Hey there! I know it seems like I completely dropped off the map, and I sort of did. Been busy, been sick. Back on my feet now and I have some all new reviews at ThinkLeet.com and ComicAttack.net.

Go and check them out by clicking the links below!

Dragon Age II – Review

Aspen Reviews: Charismagic #0 and #1

Twister Humor: Lio: Happiness is a Warm Cephalopod

Taking A Look Back: Batman: The Long Halloween

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I’ve got two new guest blogs up over at ThinkLeet! Go check them out!

Learn New Words With Star Wars

The RPG Games of Bioware

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You can read my new Dragon Age: Origins review via my guest post at ThinkLeet.com:

Behold! Dragon Age: Origins

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My time lately hasn’t allowed for much in the way of video games, but I finally got around to starting a campaign in Mass Effect.

I’d tried the game once before and got discouraged when I realized how much it played like a first person shooter. Fortunately, a friend told me not to worry too much and that the combat gets easier as you go along.

So far, and for the most part, I’m enjoying the game. I really like the style of RPGs that Bioware has made over the years (both Knights of the Old Republic games and Jade Empire). The idea that your character changes based on how you treat the others around you is very fascinating to me. Of course, if there’s an option to be mean I’ll pick in 99.9% of the time.

I’m still not very far into the game yet. (I’ve made it through all of the quests in the Citadel and through the planet Feros.) Everything in the game was fairly smooth until I hit Feros. Actually, Feros would have been okay had it not been for the use of the MAKO.

The MAKO is essentially an armoured tank used to cover wider swaths of terrain and supposedly to mow down enemies. They got the covering of terrain right, but for the life of me I couldn’t get it to effectively kill all the Geth attacking me. I tried the cannon, I tried the machine gun, nada. I finally got so tired of dying that I just rolled over the enemies and gave them the finger as I drove past.

I was also finding some of the tasks particularly tedious. The planet map is so expansive that you can muck about for a while without anything interesting happening. Even when there is action it can be extremely repetitive. (Those who have taken down the Thorian probably know what I’m talking about.)

I think my only other complaint about the game is pretty minor, but it still annoys me. There are a lot of things that will pop up on the screen that you can look at and gain XP. By using the term “look at”, I’m being generous. All you really do is click on it and gain XP. Yay, you found a computer, have some XP. I don’t understand being rewarded for not doing anything. If they’re trying to get you more XP, why not build more into what you gain from finishing tasks and killing things? I can understand getting points in WoW for discovering new areas, but you don’t click on rocks and get points.

All in all I’m ready to get going on the next planet in the game and see where it all takes me.

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