Post by matsmashed on Mar 10, 2010 12:18:23 GMT
“Shepard did everything right” yes he did
Mass Effect 2 is a journey and it’s not just any old journey, its one of the finest pieces of SCI FI gaming ever made. So much so that it has set a gaming benchmark at which all future role playing games will be judged against. In much the same way as I think Uncharted 2 represented a genre defining moment for action games, this does it for role playing games.
So onto the game. Now for those of you that didn’t play the original Mass Effect here’s a quick recap: Your commander Shepard, the first human candidate ever to be considered to become part of the elite Spectres. The Spectres are a sort of Gestapo secret police who will do anything to get the job done a sort of Jack Baueresc group. So anyway, you eventually become a Spectre and you start on your task to save civilisation. Now there’s another Spectre, except this ones gone rogue, Saren is the overall antagonist of the game. He’s a rather confused character and this shows at the end of the game where you have to make some vital decisions. Now after completing (if you so choose) a series of quests around different planets you hit the final mission. A mission of such epic proportions I’m not going to spoil it. However I will say this, it’s comparable to something like the Star Wars Endor Battle. Now the decisions in the end of the game do affect the 2nd game so I will try and be very vague. You can either kill or save two main characters in the game. There’s a huge decision where you have to either to keep the Citadel government in power or destroy them and then there is also the decision of whether or not to pursue an emotional and sexual relationship with one of your crew members.
Now one of the main drawbacks of the first Mass Effect game was its beginning, the first hour and a half really dragged. Thankfully Bioware realised this and Mass Effect 2 begins with a bang. I will quite happily compare the intro of this game to the most recent Star Trek film. It’s a ride, and fantastic one at that, showcasing both graphics and story. One thing that stands out throughout the opening hour and a half of the game is the music; this game has one heck of a soundtrack, familiar to the likes of Vangelis Blade Runner and John Williams Star Wars pieces. The first most notable thing you notice about the gameplay now is how much weight your character has along with the new shooting mechanics. Now DICE the makers of the Battlefield series handled the shooting mechanics of the game and it’s extremely noticeable. Throughout most of the game your missions will involve the familiar Gears of War cover and shoot mechanic. Except shooting on Mass Effect now feels really good, whereas before it felt like an afterthought.
At the beginning of the game you have to choose your character class of which there are several. These are:
Adept
Infiltrator
Vanguard
Sentinel
Engineer
Soldier
Now each class effects how you play the game, the Infiltrator for example is an extremely good sniper however up close he can’t take much heat. Each class is restricted to certain weapons; Soldiers however can use every weapon possible making it the easiest class in the game to play with. For my playthrough I used a Vanguard, a sort of half soldier half biotic character (Biotics enable you to throw items etc). Vanguard rocks. Anyway onto the main missions.
The missions in Mass Effect 2 range from good to great. The countless side missions of the first have gone and have been replaced with side missions that actually mean something in 2nd instalment. There is still one dominant main mission in the game however and it acts as the driving force for the various other side missions. The main mission is you preparing and assembling a team to take on and fight the Collectors, the bad guys in the game. Now your team revolves around loyalty. If they are not loyal for certain missions in the end game they may die. I had this happen to me just once in the final mission. In the original game you explored planets with a squad of 2, this hasn’t changed for the sequel and I was somewhat disheartened when I discovered this. For a game with such a wide range of interesting characters being limited to only 2 in combat situations feels somewhat underwhelming. So this brings me onto the loyalty missions themselves. Each mission is individual and tailored to the character it’s about. For example one of the main characters from the first game is hidden in the second under a different name, now this mission involves you fighting your way to him and then helping him defend the point he is at. If you complete the mission you are rewarded with some loyalty points and the character in question will more than likely join your team. The characters that join your team unlock special abilities for your ship. Now this wasn’t a feature that was in the first game however I now think it should have been. Upgrading your ship made you feel something special, I don’t know what but it gave you a sense of awesomeness. The SCI FI nerd in me emerged and I loved the game forever more.
This brings me quite neatly onto the graphics. Mass Effect 2 is one of the best looking games of this generation. The texture popping issues of the first have mostly been removed and in doing so the game has a far more finished feel. Now I cannot comment on the pc version of the game however from what I’ve seen and read there is no noticeable difference (we’re not talking a 360, PS3 Final Fantasy XIII type difference here). The draw distance of the surroundings is fantastic and up close everything is refined and polished. Each planet you visit has an individual look, you can tell a lot of time and effort went into making each one individual, something which let the original down. During the action there are rarely any noticeable frame rate drops and even when there is you don’t loose the sense of immersion. Character models and animations throughout the game are good however you do notice occasional glitches with your squad members. Running into walls and blind firing at nothing were some of the things I noticed most. I felt myself compelled to take on the fight myself and leave the squad behind. One of the major issues I had with the graphics was that I felt the Citadel, the main city in the game was completely bland and boring; I wanted Bioware to expand on the already existing city and turn it into something big the likes of which we have seen in Dragon Age most recently.
Now writing this review has been very difficult, because it’s so incredibly hard not to let any spoilers out, especially for the finale of the game, but here goes. The end of Mass Effect 2 is equal to anything Hollywood has produced in recent years, the sense of achievement you feel for bringing your crew through alive is immense and overwhelming at times, I for one found myself jumping out of my seat at every cut scene hoping that I’d made the right decision. The story of Mass effect 2 leaves you wanting more and I for one cannot wait for the 3rd instalment of the series.
