Mass Effect 2 is the greatest game BioWare has created in its 15 years as a developer. Its prolific development schedule seems all but impossible: to release one fantastic blockbuster in November (Dragon Age: Origins) and then, two months later, hurdle over the quality of that game with the launch of another — while simultaneously crafting a massively multiplayer online game set in the Star Wars universe, due out in 2011. It’s an enormous accomplishment, satellite studios or not, for a developer already respected for its history of producing top-tier software.

Yet greatness doesn’t always imply perfection, and the second title in the Mass Effect trilogy stumbles on occasion during an otherwise impressive stride. But with those minor problems in mind, Mass Effect 2 is still among the most satisfying games I’ve ever played. It deserves the praise and the hype.

Science-fiction space operas don’t appeal to every gamer, but I sincerely doubt that BioWare’s recent opus, with its intelligent gameplay, diverse characters and compelling plot, is incapable of attracting both role-playing game skeptics and shooter scoffers alike. This truly is the best of both worlds.

As the Normandy explodes around him, Commander Shepard rushes to save his iPad

Mass Effect 2 is a hybridized experience; it’s the pulse-pounding union of statistical role-playing sensibilities and precise shooter mechanics. The sequel shares only the most basic traits with its predecessor, and it’s much better for the changes.

Ordering the squad around is no longer akin to babysitting questionably intelligent intergalactic children. When you’re not inputting skill points into a trimmed down character screen for Shepard and his or her companions, you’ll be deftly moving from cover to cover and tossing a mixture of biotic, tech and weapon abilities at foes faster than what was ever seen in Mass Effect 1. Ability cooldowns, though still present, are quick enough to no longer act as a stopgap for executing stylish attacks — BioWare realized the old combat, though functional, was punishing players through its reliance on shooting mechanics that weren’t always satisfying, or accurate.

At its core Mass Effect 2 is a role-playing cover-based shooter. Firing from cover and moving to multiple different positions is more important than before, and even on lower-level difficulties strategic thinking is instrumental in overcoming the various enemies who flank and storm Shepard to no avail. Forget those combat habits developed from the first game. Prepare to adapt. The initial fights are potentially taxing for Mass Effect 1 players, who are used to a certain way of doing things. While I now prefer the revamped combat, I had to tell myself to stick with it during some frustrating sequences.

Mass Effect 2 incorporates three new defensive layers available to the good and bad guys of the galaxy. Shields make a return, keeping their blue coloration and weakness to tech abilities. New to the series are a yellow armor bar and a purple biotic barrier bar, each of which requires distinct weapons and powers to whittle down. Tougher foes will have up to two layers of protection before their health will fall. It’s now imperative to think about the team’s weaknesses before charging into battle. Coming toe-to-toe with a 20-foot tall LOKI mech without any armor-reduction capacity will likely result in a Critical Mission Failure screen, followed by the urge to cry under a pile of dryer-warm blankets.

The game’s interface receives a substantial overhaul as well. Information on your squad members’ current condition and shield strength are placed alongside tiny headshot icons in the bottom center of the screen. It’s a bit hard to read at first, which bar correlates to what action, but after a couple of hours it stands out as a wonderful alternative to the first Mass Effect and its unappealing blue-hued graphics cluttering the corners of the screen. Shepard’s status is, like before, easy to ascertain from the numerous audio and visual cues bombarding the player during critical moments. Shields fizzle out and explode when depleted; Shepard will also tell his squad that much in case no one was paying attention. Bloodshot eye veins will creep in from off screen to remind players that Shepard’s fairly close to kicking the galactic bucket. The remaining screen real estate is given to the currently equipped weapon, which sports an orange color palette that dominates the entirety of Mass Effect 2′s graphic style. The first game’s interfaces were predominately blue. The sequel favors an all-orange look. Will Mass Effect 3 go all-out with an interface composed of varying shades of pink? Hopefully.

Artist's rendition of the on-screen character headshots in Mass Effect 2

While the second Mass Effect takes great strides in improving the overall experience through its trimming of numerous features, this same mentality ends up causing problems over the course of the 30-hour experience. Character classes are more defined than ever before, and each has strengths and weaknesses the original classes did not. Unfortunately without some type of qualifying marker for the classes it’s possible players will pick a role based on its coolness factor, and later find the play style is too difficult for their first attempt. I encountered this problem during my time as a Vanguard. Although I did finish the game on Veteran, the up-close-and-personal tactics of the class did not provide an appropriate introduction to the new combat style. This issue could have been rectified by adding a color-coding system based on difficulty. For example: The class selection screen could color the roles in green (beginner), yellow (intermediate) or red (advanced). As far as the classes are concerned, the streamlining comes off as schizophrenic, and BioWare’s motivations become suspect. Was the series’ revamp completed with the intention of attracting a more diverse population of gamers, or was it to satisfy the complaints of Mass Effect veterans?

Regrettably for some, the infamous power wheel makes a lackluster return. Holding the left bumper still accesses the squad’s weapons while the right bumper presents the various special abilities. Three powers can now be mapped to the Y button and the left and right bumpers respectively, reducing the time spent browsing the power wheel. The system works, but considering the numerous other changes to the core experience it seems strange that the wheel system remains largely untouched. Whereas the rest of Mass Effect 2 is trimmed down and speedy, the power wheel introduces awkward and lengthy gaps into the flow of combat. However, what has drastically changed from Mass Effect 1 is inventory management — or the lack thereof.

