7.26.2010

Mass Effect 2: Second run through.. Completed!

So I have finally finished my second run through of Mass Effect 2. I was so excited about playing, I decided to immediately after make another character (gasp!) on insanity. And a guy for fun. 


Big mistake. Died faster than I would have liked to. Granted, I think being a sentinel might have been a bad choice for insanity. I'm thinking about maybe redoing it with an infiltrator. That way I can stealth out of sticky situations. But I doubt I will be getting through insanity any time soon so I can get the achievement.


Also, I downloaded the two DLCs for Mass Effect 2. I enjoyed them a lot and they are definitely worth picking up. In case you're not familiar with the DLCs, they are Kasumi: Stolen Memories and Overlord, both 560 microsoft points. Make sure for Overlord that you've downloaded the free firewalker add-on through The Cerberus Network, because you'll need the vehicle that you get in it. Something I didn't realize when I was doing the Overlord missions was that I could have got an achievement while riding between the bases that you have to go to, so I recommend making sure to search for the data packages before going to the first base.


And now onto a bit of a review of what I like and dislike about Mass Effect 2:


Likes

KASUMI. I wish I had downloaded the DLC sooner, because I thought she was an awesome addition to the game. I enjoyed her shadow strike move that allows her to cloak and pretty much back stab instant kill like a rogue in World of Warcraft. I'm sure it would have been helpful to have her to take out annoying snipers sitting off in the distance. I enjoyed her little back story thing, and I respect that we don't learn anymore about her because that's just the way she is.
POWER OF CHOICE. Both Mass Effect games are by far a few of my favorite for the simple fact of being able to choose your own path. Jade Empire (also by Bioware, the same people who make Mass Effect for those that don't know) is the same way pretty much, but different in it's own way. Fable is another choice-ish game that I also enjoy.
COMBAT.. I'm not sure how people who are way bigger gamers than I feel about the combat system, but as someone who usually has trouble aiming a gun I enjoyed it tremendously. I loved being able to take cover and aim my cross hairs before I pop up. Not realistic to actually shooting a gun, but really are video games SUPPOSED to be realistic? I doubt I'll ever shoot a gun in my life, so who cares.
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. I enjoy that fact that all the characters, even some of the very minor ones, are all well-rounded. They have their own personalities, their own style and if you take the time, you can learn about their past and where they came from. I'm not one to sit and read the codex to learn about everything I possibly could in Mass Effect, but I did take the time to get to know each character.
ARMOR. In Mass Effect 1, I absolutely hated the gun and armor system they had. Guns there were too much of and armor there was too many options that were less than attractive (Girl, remember, looks matter to me!) So when I got into Mass Effect 2 and saw the new system I feel in love. Even though it was essentially the same look, I loved that you could change the color and patterns. (Though more pattern options would have been nice.) And even pick what casual outfit you were! Yay! However, I did have a bit of beef with it which I shall discuss in...


Dislikes

ZAEED. I just can not stand his character. The only time I ever use him is for his only loyalty mission. I'm sure his disrupter ammo is very useful, but all the other characters are so much better and more developed then he is. I even feel like I know more about Kasumi then I do Zaeed.
MISSIONS. I don't know, I feel like I wanted the story to drag out a little longer than it did, instead of wasting time on all the loyalty quests. Granted, it was nice getting to know each of the characters some, but I wanted more of the main story. Hopefully we're not thrown into too much of a new group in Mass Effect 3 and given another list of loyalty missions to complete.
STORES. I absolutely hated the fact that the stores were so far and few between, and even then they only had a set amount of things to choose from. I loved the fish, pets and the models to add to the captains quarters, but I wanted more armor to mix and match with. Which leads me to..
ARMOR ADD-ONS. MORE! No, not as many as there were for gun add-on options in Mass Effect 1, but really, what was there 10 add-ons for armor? I think there could have been more done with this, and even add-ons specifically tailored to the different classes. Lord, I made enough money that I could have afforded to buy tons of store add-ons if they had given the option.


There's more to both these lists of course, but I wanted to keep it brief.

7.20.2010

Cool video game related logos













- All images taken from Logopond.

The essentials

I just wanted to share with all of you some of my girl nerdness in my computer room:

The Computer

Yes, it's pink. Yup, I built it. But it packs a punch. If I remember the specs correctly..

GeForce GTX 260
500GB 7200 rpm
3GHz AMD Phenom II Quad-Core processor
 8 GB RAM (Though only 3.25 is recognized because I'm running Windows XP 32-bit)

The Xbox

Yeaaaah.. I bought the Final Fantasy XIII bundle. The game was a tad of a disappoint, not as much to me as it was to other people. That's another post though. I love the Xbox though, and the 260GB hard drive. Part of me wishes I had waited to buy my own Xbox (My husband has one that we've been sharing but it got to the point where we both wanted to play all the time) so I could have possibly had a chance at the new slim version. Oh well, I love my xbox and my faceplate.


The controller

Yes, yes, of course I had to have the pink controller. The picture is a little altered from my photography, so it sadly doesn't have the black analog sticks.





7.18.2010

Mass Effect ... The movie!

So I recently found out that there is a Mass Effect movie in the works. Yay? I really hope so. I was highly disappointed in "The Last Airbender," a show that I absolutely adore that was torn to shreds by M. Night Shyamalan. I haven't seen the movie, no, because I refuse to see it. But I've read plenty of reviews and heard from a few fans of the show how bad it is. I'm sure I'll eventually see it when it comes out on DVD or Netflix, but I won't be paying $10 to see it in theater.




