Coffee is for Closers!
I've been wrapping up games like crazy on the XBOX over the last week. Nothing like a couple of snow-bound sick days to help a guy finish off games.
I finished Mass Effect, which only seemed to pick up momentum all the way to the end. It's been a long time since I have finished a game and immediately found myself wanting more. It's a great game - it just doesn't get any better for me. I'm glad to see that rumors of a sequel are already boiling.
With Mass Effect done, I turned my attention back to Bioshock. I picked it up back in September, and I have been working my way steadily through it for the last few months. For a shooter, this game has more story and setting than most roleplaying games. The decision to set the game at the bottom of the ocean in the 1940's was a brilliant move, giving the game a look and feel that is completely new - something we don't get enough of these days. In a time of cookie-cutter settings and licensed crap, it was a breath of fresh air. It makes me happy to see a developer take a risk and have it pay off.
I picked up The Orange Box right after Christmas, and ended up killing an afternoon playing Portal. Part of the Orange Box collection, Portal is basically a mini-game based around a gun that allows you to open portals all over the environment. You play the role of an andriod who is guided through a series of test chambers by an insane artificial intellegence. You are forced to use this portal technology to defeat a series of puzzle-rooms, each requiring more clever and complicated thinking than the last. The game itself is amazing, and despite being very short, it still manages to tell quite an intriguing story. The AI, GLaDos, ends up being the star of the game, with some fantastic dialog that manages to be both humorous and ominous. The game is worth finishing for the end song alone.
If Portal was a great appetizer, for me, the main course has been Team Fortress 2. I'm not a huge fan of online shooters, but TF2's class and objective-based system is a lot of fun, and you don't necessarily have to be a great twitch-gamer to be successful in the game. Classes like the medic, engineer and heavy gunner all make a good alternative choices for those of us who are "twitch-impared." The gameplay is well tuned, and the game has a great, campy style that makes it all the more fun. For a taste of what I'm talking about, check this out:
You can find all of the game's trailers here. The "Meet the.... " entries are all hillarious.
A friend from work just loaned me Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty 4, so the parade of A-list games doesn't look to be ending soon. I also really want to finish Final Fantasy XII, but after months of playing the XBOX 360 in HD, going back to the PS2 is like leaving the new hotness to go back to the old and busted.
I finished Mass Effect, which only seemed to pick up momentum all the way to the end. It's been a long time since I have finished a game and immediately found myself wanting more. It's a great game - it just doesn't get any better for me. I'm glad to see that rumors of a sequel are already boiling.
With Mass Effect done, I turned my attention back to Bioshock. I picked it up back in September, and I have been working my way steadily through it for the last few months. For a shooter, this game has more story and setting than most roleplaying games. The decision to set the game at the bottom of the ocean in the 1940's was a brilliant move, giving the game a look and feel that is completely new - something we don't get enough of these days. In a time of cookie-cutter settings and licensed crap, it was a breath of fresh air. It makes me happy to see a developer take a risk and have it pay off.
I picked up The Orange Box right after Christmas, and ended up killing an afternoon playing Portal. Part of the Orange Box collection, Portal is basically a mini-game based around a gun that allows you to open portals all over the environment. You play the role of an andriod who is guided through a series of test chambers by an insane artificial intellegence. You are forced to use this portal technology to defeat a series of puzzle-rooms, each requiring more clever and complicated thinking than the last. The game itself is amazing, and despite being very short, it still manages to tell quite an intriguing story. The AI, GLaDos, ends up being the star of the game, with some fantastic dialog that manages to be both humorous and ominous. The game is worth finishing for the end song alone.
If Portal was a great appetizer, for me, the main course has been Team Fortress 2. I'm not a huge fan of online shooters, but TF2's class and objective-based system is a lot of fun, and you don't necessarily have to be a great twitch-gamer to be successful in the game. Classes like the medic, engineer and heavy gunner all make a good alternative choices for those of us who are "twitch-impared." The gameplay is well tuned, and the game has a great, campy style that makes it all the more fun. For a taste of what I'm talking about, check this out:
You can find all of the game's trailers here. The "Meet the.... " entries are all hillarious.
A friend from work just loaned me Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty 4, so the parade of A-list games doesn't look to be ending soon. I also really want to finish Final Fantasy XII, but after months of playing the XBOX 360 in HD, going back to the PS2 is like leaving the new hotness to go back to the old and busted.
Labels: consoles, RPGs, video games, XBOX
