New Additions Bring New Addictions

Since my last post was a long time ago, I feel an update is necessary. No, I did not fall off the face of the planet, I've just been caught up in that whirlwind of life. Lucky for me, that whirlwind contains many new video games, which I feel compelled to discuss.

First of all, I want to talk about Dragon Age: Origins. Although I have not yet finished this one, I've definitely done a lot with it. The game contains a LOT of content, including a lot of nooks, crannies, and suspiciously empty rooms that fill with enemies in a split second.

I began this adventure with a mage, as is my custom, and I was kind of put off at first. The battle system seemed awkward compared to what I was used to with the other games I have played, and it seemed too fast-paced to even survive. This was before I discovered the spacebar "pause" option. Pausing the battle to make tactical decisions was a good idea for this particular game, just because it can be overwhelming with the amount of enemies and traps you are forced to contend with.

As far as looks, the game isn't too bad. Bioware, makers of other games such as KOTOR and Mass Effect, kind of rushed the gun and yes, it has glitches, but overall it's decent. Plus, the hideous amount of things to do and decisions to make makes up for what it may lack.

I'm still running through Hurlocks and spiders, so this will have to be continued...

On to the biggie 2010 Game of the Year contender: Mass Effect 2. I'm going to be completely honest here and say right out I didn't play far into the first one--in fact, I found it to be unsatisfying for all of the crap you had to put up with. However, I decided to give ME2 a chance, and lo, I was kind of addicted.

Kind of might not be the best way to put it...I /was/ addicted, and I sat on my arse for a few days, playing through everything.

Now, I'm going to try and make this as spoiler free as possible, but even though I didn't play the first title, I was engaged and able to understand what was going on throughout. This second installments gives players the option to import the character they beat the first game with, and continue with the decisions they made, carrying into the second. Luckily, you CAN change appearance of characters from game one, which is probably a good idea, since the character creator has undergone some positive changes (although Male Shepard still resembles Vin Diesel no matter how hard you try).

One thing I will say is this game is epic, and perhaps more discussion can be had on the topic in a month, when most people will have beaten it.

The last game I want to talk about here today is Fallout 3. Now, I realize the game has been out for a while, but I am apparently behind the times. I actually didn't know what Fallout was until a few months ago--well, I'd heard of it but I kind of assumed it was like Call of Duty or Splinter Cell, and that it wouldn't hold my interest at all.

So.Not.True.

After a few people gushed and seemed shocked that I hadn't played it, I decided to give it a whirl. The fact that it was described to me as Oblivion with Guns made me interested...and yes, it IS Oblivion with Guns. Big guns.

For all of the glitches and horrors Bethesda crams into their games, and even though I spent hours puzzling over the random shutdowns and "fallout 3 has stopped working" popups, I was determined to fix the problem. Eventually, with the help of google and human ingenuity, this was possible. I was now able to commence playing without wondering if the History Museum would freeze my system. Damn you, history. Damn you <3.

This game really hit a home run with me. I love the cold war propaganda mixed in with the post apocalyptic environment, and the crazy feral ghouls. This game is HUGE and there is SO MUCH TO DO. Unfortunately, like Oblivion, it's way glitchy, and even doing everything right could cause something in the main storyline to just stop working. Despite that little tidbit, the game is quite enjoyable.

The realistic environments and the strange quests kept me riveted (I haven't beaten this game yet, either) and I spent many evenings glued to my monitor, blasting through mutants with more rounds of ammo than should ever exist in a post apocalyptic wasteland.

These were only intros to some of the games I've been exploring while on blog hiatus, and as soon as I get more sleep, I'm going to add more!