I will try not to be too exclusive in my content here, so I’ll try to avoid anything that you won’t understand unless you’ve played the game, and I’ll be focussing on the game through a feminist lens. That’s what we’re trying to do over here, after all, right? One last thing to say is… SPOILERS.

"Through me, into the city full of woe; through me, the message of eternal pain; through me, the passage where the lost souls go." Yep, that's what happens if you don't heed the warning of the Spoiler Klaxon... "all hope abandon, ye who go through me."

Enough with the dramatics! To the game!

Technology, mechanics & gameplay

I thought I’d get this out of the way as I reckon there’s very little feminist critique one can offer on this side of things. I played on a PC, so some of my concerns won’t be shared with console gamers, most obviously the power required in your machine to play the game. As a PC gamer, you have keep your technology up to speed with new titles, but console versions come as-is to the standardised specifications of the machines. My computer isn’t the fastest, or the most hardworking – it’s actually just a dual-core with one graphics card, several series behind the most recent, not for lack of will but for lack of cash. Keeping a PC up to date is expensive.

My reason for telling you that is so I can tell you how well my absolutely-not-top-of-the-range PC handled a brand new, heavy-hitting title like Mass Effect 3. “Not too bad” is the answer. At times, faces looked a mite too angular, but I had no problems running the game at all.

The game mechanics are almost the same as the were in the previous instalment, and although they can be a bit frustrating to get used to for the first time, they work well within the context of the game. I have heard complaints on the overuse of the spacebar – that it is assigned to far too many actions – and although I had no issues with it, my partner did, so I suspect it’s a personally variable thing.

Combat has been streamlined slightly since Mass Effect 2, and you still have to learn how to fight with each different class you can choose for Shepard. For example, I played through first as an Adept, who enjoys a lot of long-range Biotic powers, so you don’t always need to leave cover and use guns; then I started in a different class and had problems adapting to the new style.

Some Femi-Relevant Content

As much as I could, I shouldn’t spend my entire word count talking about mechanics and gameplay here, so we’ll move on. While playing the game I had a little list of things to look out for that I could critique or criticise, and honestly, there wasn’t much I could pick out. You don’t get treated differently if you’re a male or a female character. The only notable difference I found was in a conversation with the female Krogan, Eve/Bakara, in which she says “we’ll show these men how to do things!” (or similar) if you’re a ‘FemShep’, but not if you’re male.

The only sexism we see comes from the Krogans; Urdnot Wreav claims that Eve is his and that she is obliged to father all his children as he rescued her. Eve, however, is having none of it. That’s good. Eve is awesome.

One issue many players had with Mass Effect 2 was the fact that if you wanted the ‘Romance’ achievement you had to initiate a heterosexual relationship. This has been addressed – you can now gain the ‘Paramour’ achievement through any (albeit still sexual) relationship. There are a more visibly present non-hetero characters too: at one point you console your shuttle pilot who is upset over the death of his husband. It’s never shown in a “LOOK OVER HERE! I’M GAY! HAPPY NOW?!” manner; it’s much more realistically handled in that a character may mention something that discloses their orientation, but ultimately all questions of the personal kind are of little consequence in the face of the impending problem of Total Annihilation Of All Life In The Universe.

I was very happy not to have any feminist niggles or femirage over the game – perhaps that does somewhat diminish my options for what to write for this, a feminist, blog! The best thing that I can say is that it is quite feminist-friendly and the only things I could suggest improving would be the inclusion of non-binary genders and equal cutscenes-for-sex with all races/species (I got no sexy cutscene for my (F)Human-(M)Turian coupling, but one trailer shows a (M)Human-(F)Human sexy cutscene).

The Ending

Before I conclude, I was content and pleased with the ending. Apparently, I may be in a minority there. My partner, for example, hated it. Basically – EPIC SPOILERS, look away now if you don’t want this detail! – pretty much everyone dies. BioWare went to town on the deus ex machina mechanism here. Yes, Shepard pretty much dies no matter what you do.

I was happy with that. I thought BioWare were very brave to stick behind such a potentially contentious ending, and they enacted it beautifully. Many on the interwebs were in uproar, and appeared to successfully bully BioWare into announcing that they’ll be producing alternative endings. I suppose it was difficult to respond to fan requests for a FemShep trailer, then stonewall on the Ending Issue, but it would’ve been nice if they’d held their ground and kept a smidge of artistic integrity.

But in some ways, it turns out now, they did. As the ‘Extended Cut DLC’ has been announced, BioWare has made a new statement that clarifies this will not be “…a re-imagining of the ending or a new ending.” HOORAY!

