Mass Effect

I've come a long way on the notion of shooting things.  I really preferred my games with more slashing and less shooting.  Shooting requires precision, patience, planning... slashing a sword only requires - well, slashing.  But I've found that I have increasingly and increasingly been evolving to enjoy active combat and a weapon that can aim.

The Mass Effect series were the games that put Bioware on the map: a space opera series about Commander Shepard, human extraordinaire, and his ragtag group of adventurers.  Having finally been re-released for the PS3, the time was ripe to play and enjoy the series.

Bioshock 2: Minerva's Den

Lasers and gravity, oh my!

While it certainly was a long time since Bioshock 2 came out, I finally found time to play through the Minerva's Den DLC (even though I purchased it nearly a year and half ago).

The add-on tells a completely unrelated story of an Alpha Series Big Daddy, Subject Sigma.  As Sigma, you are lead through the three-levels by C.M. Porter, the proclaimed designer of "The Thinker," the punch-card computer which controls operations of the underwater city of Rapture.  Things in this part of the city aren't much different from the rest of the dystopian waterworld: Splicers (so named for their history of splicing their DNA with ADAM) are running the asylum.

One new add in this DLC is a new type of Big Daddy, the Lancer, and its unique weapon, a laser.  It's a fun add, and the Lancer is no joke to defeat.  The other add is a new plasmid: Gravity Well.  It's a game-breaking method of dealing with the Splicers, but useless against heavier hitters.  It also is a huge suck on the graphics capacity of my PS3, causing the game to freeze once.

The story of C.M. Porter and Reed Hall (his spliced-up, crazy rival) is very engaging, helped by familiar audio diaries that are scattered throughout the levels.  The story rivals Bioshock 2's main story, which is universally despised.  The entire thing unfolds over two sittings, 6-8 hours depending on your play style.

If you've picked up Bioshock 2 recently, it may have included the DLC - but if you have it sitting around and you haven't, it was well worth what I spent.