Hells jeah!: More Oddworld games

And then came the good news. Apparently Just Add Water is working, not just one one, but "working on multiple projects, across multiple platforms", in the Oddworld universe, featuring "all of your favourite Oddworld characters". Apparently, this has been in the works for some time now. So, we should be seeing announcements soon.

This really is exciting news. Though I seemed to be in the minority, I really enjoyed both of JAW's Oddworld installments on the original Xbox. I liked the faux RTS and platforming elements of Munch's Oddysee and found Stranger's Wrath to be a fun bounty hunting-style game, in the first half. Then, an interesting twist on FPS games, in the second. Both had excellent stories, filled with fun humor and endearing characters. I'm really looking forward to what they have to show.

While you're waiting, apparently you can follow good ol' Abe on Twitter, why doncha?

Via Kotaku

Aw, maaaannn....

Just found out on Kotaku that groundbreaking, massively multiplayer/multiviewer game-show 1vs100 has been cancelled after two seasons. This really bums me out. For it's two seasons, I ended up playing with some regularity. In my home life, I've sworn off watching broadcast television. This is largely due to me hating having to maintain a tv-watching schedule. 1vs100 was the first thing in a long time I actually made it a point to be home for, when I could remember it. There are some allegations that it's cancellation is due to mismanagement, but who knows? It would be nice to know that the game was cancelled for a reason, other than poor "ratings". There is some speculation that Microsoft will push forward with different projects, using 1vs100's framework. So, there's hope. However, I have to worry that it'll come with it's own price tag to go alongside it's commercial advertising.

So long, Chris Cashman, we hardly knew ye.

Meanwhile: Back on the USG Ishimura...

Dead Space still has one of the best opening sequences for a game I've experienced. Just a heads up.

Red Dead Endurance.

I'm not saying I dislike the game. Quite the opposite, for the most part. The setting has been fun and Marsten has made for a compelling lead, somewhat unconventional compared to usual Rockstar fare. I've also been finding a lot of enjoyment in the arena of multiplayer. Something Grits and I have dug into and, generally speaking, found to be refreshing and fun (with the exception of the occasional griefer). What I am saying is that the game is wearing me down a bit. Particularly in the theater of Mexico, which I am currently bogged down in. Worn me down to the point that I've begun to take breathers from it and go back to older games I never finished. Though I am enjoying the game, I'm troubled that, most nights, I can't even look at it.

This is one of the first times in a game I'm enjoying that I've experienced doldrums. The problem really seems to be that there's just SO much to do that ends up amounting to very little. Those of you whom are playing know Marsten's motivations. He's looking for members of his old gang to bring to justice. Obviously, he has to establish leads. Unfortunately, each lead ends up having a list of chores that would put my old Mamaburn to shame. Honestly, in light of Marsten's badass persona, it kind of takes you out of the story when he's always acquiescing humbly and kicking his feet in frustration every time a lead tells him they just need "one more favor", from him, before they give up his quarries location. This has been particularly frustrating in Mexico, which seems to have no end in sight.

In future games in this genre, I'd like to see Rockstar concentrate on making multi-task missions that further the story in bigger chunks, rather than peppering the landscape with one-offs you're forced to run back and forth to. It's okay if they're not great feasts of content, but I would prefer a nice lunch spread to the widely scattered Bagel Bites we end up having.

Lost Planet 2, how could it come to this...

I make no apologies, I haven't posted anything in a LONG time. I've been too busy playing games to write about them. I plan to make a first half 2010 wrap-up post in the future, we'll see it that happens.

Anyway, I need to vent about Lost Planet 2. I really liked the first Lost Planet, that demo that came out right around e3 2006 really blew me away. Then when the full game came out it along with Dead Rising really solidified the Xbox 360 and Capcom as the start of the real 'next gen gaming'.

It is just plain shocking to me how wrong things went with Lost Planet 2. To me it seems like some big wigs back in Japan heard about the crazy 10+ million sales Call of Duty was getting year after year, thought to themselves, 'What's the closes thing we have to these western online shooters?' some told them Lost Planet still has an active online community and then went with that. Lost Planet 2 really seems like a game made by people trying really hard to make a great competitive shooter, but had no idea what makes a shooter good. Like Aliens trying to make a cake, they are able to make something that looks like a cake but they missed the point that a cake needs to taste delicious.

The controls in the game are just plain bad, they are sluggish and unintuitive. The closest thing to conventional shooter controls is B-1 which is 5 of 8 in the list. Obviously they weren't quite sure who would like what so they had tons of control and gameplay options, thinking hopefully someone would find something that works for them. Even if you can get past the weird control scheme, which I'm sure you can. You can't get past how sluggish they feel, the responsiveness of your input is a slave to long animations, and realistic things like getting staggered and knocked down (not fun). On top of all this the weapons I had access to didn't feel good, they were all gimped in some way, super slow reload, no sustained fire, slow movement, low ammo.

The game tries so hard to force you to play multiplayer that you actually have to fish around in the menus to setup an offline game, even then forces you to roll with three AI team mates with fake gamertag names like 'Death Summer', gross. So after hearing all the bad things about this game I scoured the menus before starting to make things as easy as possible, all I wanted to see were the big mechs and big bosses. I ended up playing offline, easy, with friendly fire off. So here are some crazy conventions they force at you. You can only save at the end of full chapters (which can be three of four missions long), your AI team mates can run ahead at start triggering events without you. They have tons of killstreak like in game popups that keep showing up, but they don't seem to do ANYTHING, no challenges, no achievements tied to them, the game just wants to let you know all the time that you have killed 10 guys in a row with a shotgun.

The story in the first Lost Planet wasn't great, but it is exciting and crazy. Dead father you are trying to avenge, waking up with amnesia, falling in with a band of space pirates, giant glowing buglike aliens, and big smack talking battles in mechs. This games 'story' is nothing more than four faceless, nameless, dicks going in to wipe out other faceless, nameless dudes in short 5-10 minute 'mission' burst. If you are lucky you might find a few buglike aliens to shoot along the way, but more often than not you don't see one. To add insult to this horrible setup after you fight with your guys for an episode, you then switch to a different group of faceless, nameless guys that look kind of different. The best part, when you switch to the new group you are level 1 again, so after all this time leveling up my guy and not really getting anything useful from it, now I can start all over again... unbelievable. It is shocking that they advertised this game with hidden unlockable characters Wesker from Resident Evil, and Marcus and Dom from Gears of War. It just highlights even more how generic and forgettable their own characters are in this game.