It stands to reason that years of misspelled emails and grammatically horrific forum posts played some small part in BioWare’s decision to scrap the traditional inventory altogether. Following the “less is more” philosophy prevalent throughout Mass Effect 2 there are only a small handful of different weapons in each category, including the new classes of sub machine guns and heavy weapons. Instead of spending hours managing a bulging inventory, players will select their equipment before a mission (and sometimes during one if a weapon station is available) so the focus is entirely on fighting enemies. Customization takes a bit of a backseat as squad members only have two costumes to choose from, although Shepard can purchase many different armor components, and players can color the commander’s armor as they see fit.

What makes the most sense in the new system is how the original’s various ammo types are handled. Doing away with a full inventory made incendiary ammo and others become actual abilities accessible via the power wheel, and once upgraded they can be applied to the entire squad. Unfortunately that means some classes (like the sentinel and adept) are locked out of ammo powers until the squad members that have one of the various powers is leveled up enough to permit entire squad usage.

One outstanding gripe is the game’s addition of finite ammunition. Mass Effect 1 had unlimited ammo, but Mass Effect 2 uses “thermal clips.” With the addition of heavy weapons — which vary from functional to disappointing in their usefulness — it can be reasoned that the developers didn’t want unlimited ammo to make the experience easier. Still, the change is an interesting one. Making Mass Effect into a shooter must have been quite important to BioWare.

Apparently, LOKI mechs are filled with gold foil confetti

Yet all of the design-focused improvements in the world wouldn’t make a difference if the developers couldn’t scribe another space-faring story filled with danger, adventure and plot twists. Being the middle child of a trilogy, the potential for Mass Effect 2 to falter in its weaving of the series’ most essential plot threads is fairly high. Fortunately, the game never finds an opportunity to disappoint — either because there’s always something happening, or because it’s just a damn good story. It’s likely a combination of both.

Mass Effect 2′s writing is much more coherent due to its driving focus on building a team to face the Reaper threat in one all-out suicide mission. From the revival of Shepard’s body in the first 15 minutes to the epic confrontation with the Collectors — who look like the aliens from Independence Day — in the core of the Milky Way galaxy, the game flows at a lightning pace. Its style, charm and wit lends the experience well to an “Ocean’s 11 in space” comparison — assemble the crew and complete the high-stakes job. Shepard’s motivation is to find the best and most dangerous beings in the known galaxy. His goal: amass the badass. During the course of the game, a slow crescendo builds in the periphery. It’s fairly easy to lose sight of the end goal when preoccupations like side quests and loyalty missions keep filling the journal, but by the end the darker tone pays off.

Cerberus, a pro-human splinter group, plays an interesting role in the sequel. BioWare’s staff of writers and lore-keepers took a barely mentioned entity from the first game and turned it into the driving force behind the sequel. A paragon-focused Shepard will feud with the group’s leader, the Illusive Man, and the constant exchanges of intellect and morality provide hours of entertainment. The fact that this rogue paramilitary organization reconstructed Shepard’s charred body to keep him in the fight against the Reapers is a powerful simile for the importance of heroes and icons. So it’s that much more important to keep Shepard alive through the end of the game — remember, anyone, including the commander, can die in Mass Effect 2.

Carrie-Anne Moss puts in a brief but effective performance as crime boss Aria T'Loak

Mass Effect’s cast may have been top-notch, but Mass Effect 2′s is more dynamic, more complex and much more interesting. From the shadowy Illusive Man to the monk-like Samara, the introspective Thane and the high-strung Mordin, each character is unique. Jacob, the Cerberus soldier and the first squad member encountered in the game, is the only letdown. Even so, he’s well-written and fits the role of the loyal ex-Alliance troop admirably.

Making the most memorable debut is Legion, the only Geth in the universe who doesn’t want to put a hole in Shepard’s head. Donning salvaged N7 armor and addressing the protagonist as Shepard Commander, Legion manages to become an instant classic despite its lack of organic characteristics. Legion is reminiscent of HK-47 from that other BioWare game, Knights of the Old Republic. Legion and HK-47 are both humorous in their awkward adoption of humankind’s mores, and they are equally mysterious in their underlying motivations. The only difference is Legion doesn’t constantly tell people he would kill them if he had the chance.

Even the Normandy acquires a personality in Mass Effect 2, thanks to the vocal talents of Tricia Helfer, better known as Number Six from the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica series. A new ship is built by Cerberus and dubbed the Normandy SR-2 after the original Normandy is destroyed in the introductory sequence. Installed in the vessel is EDI, Helfer’s character and the ship’s artificial intelligence. The entire voice cast is brilliant, with big names like Martin Sheen as the Illusive Man and Carrie-Anne Moss as crime boss Aria T’Loak. The original voice cast returns as well, and favorites like Seth Green and Keith David give another set of wonderful performances. All in all, BioWare did a fantastic job directing its assemblage of vocal performances.

Perhaps the most gratifying aspect of Mass Effect 2 lies in its character-specific loyalty missions. At certain points throughout the game after Shepard begins recruiting his team, players will have the (optional) opportunity to undertake a personal mission for each member. Considering that there are 10 of these things to do (excluding the optional DLC characters Zaeed and Kasumi), it’s surprising that each mission is fantastic, largely because they offer intimate insights into the new team as well as the expanded universe; the Krogan home world of Tuchanka, a Geth base ship and the Quarian flotilla are just a few of the engaging locales Shepard can visit. However, the benefits don’t stop at the sight-seeing level. Loyalty missions will give the team a better chance of surviving the final suicide mission in addition to unlocking new outfits and special loyalty powers. Even the side quests for Mass Effect 1 veterans Garrus and Tali are fantastic.

Tali returns in the fight against the Reapers, and this time she and the male Shepard can get "physical." It's weird.

Galactic exploration, one of the more appealing aspects from Mass Effect 1, boasts more than a few alterations in the sequel. Thanks to an intelligently designed map, players can now tell exactly how much of a sector they’ve explored by percentages.

