Mass Effect 2

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Mass Effect 2
Topic Started: Feb 6 2010, 08:26 PM (140 Views)
LK	Feb 6 2010, 08:26 PM Post #1
Binary Solo Posts: 13,418 Group: Super Moderator Member #794 Joined: July 28, 2005 Gender Male	Developer: BioWare Publisher: Electronic Arts Release Date: January 26th, 2010 Consoles: Xbox 360, PC ESRB: M - Mature Mass Effect is one of the premiere—but fatally flawed—action role playing games not just of this generation, but of all time. For many people it was the pinnacle of action RPGs. It had incredible art, a fantastic story, and a conversation system that has never been beaten. Some could even argue that it could stand up there with the best of the genre. It wasn’t without its imperfections though, as some gamers lost all hope for the game with it’s terrible frame rate, technical issues like texture pop-in, and the item management which was some of the most cluttered systems I had ever seen. With the almost undeniable sequel coming, BioWare needed to up the ante, and up it good. The franchise was just getting started, but people knew it was going to be something special—if, they can sew everything together correctly. Guess what? Mass Effect 2 is exactly what a Mass Effect fan would yearn for. BioWare literally went down the laundry list of significant flaws of the first game, and corrected them one by one. Mass Effect 2 is not only a great sequel measured by its own merits—no, it’s quite simply one of the very best gaming experiences money can buy. In Mass Effect 2 you play as, once again, Commander Shepard of the SSV Normandy SR1. Male or female, you can pick a Shepard from scratch with pre-set decisions from the first game, or you can import your character from the original game. Mass Effect’s plot is entire based on what decisions you make throughout the entire adventure. So say you killed someone in the first Mass Effect, they will stay dead throughout the entire trilogy (yes, trilogy—be careful). This import mechanic is one of coolest features I’ve ever seen in a sequel to any game, ever. You can literally play the exact same character—beard and all—in Mass Effect 2, with all of your decision making an impact in the Mass Effect universe. Say you sent Ashley on the suicide mission instead of Kaiden in the original Mass Effect. Ashley will stay dead in the second game because, well, you killed her. Not all of the level progression or how good/evil you were in the first game will really impact what happens throughout the second game, but the major choices you made will, resulting in some of the coolest story elements I’ve ever seen. But not only is the story you choose simply amazing, but the way it’s told is just so well done. When you look back at the original game, it had a damn good story with a fantastic conversation system. Mass Effect 2 takes all of this, and makes it that much better. The new threat in the galaxy are the Collectors, and they’re abducting human colonies, and no one knows why. As the man/women responsible for taking down the rogue Spectre—Saren, it’s your duty to take them down. But it’s not Mass Effect 2’s main plot that will win you over—no, it’s the cast of interesting teammates you build your team around. One of the main objectives of Mass Effect 2 is to recruit the biggest and baddest beings in the Terminus System, as the Collector’s base is conveniently located beyond the Omega-3 Relay. Oh, and by the way, no one has every returned from it. As the mission is suicidal in nature, you need to earn their loyalty, and convince them that the mission is for the better. This is were the new mission structure of Mass Effect gets its time to shine. Gone are the tedious driving sections of the original Mass Effect. Remember how boring it was driving the Mako around in these cookie-cutter planetary environments and never finding anything interesting? That’s all gone. Instead, you arrive at your location on a shuttle. No more driving, you can just run and gun right at the start of the mission. This gives the game a much better pace, pitting you right into the action without any unnecessary exploration. But none of Mass Effect 2 would work without a major overhaul to its combat. Don’t get me wrong—Mass Effect’s combat wasn’t terrible, it just wasn’t very good, either. BioWare took the main third-person shooter, over-the-shoulder view, and made it more accessible. As a whole, Mass Effect 2 feels more like a shooter than an RPG, and you can definitely see this in its combat. It just all depends on what kind of class you pick. My imported Shepard for example, was a Soldier, so I shot more than anything else. But an Adept or an Engineer would use more of their powers than shooting their weapons. Where the game’s RPG elements get a little fuzzy is in the item management and upgrade trees. The first Mass Effect was really clunky with its items, and its upgrade trees were a little too ambitious and ended up getting too cluttered. Mass Effect 2 changes this by stripping down the item collection almost entirely. You’ll likely find your first shotgun half-way through the game; there’s really not many different types of items you can collect. Money and experience is not earned by killing dudes, you instead get a set amount after every mission. The skill trees are far easier to understand; they literally give you the number of skill points you need to upgrade the power. An RPG veteran may be a bit disappointed at the lack of depth, but it’s far tidier. While the combat definitely saw the biggest upgrade over the original, the presentation upgrade was almost just as significant. Everything from the texture pop-in to the frame rate has been vastly improved; you will never again see a terrible looking cutscene. Not only that, but just the graphical power of the engine was greatly improved with a sharper look, while keeping its dirty appearance as being the dark chapter of the trilogy. The original Mass Effect had an amazing soundtrack with terrific voice acting to go with it. Mass Effect 2 is no different—if not, better. The “beeps and boops” soundtrack from the first games is back, but the tunes are far more intense and heart pounding than before. You might even want to just download the soundtrack to listen to—yes, it’s that good. The voice actors and actresses have again done a phenomenal job building up each and every character brilliantly, while keeping their believable nature. You could argue that Mass Effect 2 features some of the best voice acting ever. If you were to tell me after the release of Uncharted 2 that a game could get any better, I’d be in disbelief. Mass Effect 2 not only improves on every single nagging issue that the first game had, but it absolutely tightens every single aspect of the action RPG genre into the one of the nicest packages I’ve ever played. It’s not perfect—you may wander into some issues here and there—but to call Mass Effect 2 anything other than epic, jaw-dropping, phenomenal, or genre defining would be unacceptable. Mass Effect 2 is the pinnacle of the action RPG genre, and is probably the best true sequel I have ever played. 10/10 Don't forget to visit Projector Monkey for reviews of movies, games, and music! Permission has been granted to post this review, written by Bulby33 (LK) strictly for Projector Monkey. Edited by LK, Feb 7 2010, 05:30 PM.
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smoothz	Feb 6 2010, 11:06 PM Post #2
I wanted a cool quote but couldn't think of one :( Posts: 1,953 Group: Sage Member #10,514 Joined: May 4, 2008 Gender Female	Urg, as if I needed even more of a reason to get this game. Great review LK! Now I could be retarded or something, but this sentence confused me: "The new threat in the galaxy are the Collectors, and they’re abducting human colonies away, and no one knows why"



