer.^[62] On March 21, 2011, Tricia Helfer announced via Twitter that she would reprise her role from Mass Effect 2 as EDI, and had already started voice-recording sessions.^[63] Seth Green soon followed, announcing that he would reprise his role from Mass Effect 2 and the first Mass Effect as Joker.^[64]
The first detailed information regarding development of Mass Effect 3 started being released in April 2011. On April 20, Belgian website 4gamers.be reported that BioWare were collaborating with Battlefield developer DICE in weapon development for the game.^[65] The same day, Game Informer released the first-ever screenshots of Mass Effect 3 to help promote their May 10 cover story.^[66] On May 3, 2011, IGN announced that Mass Effect 3 would be presented and demoed by Electronic Arts at the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo.^[67] The next day, BioWare announced that the game's release date had been pushed back to early 2012,^[68] in part so it could be tweaked to appeal to as wide a market as possible.^[69] On June 1, EA Games' online store uploaded artwork by mistake which revealed the game will have Kinect support.^[70] The artwork was later removed. At the 2011 E3 Convention, BioWare finally confirmed Kinect support in a gameplay video.^[4] The game's collector's edition,^[71] cover art, a new teaser trailer and official release date of March 6, 2012 were also revealed. For the first time, fans were shown actual gameplay videos, including a 15 minute demo supervised by Casey Hudson.^[72] At Comic-Con 2011, fans were given an opportunity to play a demo version of the game.^[73] Hudson and lead writer Mac Walters were both in attendance, with Hudson sitting on the Legendary Pictures panel to talk about the upcoming Mass Effect film and Walters sitting on the Dark Horse Comics panel. At Gamescon 2011, a new trailer was released demonstrating 50 seconds of combat gameplay.^[74] The game was also demoed at PAX Prime 2011.^[75]

Internal leaks and multiplayer

On October 3, a leaked South African advertisement hinted at multiplayer capabilities for Mass Effect 3.^[76] On October 10, multiple BioWare employees took to Twitter to announce that the game would have a multiplayer component.^[77] The announcement confirmed longstanding multiplayer rumors, stemming from a BioWare job listing in 2010 for someone to take Mass Effect's "existing single player user experiences and make them multiplayer safe".^[78] On October 12, an official trailer for the multiplayer mode was released through BioWare Pulse.^[43] Soon after, it was reported that a demo for both multiplayer and single player modes would be released in January 2012.^[79]
On November 4, a private beta of Mass Effect 3 became available on Xbox Live.^[80] The beta was only available to players who signed up to beta test a new version of the Xbox 360 Dashboard. In a response from Jesse Houston, it was revealed that the leak was the result of "human error" at Microsoft. Houston stressed that the leaked code was in a rough, unfinished state not intended for public release. Despite BioWare's quick response, some fan videos still made their way to YouTube. From the beta, some information was extracted from game files that represented rough notes from early story drafts.^[81] In an interview conducted shortly after the leaked script was removed, BioWare co-founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk revealed that feedback from fans who read it might be used to tweak the story before the game was released.^[82]

Pre-release

On September 13, Casey Hudson posted to Twitter that Mass Effect 3 was seeing signs of its final stage of production.^[83] A few days later, lead writer Mac Walters revealed that writing for the game was almost finished.^[84] Music started going into the game around the same time.^[85] On October 27, the development team transitioned into an "editing" stage where story elements were evaluated and key lines or scenes were re-written.^[86] Character lighting was being polished as of November 7 and voice overs were completely recorded by December 7.^[87][88] On December 10, the game was presented at the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards with a new teaser trailer.^[89] On January 9, 2012, Sam Hulick turned in his last audio mixes for the game.^[90] On February 22, 2012, SCEA offered bonuses to those that pre-order via the PlayStation Network. These incentives include A M55 Argus weapon and a Mass Effect 3 PS3 theme.^[91] On March 2, the game became available for preload on Origin in the case of digital purchases.

Audio

Mass Effect 3's music is composed by Golden Globe-nominated composer Clint Mansell, together with Christopher Lennertz, Cris Velasco, BAFTA-nominated composer Sam Hulick and Sasha Dikicyan.^[92] Mansell first stated he would be scoring the game during an interview with The Quietus on February 9, 2011.^[93] Electronic Arts officially announced his involvement shortly thereafter with a Facebook post.^[94] Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 composer Jack Wall had no involvement with the production of Mass Effect 3 due to undetailed and "complicated" reasons.^[95]
Commander Shepard is again voiced by Mark Meer (male) and Jennifer Hale (female).^[96] Many other members of the cast return, including Yvonne Strahovski (Miranda), Tricia Helfer (EDI), Seth Green (Joker), Martin Sheen (The Illusive Man), and Keith David (Admiral David Anderson). New voice actors include Jessica Chobot (Diana Allers), Freddy Prinze Jr. (James Vega), and Buzz Aldrin (The Stargazer).^[96][97]
Mass Effect 3's weapon audio is redesigned and refined. BioWare's audio team was in discussion with other EA studios, including DICE, to improve their combat soundscape.^[98] The game has 40,000 lines of recorded dialog, twice as much as the first game and almost twice as much as the second game.^[99] The game has 12,500 sound and music files.