The "Waiting for Too Human" Playlist

Too Human has won me over. I ran hot and cold with the demo on my first playythrough but 1.5 replays later has made me a believer. I've come to terms with the apparent weaknesses with the game's design, put them aside and now eagerly anticipate what will surely be a phat loot-dropping extravaganza. The pre-order allure of unique armour sets I have resisted and now I'm counting on just picking it up at the local Future Shop on Day One.. or Two or Three. There's no big rush, seeing as I've got a pretty full dance card lately.

Mass Effect
I am having a surprising amount of fun using my fresh Shepard on a brand new playthrough. This time around, I've switched to a female Vanguard on Veteran difficulty and I'm exclusively using Ashley and Garrus for my ground team. My original purpose for playing through the story again was for Achievement-mining, of which I've secured a handful already. But my superficial intentions have been rewarded quite well, as I'm appreciating the character development and combat systems so much more this time around.

It's come to the point where I regret using a Soldier class on my first attempt with the game. I'll say it right now, the Soldier class is boring and cuts out a lot of the sublteties inherent in BioWare's elegant, if simple, RPG-action hybrid design. You can basically bulldoze your way through all the mission as a Soldier and there aren't really a whole lot of interesting skills to develop. Distribute your skill points into assault rifle and armour and go to town. I even continued using my original soldier Shepard on a Hardcore difficulty playthrough and it's still rather easy. Barring a few unlucky sniper or rocket hits, I'm invincible, and the game REALLY comes across as a third-rate 3rd-person shooter.

Things are a little different as a female Vanguard. First off, Shepard is so much sexier and the female voice talent is quite a bit more professional and unique than the stock macho male voice. Secondly, I'm actually using my skills and putting more thought into advancing skills and crafting my team. Since I'm not a pure fighter, enemy encounters are actually intense and in some cases quite difficult, since I'm constantly juggling skill recharges for all member of my team. The biotic skills, though a rather poor imitation of Star Wars force powers, are still very fun to use and work great in conjunction with the shotgun, which is surprisingly fun to use in comparison to the assault and sniper rifles.

So yeah, having loads of good times with this old game and really hope the second pack of DLC gets announced soon. Although I wasn't terrible impressed with Bring Down the Sky, it was still a much needed break from the insufferable, boilerplate design of all the core side missions.

Soul Calibur 4
I was really digging this game but recently got very frustrated with it like I eventually do with all fighting games. The controls are pretty tight, but there are just so many moments where I think I've executed a move and it doesn't come out. And when you're trying to defeat The Apprentice on Arcade mode, that just equals a seething pit of white hot rage in my gut, causing me to curse like a mad sailor and abuse my poor controller. I'm taking a break from SC4 for fear that I will send my gamepad sailing out the window and into traffic one of these days.

Everything Else
Yeah, aside from Mass Effect it really is a mishmash of games. I was hooked on Oblivion for a while in July and managed to make some more progress with my sub-level 20 Crusader. The my birthday rolled around and I picked up a load of games that I briefly flirted with: Shadowrun is fun but very esoteric and I barely find time to meet up with a good group to play with; TMNT is a nice "cool off" game and great for Achievement farming; Burnout Paradise is surprisingly fun and I've managed to forgive it's somewhat wedged in open-world design philosophy. Some of the races are very difficult and the game's stubborn inability to not let you replay a race instantly has quickly put the game on my backburner list. Still, the Cagney came out last week and I'd be willing to give it another whirl when I tire of Mass Effect.

What else? Bionic Commando: Rearmed, of course. Havne't played too much of this yet. I was too tired to really appreciate the game when I downloaded late last night but I hope I'll be able to give it a fair shot tonight and post some impressions or a quasi review.