The game is so at odds with itself, in the first game the 'hook' was literally a hookshot that let you do some cool vertical climbing and combat, getting in giant mech suits with huge guns, and killing lots of bug like aliens with glowing weakpoint bits, then watching them freeze and shatter as they died. They missed almost all of this in Lost Planet 2. Going through the first 2 episodes, about 4 hours of time and 20 missions I rarely found an occasion to platform or climb with my hookshot, I rarely found a mech to use and when I did I didn't have it for very long. I rarely fought the buglike aliens, except for the rare giant boss battles which on easy difficulty never felt very fun. It just felt like going through the motions, running from point A to point B and killing some faceless human whatevers along the way. No soul, nothing to set it apart from the vast sea of far more competent shooters out there.

After the first night of playing this some weird feeling came over me, I thought "I can finish this game on easy, I know I can, I should do it just to say I did". I felt like survivor-man or some other weird reality TV show where people are forced to do horrible things for others amusement. After two more nights things were starting to wear on me, I started to look for a lifeline, something to keep me going. I checked out the achievements for the game, at that point I had 3 story based ones for a total of 30 points. One more mind boggling design choice showed up, almost all of the 50 achievements in the game are hidden. So no clues or hints on things I should try to concentrate on in this game that I am forcing myself to finish anyway. My last hope? Gamefaqs, I though "I'll just see how long this game is and maybe get some tips for achievements and secrets that I'm probably missing". Well as of almost a month and a half after this game came out, no one has made any sort of faq or guide for this game, that is shocking and telling.

I could write much more, but I'm out, I'm done, there are many better games on my shelf that are fighting for my time, Alan Wake especially is very mad I've wasted my time on this game while he waits.

Capcom, get your crap together please, you shouldn't have release this game.

The Bail-Out: Red Faction Guerrilla

Today's post brought to you by The Letter Shame. I rarely do this, but today I Bail Out of a game. The last time I did this, and the burning shame of it still tears at the corners of my soul to this day, was Gun. It was the final game I played for the original Xbox, if that helps you gauge how long I've been carrying that weight. I made it all the way to the final boss of the game, but just could not put him to bed, somehow. I didn't so much give up, as I put it down to save my marriage, due to my immature tantrums. Coincidentally, today's Bail Out is also over an open-world game.

I had heard, for so long, great things about this Red Faction Guerrilla game. Most specifically about it's destruction physics. Now, I must tell you that the aforementioned physics have nothing to do with my Bail Out. They are, as advertised, top notch. Trouble was, I only got to enjoy them a little bit at a time.

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Red Faction Guerrilla, for me, suffered from what you would expect from an open world game. There are several missions spread out over it's vast landscape. You spend a bit of time preparing for said missions, time driving to said mission, and then time participating in said mission. The problem with Red Faction was that I died. A lot. Rather quickly, as well. In a game like GTA IV, I didn't often feel the pinch of this, because GTA IV was a vibrant world, full of endearing characters and interesting stories. Red Faction (being set on a colonized Mars), unfortunately is a rather barren landscape filled with NPC's you'll never talk to and missions which are all largely based around destroying random property owned by the faceless, oppressive Villain Company.

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Oppressive Villain Company is well staffed and well supplied. When I tried to tackle these missions, Oppressive Villain Company oppressed the ever-living life out of me. Rather quickly, for the most part. This sent me back to home-base and docked me a few loyalty points from the surrounding community. So, I start at square one with the preparation, the driving, and the participation again. The driving, in particular, was what got really old. This is a complaint you hear often with open-world games. Red Faction lost me because there was nothing between the gaps to make me want to keep going. Just brown mountains, NPC's who don't talk to you, repetitive missions, and a protagonist who doesn't really interact with anyone. It just wasn't fun for me anymore.

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So, sorry Red Faction Guerrilla, I just didn't have what it took to endure you. Not going to say you're a bad game, or give you a score at all. For all I know, you're a great piece of work for someone made of sterner stuff. I hope you find them out there Red Faction. Somewhere out where dreams come true.

Splinter Cell: Conviction- Long Overdue Thoughts*

*It should be noted, Super-Early, that I am reviewing the games single-player campaign. The coop campaign remains untouched, and I couldn't really give a squirt about the multiplayer modes.

Man, I let myself get WAY too far past finishing this game. I feel, partly, to blame for not remembering this game particularly well, but I also think some of the blame falls on SC:C's shoulders. Take a wild guess where this review is going. ON TO, The Bad

Done, already? The game feels painfully short. I feel like this is largely due to the games notoriously rocky development. I want to believe that there was a lot that Ubisoft Montreal would have liked to have put in the game. But, after drastically overhauling the look of the game and other such speed bumps, there was a lot that had to be dropped just to get the game out at all. I know that, recently, members of UbiMont stated that being able to move bodies, a staple of the series, was one of the thing they just didn't have time for. That being said, from a purely single-player standpoint, the game just flies by.

Did Sam... Forget something? Something I also assume is because of the stilted production schedule, is Sam's skeleton-crew of abilities. I really miss wall-splits. Gadgets like sticky-cams that make noises and moves like capturing guards and dragging them into the dark are still there, but aren't nearly as useful due to the change in gameplay and tone. I wasn't opposed to the change in tone of the game, but I miss a certain amount of the stealth and precision.

Feeling chatty, Fish-sher?!... Whenever troops are alerted to your presence, the absolutely, positively can-not shut the hell up. Insults upon insults upon questions upon statements are thrown at you. Usually punctuated with a veeeery disgusted "FISH-SHER?!". It's overkill to the point of being distracting and annoying.

A little empty For a story that is supposed to re-jigger and revolutionize the Sam Fisher canon, the game's story ends up being a bit thin and really doesn't drastically change or re-establish Sam as much more than a rogue version of what he was before. A small portion of what Sam's relationship with his daughter must have been over the years was, in my opinion, poorly explored, but a step in the right direction. Would have helped sympathize Sam and maybe help you give a damn about his daughter.

Well, good to get that out of the way. Now, The Good

Run n' Gun I know I just barely said that I miss some of the stealth and precision that previous Splinter Cell games afforded the player, but having the franchises base elements forced into a more action oriented theme was more refreshing than it was a whiff. If nothing else, I can say I never felt bored during the game.

Mark and Execute The idea of being able to mark and terminate multiple targets hands-free, as a bonus for getting a close-up kill was a lot of fun. It also provided a good out in situations that would have, in previous installments, been too sticky to get out of otherwise. It also gave the player a sense of badassedness that I enjoyed a greatly.

