With downloadable content streaming in now, I'd hoped that my friends would pick Borderlands up again; once you've played the game's most fun mode - that is, You And Three Friends Blowing Shit Up mode - it is difficult to go back to anything else (You're Alone In A Desert mode, or You Can't Trust These Public Game Assholes mode).

But my buddies have moved on. So, I guess I should, too.

Better than: Diablo II (great in a group)
Not as good as: BioShock (not as much, solo)
There is a Firefly reference: And it's awesome

Progress: Level 47 Berserker

The story continues to be my primary motivation. It's getting pretty interesting: convoluted enough to keep me guessing, but not so much as to be complete nonsense. That is, aside from some metaphysical deus ex machinas, which I'm willing to give a pass, since the bizarre premise is one of the story's strengths.

As for the gameplay, I remain unimpressed. Well, maybe that's not the right word; I am impressed by the breadth and complexity of the battle system, but that doesn't make it fun for me. I had to drop my last boss fight down to Easy difficulty - at which point, it was quite easy - in order to win. And actually, I think I have more fun with it when there's less pressure, and I can just play around with my different abilities.

I'm willing to admit that I'm not good enough to master this battle system, and I am unwilling to seriously dedicate myself to it. If I can finish the game by dropping to Easy when necessary, I'm fine with that, even though I know I'm blithely ignoring some deeper combat mechanics. Frankly, I don't have the patience to learn the "Stride Cross" system inside and out, so I am grateful to the game for accommodating me regardless.

As the days wear on, missions entail more and more running around Shibuya; I'm learning the map a little better, but having to go on wild goose chases is still a drag. And I am still confused by, and indifferent toward, the item and brand system. Nevertheless, plot twists and genuine curiosity drive me to unravel the mysteries of the Game, and of Neku.

Progress: Day 16

There are a number of things I don't like about Mass Effect; things which I will go on to describe in excruciating detail. There are also some things I really do like about Mass Effect, that managed to make my experience, on the whole, fun. Now that the ride is over, I'm left wanting a little more - not enough to bother playing through again, but enough to plan on picking up the sequel ... once it's on sale.

As I mentioned before, one serious misgiving I have against the game is its paper-thin facade of "real" control over Commander Shepard. I started the game by customizing my character's backstory, personality, and appearance; giving me considerable freedom into making Shepard whatever I wanted to be. But this freedom was rapidly dissolved by laughable dialog options. Often, all the choices given to me were actually the same thing. Frequently, a choice's summary caption didn't sync up with the actual dialog it triggered. And, more than a handful of times, my choices weren't even close to what I really wanted to say.

Given the initial customizability, I thought I would be able to use dialog to shape my character's persona, and really put the R in RPG. But the conversation system's limited options made it more a tool to squeeze NPCs for information or for results. Which is fine, I guess; it's in line with traditions that've served the genre well. I just feel let down by the ultimate lack of meaning and depth attached to a feature that so dominates the game. My save file tells me I finished the game in just under 18 hours (having done very few sidequests), and I'd estimate that NPC conversations accounted for as much as six of those hours.

Another several hours, maybe two or even three, I spent just reading the game's background literature. Every time I encountered a location, species, technology, historical reference, or any other form of information, the game added an entry on it to my in-game Codex. These entries flesh out a staggering amount of plot regarding the Mass Effect universe; and as a sci-fi nerd, I was all too happy to read it. But I was repeatedly struck by how Roddenberrian it seemed. Alien species are largely characterized by aggressiveness. Despite having a standard galactic language, many spacefaring humans retain regional accents (e.g. French). And why are so many races physiologically similar to humans? (Or more precisely, why does no one ever wonder about this?) There are a bunch more similarities I won't go into, as they spoil the game's story, which is not terrible; but suffice to say, when I encountered these elements, I immediately thought "Oh, just like Star Trek."

As with the conversation system, this isn't necessarily a bad thing - Mass Effect's background fiction does its job, and does it adequately. But again, I am disappointed insomuch as this brave journey into interstellar space feels so familiar.

And speaking of that interstellar space, in line with the illusory freedom of character development, the architecture of the explorable galaxy is a bit misleading. There are a number of star clusters, systems, and planets to go to on the galaxy map - but most of them are nothing more than a descriptive paragraph. A large number of the remainders are only good for surveying, e.g. clicking a button from orbit, for a sidequest. There are few to actually land on, and even fewer with content of real significance.

