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Hi, I'm Ross
Things have changed, but this generally covers me. In fact, lots of things have changed. Anyway, I like to play videogames, talk about them, and write about them. You may have seen me posting a few comments on the front page; it's rare, but it happens. You may have also seen me in the Forums, which I occasionally rear my head in as Brightside. Send me a friend request, here, there, or on any of my consoles. I'm sure we can be friends forever.

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Ross
9:41 AM on 12.05.2012



[Warning: Major spoilers for all episodes of The Walking Dead follow!]

The Walking Dead is one of the most harrowing games I’ve ever had the masochistic pleasure of playing. I, quite honestly, abhorred every minute of it. Sitting down to play this title was not my usual escapism; Hell, real life was my escape from The Walking Dead—a welcome retreat, a holiday from my PC. Playing it was stressful and jarring and, often, emotionally painful. I don’t think I had ‘fun’ with this game. I don’t think I was meant to.

Yet, somehow, the notion of my morality being picked and prodded at, my emotional well-being being ripped from side to side, like a toy in a dog’s jaw, fascinated me. This was one of the first times in a game I’d felt really invested, like really invested. No, invested isn’t the word for it; one doesn’t invest all they have—I was wholly with this game, in this game. For the couple of days I played it, it was everything to me: I was Lee, and his band—my band—of survivors were at the forefront of my mind.



But the most important of which, of course, was Clem. That cute little girl that I’d Lee had rescued. Now, I’m not a paternal guy. I don’t have any kids, I don’t have any younger siblings—my thoughts about kids generally extend to ‘what a little shit’. But not Clem. I honestly don’t know how Telltale did it. Normally when I’m charged with a ward, I feel burdened, anchored. But not this time. Not with Clem. I wanted to help her, save her. I would do everything I could to make sure she made it through that mess of a world alive. It was this burning conviction that propelled me through my playthrough. You’re goddamn right I’m gonna steal that food; too right I’ll drop you, Ben, you cowardly sumbitch; move out the way, Lilly, Larry’s head’s getting’ smashed!

I knew I could only take her so far, though. I knew Lee was going to die. How else could it end? The Walking Dead’s no fairy tale. Throughout my time with the group, all of the families’ stories had ended that way: death. Kenny’s arc was the grimmest. Duck and Katjaa… Yes, Lee was going to die; I was sure of it. But I’ll be damned if I was going to let Clem share my fate (this, I thought was a real possibility, what with Telltale’s readiness to deal with child-death in Duck).

It was at the time I reached this resolution, towards the end of Chapter 4, that one of the game’s most resonating scenes took place. Lee cuts Clem’s hair. He teaches her how to shoot. He comes up with a plan. He prepares her for life without him, in their new, infernal world. For Lee to be doing this just as I had reached the same conclusion as him, was truly moving, to say the least. We were becoming one, Lee and I.

That wasn’t my ‘favourite gaming moment of 2012’, though.



The last scene of Chapter 5, pre-credits, was so fantastically painful it hurt to breathe. Lee and Clem are in a locked room. His scleras are yellowing. The bonesaw amputation didn’t work. Lee’s about to die; Lee’s about to turn.

And so am I.

In the last moments of Chapter 5, the player directs Clem, through Lee, in a slow, heart-breaking finale. The act of—in proxy—playing as Clem, is truly poignant. Lee is passing the torch; she’s the leader now, she must fend for herself. But first, she has to escape the room, or be killed by Lee, her protector, her guardian … her father. I’m not going to lie. My neck tightened. My hand rose to my mouth. Involuntary whimpers escaped. My eyes reddened. Cheeks burned. I sniffed.

‘I’ll miss you.’

I sobbed.

That was it, then. The end of the game. Of Lee.

You might think this is a absurd ‘favourite moment’, surely it should be something I enjoyed, but there is simply no question that this was the most engaged I’d felt in a game all year—a year of games that tried, and failed, oh so very hard to capture my empathy: Mass Effect 3 and Halo 4, the main culprits. The Walking Dead set out with lofty goals, and hit each one. Muddy textures and single endings be damned, this game is a masterpiece. And that’s why I chose the game’s final shaking breaths as my ‘moment of the year’: it sums up the power this title held over me, and the power it holds over all of 2012’s titles.

2012 is dead. Roll on 2013, the year of Season 2. Probably.










