Mass Effect

Just a quick note, but thanks to Kabitzin for recommending Bioware's Mass Effect -- it's an excellent game, with wonderful graphics and fairly intuitive controls. The story is quite decent, but as with most sci-fi games, it is just *saturated* with pathos -- as a case in point, here's the backstory at the beginning of the game:

"You were raised on Mindoir on the fringes of the Attican Traverse. When you were sixteen, the colony was raided by slavers. The entire settlement was razed and your friends and family were slaughtered. A passing Alliance patrol rescued you, but all you loved was destroyed [ed: angst! can't stop the angst!]."

Anyway, pros & cons:

[++] sweet sneak-behind-wall mechanic
[+] compelling story, stellar graphics, excellent voice acting
[-] driving portions of the game are *horrible*, predictable ending
[--] OH NOES WHY DOES WREX HAVE TO DIE