Realistically, it is unfair to expect the tremendous effort of explorable terrain and features on planets that aren't relevant to the game's campaign. But the impression is bothersome: here is a galaxy of locations, here are the important ones, don't bother going anywhere else. It occurred to me that this isn't altogether different from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker's islands, many empty, and few with actual life; but in Wind Waker, Link actually sails the sea, sights land on the horizon, lands on shore. In Mass Effect, Shepard selects the destination from a menu-map. There is no sense of exploration, and so there's no redeeming value in uninteresting planets.

There are other, more minor complaints I have about Mass Effect's internal mechanics. Good armor seems incredibly rare. The 150 item limit, counting all types of equipment, makes it difficult to keep backup squad members well-equipped (not to mention, changing inactive squadmates' gear is only possible when it's absolutely not necessary). Some enemy encounters are surprisingly tough, and the autosave system occasionally falters; I learned quickly to make frequent quick-saves. The Mako driving controls are a touch wonky, and sometimes get in the way. Most of the music is extremely forgettable. And, supposing I wanted to go back and try to accomplish some of Mass Effect's numerous side-quests, I can't, because my game is saved past a point of no return.

In general, I would say my "problem" with Mass Effect is that it proposes considerable freedoms to the player, and fails to deliver on almost all of them.

BUT!

I still like Mass Effect. As I did with Assassin's Creed, in spite of being disappointed by the game's loftier ambitions, I found the basic gameplay fun, and entertaining. Running and gunning with some RPG slants was interesting, and sometimes even exhilirating. I was pleased with the variety offered by vehicle segments, on-foot shooting, and on-foot investigation. And NPC conversations, although not giving me all the leeway I wanted, do show an incredibly intricate game world, with excellent voice acting.

So while Mass Effect wasn't everything I wanted to be, it was engaging enough that I wasn't able to put the game down until I'd finished it. Which is pretty good, all things considered.

I'm more than satisfied - happy, even - with what Mass Effect did right. As with Assassin's Creed, I'm all for the sequel, in the hopes that it addresses my complaints. And even if it doesn't, I'm pretty confident I'll be able to wring some fun out of it.

Better than: Final Fantasy XII
Not as good as: Borderlands
My Shepard banged: The alien chick

Progress: Finished the story

My first pass at Mass Effect, some time back, left me wanting - I expected a sci-fi action romp, and got a mouth full of dialog instead. Recently, talk of the upcoming sequel has gotten me pretty interested, so I decided to give it another shot; this time, a couple hours in, my impressions are different ... somewhat.

I'm both practically and philosophically bothered by Mass Effect's tantalizing, yet limited freedom of expression. A ridiculous amount of customization options and in-game decisions should enable me to live the dream: pretend I am a spacefaring war hero, shooting stupid aliens, spitting on politicians' shoes, nailing hot intergalactic tail. But when a councilman asks me what I think, there's no Tell Him How To Do His Job option in the dialog wheel. And I can't press a significant NPC if he doesn't want to talk. Mass Effect doesn't let me do what I want: it lets me lean the way I want, within its narrow parameters. Why tease me by pretending I have a real choice?

It's somewhat ironic for BioWare, Lords of the Modern RPG, to damn the sins of JRPG tropes and extol the virtues of "real storytelling." Shepard has equipment and an item pack. Shepard has party members and menu commands. Shepard talks to vapid NPCs and examines treasure chests. Shepard levels up and allocates talent points. Shepard follows linear paths and corridors, with occasional breaks for dialog and sidequests.

Don't get me wrong: I like the game, to an extent. Mass Effect's stat-based gunplay isn't as engaging as the Borderlands', but it's grown on me. And far be it from me to turn down fuckin' spaceships. It just disappoints me that, when I'm chatting with aliens instead of shooting them, Mass Effect feels like Final Fantasy in space. Which is to say, it feels like Star Ocean.

Progress: The Citadel

I need to clear this out of my backlog. I got through a few days on my holiday flight last week, and a few more on the way back; at this point, though the game isn't engaging me on a moment-to-moment basis, I'm interested in finding out what happens in the end.

Previously, I blamed my inability to get into the game on the main character being a toolbag. Now, that isn't bothering me so much - I've simply resolved to not care about the characters at all. This is pretty easy to pull off, as, although they're all well-identified and characterized, none of them are really interesting as people. I maintain a detective-like curiosity in their stories: I'd like to know how they got where they are, but couldn't care less if they live or die.

There was a day or two where I really got into the hyper-complicated battle gameplay. At its best, focusing on one screen and blindly issuing commands to the other, switching between them on a semi-random basis, is pretty intense. But once the game actually starts to become difficult, this is utterly infeasible - the moment I stop paying attention to a screen, the battle starts to slide downhill.

Since Neku can't do anything on his own, my resolution for this is to set Shiki to immediately auto-battle. This doesn't do great, but at least keeps her out of trouble most of the time, and having a healing item equipped helps me get her out of any significant jams.

