Mass Effect 2 Review

    Despite it's maddeningy short length, I played Mass Effect for at least 100+ hours. So one can imagine my reaction when I first saw the jaw dropping trailer for Mass Effect 2. ME2 is by far the best game I've played in years. Bioware yet again delivers a breathtaking , cinematic story worthy of any science fiction epic. Whether through the well acted dialogue, or incredible visuals, ME2 takes gaming to a whole new standard. Putting the story aside, the game itself has taken many turns that differ from the orignal game. Most are improvements, however a few things bothered me. I guess I'll start with those. In ME1 I spent a lot of time messing with the components, gadgets, and gear that I used in my armor and weapons. I like suiting up my team with the newest technology that I had picked up on the last mission. Well, in ME2, this is entirley thrown out. There are only a few armor and weapon selections. Bioware decided to streamlline the experience, adding your choice of one special round like inferno to our weapon. While this adds to the frantic action, it really detracts from the RPG side of the game. When it comes to customization and items, ME2 really lacked the usual elements seen in RPG's. Fortunatley, the decision to remove the micro-managing of equipment meant that the combat itself was much improved. The time that would have been spent elsewhere was put to good use. ME2 can compare itself to top tier shooters like Gears of War. It's intense, it's fast paced, and is a hell of a lot of fun. Of course, none of this is as important as the story itself. No games have tales like Bioware, and no one can tell them as well either. The dialogue options, the classic Sci-Fi ambience, and the twists and turns in ME2 combine to craft the best saga in gaming. Nothing compares to the dramatic and, dare I say it, epic events seen within the plot of Mass Effect 2. I won't go into it, as even the slightlest give away can be very dissapointing. However I will say that many choices that the player makes can (often unknowingly) effect whether or not one or more of the main character's wil survive in the climax of the story. In the beginning of the game, you can choose to either download your previous character or create a new one. It was one of the more rewarding experiences to see my character from the first game and have the choices that I made effect the immediate situations in the game. Many pieces from ME1 made the jump to ME2 and received some tune-ups. One complaint from Mass Effect were the rather bland side missions and the planet's that they took place on. This has been completley ratified. You can now scan planets from the Normandy and extract rare minerals and ores for some extra cash. There are also dozens of side missions that vary from combat, political, and travel. Despite being released in January, Mass Effect 2 is already one of my top picks for Game of the Year 2010. It's hard to imagine a better game being released in the next few years, let alone just 2010. If you thought Mass Effect was one of the better games of all time, then Mass Effect 2 is simply one of the all time greatest.   

9.75

I played this on: Xbox 360