Dragon Age II’s Mark of the Assassin DLC introduces Tallis, an elven rogue seeking to steal the Heart of the Many, a gem with an undisclosed past secured within an Orlesian estate, under the guise of joining Hawke on a hunting trip. The DLC introduces Felicia Day’s premier role for BioWare, her latest inclusion in what seems like a campaign of ingraining into gaming culture.

The add-on’s plot doesn’t lack and proves to be entertaining over its 4-5 hour playtime, featuring amusing characters and scenes, and is bookended by Varric's narrative. Fortunately, the story breaks away from the fair assumption of it being “another Stolen Memory” (a previous DLC from BioWare which MotA is seemingly very similarly comprised). The affair isn’t as simple as it initially seems and provides a couple of surprising twists along the way (one of which is spoiled by the live-action web-series that accompanies MotA, so I would recommend playing first and watching after - unless you have an aversion to plastic, that is). The DLC provides a clear change of gear from BioWare’s last downloadable offering, Legacy, offering a substantially more humorous and lighthearted tone (mostly created by the hilariously French Orlesian charcuteries), complete with witty party banter. One thing that will notice is the amount of dialogue companions have, adding an often charming backtrack to exploring the add-on’s new scenery. BioWare’s writers do not disappoint.

Day provides a surprisingly solid performance and maintains Tallis as a believable, likeable, and quirky character. Not falling victim to the short amount of time to portray Tallis, Day and the writers flesh out the elf considerably, adding an intriguing backstory and firmly establishes her within the Dragon Age universe. I would have certainly welcomed her as a permanent companion for Hawke’s collection of colourful characters, but the option to keep her is sadly not inherited from Stolen Memory (although one can expect that BioWare must have something planned for Tallis’s future).



MotA’s quest are a mixed bunch. The main-quests are generally very entertaining, keeping just the right amount of dialogue and combat. The side-quests, however are another story. They’re just plain boring, mostly. There are three fetch-quests (two of which are for the companions of one’s choosing (Isabella and Aveline include some plot - so I’d recommend taking them along, while other companions are all about collecting). This is understandably frustrating, as most of the side-quests are aimed towards Hawke’s companions, yet only two can be taken at a time, so many of these aren’t seen by the average player. It would’ve been much more satisfying if there were more content for a single playthrough. The stealth sections in the main-quest are hardly worth mentioning: Hawke crouches and thus walks slower, and all abilities are replaced with two - one for knocking guards out, another for distracting them. Not much to write home about. Again, the quests are left wanting with no real moral choices of consequence, a trend quite obviously throughout Origin’s sequel.

Addressing complaints of the core game, the DLC is thankfully set outside of Kirkwall and comprised of completely new environments. These environments are, indeed, very nice see and bring a refreshing change from the vanilla game; a vivid green forest and gardens, and a plush estate complete with dungeons and caves below (disappointingly, the caves, although a new layout, look remarkably like the infamous environment from DAII) comprise the new eye-candy. All of the new areas are great to play in, as they’re large and sprawling, with the player’s party rarely being confined to small areas.



Yet more variety is added through the inclusion of two new types of enemies (the others seeming original, but only being re-skins in reality): ghasts and wyverns. Ghasts are dwarfed hobbe-esque creatures often found within “ghast holes” and employ archers, warriors, and mage archetypes within their ranks, and often prove to be quite challenging - along with the rest of the DLC, it seems, as mage Hawke was incapacitated often during the harder battles. The wyverns are cousins of dragons, and prove to be appropriately tough. Their design is excellent (especially a certain unique one encountered); I found myself just looking at one during a battle.

MotA’s last boss-battle is one of the best seen in the entirety of DAII; forcing the player to mix up battle tactics from the usual “stay still and press ‘A’” affair due to projectile poison, explosive charges, and pseudo-bull-fighting mechanics. The DLC’s challenge is consistent, with this battle being no exception, stretching the most seasoned of players. BioWare took DAII‘s criticisms on the chin and really made this battle something special.



BioWare have crafted a great afternoon’s experience, but no more. Though the plot and pacing is tight and Day’s character proves to be endearing - the DLC is enjoyable, there is a glaring lack of depth in the side-quests and the inability to keep Tallis is lacklustre. This mustn’t put you off, however, as Mark of the Assassin’s addition to the Dragon Age universe is highly enjoyable, providing entrancing new lore, enemies, and quests, culminating in an incredible final battle, all with a very funny edge to it. This is definitely a must-buy for all Dragon Age and Felicia Day fans alike.

