Mass Effect: Bring Down the Sky
Whether your Shepard is a goody two-shoes or a ruthless badass, the universe needs you again: Batarian terrorists have sent an enormous asteroid screaming toward Terra Nova in the Asgard system, and the potential cataclysm could kill millions. The stakes are high, and an introductory cinematic gets the drama rolling by connecting you with a desperate survivor. But play follows the familiar pattern established by Shepard’s other side missions: drop to the surface in the Mako, investigate every landmark you can find, and blast anything that raises your ire. Disabling the three enormous fusion torches that serve as the asteroid’s propulsion requires blowing up a bunch of heavy turrets; avoiding blasting caps fitted with proximity detectors; and icing an army of drones, Batarians, and their slavering pets.
The injection of a new alien race — the Batarians’ only previous appearance is Mass Effect’s prequel novel — is a bit like discovering an unexpected branch of your family, but the motivations of this infamous and marginalized species are revealed with the same rough elegance as those of other sentient races: new codex entries elaborate on background, while extended conversations color each individual. The new voices and political threads are welcome, but Bring Down the Sky’s 90 minutes of gameplay skew heavily toward action over chit-chat.
Still, from an encounter with an enemy lieutenant to the final tense stand-off with the dastardly plot’s architect, they remain admirably true to Mass Effect’s larger emphasis on moral decision-making and branching consequences. No one will claim that this self-contained tangent is epic, but at $5 (400 Microsoft Points), Bring Down the Sky is still a well-crafted waypoint on the path to a sequel that can’t come quickly enough.
DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT SCORE: BUY
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metalmark215
March 20, 2008 at 11:31am
What a great add-on for a spectacular game already!!! I just played through about half of the new sidequest on my luch hour. I love the new faces and cienematics. The prox mines was a great idea!!! One of them (Prox mine) actually took me out!! I would love to see some more new ideas keep coming in the future!! I will definatley buy any more content the marketplace has to offer for this game. Worth 400 points!
mythrenegade
March 15, 2008 at 4:24pm
To the poster who said the first three bunkers were exactly the same: Of COURSE they were! If you were building three fusion torches that served the exact same purpose, the support buildings would look the same as well! A better complaint would be that they used the same layout as all of the buildings in the other side quests... I would have been pleased if they had a new arrangement, but would have expected all three to be the same. Overall, LOVED IT! Joel
Spybreak
March 13, 2008 at 10:04pm
Man I can't believe I'm playing Mass Effect again. I've already done 3 playthroughs and I decided to start a new one after I got the downloadable content and I have to say was very true to the Mass Effect motto and quality. I liked the achievement received after the mission but I was expecting something like Fable where people would know that I dealt with that mission throughout the game. Maybe in Mass Effect 2 lol.
TheBlackFin
March 13, 2008 at 8:58pm
I have to admit that the past month has been dedicated to Mass Effect. Two play throughs, now on my third and I could not wait for the DLC. The mission was a nice change of pace to the same missions. It was fast paced and I was able to finish in about an hour. It was also great to see the Batarians for the first time. I read the Revelation prequel book and it was great to see them come to life. I highly recommend this download. Plus who couldn't use another 50 achievement points :) --- http://theblackfin.com --- Gamertag: TheBlackFin
Corey OXM
March 12, 2008 at 10:43pm
AVanilla---Bring Down the Sky costs $5 (400 Microsoft Points). Thanks for asking: we had that information in the original magazine review, but neglected to put it in the web posting above. Fixed now.
saggin good
March 12, 2008 at 6:30pm
I'm a mass effect fan but I don't see myself playin it again until mass effect 2. There is just too many other good games out right now.
Leo of moon
March 12, 2008 at 9:13am
I playd the Mission and loved it alot of drama and gun slinging action and the disison at the end shows a true hero or a renagad pluse the hole things huge the onley part i hated about the mission is that i beat it in less then 30 minets and whent to work wanting to play more but allso that the mine filed at the 2nd bace was a little hard to get passed in the firefights near it.
Darth R3van224
March 11, 2008 at 1:05pm
As a HUGE KOTOR fan,I picked this game up to see if it was as good as my beloved KOTOR.As much as it pains me to say this,Mass Effect is a better game.The story,atmosphere(no pun intended),and dialog made this game BETTER than KOTOR.I will get this pack tommorow,but still,in my heart,I KNOW someone is working on the KOTOR game of my,and every Star Wars fans dream.
Axe Argonian
March 11, 2008 at 11:42am
While I agree that this was a good mission,you failed to mention the worst errors of this mission. First off,the presentation is horrible. Why didn't Shephard receive a transmission when he (or she)accessed a Galaxy Map? If he did not receive a transmission,why would Shephard WANT to explore a stupid asteroid in the first place? Not to mention,the insides of the first three enemy bases were retardedly the same. Only the last base has variety. Also,where's the Ally comments? Did their vocal cords lose function? Well,eiher way,the ending is definetly worth the 5 dollars.
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