'The mouse controls go all floaty when the game starts. 'It's not the game, damn it, it's the controls. Like memory,' he said, baffled at my loathing of the minigame. He is also a consummate PC gamer, and is as good with a mouse as he is with a controller. He has played them both multiple times on the XBox. He is the one who told me to finally get around to playing them in the first place. Now this friend loves Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2. After failing to unlock a door six or seven times (requiring a game reload after each one because you only get one shot at each before it locks up without any secondary bypass method), I had a friend try it. Now, this might only rise to the level of minor frustration, except for the fact that on the PC, the mouse controls go wonky when you try to play the timed minigame.

You are forced to play the game or lose out on the contents of the safe or locker or crate. No big deal.īut in Mass Effect II, there is no 'pay to skip' option. Now, the bypass minigames in the first Mass Effect were mildly annoying, but you could spend a bit of omnigel and get around them if you just wanted to see what was in the crate or locker. Then I ran into my first bypass minigame. Gradually, I found a few minor flaws (extremely long black-screen loading times or frozen movement that could be alleviated by setting the CPU affinity to Processor 0), but I was still enjoying myself. My first impressions were very positive: The graphics were far superior (barring, of course, THE TEETH), and the controls were streamlined (a little too streamlined, as I discovered when I realized I could no longer crouch at will). (though the binary morality system brought me back to KOTOR, for good or ill)Īfter finishing playing through as a Male Paragon Vanguard, I decided to fire up Mass Effect II (again, purchased during the Fall Steam Sale) and import my saved game. Plus, the RPG/Shooter hybrid aspect brought back fond memories of Deus Ex and System Shock.

The Mako missions reminded me of planetary excursions in Star Control II, as did scanning planets and reading about them in detail. That being decided, I moved on to Mass Effect, also obtained during the Fall Steam Sale.Īfter struggling with the interface a bit (it is far more console-oriented than DA:O), I gradually came to enjoy the gameplay. I decided to pass on Dragon Age II until an 'Ultimate Edition' is released for it, as I've read bad things about DA2 compared to DAO. I recently finished Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition after picking it up during the Fall Steam Sale.

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