Good ol' Sam Some of this may come from running jokes on the Giant Bombcast, but Conviction gave me a good excuse to catch up with a character I've always liked. He's maybe a little off course at times, but Sam Fisher does enough Sam Fishering throughout the story to have satisfied me. You stay Classy, Michael Ironside.

If there were one thing that really tips Conviction over the edge, it's the length. The things that were good about the game really were enjoyable and the bad were all tolerably ignorable. Unfortunately, just as I felt like I was really getting into it, it was over. Keeping in mind that there is a coop campaign, as well as multiplayer modes, I still feel like the story holds the game back from being something great. I still plan on playing the coop campaign at some point, so there is value there. As it stands, however, if a single-player experience is what you're after, Splinter Cell: Conviction is a solid rental. Hard to justify at retail prices, however.

Mandatory Numerical Score? 8.0

Been a while...

So, been a long time. Did everyone miss us? Sure you did. April ended up being a very busy REAL LIFE month and writing just sort of got away from me. Through the course of the following week, I hope to rectify that. Beyond the following wrap up of April's goals, I'll also be pushing out reviews on Splinter Cell: Conviction, Darksiders, and God of War III. Hell, by the time I get done with that, I might be done with Red Faction: Guerrilla. But enough of what I'm going to do. Let's talk about what I tried to do.

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As I had stated, April was Nut up or Shut Up month. For several months... No, it's even more than that. For several years, the Street Fighter franchise has been an open wound to me. It's been something I've always wanted to partake in, even purchased several volumes of, but never been able to penetrate. For April, I challenged myself to finish the game with, at least, 4 characters. I succeeded in finishing the game with Fei Long, Abel, Crimson Viper, and Zangief. In addition to goal-completion, I also finished it with Ryu, Bison, Vega, and Chun-Li... All on the "easiest" difficulty. It's hard not to feel a bit ashamed of having to rely on a difficulty TWO levels below what is termed "easy", but that is where I find myself. After finding myself much more familiar with the games controls, moves, and mechanics, I got a big cocky and tried a little "Normal". Cammy saw fit to teach me harsh lessons about bravado, unfortunately. I will say that I am very happy with my progress, however. At this point, I no longer "fear" the game, and actually look forward to playing it.

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As far as the ongoing goal of S-classing RE5, well, I'm not sure we got around to playing anything online in April. The struggle marches on, I guess.

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Now, goals for May. We're already more than half done with the month, so I'm not eager to push myself too hard. How about finishing Street Fighter IV with a character on Normal? I guess that's something. Let's run with it.

Splinter Cell: Conviction First Impressions

I had been dreading this week for a while now. The Internet had gone a long way toward convincing me that the newest installment of Sam Fisher's badassery was going to be a whiff. Honestly, I really need to stop talking to the Internet.

True, I've only played through what feels like the first mission, but I'm having a lot better time than I'd anticipated. Statements I'd heard about the game being closer to a Bourne atmosphere than a Splinter Cell one are largely accurate. There are smatterings of past volumes of the franchise here, but this game has really been refined for a more action-oriented gamer. Which, I think is good. I goozex'd Double Agent a few months back, in anticipation, and I'm not convinced that the hardcore stealth aspects of the earlier games stand up in today's gaming.

So far, I'm predictably enjoying things like Mark and Execute and Last Known position. The game also seems to borrow some of it's climbing, and subsequent climbing executions from Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft's other cash cow. I'm also liking this more brutal version of Sam.
I don't think I need to tell any of you how satisfying breaking a urinal with a man's face is.

The only detractor, so far, seems to be the game's visuals. Just like with Assassin's Creed, I don't think the game looks bad. It's just that I think I've been spoiled in the past year by games like Resident Evil 5 and Mass Effect 2 for beautiful character models, and Brutal Legend for emotive ones.

Assassin's Creed II: Final Judgement

I didn't like the first Assassin's Creed. I bought it right when it came out in 2007 and it took me months to get around to doing much of anything with it. It might have been that so many amazing games were out back then, but even during some slow times I could never get around to it. Let's just say I was skeptical of all the love, and game of the year awards Assassin's Creed II was getting around the end of last year.

Again I bought Assassin's Creed II right when it came out (somehow I bought all the hype that this one was different and a must play). Again there were too many awesome games to play, again, so I put off playing it. Thanks to this little site Razorburn and I have set up, I had some motivation to finish it as a monthly goal.

So when I started playing the game I was immediately put off by the slow setup. I was not enjoying the tutorials disguised as boring tasks. Luckily, if you can call it that after about two hours, the game started to pick up. I started to really enjoy the setting and the story. I started to get used to, and actually enjoying the controls. There were enough things to do that I was 'feeling it'. Later in the game, however, there is a point where you go back to the 'real world'. When that happened, I got excited, but quickly bored again when I came back and the story just fell on the floor.

At that point, I was done with the game. I had become keenly aware that I was doing delivery mission after delivery mission with very little in the way of compelling motivation. At this point, the infrequent control issues I'd been experiencing throughout the game started to become much more glaring. The late game had harder climbing tasks that would result in me dying instead of just having to retry things. I also started to realize I was holding down the right trigger, A, and Up for 20-30 seconds at a time, with nothing else happening. Am I playing this game or is it playing me? Money became pointless after I spent it all on upgrading my village. The upgrade tree was a bit too short and I maxed things out long before the end of the story, and believe me I wasn't chasing side quests.

The combat, something that I tolerated in the game for the most part (probably one of the worst features of the game), became laughable with the harder enemies. In many cases later on, the best option was generally to put your weapon away and wait so you could do a disarming action on them... Here's a tip, if your 'combat' punishes the player for being active and actually trying to do something with his weapons, and his best option is to sit and wait; to be reactive when six dudes are circling menacingly around him for seconds at a time with nothing happening... You have failed.

It probably sounds like I hated the game, and I did at points, but overall I did like it. It had some of the best challenging and intense platforming I've seen in a modern game with the six hidden Assassin Tombs. I really enjoyed those. There were some great points to the story. The ending of the game had an amazingly 'meta' moment that I loved. Also, the controls are unique and when they work they can make you feel powerful and awesome.

What really bothered me, deep down, was that I can't understand how anyone could call this game of the year with the likes of Uncharted 2, Resident Evil 5, Borderlands, Modern Warfare 2, and Arkham Asylum, out last year. I personally thought all of those games were better than this.

Partially recommended, but beware if you didn't like the first game.
Score: 8/10

March Goals: Halfsies again!

In 06, apparently... Anyway, March was something of an imbalance where I gave myself a single-player goal that was a meatball in finishing Bayonetta. There was pretty much no way I wasn't going to hit that. As I'd stated previously, I had a good time with it, but I don't think I quite reached the heights of satisfaction Grits had with it.