An EPIC 9.6 / 10
Sorry for the review being short however I’m crazily busy at University at the moment.
Mass Effect 2 is a journey and it’s not just any old journey, its one of the finest pieces of SCI FI gaming ever made. So much so that it has set a gaming benchmark at which all future role playing games will be judged against. In much the same way as I think Uncharted 2 represented a genre defining moment for action games, this does it for role playing games.
So onto the game. Now for those of you that didn’t play the original Mass Effect here’s a quick recap: Your commander Shepard, the first human candidate ever to be considered to become part of the elite Spectres. The Spectres are a sort of Gestapo secret police who will do anything to get the job done a sort of Jack Baueresc group. So anyway, you eventually become a Spectre and you start on your task to save civilisation. Now there’s another Spectre, except this ones gone rogue, Saren is the overall antagonist of the game. He’s a rather confused character and this shows at the end of the game where you have to make some vital decisions. Now after completing (if you so choose) a series of quests around different planets you hit the final mission. A mission of such epic proportions I’m not going to spoil it. However I will say this, it’s comparable to something like the Star Wars Endor Battle. Now the decisions in the end of the game do affect the 2nd game so I will try and be very vague. You can either kill or save two main characters in the game. There’s a huge decision where you have to either to keep the Citadel government in power or destroy them and then there is also the decision of whether or not to pursue an emotional and sexual relationship with one of your crew members.
Now one of the main drawbacks of the first Mass Effect game was its beginning, the first hour and a half really dragged. Thankfully Bioware realised this and Mass Effect 2 begins with a bang. I will quite happily compare the intro of this game to the most recent Star Trek film. It’s a ride, and fantastic one at that, showcasing both graphics and story. One thing that stands out throughout the opening hour and a half of the game is the music; this game has one heck of a soundtrack, familiar to the likes of Vangelis Blade Runner and John Williams Star Wars pieces. The first most notable thing you notice about the gameplay now is how much weight your character has along with the new shooting mechanics. Now DICE the makers of the Battlefield series handled the shooting mechanics of the game and it’s extremely noticeable. Throughout most of the game your missions will involve the familiar Gears of War cover and shoot mechanic. Except shooting on Mass Effect now feels really good, whereas before it felt like an afterthought.
At the beginning of the game you have to choose your character class of which there are several. These are:
Adept
Infiltrator
Vanguard
Sentinel
Engineer
Soldier
Now each class effects how you play the game, the Infiltrator for example is an extremely good sniper however up close he can’t take much heat. Each class is restricted to certain weapons; Soldiers however can use every weapon possible making it the easiest class in the game to play with. For my playthrough I used a Vanguard, a sort of half soldier half biotic character (Biotics enable you to throw items etc). Vanguard rocks. Anyway onto the main missions.
The missions in Mass Effect 2 range from good to great. The countless side missions of the first have gone and have been replaced with side missions that actually mean something in 2nd instalment. There is still one dominant main mission in the game however and it acts as the driving force for the various other side missions. The main mission is you preparing and assembling a team to take on and fight the Collectors, the bad guys in the game. Now your team revolves around loyalty. If they are not loyal for certain missions in the end game they may die. I had this happen to me just once in the final mission. In the original game you explored planets with a squad of 2, this hasn’t changed for the sequel and I was somewhat disheartened when I discovered this. For a game with such a wide range of interesting characters being limited to only 2 in combat situations feels somewhat underwhelming. So this brings me onto the loyalty missions themselves. Each mission is individual and tailored to the character it’s about. For example one of the main characters from the first game is hidden in the second under a different name, now this mission involves you fighting your way to him and then helping him defend the point he is at. If you complete the mission you are rewarded with some loyalty points and the character in question will more than likely join your team. The characters that join your team unlock special abilities for your ship. Now this wasn’t a feature that was in the first game however I now think it should have been. Upgrading your ship made you feel something special, I don’t know what but it gave you a sense of awesomeness. The SCI FI nerd in me emerged and I loved the game forever more.
This brings me quite neatly onto the graphics. Mass Effect 2 is one of the best looking games of this generation. The texture popping issues of the first have mostly been removed and in doing so the game has a far more finished feel. Now I cannot comment on the pc version of the game however from what I’ve seen and read there is no noticeable difference (we’re not talking a 360, PS3 Final Fantasy XIII type difference here). The draw distance of the surroundings is fantastic and up close everything is refined and polished. Each planet you visit has an individual look, you can tell a lot of time and effort went into making each one individual, something which let the original down. During the action there are rarely any noticeable frame rate drops and even when there is you don’t loose the sense of immersion. Character models and animations throughout the game are good however you do notice occasional glitches with your squad members. Running into walls and blind firing at nothing were some of the things I noticed most. I felt myself compelled to take on the fight myself and leave the squad behind. One of the major issues I had with the graphics was that I felt the Citadel, the main city in the game was completely bland and boring; I wanted Bioware to expand on the already existing city and turn it into something big the likes of which we have seen in Dragon Age most recently.
Now writing this review has been very difficult, because it’s so incredibly hard not to let any spoilers out, especially for the finale of the game, but here goes. The end of Mass Effect 2 is equal to anything Hollywood has produced in recent years, the sense of achievement you feel for bringing your crew through alive is immense and overwhelming at times, I for one found myself jumping out of my seat at every cut scene hoping that I’d made the right decision. The story of Mass effect 2 leaves you wanting more and I for one cannot wait for the 3rd instalment of the series.
An EPIC 9.6 / 10
Sorry for the review being short however I’m crazily busy at University at the moment.
