I am approximately halfway through the game, and so far my impressions of it are pretty good. The first thing that caught my attention was the visuals.  I was surprised how good it looked and ran on my aging PC.  The textures and details are top notch and very well done, and I have not had a single hitch running the game.  The controls are also very fluid and handle well.  It somewhat reminds me of Resident Evil 4 and 5 with the camera and handling of weapons, although I must admit the Dead Space system seems a bit more polished and improved. Overall, I am impressed.

One thing contributing to this, and by far the part I love most, is the interface. There is no constant HUD on the screen with character information.  Instead, all information is displayed visually within the world itself.  Player health and stasis status are visually represented on two areas of the character’s suit.  Weapon ammunition is displayed on the weapon itself when it is readied by the user.  Everything feels like part of the world around you, and it works very well.

If the player needs to access more complex features like the inventory or map, it is all displayed in virtual panels in front of the character, never visually removing you from the world you are in.  You can still pan the camera while these displays are up, and to put it simply, it just looks cool.

Despite being halfway through the game, I still find myself impressed with the interface the most. It is great to look at, and works so well with keeping the player involved in the world and not feeling like it is a video game. It is far from perfect though, as the inventory system feels slightly inefficient with the key setup on the PC, but otherwise it is fairly enjoyable.

I guess it seems weird to write a post just about the interface of Dead Space, but it is extremely rare to come across a game that implements this type of system this well.  Other games that try often end up with clunky results, or just remove elements entirely and replace them with regenerating aspects (health, ammo, etc) that do not require any real visual implementation.

As for the game itself, I am curious to see where it ends up. The level of creepiness has dipped down quite a bit and I hardly notice it anymore, although the gore seems a bit excessive at times. The gameplay is fun though, and I am enjoying the weapons quite a bit. I absolutely love the line gun when multiple enemies are close together in front of me. <3

I am not sure where to even begin with Trine. The first thing that grabs me about the game is the visuals. The characters are very well designed, and the backgrounds are absolutely gorgeous. I often found myself pausing my progress in the game, simply to absorb some of the background scenes I would pass. The art direction for this game, not to mention the music of Ari Pulkkenin, is excellent.

Even more impressive are the characters within the game, and the unique play style each one brings. The wizard can create objects to assist other characters, the rogue can kill enemies at range and ninja her way into secret places, and the knight is all about bashing the crap out of anything in his way. I often found myself gravitating towards the knight character, as the shield system was very well done. The player can hold the shield up in any direction to block incoming attacks, or shield the character from falling debris. This made for some great battles, as there were quite a few standoffs with other shield wielding skeletons and having to time my attacks correctly. It felt like a real, mini sword fight.

I have little in the complaint department about this game. Only two things really stand out to me. First, this game would have been better with online multiplayer. Living in a small country town, a majority of my gaming friends are based online. Alas, I did not get to experience the fun people often talk about while playing this game coop. Secondly, the last level was just terrible. I was expecting a great boss fight, or something that would require me to really put my character skills I have developed to use. Instead, it was platform jumping race to escape the rising lava. Once the top was reached, it was game over. It really felt lackluster, and the level was incredibly frustrating. All in all though, an excellent game.

Then there is Shadowgrounds Survivor. I am a huge fan of these type of games. The last one I played was Alien Shooter Vengeance, which while rough around the edges, was a blast to play. How can you not have enjoy trying to survive against hordes of aliens rushing at you? Thus, I had high hopes for Shadowgrounds Survivor, and it did not disappoint.

There are two things that really seems worth mentioning with this game. First, the controls in this game are excellent. They follow the standard FPS setup (WASD movement, etc), and feel very fluid and responsive. This may not sound like much now, but after playing similar games (Space Siege), this is a welcomed change. To put it simply, it just felt right.

Secondly, the lighting in the game is excellent. Flashlights were especially entertaining as they cast proper shadows around the room, and the light beam would correctly break up when pointed at certain objects. This may sound like such a silly things to be impressed with, after all, we have seen flashlights in games before. That is very true, but rarely are objects like flashlights implemented well. So on that note, I was pretty impressed, especially for such a small game and studio.