However, mineral acquisition is now a necessary evil. Do you want to equip the new Normandy with a better cannon for the inevitable confrontation with the primary antagonists, the Collectors? Make sure you’re probing the galaxy for resources before and after missions. This also applies to both squad upgrades and Shepard-specific upgrades.

It wouldn’t be a problem if finding minerals wasn’t an exercise in tedium. Once the Normandy enters the orbit of a planet, a scanner will say if the planet is rich, good, moderate, poor or depleted of the elements needed for advancing both the ship and the weaponry. If you choose to probe the planet for minerals, a circular reticule appears on a planetary grid, and a spectrometer will begin vibrating the controller and visually peak when there’s a significant amount of a mineral at the current spot. A probe must be sent to collect the resources, but don’t forget to stock up on them from a space station before trekking into deep space. Fuel is also important. Once you leave the local cluster of a system containing a mass relay, the Normandy will begin spending its fuel reserves; when depleted, the ship will convert resources to continue its intergalactic chug across asteroid belts and nebulae. It sometimes felt like I was playing Oregon Trail 2450: A Space Odyssey.

If the entire above paragraph was as much of a chore to read as it was to write, imagine how it feels when the game forces the aforementioned activities upon you. It’s not going to ruin the entirety of the Mass Effect experience, but it’s an acute example of the pitfalls of over-streamlining a game. The same applies to planet-side missions. Instead of landing on a planet and roving around in the Mako (which, as crazy is it sounds, is sorely missed), side missions are now contained to one area of an entire planet — again, streamlined. And while it makes the game less frustrating for those who hated roaming open stretches of land looking for missions and resources, the new system can sometimes feel like a series of downloadable content missions being played out with no encouragement to explore and fulfill the intergalactic wanderlust present in the original. The developers get their kudos for crafting varied missions, but sometimes the rewards are hardly worth the effort.

Abilities are more volatile than before, and can curve around obstructions

In the first Mass Effect, using biotic and tech abilities never felt quite right. As a result, six out of my eight playthroughs of that game were completed as the Soldier class. It was much more efficient to delegate the power usage to squad members and then complement those abilities with my maxed-out weaponry and unrelenting firepower. Ironic, then, that as of this review I’ve yet to try the sequel’s rendition of the Soldier. The Vanguard and Sentinel are far too much fun to make me go back. Powers like Throw and Pull can finally curve around cover defenses. It’s cathartic to watch an unstable, swirling mass effect field act like a homing missile to find the hiding spot of some unfortunate mercenary. Unsuspecting schmoes will find their faces smashed in by biotics.

Mass Effect 2′s abilities benefit visually from gorgeous particle effects and animations. And thanks to the faster cooldowns, those eye-catching abilities are constantly flying around in battle. Even the squad’s computer-controlled characters generally use their biotics in an intelligent manner. The less time spent pausing a firefight to open the power wheel, the better.

But BioWare wasn’t content to slightly tune the returning powers, so the studio debuts a plethora of useful abilities in Mass Effect 2. Incinerate, a tech class ability, obliterates enemy armor. Reave, a loyalty power, is great for taking down biotic barriers and stopping health regeneration in Krogan and Vorcha enemies — it will even heal Shepard if used against an unarmored organic foe.

Perhaps the most gratifying change to powers is their ability to evolve. Once an ability is maxed out (which requires 10 skill points split across four ranks), players can choose to evolve the power in two different ways. One option generally offers more overall damage but can only be used on one enemy, while the other is less powerful but allows the power to spread to multiple targets. For instance, Miranda, the new human female character, can evolve her Overload ability to affect multiple shield-wearing enemies within a wide radius. It’s a gratifying design choice, one that encourages experimentation and forethought in the player. Whereas the original game was fairly easy to conquer, even on Insanity difficulty, with maxed-out characters using similar powers, Mass Effect 2 makes it essential to build a team with varied skill sets.

Female Shepard means business

Technically speaking, Mass Effect 2 is a monumental improvement over the first game. Gone are noticeable pop-in issues and the chugging framerate. Loading is also much better, though it’d be a stretch to say that Mass Effect 2 loads faster than other titles. The only noteworthy problems with the game are some hiccups in the audio track. I noticed over the course of two playthroughs that the music would sometimes crackle during loading screens, and an entire minute-long section of dialogue disappeared on two separate occasions during Samara’s loyalty mission.

The game’s use of visual markers, such as 3-D advertisements, Normandy’s hologram in the combat information center (CIC) and Garrus’ eyepiece, are absolutely spectacular. The tiniest details make the best impression and allow players to suspend their disbelief and involve themselves in the happenings of the science fiction opera in front of them. Each aspect of the game simply pops with detail. Walking through the Citadel, past stores and patrons, cylindrical advertising tubes will flicker to life and offer various spam email-inspired services to Shepard. If it was ever in doubt that Blade Runner inspired the Mass Effect games (and it shouldn’t be), the influence would be difficult to refute now.

Another example: As Shepard walks by the busy floor of the CIC, maybe on his way to talk to Joker or just surveying his crew mates as they work, a gigantic hologram of the Normandy projects itself in place of the galactic map, highlighting in bright blue which portions of the ship have been upgraded over the course of the game. It’s amazingly cool. Likewise, Garrus’ heads-up display, with its lights, meters and text scrolling by in an infinite loop, is captivating. It gives a tiny morsel of characterization just by being there, informing players of Garrus’ need for instantaneous updates during combat — or that he’s browsing the RSS feeds for Perez Hilton and TMZ.

