I love Bioware and I have played and thoroughly enjoyed every game that they have published since their move to consoles in 2003 when they released the breathtaking Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. This game, or KoTOR as it is also known, was a breakthrough in game design and story telling that was not only the best Star Wars game ever published, but the best Star Wars story, in any medium, ever made. I'm not a huge Star Wars fan, and haven't even seen the second prequel trilogy, but the game broke through the Star Wars ethos by delivering something fresh and new, and because of this game, I looked forward to and played every game that Bioware released, each ranking among my favourite games of all time. Until now.

Dragon Age: Origins is in many ways typical of a Bioware RPG. It is set in a dark fantasy setting with a detailed and evolving story line that adapts to your behaviour and choices as a player. You make choices, live with the consequences and play through what I understand is a sixty hour story line that is epic and very much in line with the mythology of these settings. Half way into the game (26 hours in fact, according to the in-game clock), I'm struggling with it, struggling to care.

There are two fundamental flaws in the game that have diminished my enjoyment of it to the point that I'm ready to toss in the towel. First, the story (at least to the half way point) is boring and unenjoyable. Yes, big bad things are happening, I'm going to save the world, I need to bring people together, everybody needs me to solve their problems before they agree to join me, and zzzzzzzz. Where was I? Oh yeah, the Dwarves have a political problem and I have to go on a quest to choose who the successor of the throne zzzzzzzz. Hmmm, where was I? Some would argue that this is the story line in any fantasy world, from Lord of the Rings to the Chronicles of Narnia, Raiders of the Lost Ark to Star Wars, and I understand that. I embrace it. However, there is something about this story that is so tired that it eventually just gets boring. I don't want to go on another fetch quest, or save somebody's wife from turning into a werewolf. I just don't give a crap about these people - I'm playing for the point at which the game becomes interesting and it just isn't happening. Is it the pacing? I don't know, but boring is boring and if it doesn't pick up, a "story based" game can't succeed with a boring story.

A boring story is bad - in fact it's worse than no story (see my earlier post on Borderland), however the game play on Dragon Age is just as horrible. I understand that the lead platform for the game was the PC and that it was ported over to the 360 and the PS3. Perhaps the game play suffers on a console because it doesn't have the benefit of a mouse and keyboard. However, it was released on the consoles, and I expect the game to work on the system that I choose to spend my money on. The controls, particularly in battle, are simply broken. The player can program some tactics for each of the characters, but frankly if I wanted to work at developing AI routines instead of playing a game then I wouldn't be playing the damn game. Trying to slow things down to a move-by-move strategy (as in KoTOR) is not allowed in Dragon Age, which means that you are constantly trying to pause and redirect characters who are incredibly stupid if left to their predetermined tactics.

This is not fun. I wish it was. I'm done. Sorry Bioware, our affair is over. Please don't screw up the sequel to Mass Effect. I don't think I can handle back to back failures from you.

I finished the main campaign on Borderlands today, and despite the utter lack of a coherent or satisfying story, it was very, very good.

I consider myself to be a story driven gamer, and by this I mean that I like a deep and intricate story with multiple plot lines and twists and turns combining to form an ending that ties together loose ends while leaving you wanting more. Borderlands doesn't do any of that - it is in fact a perfect example of the separation between story and game in the art of videogames: it is pure and utter gameplay devoid of much of a story. Sure they make some effort to give your character a "reason" for running around the Wastelands shooting things - but that is completely a secondary consideration. Many people believe that Borderlands is highly derivative (and in many ways it is), and that it "rips off" Fallout 3 - but they couldn't be further from the truth on this fact. Fallout 3 was a story that was deep and intricate tied together by a less than satisfying gameplay mechanic. As a player, I suffered through the less than stellar game play in order to discover what was going to happen next in the plot. Borderlands doesn't have a plot to move you forward (or at least much of one). You play for the joy of playing. What an experience.

I'm going to play a bit more, level up the main character to the maximum level of 50, and then put it aside in favour of Edmonton-based Bioware's Dragon Age. I expect that there will be some pretty significant story telling in a Bioware game, and with Borderlands almost done, I believe that I am now ready. Smile on.

I am so happy to see that so many games that I am looking forward to playing have been delayed until 2010 - because frankly with the amount of activity presently in my life between family, work, personal obligations and, well, life- the real 4-D super sensory high definition version in which we kiss and hug real people and not avatars - well, getting to and through the games is a difficult balancing act.Let's talk about games!

