C+P Review: This one shares his thoughts on Mass Effect 2
Written by: Santiago Azpurua-Borras
Mass Effect 2. what is there to say about Mass Effect 2 that hasn’t already been said? Game of the year in January, amazing, incredibly personal yadda yadda yadda.
Although a bit redundant, this is my review for the second part of Bioware’s Sci-fi epic.
Hit the jump to read more.
When I played the first Mass Effect, I was a little underwhelmed. While I truly enjoyed the story and Shepard’s connections to his various crewmates, the combat situations I was put it were less than thrilling.
However, when I discovered that my choices made in this game were in fact going to shape the world in the second game I was incredibly excited.
I sacrificed Hayden, was able to save Wrex, I killed the council and had sex with Ashley. And seamlessly, all these decisions shaped my world in Mass Effect 2.
In part two of the three part epic, a new race of aliens known only as “The Collectors” have been abducting entire human colonies and doing god knows what with them.
But you see, there’s a problem: Shepard died. Cerberus, an extremist human progression group, brings Shepard back to life in an experiment subtly known as the Lazarus Project.
Now, you are out to recruit some of the best of the best, to finally take down the Collectors.
Your party members are easily the best part of the entire game. Some highlights of your merry band of space-men are old-time veteran Garrus, awkward yet strong techie Tali, the bloodthirsty Grunt and my personal favorite: the sentient multi-AI’d geth, Legion.
Shepard’s interactions with these characters truly reveal that drama is possible in a video game.
Not only does every party member bring a different set of skills and powers to the table, they also bring about a loyalty mission. These missions usually consist of some loose end in the members past that they would like to settle. These are easily the best missions and the entire game.
"They call us Legion, for we are many"
These unlock a fourth bonus power, gains the members’ loyalty (which helps with dialogue options among other things) and an achievement.
The graphics of Mass Effect 2 are absolutely beautiful, especially for the various characters’ facial expressions during conversations with other characters.
The combat has also been completely re-done, with more Gears of War style cover-based shooting. Medi-gel is now only used to actually revive your teammates as opposed to healing yourself; health and shields automatically regenerate as long as you hold cover for long enough.
Depending on your character class, you can map powers on your right or left bumpers and the Y button, which is reserved for your class-specific power. The Vanguard’s charge is awesome.
Zombies in space.
Mass Effect 2 isn’t a game — it’s an experience, and a personal one at that. It is barely the first few months of 2010 and I’d say we already have a contender for Game of the Year.
But the game is not without its faults. Bugs, glitches and system crashes occur, although uncommon, but they are definitely there. Luckily the autosave feature usually stops data-loss frustration before it even begins.
Also, there are no Hanar that I can actually interact with. What the fuck, Bioware? I’m expecting a Hanar party member in Mass Effect 3. Get to it.
Collectors’ Edition Contents:
The Collectors edition is a two-piece package. Inside the coveted shiny box is the game’s two discs plus a bonus disc with trailers, making of featurettes and the like.
In the second box lies the Cerberus card to access DLC, an art book and a copy of the first issue of the Mass Effect comic. It also comes with a code to download some exclusive armor and a rifle. While clever, the bug-like “Collectors” (PUNS) armor is ugly as hell. All this for an additional ten dollars.
Nothing in it is a “must-have,” making it very easy to pass up.
Mass Effect 2 is a must-buy, so stop reading this and go buy it.
After all, you do only have less than a week before BioShock 2 is released.
C+P Score: 5/5
