Pid, XCOM: EU & Mass Effect 3 DLC

22Dec12

I finished Pid the other day and was actually very happy with how the story wrapped up. I have yet to go back and try to beat my time/score, but I will probably give that a shot in the near future. I highly recommend this game to anyone that enjoys a challenging platformer/puzzler with very solid mechanics and brilliant music.

I got XCOM a few days ago and have already blown through my first play-through on the normal/default difficulty; I was rather surprised and slightly disappointed with how short the game turned out to be. In all I did 40 missions/fights (before heading to the last mission to beat the game), did all but 2 research projects, about half of the foundry stuff, and the last few missions were a joke. I started a second game on a different continent on classic difficulty and sweet jebus it’s no joke. I found at least 1 soldier in each of the first half dozen encounters getting 1-shotted.

In my first play-through I sometimes did save-hopping at the beginning so I didn’t lose soldiers, but I’ll be damned if every battle so far I’ve had to do it at least once. There are a lot of things I don’t like with this game from a strategic/tactical perspective and a few mechanical issues with how the game’s math/pathing/sight/etc function (like a retarded mule programmed it) but eventually on the normal difficulty you’ll get so OP that the stupid things just don’t matter anymore. However at the beginning of the default difficulty, and the first handful of missions on Classic [and by extension Impossible difficulty], show just how frustrating some of the design elements can be. I might try to continue on Classic in order to get a few more achievements, or I’ll just pick up where I left off with my first save before the final mission and see about wrapping up what I can with my main squad. Despite a number of flaws in the mechanics, when things work, the game is pretty damn fun.

I also got the 2 DLCs for ME3 (plus the free stuff) and have finished them both. I liked them for the story elements, especially the Leviathan DLC, but I had a few issues with Omega; was kinda glitchy. I’m actually enjoying ME3 again and since I have yet to see the extended cut(s) for the various endings, I think I’ll NG+ my ME3 femshep and see about getting some more achievements. I enjoyed doing ME2 on insanity and getting 100% completion on it (a good challenge, albeit frustrating at times) and think I may do the same for ME3 now. Since I probably shouldn’t play games while doing the holiday family thing at the beginning of the week, I will make some sort of effort to write something up about the experiences above.

Happy Holidays!

Filed under: Bioware, DLC, Mass Effect 3, Pid, Video Games, XBLA, XBOX 360, XCOM   |  Leave a Comment