Anyway, Mass Effect! According to IGN, the guys from Legendary Pictures who produced The Dark Knight and Spider-Man will be taking the reigns of this film. That's a plus. And also the writers from the games will be helping out with the production. Another plus, yay! There's a few other guys I don't really recognize helping out, but that's good I don't recognize them. I'm so worried that Michael Bay is going to end up directing this and it will just be EXPLOSIONS and possible jokes involving where Garrus' genital fits into his suit. Or worse, as my husband and a friend pointed out, Uwe Boll. Let's pray for Christopher Nolan to join the team and direct the movie. 


It will be interesting to see how they go about writing the film. With all the different choices with the paragon and renegade sides of the game, they will have to figure out a way to make everyone happy without taking too much away from the game and straying from the storyline. What would make sense, to me anyway, would be going mainly with a paragon route, with a bit of renegade choices in the mix. And live action, for sure. Completely CGI I think would be too boring and too much like the game, and a cartoon would be awful. Of course, it will also be in 3-D because EVERYTHING has to be in 3-D now-a-days.


Whatever decisions are made, it looks like we won't be seeing a Mass Effect movie for a few more years yet. For fun, I decided to pick my own cast for the movie. Who would you pick?


Shepard - Jennifer Hale (I want a female Shepard!)
Kaiden - Sam Witwer (Or Sam Witwer as the male Shepard)
Garrus - Brandon Keener (It has to be him, even if someone has plays in the suit, it HAS to be his voice)
Ashley - Ashley Greene (But it will probably end up being Michelle Rodriguez, and since she seems to always die in her movies, we'll know who Shepard choices to save if she's cast.)
Captain Anderson - Morgan Freeman! (He always seems to work as the mentor who goes above and beyond to help the hero)
Liara - Ali Hillis (Another from the original cast.)
Tali - Liz Sroka (Again, she needs to do the voice, I can't see it any other way)
Joker - Seth Green (Really only picked him because well, he does the voice well and I can only imagine it as him)


I've seen comments of people suggesting Channing Tatum as Shepard and Megan Fox as Ashley, which makes me cry inside. I really couldn't stand Tatum in the G.I. Joe movie and I think his acting is really bland. Fox doesn't seem to me as an Ashley at ALL. Sadly, I think she probably would work as a Miranda, and I really hate admitting that. Oh well, I hated Miranda's face (even though the voice actor who did her is gorgeous) and I hate Megan Fox's face too so it works.


So what's your take: Mass Effect movie good or bad idea?

New Releases for this week

Nothing interesting coming out this week, but I wanted to make a list anyway since I do it for the paper every week.



7.16.2010

Blaster from the past

How cool is this website? A friend of mine recently talked about this on their facebook status, so I had to check it out. Nerd heaven, might I add. I was happy to see that one of the first links in the list was "Star Wars in the '90s." Happiness.


Something I'm not sure that many people know about me is that my love for Star Wars started in third grade with my best friend at the time (who happened to be a guy.. in fact I only really hung out with guys at the period of time.) He introduced me to the original Star Wars Trilogy. My favorite character? Princess Leia of course. what was I for Halloween that year? Princess Leia.


So anyway, in the Star Wars article it talks books and the franchise and such. I read the Star Wars Junior Jedi Knights series, which was pretty good. And then I came across a this blast from the past:


Super Star Wars

I remember spending hours playing this game and getting completely frustrated with it half the time. I really hated the speeder levels and I don't remember being very good at them. But for the '90s it was a decent side scroller game. So was Super Return of the Jedi. Makes me wish I had a paypal account or had time to go downturn and search through the local comic book store.

An introduction of sorts

I hate introduction posts. I never know exactly what to say in them. So I'll just get right into it. Anything you need to know about me is in my profile, and anything else I'll eventually tell you.


Mass Effect 2


So I recently started my second run-through of Mass Effect 1 and 2. First time around, I played the part of the goody-two-shoes. Got the.. guy, saved the day and saved the counc-- whoops I might have accidently picked the wrong option and got the council killed. Oh well. 


Renegade I'm finding to be more fun. Punching people in the face whenever I feel like it and stabbing them with a taser-like pitch fork in always a plus. I'm also playing on a higher difficultly, and I'm actually enjoying picking off the waves of mercs and mechs. Why? I think I just like shooting things, especially when I can take the time to zoom in like in Borderlands. That's one of my faults with being able to shoot in Halo -- I can't always take the time to aim and be able to hit my target (I'd blame it on being a girl, but really it's my fumbling fingers.)


I've only made it about a quarter of the way through Mass Effect 2 so far, and even in the second time around I'm enjoying it just as much as the first time. My biggest dilemma at the moment is who to make my lover. Haha. The first time I played, I refrained from having a relationship to stay true to my one and only love Kaiden. For some reason the second time I played I felt I still had to be with Kaiden, but this time I plan to break his heart (tear.) Garrus is pretty sexy with his war-torn face and Thane is well.. green. Jacob is a tool and I refuse to be with a tool. I'm sure it'll be figured out in due time.


One thing I want to make clear is that I am in no way an expert in video games, nor am I a hardcore gamer. I don't claim to know everything about gaming or be the best at it. I just enjoy video games and have grown up with them all my life. So what I share are my thoughts, not really strategies, and at some point I'll probably share my favorite video game covers. That's just who I am.