I might have messed up and made the DOTA 2 giveaway a lot shorter than I meant to. Says there is only one day left so enter soon.

Been an exciting past few weeks in games for me. Went to Rezzed in Brighton, played some Borderlands 2 and met some Giant Bomb fans. Nice to meet some real life duders. The talks with Peter Molyneux and Randy Pitchford were very good. I won't talk about that in great detail, but I will say that Peter is a very pleasant man and captivating on stage.

I've also been finishing games. Multiple games in only a couple of weeks. Steam has corrupted me, and I no longer finish every game I play. It eats away inside me knowing I have wasted money on games I might never have time to play but in a recent effort to correct this injustice I have started finishing games by the bucket load (a metric unit). Most have been great experiences, while others not so much but still enjoyable. I'll give a quick review/impression of each one.

Max Payne 3

Incredible cinematic presentation. The movement and shooting feels good but the main draw from me is the story and cutscenes. Nobody does it like Rockstar. The visual design in the game is incredible, from the logo down to the colour separation and scan lines.

The tone is dark and dialogue is cheesy and dramatic in just the right way. Bums me out to hear the giant bomb crew not liking it, but I don't need them to agree with me. Incredible.

Metro 2033

Didn't like this as much as I thought I would, but it's still a fun game. The bullet economy isn't actually that much of a big deal. I found a lot of extra ammo and rarely spent any. Didn't use them to shoot either. Ended the game with a tonne extra. I would have liked if there were more purchasing options and rarer supplies, so hopefully the sequel will make it more meaningful.

The shooting itself is enjoyable, and the pneumatic weapons add an interesting kink to the action initially. Over the course of the game it starts to feel like maintenance if you want to use them regularly. Much like the flash light, you have to pump it up before use in order to get the most out of it. Fun at first, but when the fun wore out I switched to a regular assault rifle.

The story is confusing and sometimes incoherent mired by awful voice acting but there is enough intrigue to propel you through the story.

Penny Arcade Episodes 1 & 2

An excellent blend of adventure and RPG mechanics combined with the writing and art of Penny Arcade. I didn't expect it to be as good as it was. A shame it ended at 2 episodes but after Cthulu saves the world I expect Episode 3 to also be great, just in a different way. They did so much extra writing for intractable objects that you get new lines on the second or third click. Also, the steampunk look gives the game a great atmosphere along with its obsession with demon gods.

Try it. Get it in a steam sale and play it until your eyes bleed.

Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut DLC

Not going to argue about this. I think it elaborates on all of the right things, making for a more complete feeling ending without actually changing the endings. Most importantly, it explains and shows the impact of your choice. That's what mass effect is about. It turned what I thought was the evil ending, control, in to what I felt was the ending I wanted the most. It placed my Shepard as a guardian of the galaxy embracing and assisting in rebuilding.

That's all. Moving on.

Dead Island

If it weren't for the analogue combat this game would feel like a low budget MMO with only 4 players. The quests and the story didn't draw me in at all. Run up to NPC, accept quest, skip dialogue, run towards the objective. I played the blunt weapons class and breaking thugs bones was the most fun I had with the game.

I uninstalled the game in the Jungle area last year and hadn't come back to it. I'm glad I finished it and got it out of my life.

Darksiders

Everything they say about this game is true. Zelda, God of War, Portals. Apart from some awkward late game pacing this is exactly what I wanted from a mature Zelda experience. Puzzle solving makes up the majority of dungeons and in between are combat encounters and traversal. You even get Epona half way through.

It reminded me most of Ocarina of Time. Not sure why, but drawing those parallels made me enjoy the game more. You don't get this kind of experience outside of Nintendo often.

Magicka

GRIEFING. This game took 5 hours longer than it should have because of friendly fire. Stupid, funny, interesting, fresh. Some words to describe the game. End of conversation.

Bioshock 2

My opinion on this game completely changed two thirds through. It could never live up the original Bioshock, but the combat and plasmids have been improved dramatically. The thing that did it though is when I realised I was having way more fun than in Bioshokc after the twist is revealed. That was a drag, Bioshock 2 wasn't. People say it didn't need to exist but give it a chance and you might be surprised.

Borderlands (Again)

A friend recently started playing Borderlands for the first time on PC so I decided to install it and play along with him. After playing Borderlands 2 at Rezzed I felt like I was playing an inferior game, which made me feel a lot better about Borderlands 2 and excited for what is to come. Since I've completed this before I won't say much about it, just excited for the sequel.

Now... for the giveaway!

DOTA 2 Beta

I got 2 spare DOTA2 Beta invites. One I already gave away. The other is up for grabs right now here. You need to be a member of the giant bomb steam giveaway group which you can get an invite to here. Just enter and you could get the beta invite. Good luck and thanks for reading this blog!