LK	Feb 7 2010, 03:27 PM Post #3
Binary Solo Posts: 13,418 Group: Super Moderator Member #794 Joined: July 28, 2005 Gender Male	The Collections—the main enemies in the game—abduct human colonies. Like, not just certain people, they abduct whole cities of people and take them to their base beyond the Omega-4 Relay.
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smoothz	Feb 7 2010, 05:26 PM Post #4
I wanted a cool quote but couldn't think of one :( Posts: 1,953 Group: Sage Member #10,514 Joined: May 4, 2008 Gender Female	Oh umm, my bad I didn't mean it like that, I just didn't understand if the sentence structure was right. Unless you mean abducting them and taking them away? It just seems like the word "away" is out of place. Of course, I could just be fried from to much homework.



LK	Feb 7 2010, 05:31 PM Post #5
Binary Solo Posts: 13,418 Group: Super Moderator Member #794 Joined: July 28, 2005 Gender Male	Oh, I see. Yeah, "away" shouldn't be there. So.... Fixed. Thanks.
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Pyroll7	Feb 9 2010, 08:43 PM Post #6
videogame master Posts: 2,629 Group: Stalfos Member #964 Joined: September 21, 2005 Gender Female	LK you almost make the first Mass Effect sound like it's not a great game. I haven't played it yet but have heard great things. Not saying I have doubts about the game. I know it is a good game.
	Born in 1983 and playing Nintendo since 1985. FINAL FANTASY XIII MARCH 9TH


Delirium	Feb 9 2010, 09:21 PM Post #7
Posts: 7,676 Group: Administration Member #680 Joined: June 24, 2005 Gender Male	It's a great game, I was sort of unsure of LK's criticisms myself but then again I haven't played the game in a long time.
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smoothz	Feb 9 2010, 10:48 PM Post #8
I wanted a cool quote but couldn't think of one :( Posts: 1,953 Group: Sage Member #10,514 Joined: May 4, 2008 Gender Female	I'd say LK's criticisms are plausible. I honestly don't know what texture pop in is, but there's plenty of glitches that made me have to load and start over like 1 hour of play. Guess it's my fault for not saving. The frame rates are only a problem sometimes, it's rather intermittent. The inventory system is a total mess though. I have to say, I almost dread picking up new items and upgrades. It was just so horrible....



LK	Feb 9 2010, 11:46 PM Post #9
Binary Solo Posts: 13,418 Group: Super Moderator Member #794 Joined: July 28, 2005 Gender Male	It might only be a 360 thing, but the textures on the walls and floors would pop in in-game. It made the game look really bad sometimes. The frame rate would always go down in high intensity situations, almost to a point where you wouldn't know what was happening. The cutscenes were an absolute mess. But yeah, I did make the first game sound kinda bad, but it's not. If it wasn't for the technical short comings, it would easily be my favorite game of 2007. The game was also like, number 15 on my top 30 games of all time last year, so I never thought the game was bad in any way, shape, or form.
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Pyroll7	Feb 10 2010, 10:13 PM Post #10
videogame master Posts: 2,629 Group: Stalfos Member #964 Joined: September 21, 2005 Gender Female	Frame rate, pop ins, etc. Nothing stops me from playing a great game. But wow that is a lot of problems. Edited by Pyroll7, Feb 10 2010, 10:14 PM.
	Born in 1983 and playing Nintendo since 1985. FINAL FANTASY XIII MARCH 9TH


LK	Feb 11 2010, 12:22 AM Post #11
Binary Solo Posts: 13,418 Group: Super Moderator Member #794 Joined: July 28, 2005 Gender Male	Well, some of the gameplay suffered in Mass Effect because of the frame rate, but yeah, still a very fun game.
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