GamesCom 2011 – Community Reporter Mat Jones Day Four Feature
dmcdonagh
2011-08-22

If you’ve been paying close attention to the front page of Sarcastic Gamer, you may be wondering how I’ve found the time to write this diary entry. That’s three previews done today. You know how long those take? Ages, that’s how long. If you think you could do it, I dare you, start and then don’t stop until it’s done; No checking reddit or updating your twitter feed to declare that your mood is now “focused”. You’re allowed as much coffee as you want though; I’d be cheating otherwise.
Obviously I’ve hardly had a go on anything. I got a quick attempt at playing Mass Effect 3 but they cut me off before I could really make something of the demo. I draw my main delight in the series from the dialogue options and the fighting has always been secondary to the experience, yet they’ve definitely done a lot to make the combat flow a little better. Shepard’s manoeuvrability is a lot looser now with a useful dive roll to help get out of hairy situations. The new Omni-Blade is awesome to watch and seems like a very powerful hit, but the attack doesn’t seem guaranteed to connect so you have to gauge whether it’s better to perform a quick regular melee or risk it for the extra damage.
Oh and Battlefield 3 is pretty good. Who knew, right? The most anticipated shooter this year actually happens to be kinda fun? That seems impossible. We were playing some 4vs4 multiplayer and faced off against what were seemingly superhuman perfectly genetically superior Battlefield 3 players. To say we were raked over the coals is an understatement; we were battered so heavily that people thought we were a Scottish delicacy. Still, I got a feel for the controls (I’m not usually a PC gamer! It’s killing me that I won’t be able to play this on the preferred platform!) and really enjoyed the experience!
I wish I had more to talk about! Then again, I also wish to go out drinking with assorted games journos and community managers. It’s tough, but I think I’m going to pull through.