8/10







Ross
6:12 AM on 06.11.2011



Dragon Age II is one of most conflicting games I’ve played. On one hand, its tight, responsive combat system and unique art style provide satisfying highs; while on the other, the story, setting and RPG elements offer mundane monotony - often stifling any enjoyment from Dragon Age II’s successes. The game serves as a sequel to Dragon Age: Origins, BioWare’s critically acclaimed masterpiece, which was lauded with many Game of the Year awards. It’s safe to assume Dragon Age II will not be.

BioWare attempted to do what it did to Mass Effect 2: retain its core components, add some new features, and strip away the excess. This worked with Mass Effect 2, retaining the feel and character, yet still making it more accessible to a wider audience; but it didn’t work with Dragon Age II.



The combat is arguably the only successful simplification they’ve made, but even then, there are still gaping flaws in its design. The system works similarly to Origin’s (accessing assigned abilities through X, Y, B, and switching layers with the right trigger) but the combat is much tighter and faster paced. For example, the rogue in Origins could employ a ‘backstab’, and then slowly meander around the enemy to engage in the stabbing; in Dragon Age II, the rogue throws a smoke bomb onto the floor and instantly appears behind the enemy. This applies to all classes: mages can instantly fire spells at their foes, rather than flailing their arms around to summon a AOE spell, and warriors speed towards their aggressors in the fashion of an enraged bull. The violence is satisfying, visceral, and often over the top (which suits its art style inextricably) - it often doesn’t refrain from having the enemies practically exploding in a haze of red and gore (although, the likelihood of this happening has been reduced in its most recent patch).

While securing hype for release, BioWare reps often quoted their mantra of “Think like a general, fight like a Spartan.” While the latter is most certainly true, the former is sadly not. The game retains Origins’s ability to pause and issue orders and that is all well and good, but the scenarios in which our intrepid adventurers find themselves are often determined to undermine the player’s ability to “Think like a general”. Dragon Age II implements a wave system in almost every fight: foes stream down from rooftops, pull themselves up through the ground, and sometimes just plain appear from nowhere. The system works against strategy, as it’s impossible to know what’s coming next. In Origins, one could easily prepare for a fight (pausing the game and issuing orders to one’s companions), but in its sequel, this simply can’t be. This would be acceptable - Hell, expected - within boss battles, but with random encounters on the street? No. When exploring an area of Kirkwall at night, it would not be out of place to see two or three gangs of enemies - all complete with waves. Not only is this tedious for the player, but it brings one out of immersion (I found that, at least) - how bad can Kirkwall’s city guard actually be? It seems to me that the encounters are designed to encourage plain ol’ hack n’ slash - simple bashing of the A button for extended periods of time. This, frankly, bores me; I have frequently turned the difficulty down to easy, just to get it over with. The combat is fun in short battles, but over elongated periods of the same enemies, it's not.

(It’s worth noting that due to a recent patch, auto-attack (Origins style) has returned. It can be simply engaged in the options. This may please some, but I found one of the most engaging things in the combat was the instant gratification of manually attacking.)



Dragon Age II’s new art style is something of an achievement. Origins was dull, muddy and boring, but its sequel improves on this greatly: the streets of Kirkwall are mostly a glorious white marble, blisteringly so, in comparison to Origin’s equivalent, Denerim; the Wounded Coast and its subsequent offshoots are a beautiful amalgamation of a still, azure ocean, gently lapping upon pristine cream beaches; bordered by a veritable oasis of lush green foliage - with a sprinkling of shipwrecks and debris. The environments are all very lovely the first few times you see them; they’re all very nicely detailed and generally show a high level of polish. But when you spend at least 30 hours tramping through the same handful of areas, exploring soon becomes a laborious chore. This, coupled with the same combat scenarios, over and over, leads to a very repetitive and tiring game. A game is doing something very wrong when the player is delighted to find a new environment. This is the thorn in Dragon Age II’s side. Every time the game’s mentioned, the lack of environments will soon follow. The game could have been so much better if more time had been invested into its world.



That said, though, the game’s new art direction is an overwhelming success. The visuals are more unique, shall we say. (I hesitate to say ‘cartoony’, as it doesn’t really do the style justice.) Dragon Age certainly has an image now; you could recognise it from a screenshot - the series is certainly shaping up to have a unique identity. The art that comprises the loading screens and cutscenes between Acts is, I feel, the best part of the game. I simply love the character that comes across and the rustic, broad strokes in which it is represented - I actually look forward to loading screens (which is probably testament to what the game actually offers)!

