My Month in Gaming (January)

So, clearly I am not going to be able to consistently blog every week on what I've been playing.  I've run out of time, but still want to log what I've been doing when I do play games.  As it goes, a monthly log seems to be best route here, so I'll stick with that for time being, intermittently writing down my thoughts periodically. So, since my last post two weeks ago I've completed RDR and ME2. 
 
Read Dead Redemption 
What can I say about this game that hasn't already been said.  The final 1-2 hours of this game are pretty thrilling and contain some of the most affecting cutscenes I've seen since Half-life 2 episode 2.  Seeing John get shot up and left for dead, even though I knew it was coming, still was fairly gripping.  The fast forward to Jack being fully grown, throwing aside the life of education that his parents sorely wanted for him, in order to get revenge on behalf of his father.  The  events leading to the final confrontation are done so well, that it's hard to see any game pulling off an ending like that again.  The title card flashing at the end of the duel was a very strong touch to cap off what you just finished and has an eerily similar feel to the ending of GTA IV.  You've done what you set out to do, but the world is the same and you have to keep on living. albeit, without true purpose. Definitely great.  Also started the Undead nightmare pack and really enjoyed the first hour, but it's starting to drag. Hopefully it picks up as I get more into it.  It sort of seems to have the problems that Mexico section of the game had.  It just dragged on and I was doing missions that I really didn't care all that much about in order to extend the length of the game. That's how I felt anyways. 
 
Mass Effect 2: 
Man, this is what games need to aspire to be in terms of an interactive narrative.  All the dialogue is amazing and even when some of the story bits take a turn for the dumb (a.k.a the Reaper T-1000) their are still redeeming qualities because everyone on term could die at any second! I have never been so sweaty palmed in a sequence in a game like I was doing the suicide mission.  Despite putting near 33 hours into the game, I'm still compelled to jump back in a do a second playthrough...partially to get my level 30 Shep, but also as a renegade mother fucker lady Sheppard.  Bioware has started something special here (I could say they started something special in the first game, but they took it a whole other level here).  Everyone has to buy play these games because this is where story telling and narrative action really needs to go.  Great game, great characters and a collective threat that I can't wait to battle when ME3 arrives.