Review: Mass Effect: Infiltrator

Mass Effect: Infiltrator is the latest game from Melbourne based developer IronMonkey Studios, known for developing Dead Space for iOS…which I might add, is one of my personal favorites on the iPhone. So, expectations were high.

Mass Effect: Infiltrator  is a companion game for Mass Effect 3 and gives you additional back story and insight into the shadowy organisation “Cerberus”. You play as Randall Ezno, a Cerberus operative gone rogue after being pushed too far by the loose ethics of the organisation. That, and there’s a girl of course.

As with Dead Space, IronMonkey have nailed the look and feel of the Mass Effect universe and let’s face it, any chance you get to spend more time in the world of Commander Shepard is a plus.

You begin on the aptly named planet Ice Giant fighting Geth for reasons unknown. A friendly, female (and Aussie!) voice directs Ezno via radio. Inali, as she is known, quickly becomes the primary motivation in Ezno’s story. After dispatching of the Geth on Ice Giant Ezno returns to the Cerberus base, but before he can meet up with Inali the base is attacked by Turians and Inali disappears from her lab. A mysterious Volus prisoner contacts Ezno promising to help locate Inali before Cerberus can carry out their experiments. From here on in Ezno fights his way through the Cerberus base, assisted by the Volus and harassed by the omnipotent Director of the base.

Essentially a 3rd person cover shooter, Mass Effect: Infiltrator takes its cues from its big brother. Control of Ezno is handled via virtual dual analogue sticks. Touching the left side of the screen moves Ezno forward and back and strafes left and right. Touching the right side of the screen turns Ezno as well as controlling looking up and down. Unfortunately with only a touch screen, your ability to aim and shoot is somewhat compromised. However, IronMonkey have devised an ingenious method of making combat work. When standing near cover you simply push up on the “left stick” and Ezno will enter cover. Any enemies in range of your currently selected weapon will be highlighted. Simply tap the enemy and Ezno will pop up from cover and a targeting reticule will appear on screen. Ezno fires automatically, but aiming is handled by moving the reticule by touching the screen.

Combat doesn’t end with simply popping up and aiming though. It’s kept interesting by the addition of biotic powers, different weapons and a system of chaining multiple attacks together.  After dispatching of a foe, if other enemies are nearby, you can tap them in order to start a combo. The longer the combo, the more style points you are awarded at the end of the combat phase.  If you manage to use biotic powers or change weapons (or if you are really talented both) during the combo you are awarded with more style points. Using the same weapon multiple times when outside a combo will reduce the current number of style points you have accrued. At the end of each checkpoint you are awarded a ranking out of three stars for style, time and health. Based on those ratings you will be awarded either a Rookie, Soldier or Veteran rank for the chapter. The higher the ranking, the more credits you get to spend in the store on upgrades and new weapons and powers.

I’m not a fan of touch controls at the best of times and I have to hand it to IronMonkey for doing a serviceable job of making it work, but I found myself struggling with the controls more often than not. It is a plain and simple fact that third person controls with virtual sticks just don’t work as well as they should. I died far too may times from accidentally vaulting over cover into enemy fire, from strafing instead of turning and a myriad of other annoying little control problems. Maybe the controls work better on iPad, or maybe my thumbs are just too fat, but on iPhone the lack of control really hampered an otherwise great experience.

Aside from the controls the other main issue I found with Mass Effect: Infiltrator was the voice acting. Ezno is voiced by Jay Anthony Franke, famous for voicing JC Denton, who does a fantastic job, however the rest of the cast are not so great. Dialogue is wooden and stilted and really doesn’t live up to the high standards set by the Mass Effect franchise. I found the Volus the worst, especially considering he was supposed to be driving the narrative forward and providing direction for Ezno and I just really wanted him to stop talking. The music on the other hand was top notch and really helped create that Mass Effect atmosphere.

The game is also fiercely repetitive, however as an iOS game I didn’t find that it detracted from the experience. I like my mobile gaming in short bursts and the checkpoint and chapter system as well as the repetitive nature suits me just fine. If you like to play for hours on end on your iPhone, you may find the game a little tedious.

There has been a lot of talk about the “Galaxy at War” system in Mass Effect 3 and the various ways it can be boosted, including multiplayer and Mass Effect: Infiltrator. In the game, enemies will occasionally drop intel which can be traded into the store for additional credits or can be uploaded to Galaxy at War servers. In order to upload to Galaxy at War you must be logged into your Origin account. Once uploaded the change to your readiness percentage is instantaneous. The best part is that checkpoints can be replayed over and over for more intel, so when you are away from home you can ensure those pesky Reapers don’t get the upper hand.

Mass Effect: Infiltrator looks and for the most part sounds great and the combo driven combat is lots of fun. However, the controls are bad at best and ruinous at worst and the gameplay is exceedingly repetitive from beginning to end. Exploring more of the Mass Effect story and having the ability to affect Mass Effect 3 are excellent reasons to play the game. If you are looking for a great 3rd person action game for your iPhone you may want to look elsewhere, but if you are a die-hard Mass Effect fan, the Galaxy at War integration is worth the price of admission alone.