The game’s narrative is portrayed as a ‘framed narrative’, with Varric explaining the story of Hawke’s ascension to the Champion of Kirkwall. I don’t feel that enough was made of the ‘framed narrative’ gimmick. It only serves as a transition between Acts, and even then its importance is tenuous. I can count on one hand how many times it actually affects the main portion of the game: namely two times. There is a lot of missed potential with the gimmick; Varric could have vastly exaggerated boss battles, actually injecting fun into the game. But sadly, this only happens twice, and both times are lacklustre.



The story is divided into three Acts, with each one being more disappointing than the last, culminating in the criminally short Act III. The narrative comes across as poor, because of its unsatisfying events and their links with one another - or perhaps lack of them. It seems that Hawke is simply only being blown between event after event; it’s as if Hawke has no effect on the world: things happen to him, not because of him. There is also an acute lack of moral choices within the game; all of the choices that are present seem tame compared to Origins’s: the final battle of Origins could yield fatal results, while in Dragon Age II, the culmination of Act III results in the same situation, whichever side you choose. This is disappointing, to say the least, but will hopefully lead to a more focussed Dragon Age III.

However, the narrative isn’t all bad. The story has a natural feel to it; characters and situations are slowly drip-fed: for example, in Act I Meredith is only really hinted at, and as each Act passes she becomes more prominent. Hawke’s companions also have relatively interesting backstories and quests surrounding them (Aveline and Hawke’s siblings exempt). The companion quests are some of the most interesting and insightful in the game, often leading to a fondness surrounding the characters. I feel that the companions are much more accomplished than its predecessors - they all share an equal spot in the limelight, and almost all are welcome to it. The companion system is more personal this time round, too: each companion has their own home around Kirkwall, which you can regularly visit to enable mostly charming conversations.



Hawke himself (or perhaps herself) is amiable at best. There’s not really much to be said about him: he’s supposed to be you, so he’s better off with a blank canvass. The writing for Hawke is what you’d expect: the good option in conversations results in a serious, often prudish response; the witty one often provides a few smirks, but nothing particularly hilarious (Hawke is often unintentionally hilarious, especially with his battle cry of “BE CAREFUL!”); and the aggressive stance is, well, aggressive. Hawke is what you make of him, really. His voice actor is quite good, as with the rest of most of the voice actors, and his battle cries and conversations often sound sincere enough. It provides more of a compelling watch than Origins’s Warden, at least.

One of the BioWare’s more admirable accomplishments with Dragon Age II is that of the race differentiation. In Origins they were all pretty much the same; similar character models, similar features, pretty much similar overall: the humans, elves, and Qunari weren’t that different. The dwarves were unique however, for obvious reasons. But now, the races actually feel like different races: the Qunari are now much taller, muscular and grey-skinned - horned and war-painted for good measure; the elves are much shorter now than humans, with sharper ears and slenderer physiques; and the humans are, well, human. The voices behind the races are also much more distinct, namely the Dalish elves now have a Welsh accent, which is far superior to their Alienage cousins’s grating American accents.



With the simplification of pretty much the entire game, a lot of staple features native to RPGs have fell by the wayside. Again, like Mass Effect 2, one cannot change the companions’s apparel. It wasn’t even handled as well as Mass Effect 2’s system of having two interchangeable costumes each; costumes only change with certain events or after competing a romance scene with Hawke. Unfortunately, only Aveline and Anders change their outfits without being romanced, so only three costume changes per game are likely. Plus, once they’ve changed, one cannot change their clothes back. This leads to the unlikely situation of a character not changing their clothes for seven years. Although, this does lead to characters with more personality and flair. But still, at least three or four costumes per character would be expected; even just one per Act.

Collecting loot is another staple feature to have fallen by the wayside. It just makes no sense anymore. Half the stuff the game allows you to find is practically useless. Any armour that is not able to be equipped by one’s class is useless. They hardly sell for much either, most of the time, so they just end up gathering virtual dust in one’s virtual chest. It’s design choices like this that have really let the game down - the majority of the game’s ‘improvements’ don’t even make sense.



The same applies to side quests. Once they were little tiny clichéd stories that involved saving a child from something or other, but in Dragon Age II, they’re not even that. Basically, all you ever have to do is find something in a chest and take it to someone in Kirkwall. That’s all you ever have to do. It’s just so mind-numbingly simplified; there’s literally no content in there. It seems like it’s there just to be there - no other reason other than to cause a diversion.

