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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.

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.


Gears of War Judgement – Stats

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It's like a really long action movie, awesome special effect sequence followed by five minutes of dialogue then cue another action sequence.


The game has stats & truth be told I'm very rarely on the first screen because in movies you only have one action hero (avengers assemble & expendables excluded). Abbas is the action hero charging in to take on the horde head on,  I tend to take a more thought out approach carefully looking at the enemies & taking out the one that is the stronger or causing the most problems like a sniper or tickers.

There have been occasions where the game does not let me take my approach & I have to tie on a bandanna & shout "For SPARTA !!" On those rare few occasions I actually do quite well on the kill count if you exclude the amount of times I need reviving.

So this is an opportunity for me to gloat seeing my name appear on every category of the stat screen.

Even a side hero has a bit part in a movie where he gets to shine & show his true skill. So I take a bow & move on.

Anyhow I've run out of popcorn so when is this movie going to end.

Dead Space – Completed

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After all that it was my mind playing tricks, Nicole was not even alive. I've killed Necromorphs by the bucket-load, battle with the hunter, leviathan & finally the hive mind. The marker & even the planet is now destroyed.

I was a bucket of nerves all the way through because you just never knew what was around the corner, would anything jump out at you or drop down from the ceiling. The tension created by the music & sound effects had me on the edge of my seat until I reached the safety of the tram. 

I love the tram system it was the one place I could breathe easier knowing that  I have reached the end of another terrifying chapter. This relief would only last for a few seconds before it would transport me to the next destination.

The Pulse Rifle & Plasma Cutter almost became an extension of the rig armour. Eventually when fully upgraded they could kill any necromorph with a couple of shots.

Fifteen hours of horror gameplay took me back to the first time I played Resident Evil. Technology has moved on over the years but the fear remains the same.

This was no Mario saves the princess expedition. The Princess was dead before Isaac had even arrived. I'm not sure I'm brave enough to play the next game in the series. I also don't think the next  game will have the same enjoyment, fear or tension that I experienced with the first game.

But I do admit to being a little curious to see how the storyline develops. I may yet decide at some point to return to space. If I can muster up the courage.