Of the two bits of Fallout New Vegas DLC I have played so far, Dead Money had to be the dullest and most pointless of them both. Hell, I wouldn’t doubt if it ends up as my least favourite of all the DLC for this game. Set in a closed area which can only be accessed one time via a Brotherhood of Steel bunker, you follow the signal of an old broadcast offering the time of your life at the new Sierra Madre Casino. Turns out that the radio broadcast was just a trap to lure adventurers so as to do the dirty work for a crazy old kook called Father Elijah.

After being KO-ed in the bunker thanks to some surprise gas, you wake up with a bomb collar strapped to your neck and find yourself the newest recruit in Father Elijah’s master plan to break into the Sierra Madre Casino. You’ll have to hook up with three other prisoners (Christine, the muted Brotherhood woman, DOG/GOD, a dog with a split personality, and the famous Dean Domino) in order to perform your task and deal with the holographic security men keeping an eye on the place as you plan the biggest heist of your career.

You'll need to sic DOG on them if you want them to stay dead

The town surrounding Sierra Madre wasn’t always populated by holographic security and undead murderers. Once it housed the people building the place for it’s eccentric owner, so you’ll be able to explore the old quarters for better gear and unique items. The gun Father Elijah gives you after stripping you of all your personal items doesn’t do much damage, especially should you find yourself no longer dealing with holo-officers. The “men” walking the streets can be incapacitated with bullets, but you’ll need DOG by your side if you want to disable them permanently. I did love how the town was littered with vending machines offering you the basics: food, stimpaks, cigarettes. You could even collect cigarettes throughout the area and turn them in for Sierra Madre chips (the form of payment accepted in this section of the game). And if you come across the right notes laying around town, you can unlock some weapon upgrades and ammunition.

Try as the story might, it just never really grabs me as much as I want it to. There is a story in there, of love, addiction, and greed. But it’s so weakly presented that playing Dead Money was too much of a chore. At no point did I ever feel I was having fun with this chunk of additional story, only that I wanted it to be over as soon as possible. Not being able to go back and really clean out the safe was a bit of a downer, too.

Overall Opinion

Dead Money is definitely not worth the full DLC price tag, and if you play it as part of the content on the Ultimate Edition, then get this one out of the way earlier on. Aside from finding some pretty nice loot in the safe, the only other perk that benefited me from purchasing this was the +5 boost to my level cap.

Available on Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC/Mac

Dean Domino looks nothing like the posters you spot around the Wasteland

Warning: This review will most likely contain a few spoilers. Read at your own risk.

Status: Completed in 29 days (minus glitched quests), reached Level 62, 179hrs 17mins 37secs
Achievements: 47 of 50
Gamerscore: 940/1000
DLC Purchased: None

The fifth installment in Bethesda Game Studios’ epic role playing franchise, Skyrim offers players an exceptional adventure in the northern most province of Tamriel. Home to the Nords, Skyrim is in the midst of a civil war, a war in which you are unintentionally dragged into. Imperial guards believe you to be a member of the Stormcloak uprising, and bring you to Helgen for your execution. As your head rests on the chopping block, you witness a terrifying dragon land on one of the battlements, sending everyone into a panic and giving you the chance to escape.

Voices few can hear call out to you and name you “Dovahkiin”, thus leading you to a group of hermits known as the Greybeards. In their home on the highest mountain peak in Skyrim, this handful of men reveal to you your true nature and offer to assist you in learning the Way of the Voice, the tongue of the Dragons. It is no coincidence to them that you should arrive at their doorstep at the same time dragons reappear.

And so begins your journey to discover the truth behind the resurgence of the dragons. An epic task that will take you all over the beautiful northern province and beyond, literally.

Along the way you can stop and pick the flowers (literally, you can pick flowers, nirnroot, and other local herbs for alchemy purposes), spend time searching for bandit or necromancer infested caves to loot, or join one of the many groups looking for a lackey. Skyrim follows in the tradition of other Western RPGs, giving the player all sorts of freedom to play the game however he or she so chooses.

I chose to focus on discovery and guild quests in the beginning, making trips here and there to the main story as they intersected with whatever other goals I was pursuing at the time. I have this thing about trying to get all of the extra bits of games tidied up before sinking my teeth into the main focus of the story, although it can be contested that in Skyrim the extra bits are just as meaty and delicious as the main course. And because there are so many ways to play the game, outcomes may vary depending on what actions you’ve previously done. Killing the brother of a townsperson  who has a quest for you before taking the job can mean different dialogue options, and so forth.