Finally, the boss battles are simply terrible. Most - if not all (save two) - of the big boss battles are recycled from Origins. That’s just lazy. So very, very lazy. Most are made up of enemies that have been previously seen (Golems, Pride Demons, Desire Demons, Ogres), and others are comprised of bosses that were clearly created for Origins’s DLC and just shoehorned into its sequel (the Varterral and the Harvester). One of them is the penultimate boss; you’d think some originality would be due there!



Dragon Age II seems like the setup for Dragon Age III. Nothing more, nothing less. It’s simply a vehicle for the introduction of the events in its sequel. A lack of care and attention that I can only assume has been preoccupied with the third in the series. I genuinely hope that it isn’t rushed, or else Dragon Age II’s sacrifice will have been in vain.

I love this game, though. I absolutely love it. I don’t know why I do, because I shouldn’t. Maybe it’s the character it exudes; its art style; perhaps the fun-if-not-repetitive combat; or maybe it's just the endearing companions. I love it and I really, really shouldn’t. There are so many gaping flaws that simply cannot be forgiven, but I love it no less.

6/10







Ross
6:32 AM on 02.06.2011



Dead Space is a frightening game. I can vouch for this: it’s taken me two years, one month and six days to complete. I suppose you could say that I’d built up an irrational fear of it; the game seemed scarier in my head than it actually was on my TV. The game has been sitting on my shelf all that time, daring me to play it. Just put it in the disc-drive, press start, and see how scary it is now, I told myself, after all, it’s been two years. And I did.



Dead Space takes place on a titanic mining ship, USG Ishimura. The game starts with Isaac, our hero, an engineer, being flown to the Ishumura to repair it, after it mysteriously lost communications with Earth. The player, and Isaac, quickly realise that this isn’t just a simple “Have you tried turning it on an off?” mission, as it dawns that the ship is overrun with grotesque and fearsome alien creatures known as Necromorphs.

The atmosphere of the game really is superb. This starts as soon as you start the game up - I still insist that the main menu is one of the most unsettling parts of the game - the text and background violently flicker, the audio screams in tandem with the quick, vicious distortions of the screen - it’s scary. Like the scares, the immersion starts then as well, as the blue holographic menus jump into life, beginning the futuristic-technology theme that Dead Space never leaves. The player never leaves this immersion, as all of the menus (save the pause menu) and HUD is shown in holographic form in without taking the player out of the game - making for some frenzied scrambling to get access to a health pack. This eery, unsettling atmosphere continues throughout the game: dimly lit corridors; gently blinking lights; footsteps with no owner; illegible messages strewn across walls, scrawled with blood - these all add up to one terrifying game, and this is without any sight of the Necromorphs. This is often the case, as sometimes the scenes that keep your eyes fixed onto the screen, your palms sweating, are the ones with implied threat, not actual threat.



Which brings us onto the actual threats, the Necromorphs. A unique aspect of Dead Space is how you deal with them: engineering tools and dismemberment. This isn’t the traditional aim-for-the-head kind of game, that tactic won’t do anything apart from wasting ammo (which is scarce throughout the first half of the game, before your money starts to pile up), you have to aim for the limbs and tactically dismember them. This can cause more problems than it solves. For example if you shoot the legs off one of the game’s vanilla enemies, they will fall to the floor and continue on, Terminator-style, except at a much faster pace - so it serves well to remember the most efficient way of carving up the monsters. The majority of the game’s scares are supplied by the Necromorphs, which come in two flavours: firstly, jumping out unexpectedly (although you learn to expect their advances when there hasn’t been any action for a little while); and secondly, simply being trapped in a room which has been kindly filled with a mass of screaming, slicing and stabbing Necromorphs. When the player falls foul to one of these creatures, they are treated with a gruesome ‘death-scene’ which features a plethora of different animations, all filled with juicy decapitations, impaling, and general butchery.