Overall, the game was very fun, and well worth the time. The weapons were entertaining to use, and I especially enjoyed the railgun which could pierce through multiple enemies and bounce around the room. This made for quite a few entertaining scenarios, and I often found myself kiting aliens until they were grouped up just right for some devastating railgun shots. The music in the game was also very well done, adding to the sense of action when defending against large alien rushes.

The only thing I did not appreciate was constantly switching between three different characters, as I would often forget and try to use a weapon that was no longer available to me. Otherwise, this is an excellent little alien shooter game, and well worth the investment. I imagine I will be playing this one quite a few times down the road.

I still refuse to play anything but hardcore mode on the very hard setting.  This has nothing to do with trying to prove something, or bragging rights.  I simply love the pressure and intensity this difficulty brings at times, and every close call I survive feels like a triumph.

So on that note, I started a Vanquisher, and she was simply amazing.  Maybe I got lucky with gear, but she could rip through anything at incredible speed when buffed.  That life was short lived though.  Nearing level 21, the furthest I have made it with a hardcore character, greed destroyed her.

First off, there are four different hairstyles that are found on NPCs throughout the game.  Some clever people have discovered how to replace Shepard’s current hairstyle with one of the NPC ones, allowing gamers to further customize their character and make it more unique.  To view how to do this, Mass Effect 2 Faces has a wonderful tutorial. Trying for a new mixed alignment character, I felt the following hairstyle suited the assignment well.

Secondly, there are a variety of additional armor and casual outfits the main character can wear.  The casual outfits work great, and allow players to not look like a Cerberus sellout if they are against the corporation.  The armor also has some great looking pieces, but also seem to be glitchy at times.  It is definitely worth checking out though here.  I recommend downloading and replacing the Coalesced.ini file than modifying it yourself, as it is far more easy to do.

Lastly, why do developers continually impose mouse acceleration in PC games today? This is not welcomed in any shooter, and can thoroughly ruin the feel of a game in most cases.  So as always, make sure to edit your Coalesced.ini file to remove it, with instructions to be found here. It is pretty quick, and only takes a matter of seconds to do.

So as much as I want a PS3, this is a nice reminder to thoroughly investigate games before deciding which platform to play on.  It is great having some extra outfits and customization options that console owners are not able to access.  This still does restore my faith in the PC market though, as I still feel developers are destroying what has made PC gaming great to start with.  However, that is another topic for another day.

From beginning to end, the game is nonstop fun.  One of the first things that caught my attention is the change in combat.  Having started my first play through on veteran difficulty, I found the battles to be fairly action packed and fluid.  They required some planning, as well as some care and coordination with my squad.  In the original game, I often would ignore my team and consider them an inconvenience.  This time around, I found myself reliant on them and the excellent biotic powers they bring to the front lines.  Adding to the fun, biotic powers can be combined to create some devastating damage.  All in all, battles were great, and it appears they got the third person shooter formula down well.  Character movement was fluid, and weapons felt punchy.

The dialogue in the game also seems improved.  Unlike its predecessor, many of the dialogue choices seem more direct and to the point.  One of my primary complaints with the older game is the often obscure options that were made available to the player, or too much filler dialogue that I doubt would actually take place in some situations.  Conversations now seem to flow better and are often quite interesting.  The developers also created more “grey” issues, often making me stop and think which action I want to take. To me this adds more depth to the game, and makes me question my choices.  Additionally, some of the dialogue left me wanting to know even more.  For example, why was Legion avoiding my questions regarding my N7 armor he wore?

I also enjoyed some of the humorous dialogue bits they added in this time as well.  While the game carried a generally serious tone, it was nice to break it up with a few laughs.  Although, sometimes the humor was unintentional, as dialogue began to border on cheesy during a few specific interactions.  I know while trying to get Morinth to take me back to her apartment, I laughed a few times at where things were going.  This is of course just being nitpicky though, as overall, the writing in this game is excellent.

