Every time I walked down the street of a new neighborhood, I had recollections like:

I remember jumping off of that building as the Hulk.

I remember beating up a SWAT officer on that roof.

I remember jumping through that plate-glass window.

I remember dodging obstacles from on top of the subway train.

Of course, most of the games I would think of were not actually set in New York. They were set in fake New Yorks, or fake Chicagos, or fake San Franciscos. One game in particular resonated more than any other, though, for two reasons: One, it was actually set in New York City, and two, it was the game that started my life as a gamer. Can you guess? It was Deus Ex.

I have nothing but the fondest of memories for that amazing game. It was my first time playing a first-person shooter, it was my first time playing an RPG, it was my first time pretending to be asleep so my parents would go to bed and I could get up and play until 4:00 AM. It is undoubtedly the game that made me a gamer.

On my first trip to New York last year, I actually got to see Liberty Island and Battery Park. Walking through them was like taking a trip through time to when I was a teenager, gaming on my first computer. Not my family’s first computer, but my first computer. It was in my room, it had my stuff on it, and no one else used it. I named her Doris.

But I digress.

Strolling through Battery Park last year, I remembered what my Cherry Coke tasted like and how the glow of the CRT monitor felt on my face in the dark bedroom. I could practically see Denton in front of me, walking around with his GEP gun (or crossbow, depending on which playthrough it was). I pictured the guards walking on their pre-programmed paths, and I remembered where the great hiding spots were. It was really an amazing feeling, and one I will never forget.

This year was similar, but because the games I’ve played since were not actually set in New York, the memories weren’t always as vivid. Still, scenes from Mirror’s Edge were playing back in front of me, even though the buildings in that city were all a stark, perfect white. I was looking for red pipes to run towards… but then I realized I was walking around with Damian and Neal, we were on our way to lunch, and I wasn’t an Asian free-runner.

Am I too much of a gamer? I don’t think so. Others might disagree, but I always remind them that I don’t live in a basement OR drink Mountain Dew.

You can catch all my PAX coverage here or over at the Brave New Media blog.

I expected Wil Wheaton’s opening keynote to be pretty good. Really good, even. I didn’t expect it to be utterly fantastic! He spoke about his experience being a gamer, growing up playing D&D, and how it all impacted his life. It was interwoven with brilliant humor, some digs at Jack Thompson, and lots of gaming references for the enjoyment of the hundreds of geeks in the audience. By the end of his speech, I felt more proud than I ever have to be a gamer.

My favorite part of the entire thing was his example of being emotionally invested in game narrative: Dragon Age. I won’t repeat what he said since it contained some major spoilers, but for anyone who may have seen/heard/read the keynote… damn. It almost brought me to tears.

It was followed up by some hilarious Q&A with Gabe and Tycho (a.k.a. the Penny Arcade guys, Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins). The best part was when someone decided to narrate an impromptu round of Action Castle and start Gabe and Tycho off in a cottage with a fishing pole:

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(Sorry about the shaky camera; I was laughing really, really hard.)

For those who have no idea what is going on in that video, it’s a nod to the old text-based adventure games that were notoriously picky and repetitive.

After the Q&A, it was time for some dinner (which meant I wolfed down a tuna croissant sandwich from Starbucks) and then time to walk in the way-too-cold-for-no-jacket weather (with no jacket on) to the nearest Best Buy. As you can see from the quality of the video above, I was using the standard lower-end Flip camera (instead of the HD version I was supposed to bring with me). I needed a Flip Ultra HD badly enough to speed-walk through downtown Boston with my eyes trained on the blue dot on my iPhone’s GPS.

I got back to the convention center just in time for my next panel, Bringing Up the Next Generation of Geeks. The panel consisted of the assistant editor and five contributing writers to Wired.com’s GeekDad blog. I walked up to the theater 15 minutes before the panel was supposed to start, and they were just announcing that it was down to standing room only. I weaved my way through the crowd and grabbed a spot on the back wall. That panel was fantastic, and it was filled with great “oh that’s so damn cute” anecdotes of little mini-geeks. It also addressed some great topics like how technology affects kids growing up today, and how gaming can be a tool to make kids more well-rounded and cultured rather than less.

I left that panel early to make it to the Girls & Games panel, which had a line longer than that of the Wil Wheaton keynote. The panel got started late, and I barely made it in the line before it got cut off at max capacity. The panel itself was, unfortunately, pretty disappointing. It was much more dry and boring than what I expected.

Anyway, after that, I decided to spend my final 45 minutes in the convention center waiting in line to buy a t-shirt. I followed that up with a chocolate ice cream cone from a nearby Ben & Jerry’s, and came back up here to dump my video and write this blog post. Now it’s time for bed!