There are a lot of bizarre gameplay twists, like clothing (and clothing brands!) and food and quest items and shit, which I've been trying to ignore, but have had to pay more and more attention to as the difficulty ramps up. Any buffs I can get are helpful. But the insane complexity of all the game's item types and attributes, and statistics that I still don't entirely understand, is baffling. Why is there so much crap? It adds nothing to the experience. Really, it only serves to dilute the game's strong points ... which I am still having trouble identifying.

Progress: Day 7

This is a pretty easy one. Only two things to say about RE: Darkside Chronicles-

1) It's incrementally better than Umbrella Chronicles, but Dead Space: Extraction still puts it in its place.

2) If the real Resident Evil Code: Veronica is anything like the chapters of Darkside Chronicles about it, Jesus Christ, that game must be fucking terrible.

Progress: Almost (hopefully) finished with Code Veronica

The tutorial was more interesting than I expected - performing impressive and fun moves is actually pretty easy. And between the punching and kicking and guns and bullet-time and shit, there is certainly a lot of (easily accessible) variety in what you can do.

But then I got to the part of the demo that actually represents the game. Monsters everywhere! I can't see shit. Difficult to dodge when I can't see what's attacking me. And apparently there was a giant monster in the background, too!

For me, it turned into a nonsensical button masher, followed by my death. A fan of the Devil May Cry series may see some sort of strategy and technique in this; I wouldn't know. All I saw was visual noise and bare thighs.

Progress: Gave Up -- Died in level 1 of the demo

Wow this sucked. There aren't words to describe! Christ. What garbage.

Progress: Gave Up -- Played the "White Room" demo

Imagine GTA3 set in North Korea - instead of rival gangs vying for control of a city, you have rival governments vying for control of a battlefield. This is Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, and it's basically just as fun as it sounds.

As a mercenary (you can choose between three merc characters, each with a unique special ability), your ultimate goal is to capture or kill General Song, who's taken over North Korea in a military coup and threatens the world with nuclear arms. But to get to him, you'll need some intel; and to gather it, you'll need to work with the armed forces already set up around Pyongyang.

Your merc can play the field between the Allied Nations, South Korea, China, and the Russian Mafia in order to get closer to Song. Meanwhile you'll be capturing various other North Korean big-wigs from the Deck of 52, each one assigned a playing card 'rank' according to importance - and hence, bounty. Your cash reserve (from completing contracts as well as from Deck captures and kills) features prominently in the on-screen HUD, serving not only as a sort of score, but also as a resource for support items like C4 and air-drops.

It's a great premise that's great fun to play out, and really benefits from some smart world design: the game map is small and dense, so finding a new mission is always super-easy. The big fly in the ointment, though, is controls - they are pretty terrible. Several button-map conventions are illogically changed (Circle button to jump? Really?), moving at any speed slower than a full run is all but impossible, and there's no good setting for aiming sensitivity, which is almost as bad as Dead Rising's.

I'm getting used to the controls, though. And while a single mercenary waging war on North Korea isn't the most realistic of settings, the game world is impressively immersive, due in large part to some great voice acting (awful fake accents notwithstanding) and a sweeping orchestral score, LucasArts-style.

Plus, there is an unlockable cheat to play as Han Solo. Fuck yes!

Progress: Captured the Jack of Clubs

Thank goodness. My completion estimate from yesterday was on the high side; and like magic, the remaining half-or-so of Spirit Tracks (including an additional dungeon after the Fire Temple, plus some absurdly difficult final floors in the Tower of Spirits) was everything I could hope for from a great Zelda game. Thrilling boss fights; devilish dungeons; even the story picked up quite a bit. I'm still hesitant to chugga-chugga-chug along for the game's sidequests, but who knows, maybe I'll come back later.

It's pretty clear to me what made the difference in ST's latter half: more dungeon, less train. I could go on; but it would only belabor my point from yesterday. Not to rain on Aonuma's parade, but trains pretty much stopped being the coolest thing ever when I was ten. Although I won't deny there is a certain fun factor to pulling the whistle.

Anyway! The last several dungeons and other gameplay sequences more-or-less redeem the menial parts of the game's first half. So while it doesn't end up being one of my favorite Zeldas, I'm glad I stuck it through.

Better than: Ōkami
Not as good as: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
I wish I could: Just get off the train and walk

P.S. Spirit Tracks does a bit of gap-tying between Wind Waker/Phantom Hourglass and the rest of the series. Don't expect anything significant, though.

P.P.S. This is the third Zelda in a row where one of the final battles is with the floating, possessed body of the princess. What's up with that?

Progress: Defeated Malladus