Mass Effect 2 - Review

[Kenzomatic]

The Greatest game ever made! oh if only I could say that and mean it. Don't get me wrong Mass Effect 2 is up there with the greatest and as a series probably arguably on top (we will see where 3 puts it) rivaled only by a few. The thing is it was not a clear cut slam dunk and it could have been.



The story in Mass Effect 2 flirts with being a cop out in the beginning like when a story can't explain something rationally so they chalk it up to magic, time travel, or some other out of left field "I'm a bad writer and painted myself into a corner" explanation. Fortunately This is only for the first ten minutes and it doesn't use what happens as a crutch but a device for some very intriguing story telling. After the fist 10 minute the story just gets better and better and better. Now if you played the first game odds are you have a love interest, these people do hold over to the second game but you are lucky if you can talk to them for more then 5 minutes and while Ashley or Kaiden have less screen time then Liara at least they have limited availability. What I mean is you can visit Liara whenever you want prompting you to wonder "why don't I get more dialog options?" Speaking of that:

ME2 FAIL - If Liara was your love interest from the first game she has some extremely important information to tell you (plot wise). Problem is unlike the rest of the game where in the dialog wheel "investigate" lets you go through the multiple subjects, this time you only get one shot and if you ask her the wrong question you can never ask again. This comes off as a major glitch or oversight. And if you choose wrong which most people do you will be utterly confused about whats going on with Liara and missing out on some good narrative. When I have to go to youtube to find out whats going on and its not a secret or different story path, you have failed.

Luckily all your new squad mates are extremely interesting and doing there "loyalty" missions is freaking awesome. All of them seem like real people with real problems and they take you to some cool places. I don't know how many people you have as an option for "love interest" but it is a lot and they all have very different personalities. So tons of replay value here. All the voice acting in this game is top notch too. The story in Mass Effect 2 is darker and more dynamic then the first, but of-course there is much more conflict with who you are working for and all.



The Game play in Mass Effect 2 is Gears of War slightly worse. There really is no other way to describe the shooting elements. They removed most the inventory system and upgrade system making this element less RPG then before. You still have some control its just like going from 12 options to 4. Which to be honest is better at the end of the day and more fun. You still have good control just not classic RPG level control. Next the Mako from the original is gone which is neither good or bad. There where times I missed it for the fun it was but the game is fine without it. So instead of exploring planets in the vehicle you now scan them from space and drop probes. A lot of people have complained about this part being to slow but I liked it. I actually enjoy having a break from near non stop action and it was fun and relaxing. Anyways this is the best way to find minerals to upgrade you ship/weapons/and armor, also this is how you find some side-quest.

My biggest gripe with Mass Effect 2 is that I beleive they conformed to video game norms to much. The biggest example being you now have to reload your weapon ,technically heat sinks not ammo, but still why do away with the original of just over heating. It makes no sense, why would anyone buy a gun that required a form of ammo if they never needed ammo with the older guns? According to the developer they originally where going have both. So your gun would over heat and you would have to wait but you could just swap out heat sinks and then you would not. They decided that was not good and went full on Gears of War, way to not be original or true to your canon (story). This doesn't really damage the game as far as game play its just a needless change that damages what I think of Bioware. No "good artist" would damage their canon for better mass appeal.

Many will be happy to know that elevator rides are gone in favor of loading screens. However 2 minutes of loading time is 2 minutes of loading time whether I'm in an elevator, watching a loading screen, or seeing a video of an ape playing with himself. The point is that the only thing removing the elevator did was make it feel slightly less like an RPG. I would have probably made the same choice but at the same time I kinda missed it.

Now the big HUGE change that is really awesome. You now have a steady frame rate. So combine that with the quicker better inventory system and the game play kicks the firsts games ass. Previous game mechanics aside Mass Effect 2 has extremely good game play just a few hairs away from being Epic (pun intended).