By far my favourite change up from Oblivion to Skyrim was the elimination of structured classes and the introduction of the Perk system. Instead of forcing the player to select a class type (Warrior, Mage, Thief) when creating their character, you evolve your hero the way you want them to as you play by using the skills you wish to increase often. When your character gains enough overall experience and goes up a level, you are granted a Perk point that you can use to unlock any bonus you wish from the Perk map. This allows for a more natural type of development, as it is truer to real life circumstances. It also means you can start out as a mage, duel-wielding powerful spells and increasing the potency of your magic, and switch to more warrior-like skills with some pickpocketing and haggling on the side.

Increasing your skills comes from practice, practice and more practice. Example: You notice on the Perk map that if you get your Smithing up to Level 100, you’ll be able to make armour from the dragon scales and bones you collect from killing the beasts. You have a lot of leather in your inventory and that’s the only sort of armor you can currently make, but it’s low level stuff and you’re wearing much better stuff. Don’t just sell that leather. Make as many types of leather pieces as you can at the forge until you’ve exhausted your materials. Every time you hammer out a new chestplate or boots you’re increasing that Smith stat. Next, sell those to the nearest vendor with money but sell each one of them one piece at a time. That will bump up your Speech which will help you get better prices as you level it up. It’s thinking like this that will help you power level early on, making battles and other sections of the story easier to get through.

You can also collect Companions who will help you if you so wish to drag them along. Some are acquired by helping with personal quests, while others come bundled with the purchase of one of the several fine homes you can purchase. The companion I dragged around with me when I wasn’t trying to sneak into someone’s home for a Thieves Guild quest was Lydia. She was the housecarl that came with my first home, a cozy two floor home in Whiterun next door to the armor shop. Lydia prefers heavy armor and ranged weapons, and if you make the mistake of giving her magical staffs, you should fear for your life and the lives of any people you might have to rescue from dungeons. She wasn’t always the smartest person to work with, stepping on traps that I clearly went around and then getting stuck on them, which led me to believe the AI needed a touch more time and attention. Lydia made up for it by being a great pack mule. I would load her up with all sorts of ore, materials and random items I wanted to sell and fast travel to the nearest shop just as soon as she stopped trying to kill my magical horse.

Even in video games, I hate spiders.

But as with every other Bethsoft game of this magnitude, there are just too many unacceptable issues that can potentially ruin the experience for you – especially if you are short on patience.

The biggest problem for me was the amount of glitches that happened in my game, making certain quests and side missions impossible to either continue or perpetually stuck in my queue. Most disheartening of these was when the last Daedric Quest I needed to complete for the corresponding achievement (or trophy if you’re a PS3 gamer) suffered from a massive bug making it so that I could not talk with the target and progress to the end of the quest. Here we are two months and three patches later and there is still no fix for this problem. With all of the time I dedicated to that character and only missing a few achievements, I just can’t bring myself to start a second character, so I am impatiently waiting for the 1.4 patch and hoping my quest line will be fixed.

Definitely not as problematic but just as irritating is the freezing. I will admit that for me personally, it has improved since Oblivion, but that could be due to the fact that I’ve had to cut down on how many save files I’m now using. It also doesn’t hurt that since Oblivion I’ve learned to save a lot more frequently in Bethesda games. I’ve also since learned that I really shouldn’t put every item I want to keep in the same chest or dresser. Now I split everything up and store like items in different drawers in my house. And how to not be a hoarder, which is hard in these games as you want to keep everything that has a cool name and you think might be worth something. Ideally, I have no more than thirty or so different types of item in one place at a time, which meant a lot of over-encumbered trips around Whiterun to sell off various swords, junk armour and potions I’d crafted to level up my skills.

However, the pros and fun I’ve had playing Skyrim far weighs the disappointment I’ve suffered from the game. I wouldn’t call it my Game of the Year for 2011, because in my eyes any game that requires three patches within a month of release and still has major issues does not deserve those accolades. Obviously, Skyrim needed more time in QA before being rushed to store shelves for Holiday sales and I still hold that with digital distribution at their fingertips, gaming companies are using it more and more as a crutch so they can hit deadlines and leave the gamer to suffer the consequences. But enough of that for now.

Overall Opinion

I had an absolute blast playing Skyrim on a near daily basis from the midnight it came out until I discovered there was no way I could tidy up that last Daedric Quest. Just ask my husband, as he watched my play it until 3 or 4 am every single night and all day on the weekends. I yelled at my housecarl Lydia on a regular basis that you would have thought I renamed her idiot for all the times she stepped on traps I clearly went around or for using the staffs I gave her and nearly killing herself. Hunting dragons and searching for their Words of Power could at times be aggravating, but the rewards were worth every potion sucked down to keep going. My favourite thing to do has always been looting caverns, and Skyrim did not disappoint me, giving me some great ones early on that helped me buy my first home.