Is it possible at the end of such an extensive review that I can still feel like there’s more to write? Mass Effect 2 is a brilliant addition to the already weighty curriculum vitae BioWare has toiled over for years. The sequel’s full impact won’t be discerned until the third game in the trilogy is released, which will allow players and fans to dissect each entry and determine just how successful the shift in design theory was. And while certain issues emerge from the studio’s enthusiastic adoption of paired-down combat, inventory and class structures, the overall package is what the first Mass Effect wanted to be.

Mass Effect 2 was developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts. The standard edition of the game is available for $59.99 on the Xbox 360 and $49.99 for the Windows version. The reviewer purchased the Collectors Edition of the game himself, and he completed the entirety of the story as a Vanguard on Veteran difficulty in February, and almost completed a second playthrough in April as a Sentinel on Insanity. He also finished nearly all of the sidequests and played each of the loyalty missions. His Shepard followed a paragon path, largely because he feels digital guilt when acting like a jerk to NPCs in BioWare games.

Recommended for:

• Mass Effect die-hards
• RPG fans looking for a new take on character development
• Shooter enthusiasts with an open mind
• Gamers who take pride in quality plots and characterization above all else, and also enjoy eye-catching graphics and atmosphere

Not Recommended for:

• Those who are unenthusiastic toward past BioWare titles; this is still a BioWare game, with all the requisite branching dialogue trees and alignment options — it’s just more fast-paced
• Anal-retentive fanboys unable to look past the fact that the game ships on two discs

Read our policy on reviews here.

The year known as 2009 is winding down. A celebratory mood creeps into our homes as Christmas and New Year’s draw near, while we inch, ever closer, to certain Mayan-predicted doom as told by the prophet Cusack. Those critics won’t be laughing when the planets start aligning; their precious Miatas and Ayn Rand anthologies will be swallowed up by a vengeful Mother Earth angry at their scathing words.

Although, words look puny when the ocean can slam an aircraft carrier into the White House!

But until we all become embedded in the upper mantle of our planet, there are games to play. And as long as there are games to play, we at Silicon Sasquatch are obligated to talk about them. But only some. And rather infrequently.

However, we have some seasonal treats for you readers. Before January 1, 2010 arrives, we’ll be posting our “Top 10 Games of 2009″ in a four-part series of articles starting Monday, December 28, and ending on New Year’s Eve. Along with our collectively discussed and debated choices, each editor and contributor will be posting his own “Honorable Mentions” piece about titles not in our collective list, but which merit a nod all the same.

All right, now it’s time for the backlog.

This is what happens when a tail-happy muscle car slaps a wall and spins in front of a full online room in a race…thankfully, the host had damage set to "cosmetic" only. Whew.

Doug:

Another week off from school, another week to spend far too much time gaming: God I love winter break. I’ve been able to pour even more time into my mainstays right now, and lord knows I’m going to have enough time to go out and rent or buy something else soon, too.

Of course I’ve been playing a ton of Forza Motorsport 3 this week, racing my way up closer and closer to Level 50 in the game. I’ve never 1000/1000′d a game on Xbox 360, but this may well be the first — the achievements are really well designed (which may just be code-word for “I can get them all by playing the game my way”), but I’m also hopelessly hooked. I spent some time racing online with my friends on Wednesday, which resulted in a lot of racing game high-jinks and shenanigans…like three of the guys thinking the next-to-last lap was, in fact, the final lap, which resulted in a battle to be first across the finish line and then turn brains off, thinking the post-race cinema would take over. Needless to say, the voice chat after they all straight-lined into the gravel off the first corner was hilarious. I also managed to mangle my car and cause a huge pile-up, which was kind of awesome and embarrassing — see the attached image.

I’ve also been putting more time into NCAA 10 and, inspired by the recent ESPN documentary “The U,” I’ve started up a new dynasty with the University of Miami. In one of the older NCAA Football games you could run a program that was…how do you say…not totally on the up-and-up. It meant you could lose scholarships if your team was too unruly, but it is a feature that’s never been repeated since then. If I could run a team in NCAA 10 with any more bravado or swagger I would definitely run The U like that, but as it stands I’ll just run up the score on teams and recruit the state of Florida heavily.

Last but certainly not least, I’ve made serious headway on Batman: Arkham Asylum. I believe I’m close to the end of the game by now, and it hasn’t disappointed at all. Comparisons to Metroid or post-Symphony of the Night Castlevania games are all the more apt given the upgrade and unlocking structure of the game — Batman receives a new tool in his kit and, much like SotN or Super Metroid, sections of Arkham Island and its buildings become instantly accessible. Plus, the pacing and direction of the single player story has been fantastic.

Stylized graphics, sedated music and a clean, mellow color palette make PixelJunk Shooter all the more enjoyable.

Nick:

It’s been a busy week for me, but I still found time to try out PixelJunk Shooter, the latest in Sony’s impressive PlayStation Network-exclusive downloadable game series. Its simple premise of “save the good guys and shoot the bad ones” coupled with its innovative action-puzzle gameplay hybrid based around the concept of fluid dynamics and manipulation make it worth the time and money of any PlayStation 3 owner.

And for those of you keeping track: Yes, I’m still playing Dragon Age: Origins, and yes, I’m still enamored with it. Steam says I’ve logged 47.3 hours into the game already, making it second only to Plants vs. Zombies, but I’m not gonna mention how many hours I’ve spent with that game. Forty hours seems ludicrous when you consider I’m only at level 10. But even when you factor out about five hours for when I left the game paused and another few hours when I let some friends make new characters, that’s still about forty hours of raw gameplay — and I’m not even halfway through my first playthrough. Dragon Age is, without a doubt, the most engrossing role playing game I’ve ever encountered. I just hope I can finish it before Mass Effect 2 arrives in a month.

A quick and badly composed screencap of a game that deserves better than that.

