Mass Effect 2 review
Mass Effect 2 is the second installment of the highly acclaimed Sci-fi franchise by Bioware. For the second game, Bioware took a look at the feedback they'd recieved from Mass Effect 1, in order to know where they had to improve. Because of this. Mass Effect 2 has much tighter gunplay, which is a lot more responsive than before, however it also lacks the vehicle segements from the first game. So today I'll take a look at it, and see whether these changes and others help or hurt the game.
As I mentioned in the intro, the gameplay has clearly been a focus for Bioware, as it's a much more fluid experience, the cover system has seen major improvements and minigames invovled with hacking have been changed as well, now any class is able to hack into things, however there is no option to use omni-gel to bypass the minigames anymore, in fact, omni-gel seems to be missing from the game completely. The inventory system is also gone, meaning you'll be spending less time managing your inventory and won't have to worry about breaking down really good items into omni-gel because you didn't have enough space, as both the inventory and omni-gel are gone now. One new system introduced in Mass Effect 2, is the Thermal Clip system. In the first game, while your gun had unlimited ammo, it was prone to overheating. This meant the player would often find themselves sitting in cover waiting for their guns to cool down so they could continue fighting. The Thermal Clip system means that now, when a gun gets to the threshold of overheating, you instead eject a thermal clip, allowing you to continue firing without interruption, however the guns can't fire when you run out of thermal clips. This means that unlimited ammunition has been traded for a faster firing rate and better accuracy. Another new feature added to Mass Effect 2, was Paragon/Renegade interrupts. This expands on the morality system introduced in the first game, by allowing people to interrupt conversations at certain points with either a paragon or a renegade action, these can range from making a snide remark, punching someone or brutally killing a group of people. They help make conversations feel less static as it seems like Shepard is making decisions in the moment, rather than just having pre-meditated responses. It also makes gaining Paragon or Renegade points easier, as you'll have more opportunites to gain Paragon and Renegade points, thanks to this new system.
Moving on to the story, Mass Effect 2 takes place 2 years after the first game. Commander Shepard is hunting for Geth activity in the Terminus systems when their ship is attacked by an unknown vessel. The Normandy is shot down and Shepard is killed. Their body is recovered by the rogue Human splinter group, Cerberus who then proceeds to bring them back to life. While this is certainly an explosive way to start the game, it does become quite clear that the sole reason this whole 'died and was rebuilt' part of the story was included was so that there was an excuse for Shepard deciding to work for Cerberus. From there Shepard learns of mysterious attacks on Human colonies, where there is no evidence of fighting, just the vanishing of the entire population. Shepard is tasked by the head of Cerberus, The Illusive Man, to find out who or what is causing these mass vanishings. From there Shepard gallavants around the galaxy picking up various squad mates to aid in their mission. As well as upgrading their ship for the final suicide mission. The story on its own is pretty good, the characters are all fleshed out quite well and it's nice seeing returning faces amongst the cast. Part of the problem of Mass Effect 2's story, is that being in the middle of a trilogy, it's quite clear that it's pretty much filler. A majority of the story is spent recruiting people and upgrading your ship, weapons and armour.Thankfully there are quite a number of interesting side quests to complete, so even if the main campaign is a little weak there should be plenty to keep you interested. One nice addition to the story is Loyalty missions, these are optional side missions in the game, that are given to you by your team. Complete them and your teammate will become loyal. Increasing their chances of survival in the final mission. Ship upgrades and your own planning will also affect the likelyhood of your crews survival, which really helps raise the stakes of the game, as unlike in Mass Effect 1, even Shepard can die in the ending.
Overall, Mass Effect 2 is a very fun and engaging game, while the lack of vehicle sections and somewhat weak plot are a bit of a shame, they aren't glaring enough flaws that'll leave you angry or frustrated. There are a few glitches you may encounter in the game, as it is an Open world game, but otherwise it's very polished. the PC controls need some work as I found them somewhat counter-intuative and it took a bit of getting used to. I was somewhat saddened at the downsizing of some areas of the game, for instance, the Presidium from Mass Effect 1, is now only 1 room large, and it isn't even a big room, it was a terrible disappointment, especially as you can see the areas you used to walk around in ME1 from a balcony in the room. But in the end, I'd say that Mass Effect 2 is well worth a purchase. The charming characters, varied locations, hours and hours of gameplay and massively improved gunplay all help elevate this title to a fantastic shooter, even now 8 years later it still holds up well.