Uncharted 2 for the PS3 is uncategorically one of the best games of the year. This is a guy (me) whose favourite movie of all time is Raiders of the Lost Ark. This is a game that realizes every fantasy that I've ever had about being a great explorer on a fantastic mission against impossible odds. The graphics are incredible, the voice acting and story pacing is bang on, the gameplay at the "normal" setting is a bit "easier" than my skill level, however it is perfect for the pacing of the game in that it keeps things moving along without the frustration of constantly failing. The story itself is in some ways derivative but so was Raiders of the Lost Ark - that's the nature of the story and overly complicating this type of game and story with inner and deeper meanings would be inconsistent with the intent of the game. The game and the story is linear, meaning there's not a lot of "what do I do next" moments of wandering around - the game pushes you in the right direction, gives you hints when you are stuck and keeps moving, and moving and moving. For those that who have yet to experience the joys of videogaming, it's a perfect introduction to the genre - pick it up and give it a shot. Well worth the time (about ten hours for a single player game through)that you invest in it.

As I completed Uncharted 2 - Borderlands - the massive first person RPG arrived for the Xbox 360. Borderlands has some serious setbacks - for one there is little story to be followed, the game is more a mishmash of tasks to be performed more than anything else, and for another, it is quite likely one of the most derivative game rip offs that I have ever seen. Nearly every idea and story detail has been "borrowed" from elsewhere, particularly Fallout 3 and pretty well any other FPS on the market. The lack of creativity on the story elements is pretty jarring and comes across as if the developers simply had a complete and utter brain fart when it came to thinking up a story or creative ideas, BUT - and this is a very big BUT - the game is so unbelievably addicttive that it is easy to ignore these flaws in order to move forward, complete the tasks, defeat the bandits, and look for bigger and better loot. This doesn't make sense to me, a gamer who looks for a great story in his games - but sometimes it is fun to just turn off, attack things to get stuff that is cool, and to be immersed in a world that you can control. I have put in about 30 hours into this game so far, and I'm likely not even half-way done. I am going to keep playing until I finish the main story line and as many of the optional missions as I can before moving on - however I don't doubt that I will keep coming back to this game in the future when I need to blow off some steam.

Finally, Dragon Age: Origins - the latest Bioware RPG along with Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, the first game in the Uncharted series for the PS3 just came in yesterday. I'm planning to keep those on deck until I'm done with Borderlands, but hopefully I'll get to Dragon Age before the end of the year.

It's been a busy month or so for games. I wanted to work through some of the old games that have been in my backlog before the new wave of October games hit and I've been succesful to some extent.

First though, September came at with it came Halo 3 ODST. The game is an absolute blast and it was wonderful to be back in the Halo universe running through the streets of New Mombassa. The game is a complete package and one of the best first person shooters of our generation - but I must admit that a big part of what was "good" about the game was the fact that Halo 3 was excellent. This game is an extension of Halo 3 with some twists here and there, and given the excellence that was Halo 3 - Bungie would really need to screw up to make this game anything less than great. Hats off to them for the story line, the sneaky insert of Sadie's Story (which I'm still five or six voice logs away from completing) and the new firefight mode. Having said that, it's still Halo 3. We need a Halo 4. Not Halo Reach as a prequel, not Halo Anime or comic books, we need Halo 4 with the Master Chief and the next chapter in the story. It is time for the next chapter in this story.

Next - I went back to Fallout 3 after about two years to see if I could spark some of that Bethesda magic again - perhaps get into it enough to be willing to download some of the expansion packs. I put an additional ten hours into the game and then placed it back into its case for it to go back to its hibernation. Listen, Fallout 3 is a great game in so many ways, but ultimately it's just a little more frustrating than it is really worth, particularly if your not levelled up.

Looking through my collection of backlogged games, I decided that Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was a worthy adversary given that the next chapter in that franchise is coming out in November. I started the game again from the beginning and played through to the end. Reviewers complained that the game was very short in campaign mode - but for a busy professional such as myself, the five or six hours that it took to play through the game were perfect. Modern Warfare is brutal, realistic and dirty - just like a war probably is and should be. I won't go so far as to call it a masterpiece, but it is one of the better games of this current generation. I'm very happy that I decided to go back and finish the game, two years after I first bought it.

Next on the agenda, Uncharted 2 for the PS3. It just came in this morning... and so it begins.