Characters were also well developed.  I found myself forming opinions about each one quickly, and treating them accordingly.  I was highly suspicious of Miranda throughout the entire game, but found myself taking a liking to others and talking a bit nicer to them.  However, the characters surprised me in the end.  Despite my attitude with Miranda, she sided with me against the Illusive Man, and cut him off during the middle of a rant when commanding her to stop me.  I honestly had been waiting for her to betray me the entire game.

Samara is also an excellent character, being a strong willed, determined female character who stays true to her beliefs.  Grunt was awesome and slightly humorous, and Garrus is always a good guy to have around.  I really hope to see more of these characters.  As for romance, I avoided that subject once again in this game.  I have yet to see any real point to it other than personal enjoyment, and watching video game characters awkwardly make out is not my thing.  It will be interesting to see though if any of these choices make a big difference in Mass Effect 3.

Another major change is how the game handles equipment.  At first, I was fairly bummed out by not having the ability to loot and sort items.  While the original Mass Effect game was fairly tedious in this department, I generally enjoy scanning for items and customizing specific loadouts for certain situations.  This time around, the player is limited to the same weapons and can upgrade them through research or stores.  The changes began to grow on me though, and as time went on, I appreciated it more and more.  By swapping to this method, it allowed me as a player to focus more on the game itself and not having to bother constantly looting, buying, and selling gear.  It helped the game feel more streamlined overall and made for a pleasant experience.

Not all is perfect though, but a majority of it is smaller issues that can be overlooked.  I found the mission with controlling Joker to be a bit awkward, although the dialogue with EDI made it worthwhile.  The ending “human reaper” seemed a little bit out there, and out of place in the world of Mass Effect.  By then, we were bordering on silly.  It at least would have been interesting if it was a more abstract form of a human, or something else entirely.  Additionally, as I imported my previous character, there were quite a few clipping issues with my uniform.  While it really did not impact the game itself, it did distract me quite a few times during some cutscenes. Mining I feel does not even need to be addressed.  Who enjoyed that?

Overall though, this game is amazing.  It had some wonderful epic moments, and kept me hooked for nearly a week solid.  I am already working out how I want my next character to play out, but now I am at a cross roads.  It feels cheap to start a new ME2 character with no past.  I am now tempted to reinstall the first Mass Effect and fully develop another character.  To me though, that is a true testament to the series and how involving it can be.

As for the outcome, my entire crew and I survived the ordeal.  The only casualties were that of the normal ship crew, aside from the doctor who was rescued.  I also went against Cerberus and destroyed the Collector’s station.  To me this will make for an interesting sequel, as I currently have no allegiance to any group, having already told off the council at the start of the game.  I cannot wait to see where my Shepard will end up, and what choices I made may come back to bite me in the ass later.

Despite dealing with three different forms of DRM to access Bioshock 2, the game started off great. I found myself easily drawn into the world of Rapture, and I had a good bit of fun fighting splicers, big daddies, saving little sisters, and scavenging for loot. Having not played the original game further piqued my desire to continue on and discover what happened to Rapture. Sadly, the sense of adventure and excitement I started with began to wane quickly for a variety of reasons.  I found myself becoming frustrated with the game controls, balance, user-interface, and even the story itself.

*Warning: Spoilers Ahead*

One of the most important aspects of an FPS game is the controls, and how well they handle during the course of play.  I can only think of one word to describe Bioshock 2 in this aspect, and that is sloppy.  Mouse acceleration appears to have made a return, a source of many complaints from the first game.  I attempted multiple tweaks that were rumored to solve the problem, but none seemed to truly work.  As a result, I had a very inconsistent experience with the handling and aiming of my character, often overshooting targets as the game changed my sensitivity.  The only partially decent fix that allowed me to play was setting my mouse to the lowest DPI possible, loading Bioshock 2, and waving the camera around until the game settled on a new sensitivity. By no means was it perfect, but at least it was playable.