Tomorrow is the big Blueberry Muffin Tops/Joystiq breakfast. Woot!

You can catch all my PAX coverage here or over at the Brave New Media blog.

Today I arrived in Boston, MA, where I will be heading to PAX tomorrow!

It was fairly entertaining to watch dozens of people in hoodies and black jeans file into the fancy hotel lobby today. There are gamers everywhere! I didn’t think so many of them would look like the stereotypical gamer, but I can’t help spotting them from a mile away. Amongst all the hipsters on the streets during the day, the tourists on the Freedom Trail, and the business people leaving work at 5:00 PM, the gamers stick out like a sore thumb.

On our trek down the Freedom Trail today, there was one thing in particular I enjoyed a lot. We caught a few minutes of a highly entertaining street performance:

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It’s late here… feels like 10:30 to me, but I’m not that lucky. One hour makes a lot of difference when you have to get up before 7:00 AM. Check back tomorrow night for coverage of PAX Day 1!

KA-POW!

HTML 5 rocks my socks. Now my blog is built with sock-rockin’ code of the future! I wanted a fresh look to go along with the new code, and also to go along with my trip to PAX in two days!

That’s right, I’m off to my first ever gaming conference. What kind of gamer has never been to a gaming conference before? Me. I’m beyond excited… I’m bouncing off the walls. I’ll even be armed with a Flip camera to record all the awesomeness.

Just like my trip to Big Nerd Ranch, this trip will be covered both here and at the Brave New Media blog. I leave on Thursday, which I’m dubbing Day 0 of the PAX Extravaganza. Check back Thursday night (or early Friday morning) for my first PAX post!

In the meantime, head to blueberrymuffintops.com to read about the team I’m going to PAX with.

Mass Effect 2 is the long-awaited sequel to Mass Effect, a fantastic RPG from Bioware. The wait was well worth it! Mass Effect was quickly my favorite video game of all time when it came out, so I had high hopes for the sequel. It met and exceeded all of my expectations.

Just as in the first game, Mass Effect 2′s story blew me away. While the storyline in Mass Effect felt important (in that you’re saving the galaxy from an enemy), this one felt dire. The immediate threat is only to humanity, but it implies there is something much bigger happening behind it. Through dialogue, side missions, and interaction with the man funding your existence, this story pulls you in even more than the original did.

And don’t worry, this entire review is spoiler-free. Anything that wasn’t made really obvious by the advertising is left out.

Story and Team Members

Thane is a cold assassin with a surprising story to tell.

Both your new squad members and the NPCs in the game are more interesting and have deeper stories this time around. You start the game working with Cerberus, a radical pro-human splinter group trying to stop human colonies from disappearing. For those that did side missions in the first game, you’ll remember Cerberus, as you destroyed several of their bases looking for Admiral Kahoku and his men. Your character in Mass Effect 2 remembers them as well.

You have to assemble a new team, because it’s been two years since the events of Mass Effect and your old team members have gone their separate ways. (The reason for the two-year void is explained early on in the game, but I won’t spoil it here.) A huge portion of the main plot missions in the game is actually devoted to recruiting these new team members (there are 11 this time, not just 6). This makes each team member feel much more important and much more unique. My personal favorites are Archangel, a vigilante from an anarchist space station, and Thane, a very surprising assassin. Trust me, the fact that they are both romantic options for a female Shepard is not the reason they’re my favorites.

Your original crew members do make appearances in the game, and a couple even join your team again. If Wrex survived the first game, his entrance in Mass Effect 2 is easily the best reunion of them all. Playing through that scene in the game left me with a huge smile plastered on my face.

Talking to your team members outside of missions is even more enjoyable this time around. Instead of just three of your team members having side missions, all of them have “loyalty missions” that, when completed, allow them to open up to you a bit more and trust you as their leader. These missions can play a role in their survival and yours, so doing them is a good idea.

Gameplay

Jack, a.k.a. Subject Zero. She's just as badass as she looks.

Combat

All of the annoyances of the first game seem to be completely gone in this one. The combat, especially, is greatly improved. It has a much quicker flow and doesn’t get interrupted as much by your power wheel, since you can map three controller buttons to powers now instead of just one. Your squad is also smarter and faster: They will move out of the way if you’re lining up a shot with them in it, and they will take cover as soon as they’re under fire (usually). You also don’t have to fight with them for cover—they will move out of the way for you.

The combat AI being better applies to enemies, too. They’re smarter at dodging your shots when they see you aim, at flanking you as quickly as possible, and at activating emergency shields when they’re almost dead. It’s a pain in the butt on Normal difficulty, more of a pain on Veteran, and extremely frustrating on Hardcore. I haven’t tried Insanity yet. Of course, all this just makes it much more satisfying when you win the battle.