I gave Mirror's Edge a really good shot. I played through a number of levels and completed a number of achievements - Ubisoft's Montreal studio never seems to let up on their enthusiasm and willingness to take risks by defining new styles of gameplay and even in developing new genres. The downside of taking these risks is that our fingers, hands and brains just aren't trained to play the game in the manner in which it was intended - and we give up in frustration. That's what eventually happened to me in my play through of Mirror's Edge - my 42 year old brain is just not fond of the rapid rate of thought that is required to find the shortcuts, make the jumps and escape unharmed from seemingly incredible odds. I enjoyed the game in the parts that worked for me - it's the kind of game that it is worth playing over again with some foreknowledge of the level so that you can amaze yourself and your friends at how amazing everything looks on the screen as you run across building tops and jump from anchor to anchor while disarming enemies of their weapons with some amazing moves. The challenge is that it is finicky at times, and I just don't have the time or the inclination to replay a level five to ten times before I can proceed to the next section - particularly when my death is caused by an inability to grasp a small ledge... and in which I must replay the ten previous minutes to get to that same point - only to die again, and again, and again. Why oh why don't game developers add a "save anywhere at anytime" option to their games? I just don't get it.

I moved on to another game on my backlog after I put Mirror's Edge away - Silicon Knights' Too Human. Silicon Knights is a St. Catherines, Ontario based developer that has created some huge hits on Nintendo platforms in the past, and Too Human was their coming out party in terms of a new relationship with Microsoft and with the Xbox 360. The game was mired in controversy and even lawsuits, it was delayed, re-started, and finally delivered to the masses to less than stellar reviews. I purchased it on the day it was released (maybe 18 months ago... or more?) but it got stuck in the deep backlog due to some degree the release of other, better games. I finished the game with a Champion character - it took me about 12 hours for the play through and I ended up the game on Level 29. The game is designed as a bit of a Phantasy Star Online (actually more than a bit) clone in that the fun in the game isn't really in the storyline or in the single player game - but in replaying the game over and over online in order to grab better and better loot for your cast of characters. Unfortunately, the game was shipped in an unfinished fashion. For a game of this type to only support two players online is just unacceptable: even PSO supported four players in 1999 over a 56k modem for crying out loud! The control scheme is also a bit off - one might get used to it over time, and it works well once you understand it, the problem however was that most players gave up on the game before they learned the in's and out's of the control scheme, likely out of frustration. Finally, the story just ended. It ended in the middle of the game - in fact the whole game ended in the middle of the game. It seems to me like somebody, likely Microsoft, got tired of waiting and ordered SK to ship the game in whatever state that it was in. Six more months of development would have served to polish up the game (the graphics also needed work as did the sound quality) - there's a good and perhaps even great game in here... it just wasn't there when the shipped it.As I recall, Too Human was going to be the first part in a trilogy - I don't expect that we'll see a sequel, and I haven't heard or seen anything from SK as to what their next project might be. Hopefully they stick around to deliver it - and hopefully they can ship a finished product to their customers this time.

Following my very brief experience with inFAMOUS, I decided to dig out Mirror's Edge out of the backlog and give that a try. The game is beautiful in its look and design with a unique art style and first person perspective. Once again though, the control scheme is a struggle (LB for jump... are you serious?) and it became quickly clear that there was no way that I was going to be able survive this game. I finsihed the tutorial, became immediately stuck on the first level and turned it off. I'll give it another try later, but I'm not optimistic about it. My message to developers is: don't force me to learn a new control scheme when other control schemes would work just as well for your game. Even if your game is very good, it will turn off a large majority of gamers and the extreme hard core are just not large enough to sustain your business model. If I needed to learn a new language - say german - to read a book, even if I was told that it was a *great* book, I wouldn't have the time nor the inclination to do that either.

Wow... popped in inFAMOUS which I was given as a Father's Day Present in June... and I am very disappointed. The visuals are horrible for a second party exclusive game and the controls are even worse... aiming and shooting is near well impossible. I think that I spent more time adjusted and re-adjusted the horizontal and vertical controls than I did on the game, all to no effect. This is a 35 hour game (or so I've been told) but with the number of games on the backburner, it's just not going to cut it - at least not for now. The game received a 9/10 on Gamespot but they didn't mention the controls. Is it just me - I seriously cannot control this thing... I'm constantly aiming in the opposite direction of where I wnat to go no matter how I invert or normalize the controls.

