Irishdoom

Well, you have to remember roughly 20% of the posts on the site the past week are about Bioshock Infinite. I have a new one myself I expect to get no feedback on, but I had to write something after finishing this incredible game.

I strongly agree with this. I think part of the problem with ME1 is it wasn't clear if it was really a shooter or not. How much was skill and how much depended on hidden dice rolls? With ME2 you have a way better third person shooter, but I'm not sure I like the much grittier tone and the overall way it flows like a collection of bits rather than a single story.

Hah, it is sort of a tale of two extremes, eh? Complex, full, messy inventory in ME1 to a totally stripped down, loadout style system in ME2 that isn't even an inventory.

Time for my first giveaway.

http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/q9tkR/xcom-enemy-unknown

When did you buy the system? There was a deal I did last week where I bought a 3DS and bought Luigi's Mansion and got Super Mario 3D Land for free. That's a great 3DS game 2 for 1 brother! :)

Good to see so many opinions on this. I think perhaps they would have better been served NOT calling it Mass Effect 2 but renaming it in a reboot fashion. It's really not the same game at all, other than the overall world and a few of the characters.

I'm further in now, I have 2 more spots in my squad to fill. Tali and one more that is still grayed out next to Zaeed. I did the one loyalty mission for Miranda, and it was pretty good. Everything about the game is really good, as long as I don't think too much about ME1. I know it's still being called an RPG, but it's set up more like there are "levels." Hell, you don't even level up out in the wild (I haven't so far anyway) and only level up at the "end mission" wrap up. How very FPS of them.

Hell, even equipment in this one is really just a loadout. No hunting for Colossus X for a Turian here.

While the Mako handling was terrible, and in many ways the planets you explored in ME1 were repetitive as hell, at least it was some exploration. You actually felt like you were on a planet in a far corner of the galaxy. That's completely absent in ME2.

I'm still enjoying it right now, I'm just now getting these "loyalty" missions. I have one from Miranda and one from Jacob right now. I'm on Ilium, I picked up the Assassin, now I'll get the Justicar then do Miranda's side mission. I'm also really glad I went with Infiltrator right now, sniping is WAY better in this one.

One last thing for now, the bonuses you get are nearly unnoticeable. I had all the achievements from the first that give you extra resources and money. I barely noticed it. Oh well. :)

I think sometimes people underestimate the importance of detail, presentation and polish. The backlash type complaints I've heard about about B:I so far usually revolved around the game play part. No, this game is not revolutionary or even evolutionary in any game play sense, but it's not trying to be. But the game play is completely serviceable and, IMO, pretty fun. I like the different powers to this point, and I honestly don't care how many guns I can carry. I tend to find one gun I really like in games and stick with that anyways.

But I think of it this way, complaining about vanilla FPS combat in Bioshock: Infinite is like complaining about the story in League of Legends. Or think about it another way, it's like complaining about a restaurant that has amazing food because you don't like the decor. Sure, it's PART of the experience, but it isn't the FOCUS.

B:I is trying to deliver a highly polished, detailed experience with a great story, just as they did with Bioshock 1. (And I guess I'm just "dumb" because that's one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had in my 30 years of gaming.) I'll be spoiler-free, but the moment you are walking through the monuments to the story of the "first lady" are unbelievable. Such a fantastic mix of great visuals, story and an amazing use of an amazing piece of classical music (one of my favorites.) Very few games deliver real moments, but this game is one of them.

Yeah, Xcom is a little overrated for me. Not within the year itself, and it probably did deserve GOTY, but overall it seemed like a really good game that won in an off year. For me it's between Skyrim and Uncharted 2. I played through Uncharted 2 like 5 times, so it gets my vote. Granted I haven't finished ME2, I'm playing it right now, but at this point ME1 was a better game. :)

@casper_: That might be the best way of saying what I'm seeing so far. ME1 had its heart in the right place.