The Video Game Backburner

Yes, there are still video games that I have yet to finish. Here is the full list since I got out of school:
Final Fantasy X-2 (PS2)
Final Fantasy XII (PS2)
Rogue Galaxy (PS2)
SSX 3 (PS2)
Xenosaga (PS2)
Xenosaga 2 (PS2)
The Bard's Tale (XBOX)
Jade Empire (XBOX)
Trauma Center: Second Opinion (WII)
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (WII)
Adventures of Zach and Wiki (WII)
Super Mario Galaxy (WII) (Still haven't finished Luigi's part)
Guitar Hero III (WII)
Lego Indiana Jones (WII)
Rock Band (WII)
Mario Kart Wii (WII)
Wii Fit (WII)
Halo 3 (360)
Viva Pinata (360)
The Orange Box (360)
Lost Odyssey (360)
Eternal Sonata (360)
Civilization Revolution (360)
Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift (DS)
Patapon (PSP)
Loco Roco (PSP)
Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core (PSP)

So...yeah.

I'm also trying to finish up Angel. This makes for a rather busy schedule in terms of "free time."

Unfinished Business

I realized the other day that I have many, many, many games I have started and not finished. It's weird. It can't be that I don't have the time, because I start new games...anyway, here's the list:
Odin Sphere
Final Fantasy XII
Super Mario Galaxy (Haven't finished Luigi's part)
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Zak and Wiki: The Quest for Barbaros's Treasure
Rogue Galaxy
Halo 3

The ones that I'm actually playing right now:
Mass Effect
The Orange Box
Bioshock

If I could just take a week to finish playing all these games, I would probably be happy. Smash Bros. Brawl comes out next month, at which point, I'll have another couple of games that get pushed aside. Sigh.

Welcome to Rapture

I recently began playing Bioshock (because, y'know, I have so much time for that.) to see what all the fuss was about. It completely lives up to the hype, and it has more RPG elements than I would have thought for an FPS. There are many things that this game does well, but perhaps my favorite part is the dynamic storytelling that it manages to convey during what should be merely an exciting first-person shooter. In fact, I would even say that this is the main selling point of Bioshock. Joe actually put it very well in that Bioshock directs you exactly where to go while giving you the illusion of complete freedom of exploration, when in actuality, you have no choice as to where to go.

That said, there is a whole lot of character customization. You have 4 different catagories of upgrades each with 6 "slots" for whichever upgrade you choose (providing you have paid for or obtained said upgrade.) It really depends on which direction you want to take the game. Some are completely necessary to finish the game, such as plasmids. Some are just cool and help you out a whole lot, like hacking tools. The mini-game for hacking is pretty cool, and I've gotten relatively proficient in it.

I'll have to see how this ends up stacking to Mass Effect. Will the story be better? Who knows? I don't know how much prettier graphics can get, though.