Odds are high that I will eventually replay the game with a new character; I really did love the game, despite the issues with quest lines buggering up. Or I may just wait until they announce DLC for the game and take my Hero and her moronic companion Lydia on new adventures. Either way, Skyrim has rooted itself in my list of favourite RPGs, and is one title I would gladly recommend to anyone looking to drop off the face of the earth for a good month or two.

Status: Completed and unlocked all 5 achievements
Achievements: 49 of 75
Gamerscore: 965/1655

After previous experiences with Fallout 3′s add on content suffering major release issues, I decided that I’d wait a while before picking up new quests for New Vegas. I didn’t want to be burned again with purchasing content on release day and being unable to play it. So when Bethesda had a recent Xbox Live sale, I picked up Honest Hearts and Dead Money. I polled my friends, and heeding their advice, chose to venture into Zion and deal with the White Legs in Honest Hearts.

As with most Fallout DLC, Honest Hearts starts off with a radio transmission. A trading company is looking to hire some help making a trip into Zion to do some trading and check on the inhabitants. They haven’t heard from anyone in a while and want to make sure they aren’t walking into a trap. As soon as you arrive, your companions are slaughtered when a band of renegade Natives called the White Legs ambushes you. You’ll survive, and thanks to the help of another Native, Follows-Chalk, you are soon brought to safety and meet the infamous Burned Man. (To catch you up, Joshua Graham the Burned Man was once Caesar’s right hand man, until he betrayed the leader and was set on fire as punishment.)

Joshua explains that the New Canaanites were killed by the White Legs, who are trying to prove loyalty to Caesar and join his fold. Those who survived fled to Zion, where Joshua now leads the Dead Horse tribe, teaching them how to use modern artillery to defend themselves. Another retired warrior named Daniel leads a second tribe, the Sorrows, who are friendly to the Dead Horses but not as aggressive in their ways. Joshua wants you to help him defend Zion Canyon so that both tribes can stay here in peace; Daniel refuses to make the Sorrows become a war-like people and hopes you will assist him in aiding their flight.

Help the Natives either flee or reclaim their homeland

Zion Canyon is full of old camping sites, ranger stations and other buildings the Native people have marked as taboo. Anything deemed taboo has been marked and should be checked out. Follows-Chalk, your Dead Horse companion, loves checking out these off-limits places, and comes with an added map making perk; travel with him to high locations and he will scout out nearby destinations and have them marked on your map. I recommend traveling with him all over the place in the beginning so he can help you find all of the hidden locations you won’t find on your own if you stick to the story. You’ll also have access to a companion from the Sorrows tribe acquired through the quest about halfway through.

Ammunition and weapons are pretty limited in Zion, which means you need to choose wisely what items you will bring with you on the journey. You need to make sure you have room in your pack as it is to make the initial leg of the trip with the traders, leaving you to scavenge and loot your way through the canyon. Fortunately, you’ll find reloading tables hidden in caves along with some caches of supplies left behind by someone who chronicled their remaining days after the initial nuclear attack. And if you’re really in a pinch, Joshua has guns and ammo for trade, while Daniel sticks with healing supplies.

Keep your eyes open for these spore plants

If you want to clean up all five achievements with one go, it’s important to note that you will know when it’s time to make that decision. You’ll be able to get the first three just fine following the story, so just before you decide who’s plan to go along with, save your game! You can always reload from this point and choose option number two. Regardless of how you leave Zion, the area does not become shut off and you can come back later on should you want to do so.

Overall Opinion

Honest Hearts added a good six hours of story, adventuring and scavenging to my Fallout New Vegas experience. It was a nice little side story to bring myself back into the Fallout universe with, seeing as I hadn’t played the game in months. Thankfully, I ran into no major issues (super pixel glitches, freezing, hiccups with text) which either means a better job was done making sure the DLC worked properly as of Day One or there had been an update between release and when I purchased it. Finally, a near flawless expansion in the Fallout universe that I was able to enjoy start to finish.

Available on Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC/Mac

Status: Finished everything but the Mages’ Guild quests
Achievements: 54 of 60
Gamerscore: 1150/1250
DLC Purchased: Every last bit of DLC, including that ridiculous Horse Armor (only because it was on the GOTY disc)

Somehow I find it very fitting that the first game from Project Backlog that I am crossing off the list is actually the first Xbox 360 game I ever finished. Let me clarify that – the first game I finished before I had an Xbox Live gamertag.A long, long time ago in a far away land, I lived another life. In this life, the person I lived with had very strict rules about the internet. It could only be used for research and occasional emails, no “chatting”, which included a kibosh on online gaming. At the time it didn’t affect me all that much since I wasn’t really into shooters or MMOs. I’ve always preferred a single player experience for role playing games. Anyway, cutting to the chase, Oblivion was the first game I powered through and collected all achievements in.

