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#4 Mass Effect 2 (360, PC, PS3)

Publisher: Microsoft – Developer: BioWare

Our Review

Mass Effect 2 has earned its spot on this list due its outstanding storytelling, rich characterization and exciting combination of adventure and combat. Additionally, Mass Effect 2 boasts an impressive musical score, a vast array of weapons and abilities that can be tailored to any play-style and a variety of ethical and personal quandaries that players must endure, which essentially guarantees a unique experience with every campaign played. (more…)

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Title: “Kasumi’s Stolen Memory” DLC for Mass Effect 2

Platform: 360 (PC)

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Developer: BioWare

Review by: Dan Braun

The brief encounter in “Kasumi’s Stolen Memory” focuses on the not-so-elusive master thief, Kasumi, who hires Shepard to crash a “who’s who” party within the criminal underworld of outer space in order to obtain a precious item tied to her personal back story. The mission varies from the Mass Effect norm in the sense that only Shepard and Kasumi may participate. Additionally, the first half of the mission is more focused on dialogue and infiltration than battle, with the latter half making up for any perceived lack of action. This variation in mission types is really what makes this downloadable stand out, as the battle encounters offer nothing new, with the exception of Kasumi’s special abilities. (more…)

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Confessions of a Min-Maxer

By Jason King

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There’s probably a reason why I teach math; I’ve been chasing numbers in video games for a long time. As far back as Dragon Warrior I thought excessively on whether or not it was better to begin with the club and clothes than to buy the bamboo pole and save some money. I know I’m not alone in thinking about this kind of stuff; long, detailed “optimization” threads now exist for most RPGs, complete with complex math behind determining how to deal the most damage or which piece of equipment to use. The first Final Fantasy had character roles that haven’t changed much – the Tank, the DPS, the Healer, and the Crowd Controller were all there. (more…)

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Game of the Month – January

Mass Effect 2 (360, PC)

Publisher: Electronic Arts – Developer: BioWare

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Mass Effect 2 was chosen as our “must-have” for the month of January because of its superb storytelling, its deep characters and the fact that it is just so damn fun to play. Despite its technical issues, this is a game that can easily consume more than forty hours of a gamer’s life and then get him to do it all over again, if only to see the game from an alternative perspective. BioWare made every attempt to streamline the game and eliminate the flaws that plagued the first Mass Effect, and have succeeded for the most part. For fans of both shooters and role-playing games, Mass Effect 2 is an outstanding game that holds a lot of appeal.

–Dan (more…)

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Title: Mass Effect 2

Platform: 360 (Also PC)

ESRB: M

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Developer: BioWare

Rating:

Review by: Dan Braun

The highly anticipated Mass Effect 2 lives up to its lofty aspirations as both a shooter and role-playing game. It is a masterpiece of storytelling, character exploration and moral quandaries. But it turns out the actual gameplay can be buggy and erratic, and its inconsistency mars what would be an otherwise near-perfect title. Despite its successes, its failures are too numerous and prominent to ignore. (more…)

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E3 has come and gone. John and Bill offer their impressions on this year’s biggest gaming event.

John’s Ponderings

So this year’s E3 has come and gone with quite a few nice surprises mixed in with the usual expectations which, for the most part, have exceeded my expectations. It is hard to argue with the claim that Microsoft ran away with the most buzz surrounding its next fiscal year, and Nintendo recognized their hardcore gamer mistreatment and addressed it in a big way. Sony, for me, left an underwhelming sense of “That’s it?” from a show that really needed to boost their presence. (more…)

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And the fun goes on out in Los Angeles with the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo. We’ve wrapped up what will probably be the final E3 news post, with information on Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Telltale and more. If anything else comes to light in the next day or so, look to the Twitter posts for quick news blurbs. John and Bill will also be weighing in tomorrow with some commentary on this year’s announcements.

Telltale Games

Telltale announced with LucasArts that it will be making making a new series of Monkey Island games set to launch July 7 on PC. It is also slated to come to WiiWare. The publisher is already offering a pre-order special. Those pre-ordering are eligible to received a Collector’s DVD at the end of the series with a limited-edition cover painted by Steve Purcell, as well as a free Telltale game upon checkout and access to the “Private Pirates Club.” (more…)

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