What to do with Microsoft Points
I've got 1600 Microsoft points in my account and am at a loss as to what to do with them. As of right now, there are four contenders for these Microsoft Points:
Finish Downloading Fable II
Oblivion
Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony
Mass Effect
I don't really need Oblivion but I've heard some excellent things. I'm not completely enticed by Fable II although I find it pretty fun (to an extent). I've wanted to purchase Ballad of Gay Tony for a while now, but as of late I've been told I would have much more fun playing Mass Effect, then buying Mass Effect 2 when the price drops.
There's also another contender in Tenchu Z that Asaic has endorsed. That seems like a game I could REALLY get into, but I don't really have the drive to get it if it's not on Marketplace. If it is, I'll probably go with that.
So can you help me out here guys? What should I do?
No idea if Tenchu is on the marketplace or not. If you can find it on there for under 2000 points, that's a fantastic deal, in my opinion.
If you've started downloading Fable II but don't have all the parts/add-ons yet, it might be a good idea to finish it up. You already know that you like the game so it's a safe bet.
While I really dislike Mass Effect, it's a very popular game. It might be a great game for you. If you're not sure what Mass Effect is like in terms of gameplay, there are tons of videos online, especially on YouTube. That would give you a pretty good idea.
I haven't really read much about the expansions for GTAIV. I imagine it's more of the same, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Tenchu is not on the marketplace (I'm not sure why it isn't, seems like it would be marketplace worthy after being out for almost 4 years)
I think I'm gonna put Fable II on hold for a bit, don't necessarily need to finish it now.
Was talking with some friends who said that while Mass Effect is fun and all, I would probably have more fun with Bioshock, and they also told me Ballad of Gay Tony is amazing.
So I guess Bioshock's in the mix now too, and Mass Effect and Ballad of Gay Tony are still good contenders. What about Mass Effect don't you like in particular? Have you played Bioshock?
I, for one, was bored by both ME and Bioshock.
I loved BioWare's previous stuff, but Mass Effect was extremely underwhelming. It's story isn't particularly well done, nor is it very original. Its combat is terrible, really clunky. I'd say of all the UE3 based games, it has the worst combat. AI can be pretty bad as well.
Bioshock... the setting is gorgeous, but the story really didn't catch me. And the gunplay is pretty generic, though the different abilities you can use spice it up a little.
Umm... Oblivion is a lot better on PC. Bethesda makes alright games for the consoles, but their greatest strength is the PC version and mods.
I haven't played Ballad of Gay Tony yet, so no comment here.
Tenchu is not on the marketplace (I'm not sure why it isn't, seems like it would be marketplace worthy after being out for almost 4 years)
Hmm, so much for that. Oh well, it should only be $20 or $25 in stores anyway.
What about Mass Effect don't you like in particular?
Everything. 
Really slow and boring story, at least for the first several hours. The gameplay was awkward and uninspired too, so that didn't carry my interest far enough to see if the story ever got any better. I also don't like the fact that the story is open-ended in the sense that you can do the bulk of it in any order. While many gamers dislike linearity in gameplay, linearity is what holds a good story together. It's tough to do both, and the story clearly lost out between the two.
The graphics were kinda weird too. Like in a really distracting way. The shadows in particular. They're just so messed up. There is nothing natural or realistic about the way they look. Facial animations were a little sub par too. There wasn't much in the way of emotion on people's faces, no matter how intense the voice actors made the lines sound.
In summary, I just couldn't get into the game. The gameplay, story and presentation factors were all working against each other and none of them were good enough to carry me to a point that at least one of those aspects might have improved.
Have you played Bioshock?
I haven't. But I'm not a fan of first-person games. I only played through Fallout 3 because you can switch to third-person on the PC version. I have a friend who said the story was really good in Bioshock, and he and I tend to like the same stuff in games, but I just never had enough interest to try it out.
I guess Ballad of Gay Tony it is then, based on the comments by you two. Thanks a lot, I'll let you know how it goes.