If you would like to purchase a copy of Mass Effect 2, then follow the link below:
Mass Effect 2 - Xbox 360
As I mentioned in the intro, the gameplay has clearly been a focus for Bioware, as it's a much more fluid experience, the cover system has seen major improvements and minigames invovled with hacking have been changed as well, now any class is able to hack into things, however there is no option to use omni-gel to bypass the minigames anymore, in fact, omni-gel seems to be missing from the game completely. The inventory system is also gone, meaning you'll be spending less time managing your inventory and won't have to worry about breaking down really good items into omni-gel because you didn't have enough space, as both the inventory and omni-gel are gone now. One new system introduced in Mass Effect 2, is the Thermal Clip system. In the first game, while your gun had unlimited ammo, it was prone to overheating. This meant the player would often find themselves sitting in cover waiting for their guns to cool down so they could continue fighting. The Thermal Clip system means that now, when a gun gets to the threshold of overheating, you instead eject a thermal clip, allowing you to continue firing without interruption, however the guns can't fire when you run out of thermal clips. This means that unlimited ammunition has been traded for a faster firing rate and better accuracy. Another new feature added to Mass Effect 2, was Paragon/Renegade interrupts. This expands on the morality system introduced in the first game, by allowing people to interrupt conversations at certain points with either a paragon or a renegade action, these can range from making a snide remark, punching someone or brutally killing a group of people. They help make conversations feel less static as it seems like Shepard is making decisions in the moment, rather than just having pre-meditated responses. It also makes gaining Paragon or Renegade points easier, as you'll have more opportunites to gain Paragon and Renegade points, thanks to this new system.
Moving on to the story, Mass Effect 2 takes place 2 years after the first game. Commander Shepard is hunting for Geth activity in the Terminus systems when their ship is attacked by an unknown vessel. The Normandy is shot down and Shepard is killed. Their body is recovered by the rogue Human splinter group, Cerberus who then proceeds to bring them back to life. While this is certainly an explosive way to start the game, it does become quite clear that the sole reason this whole 'died and was rebuilt' part of the story was included was so that there was an excuse for Shepard deciding to work for Cerberus. From there Shepard learns of mysterious attacks on Human colonies, where there is no evidence of fighting, just the vanishing of the entire population. Shepard is tasked by the head of Cerberus, The Illusive Man, to find out who or what is causing these mass vanishings. From there Shepard gallavants around the galaxy picking up various squad mates to aid in their mission. As well as upgrading their ship for the final suicide mission. The story on its own is pretty good, the characters are all fleshed out quite well and it's nice seeing returning faces amongst the cast. Part of the problem of Mass Effect 2's story, is that being in the middle of a trilogy, it's quite clear that it's pretty much filler. A majority of the story is spent recruiting people and upgrading your ship, weapons and armour.Thankfully there are quite a number of interesting side quests to complete, so even if the main campaign is a little weak there should be plenty to keep you interested. One nice addition to the story is Loyalty missions, these are optional side missions in the game, that are given to you by your team. Complete them and your teammate will become loyal. Increasing their chances of survival in the final mission. Ship upgrades and your own planning will also affect the likelyhood of your crews survival, which really helps raise the stakes of the game, as unlike in Mass Effect 1, even Shepard can die in the ending.
Overall, Mass Effect 2 is a very fun and engaging game, while the lack of vehicle sections and somewhat weak plot are a bit of a shame, they aren't glaring enough flaws that'll leave you angry or frustrated. There are a few glitches you may encounter in the game, as it is an Open world game, but otherwise it's very polished. the PC controls need some work as I found them somewhat counter-intuative and it took a bit of getting used to. I was somewhat saddened at the downsizing of some areas of the game, for instance, the Presidium from Mass Effect 1, is now only 1 room large, and it isn't even a big room, it was a terrible disappointment, especially as you can see the areas you used to walk around in ME1 from a balcony in the room. But in the end, I'd say that Mass Effect 2 is well worth a purchase. The charming characters, varied locations, hours and hours of gameplay and massively improved gunplay all help elevate this title to a fantastic shooter, even now 8 years later it still holds up well.
If you would like to purchase a copy of Mass Effect 2, then follow the link below:
Mass Effect 2 - Xbox 360
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