Aaron:

So, I really like Cave Story (Doukutsu Monogatari). I know I’m five years late to the party, and I have no excuse. At least I’m enjoying it now — though I can’t believe this was (and still is) a freeware game before its announcement as a future WiiWare release. It’s funny, adorable, endearing and instantly classic.

My remaining list of played games is pretty boring this week. I contributed two kills to Team Fortress 2‘s WAR! effort (as a soldier because I think Demomen, while hilariously Scottish, are bastards), and continued on my seventh and final playthrough of Mass Effect. The purpose this time around is to create my “perfect” character for Mass Effect 2. I’m essentially doing everything over again, sidequests included, to make sure the outcomes are unique to my Shepard in the sequel.

Oh, and I tried some more Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer last night as a sort of bookend to my review. However, the infinite grenade glitch made me drop out in the middle of the second match. You really have to admire a developer that can make its game more unplayable after each patch.

Well, we’re all a little burned out here. I mean, you all saw the media deluge last week, didn’t you? The countless trailers, the hours of presentations, the Brütal Legend lawsuit . . . it’s just exhausting.

So, we failed to deliver on the E3 commentary we promised, and I wanted to personally apologize. We weren’t sure how we were going to discuss the event as it raced by, and thanks to each member of our bustling staff of three having something major come up, it just didn’t happen.

If you’re still with us, I want to thank you for your patience and understanding. All three of us have busy lives, and I know that it’s been a constant struggle for me at least to have a full-time job and keep up the quality and consistency in blogging that I aspire to.

We’ll be getting back on track shortly. In the meantime, excuse our flakiness.

Now, let’s talk about some games, shall we?

Nick:

I’ve been rounding up notes on about a dozen games to start discussing them on the site. And while there are a couple of standout titles among the bunch — InFamous and Red Faction: Guerrilla in particular — I’m eager for a nice, carefully structured linear experience. All this open-world exploration is great, but we all need some variety now and then.

And in about ten minutes, I’m going to be playing resent Apple for announcing something cooler than my iPhone 3G while I follow the Worldwide Developers Conference. It’s a little ridiculous of me, of course, but let’s be realistic. I play games on my iPhone more than any other platform at this point, and I’m gonna feel a little snubbed when people start buying something way cooler than the thing I’ve got. Oh well. That’s simply the way of things — especially when Apple is involved.

Aaron:

E3 slightly cut into my gaming capability for part of the week, but since Tuesday I’ve been enjoying Red Faction: Guerrilla. It’s really a slow start, but the destruction-based gameplay builds on you over the first few sectors in need of liberation. After awhile you’ll be bringing down buildings strategically by targeting their weak points (go for support beams!) and discovering your favorite combination of weapons (I’m fond of an upgraded rocket launcher, an upgraded nanomachine rifle and max demolition charge capacity). It’s really an amazing title overall, but I still see it being a sleeper hit despite THQ having saturated various media outlets with marketing for the game.

Oh, and multiplayer is ludicrously fun. More on that when we post our review sometime next week.

Doug:

It’s all Fallout 3, all the time. Hoo boy — time to go find a doctor and get injected with some pre-war stuff to clear out the addiction. I think I’m only about a third of the way through the game, but I’m still completely hooked. I’m to the point where I feel comfortable with the controls, how to get around the Wasteland, and how to fight. Not being at level 1 or 2 also helps — I’ve customized my character through weapons and skills. Unfortunately, though, the enemies don’t get any easier. I do look forward to kicking ass with the Brotherhood, though, as I’ve got the Broken Steel DLC installed too.

I got a bit of time to play a few other games, too — NCAA 09, FIFA 09, Mass Effect, Super Street Fighter II HD Remix — and hooked them up in HD, too. That was a situation I could get used to.

Here's a shock: Aaron ran into his fair share of Snipers and Spies after the Spy and Sniper update! Jarate for everyone!

Aaron Thayer:

It’s been a spastic two weeks for my gaming appetite. I finished a “hard” playthrough of Battlefield: Bad Company, and I was reminded just how great of a job DICE did in their first real singleplayer console game. Hell, the multiplayer’s a lot better than I remember, too. Team Fortress 2 has been my true online obsession however, thanks to the recent Spy/Sniper update. Itemization issues aside, it’s one of those titles that remains constant fun, plain and simple.

Thanks to Xbox Live’s Deal of the Week, I caved and picked up (or should I say downloaded) Bionic Commando: Rearmed for the low price of $5. I never played the original NES title so $10 wasn’t that much of a motivator for me, but the half-price deal certainly was worth it. GRIN — despite their current issues with layoffs and mediocre releases — did a wonderful job making a modern 2D/3D shooter feel fresh and challenging.

I also went achievement-hunting in Gears of War 2 and started Tomb Raider: Underworld, something I look forward to reviewing down the road. Ms. Croft has certainly improved in her digital raiding antics (which might not mean much considering I haven’t played one of these titles since Tomb Raider 2), but I can’t help missing Prince of Persia’s Elika and her guiding hand during the similar acrobatic feats found in Underworld.

Oh, and the Red Faction: Guerrilla multiplayer demo is some of the best online chaos I’ve ever played on a console. Fire a few rockets at the support structure of a three-story building hiding the enemy team and you’ll know what I mean when you watch the entire thing collapse in on itself. Ah, deconstruction. Poetic.

Nick's been burning up that iPhone battery on the go with what was once the pinnacle of PC gaming.

Nick Cummings:

This week has seen quite a few games come and go for me, but there’s one undeniable standout: InFamous. After a half-dozen hours or so, I’m certifiably in love with this game. Of course, when its toughest competition is the heavily flawed Bionic Commando, maybe that doesn’t mean so much.

