The true sequel that makes up all of the mistakes from the original Mass Effect. This is the best 360 game to date.
Mass Effect 1 was a great game that showed a true storyline and perfect characters and descent gameplay. Nevertheless, Mass Effect was a great experience and a lot of adjustments had to be made.
Mass Effect 2 starts off with action and you play as Commander Shepard from the first game. IF you did beat Mass Effect 1, you could use your character form the first game in your campaign otherwise you can create your own person. You were re-created after an explosion in your old ship and you awake two years later finding that Cerberus wants you to go after the Collectors who are kidnapping human colonies. You take your orders from the Illusive Man who tells you where you need to go. You meet Joker, and get a brand new ship for your disposal. You see a lot of new and fantastic characters that blend into this perfect story. BioWare has done is again with the story. It has a lot of twists and turns and intense scenes that are so unforgettable. One of the problems with Mass Effect 1 was that the technical issues were very poor. Sometimes you would have to restart all over again because the auto-save never helped out. Mass Effect 2, on the other hand, has fixed this problem and the game runs very smoothly. Sometimes the game will pause and it will have to load and there was once I got stuck in cover and had to restart my game but the auto save kicked in right away and I continued just seconds before my glitch.
The gameplay from the first game was okay but not great. Mass Effect 2 brings us the shooting-RPG feel we all wanted from the start. You now use ammo, your health and shields regenerate and the pause menus for the weapons/powers are very simple and can be used quickly. In fact it is quite fun to use these powers. Your arsenal can go from pistols, to rocket launchers (it alternates between what type of person you choose. ex: sodier, bio-specialist) I dialogue in the first game was quite unimportant and the characters just usually stand there and watch. Mass Effect 2 shows the characters moving around when they talk, as if the cutscenes was apart of a movie. In some instances you can do good things or bad things during the scene. This can alter from stopping a teammate from shooting someone to death or throwing a helpless guard out of a window. They are both shocking and rewarding. The campaign will probably take you around 12 hours to complete is you just do the main storyline, I urge you not to do that. You can do side missions which are loyalty quests to help your teammates to trust you more. I did not do a lot of them not because they were boring but I accidentally went into the final mission forgetting about the side missions. I did some of them and they were actually quite fun. I won't spoil anything but I think you should do the loyalty missions. In Mass Effect 1 when you couldn't land on the planet you would use the tank to get around, you do not have that anymore or have any of those instances of driving around which is a great thing. Now you will be escorted into the missions and get right into the mission.
OVERALL: What can I say about Mass Effect 2 but "wow". The story is brilliant and is the best story I have played since the original BioShock. A story of love, friendship, cruelty and leadership makes this space voyage a must play. When I say it is the best game in xbox history, I mean it. Nothing even comes close to this story and perfect characters. Out of all the perfect scores I have given, I am proud to say that Mass Effect 2 takes the #1 spot on my game shelf. I look forward to Mass Effect 3 as the ending scene truly delivers a cliffhanger. If you played Mass Effect 1, loved it, get this game. If you never even played or heard of Mass Effect before, this game is for you. It is a perfect shooter. Nothing I can say more that can show the true perfection of this game.
PRESENTATION: 10
GRAPHICS: 10
SOUND: 10
GAMEPLAY: 10
LASTING APPEAL: 10
OVERALL SCORE: 10