血色浪漫

初代《Mass Effect》毫无疑问是三部曲中剧情最出色的作品。_我的网站

A | 这是一篇由 Ryan McCaffrey 撰写的评论文章，他曾在 2002-2012 年（初代 Xbox 和 Xbox 360 时代）任职于《官方 Xbox 杂志》，随后加入媒体行业并一直担任“Xbox 专家”。在 Xbox 25 周年庆典即将来临之际，他将分享他在该平台首个四分之一世纪里的回忆。 DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip -- The only thing worse than the screams of a patient undergoing surgery without enough anesthesia are the terror-stricken faces of those awaiting their turn, a 51-year-old orthopedic surgeon says.When the Israeli bombing intensifies and the wounded swamp the Gaza City hospitals where Dr. Nidal Abed works, he treats patients wherever he can — on the floor, in the corridors, in rooms crammed with 10 patients instead of two. Without enough medical supplies, Abed makes do with whatever he can find – clothes for bandages, vinegar for antiseptic, sewing needles for surgical ones. Hospitals in the Gaza Strip are nearing collapse under the Israeli blockade that cut power and deliveries of food and other necessities to the territory. They lack clean water. They are running out of basic items for easing pain and preventing infections. Fuel for their generators is dwindling.Israel began its bombing campaign after Hamas militants surged across the border on Oct. 7 and killed over 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and abducted more than 200 others. Israel's offensive has devastated neighborhoods, shuttered five hospitals, killed thousands and wounded more people than its remaining health facilities can handle.“We have a shortage of everything, and we are dealing with very complex surgeries,” Abed, who works with Doctors Without Borders, told The Associated Press from Al Quds Hospital. The medical center is still treating hundreds of patients in defiance of an evacuation order the Israeli military gave Friday. Some 10,000 Palestinians displaced by the bombing have also taken refuge in the hospital compound.“These people are all terrified, and so am I," the surgeon said. “But there is no way we'll evacuate.” The first food, water and medicine trickled into Gaza from Egypt on Saturday after being stalled on the border for days. Four trucks in the 20-truck aid convoy were carrying drugs and medical supplies, the World Health Organization said. Aid workers and doctors warned it was not nearly enough to address Gaza’s spiraling humanitarian crisis. “It's a nightmare. If more aid doesn’t come in, I fear we’ll get to the point where going to a hospital will do more harm than good,” Mehdat Abbas, an official in the Hamas-run Health Ministry, said. Across the territory’s hospitals, ingenuity is being put to the test. Abed used household vinegar from the corner store as disinfectant until the stores ran out, he said. Too many doctors had the same idea. Now, he cleans wounds with a mixture of saline and the polluted water that trickles from taps because Israel cut off the water. A shortage of surgical supplies forced some staff to use sewing needles to stitch wounds, which Abed said can damage tissue. A shortage of bandages forced medics to wrap clothes around large burns, which he said can cause infections. A shortage of orthopedic implants forced Abed to use screws that don't fit his patients' bones. There are not enough antibiotics, so he gives single pills rather than multiple courses to patients suffering terrible bacterial infections. “We are doing what we can to stabilize the patients, to control the situation,” he said. “People are dying because of this." When Israel cut fuel to the territory's sole power plant two weeks ago, Gaza's rumbling generators kicked in to keep life-support equipment running in hospitals. Authorities are desperately scrounging up diesel to keep them going. United Nations agencies are distributing their remaining stocks. Motorists are emptying their gas tanks. In some hospitals, the lights have already switched off. At Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis this week, nurses and surgical assistants held their iPhones over the operating table, guiding the surgeons with the flashlights as they snipped. At Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s biggest, where Abed also worked this week, the intensive care unit runs on generators but most other wards are without power. Air conditioning is a bygone luxury. Abed catches beads of sweat dripping from his patients’ foreheads as he operates.People wounded in the airstrikes are overwhelming the facilities. Hospitals don't have enough beds for them. “Even a normal hospital with equipment would not be able to deal with what we’re facing,” Abed said. “It would collapse.” Shifa Hospital — with a maximum capacity of 700 people — is treating 5,000 people, general director Mohammed Abu Selmia says. Lines of patients, some in critical condition, snake out of operating rooms. The wounded lie on floors or on gurneys sometimes stained with the blood of previous patients. Doctors operate in crowded corridors filled with moans. The scenes — infants arriving alone to intensive care because no one else in their family survived, patients awake and grimacing in pain during surgeries — have traumatized Abed into numbness. But what still pains him is having to choose which patients to prioritize.“You have to decide," he said. “Because you know that many will not make it."___DeBre reported from Jerusalem.。任何年纪大到记得 Xbox 360 早期时光——即 2007 年 11 月 Mass Effect 最终发售之前那段日子的人，都会记得 BioWare 这部史诗级的太空歌剧并非横空出世。它曾备受期待并被大肆宣传……而我正是原因之一。当时我在《官方 Xbox 杂志》工作，说我们对这款 RPG 感到兴奋简直是保守了。这可是件惊天动地的大事。当时的 BioWare 正处于巅峰期，而微软与他们签下了独占协议。星球大战：旧共和国武士™™II：西斯领主™ 和翡翠帝国™：特别版已经作为 Xbox 独占游戏发布，随后该工作室在被 EA 收购并成为多平台开发商之前，又创作了前两部作为 360 独占游戏的 Mass Effect 作品。