I sought relaxation in Myst on my iPhone. When it first came out for the Mac, I was too young and impatient to enjoy the slow-paced, rich exploration. Fortunately, the iPhone port allows for a balance between blissful immersion and pick-up-and-play puzzle solving that’s essential for an on-the-go game. And coupled with my new Sennheiser headphones, it’s the same surrealistic adventure I remember from fifteen years ago.

I also tried to play the universally abhorred Rock Revolution. Just…don’t even get me started.

Doug has been getting quite comfortable with VATS in Fallout 3. The Bloody Mess perk is purely optional, however.

Doug Bonham:

I’ve been down with a nasty head cold for most of the week, but I’ve still had some time to game. I’ve finally started digging into Fallout 3 — I’m really getting engrossed into the story, combat, and now not feeling totally overwhelmed by the Wasteland. I’m not all that far in and still a measly level 7, but it’s awesome – I played until 2 a.m. last night and, more importantly, am totally getting ahold of VATS. Nothing like being able to pop ghouls in the dome with my hunting rifle.

It seems like I’ve been (strangely) getting my RPG on this week – the other game I’ve sunk some hours into is my second play-through of Mass Effect. This time, instead of the goody-two-shoes guy I made the first time, I’m not taking any shit – and while it’s not a straight-up fully evil character, I’m not afraid to be an asshole. It’s very fun. Between playing through it some more again and all the new info coming out about Mass Effect 2, I’m getting super stoked to see the second part of this series.

And it also wouldn’t be a week for me without playing a sports game – this time, it’s the Tiger Woods 10 demo that hit Xbox Live and PSN last week. I golf a little bit in real life (not very well, granted) and am a big golf gaming fan. I’ve skipped the last two Tiger Woods games, but heard 09 was good – well, based off the gameplay in the demo, 10 is spectacular. Same great swing physics that the series has had nailed down since the 2005 edition, but with even better putting controls and amazing graphics. I wish I could play it in HD.

Lastly, the one thing I want to get done with soon is finally finishing Braid. Time to redouble my efforts and get past the puzzles that have stumped me for the better part of a year.

Also, the two-hour season finale of Lost didn’t help much.

Hurley certainly isn't happy with the lateness of this post

Thankfully, it seems, Wednesday was relatively calm as far as news goes: DICE learned from its console prejudices, Blizzard reaffirmed its next MMO is not World of Warcraft: Part Deux and Microsoft bolstered its Platinum Hits collection.

Expect these explosions to somehow be more "hardcore" in the next console Battlefield title

Veteran Battlefield franchise creative director Lars Gustavsson admits that with Battlefield: Bad Company the team treated console gamers “a bit more gently” in crafting content due to DICE‘s PC background. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Gustavsson talks about the company’s natural progression with its Battlefield games, moving from basic multiplayer functions in Battlefield 1942 to more advanced matchmaking in Bad Company. Still, Gustavsson emphasizes that although the team created a strong console Battlefield game in Bad Company, they now understand future console versions have to be as complex and tailored to hardcore online players as the PC versions have always been.

It’s certainly an appropriate admission for the studio, as Bad Company–though a superb single-player experience that foreshadowed the quality and attention DICE would put into Mirror’s Edge–just didn’t feel like Battlefield. The online portion was very similar in spirit to Battlefield 2 with class load-outs and various vehicles to utilize, but it was more of the same, albeit less grandiose than the PC games. Admittedly, it’s not that easy to shove 64 players into an Xbox Live multiplayer match.

The question now is if DICE will extend these retrospective revelations to their upcoming sequel to Bad Company–otherwise, it’s all talk.  Furthermore, what do Gustavsson’s comments mean for the anticipated (though only rumored) Battlefield 3? Would a hypothetical BF3 become a multi-platform release, a series first for a direct sequel, or will the next core title follow the past trend of PC release first and a stripped-down console counterpart later?

Sorry classic Blizzard franchises–no MMO for you. Besides, Warcraft, you already had your turn.

Though rumored in the past and even partially confirmed by the company itself, Blizzard Entertainment has officially expressed that their next massively multiplayer online title currently in-development will not be based on any of their established StarCraft, Diablo or Warcraft franchises.

World of Warcraft is popular. We all know that. And despite the wide variance in personal feelings about the game, it would be wise to give the Blizzard crew credit where credit’s due–they honed their franchises to be the blockbusters they are today through their own capability and craftsmanship. The company completely deserves its praise and sales.

Still, it’s not always a guaranteed good move to release a brand new MMO under a fresh intellectual property, even if you’re Blizzard. If this next game won’t be based on neither their space, mythical nor fantasy efforts, then what could it possibly be about? Maybe a modern-day MMO where players level up through working menial labor tasks at minimum wage.

We’ll call it: World of Wagecraft.

Army of Two: This much battle-buddy man-love can now be had for less!

Here’s quite the PSA for budget-conscious gamers: Microsoft has added eight new titles to their Platinum Hits line, including popular titles like Gears of War and Mass Effect. It’s good to see Microsoft is bolstering its $20 to $30 hits line (which, admittedly, is an extremely baffling price difference), but let’s be honest here: Gears of War is a nearly three-year-old title and Mass Effect has been selling at the $20 range for awhile now at Best Buy and other retailers.

However, the Mass Effect repackaging does come with the $5 Bring Down the Sky DLC as a bonus–quite the addition for gamers who’ve yet to add BioWare’s fantastic RPG to their collections.

The full list of the new Platinum Hits games, complete with Metacritic links for the curious,  are as follows:

• Gears of War
• Forza Motorsport 2
• Mass Effect
• Viva Piñata
• Army of Two
• Battlefield: Bad Company
• Burnout Paradise
• Fight Night Round 3

Note: Nick pointed out that GameStop stores are offering used copies of Forza Motorsport 2 in a bundle with Marvel: Ultimate Alliance for under $20. That offer is a bit more cost-effective if you don’t mind pre-played games.

