VIDEO GAMES.

Green Day: Rock Band is exactly what you thought it would be when it was announced. Nothing more, nothing less. If you’re into Green Day and aren’t burnt out on music games yet, then this is for you. As someone who’s been wanting something new out of the music genre, this title doesn’t bring anything new to the table other than songs and some Green Day unlockables. I hope Harmonix’s Rock Band 3 work will freshen up things a bit.

While the open ended ending left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth, I’m still interested to see where Remedy takes this game with the upcoming episodes. The town, atmosphere, and characters made me want to keep playing till the end, despite the somewhat repetitive combat. Let’s just hope that 1) the game is sucessful enough to warrent a proper conclusion later down the road, and 2) Remedy doesn’t take their “episode” queues from Valve. We’ve already waited long enough for Season 1.

If you didn’t like Street Fighter IV, there’s really nothing here that will change your mind. While it is a bit disappointing that this is a full retail item that will certainly split the userbase, if you’re an existing fan there’s just about zero reason to not buy this. Capcom has released a truly monumental update to the best fighting game in years which will certainly keep it truckin’ long into the future.

Despite these quibbles, Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening is still a fun romp which extends the already solid framework laid by the original title. If Dragon Age is calling you, but you don’t feel like reinvesting the time in the base title, or just want to see what happens next, there’s really no reason to stay away. It may not be as completely awesome as Origins was, but it’s still Dragon Age and by that regard, it’s still awesome.

Mass Effect 2 is quite honestly everything you would hope it would be. An epic story full of interesting characters within a huge universe with all the problems from the first game fixed. Whether you’d rather go prospectin’ for some minerals on planets or just stick to the game’s story, there’s plenty of content to keep you busy. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a second character to import while anxiously awaiting ME3.

One particular area I am always concerned about when playing through lengthy games is the possibility of general game fatigue. I could either grow tired of the story, get lost on side missions, or start to hate the general mechanics and ultimately just shut off the game with a “I’ll come back to this later” thought, never to return. Thankfully, that just wasn’t the case here at all. With plenty of different endings, six origin stories each changing the world’s perception of you, and having a plethora of important decisions to make throughout, you’ll certainly get your money’s worth. As long as you’ve got the gumption and staying power, you won’t find a better true RPG on the market for this generation.

At the end of the day, DJ Hero is a great start into a new line of music titles. It may not have all the bells and whistles, and it may be a little expensive for the normal everyday person, but it is certainly a refreshing take on a tried and true game genre with a crapload of awesome music. If you dig this type of music and have the scratch to spend (see what I did there?), it’s hard to not recommend it.