I devoted hours to leveling up my character and completing as many side quests as I could. I started with the Thieves’ Guild, as I seem to do in most games that offer thievery as a lifestyle choice, and slowly but surely tied up all loose ends with the guilds before taking on the final quest. All told, I believe some 120 hours or so was spent traipsing all over the map, running from one end to the other. It was a great escape from the world I was living in at the time, and therefore has a special place in my heart.

Finally, I was on my own. I bought myself an Xbox 360 and with it a Game of the Year version of Oblivion. I had only ever played the main game content before, and now I could sink even more time into a character. Having to replay the game again knowing what the outcome would be didn’t dull the excitement of finally collecting gamerscore I could share with people. Oblivion and I were on our second honeymoon.

The beginning was great. I’d get home from work, raring to boot up the 360 (affectionately known as Betty) and loot dungeons for shiny new trinkets. This went on for about a month or so. There were new games in between, of course, but I really wanted to devour Oblivion. If I had done it once before, it surely would be a breeze the second time around. But I was wrong. Soon enough, I found I didn’t really want to play it anymore. I’d already done all of this once before and there was a growing pile of new games to give attention to.

So here I am a few years later clearing up loose ends. When I got right down to it, it only took about a week for me to collect the achievements I knew were possible with this character. A glitch in the Mages’ Guild storyline handicapped me from making it a perfect run through with my Champion, but nothing to keep me from crossing this one off of my list. Sure, I’ll go back at some point, make a new character and hope I can take care of those achievements for a 100% completion on my gamer card. Maybe next summer when the next lull in releases hits.

But now it is on to other things. Like Torchlight, probably the most awesome time-suck I have played in years.

Purchase Elder Scrolls: Oblivion 5th Anniversary from Amazon

Status: Completed one playthrough on Easy reaching level 21 in 11hrs 37min, the second on Normal reaching level 29 in 11hrs 21min

Over a decade has passed since gamers last saw Aya Brea and her clone/daughter/sister Eve (a relationship that confuses many). 3rd Birthday begins with Aya having no recollection of her past, found in a blood stained wedding gown outside St Peter’s in New York. She is recruited by the Counter Twisted Intelligence team and using her special Overdive ability, they hope that her special skills can help the world defeat the Twisted Invasion as she relives past events, that with each Dive she alters history for the better.Fans of the Parasite Eve franchise have been impatiently waiting for this third installment for years, and I fear that with the exception of the most hardcore PE fanatics, 3rd Birthday didn’t resonate with me the way I was hoping it would. I was expecting a spattering of puzzles and upgrading all kinds of cool abilities…. What I got was something way too repetitive, lacking in variety, a substandard and predictable plot, and a scantily clad heroine with a voice that got on my nerves quickly.

Let’s start by getting down and dirty with the story behind 3rd Birthday. At the start of the game, all Aya can recall about her past comes in the form of a dream – a couple standing up in a church as they exchange vows, a girl standing in the front pew watching as the bride (supposedly herself) and groom are gunned down. Aya doesn’t know who these people are, if they really exist. The outbreak of the Twisted began shortly after Aya was found in the street, taking over New York City first, then spreading all over the world. With the Overdive system now ready to use two years later, Aya jumps into the past taking out as many of the Twisted as she can and slowly unlocking pieces of her memory, right up until you finish the incredibly short game.

Obviously, as Aya recalls more of what happened that fateful day, the world around her changes. People who died during her Overdives no longer exist even though Aya remembers them clearly. Some of them even have completely different histories than those Aya remembers. The key people in her life have been taken over in these dives and are eventually referred to as High Ones, entities fighting off the Twisted for their own survival. They have strong interest in Aya and her abilities, trying to stop her from fully piecing together the truth.

When you read all of that, it sounds like there is a lot of substance and material to work with. And there is. It could have been a really great story. Instead, it was a mere six episodes, with the majority of the story telling limited to the very beautiful cut-scenes. The big twist (insert groan here) in the final scene was something I had pretty much gathered by the time I’d finished Episode 3. Maybe it’s just because I watch a lot of Japanese TV and read a lot of translated fantasy and science fiction, but I was hoping for so much more. Plus, it’s a Square Enix game. I love Square and the writing is usually so top-notch. It breaks my heart to find that this time they let me down.

