Gamespotting 042 - There is MORE Evidence and Introversion's Anthology

Well; as I have been running my blog for about a year, I have been looking through my older posts and seeing what my opinion of games were last year and I came across a post about a game called Evidence: The Last Ritual.

Now just for the record and I have said this before, I loved Evidence: The Last Ritual and compared to the stuff which came out last year; it was one of the better games which I have played and I love to play it again (if I could find the disks for it). But on the way back from uni one afternoon; I came across a bargain bin of PC games with the usual suspects which you would find in it (stuff like Barbie's Horse Adventures) but to my surprise, I came across a game which was called In Memoriam. Now after a few minutes, it jogged my memory to being the prequel title of Evidence: The Last Ritual and it was only £1.99. WHAT A BARGAIN.

I put in my drive and I played the title for a few hours over the course of this weekend before doing some more coursework and I have to say; I wish I played this game first. It is still the same sort of gameplay and its more of the same compared to The Last Ritual, but it was such a better experience and even though it is an older title, it blew me away more than anything else this year (with the exception of Mass Effect 2 of course) and I am glad I took that way home this week as I might have never come across the title.

Also talking about older PC games; I have been looking at the Introversion Software site recently looking at their progress of their new title, but accidentally I came across their online store which lead me to finding the Introversion Anthology. A Box Set of their entire games collection for the small price of £30 quid. Not only do you get classic titles such as Darwinia; DEFCON and my personal favourite, Uplink but you get all the games within a special Introversion Tin which is embossed with a Darwinian which makes it all the more special. Now I have had a special place in my gaming heart for them as they make such quality titles; it is worth the wait for the new titles and I think that buying these titles will keep them going to create even more titles which I will play over and over again.

So like this time last year; I have been looking at older titles instead of buying the new and in my opinion; it is well worth it.

Gamespotting 041 - Mass Effect 2 effecting my Xbox (Once Again)

Now during my extreamly busy schedule at the moment, I have had some time to play a game which I have been eagerly awaiting for a long time, this title being Mass Effect 2. Now as I have said a few times on the blog; I loved the first game; it being the only game in a long time which I have played multiple times over (I think the last was CODE: Veronica) and I have enjoyed every playthrough even though I know the storyline like the back of my hand.

So on the 29th January; I took a trip down to Game in Manchester and bought the special edition of the game to go alongside my Mass Effect 1 Special Edition. Once in my Xbox 360's Drive; the game has not left the console (apart from the disk swap) and I have found myself engrossed in the universe once again much like the Previous game did and I have enjoyed every second of it. It took me 26 hours to finish the storyline of the game but doing all of the side quests has taken me up to 40 Hours which for £49.99 is a great bargain considering the amount of gameplay you get.

I also imported my character from Mass Effect 1 into this game which did affect the storyline of the game as the decisions which I made on the first game like Keeping Wrex Alive, Letting the Rachnai go and Destroying the Citadel Council to destroy the reaper ship, Soverign all coming back in this title to affect the storyline although in smaller ways than once thought. But to see Wrex as leader of the Krogan, The Rachnai queen channelling herself through an Asari to talk to Sheperd on Illium and meeting the parents of people who died on the attack on the Citadel all affected me and the way I played this game. But my thoughts now is that if this was how the choices from the first game affected the second, imagine how they would affect the Third and Final in this already Epic Trilogy.

Everything in this game has been altered and changed for the better and in my opinion; even though I have played the first game to death, I would have this game over the first as it seems so more refined compared to the last one. But even though I love this game more than the first; I do have a problem. I have finished the main storyline and I do want to play this game again. Not because I didn't enjoy this game (far from it), but as I am eager for the next one so much. I want to remember the game how I have played it on this playthrough and not go back and find something which I didn't pick up on on another. Also my crew/ship survived the final mission and I have the DLC to look forward to; so I don't think I will restart this game soon. I might go back to the first title and create a new Shepherd once again and play through them both back to back to see how it differs with a new character. But for now my Sheperd File can sit down with his Girlfriend Tali and have a rest after beating all these collectors; with The Reapers waiting in the wings.