Mass Effect 2 - Quick Review For Xbox 360 and PC

Bioware has really come good with their sequel to Mass Effect. Mass Effect 2 is one of the best looking games to have come out this year, which is both technically and graphically superior to its predecessor. Having gone through the game a couple of times, what surprised me was how Bioware managed to come up with something so epic in just over two years, since the original Mass Effect was realeased in November 2007. And it’s not just Mass Effect 2 they were developing for the past couple of years. Last November saw the realease of the critically acclaimed Dragon Age: Origins, which wasn’t a normal game by any standard, so Bioware can be seen as one of the most efficient of developers’ recently. Don’t even get me started on Valve and Half-Life 2: Episode Three!

When I heard last year that Mass Effect 2 was going to be built on the Unreal Engine 3, I have to say that I was a bit dissapointed, since its predecessor was also built using the same engine. But upon playing the game, I could see a massive graphical improvement to other games using Unreal Technology, meaning that Bioware had been giving the engine a thorough graphical update. The shooting mechanics have been improved, such as a superior cover system, regenerating health which is the norm these days, and intelligent squad mates who actually seek cover. I was a bit annoyed with the thermal clips since my assault rifle always seemed to run out of ammo quickly, but the heavy weapon system contained some really cool unique weapons, such as the Collector Beam. Exploring uncharted worlds on the Mako has been replaced by mineral-mining mini-games, which can feel repetitive after scanning a couple dozen worlds, but tracking an anomaly with the scanner provided some excitement though I didn’t come across many. The most impact on the story would be if you continue with an imported Commander Shepard from Mass Effect 1. Just play and experience it, for I have no words!

The most exciting aspect of Mass Effect 2 are the NPCs: in particular, Shepard’s team-mates. Voice acted superbly with an all-star cast, you will be delighted to hear some voices, such as the Illusive Man’s. What really hooked me up was that I actually began to care for my team-mates. ‘SPOILER ALERT’. For example, on the final mission inside the collector base, I was given some choices on which squad member to send through a vent to open a blast door. If you haven’t already played, you must be thinking that it must have been an easy decision to make, but believe me, it’s not. Since Jacob (one of my team-mates) volunteered, I sent him through, but once the blast door was opened and everyone was inside, Jacob ran into trouble closing the door beause he wasn’t a tech-expert, and was eventually killed by a headshot from a Collector. Later I learned that if I had sent in Tali (another team-mate) through the vent, who WAS the tech-expert, this could have been avoided, but I was romantically involved with her so I couldn’t bring myself to do it. (I started a relationship with her because I actually wanted to see what she looked like under her mask!). It’s not just romance. You WILL actually care for other squad mates too. This just shows how careful the decisions you take must be.

‘SPOILER ALERT’. But there was one flaw which I still can’t forget. After recruiting the geth called Legion, I got this great idea. I wanted to go to the Citadel with my geth team mate, because I saw increased security due to geth during one of my earlier visits there. My plan was to shock the inhabitants of the Citadel, but it was me who got shocked. I couldn't believe Bioware forgot this because no one gave a damn about my geth team-mate. I intentionally spoke to the woman at the customs checkpoint in the hope of a dialog regarding Legion, but there was none. Same went for Captain Bailey and Councillor Anderson, (I played an imported Shepard where I made him the Councillor in the first game). Not even a word about a geth walking in the citadel by an inhabitant! You will understand better if you had played Mass Effect 1. But I forgave Bioware easily because the rest of the game is simply superb, and I hope they will not make a similar flaw in their upcoming games.

All in all, this is a game that all you Xbox 360 and PC gamers should definitely get your hands on, if you haven’t already! Hopefully it will come for the Playstation 3 soon. So happy gaming and look out for my next review, most probably going to be for Bioshock 2!