The second most important aspect to a game is always how it plays. What are you doing in the game and how many neat things can you do keeps us engaged and looking forward to what move or ability we’ll discover next. Aya has two abilities: Overdive and shooting things. Shooting things should be pretty self-explanatory. You have access to handguns, automatics, sniper rifles, satellite cannons – all available for a price. Aya always carries her issued handgun and you can choose two more weapons for her to take with her.  Spending the BP you earn defeating the Twisted to upgrade and purchase weapons as you level up is imperative. Some upgrades will help you fill up your Liberation gauge sooner which helps with Overdive attacks.

Aya vs Roller

Overdiving can be a blessing or a curse. Since Aya’s consciousness is sent into the past and not a physical body, she dives into the men and women available on the battlefield. In order to stay alive, she needs to jump from one body to another before the host dies or to access different areas of a map. Each body offers a fourth weapon to Aya’s arsenal and sometimes that fourth weapon is what it takes to blow the Twisted to smithereens. The Liberation Gauge (like a Berserk meter or Limit Gauge from later Final Fantasies) can be triggered once full, making Aya’s attacks stronger until the gauge runs dry, great for taking on some of the tougher non-boss Twisted. Aya can also perform an Overdive attack. When the enemy has taken a certain amount of damage, an orange triangle will appear in front of them. By diving into the enemy you can rip large chunks of health from the inside out. This type of attack also gives Aya the opportunity to find new chips she can place on her Over Energy circuit board, customizable circuitry loaded into whichever apparatus Aya is using to relive the past. Placing chips on the boards and combining them to enhance Aya’s battle techniques is important. Some combos will replenish health or make it possible to heal allies while some chips can cripple her.

Then there is the voice acting. Not the worst voice acting I’ve ever heard in a game, but not the best, either. The three central characters, Aya, Eve and Kyle, are all voiced over by actors I watch on a weekly basis during the regular TV schedule. My biggest problem with Yvonne Strahovski’s Aya was all the moaning and groaning she makes during battle. It quickly gets on your nerves when all you hear from her outside of cutscenes is that noise. If it wasn’t so dominant, if they had scaled it back a lot, it would not have irritated me so much. But there is just too much of it in the game, and it is a real turn off. I’ve heard Jensen Ackles do better (Batman: Under the Red Hood, anyone?) and some of his lines just sounded choppy. The surprise was Molly Quinn (Alexis from Castle). For her first foray into voice acting, she did a decent job. A bit rough around the edges but that’s to be expected. Nothing against any of these fine actors, but I wish the gaming industry would stop pursuing screen actors for voice over roles. Not all of them can do it well. Sure, they might be huge gamers themselves, however that does not mean they can pull it off.

Aya’s support characters weren’t a hell of a lot better. It’s another one of those times when I am left to wonder just how many times the script was read before everyone was thrown into recording and if a voice director was even present. You know, I bet if that moaning and groaning had been cut down to a third of what there was Square probably could have left the Japanese audio track in.

Seems like so far all I’ve done is rip on the game. Why did I bother playing it a second time if there were so many flaws, you ask? Well, like I mentioned at the beginning, I am a Parasite Eve fan and I wanted to make sure that I give a fair assessment of the game I just convinced my husband was worth pre-ordering. It’s not like there is zero fun level. If that was the case I definitely would not have attempted another run. 3rd Birthday has several unlockables, most of which will require playing through several times to collect. There are the fanservice-y outfits that take damage and overtime make Aya look like she ran them through a paper shredder before getting dressed. A shower scene you can access if you perform certain feats in each Episode. (Oh, those shower scenes!) Cheat codes for bonuses you can purchase with whatever BP you haven’t put towards upgrading your arsenal. 3rd Birthday is chock-full of reasons why multiple playthroughs are the main reason for purchasing it.

Overall Opinion

Knowing what I know now, I would still have purchased 3rd Birthday at launch. Yes, it was a disappointing story, I was once again let down by sub-par voice acting and no Japanese audio track. But the replay value of 3rd Birthday and desire to have every single weapon maxed out is what keeps me going back for more. If this had been a console release, I would be screaming at you to avoid it until it dropped in price. Thankfully, I don’t have to do that. If you’re not a fan of the Parasite Eve franchise you really should pass this over. Unless you love mindless shooting and checking out hot video game girls who wear Santa suits into battle. In that case, you might be able to enjoy the game for what it is – fanservice.

