I finally got around to playing Mass Effect (I bought it months ago), and I must say it is awesome. I definitely am not an RPG guy, but the game was quite compelling. It took me about 20 hours to finish, which seems a bit low compared to the developers’ claim of 30. At any rate, I’ll probably play it again as a renegade to check out the additional conversation dialog.

This weekend I took a few hours to power through F.E.A.R. 2, the sequel to the awesome game from 2005. The reviews are mixed on what to label this game, but I just would like to chime in and say it is good. It doesn’t quite live up to what one might expect from three years’ work, but Monolith has been busy with other projects as well and that is understandable. Just about everything that matters about the game is right on the money, though. The thrills are good, the action definitely pleases, and Monolith bats it right out of the park with the ending once again. I will not spoil it, but I will say nobody can see it coming.

Also, Jen Taylor is a fine voice actress, but her voice has become a bit too recognizable by now. And I haven’t even played all the way through Halo. (Hi, Zoey!)

Holy carp, Batman! I haven’t been posting on this thing in quite some time.

For some reason I preordered Tomb Raider: Underworld last year, despite never getting around to playing it. The reason I got it was that it came with a free copy of Tomb Raider: Legend and was therefore too good to pass up.

I was actually quite surprised by the quality of the game; the graphics looked quite good with next-generation content turned on (despite a few glitches) and despite the controls being a bit clunky, I played through the entire thing using my Xbox 360 controller. The story was passable and even somewhat good at one point, which was way more than I was expecting.

From here I plan to get started on Tomb Raider: Anniversary, which I understand is not a direct sequel. Hopefully I can find time to do that before the new semester begins!

Interestingly, this game is $20 cheaper on PC than it is on Wii, 360 or PS3 and this heavily influenced my buying opinion that I should buy it for PC. Thankfully the game did not disappoint—it fully supports the Xbox 360 controller which made it a snap to play.

The game is awesome, as anyone who played LEGO Star Wars should be able to corroborate. There was plenty of LEGO-inspired humor throughout the game and the use of the original musical score added a great deal. The game is a bit short at less than eight hours of gameplay, but there are plenty of extra goodies to collect in free play mode to keep gamers yearning for 100% completion occupied.

Of course, the theme song is stuck in my head now.