Sorry Sony, this don't cut it...

I finally completed SRTOGS:EF (how's that for an acronym!) yesterday at about 1am. The complete game save came in at just under 40 hours. The game certainly had its moments in what turned out to be an absolutely convoluted plot line - but that's the nature of this beast. It was great to see Kos-Mos from the Xenosaga universe back in action.

I enjoyed the game - it was very "Japanese" in terms of style, tone, language and booby jokes and screen shots - quite juvenile on occassion, but this is a game that never took itself too seriously in the first place.

On deck next is inFAMOUS on the PS3 and SMT: Devil Summoner on the DS. Hopefully I'll be finished with these games before Halo 3 ODST comes out in late September.

I finally completed Valkyria Chronicles this week in between trips to the cottage and business related interuptions (!) and I must say - Welcome Back Sega!

Valkyria Chronicles reminds me of the Sega of old - the Sega of the Dreamcast era where creativity was rampant, new game ideas flourished (Jet Grind Radio, Skies of Arcadia, Seaman), the tech bubble was bringing in boatloads of cash and my huge CRT television was set at its highest component setting. Valkyrria Chronicles is a very Japanese "anime" style RPG that tells the story of a squad of characters thrust into the heart of a continental war on the Europan continent that bears a distinct similarity to World War II.This blog post is not intended to be a review or even a summary of the story -the former is available here on Gamespot and the latter on wikipedia - however the story does suck you into the game, the cast of characters quickly grows on you, and since squad losses on the battlefield are permanent (i.e. if a character dies, they are dead forever in the game) it evokes a sense of loss when a cherished character perishes during a battle.

Valkyria Chronicles is a strategy RPG - there's no dungeon diving or random battles, you basically play the game as if it were a book, with each chapter containing a number of story elements that you watch or read and one or sometimes two battles that take place on a field. During the battle you choose your resources and characters, place them on the field, and begin the battle which is played out in a bit of a "chess" style: each character class has certain moves and is able to travel a certain distance, so you choose your piece, what you want to do, and battle away.

I loved the game and gave it a 9/10. The full game took be over 60 hours, which is insane, but I was pretty meticulous in playing it and completed all of the skirmish battles as well. I'm considering downloading some of the additional content, but with the backlog of games already on the go, I think that I'm going to hold off on that for a while. In the meantime, if you have a PS3 I would strongly encourage you to give the game a try - if you can find it.

I'm still working on these same two games - believe it or not I have about 35 hours in Valkyria Chronicles and about 25 hours into SRTOG:EF. I usually get around to playing them in spurts of about an hour at a time, which explains why it's taking me so long to finish them - but finish them I wil, both games are compelling enough to deserve it.

Valkyria Chronicles is getting better as I move into the game. I'm now at Chapter 15 and while the story isn't particularly great. the characters are pretty well the tried and true anime standards, the voice acting is "ok" and the strategy gaming system is a tad above average - Sega has this special "something" that they are able to put into a game every once in a while, that makes the sum so much more than its parts. I would consider VC an excellent game, even though I would struggle to explain just what makes it so great if I were to break things down to the components. SRTOG:EF is similar, though it is very much more Japanese manga or anime in style and scope with bouncing boobs and some low blow jokes. I'm sure that there's a story that makes sense somewhere in there, but when you're playing a game like this one hour at a time with sometimes week between game plays - it makes it difficult to follow along with what exactly is motivating this odd cast of characters to move forward in the story line.

As a final note, my son convinced me to download Burnout Paradise City: The Ultimate Box last weekend. I'm a big fan of the series, going back to the original and I pretty well unlocked EVERYTHING in Burnout Takedown and Burnout Revenge. This game just doesn't cut it for me though. When it first came out I was very much looking forward to it as a fan of the series, but I remember downloaded the demo on the 360 and being very, very disappointed with the GTA style approach that they took to the game. I passed then, and while I did eventually buy it, I actually went back and played some Burnout Revenge instead. Advice to the developer: remake the game or the sequel so that it's closer to Revenge - or at least give us the option of playing it that way.

That's it for now, we're heading away to the cottage and will be in and out of town over the next month or so - hopefully that will give me the chance to finish SRTOG:EF and get onto Devil Survivor DS. I'm also starting up Stranger in a Strange Land as part of my libertarian summer.