Purchase 3rd Birthday from Amazon

Status: Completed 3 times
Achievements: 57 of 76
Gamerscore: 1225/1750
DLC Played: Awakening

Dragon Age wasn’t on my watch-list when it was announced. Probably because I didn’t end up enjoying Mass Effect as much as I was hoping to which turned into lukewarm feelings for BioWare. It wasn’t that I thought Mass Effect was a bad game, more that I just didn’t find myself feeling as submersed into the universe as I thought I would. But months later my newly minted husband decided he wanted to pick it up after hearing good things from friends. I still wasn’t really feeling the Dragon Age mojo, so I watched him a bit as he played figuring I might one day get around to it.

A while after he finished up the Awakening DLC I decided to take the game for a spin in my 360. My desire to play an RPG that would wash the bad taste of Final Fantasy XIII from my mouth was overwhelming. After getting used to a new control scheme (something different than the JRPGs and Elder Scrolls titles), I had to admit I was impressed, running through multiple characters over the span of a couple of weeks.

My initial impressions while still early on in my quest to save the world were those of contentment. I found that I kept comparing everything to Oblivion, when really I shouldn’t have. Yes, both are Western RPGs and some comparisons are valid, but I wasn’t looking at Dragon Age as it’s own game. Once I stopped thinking of my Elder Scrolls obsession, I began to appreciate Dragon Age for what it is.

Probably my favourite feature with Dragon Age was having multiple character stories available to you. Depending on which race you select as your character’s background, there were so many small differences in the overall story which made each play through unique. I tend to stick with the human race when I play games, but since there was an achievement for seeing each of the story intros, I made quick characters so I could witness those and see how those choices varied the game.

Being able to have relationships with my companions and in brothels was also entertaining. With my first character I did a little bit of experimentation. I tried to woo Alistair, but after a rocky start I just couldn’t smooth talk him into my tent. But Leliana was all over me. It was my own fault for being nice to her. Soon enough I had her giving me the eye so I did what any sane person would do and took her to bed. Then I picked up the debonair Zevran and dropped Leliana for him. I know, I was just horrible in that first game. That first one was also when I goofed around in the brothel. The small scenes leading into the sudden black where just so cheesy that I couldn’t help but laugh every time. Second character was male and I used him long enough to get Morrigan to sleep with me, then I abandoned him for another female character to get along with Alistair so he’d fall madly in love with me.

As a fan of the fantasy genre, storyline is very important to me. I’ve read epic fantasy, modern fantasy, and historical fantasy. If you want to keep my attention for more than 20 hours, you had better bring a solid tale to the table for me. Dragon Age definitely took me to a world I wanted to explore and evoked emotions I was hoping would get some exercise. From the minute I found myself joining the Gray Wardens until the last battle, I experienced a fluid adventure with seamlessly integrated side-quests. When you can pull that off, your writing department deserves a few shiny gold stars.

Morrigan, Daughter of Flemeth, Witchy Woman

Dragon Age Origins may not have been as long a game as I am used to with the Elder Scrolls/Fallouts/Final Fantasies of the gaming world, but in the time that it would take me to discover everything in those games I was able to enjoy three variations of the story. Being able to experience so much and seeing just how well written a tale is that it can be slightly altered and keep bringing you back to the universe at hand is what really puts this game in it’s own sub-category in the RPG genre – the BioWare sub-category. They have proven time and again they are truly masters at weaving “Choose Your Own Adventure”-esque fantasy/sci-fi tales. This is why, despite the demo for Dragon Age 2, I will be devouring this sequel as soon as I can pry it from my husband’s Xbox 360.

And like any game there were the downsides to Dragon Age. Like the multitudes of game freezing issues when there were a large amount of enemies on screen or just when I would load the final battle area. That had to be the most annoying of them all. No, the game freezing as a slayed the last boss is definitely the biggest kick in the groin I experienced. Thankfully none of these issues caused my save file to corrupt (ahem, Fable 3, yes I am still bitter towards you right now). Some areas were blocked off from me during my later games which had never happened previously, but since I no longer needed the achievements attached to them I soldiered on.

The added content from the Awakenings DLC was a pleasure to play (and helped bump up my gamerscore). I only used one of my female characters for that and did a single run-through. Eventually I’ll convince the husband to by the Ultimate Edition so I can clean up achievements from Leliana’s Song and the other small releases I just don’t have the MS points for.

For now, I’ve got to get back to the Dragon Age Legends app on Facebook and see what goodies I can unlock towards Dragon Age 2.

Purchase Dragon Age Origins: Ultimate Edition from Amazon

Welcome to New Vegas

After the extreme disappointment that was Fable 3, I needed something to get me back on my 360. And even though I had a difficult time with Fallout 3 (mainly the DLC and it’s release day issues), I was pumped to sink my teeth into Fallout New Vegas. I love the open exploration that Fallout offers, and the addition of Factions you could choose to side with meant there would be more variety in the story. Throw in casinos and gambling and I was all psyched up for another trip through a post-apocalyptic USA.