Instead of worrying about your weapons overheating, you’re using a more conventional ammo system with your weapons. Technically it’s not ammo—it’s thermal clips that you eject to prevent the weapon from overheating—but it works just like ammo would, and gives you an ammo count based on the number of clips you have. Ammo upgrades are replaced by ammo powers, which you can apply to any or all of your weapons. Some ammo powers can even be evolved to apply to the entire squad. When you turn on Squad Disruptor Ammo when you’re fighting synthetic enemies, it makes you feel a little sorry for the Geth you’re tearing apart.

Dialogue & morality

Dialogue got an upgrade, too, with the new Interrupt system. During certain scenes you will get a chance to interrupt the conversation with a dramatic response, either Paragon or Renegade. Sometimes, the morality choices you’ve been making thus far determine which type of interrupt it is. These dramatic additions are really fun to watch, and it takes a second playthrough (or more) to appreciate what happens if you make the choice you didn’t make the first time.

Morality is still determined by dialogue and decisions, but unlike the first game, you can get both Paragon and Renegade bonuses in the same conversation. You can build up both meters to a pretty high level (my first playthrough, which didn’t focus on one side or the other, got almost 80% full on both Paragon and Renegade meters). The availability of Charm and Intimidate options in dialogue are determined purely by these meters instead of skills you have to spend points on. This is another thing that makes the game feel more natural overall.

A little bonus to the morality choices is something that has been in other games before, like Infamous. When you consistently make Paragon choices, your face (which begins the game with scars) will heal over time and eventually show no scars at all. If you choose the Renegade path, your scars worsen (and because of the type of injury and repairs you have had, the cybernetics in your face glow red). You could end up with a really evil-looking Shepard.

Equipment

One of the best fixes in Mass Effect 2′s gameplay was the removal of the inventory system. There aren’t 100 different weapons or armor you can get in the game; there are only a few weapons of each type, and their effectiveness more or less scales with your level. Also, they’re applied to the entire squad at once. This means when you find the upgrade to your pistol, your entire squad automatically uses the better pistol. Armor is a little different. You can buy armor upgrades, but they only apply to you. Instead of being new suits of armor, they are pieces of armor you can swap out—different greaves, helmets, and chestpieces, for example. You can also customize the look of your armor with different colors, materials, and patterns.

The Final Mission (spoiler-free, don’t worry)

This image is the closest thing this review has to a spoiler.

There has been a lot of buzz over the final “suicide mission,” and with good reason. It’s unlike anything you’ve seen before in either Mass Effect game. The decisions you make throughout the game, the squad members you choose for certain tasks, and the upgrades you’ve gotten will all play a part in the outcome of your mission. You can get any number of endings—you could all survive, you could all die (including Shepard), and anything in between. Something I had read in advance was that this was a “permanent death” for Shepard if you don’t make it. While I’m not sure how true that is, since I haven’t had a Shepard die yet, for the other team members’ survival you can reload the game to before they died and try again.

I strongly encourage anyone who has yet to play the final mission to not look anything up beforehand. Experiencing it with no actual knowledge of what would happen was like being part of an intense action movie where all bets were off. My husband and I were literally gasping and shouting at the edge of our seats during some cutscenes. Once you get through it the first time, looking up the possible consequences of certain decisions will help alleviate your confusion if one of your squad seems to randomly die for no reason. (Yes, that happened to me. A loud “What the hell?!” was heard throughout my entire home.)

Importing a Mass Effect 1 character

If you haven’t played the first Mass Effect, but you want to play Mass Effect 2, I recommend buying the first game and the official guide to it, and blasting through it in 8 hours or so, doing as many side missions as you can. The rewards (or consequences) of a lot of the side missions you did in the first game will show themselves in this one. Surprise visits, happenstance meetings, and even out-of-the-blue emails will make you stare at the TV with your jaw on the floor. Some will be from small decisions or side missions, and others will be from huge choices made during plot missions of the first game. The best ones will leave you wondering how many geniuses work at Bioware.

In addition to the extended depth of the story, you will get simpler bonuses for importing a Mass Effect character, such as extra resources, extra credits, or even starting at a higher level with some skill points to spend. If you play through this game with a fresh character instead of using an import, you are doing yourself a disservice.

In Conclusion

Overall, I’d give this game a 9.5/10. It would be a perfect 10 if not for a few quirks here and there, like the tediousness of scanning for resources so you can buy upgrades, or the occasional clipping error that gets your character stuck in plain sight during an intense firefight. If you like RPGs in any way, shape, or form, you need to play Mass Effect 2.

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