Games and my fine tuned tastes

so I've been playing games since I can remember, from the NES days playing Super Mario to this current era of playing games online. Nothing has changed for the longest time, pretty much any game could keep my attention. However, in the last few years as i have matured and (scary thought) actually grow up. I have noticed a reluctance to play as much as I use too. At first i was scared, or better said, mortified. I have harbored a fear inside for the longest time that somehow i would lose my love for games or that they would pass me by in some way. The reality was starting to creep in on me, am I too old to appreciate the very hobby that has kept with me through everything, the good times the bad times? how would my life look like with games not a crucial element. what would a rainy day be without curling up on the couch and queuing up the legend of Zelda for a rainy romp through Hyrule (A time honored tradition in my head at least). Is the reality of maturity taking its toll, work,school, consuming my time and energy? Maybe I'm just relegated to falling off the gaming wagon.

Thats what i thought, then i played limbo. Now I'm not proclaiming limbo to be game of the year, or even this completely original experience. However, playing the game, i became consumed, very much how i used to get consumed by a game. then it hit me, my standards have risen in the last few years. I'm no longer willing to accept a sub-par experience in a game for the most part. My tastes have gone through a evolution, now I expect good controls, good story, and a game to know when its expired all its best attributes. No more fetch quests to add time to a game, develop a system that works, put it through the motions and end the game there. You know the old moniker less is more, I believe this holds true for the majority of games on the market today. We need quality over quantity in our games.

I'm relieved, limbo made me realize that the seven year old is still inside of me, still waiting for that next game to play, except this time it wont be any game mom and dad can get for me, it will be carefully analyzed with my high expectations and hopefully produced by developers who know when a game idea turns stale.

Mass Effect 2 : A new frontier

wow, that is all i can say with Bioware's follow up to their smash hit Mass Effect from a few years back. It is plainly obvious that Bioware took a long hard look at the design of the game and listened to their fan base, because every aspect of the game except for a few minor details have been either improved or eliminated all together.

A few major details have really elevated Mass Effect from good to great

1. Exploration - By exploration i mean the complete elimination of the monotonous mako mission's on unrealized planets from ME 1. With mass effect 2, every system you land foot on is fully realized with numerous characters, side quests, and gorgeous scenery to go with it. Every location is unique, unlike every buliding from ME 1 looking like it came from a cookie cutter.

2. Good/Evil mechanic - Me 1 definitely gave you options to go renegade or paragon as they like to call it. However, the depth that the system now shows is impressive. To numerous dialog options to the ingenious quick time evil/good quick time events, really make you feel like this is your game. odds are, every person you talk to that has played Mass effect 2 will probably have had a different experience either huge or small. For that Bioware deserves praise, because the replayability here is scary.

3. Combat- wow what a difference a cover system makes. Going from what felt like a third person action game on the Ps1 in ME 1. To what felt like gears of war on the 360 does wonders for the game. The combat is definitely not perfect, but the game succeeds in providing fun sequences while getting you to the next story development.

Mass Effect 2 is an absolute success. They have shown how a sequel should be produced. I just wonder how they will add to this in ME 3. I can't wait to find out.