Who decided that putting a game of Space Basketball into the 10th of 12 levels of a survival horror game was a good idea?  Having Isaac shoot hoops in the midst of a genocidal space zombie attack lends credence to the ever increasing notion that Mr. Clarke is in fact an unreliable narrator.  I’m all for breaking the tension but c’mon folks.

Bluetooth

It may not be the only reason but seeing as both the Wii and the PS3 support Bluetooth out of the box it is pretty likely that it was more cost effective to build a single one-size-fits-all peripheral for the game rather than build an entirely new one just for the 360 and pay Microsoft licensing fees on top of it.  They may even be able to squeeze iPhone and iPod touch out of this one device as well.  For a company trying to cut costs in today’s economic reality, sticking with standards may be the right way to go.  If anyone has financial information on just how much it cost MTV and Activition to build peripherals for their plastic toy games, I’d love to see it.

Of course, EA may just have seen some synergy in the introduction of the Playstation Move and the UI it shares with Wii.  Or they’re waiting for the moneyhat.

• Played it on Normal and it was in no way a challenge.  Now I didn’t play it for the challenge.  I played it for the story and the choices I’d make and because I’m really into the universe, though I can’t say whether I’m into it because of anything beyond how richly developed it is.
• Doing a New Game+ on insanity and it is frustratingly difficult
• My Shepard had a relationship with a character from the first game, and she did not pursue anyone in this one.  This may pay off in part 3 but it also closes off a lot of possibilities as well.
• She opted to save a kid about to enroll in a mercenary squad.
• Managed to keep her crew member from being exiled as well as stall a potential war.
• Opted to kill off a band of rebels rather than brainwash their entire race.
• Finally, at the end of the game, my Shep chose to cut off relations with the group sponsoring her mission rather than allowing them to pursue their own agenda.

There are a lot of loose threads that I can not wait to see tied up.

As much as this is Bioware’s “blockbuster” game, there is something about the way it is presented that still lands it firmly in the domain of geekiness.  Certainly Farscape is a geeky show but I get the feeling that non-gamers would really be willing to sit through someone’s playthrough of the game.  Certainly the mechanics are part of it- watching someone shoot and shoot and shoot their way through a story isn’t fun if you aren’t doing the shooting.  But is there something about the choose-your-own-adventureness of the story that diminishes it in some way?  I’m really not sure.

The game does tell a good story, but I don’t think it really says anything new.  I suppose it doesn’t necessarily need to but when a game is this hyped and this loved one would hope that it might deliver something more than a good heist.

Dragon Quest 4 :: NES :: 1990

Dragon Quest 4 :: DS :: 2007

Yet in light of today’s games, the DS version looks antiquated as well.  Granted the 1990 graphics were terrible even for the time.