With the conclusion of the Mass Effect Trilogy, it was unclear where they might go with the newest entry in the Mass Effect universe. Upon starting the game, the first thing I noticed was that the graphics and game play were somewhat diminished compared to the pre-release press of the past few years of development. Granted, they did make a point to label all of the early art and videos as “Not actual game play”, but the contrast was still somewhat startling. By the time I bought the game though, the initial patches had already been released so I missed some of the early animation glitches that annoyed so many…

After Commander Shepard sacrificed himself to save the galaxy from the reaper threat, I turned back to the realm of Tamriel, this time arriving in the nation of Skyrim. Having waited a bit over a year after release before getting it, the Dawnguard and Hearthfire DLC was already available so I got those and installed them before my first game started. Once again, my adventure begins as a prisoner (seems like it always does) but this time, just for a change of pace, I appeared to be on my way to a date with the executioner’s ax. I see something of a trend here. In Morrowind, I started out on…

During the latter part of the time I spent playing MMOs I did get around to buying and playing The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. While it was still firmly entrenched in the TES world, the gameplay left a bit to be desired for me. The changes to the gameplay and combat system as well as the new fast-travel system kind of irked me a bit. The identical caves/dungeons and the repetitiveness of the Oblivion gates made it seem more like a chore than entertainment for me. After completing the main story line, I did not get much replay out of it. I was on the Gamestop website one day, in…

As the installer worked its way through the three installation cds, I gave the game manual a read-through. The game was a complete departure from anything I had ever played before. There were no levels in the traditional sense, only skills that could be trained up as you gained experience from using those skills. The game world didn’t consist of simply one world, but instead had 10 different planets to explore. The game was also different in that there was no end, no path to follow. You simply logged in and did whatever struck your fancy. Want to be a bounty hunter? Be a bounty hunter. Want to open a…

As mentioned previously, I love video games. I suck at them, but that really has very little effect on my overall enjoyment of them. Then came The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. This is a game unlike anything I had played up to this point. You don’t start out playing some predefined character created and designed by some game designer. The game has an inherent freedom that I was unaccustomed to. In the first 5 minutes of the game you get to choose your name, race, appearance, attributes, skills and abilities. You can choose some predefined classes that will give you a general set of stats, skills and abilities or you…

Summer 1977, I’m five years old and my Dad takes me to the theater for the single most significant event in cinematic history… Star Wars. There just are not enough words to express the impact that movie had on a young boy in the late 70′s. It was like nothing we had ever seen before. We had Lost in Space, Space 1999, Star trek, things like that, but Star Wars was on a completely different level. It was action and adventure, lasers and space ships and the ultimate weapon… the lightsaber. I watched the movies, bought the merchandise, got into lengthy arguments about why Star Wars is better than Star…

Enter my first PC. A generic clone PC running a 386DX-40. It was a monster (to me at the time), that could do anything from running Windows 3.1 to connecting to the Internet to Wolfenstein 3D. Wolfenstein was a game-changer, it revolutionized PC gaming in so many ways. Graphics, gameplay design, even the ability to modify the game and share your own levels with others. It ushered in the age of the First Person Shooter, a genre which has dominated the gaming landscape ever since. Battlefield, Call of Duty, the list goes on, they all owe their existence to Wolfenstein. And I played it, I played it a lot… but…

Okay, so I guess I could be called a recreational gamer. I like playing video games, I’m not good at it, but I like it none the less. I guess it all started back in the late 70′s. Like many other GenX’ers, I started out with Pong. It wasn’t really a great game, but it was the game. Pong opened the door to other video games to follow, it was my gateway-drug. Next came the ubiquitous Atari 2600 (which actually had Pong as well) and the plethora of games for it, all full of beeps and boops and bright colors. In hindsight, they really were not that good. Sure, Pole…