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Mass Effect vs Grand Theft Auto V

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I nearly got sucked into the hype & placed an order for GTA V. I have never played an GTA game the violence, drugs & sexual content have never appealed to me. I did enjoy playing Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption this year & because of that I felt that I might enjoy GTA V. But much like my recent dilemma on which new car to purchase, carefully thinking of the positive & negative points made me reach a sensible conclusion that a 1.4 engine is far too small & the 1.8 is the better option.  The only positive points I could give to GTA V was Rockstar, Open-World sandbox & the on-line mode which opens up an endless possibility of fun. The negatives are pretty obvious with the mature content being top of the list.

Mass Effect on the other hand is more my kind of game, huge milky way to explore different planets & complete side quests. Thresher Maws on the other hand I don’t like, friggin annoying took me quite a few attempts before I was going to give up & Abbas said let me have a go. Typical he killed it on his first attempt !!

I have now got the last member of the squad, Liari an Asari researcher she is skilled in Biotics which I don’t really use. I’m old school gun & shoot so have stuck with Ashley & Garrus. Alenko was just not good enough in the fighting skills so had to make way for Garrus. I have completed quite a few side quests & enjoy visiting different galaxies to check out new planets to explore.

On the weapon front I have now started to favour the sniper rifle & tend to leave Ashley/Garrus on standby whilst I shoot down the Geth soldiers. The loot you find is very generous & will always give you new weapons or armour that is better than what you have equipped. No doubt I will find something in the shops that is worth buying but at the moment I only seem to be selling any spare items I have or converting them to Omni-Gels. The mini game for unlocking lockers or collecting minerals started off being really annoying because it did not give you enough time to press the buttons but I have now gotten much better at these, yet I still save before attempting just in case I need to retry.

So whilst the majority of you will be robbing banks, having police chases & taking down rivial gangs. I will be planet-hopping with the Normandy, collecting minerals, researching Prothean artefacts, shooting Geth & saving the galaxy.


GTA Online does not go live until 1st October so I have a couple of weeks to lookout for any on-line deals. I have no intention to play the single player game but the temptation for multi-player fun could be too big to resist the hype.

Things I’ve been playing recently

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Roundup time!

Need For Speed: Most Wanted U (Wii U)

At less than £15, I couldn’t resist this. The best version of essentially the sequel to one of the best driving games ever (Burnout Paradise)? Sold! And, I’ve not been disappointed. Sure, it’s more realistic with the real cars and less arcadey handling, and yeah, the billboards and barriers you have to smash through aren’t all bright red and yellow, and OK, so there are police cars out to spoil your fun… but it’s still a fantastic game. It’s still just fun to drive very very very very fast for miles down the wrong side of the road for no reason.

I’ve shut down the Most Wanted cars 10 to 6, and have about 500,000 points (it seems you need to hit a million or so in total to unlock all the Most Wanted car events), so that, combined with my Single Player Progress of 49%, I’d say I’m almost halfway complete…

Luigi’s Mansion 2 (3DS)

I’ve had this for a while but as I acquired 7 top 3DS games all in the space of about a fortnight, it didn’t get played instantly. I made a start on it this week, and although I’ve only done the first four or five missions, I’m loving it already. It’s just so polished and Nintendo. And Luigi humming the theme tune never gets old.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf (3DS)

This is still getting played every single day. Literally. I haven’t missed a day since release. My main task for the last week or so, however, has been to try and increase the number of Public Works projects open to me. I’ve built a few, like the fence, a torch and a wind turbine, but the animals keep suggesting rubbish like signs when I actually want a big flower clock and a lighthouse.

Rayman Legends (Wii U)

I preordered this over a year ago. Then it was delayed. Then the credit card I ordered it with expired. Then it turned up on Tuesday. I’ve not been charged for it. Seemed a shame to send it back.

My daughter and I have been playing it all co-op so far. She’s been Murfy as much as possible, and we’ve been jumping all over the place with the levels, not working through them in order like my brain keeps screaming to, but she’s enjoying it too much to not play it this way. We had a good 45 minute session the other day where all we did way punch and kick each other. Marvellous.

Pokemon Rumble U (Wii U)

Another co-op game with my daughter. She gets to be the All Powerful Kyurem who can defeat everything in a single hit, where I have to keep upgrading my Mewtwo to remain alive for more than ten seconds. It’s button-mashy, but that’s OK because it’s fun anyway.

Mass Effect – Normandy

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I have now been given the keys to the Normandy, I've not yet gone on board & given the crew my first orders because I'm finishing off a few side-quests in the Citadel & need to visit the shops to purchase some better armour. 

I've found something that is more annoying than the inventory management in the game. It's the Citadel lifts !! Sheesh !! How slow do they move.

I've also got a few keepers to still find but I've been everywhere? I have also decided on my final squad lineup & will go with Ashley & Alenko.

I know what to expect when I get on board the Normandy but I can't help wishing for an open world type game now where I can fly the Normandy wherever I want to go.

New Game – Mass Effect

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I've started this game quite a few times already but after an hour on Friday got bored & switched it off. Abbas was adamant that I was making a mistake & I needed to play it for longer before I made a decision on the game.

After four to five hours playing yesterday evening I'm hooked & starting to enjoy the game. The first few hours are full of tutorials & menu pop-ups, you are struggling to get to grips with the game mechanics & the game keeps on giving you more tutorials.

J-RPGs have perfected the art of in-game tutorials. Ni No Kuni did not tell the player about the all squad command till after the first big boss fight a good fourteen hours into the game. I have now figured out what the various controller buttons do & how to control your squad. The inventory management is really crap, I collect loot & there is no easy way of knowing what I have collected without going through each weapon/armour & checking for upgrades.


I am currently at the Citadel & have recruited a few more squad members. Just need to decide on which two I want to include in my squad, I think I may just stick with the original two of Ashley & Alenko. With the trilogy to play I think I don’t need to buy anything else for the rest of the year.