I fear the pressure of BioWare’s pact with the evil giant EA was involved in their decision to cave, however partially: after all, EA like money, and undoubtedly they can see the potential for Extra Content that a fervent fanbase will definitely pay for.

The Verdict

If we ignore the Ending Issue, I’ll give it a solid 9/10. I’d still give it that with the ending, because I liked it, but I understand how others might knock it down because of it, which is a shame – it’s a great, well-constructed and well-told story that happens to be a game.

I predict that this will not be the end of Mass Effect, as BioWare have stated, but it probably should be. Shepard died and saved the universe; that’s a good ending. The last thing you see and hear before the credits roll is a young child asking their grandfather if they can have ‘one more story’ about ‘The Shepard’. And Grandfather says that it’s getting late, but agrees to tell one more story…

Just one more story...

The Trailers

You may remember that when I first burst onto the pages of BadRep I was talking about RPG advertising and the distinct lack of women in these trailers, despite the games’ built-in capability for you to play as a female protagonist. I mentioned Mass Effect advertisements, and no sooner had I criticised them than they announced they’d make a ‘FemShep’ trailer and let the fans vote on what she’d look like. So I thought it’d only be right to address the marketing of ME3 before I tell you all about the game itself.

The first glimpses we saw of Mass Effect 3 didn’t show a female Shepard; actually, they barely showed a male Shepard either (but he was still there) – we were simply teased with the knowledge that the war was coming to Earth. Notably, the voiceover doesn’t say “if he doesn’t bring help” but just says “Shepard” to avoid any issue of gender. But then you see male Shepard… so, er, kinda redundant there.

When they first showed everyone FemShep, to me, the trailer didn’t have the same production quality that it could have had, but they made this up with later offerings, such as those below.

Next we have the Take Earth Back pair of trailers; one male and one female. These two did good. They’re the same, just with a different version of Shepard in each. There’s no making one look cooler, or more badass, than the other, and that’s great. The pity is, though, that TV channels didn’t really seem to pick up FemShep’s version – I only ever saw the male version being broadcast.

Then we get to launch day and they start pushing the ‘Launch Trailer’, and as far as I can discover, there’s only one version: Male Shepard (or BroShep)’s version. This might not be too bad; there’s a lot of female characters shown – Ashley, Liara, Jack, Miranda etc – and that’s more than a lot of games can say at the moment. The thing that ruins it, though, is the (totally unnecessary) sex snapshot of Shepard bedding Ashley, who is the woman fighting beside you in the T.E.B. trailers I linked above.

Of course, it could be argued that having that in the trailer shows how you can romance your team-mates if you so desire and that it’s an all-inclusive RPG experience. But it really isn’t necessary and is completely discordant with the rest of the trailer.

The Packaging

Here I can only talk about my box when it arrived, so there may have been people receiving differently presented games. When my game arrived the sleeve insert (that paper thing that slips under the plastic on the box) was displaying a proud BroShep on the front and back. I was a bit disappointed as I’ve never really thought much about Template BroShep’s appearance as part of my gaming experience.

It wasn’t until I had to insert Disc 2 while loading the game that I discovered FemShep hiding underneath the disc! The cover is reversible, so you can have FemShep on the front and on the back (though the screenshot inserts are still BroShep) if you take the insert out and flip it around. Obviously, I did this immediately so I didn’t have to look at his smug face anymore. The reversibility is great, but you have to realise it’s available and then you have to do it yourself.

Have they done well, then?

I think they have, but there’s a bit of improving yet to do – not for Mass Effect, as the trilogy is now complete, but for other titles following in its footsteps.

The male interpretation of an either/or, binary choice, RPG protagonist is still the default in marketing, it seems. There may well be more male gamers buying these titles, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t want to see all a game can offer.

I’m really very pleased that the marketing strategy has improved – at least for this game – and I’m hoping it’ll continue to do so for other releases this year and in the future. It is a real treat to see FemShep kicking some bottoms in that Take Earth Back trailer, and I hope we’ll see lots more awesome female protagonists to come.

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As a side note: for those of you waiting to see a review, it’s coming – I’m just being extra thorough. And yes, I will talk about that ending and the ensuing furore.

Isaac doesn't like Spoilers either

Before you go any further, I’m going to issue you all with a SPOILER WARNING for both Dead Space and Dead Space 2.  Although neither of these are new releases, we all know that not everyone plays a game as soon as it hits the market.  If you have intentions of playing either game and don’t want to know what happens… quickly click this link to escape to the relative safety of some pictures of baby rabbits.  Go now, and never look back!

