Mass Effect 2, Return to Ostagar, etc

Well Mass Effect 2 was quite the whirlwind adventure. Quite fun from start to finish, and I have to say they really delivered on the major issues of the first game - the inventory, the bland and repetitive locations, the bad framerate that hurt the shooting controls, and the lack of variety in the mission objectives themselves. In doing so I think they took away a bit too much (very few armor options, very few weapons and no stats for them, much less character customization) but in the end I look back on the experience favorably and think I will play through it again soon.

In the meantime, I have been playing my usual Forza 3 and Killing Floor. Just 2 days ago I happened to remember that I had purchased Dragon Age: Return to Ostagar. This is the type of thing that happens when DLC is released the same time as a major game - it just falls through the cracks. After playing through the linear and battle-centric DLC in about 30-40 minutes though I can understand why they want it to fly under the radar. They could have done so much with this, and it ends up being a series of battles that net you the armor of the former king. There is one moment that I found powerful, but there is no new story to be told and no interesting quest, just go there, kill enemies, and get new loot. At least Warden's Keep had new characters and backstory, with Shale being good DLC as well. I think this was really just a throwaway, since all the attention seems to be focused on the upcoming Awakening release.

I am still on the fence about Bioshock 2 though I do have it paid off. It does look generic, and I worry it will lack the soul that made the first game so compelling to me. The combat was OK in the first game, but certainly not good enough to carry the second without a strong story. I guess I will check out reviews and work from there.