After waking up in a small Mojave wasteland town, my female courier set out to find the man responsible for putting a bullet in her. Obviously, he wasn’t that great of a shot since she was saved by a Securitron, and his flashy clothes meant he could be found in New Vegas. But going straight to New Vegas wasn’t something I wanted to do. Instead I spent a lot of time discovering areas along the major roads, killing escaped convicts and looting whatever I could. I am a hoarder in games like these, and as soon as I had my own place to stash the copious amounts of weapons, food and other gear I was hauling around, I would dump a load and go back out there for more.

Wandering the wastes and weeding out side quests is always a great way to gain experience, as opposed to running headfirst through the main story and getting incredibly stuck. I spent a good 40 to 50 hours roaming the streets of long deserted towns, hills overrun with scavengers and mutated insects before setting foot on the New Vegas Strip. The sheer amount of time I can waste in Fallout and Elder Scrolls games is the big reason I come back to these Bethesda franchises time and time again.

Also during this time, I located several of the Companion characters available in Fallout New Vegas. Unlike the companions in Fallout 3, these ones were much more personable, had back stories and side quests of their own, and could carry equipment for you. That last part was very important to me and I loaded my companions up like camels most of the time. Hey, if they are there and can carry and use things they give you, you should take advantage of it. Another bonus with Companion characters was the bonus perks they brought to the party. Bringing along your trusty robot friend ED-E and emo sniper Boone meant awesome ranged damage particularly useful when you finally think you are ready to clear Deathclaws out of the Quarry. Veronica provides a portable work bench perfect for recycling drained energy and microfusion cells on the go. In a sense, Companions are like a New Vegas style Pokemon – you gotta find ‘em all! Well, you don’t really, but if you do it makes the game much more interesting.

Micromanage your Companions' actions in the game

What you think is a simple story of revenge changes gears early on in the main quest and soon you discover that the people you’ve helped, killed and left alone so far are all after one thing – and they all want your help. By now you have reached the New Vegas Strip and been approached by several different people, each one representing a major Faction. These Factions are fighting for control in the Mojave and believe that with you assisting them, their victory will be secured. You may also find minor Factions in the Wasteland who will offer their support to whomever you back so long as you help them first. Figuring out who to recruit and which side to put your chips with is up to you and can be done in a variety of ways, meaning there are numerous ways in which you can complete this game.

While I found Fallout New Vegas to be entertaining with solid story-telling and some very unique characters, this excursion on the Strip is not without it’s flaws. Graphically, not much has changed since Fallout 3. The textures, character models and all around art style are exactly the same as they were in DC. Even the Strip, which yes, did have very few casinos, should have been brighter, lighting up the skyline for miles and miles, but felt too muted and washed out for what was there. If you were looking for more detailing in the faces around you, then prepare to be disappointed.

And the voice acting! Oh, what could have been. With a list of primo celebrities like personal favourites Danny Trejo and Zach Levi who are great on-screen personalities, the voice overs for Fallout New Vegas should have been knocked out of the park. Sadly, almost every major character fell flat. It was as if the actors had only a couple of days with the script before recording their lines. There was only a handful of real shining moments in the voice acting, which is why I am disappointed with all these studios neglecting true voice actors and wasting oodles of money on A-list performers who just don’t seem to translate well to voice acting.

The Wild Wild West (*wiki wiki*)

The only other issue I have with the game is the glitches. I began my journey through the Mojave after Bethsoft released the major patch, so I haven’t had nearly as many issues as some people did. There have been weird things happening to me like my companions not being with me after I fast traveled to a new location or enemies that should be dead still running around after I killed them. I did have an entire side quest ruined by another issues that didn’t allow me to access a room I should have been able to go into. I did notice that my 360 started to freeze up a lot more once I began playing Fallout New Vegas, not just on this game but on DeathSpank and XBLA titles as well. While I can’t say it is Fallout’s fault, I will say that it is extremely irritating to only get in an hour or so at a time before the whole thing freezes during very important gun fights.

Overall Opinion

Fallout New Vegas is a great “continuation” from Fallout 3, but aside from the new story, addition of Factions and better Companions, it’s not all that much different. Fans of Fallout 3 will most likely enjoy life in the Mojave and the familiarity of it all. If you weren’t satisfied with Fallout 3, then you should make a pass on this one.