Multiplayer, on the other hand, was never going to happen. Grits said as much when he proposed it, that S-Classing RE5 achievements would probably end up being a multi-month goal set for us. In March, however, we did make some solid progress with the DLC campaigns. The true test of our mettle, we still haven't touched. The looming spectre of competitive multiplay. OoooooooooooOOOooooOOOOOOoooooo!

So, not a bad month overall. Assumptions are that RE5 will remain the multiplayer goal for the month. On the single-play side... I'm feeling shaky about this, but I think I'm gonna officially make April NUT UP or SHUT UP month. For years, I've been Capcom's willing bitch. I purchase every iteration of Street Fighter that comes my way, each time telling myself that this will be the magic purchase. The One that will bring balance. The one where I will finally attain, at the very least, competence in Street Fighter. I fail every time, without question. So, with that in mind, I'm setting the goal for myself that I will complete the campaign's of at least 4 characters in Street Fighter 4.

The nuts are at an all time low, people. Can I elevate them? Join us in May, True Believers, and find out!

Final Judgement: Mass Effect 2

This final judgement has been a long time coming. I've just had too many games to play. This will be short and sweet.
Highly Recommended.

Mass Effect 2 made me care about characters in a game more than anything else to date. There is a point near the end of the game where I was physically worried about some of my crew while waiting to see if they would die or not.

Mass Effect 2 felt like a continuation of the previous game more than any other sequel. The second I saw my Shepard (the one true Shepard) with her red hair, I was transported back two years ago and couldn't wait to see what happens next, and see how the things I did in Mass Effect 1 would effect this new game.

Mass Effect 2's story starts with amazing impact and is quickly paced in such a way that somehow you forget about your old crew and are immediately enthralled by all the new crew members you find.

Mass Effect 2 initially rubbed me a little wrong, I was off put by the 'removed' RPG features of the last game like weapon/armor management and stat points. After playing the game for a bit and getting used to the new mechanics I saw most changes as improvements. I still miss loot. I think since the game is so much a gears-like-shooter I couldn't help but notice the cover mechanics timing and controls were off a little. I spent too much time mining. These are purely minor complaints.

I'm shocked by the huge amount of drastic gameplay changes that went into Mass Effect 2 compared to it's predecessor. Going logic is if a game sells really well, like Mass Effect, you should make a sequel and not change too much. Bioware really took fan and review feedback to heart. They cut away all sorts of things that were detracting from the story and core combat. Instead of making another decent RPG with guns, they made a good shooter with a story that you can truly effect, something that no other shoot has even come close to.

I applaud them for it. I can't wait to see where the franchise goes next, and I can't wait to import my save game into Mass Effect 3.

I guess my biggest disappoint with Mass Effect 2 is that it made my time with Dragon Age feel like even more of a waste.

Bayonetta: FINAL Final Judgements

Thank you, Google Image Search. Thank you so very much. So, seeing as Grits did a pretty solid job of reviewing Bayonetta, previously, I'm going to try to keep this as succinct as possible. On with THE BAD!

Oh-so judgemental A lot of my good/bad from Bayonetta are going to be struggles. This would be the first. You see, Bayonetta is very similar to games like Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden, in that it judges your performance at the end of every chapter. I've come to learn that this is really just a way for the game to make you feel like shit, no matter how well you performed. Now, I do understand that games like this are structured to be "CHALLENGING", for people who aren't me. People who get obsessive about combos and blocking and such that I'll never be able to understand, let alone master. Probably not a bad for everyone, but I always end up hating it.

Camera! For a game that relies so heavily upon it's dodge mechanic, you'd think that the game would go to great lengths to make sure you're able to see where most attacks are coming from. Not entirely so with Bayonetta. I found that times when the screen got crowded with enemies, or more particularly, when you're fighting some of the game's larger enemies, it becomes very difficult to see what the enemies are doing. Which, leads you to getting mad-judged upon, and I think you know how I feel about that.

A Little Effort, Please? Make no mistake, I have absolutely no problem with the over-the-top nature of Bayonetta's story. I have to say, however, that toward the game I started to grow tired of Bayonetta's over-long cutscenes. This is another point where Bayonetta parallels the Devil May Cry series. It feels like throughout the game that pertinent details are purposefully left out, just to make it more confusing. It's been made clear that Sega sees Bayonetta as an exploitable franchise, which I like. I would, however, like to see the story tightened up going forward.

Yep, that's pretty much it. Now, watch as I bring it with THE GOOD

Sexy Fun Time If you were to pay attention to gaming press, in general, you'd be hearing all about how far back games like Bayonetta set us. Being someone who gave up on the concept of waiting on gaming's "CITIZEN KANE", a long time ago, I kind of like the game's playful tone. I will admit, sometimes it's a bit too juvenile for my tastes. By and large, though, I enjoy it. Not boner-enjoy it, mind you. I'm not salivating over this and hiding it from my wife. That's something different entirely. I think that the over-sexualized tone that Bayonetta presents is "fun", and that pretentious gaming enthusiasts should loosen up.

Dodge As I've referenced earlier, I have always struggled with games that encourage you to avoid being hit, rather than just fighting Fighting FIGHTING. Bayonetta does this, and I struggled, unsurprisingly. I will say say that Bayonetta's usage of Dodge, rather than many other game's usage of Block somehow works out better. I can't entirely explain it, but it just felt more comfortable. Also, well-timed blocks triggering a bullet-time mechanic was also pretty spiffy.

WHAT?! Whereas I would have liked the story in Bayonetta to make more sense, I did quite enjoy how weird it was all the time. Things like driving missiles, starting motorcycles with her middle finger, demon-summoning hair, and lipstick bullets are the kind of off-the-wall things I really like in games. Bayonetta pushes creativity in ways I feel like most games aren't comfortable with pushing, lest they alienate potential customers. I appreciate you for this, Bayonetta.

Characters I was surprised by how much I liked many of the characters in the game. I will admit, I wasn't supremely into all of them, and the EVIL side of the game really has no fleshed-out characters at all. The ones I did like, however, were really great. Besides Bayonetta herself, I'll really be looking forward to seeing the likes of Luka, Rodin, and my main man ENZO returning in the sequel.

Judging in Increments No, I do not like being judged on performance. What I do like about Bayonetta, though, is how it judges you on a battle-by-battle basis and gives you a composite score based upon that at the end of the chapter. It at least gives you an idea of where you need to improve, and also allows for exploration outside of said battles where other games do not.

