Boring locations
Almost all the levels in the DLC are your uninspired indoor warehouse type environment all the other DLCs had a range of environments and some interesting gameplay additions, Kasumi had a millionaires mansion and a treasure vault, Overlord had a crashed Geth ship a volcanic valley and the inside of a satellite dish and Lair of the Shadow Broker had the top of a ship in a gas giants terminator zone. There a few adequate outdoors parts one in a rainy prison one in a vacuum on an asteroid but all the indoor settings are utterly uninspired in comparison.

Trivialised story
While the DLC starts off with some promise a proper return of Admiral Hackett from the first game the whole event seems trivialised to a side quest when it is arguably the most important event in the whole of the Mass Effect 2 story Shepard barely has to do anything to stop the Reaper invasion. The Reaper artefact that is the timer of the invasion just turns out to be a poorly explained plot device with absolutely no logical purpose and it doesn’t even turn the mad scientist into some sort of interesting boss monster. On the subject of a mad scientist she seems incredibly poorly written after the rationalisations other indoctrinated people have had for wanting the reapers to come.

Lack of decisions
The game makes all of them for you the most important of which is one that may well have been out of character for the way a lot of people play.

No Squad
While there a clear reasons that voice work could not be done for all your team there is no reason that you could not have been given a few alliance personal to help you out who could then have made the decision against your will that your Shepard makes. The lack of a squad means the battles you fight are generally smaller in scale and when playing a soldier you have access to only a few boring powers rather than the interesting ones of your squadmates. There’s a general lack of variety in enemy types too when adding in husks would be well within reason for the plot.

This was a sad send off for Mass Effect 2 and after the poor reception of Dragon Age 2 only 18 months after the originals release I not sure how much hope I have of Mass Effect 3 not being rushed after a similar length of time. You could say “This is not Commander Shepards favourite DLC on the Citadel”.

Dead space 2 already played, not going to blow your mind but competent and great at creating tension once you turn the score down.

Bulletstorm changing the focus of most FPS games from survival to a score based skill system seems like a much needed injection of variety in the genre.

Dawn of War 2: Retribution more Dawn of War 2, more factions to play as, more loot, yes please.

Dragon Age 2 enjoyed the demo but having missed out on too much DLC by not pre-ordering a few month ago means I will be waiting for a GOTY edition. Still unsure about the art style but faster combat improves the game without it feeling a complete change from the first.

Crysis 2 playing the MP demo at the moment tighter mechanics have left me hopeful for a better SP campaign but what I have seen of the MP is mostly forgettable with a few smart ideas.

Red Faction Armageddon Guerrilla had some great moments but too much downtime between them a less open world might add the focus needed.

Duke Nukem Forever mostly morbid curiosity to how this game can exist and the fact it might be offensively funny.

Portal 2 expected it to be just more Portal but the preview videos show plenty has been added to the formula it’s looking very good.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution Bit of an unknown quantity but I have waiting forever for a good first person shooty RPG game maybe this will be it, seems promising so far.

Witcher 2 first had some amazing narrative despite some poor pacing and uninspiring combat and it looks like the swordfighting will at least be entertaining, super excited to see this one.

Infamous 2 first had some flaws maybe they can be worked out this time around story was one of the stronger points so hopefully that can be continued.

Eldar Scrolls 6: Skyrim I haven’t played an Elder Scrolls game and this looks like a good starting point, hopefully if it can get the first person melee right, also it has an awesome trailer.

Battlefield 3 after purchasing Bad Company 2 in the steam sale I got rather into the multiplayer not being able to break buildings with an RPG now just seems silly.

Batman: Arkham City first was great, more in a new setting new story with hopefully some interesting tweaks should lead to a great game.

Uncharted 3 I unexpectedly found myself wanting to go on adventures with Nolan north again guess I will have to get this.

Mass Effect 3 I was somehow disappointed by the second despite it objectively being a far better game hopefully this can return to the epic scale of the first in both narrative and location while retaining the more personal feel of the second.

Rage while I don’t think ID has made a really good game since Return to Castle Wolfenstein this looks far more interesting than Doom 3.

These are games that I will certainly buy at some point even if it’s during a steam sale adding the games I have an interest in getting but not certain about I ended up excluding games that I will be waiting on reviews for because it was just a stupid number they are below.

FEAR 3 Second was mildly disappointing but the third looks to mix things up with your psychic brother back that you shot at the finale of the first game a different studio also mixes things up.

Homefront Previews have been disappointing but there’s a surprisingly realistic narrative for North Korea invading.

Space Marine I have unintentionally become fond of the Warhammer 40,000 universe after the Dawn of War 2 games and the gameplay videos look interesting enough.

Brink Mirrors Edge movement style I want more of this, not sure how mixing an objective based multiplayer with a narrative will work however.

Killzone 3 I need to justify my PlayStation 3 purchase somehow.

L.A. Noir Haven’t finished red dead redemption yet not really any point getting another Rockstar game till then facial animation looks mighty impressive though and there are claims that there’s a new mission format.

The Darkness 2 First was great, what makes me caustic of this is it’s being developed by the developers of the painfully mediocre Dark Sector which still stands as my worst purchase on steam.

So many games so little time and money.