Fallout 3 is one of these games I always hear people talk about as an incredible experience. People always have anecdotes about how they solved these crazy questlines with ghouls and vampires, or how they nuked Megaton off the map. I don't see any of these things when I play it, though – I end up wandering around this ugly looking landscape, not caring about the main quest and wondering why the game doesn't play the way a shooter should. It just felt like Grand Theft Auto always feels to me – a game that is so broad, and encompasses so much, that they can't possibly make sure all of the stuff that's in there is good. 

I played Mass Effect again in preparation for the sequel, which you can hear all about in our first Broken Face Podcast. I'd looked back on it as an unfinished mess, just like Fallout or Oblivion, but when I got back into it, I really enjoyed it. I couldn't tell you why. It's the mix of the skill progression, paragon/renegade choices, and the new game + at the end of the game. It's also a world that I enjoy much more than Dragon Age fantasy tropes or broken down anything.

The game's broken – the combat is awful, since cover is so finicky and the reticules are gigantic. I'm always selling my entire inventory because I just can't be bothered to actually manage it. I can't imagine ever enjoying the prefabricated buildings in the sidequests, or driving around on uncharted planets in the Mako, which I don't do – I actually get out of the vehicle instead, because it's actually easier. Last of all, it has its framerate and loading, which make a lot of the game a chore to play through.

Still, I loved it. I'm playing and enjoying it again for a Renegade character right now and it's so fun. The problems still suck but there's something about it that keeps me coming back. Even now with Mass Effect 2 out, where others are saying that they really can't go back to the original, I'm still enjoying it quite a bit. I just wish I could get into Bethesda's games the same way, because then I'd have double the amount of incredible games to play every few years.