New Game + There is a metric ton of upgrades in Bayonetta, which is awesome. So much, in fact, that you really can't get it all in one run. At least, I think so. Games nowadays should ALWAYS implement this feature.

All in all, more good than bad. I would recommend this game to just about anyone. Seeing as the game has easier settings, the only barrier to entry would be if you're the type of person who has a low tolerance for wacky, incomprehensible stories. What're you waiting for, then, Give it a go!

FINAL Final Judgement: Pretty damned good!

this is me being succinct

"Masterpiece" Really Kojima?

I've been silent raging for a while since Metal Gear Peace Walker was sold as 'the next really Metal Gear'. This Kotaku story however is too much. I understand that you don't want to spend another 4 years making another real MGS game. You've spent the last decade constantly pushing the visual bar for console games, now you expect that people will take this game serious because it's going to be a sweet looking PSP game? Ridiculous.

The MGS games have been a love it or hate it series since MGS2, many people (including myself) have had a really hard time dealing with the crazy, self important story. Others have problems with the odd control schemes used to play your 'stealth games'. Regardless of these issues and complaints many people push through for the amazing cinematics and top tier production values.

So what are you trying to offer people this time? Even less intuitive controls, even for your core fans? Laughable graphics, somehow we should be impressed because they are on a handheld? So I guess all that leaves is more off the wall, cringe-worthy 'story' that I can hold in my hand... I can't imagine who this game is for, other than like I said at the beginning, Kojima himself, because he doesn't have it in him right now to do another real MGS game.

I'll pass, again. Please stop trying to sell it so hard.

BetaMax!: Blur

Special thanks to the uber-gnawesome Papercut over at the equally gnawsome 11 O' Clock Comics forums for passing me a code to this. I've been a big fan of Bizarre Creations since I went crazy-love at first sight on their excellent O.G. Xbox launch title Project Gotham Racing. A game who's subsequent sequels have been equally tasty. I have to say, I honestly don't know much about Blur. The little I've heard is that it's a take on the Mario Kart style, using real-world cars. Sounds helluva good to me. Anyway, I'm typing this as the beta is downloading, so I haven't much else to say, other than another thank-you to the excellent Papercut for the code.

Wonderwall

March Goals: An Uphill Battle

So, let's not beat around the bush. My March Goals are, to put it very kindly, tardy. Obviously, I feel horrible about it. There are few things in this world I take more seriously than, y'know, updating my award-winning video game blog. To be fair, though, at some point, without my knowing, I must have eaten 4 McDonald's burgers & chased it down with a liter of Tijuana water, and I've just barely regained the ability to type.

That being said, my March is going to be an uphill battle. Even in the face of Grits's ridiculous (yet irresistible) RE5 goals. The inclusion of Lost in Nightmares, Desperate Escape, and the other various DLC delights has really re-ignited my jonze for it. Even so much as to spur me into purchasing the ever-hated competitive multiplayer DLC, in an effort to achieve Grits's lofty goals. But, seeing as I've been pretty sick for the past couple of weeks and really haven't felt much like gaming, my other goal will be equally difficult.

I've tasked myself with the relatively soft-touch goal of finishing Bayonetta, which Grits has graciously borrowed to me. Thus far, I find him to be correct, the game is bizarre and awesome. I'll keep you all posted, as I'm sure there's a lot of edge-seat sitting a' goin on.

February Goals: Yo Fiddy!

I totally completed my solo gaming goals and man what a way to start out the year. Finishing up Bayonetta and Mass Effect 2, both games blew me away, and for different reasons. Bayonetta is like the crack cocaine of action games. Mass Effect 2 is a game that I think everything else this year will be compared against.

Yeah so like Razorburn was saying, we wussed out on our coop goal, 50% of the blame is on me, the other half is on Gearbox for releasing the hot new Borderlands DLC. Razorburn was diligent and really tried to get me to man up, but I just didn't want to play anything online other than Borderlands. Sorry Modern Warfare 2 coop, you'll have to wait for another day.

That brings us to March's goals. For me I'm going to try and force myself to finish Assassin's Creed II. It shouldn't be that hard but for some reason I have never been able to get into the first game after multiple tries, it just felt kind of boring after first blush. I picked up Assassins's Creed II shortly after it came out, for some reason, against my better judgement. It has received a good amount of GotY love. I recently started playing it and I'm still really having a hard time getting into it. I hope it will pickup, anyway, my burden and goal is to finish this supposedly awesome game.

The coop goal I purpose is large and might be a multi-month, but Resident Evil 5 (my personal favorite game of 2009) released probably the best single piece of DLC last night. It is the hotness and I am just back in a RE5 mood. I want to finish up all the achievements for it, S class son! This will require a ton of coop time . I hope Razorburn will have my back as Sheva! Woooo!

RE5: Desperate FINAL JUDGEMENTS

March 4th saw the release of the second, and final (for now) campaign DLC for Resident Evil 5. Last month's "Lost in Nightmares", was a pleasant, if slightly sparse, surprise. So, the purchasing of a more action-oriented adventuring featuring Grits/Razor-fave JOSH STONE, in a behind-the-scenes mission explaining how Jill Valentine and our badass hero got to where they were at the end of the main story was really a foregone conclusion. How can you resist the temptation, you may ask? Well, I'll tell you with THE BAD:

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It Ends: Outside of the patently ridiculous, this is about the only bad thing I can say about this DLC. I mean, sure, Grits and I took turns making each other laugh by throwing out unfathomably awesome theories as to what could possibly make this side-mission better, (I mean, at the end of it, Josh could pick up Jill and fly away with her, unassisted, trailing a magic rainbow that melts zombies. That would be awesome, right?) but the outright truth is that this DLC more than delivered with THE GOOD:

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Massive Action DLC: or MAD, as I prefer to call it. This mission seems to pack in, pound for pound, just as much, if not more, action than the main game. Hordes and hordes of zombies come at you, almost without end, through the entire mission. So many, in fact, that Grits speculated that this side mission is really a subtle way of telling people who haven't tried it, so far, that the game's excellent Mercenaries mode is worth trying out. I don't recall there being a single puzzle in this game. Unless you count tricking multiple Chainsaw McSackfaces into walking next to a cluster of legions-worth of red barrels. Make no mistake, if you thought that Lost in Nightmares was an indication that the 2-part DLC would be moving in a more tension-based direction, you couldn't be more wrong. Desperate Escape is pure, visceral action.

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Lotsa Good for Not-So-Lotsa: One of the more impressive things about this two-pack of content, is it's price. Each chapter has been, surprising, 400MS points, or 5 dollars apiece. For your five bones, this mission will offer you around two hours of undead-s'plodin' Nirvana. You'll also a few new capsule-figures, as well as unlocking new Josh and Jill characters for the free Mercenaries Reunion mode. This pack is, altogether, a real value.

