Mass Effect 2

I loved the original Mass Effect so I was purposely avoiding most information about Mass Effect 2. Guess if I hadn’t I wouldn’t have been as surprised as I was when I actually started playing Mass Effect 2. The game is such an improvement over the previous title. BioWare has taken all the issues I’ve had with the original game and fixed everything.

First thing you’ll notice when you start up the game is that you’re prompted to sign into the Cerberus Network. The code to sign in, is provided with all new copies of the game. If you bought the game used, you’ll have to pay and additional $15 for access to the network. It’s completely optional, and just a way to make some extra $ off used game sales, but it does contain some nice additions to the game.

The Cerberus network is a news and content delivery system that will provide gamers with additional content and updates. Currently there are 3 add-ons available through the service which provide: a weapon and armor set, a new teammate, and 2 additional missions which can be found in game.

When it’s time to start a new game you can choose a pre-made character, customize your own or load in your Mass Effect 1 character (I found that the game failed at loading in my ME1 character if I wasn’t connected to Xbox Live, so be aware of that).

Loading in your ME1 character earns a TON of rewards. While you can’t use your character exactly as you have before (your experience level is reset) your history and the choices you’ve made are carried over. You’ll also earn experience points, credits, minerals, and some other bonuses.

Some choices affect the game right off the bat. Whether or not you saved the council, and which characters perished in the previous game all come into play and completely change the dialogue throughout the game.

You get the choice to change your character class if you wish to play ME2 as a different class than you played ME1 as.

For new players the game reiterates the story of the previous game and info about your characters past. It also defaults the choices that players made in the first game.

Mass Effect 2 starts off on the Normandy shortly after the events of Mass Effect, the Normandy is suddenly attacked by a new enemy which splits up the team. 2 years later Sheppard accepts help from Cerberus to fight against this new threat and investigate the disappearance of hundreds of thousands of settlers from various human colonies.

When the game starts off the Cerberus facility that Sheppard is in is under assault. Someone has reprogrammed the security robots and they are attacking the personnel within the base. You have to battle through this area and it’s a great showpiece to start off the game.

You’ll notice right away that everything looks and plays better. Overall the game feels WAY more polished than previous BioWare console RPGs. This came as a big shock to me because it’s something that western developers can never get right. Both BioWare and Bethesda RPGs are innovative and fun, but usually bug ridden and glitchy as all hell (even after numerous patches). Mass Effect 2 just feels way more solid. Load times are reduced, there’s no noticeable texture pop-in, and your character moves and shoots much more smoothly.

The combat itself is much more advanced than Mass Effect 1, there’s a cover system added so you can now take cover and shoot from safety. It plays much more like Gears of War, and does it well. Even targeted shots (headshots, arm/leg shots) are registered more accurately and more effective. You have a couple more options for controlling your squad, and it allows more strategic combat.

The usual weapons are also still available (pistol, rifle, shotgun, sniper rifle), but there are also limited ammo heavy weapons as well. You’ll get to try out the new grenade launcher during the first mission.

The interface is cleaner, but one distracting thing is that squad mate show up as floating heads on the bottom of your screen.

There are new mini-games used to unlock lockers or hack terminals. One has you match circuits on a circuit board, and the other has you find the correct pieces of code as they scroll by.

The unique and innovative conversation system returns as well. A couple changes are that during conversations it’s no longer obvious which is a good and evil response. You get points after the conversation, but now more options can affect your renegade and paragon stats that just the options that are highlighted blue and red.

One neat feature is during scenes you can interrupt with a good or evil action, which makes for some very interesting sequences.

Inventory management has taken a backseat as well. There’s not nearly enough trouble going through your inventory and changing equipped weapons and armor. You have to change your equipment for the squad from the equipment lockers on Normandy. You can also access your quarters to change your appearance and check your mail.

The galaxy map is very different. Instead of just choosing a location to go to, you get to move around each system. The amount of fuel you have determines how far you can go in terms of moving from system to system.

It’s no longer necessary to land and drive around on planets that have no relevance to the your missions. Instead you can scan the planets and launch probes. If you see a reading that implies there’s something on the surface there, the probe will take care of the discovery.

It’s a different approach, I thought the original method of landing on each planet and exploring was tedious and could have used some work, but just scanning the planets is very Star Control 3, and I don’t think that’s a better option.

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