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By day, you are a typical high school junior. You go to class, make friends, participate in school clubs and work part time for some extra spending money. By night, you and your dorm-mates enter into a time known as the Dark Hour where you battle your way up the looming tower Tartarus in hopes that you can right wrongs belonging to those who came before you. The story of Persona 3 still holds up as one of the best and most enjoyable titles I have had the pleasure of wasting away my time with the JRPG category over the past few years.

P3P strikes a wonderful balance between grinding in the randomly generated levels of the Tartarus dungeon and enhancing your Persona-wielding life-style with extra-curricular activities. Exploring Tartarus and defeating the Shadows lurking around each and every corner brings you closer to ending the Dark Hour for good. Making friends and creating strong bonds with them is what brings additional power to the Persona you create to assist you in your quest.

Unlocking Personas is like catching Pokemon. Once you start, you just can’t stop! When you first enter Tartarus you’ll only have the inherent Orpheus available. As you defeat Shadows you’ll be able to hold more Personas acquired by obtaining special tarot cards. The further you climb to the top of Tartarus, the more powerful the cards you can find. Visiting the Velvet Room, a mainstay of the Persona franchise, you’ll want to fuse as many new Personas as possible, with some instances requiring up to six Persona cards in a fusion.

Featured in this new handheld version of the game, P3P now allows you to chose between a male or female main character. Social Links with classmates and other residents around Port Island will differ depending on which you choose. While the overall story is the same, it’s the little things that impact you will remember your high school days.

Social Linking with Yukari strengthens the Lovers Arcana

This being my second time through the story of the SEES group, I chose to experience life at Gekkoukan High School as a female student. Choosing the female option, your cursor and other icons are a soft shade of pink as opposed to the blue for the male option. I joined several clubs, including the volleyball team and student council, making a lot of wonderful female friends. I also spent time after school hanging out with fellow SEES members Junpei and Akihiko in an attempt to get closer to them. With the female character, you can also choose if Igor’s assistant in the Velvet Room is the beloved Elizabeth or the new male option, Theodore.

The one aspect of playing with the female character that I was most interested in exploring was seeing if it was possible for her to date the guys around her much as the male character could in the original. I spent nights slaving at Chagall Cafe either working or just having the Pheromone Coffee so that I could increase my Charm to a level that would allow me to build my Social Link with the dreamy and sought-after Akihiko-senpai. Sadly, there was no smooching or hand holding to be had. Once I had maxed out the Social Link, Akihiko was not to be found in his usual spot Monday and Friday afternoons in the Lab Hallway. I was unable to find any information to see if I had done anything incorrectly, which means my poor high school crush on Akihiko will forever remain just a crush.

Atlus has also included the part-time job option which allows you to earn some money while increasing your Academic, Charm and Courage skills. Before you could only enhance these skills by studying, correctly answering questions during class and spending money at certain establishments. While you can still simply spend some money and do so, working at a shop helps boost two of these areas at a time as well as pocketing some money to help by that fancy new weapon you’ve got your eye on.

My favourite new additions to P3P are the outrageous outfits to stuff into my wardrobe. It’s an added bonus that your characters really do wear these in Tartarus. My favourite was the Battle Panties, a white bra and panty set with matching knee-high stockings giving the wearer a plus two stat bump to their Magic skills. Santa suits, bathing suits and maid outfits are other special apparel you can collect.

Other tweaks to P3P include bringing two new difficulty modes, meaning you now have five degrees of difficulty at your fingertips, as well as the much desired battle command control as was offered in Persona 4. Using the Tactics option from your in-battle menu, you can now set parameters for those members currently part of your team. This option can only be accessed when you are controlling the main character and gives you a much better handle on those tough bosses.

Use the Battle Menu to set Tactics for your AI characters

P3P is not a perfect port of the original PS2 title. Due to the limitations of the PSP disc, the anime cut-scenes have been replaced with game graphic voiced over scenarios. I do miss them, but it is a small sacrifice to make in order to have everything else introduced to this version of P3. Also excluded from P3P is the additional content The Answer which was released with Persona 3: FES.

Overall Opinion

Since P3P arrived at my doorstep I have done nothing aside from spend all day on my PSP. Even in my sleep, I am thinking of what extra-curricular activities I want to do over the next school week, figure out how many floors in Tartarus I want to climb and which types of Personas I need to create so that I can get the best of the best for the inevitable final battle. Looking for something to waste countless of hours on? Then this is your game, as you can grind and grind to your heart’s content. There is so much content on this disc that it’s about to burst at the seams. Do yourself a favour and buy this game now. Buy it for a friend, too. Share the love of the twisted darkness that is Persona with as many people as you can.

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