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Doug: True, he's not a huge part of the mission, but the addition of Josh's helicopter-drivin' buddy. Especially in the game's concluding cutscene, which is so good, you won't believe Capcom put in so much effort for after-market.

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Monday Night Nitro: I'll let the pictures do the talking here.

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WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Easily my favorite part of Desperate Escape, was Josh's Pro-Wrestling-inspired melee moves. From the aforementioned elbow-drop, to his spectacular suplex, Josh Stone's every move epitomized the true spirit of The Nature Boy.

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I've spent the better part of the last year recommending RE5 to anyone I can, as well as trying to get them in the right mood to truly appreciate it. Desperate Escape is a perfect addition to that, already, spectacular 'splosion-actionfest. As DLC goes, I cannot recommend this this one enough.

FINAL JUDGEMENT: Seriously, why aren't you playing it right now?!

Hang it Up: American McGee

Hey guys, you remember that one time in the 90's when American McGee capitalized on the Slutty Halloween Costume trade and made a good game (for it's time) out of a dark re-imagining of the Alice in Wonderland universe? Yeah, me too. Unfortunately, much like Tim Burton has overstayed his dark re-imaginative welcome, McGee kept coming back at us with the same shtick every couple of years.
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The standout of his career seeming to be the relatively well-received Scrapland, however, which was about how things like (of course) religion, politics, and finance are all areas that are really really corrupt on the inside. This game is notable for having the "American McGee's", tag above the title, but not being about replacing juvenile fiction with art from a junior high student's English folder.
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Well, rest assured that American McGee is back in the American McGee driver's seat with this bit of teaser art I saw today on Kotaku.


Aw, C'mon American, hang it up already! Shyamalan thinks you're gimmick is getting a little tired at this point. You proved, to some extent, with Scrapland that you don't have to rely on "edginess", just to sell a game. Please, FOR THE CHILDREN, pull yourself out of the 90's & just make a game. Just look at what someone with creativity can do, once they let go the concept of darkening everything.

February Goals: Half

Only two months in, and I've already stumbled. That is to say, my gaming goals for February were kind of half-assed. It did come with an epiphany, however. Victoriously, I conquered No More Heroes, just as I'd promised. A full-on FINAL JUDGEMENTS is forthcoming for that title, and I'm really looking forward to it. Opinions I've presented about the games I've played, thus far, have been pretty cut and dried. How I feel, postmortem, about NMH is very conflicted, and I'm anticipating exploring those feelings. What I would like to talk about, is how Grits and I never did get around to sampling any of the coop missions in Modern Warfare 2.

Picture it, if you will: February 26. A balmy evening. A dog howled in the distance, and it suddenly occurred to me that it was getting pretty damned late in the month, and I'd not yet completed either of my gaming goals. On one hand, I was making excellent progress in NMH, and was quite certain I'd finish before the week's end. On the other, I hadn't done a damn thing with Grits & MW2. I texted my dawg to inform him as much. I figured that maybe one good night session would push us through on it. He responded to me in his usual, punctual fashion, in the negative. This was unexpected. What was I to do?! I'd devoted myself, completely, to the cause of Gaming Goals, but I needed Grits to complete said goals. Then, Grits informed me as to why we would not be completing set goals. Namely, The Secret Armory of General Knoxx. As his earlier post informs, we've been playing a lot of it since it came out.

Admittedly, I was hesitant. Dammit, I wanted to get them goals in! But, further explanation from Grits did ring true, and has led me to believe that we should, if not discontinue monthly coop goals entirely, that we should only set them for ourselves when they are applicable. You see, the impetus behind our Monthly Gaming goals were to, for one, force us into burning through the stacks of older games we weren't getting around to on a reasonable timetable. For two, they would force us out of our comfort zones with games, in an effort to make us more well-rounded. You see, for me, I've been feeling over the past year or so, that I've gotten a bit stodgy with what I will and will not play. That I'm denying myself some great experiences, simply because the act of playing some of them makes me feel a bit uncomfortable. When it comes down to it, playing coop MW2 just doesn't fit into either of those categories. Especially when you consider we would have been putting off the epically fun coop of playing Borderlands with DrSmooth and Chester.

So, in conclusion, I have a very warm, ABC After School Special, feeling of growth coming out of February. I feel like, going forward, gaming goals will be more productive, and hopefully less forced. It's such a foregone conclusion, so I don't feel like it'll make that, now-stringent, coop goal status, but RE5's second batch of campaign DLC is up this week. It'll be interesting to see if Grits and I's perspectives change at all, now that we'll be playing Josh and Jill, rather than Sheva and GUN SHOW.

Up Next: The future is a little cloudy. In the wake of finishing No More Heroes, I'm taking a little bit of a break, and don't quite know what I want next. Hopefully I'll be able to let you know in NMH's FINAL JUDGEMENTS.

All Knoxx'd Up: Borderlands Coop Chronicles

The last two nights Razorburn, Chestar, DrSmooth, and myself have been playing the new Borderlands DLC The Secret Armory of General Knoxx. After playing smooth games like Modern Warfare 2, Uncharted 2, Bayonetta, and Mass Effect 2, it is a little odd going back to Borderlands. I'm amazed how janky that game is and that I still really enjoy it. I play a Siren teched up for elemental effects, so I'm always lighting things up, and the frame rate starts going all over the place. There are so many little bugs and polish issues with the game it is an astounding testament to the pull of loot and coop gaming.

Anyway, so we jump in to the new DLC, most all our characters are level 48 and we ran into the same infuriating problem that we ran into with the Zombie Island DLC. If you are four levels below an enemy the damage you do to them is so dramatically reduced that it turns every enemy into a five minute boss battle. It is fun for a little while, and they did it much better than Zombie Island, where we spent probably 20 minutes and 30 deaths trying to kill our first few zombies and our great reward, 3xp points (thanks for tell me up front that zombie kills are worth little to no xp)! I couldn't believe it, I still rage thinking about how they balanced the level differences. I digress, this time around it is a little better, at least the enemies in this new area give decent xp 1000-4000 for a kill.

