2011
A very sporadic year.
List items
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January. Enjoyed the demo, so gave this a go, but it absolutely doesn’t work. The game is set on Mars so they could get away with wide open expanses with no discernable detail or even art direction.
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February/March. Dropped in and out of this online with Daniel. In the end we realised that we weren’t really enjoying it very much. The world feels a bit pointless, and the way missions are given to you by irrelevant characters made the whole thing feel like a chore.
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Terrific game, made with care and a lot of skill. The multiplayer lasted for months.
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May. Would’ve checked this out for the performance capture gimmick alone, and it really is hugely impressive. The overall game design is much too familiar from past GTA games, and got a bit boring after the first two chapters.
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September. Was very late checking this out, but was still pleasantly surprised, particularly by how deep the sci-fi universe inside was. The alien races—both in terms of biologies as well as politics—are fascinating. The mako sections are deeply mystifying for a game that is otherwise so accomplished. Got all the way through this, though certain major decisions had been spoiled, giving me too much time to choose the most desirable outcomes.
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September. Fun little game. Repetitive for sure, but it’s paced quite well, and the style is compelling.
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October. It’s well-established that game sequels generally improve on their predecessors (whereas movie sequels generally get worse), but Mass Effect 2 is the best example I’ve ever seen of a game advancing in a sequel. Every major gameplay system has been redesigned. Things that didn’t work have been outright dropped. The presentation is very assured and measured, and it’s amazing how much they managed to cram in here with such a high level of polish throughout. Got stalled about halfway through, and now I’m all-too familiar with the mechanics of the suicide mission, but will be returning to finish this.
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