The Graphics are awesome and anyone who harps on how they are not technically that great is an idiot because the art design is great and succeeds at everything it needs to. The game has made many improvements over the first, having side-quest with trees is just one big highlight.



In closing Mass Effect 2 is certainly one of the greatest video games made this decade and a blast but for me it didn't have the feel that the first did. It offers more then the first in every category (except inventory/levels) and definitely goes for that bigger and better mentality. However for me the game was not more then the sum of all its parts, something I found true of the first. I wish it had been a 10 and maybe without Mass Effect 1 it is close, but as part of a trilogy it had some narrative flaws. This game reminded me of the first game Starts out with me thinking WTF is going on and ends with me loving it. If you where a huge fan of the first this one may take some time to get used to, I still like ME1 better, though the more I play the more this feeling is reduced. Either way if 3 is as good as these two it will be hands down the best video game trilogy ever made by a mile.

9.7

[El Duderino]

weirdly everyone says ME2s story is darker than the first... I never really got that feeling... I´d also say ME1 had a better story... one of the points beeing it had a great antagonist, something ME2 falls a little short on... kinda like with the original star wars trilogy... the second part, while still being great kinda leaves you with some questions that you wish had been answered and a few decisions in the plot seem unrealistic... but I guess you have prioritise it connecting the first and the third properly... from the gameplay and graphics perspective its definitly a nice improvement... a few more weapons would have been nice but all in all they did a great job at making items, ammo and upgrades less complicated but still keeping you motivated to look for more and give you enough room to customize...

oh and yeah its kinda hard to blame them for how they start the story... I think are much worse ways to have gone with... what will really be interesting is how they solve this problem in the third part... its just really hard to find a believable excuse for why your character basically starts from scratch in an ongoing story... and then do it again... I think they did a good job at introducing players who didn´t play the first and yet not getting fans of the first bored with old information...

[Kenzomatic]

This definitely reminded me of 2 movie series as far as sequels

Matrix
Pirates of the Caribbean

Both had incredible 1st movies with full story arcs, great narrative and focus. Then the sequels jacked up the budged added more in every category and made spectacles. I feel the same way about ME2 its awesome and I want more but the first one did more with less and was greater then the sum of its parts.

The sequels of all 3 had the best pieces and coolest moments just not best overall.

I just hope 3 is not the mess it was for The Matrix and Pirates, because it really could be. I'm hoping for LOTR: ROTK level but that would take 10 disc and 6 years so............To some extent I think middle movies end up getting judged by the conclusion that happens in the third.

Side note Bioshock 2 is not going to be that good.

[marciosmg]

I want to play this game. But I have like 3 games ahead of it to play and I have been busy so I get like 1 hour a day to play.

[El Duderino]

Comparing the sequels of Matrix and Pirates of the Caribbean to Mass Effect is a terrible terrible thing to say... Mass Effect 2 has a slightly less satisfying story compared to the first... and it all feels less new and exciting... but thats a given... comparing it to the tragedies that happened to the Matrix and Pirates is just wrong...

[Luinil]

Kenzo likes watching an ape play with himself???

But really, I will have to check this game out, after I play ME1.... >_>

[Alasted]

Kenzo likes watching an ape play with himself???

But really, I will have to check this game out, after I play ME1.... >_>

!!!

Haven't even played ME1? You better get to it, girl! Tali demands it.

[Kenzomatic]

I should revise my score to 6 as apparently the extra content I bought when I paid an extra $10 for the collectors addition is controlled by EA and there accounts. In other words even though I have the content installed on my hard-drive on the 360, it does not show up on my wife's account. So I figured have her register with EA and then it would work. WRONG! apparently you have to add gamertags to your EA account to get it to work. Also you have to register with EA to play the extra content.

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I am seriously pissed I now have to talk to a EA rep to fix the problem. EA claims they fixed it we will see.

[Kenzomatic]

This game has growing on me a lot every time I play it it gets better and better.

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