Another annoyance with the control scheme is how during a large fight, I would find myself backpedaling or sidestepping to avoid incoming attacks, only to become stuck.  The problem is, I was not stuck on any particular object.  It was as though I would run into invisible walls at times and then could not move anywhere.  At other points in the game, I was body blocked by my own hovering security bots who refused to move, and would continue shooting me in the back of the head, lowering my health.   Needless to say, it became frustrating as the game continued on, and I would take damage for reasons I should not be.

Balance between enemies in this game also seemed incredibly varied and inconsistent.  One would imagine splicers to be of average difficulty, with big daddies being the biggest challenge.  Instead, it was completely the opposite.  I found myself struggling at times with large splicer battles.  Part of this is my own fault for not being prepared with traps, but other times it was simply due to the sheer number of splicers attacking me and their near perfect aim.  Big daddies and big sisters on the other hand became complete non-factors.  Once winter blast is obtained, the battle is nothing more than freezing and destroying the immobile target.  Towards the end of the game, it gets even worse with hypnosis level 3.

As for the user interface, I do not even know what was going on there.  Early in the game, I often found myself needing to tweak settings or possibly change a key binding.  Upon hitting the escape key to bring up the menu, I would get kicked out of my game and taken to the original starting menu, losing all progress since the last save.  This was a repeated source of frustration the entire time.  The worst of it being when I was finishing a large battle, but the phone began to ring.  Instinctively I hit escape to pause the game, only to lose a great deal of progress as it kicked me out once again.

Many of these faults could be overlooked or put aside if not for one thing, the game simply became incredibly repetitive, dull, and confusing.  There was little variation in game play the entire time, and only a few areas I would deem truly interesting.  Worst of all, it began to feel like a grind at midpoint.  I began to grow tired of constantly hacking machines, and I was growing weary of defending little sisters.  To be fair, I could have avoided this or harvested the little sister right away, but I am someone who opts for the good ending to games, and so it felt as if tasks were becoming a chore.  The game was also fairly predictable, further removing any excitement.

Then there is the confusion this game offered.  To reach the good ending in the game, you need to spare at least two lives I believe.  While some characters are easy to decide their fate, others are not.  For example, one character had gone mad and was even pleading for the player to kill him to end his misery.  He had no real physical form left (see picture below), and nothing would be achieved by his remaining alive.  However, if you decide to help him and cease his suffering, it will count as a negative against you.  Others appear to have found this confusing as well, and making little sense.

This is only the start of the many issues that bugged me within Bioshock 2.  I would like to write about the low-quality textures and how they were handled, the severe lack of general background music, and some very buggy splicers.  If I do though, then this post will likely never end.  All in all, this game felt like a missed opportunity on the developers’ part.  I started off really liking the game, but the flaws it contained became so great that I found it difficult to continue on.  I rarely could play longer than hour before finding something more entertaining to do.

Last night I finally convinced myself to sit down and finish it, which I did.  The very (and I mean very) end became slightly more exciting at least.  Even so, I was still a silent observer, as hypnotized alpha daddies pretty much took care of the job for me.

Quite a few people believe this cannot be done without infinite ammo turned on, especially rocket launchers. It got a little frustrating to be honest, that people are so quickly to give up on trying to beat the game normally. So we loaded up the game, and never once turned infinite ammo on.

The game was a blast once again, and the added pressure for time and accuracy made it all the more intense. Not to mention, the constraints placed on us also made for quite some entertaining moments when things do not quite go according to plan. However, yesterday we successfully completed S grade for the professional difficulty, and without the use of infinite ammo and rocket launchers (lame).

On a side note, I also discovered the ability to modify character models. I thought it would be fairly difficult for this particular game, but it was actually a very smooth process. I swapped Sheva for Jill, because BSAA Jill just looks sweet and a little more geared for combat.

I just hope the new downloadable content comes to the PC. I never imagined I would enjoy the Resident Evil series. I am hooked now though, and clearly a Resident Evil fangirl as I begin to investigate and play older games from the series.