Flavorgood

In short, this game isn't without flaws, but if you can get past the slow start and poor facial animations, you will find a game that is more than worthy of the Mass Effect name. The graphics as a whole are absolutely great. Every planet in the game has had at least a couple screenshot worthy views. The animations for movement and combat are also very good with the occasional glitch here or there. The facial animations are absolutely awful. They can be covered in most conversations by forcing Ryder and squadmates to wear helmets, but it is impossible to completely avoid. This doesn't effect my enjoyment of the game, but it is understandable that others find it to be a deal breaker. The combat is the best of all the Mass Effect games by far. The game offers many different playstyles and doesn't lock you into any of them, allowing you to switch classes (called "profiles") on the fly. The companions pull their weight in combat on normal and lower difficulties, while on higher difficulties they are less helpful. The one complaint with the combat is that they removed the ability to pause and issue squad orders that was available in previous Mass Effect games. I rarely used that feature in previous games, so its removal wasn't an issue for me, though it might be for others. The companion characters are far more interesting than those of Mass Effect 1 (before they were developed further throughout the series). All of the companion characters have interesting developments the occur over the course of the game, especially after completing their loyalty missions. I believe that these characters are a fantastic base, and if sequels can expand upon them, they could end up with the same level of appreciation as the characters in the original trilogy. The story gets off to a slow start, very similar in structure to Mass Effect 1. After maybe 5 hours of play, the story begins to pick up and by the end of the game, it is compelling and interesting with many questions to be answer and mysteries to solve throughout. The game has forced me to make several difficult choices that have left me sitting on the dialog screen for minutes at a time debating which decision is correct. The absence of the paragon/renegade system makes these choices all the more difficult because they are more morally gray. While the game is far from perfect, it delivers on all of the things I care about in a Mass Effect game. It has great characters and a compelling story. The fantastic combat and beautiful environments make the game even better. While I can understand and respect the criticism directed towards this game, any Mass Effect fan who allows the negativity to prevent them from buying it is doing themselves a huge disservice, because this game lives up to the name, and I can't wait to see the story continued in another awesome trilogy.

The core mechanics of Blood Bowl 2 are still solid. No surprise considering they haven't changed since the board game came out. Updated graphics are nice. Presentation is pretty good, but like any sports game, the commentary is limited to generic comments and gets repetitive fairly quickly. The league play is a nice addition, making online tournaments and friendly leagues simple to organize. The biggest issues I have with the game are that it is missing many of the races from the previous game (which will be coming out as DLC at an unknown price point) and it is missing a lot of the little things that gave the previous iteration flavor. The stands are filled with mostly humans, and the monstrous races don't get their own cheerleaders. I was hoping to see flavor enhancements along with the graphics update, but it actually regressed slightly in that respect. As an updated version of digital Blood Bowl, it is a fine game that is still fun to play, but it is almost certainly overpriced for what little improvement it offers over Chaos Edition.