14 DAY TRIAL // Andrei Dumitrescu: The big holiday launch rush is pretty much done and that means most serious gamers now enter a kind of retail hibernation, going back to the reserves of games they accumulated during October and November as they eagerly wait for the March of next year.
My play time will diminish in the coming weeks as I deal with Christmas shopping and meeting extended family both in my and their homes, so I plan to stick to some of my favorites from this year in order to make the most of limited time.
I will mostly play Football Manager 2013, finally trying a new team and new league, and XCOM: Enemy Unknown, the strategy and tactics mix from Firaxis, trying once more and probably failing to perform well on Classic difficulty.
I might also do a quest or two in Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition just to generate some progress and keep connected to the game world.
Andrei Dobra: I'll continue my love story with Far Cry 3 this weekend as I'm quite eager to fully complete the various single-player side missions in the huge shooter/RPG hybrid. Afterwards, I'm looking forward to jumping in the cooperative multiplayer and taking my online character up a few levels.
While the competitive multiplayer is quite decent, my skills aren't that impressive, so I just want to work alongside others and battle AI-controlled pirates while we continue the special story from the cooperative mode.
When I am not shooting up enemies in a stunning tropical island setting, I'm going to jump back into Mass Effect 3's multiplayer mode for Operation Onslaught. I’ve neglected the sci-fi shooter because I've been busy with Far Cry 3, but I'm looking forward to completing the weekend challenge and spend some time with friends during the online matches.