The "Complete" List - 2010

Left 4 Dead 2 - (All Campaigns)
Mass Effect

So I know there was supposed to be a review of the year 2 but in the end I couldn't be bothered.

I picked up Mass Effect for a tenner ages ago because friends have been badgering me to try it. I wasn't sure I'd like it. When I started it I was even more sure. It has a terrible opening few hours. There's conversations with people you don't know about things you don't know anything about.

However after a few hours the plot kicks in and the game gets a whole lot more exciting. Being a bit of RPG noob I let the game take care of my XP, which I kind of regretted later, and set it to easy, which of course I didn't regret later. There's a lot to take in early on and not a lot of clear instruction on what to do (of course I didn't read the manual but I'm reliably informed it's rubbish.)

Anyhow once it does kick in it's a great game. The various plot missions mostly involve blowing everything to bits but they're done in a very Hollywood style. The Mass Effect universe is very convincing as well with as good a cast of ships and aliens as you're likely too see outside of Star Wars.

Suffice to say I've already pre-ordered the sequel which I intend to dedicate a lot more time to and play in a more thorough fashion.. Possibly not on Easy.

Summer drought?

There was an article on Eurogamer yesterday that seemed to suggest that traditional summer drought was going to end..

Not this year it seems. We've seen some big name games released in the Spring of 2009 and EA may be releasing some of it's games a little earlier this year.. But having just checked the release schedule on Play from now until September, what I'd class as the traditional Summer months, seems as blank as ever.

I do have a couple of titles on the back burner (Mass Effect and Silent Hill 2 spring to mind) and I've got a lot of stuff to catch up on so it's not a huge deal but it seems that once again it's going to be an expensive Q4.