The first night we didn't do much other than die, again, and again losing more and more money while we tried to kill these damn flying probes that came in pairs with shields that the U.S.S. Enterprise would be jealous of. We were really grinding but somehow having a good time, plenty of slowly whittling away at the enemies shields mixed with tons of "Hey DrSmooth, come save me" (DrSmooth is our item Santa Claus and healer extraordinaire). Some tense, funny, and frustrating moments have come out of this. When we started I had around $9 million on my character, every time you die you lose about 5%, by the time we started getting to a point where we were killing more than dying I think I was down to $2.5 million, you do the math, we died A LOT! After finally grinding up to level 49 the difficulty started to ramp down quite a bit and we started getting some goodtimes rolling with it.

We have had some funny things happen playing coop with this crew, but the standout moment for these sessions has to be Razorburn's figurative and literal crash and burn. There are new vehicles in the game, and you spend most of the time in the early sections rolling on freeways and being harassed by the previously mentioned flying probes of death. We had more than a few collisions, unintentional and intentional, go bad ending in deaths and long walks. We were all raging on how much we hate these probes and how much money we have lost because we kept dying. So Razorburn, riding shotgun in the vehicle I'm driving throws out "They're like Madden franchise updates, THEY JUST KEEP COMING". There was a noticeable pause... Razorburn realized the horrible bomb he had just dropped and committed seppuku by jumping out of the moving vehicle and off the freeway edge to his death. It almost made up for it.

I know I'm hating more than I should on Borderlands, let's just leave it at there is no way we're going to finish our coop gaming goal this month because all I want to play online is Borderlands DLC, jank and all.

No More FIRST IMPRESSIONS

It's taken a bit of monkey-wrenching, but the Wii and I have been reacquainted. Gotta admit, it hasn't been the most joyous of reunions. My interactions with Wii games, outside of your Mario-based game have been clumsy, at best. But, I purchased No More Heroes oh-so long ago, and it stares at me with longing eyes whenever I go to the gaming shelf with something new in mind. So, this month I set the goal for myself of completing it. More significantly, it will be the first Wii game I'd be completing, in the two or so years that I've owned one. I pushed myself through the game's tutorial and first mission. Read on to see how it went.

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I'm of two minds about the game, so far. I have to give it to up to Grasshopper Manufacture. They've set up a pretty comprehensive control-set for a game of NMH's complexity on the Wii Remote. Unfortunately, the Wii Remote just isn't a very good control device for a game of this type. I made my way through the initial level and boss fight, but it was awkward.

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This also couples with another, more personal problem I've found with myself: I do not do well with games that use block or dodge as a crucial component. Be it Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden, God of War, or what I'm sure will happen with Bayonetta. I just want to hack away. Blocking just never really occurs to me. Hopefully, I can break this bad habit with NMH.

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On the good side of things, I am smitten with the game's atmosphere. I love Travis Touchdown, as a character and the personality he exudes. I love all of the references to geek culture in the game. Going forward, I also think I'm going to love all of the different assassin's I'll eventually take down on my way to the top.

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So, thus far, the game is really fighting itself with me. Gonna be interesting to see if my love of the game's setting can overcome my disdain for it's shortcomings.

Casual Attire: Robot Unicorn Attack

Grits turned me on to this yesterday. It's a flash-based game found on the Adult Swim website, and it is awesome. What you have here, is basically a modified version of Canabalt. The object of RUA, is simple: keep running. Your score increases as you run. Where it differs from Canabalt, (besides the Unicorn-bot protagonist, and that instead of running through an alien apocalypse, you seem to be running through a little girl's wishes) is that you get bonus points for "dashing" through stars and collecting, what appear to be, tiny pixies. The pixies increase in value, if you collect them consecutively. Also, the game affords you a double jump, which saved my horsey-ass many many times. As a visual bonus, as your score begins to climb, ethereal pink dolphins join you on your journey. Truly Outrageous.
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Where this game truly shines, is in it's soundtrack. While you play, a portion of Erasure's "Always" plays. I DEFY you to get that song out of your head after playing. DEFY.

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So, if you have a bit of spare time (work is always a good candidate), head on over to Adult Swim's site and wish away! I have a feeling I'll be doing more Casual Attire segments based on their fare. Grits tells me Cream Wolf is good as well. With a name like that, how could he be wrong?

Massively Effective FINAL JUDGEMENTS... Er, 2

Hoo boy. Well, if you've been looking at this blog much, you probably already know where things are going for these FINAL JUDGEMENTS. So, let's not dally. On to THE BAD.

Advertising Not really a part of the game proper, but what I feel to be the worst thing about the game was any enjoyment the advertising up to it's release denied me. Obviously, aspects of the game are, inevitably, going to have to be shown off to get people excited about it's release, but these days it's getting ridiculous how much gets spoiled in the name of that. Personally, I tried quite hard to avoid news about ME2 in an attempt to have my first playthrough be untainted. Even in doing that, advertising spoiled a couple of reveals for me. For Mass Effect 3, I'd really like to see more care paid to holding back story reveals. I feel like the brand has built up enough cred that it doesn't need to pander to news sites.

Scanning... Improved though it may have been, ME2's resource collection mechanics were still more of a tedious grind than I'd have liked it to have been. Unfortunately, I'm something of an obsessive when it comes to something like this in a game, and I quickly became uncomfortable with how much time I was spending scanning planets for just a little more, rather than enjoying the game "properly". What I did not know, unfortunately, was that there are WAY more resources available to be scanned than you'll ever need in the game. I probably could have cut a few hours off of my overall game time if I'd only known I didn't need so damned much Palladium!

Redundancies On the subject of resources, they're what you'll need to research the various upgrades in the game that you collect by either buying licences for them, or finding them during combat scenarios. One thing I wasn't fond of was that, in a couple of instances, I purchased licences late in the game with the in-game money (which is far rarer than the overkill of resources) only to find out that I'd already found and researched that upgrade somewhere else in the game. I felt a sort of bamboozled in this regard, and would have rather seen the game prompt me when purchasing something I'd already researched, rather than have me waste money in ignorance.

THE CONUNDRUM!!! As I'd posted last week, it felt at times that I was able to get too much out of the game without sacrifice. I think my experience would have been a smidgen better if I had, occasionally been forced to either compromise my morals, or sacrifice something beneficial.

Simplification ME2 goes a long way toward simplifying things like armor, planetary exploration, hub worlds, inventory, and level-up min-maxing. Occasionally, though, I miss that complication... Just a little bit.

Honestly, though, these are small potatoes. By and large, I feel like I was forcing THE BAD a little bit, in order to feel more legitimate when I gush, unabashedly during THE GOOD.

Story and Characters Mass Effect 2 takes everything from the original and makes it that much better. It could have been the rough treatment of some of your original teammates, but I found myself being embarrassed for caring about characters like Kaidan Alenko or Ashley Williams. Hell, the characters you actually get to use from the first game are 10 times more interesting than they were in the first game.