The combat in Dead Space keeps the pressure and fear factor up, but also makes the game worth playing - and incredibly fun. It takes a little getting used to, as Isaac’s movement is slow and cumbersome, as well as his aiming - but this all accounts to standout moments in the game which induce genuine moments of panic. Luckily, Isaac has some nifty tools at his disposal. All the weapons (save the assault rifle) are kept in the context of Isaac being an engineer, as they’re all tools that he would be accustomed to using - which retains the immersion that the player is wrapped in from start to finish. They’re also immensely satisfying to use, which is derived from the feedback the player receives - be it their raucous sounds, or the satisfaction of seeing their visceral results, they’re simply fun to use. They range from gravity gun-esque tools, to vicious saw-firing machines. But there is non better than the Plasma Cutter. It’s the first and best weapon received in the game (in means of effectiveness, and in means of plain, stupid fun). I can’t decide whether this is a good or bad, on one hand it makes sense to give the player an efficient tool at the start when they have no other means of attack, but it also gives a lack of progression when you're ending the game with the weapon you started with, albeit massively upgraded. But I don’t care. The Plasma Cutter is just so good.



Dead Space’s sound is still standout compared of most of the newest games I’ve recently played. The score of quick, stabbing screeches is a cliché of the Horror genre, but its use here is so well done that it’s forgiven. But the sound-effects are what really stand out: guttural sounds of the monsters haunt the corridors; whispers fill Isaac’s helmet; distant clangs of metal; the slow, methodical stop of boots. These are where the true scares of the game come from. All of it is excellent.

The plot, or lack of it, has received a fair bit of criticism. But I don’t think that’s a weakness. The game thrives on isolation, it’s just the player and Isaac walking through this ship, no one’s going to jump out and save you from the claws of a baddie. It’s all up to you. Sure, there’s occasional order of “Oh Isaac, go and fix this,” or “Isaac, be a dear and plug the anti-gravitational-stratosphere-inducing-isotope back in,” down the radio, but these only serve as a means to move onto the next objective. But that’s just the plot that’s forced onto you, there’s plenty of audio-logs to find which unravel the final days of the Ishimura. I don’t think the game would work as well with a big plot, complete with cutscenes.



The game doesn’t stop being brilliant once you’ve completed it, oh no. New Game Plus is unlocked, allowing the player to start over with all of their items. This makes the game really quite addictive, I wanted to start again as soon as I finished. This is probably due to the upgrade system: each weapon and function of Isaac's suit can be upgraded, but there aren't the means to fully upgrade everything in one playthrough. It seems simple, but it really does make a game seem so much more worthy of its price-tag. This should really be included in all games, they would see so much more playtime.

Dead Space is a truly stellar game. It combines tight combat, plenty of shocks, immersing sound, visceral graphics, and a hell of a lot of replayability, all laced together with plenty of gore and lots of fun. I’m glad I finally played it, and I hope you do to. If you haven’t played this yet, and you’re a fan of action or horror, you really need to get this. Plus it’s cheap now, which is always great.

9/10





It really did take me this long to muster up the courage to play it.







Ross
5:53 AM on 02.06.2011

Hi, my name's Ross. I've been a member of Destructoid for quite a while now, and I've been through quite a few accounts - mainly through me forgetting the password/email address.

I'll pretend I'm new, so let's do some formalities. I'm 17 (since Wednesday); I live with my parents in the North East of England; I'm currently at Sixth Form, studying English Lit, History, Politics, Computing and Philosophy and Ethics; I own a cat, he's called Tom. Oh yeah, I forgot; I also like videogames.

I own a 360, a DS Lite, a GameBoy Micro, an iPod Touch and a Mac (not the best for games, but we're getting there).

Here's a picture of my game collection, for whoever's interested.

And here's some copy and pasted stuff from my last intro, albeit edited into relevance:

1. How'd you get into gaming?
Well I first got into gaming when I first saw the Pokémon anime on Cartoon Network (those were the days...) which indoctrinated me into joining the still-strong army of Pokémon fans. And what does every self-respecting Pokémon fan need? A GameBoy to play the games on! I remember pestering my parents for long enough to offer me the choice between a cat and a GameBoy; obviously I chose the limited edition Pikachu GameBoy bundled with Gold and Silver - but it's okay cat lovers, I'm not a heartless cat hater - I got the cat too!

2. What are your favourites?
I'd have to say my five favourite games are: Pokémon Gold/Silver, Star Wars: Battlefront 2, Fallout: New Vegas (used to be FO3, but I think it's been topped), Mass Effect and Half Life 2. (There are even more, and I think that one of the Fables needs a mention, as well as Oblivion but I'm going to keep it at five.)

3. What are you playing now?
I'm playing through the Undead Nightmare Collection for Red Dead Redemption. I've just finished Dead Space. I'm also dipping into the horror that is Deadly Premonition, I can only take that game in small doses.