Well, PopCap, you’ve done it again.

I was all set to get the Backlog out the door so I could enjoy my weekend, and you had to stumble in out of the cold, like an estranged lover drawn back to rekindle a long-burning flame. All those hours we spent matching jewels, the dizzying ecstasy of our peg-filled Extreme Fevers…you’ve always been good to me, baby.

And now you show up on my doorstep with this new game, Plants Vs. Zombies — a clever and hilarious twist on a revered casual genre — and I can’t help but fall in love with you all over again.

Um. So yeah, that’s where I’ve been for the past three hours. Read on to see what the rest of the gang’s up to!

Subtitle: Except for this album cover. It's pretty shocking.

Nick: Aside from the freakishly addictive Plants Vs. Zombies, I’ve been trying to find good music I haven’t heard. And one of the best ways I’ve found for discovering new music is to check it out in Rock Band 2, naturally. There are two reasons:

1. I love playing Rock Band 2.
2. Harmonix has impeccable taste in music.

So I’ve been catching up on some of my favorite artists — Neko Case, the Allman Brothers Band, and, uh…REO Speedwagon. But the biggest gamble I made turned out to be a fantastic decision. I picked up Nothing’s Shocking, the debut album from Jane’s Addiction, and I’m shocked by how much I’m enjoying the thing from start to finish. The funky basslines, the intricate drum patterns, the awesome guitar solos, the…well, whatever Perry Farrell’s singing about, I like it too.

I’ve also got several games I’m pushing myself to finish in order to review them next week: Halo Wars, Resistance 2 and GTA: Chinatown Wars, primarily. But you can also look forward to another hand-picked iPhone game review this Monday, and I’m sure I won’t be able to stop blathering on about Plants Vs. Zombies anytime soon.

Aaron: So, this week I managed to download and explore the 10-day free trial for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. I’ve heard decent to average things about the game since its release, but after playing for a few days I’ll stick my neck out here and say this: Warhammer is more fun and better-crafted than World of Warcraft in terms of player vs. player content.

The Realm vs. Realm aspect of Warhammer is tighter and more fast-paced than Warcraft’s frustrating and sometimes inaccessible Player vs. Player feature. In Warhammer, players are in and out of battles quickly, they can queue from anywhere for numerous different battlegrounds and characters are even returned to their previous location, post-battle.

Even Warhammer’s quest system is more intuitive, though the myriad of “Kill this” and “Collect that” missions are pretty standard. I also enjoy how the minimap in Warhammer will lay a red hue over the area where your quest can be found, reducing the need for a multitude of add-ons just to find something, as is the case with WoW.

I doubt I’ll subscribe, as any MMO is a burden of commitment, but I’m quite impressed with what Warhammer has to offer.

Aside from all that online kerfuffle (there’s an antiquated word), I got back into some of The Witcher: Enhanced Edition and enjoyed it a lot. I’ve also been plowing through Fallout 3‘s three packs of DLC for our review feature, and I finally got around to Suikoden Tierkreis. Man, the voice acting in that game is absolutely horrendous.

Otherwise this weekend I’ll be watching some movies, enjoying the weather and the apartment to myself and probably reading. I’m a bit “gamed out.”

Doug: More of the same for me this week, as time-old traditions continue anew: Sports and racing games have dominated my gaming time this week.

Of course, my go-to has been FIFA 09. I’m hooked now on the main Manager mode, where I’m trying to guide Italian side Sampdoria to glory; I also have saves in that mode with my favorite soccer team, Arsenal, and an English side called Leicester City. The latter will be a challenge run, trying to build the team up from the third tier of English soccer up into a powerhouse.

Even better, word through the grapevine is that Sasquatch editor Nick Cummings is thinking of dipping his toe into the sports gaming world by giving FIFA a try. My evil plan, it is working! Seriously, soccer is almost the perfect sports game to start with: The sport is very accessible, the current (since the 08 version) FIFA engine has great flexibility with its control scheme so beginners can start with some very good training wheels, and it’s loads of fun. It’s not overly complicated and, much like a fighting game, the way you play is very tailored to the individual.

The other game I’ve been spending lots of time on is Project Gotham Racing 4. I picked this up with Assassin’s Creed a few weeks ago for cheap at GameStop; both games cost me less than $40. I honestly can’t believe I shrugged PGR4 off the first time because it is rather amazing and, fitting in with the theme, it’s a great racing game for somebody interested in the genre to start with.

It’s really also the ultimate evolution of the work Bizarre Creations started with PGR2 on the original Xbox: You’re driving fast through real-life cities and doing a variety of race types to not only finish first, but finish first in style. The controls are great, and while it’s not the most realistic racer in the world (Forza 2 beats it, and that gets stomped by myriad PC simulators in terms of realism) it has a heft and feel and gravity to the driving that just feels more hyper-real than arcadey. The feeling of driving fast and attacking corners in PGR4 is what car geeks like myself like to remember our real-life Sunday drives feeling like.

It also does weather effects rather well, especially the rain. The moment I knew that was driving in one of the wet cities and feeling both a rumble effect and a slight pull from a large pool of water on the street. Being a native Portlander, I know driving in the rain – and PGR4 nails that feeling really well.

I hope to take more chunks out of Assassin’s Creed and maybe my second Mass Effect playthrough this weekend; might hop into Rock Band 2 a bit, too. But don’t be surprised if I’m still on FIFA.

The editorial staff at Silicon Sasquatch is dedicated to bringing you news, reviews, opinion and analysis with journalistic professionalism and engaging prose. We’re just a few poor guys with BAs in magazine journalism, but we do what we can.

