The Triumphs and Tribulations of Wiz

I got Mass Effect for Christmas and it is quite good. Not sure yet how good it is as I have only played one hour of it and so there is still 25 hours + of game play left.
You start off aboard a ship heading to a planet called Eden Prime to pick up a beacon and this is the only part I have done. From doing this part, I can safely say that the voice control works very well. You have control of a conversation by pointing an arrow at each different option so say one of your team mates hears a noise, they will stop and ask you what to do, one option could be carry on and ignore it, another could be to go and investigate and the third could ask the team mate what he/she thinks. As well as the conversation control, the game play is very good. It is a good mix of cut scenes, shooting, talking and exploring. It is an RPG game but unlike others such as oblivion, the story does have some sort of structure to it and players can't get totally lost around a level as I did many a time. The graphics are good however during the firefights, it can get a bit laggy but there is definitely something that can be built on in the rest of the trilogy.
Today, I went into Warrington shopping and a new shop has opened up called game Xchange. I traded in R6 Vegas, Forza 2, Oblivion, and Call of Duty 3 and they gave me £40 quid for it so I got Orange box with the money and I have £10 store credit.
Having played on it continuously since I got home, I have fell in love with portal. A game where you have to great portals (holes in walls) and navigate your way through various levels. Some can be quite a challenge and need a bit of ingenious thinking to navigate safely. Also included in the orange box is Half Life 2, Half Life 2 Episode 1 and Episode 2 along with Team Fortress two.
Now with all the games, I don't have a clue when I am going to get through both Mass Effect and Orange box and finish Call of Duty 4 on veteran.