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Dead Space franchise, it’s a horror/sci-fi universe that spans more than just games – there are also animated films that tell us parts of the story.  I’m just going to look at the games, though, which focus on our protagonist Isaac Clarke in our two space vessel settings: the USG Ishimura vessel and the Sprawl.  In the first game, the Ishimura drops out of contact with, well, everyone – and nobody knows why.  Isaac and his shipmates are sent on a rescue mission as it is believed the Ishimura crew have just had a bit of damage to their communications array or somesuch.

Not so.  Long story cut very over-simplistically short, all the crew have either a) gone loopy, b) been killed, or c) turned into necromorphs.  These are horrible scary alien things that loosely resemble what might once have been human.  Isaac gets separated from his crew, who promptly start dying off while he tries to find out what’s going on and how to escape.  Moving towards the end, there’s three of Isaac’s team left (himself included)… then there are two.  Isaac and his female crewmate Kendra Daniels.

She’s been helping to guide him on all his trekking about the Ishimura as they try to deal with the shitstorm of scary things.  They discover this thing called the Marker has been causing all the bad stuff and have to transport it back to the planet below for any hope of survival.  BUT THEN.

Kendra betrays you.  She’s actually intending to take the Marker back to civilisation for the government and the Church of Unitology (who seem to think the Marker will raise them up… or something).  Don’t worry though; she dies. It’s OK, the nasty traitorous lady gets splattered by a giant alien.  So, you know, she deserved it.

Fast forward to Dead Space 2 and now we’re in the Sprawl.  Isaac is being held in some description of government institution for the psychologically unstable.  After a traumatic session, in your little cell, in your straight jacket: something is wrong!  Someone bursts in and tries to free you, but his head gets skewered from behind – NECROMORPHS EVERYWHERE.  You run around in your straight jacket for a while until you are sliced free.

Over the comms comes a woman’s voice, saying she’ll help you escape the necromorph threat if you follow her instructions.  Super, right?  A nice kindly person wants to help you not get dead.  Realistically, Isaac should’ve gotten suspicious as soon as she led him through an infested Unitologist Church… you’ve guessed it!  She too is a treacherous baddie!

Now, I hope you can forgive me for not really explaining the story properly, but what I wanted you to know was that Isaac really seems to have terrible luck when it comes to trusting people.  Or, more importantly: trusting women.  I find it a bit more serious than an unfortunate coincidence that the two people who most obviously betray him are women.  Surely this concept is a bit tired by now?

This ridiculous notion that ‘we must not trust the womens or they will betray us and bad things will happen’ has been around for thousands of years and yet here we are in the 21^st century still being subjected to it.  Why is that?

Let’s look into the past.  If we consider the medium of ‘a game’ to be a new way of storytelling, perhaps we’re experiencing old tropes that are merely being reimagined into this burgeoning format.  If we look back, a long way into history, at Clytemnestra and Helen (of Troy fame), these two women were, in certain versions of their tales, manipulative, deceitful and traitorous.  What happened as a result of their treachery?  Bad things, that’s what.

Through the centuries storytelling has evolved but often still has its roots in these ancient tales – in more ways than just this example – so why should games be different?

Another way to view these female characters and their actions plays out in a more positive light: they are ‘strong women’ with important roles, independently-minded enough to choose their own paths, which also involves being smarter than all the men around them in order to remain trusted or to be able to give the orders.

So how should we see it?  Archaic retelling of worn-out old storylines, casting women as dubious, underhanded Judases or powerful, intelligent and self-assured women who just happen to be baddies?

Or does it even matter, seeing as they both end up dead anyway?

"I go for a walk and just head straight for the dark world!"

I’m actually quite interested in the muddy waters of “well, is it feminist?” because I think it helps us understand the wide representation of ideas over the project. Anyhow, on with your selected submission. I picked up this one whilst engaged in other nerdy pursuits and it’s a comedy sketch of a meeting between 80s-to-the-present computer game heroines Princess Zelda and Princess Peach talking animatedly (see what I did there?) about their lives, loves and future aspirations.

Clicky to watch: Zelda and Peach

I love the concept, especially the foregrounding of previously “invisible” women, the implied critique of “woman as quest object” and the way that the conversation renders passive kidnappees into active participants.

However, I am less keen on the inane “all girls love a bad guy” undercurrent. Perhaps it would have been better if rather than simply switching from one (stereo)type of man to another, the two of them had decided to go off and do something for themselves?

• Found Feminism: an ongoing series of images, videos, photos, comics, posters or excerpts – anything really, which shows feminist ideas at work in the everyday world. What’s brightened your day? Share it here – send your finds to [email protected]!