B | 用棒球术语来说，这就像亚利桑那响尾蛇队作为一支羽翼未丰的扩张球队，在 1999 年签下了兰迪·强森，然后看着他连续赢得四次赛扬奖和一次世界大赛冠军。

C | 随着那四款独占游戏进程过半，BioWare 开始在 Mass Effect 上许下宏伟承诺。

D | 它预告了一个三部曲，你的故事选择和进度将从一代延续到下一代，并最终影响整个故事的结局。不仅如此，Mass Effect 还将包含对比 BioWare 之前作品的重大技术升级，利用惊人的虚幻引擎 3 来驱动其世界和角色。我没能在杂志上评测 Mass Effect —— 2007 年秋季的 Xbox 360 平台可以说是游戏史上最伟大的三个月，这意味着杂志社的每个人都忙得不可开交（我被指派去评测 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare）。评测的荣誉交给了我的同事 Paul Curthoys，他给出了实至名归的 10 分满分 —— 这与媒体当时给出的 9.4 分评价高度一致。我知道大多数人认为质量效应 2 是系列最佳，但我一直是一代的捍卫者。虽然是的，它的战斗确实比续作带来的更精炼的第三人称射击体验要笨拙一些，但对我来说，初代的故事水平远超后续任何作品。薛帕德成为“幽灵”的旅程。第一次见到诸如雷克斯和盖拉斯等经典队友，并通过你的选择与他们建立关系（我百分之百选了阿什丽而不是凯登，你呢？）。探索宏伟的神堡，它本应是银河系中来自各地的外星种族聚集的庞大枢纽 —— Mass Effect 成功地让我相信了这一点，而在质量效应 2 中，神堡被缩减成了只有两层的小走廊。还记得艾科族吗？还记得你可以承接的所有支线任务吗？神堡是奇妙的，而它甚至还不是我 Mass Effect 冒险中最令人难忘的事情。那是剧情反转。没错，BioWare 又一次惊艳了我！我喜欢故事的走向，萨伦是个伟大的反派。确实，在 Xbox 360 上帧率很难达到 30fps，电梯时间也长得离谱，但 Mass Effect 的玩法、故事、世界和角色是如此出色，以至于其技术局限性根本无关紧要。

E | 它确实就是 BioWare 承诺的那部太空歌剧。这显然是上一代 Xbox 无法实现的。它真的令人惊叹，并带给了我们一段长达四年多的旅程（Mass Effect 3 于 2012 年 3 月发售并终结了薛帕德的故事），这与我们以前在游戏中经历过的任何体验都不同。

F | 那些当时在场的人可能还记得第一次接触 Mass Effect 时的美妙瞬间，我希望新一代玩家有机会在尚未定名的 Mass Effect 5 中体验到类似的版本 —— 尽管我怀疑 EA 的新投资方是否会让 BioWare 完成一款后期变现极少的单机游戏，尤其是在它已经开发了这么久之后。我希望我是错的。