I finished my first full play-through of Mass Effect 2 today, and, just as in the first game, it was a truly epic adventure.  I wasn’t quite sold on the game at first glance, though it proved to be a more than worthy sequel in most every regard.

It’s not giving much away to say that the start of Mass Effect 2 shakes things up a bit.  Cerberus, a somewhat evil human corporation, is certainly a big part of the story, which is a different result than one might guess from the first installment.

In terms of graphics, it’s hard to describe Mass Effect 2 without the word beautiful.  There certainly is more of the Unreal Engine in plain view.  For whatever reason I’ve always been more of a fan of the iD engines, so some of the gloss and sheen was a bit much, yet I’m being stupidly picky even by pointing that out.

Strategy, on my take

In Mass Effect 1, I played as a Soldier class, which is about as close to a standard first person shooter experience as you can get.  For ME2, I played as an Adept, which is a straight biotic character.  This meant I had much less health and armor, and that conventional weapons didn’t have nearly as much of an impact.  At the early levels this was at times a bit of a challenge, though towards the end of the game I was able to breeze through even at the slightly elevated Veteran difficulty.

Money is another commodity which is somewhat different in the second game from the first.  I never had much trouble buying whatever it was I wanted in ME1, yet in ME2 it’s much more important to pick and choose the upgrades which match your character.  Unity and medigel didn’t end up being important for me whatsoever, and I would have been better off concentrating on upgrades I could use as an adept (biotic powers) rather than ones I couldn’t (sniper rifles, tech powers, etc.)  Even so, play through enough side missions and be diligent at upturning every rock along the way and there’s just enough to get most everything you’ll need.

For whatever reason, I ended up purchasing ME2 before ME1, only to sit on the game until buying and then playing through the latter.  I’m quite glad that I did, as there was an awful lot of material from the first game that filters into the second.  Moreover, a lot of the story and the universe is revealed in great depth in the first game.  With the price of both games down considerably from what they were at launch, I’d definitely recommend going for both.  For those who don’t mind the wait, Steam has some great deals and will likely have a drop in price.

One final trick which I had missed initially is that there is some free DLC available for ME2 simply by going through and registering an account with EA/BioWare.  There’s also another two packs which I haven’t yet paid for and played which I’m sure will be well worth it when I get there.

Bottom line: get on it.  There’s a whole world of flawless science fiction waiting to be played.

If you are a gamer, or if you are not, you really ought to play through Mass Effect.  This game is seriously a thing of beauty.  According to Steam, I put in 59 hours on my first play-through.  I’m sure a few of those were actually meals or bathroom breaks and so on, though at every point is was a true pleasure.

Perhaps what’s most impressive about Mass Effect is the depth and polish to the story and gameplay.  It is an RPG, a first person shooter, and littered in Star Wars-level detail.  As per my usual modus operandi, I’m not going to dive too much into the specifics so as to not spoil anyone’s experience, yet there is a variety of alien races and a deluge of dialogue which satisfies from start through end.

Utilizing the Unreal engine, Mass Effect looks gorgeous even though it arrived on scene in 2007.  Moreover, with my ATI Radeon HD 5670 card, it ran rather flawlessly at 1080p with all the options turned up.  Quick saves keep frustration at bay, though there are more difficulty settings for the avid first person shooter fan looking for a challenge.  On the RPG front, there are many items and upgrades to dig through, and the leveling system allows for a variety of approaches and combinations.

I could carry on, though instead I’d encourage you to spend your time tracking down a copy on Steam or on your console of choice.  It’s just that good.

I just finished BioShock today, and holy crap was it an amazing game.  I did play it on the PC, via Steam; from what I understand, the other PC versions have some rather poor DRM, which is unfortunate.

As is my usual game, I’m not going to give too much detail because the story has to be played through to be fully realized.  It’s haunting, at times, engaging, and just incredibly well done on a number of different levels.  Sound, visuals, story, mechanics, all are top notch.  It really is worth playing all the way through.

According to Steam, I spent about 27 hours to get through the entire plotline, though it certainly could take much less if one weren’t trying to be quite as thorough.  I saved crazy often, and if I didn’t complete a certain section I’d reload and try again.  The hacking mini-games was the primary source for this, which while cute at first can be rather frustrating when they end in failure.

Check it out when you get a shot, and don’t hesitate to keep saving.  It’s a beautiful, crazy ride well worth the cost of admission, and I’m already looking back to my hours with it in fondness.

Since Steam keeps track of how many hours you’ve put into a game, I can say with reasonable accuracy that I’ve put a lot of time into Race Driver: GRID.  Steam reports 27 hours played, though I’m sure one or two of those include bathroom breaks or forgetting to quit the application.  Even so, at roughly $5 during the Steam Summer Sale, I got a heck of a lot out of this particular game.

At this point, though, I’m getting towards the end of the rope.  It’s a fast paced game with great graphics, a reasonable damage model, and a reasonable amount of variation in race types.  My main problem with the game, as is the case with many racers, is the driving AI of the computer opponents, and the driving physics.

An Instant Replay feature helps a bit with both of these, whereby you can go back a certain number of seconds in the race and restart at any point in that small part of the timeline.  Most racing games could use this kind of feature, and it works well; though for higher difficulties the number of these replays are reduced to two or three or one.  Moreover, I can’t help but feel that the feature is really more of a necessity.  I’d love to see the technology in other racers, though GRID seems to warrant it much more often, given my two other complaints as mentioned previously.

With that said, it’s hard to bitch too much about something I voluntarily put in well over twenty hours.  GRID is a lot of fun; though if you’re going to bite the bullet, I still might recommend DiRT, it’s predecessor, unless you have Tylenol and patience on tap.