Tunnel Vision Mass Effect 2's more guided path through a series of short burst missions was a breath of fresh air from Dragon Age's never ending dungeons. One of ME2's greatest feats is that sense that you can pick it up and do at least one mission, even if you don't have much time to game.

Suicidal Tendencies The final mission is epic, and that's coming from the perspective of someone who's only seen it done one way. As I'm to understand it, the Suicide Mission can play out several ways based upon how you've played the game overall. I've heard it poo-pooed in other venues, but I personally found the "What a tweest!", to be surprising and casting interesting concepts into the already rich ME2 lore.

Simplification Okay, I know I spoke earlier about how I missed some of the complication, right? Well, not nearly as much as I enjoyed not worrying all the time about whether yon armor is 3 points better than another, or if I needed to get rid of other armors in my inventory just to hold it till I got back to the Citadel to see if the armor I was saving for was better than it. Or, if putting points into personality, so I could get better options when trying to bang the hot alien chick, was a waste of time when I could put the points into a useful combat attribute instead. Or, how I could spend a couple of hours probing planets for ore, rather than driving the sci-fi equivalent of Heavy Rain's control scheme that was THE MAKO. Or, any number of other things. Point is, I got to enjoy the action, and the drama. Not so much with the worrying about the ones and twos behind the scenes.

Normandy II Much more of a living, breathing "camp", than other games I've played. The addition of Yeoman Kelly, who will tell you if you have new messages or if any of your crew members have pressing business they need to talk to you about.

All My Rowdy Friends I was really happy when I ran into so many minor characters from the first game, and ACTUALLY REMEMBERED MOST OF THEM. It was interesting to see how their lives had mov... Aw, what the hell, CONRAD FREAKIN' WERNER AND THA MOTHAF(whut, whut?!) WREX?! Do I really need to explain how good it is to see my old homies? Do I?!

Really, I could go on, but do I need to? Mass Effect 2 will is a really good game. Really good. So good that I feel sorry for the rest of 2K10's lineup having to be constantly ranked against it. The most telling thing I think that I can say about the game is that, after 56hrs of gameplay, I was sad that there wasn't any more to play. In many arenas, it would sound like hyperbole, but when I look back, I honestly think that ME2 is going to rank up there with my favorite games of all time. I cannot wait to see how they top themselves in the final chapter.

FINAL JUDGEMENT: OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!!

Up next: Gonna make the big push on No More Heroes. Will I take it all the way? Stay tuned!

Resident Evil 5: Lost in FINAL JUDGEMENTS

PURCHASE

For the record, playing Resident Evil 5 coop with Grits was the funnest bit of gaming I had last year, and one of my fondest gaming memories yet. So, when Capcom released the game's first bit of campaign DLC last week, titled "Lost in Nightmares", purchasing it was a foregone conclusion. Well, Grits and I played it to completion a couple nights ago, and here's what I though.

For those who don't know, Lost in Nightmares is meant to fill in a bit of backstory referenced around the middle of RE5's campaign. Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine are infiltrating a mansion with the goal of confronting some really old guy who has some deep ties to the Umbrella Corporation, or something to that effect. The DLC itself ends up being a great deal of fan service, making several references to older installments in the RE franchise. Having not played any of the previous games to completion myself, this was mostly lost upon me, but Grits assures me that it was all spot on and very nostalgically touching.

The story bit itself takes around two hours to complete and, just as with the main game itself, lends itself well to multiple playthroughs. For myself, the chapter was much different than I had expected it to be, focusing much on puzzle elements rather than the balls to the wall action that much of the main campaign offers. That said, I had a great time with it once I got over my initial discomfort with it being not what I'd expected. It controls well (considering you're someone like myself, who is comfortable with the RE5 control set), is challenging, and is very satisfying, considering the price tag attached.

Also released alongside the chapter, this week, was a free "extra figures", pack and a pack consisting of a new alternate costume for both Chris and Sheva, costing 160 MS points. The "extra figures" pack contains a few new unlockables for the already charming figurine set, as well as the "Reunion" expansion for Mercenaries mode. Now, I haven't tried that part out myself, but Grits has and has told me that it is quite nice, expanding the characters you can use in Mercenaries and, by his account, mixing up a bit of how that mode is played. Perhaps he will correct me on some of this later. On the alternate costumes side, I find myself to be someone who enjoys the alternate costumes, and for about two dollars, I was happy to dole out for a Road Warrior-esque costume for Chris, and Naughty Red Ridding Hood costume for Sheva.

Overall, I have to say that the Lost in Nightmares expansion is well worth the 400 MS point ($5) price point, and if you are any kind of fan of RE5 you should pick it up.

Having my cake and eating it too: The Mass Effect Conundrum

Let's not beat around the bush. I am in love with Mass Effect 2. Frighteningly so. To further hyperbolize, I feel like the rest of 2k10 is going to have a hard time stacking up to the experience that ME2 has given me so far. There is, however, something I've been struggling with. Something that the game is giving me, but I'm really not sure I deserve. I present, for your consideration, The Mass Effect Conundrum!

Anyone who's played the game is well aware of it's morality mechanics. It's hardly a new concept. You have a choice of whether to play the game as a Paragon, or a Renegade, and much of the game can differentiate based upon these choices you make. I'm the type of person who will choose the White Hat, good guy route the first time, every time. Still, no big. Mass Effect 2 has taken the game in a direction I like, where things are in more of a morally gray area. Good people do bad things for misguided reasons, and bad people are the way they are for unfortunate reasons. Things like that. The issue that I wrestle with is that, whereas I like that I've been able to get everything I want out of the game being a pure-hearted Paragon, there's a part of me that wishes that the game would ask me to sacrifice.

A large part of the game hinges upon whether or not you can gain the loyalty of your various crew members. Once gained, these characters unlock special powers and are more likely to survive through the end of the story. Early on in the game, I was asked to make a moral choice which conflicted with my Paragon leanings. I believed that, if I stuck to my guns, that I would lose the loyalty of this character. I saw things through, as a Paragon, and realized that I could gain this characters loyalty by disregarding his wishes and, basically, guilting the character into being loyal to me. This is good for me, for greedy reasons. I got what I wanted and didn't have to compromise my morals.

Since then, the part of me that loves Mass Effect for it's closer-to-life morality has been wrestling with this. Should this be okay? Would my experience have been more memorable if I'd had to choose between compromising my morals to ensure the safety of a crew member, or stay true to myself but allow this character to potentially expire? I put this question to the great leagues of people who don't read what I write and ask you, can you solve the Mass Effect Conundrum?!