However, we would never describe a gaming blog as pure journalism. Most of the content we’ve posted to this date could better be described as criticism: In-depth, analytical opinions on games and news in the videogame world, but opinions nonetheless. Journalism implies digging into each story, double- and triple-checking facts, getting in touch with contacts and divining the important news values behind every published story.

We aspire to go beyond the status quo as established by the snark-over-substance mainstays of the major gaming blogs. They serve an audience and function as a business, and that’s good, but we’d rather leverage the harsh reality of this blog probably never being profitable in order to give you an honest and well-thought-out story with every post. We don’t have a publisher or advertising clients to please, so we might as well be on the level with you.

Over the last week we’ve been posting weekly updates to major (and minor) news stories, along with brief analysis. Today marks the start of another weekly feature, The Backlog. Essentially, it gives the editorial staff a chance to reflect on the games they’ve been playing and give some impressions and reflections on those experiences. Again, it’s not journalistic, but we hope it’s helpful to our readers; at the very least, we hope it makes for an interesting read and a starting point for good discussion.

In the coming weeks, you’ll begin to see some meatier features where we dig a little deeper and produce some original research and content. We’re all intimately familiar with the vice-grip of the journalism bug, and we’re not ready to abandon the profession we studied for years. Just bear in mind that such features take time, energy, clout and resources — things we’re all in short supply of. In the meantime, we want to extend our sincere thanks for your continued reading and hope you’ll stick with us in the coming weeks.

Now, click the link and read all about the games we’ve been slogging away at!

Aaron:

This weekend I’ll be graced with a new DSi as a birthday present to replace my stolen DS Lite and to fulfill my childhood dreams of a blueish/turquoise handheld.

I won’t be gaming at all until I return from the annual excursion, but over the past week it’s been a steady diet of Mass Effect, Call of Duty: World at War, Resident Evil 5 and Penny Arcade Adventures: Episode 1.

Mass Effect continues to be one of the best gaming investments I’ve ever made, and though my current playtime motives are dubious (read: achievement-related) I’m still having so much fun and would note it still holds up well after a couple of years.

WaW is frustrating, annoying and…addictive. I honestly don’t know why I put myself through it, just like in CoD4, but the multiplayer advancement makes me come back for more. Of course, it wouldn’t be worth it without four friends to play with. And Nazi Zombies is pretty entertaining, though give me L4D or give me undeath.

RE5 has maintained its enjoyment levels of “over 11.” That’s on a 10-point scale by the way. Co-op has really been refined to perfection with this game and I hope future co-op experiences are even half as polished. Though I will admit the intrigue is kinda lost when you finally buy infinite ammo for the time-honored and series mainstay: the ginormous magnum.

PAA: EP1 is probably one of the best Live Arcade titles I’ve purchased, and I feel guilty for holding out until it was 50% off. So much humor, so much fun.

Nick:

This week has been especially busy for me. On top of working full-time, I’ve been writing the weekly updates for the Sasquatch, which isn’t as easy as I thought it’d be. However, I’ve still found the time to play a little Team Fortress 2 and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, as well as my old mainstay, Rock Band 2.

There’s not much I can really say about Team Fortress 2, other than it’s shocking how fresh the game feels a year and a half after its release. The continuous flow of new content packs and the intricate level of strategy that emerges in each class is staggering. If you’re on Steam, look me up!

I love Grand Theft Auto, but I’m not sure how I feel about Chinatown Wars. While a technological marvel and an impressively immersive game on the DS, it straddles an awkward line between the rich narrative experience of GTA IV and the reckless, devil-may-care fun of earlier games in the series (and more recently exemplified by the awesome Saints Row series.) I’m struggling to stay engaged with the story and the gameplay, but both seem a little short-changed and loosely connected. I’ll have a full review next week.

FACT: Rock Band 2 is the best game ever. It’s my desert island game. It’s the greatest damn thing short of playing in a real band. While I shudder to think how much of my money has been siphoned away by Harmonix’s impeccable, far-reaching music tastes, I find myself booting up the 360 and plowing through a few songs every day. If there’s any triple-A game that deserves even more credit than it already has, it’s this one. Some of the latest and greatest songs I’ve been enjoying are “New Slang” by The Shins and the hilariously terrible but shred-tastic “Warriors of Time” by Black Tide.

Doug:

I’ve been slogging away at a bunch of games this week, mostly stuff for review and consideration for the Sasquatch, but with a smattering of stuff for my own personal entertainment as well.

Retro Game Challenge was, of course, for review – and I’m glad to have spent all the time with my DS Lite and that game. I will eventually let at least Nick borrow the game to give it a shot in his own free time, too, but I’m definitely hanging onto the game long-term – because the games it has within are great time killers, Star Prince and Rally King especially.

No week would be complete without me playing a bit of NCAA Football 09 on my 360. I’ve been heavily involved with the game since it’s release last July – specifically, I threw myself into some organized online dynasties. I’ve been playing, recruiting, and talking smack with other members of a forum for…ages, now, it seems, but things are slowing down a bit. I’m only in two dynasties – a Pac-10 conference one with Oregon, and a Big 12 one with Colorado – and only played a bit for both.

The other sports game I’ve been playing is FIFA 09, specifically its “Be A Pro” mode. For a sports game and soccer game junkie like me, this is the ultimate – create a player, take them through the lower levels, build them up from a scrub to a superstar, and then start to dominate. It’s far too much fun. I haven’t even played a game with a full team in ages.

I’ve been putting little bits of time into a couple other games – Fallout 3 (which I’m finally playing), Rock Band 2 (specifically Rock Band Tuesday) – but, with no game to plug through and review this week, I hope I can spend some time with other things…like Diablo II.