Here’s been what I’ve been playing:

Mass Effect 2- Finished it in about 35 hours. Fantastic game, I imported my character from the first game to continue the story so that made it a bit cooler. Coming across people (or “beings” I guess is a better general term to use) from the first game and seeing what my choice led to were really cool. It’s a streamlined game from the first. They tossed the Mako ship sections which I greatly appreciated and they got rid of the “RPG statistic” under pinnings of the combat system. That really doesn’t come into a great deal of a difference at higher character/skill level, but it makes the beginning of the game much smoother. Also gone is all of the garbage pickups that did nothing but take up space and they made the necessary tweaks to the interface. The feeling of combat is much, much improved. Sound effects, impact, easy of use makes every fight fun and stategic. They also gave the game engine an incredible amount of polish so it runs unbelievably well. Very little pop up, solid framerate, reasonable load times, fantastic texture and model work. It really feels like a unique sci-fi universe. Morality wise I made choice based on how I think I really would if I was Captain Nick Shepard. I was more good than evil, with some devious choices made when I felt really necessary. I’m anxious to see what goes down in the 3rd game. One of the best games of the year.

Bioshock 2- The original is one of my favorite games of all time. Fantastic story and one of the most atmospheric games made to date. I love Rapture. Now I didn’t have high hopes for the sequel, but I’m pleased to say it stands right next to the original. It takes a hit story wise because it’s not the breath of fresh air that Bioshock gave us in 2007 and it brings us back to an already established location. But, you do see all new places in Rapture and the story they came up with is very strong. 10 years after the first game, their is a lot to take in and explore. All the changes they made were really for the benefit. Better hacking game, greater weapon selection (rocket harpoons are a scream), duel wielding weapon/plasmid, video style research just make the gameplay better. The production values still hit the mark with excellent visuals and sound work. I didn’t check out multiplayer, but I highly recommend this, had a blast with it.

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood- A Wild West FPS essentially. Gave this a spin before Red Dead Redemption comes out, it’s a really good rental. It starts really slow, the first stage is rather boring. But the game picks up as you progress. Playing as the brothers is really fun, I really like their dialog and the story is some classic Western stuff (war, betrayal, women, guns, redemption, revenge). Looks pretty good, controls well, 2 play styles based on which brother you choose to play as and there is a lot of location variety.

Starcraft II- Fundamentally SC in High Def which is what it should be at the very least. Looks and sounds amazing, I have to give this more play time to really say anything about it. I’m horrific at it, getting stomped is the worst.