Mass Effect 2 Main Site
Mass Effect 2 PC Gamespot Review
Mass Effect 2 Xbox 360 Gamespot Review
So what is laughable to me, is that I posted about an editor for save games on the PC version before I even posted a review for the game. There is definitely a reason for that and some irony as well. I’m betting that you have already read a review, heard some hype or maybe played the game, seen a friend play it or even that you have managed to escape all of those; making this your first viriginal true first time review from yours truly. Well you’re in for a treat; being hyper as I am I’m going to do game reviews backwards. Why read the whole thing when you get what you want right up front, then if you want to know why, read on. No scrolling to the bottom for you.
Note: I’ve played both the Xbox 360 version and the PC version, essentially the same game, slight tweaks each way, I prefer the PC but both are good.
How does it rate compared to other games in the genre: Well that depends, other Bioware games are the genre leaders. Games like Knights of the Old Republic, the previous Mass Effect, etc. Mass Effect doesn’t have many peers, just like the first game, so its highly regarded and faults can get to be nit picky (as you’ll see later on). Its a good game.
Biggest Fault: Went more action than RPG, sort of RPG lite and Action / story. Pacing is quicker so it seems to lose a bit of the epic feel or the first game but then again it is a sequel so the cats out of the bag this time.
Biggest Win: Character and story tension. Yes, tension. This time around and this game as a whole is better at drawing together a conflicting group of characters as a team, making the main character make moral choices that align him / her more with the good or lawless sides. I felt it was effective and not overdone since its more of a key facet of the game.
Replay value: This game has something for both the first time Mass Effect player new to the series and for the one who played the first game. You can import your old characters decisions / alignment plus bonus cash or start fresh. Either way, you get a class choice and tons of decisions along the way, plus you can play it through a second time. Definite replay value.
Is it worth buying: Yes, check EA store and various online vendors if you want the digital deluxe edition or regular digital. Some versions you can get $10 off like I did or pay just $40 for the regular game.
Main Review:
Mass Effect 2 is essentially more about the differences from Mass Effect 1; I’ll dispense with explaining how good the game is. It’s a good game, enjoyable, fun, exciting and has a good pacing to it. I’m going to highlight what’s different in ME2 in comparison to ME1 and possibly other RPGs in general.
Inventory Management:
Instead of sorting through gear and weapons, there are various upgrades you find. This is pretty different from Mass Effect 1 where you got to set the amount of bonus items that went into slots (similar to Diablo) that apply additional behaviors. Instead of managing inventories you get one suit of armor (unless you get one via DLC, more on that later) and you can addon / modify parts of it. You can put on it like shoulder pads that provide more health or knee pads that make you run faster.
For weapons there are tech upgrades that can be researched to increase damage or duration, in addition there are different guns that can be found but they are made available to the entire team, rather than just whoever finds them. Special ammo types are abilities rather than found as well. This sort of steers the game the most dramatically towards the action, and speeds up the pace. While I like that action / pace, I miss some of the ability to mess with inventory and I’m sort of left wondering if the game is better off this simplified.
Weapons Ammo:
Weapons now have clips instead of energy, so you do have to make sure you consider what weapon for what tactical situation. After about 10 hours of playing I didn’t really see a problem finding ammunition, enemies drop it and its littered around combat zones. In addition you can select ammo type from abilities rather than addons you pick up.
One thing that seemed odd though, is with the ammo types and the guns themselves, it seems odd that you can add a better scope or a grenade launcher, or more penetrating shots to any of the guns. The weapns of the 24th century seem overly simplified than those of the 21st centruy. Present day assault rifles are usually considered “systems” of modifiable clip sizes, stocks, bullet sizes, scopes, etc, it seems a detraction in my mind that if the game went action RPG that all you get are hot, cold, knockback, and shield penetration options for your guns, let alone that is only for ammo types.
While we are going the route of “what if Mass Effect 2 was more realistic and action-oriented” why not provide an option to go from 3rd person over the shoulder to 1st person, like in Fallout 3? Why not give the player more choices for guns and armor dropped by NPCs? To me it seems like the game is funneling the player into a more narrow band of action to get you to the point in the game where you must talk to other characters and make decisions. Cool I guess, but if the conversations are realistic why can’t the guns be? Better yet if you want to focus on just the story, make guns / ammo / armor set to “AUTO” and then if players want allow the customization.
Combat System:
Essentially cloned from previous game, not different other than the ammo. Take cover, pop out, shoot at bad guys, repeat. The only real difference is that it is the exactly the same as the last game… did I say a difference. Nix that, its the same, no different, wait the same.
Resource gathering:
ME2 implements a resource gathering element (pun intended) that can be seen as essentially adding “grinding” to a RPG that previously didn’t have that at all. For example some RPGs have constantly re-spawning monster areas where you kill them for experience points or money or both in order to make later game easier.
Mass Effect 2 doesn’t require this per se, you can find minerals along the way in combat missions, but some upgrades to the ship or to weapons / armor / biotics are quite expensive. The upgrades are not totally necessary, since the combat system is still very easy even on normal, however whether or Xbox, PS3, or PC, scanning planets is monotonous and boring. Unless of course you are me. I’m a Outer-space Mining Tycoon and I literally LOVED scanning planets. I did it for an hour or so without even doing anything else, I got my resources up to about 80000 to 10000, except for Element Zero. Then I bought some upgrades. Then I realized it would take hours upon hours to get all the upgrades (from a completionist standpoint). Then I downloaded the save editor, gave myself some more minerals and continued playing. Overall this part of the game is the least fun and I wish they would add a “AUTO” scan bot thing where it had levels of effectiveness, like 25,50 and 75% total mineral finding with the click of the button, or if you want to go manual mode you can. The original Mass Effect had just a “scan” option, or Land option.
Landing: So far this hasn’t come up much, ME2 uses a shuttle and I haven’t seen any instance of using the vehicle, even though the controls are still listed under the options. I can’t say I miss driving the little 6 wheel ATV from ME1, it was cool, but I don’t think it really “made” the game. So far I haven’t seen it make an appearance
On the fly conversation options: Occasionally some conversations with NPCs will present a paragon or renegade chat option, this gives you a cool dynamic way of interacting whether punching somebody, using your scanner to make them better or something else. This is cool, I wish more games would implement this. It can increase the paragon or renegade rating you get so that is cool, plus it makes it feel more real.
Ship Modifications: It can play into the later part of the game, but you can use resources to modify the ship, this was missing from the last game. Neat but you don’t really get to pilot the ship like in a Star Trek sense. Would be cool.
Either way, the game semi-lives up to the previous, if you enjoyed the first or you are looking for some spacey RPG with action most of the way and no effeminate boys complaining about how jacked up the environment is or how the monarchy really shouldn’t use technology to steal the souls of lost children to power its nuclear reactors, then Mass Effect 2 is most certainly FOR YOU.
For a bit of point / counterpoint here is Yahtzee’s review about how this game and every other game he plays completely sucks. Yahtzee Optimist Review