I don't want to make a huge deal out of it, but yesterday Penny Arcade turned nine years old. This seems like a good time to thank you all for my totally awesome job. I hope you'll let me do it for another nine years.
Mass Effect is an odd game. I find the overly complex/poorly designed menus really frustrating. Also there's the almost complete lack of a tutorial, frequent loads and an auto save feature I'd describe as punishing. I actually almost gave up on the game all together. I'm glad I didn't though. I just wrapped up a pretty major mission and I finally feel like I have a pretty good grip on the combat. I'm not 100% sure but I think I actually enjoyed myself. Entering a menu still makes me want to snap my controller in half but I think I can put up with that to get this story. It's a really odd game. It sort of oscillates between being totally amazing and sort of sucking. I'm not sure I've ever seen anything else like it.
In my opinion, the best part of the game is the branching dialogue trees. I find myself slogging through combat sometimes just so I can see the next conversation. If you end up digging these directed cut scenes as much as I do you might enjoy our latest shirt offering.
November 19, 2007