Introduction:
Most of the experienced gamers will have heard of classics like Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Baldur's Gate and the more recently released great titles like Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect. All of these games were successful and all of them were made by BioWare… never thought I'd say this, but this is the only game company that has fully gained my trust. After completing Mass Effect 2, I am convinced that I can trust BioWare with any project and that they won't screw up any game they make in the near future - these guys are the professionals. Mass Effect started the trilogy, giving us a look at what the universe looks like, what species are dominant, what's going on in the galaxy and thanks to that game, we now know all of the characters we will need to know to play the rest of the series. Mass Effect 2 continues where Mass Effect left off, filling in that missing chapter in the story of Mass Effect and also showing us what a REAL near-perfect game is like.
Review:
Mass Effect 2 picks up right after Mass Effect. Everyone believes that the Reaper threat is gone, but Shepard knows that the near destruction of the Citadel was just the beginning and the real battle is about to begin. Fans of the first game will be familiar with the story and, yes, there will be a lot of familiar faces reappearing. The game starts off on the Normandy, you are attacked by an unknown enemy. Watching your whole ship get burned to pieces and Shepard die right at the start of the game after a few minutes of gameplay and cut-scenes has quite an impact on you, but I believe it will be only half as dramatic for people new to the series.
After this "intro", you will be able to create your character. You can either import a character from ME1 or create a totally new character. However, if you choose to import a character from the first game, you can keep your looks or you can change them. The game will be an even better experience because the choices you made in tough situations in ME1 will have an enormous impact on the first few chapters of the main story and some side missions. Another great thing about importing a character is that if your character was a high level in ME1, he will get a head start in ME2 (my character was level 56 in ME1 - in ME2, I started with level 3 thanks to that). Same goes for credits, you will get a few thousand credits to start you off if you were rich in ME1. This is one of the reasons I recommend you to go back and get a copy of Mass Effect, complete it and only then play ME2.
But if you decide to create a totally new character, you get to choose your sex, customize your appearance in great detail, pick a class, a background, why you were famous in the Alliance and a first name for your character (last name is Shepard, this is who you are playing as, a former commander of the Human Alliance). The classes vary and affect your gameplay, the character creation tool is fantastic in detail and a lot of the dialog in the game is affected by your character's gender. There are six classes to chose from:
Adept - The Biotic Specialist - The Adept is not as effective at using weapons as most of the other classes, but the best at using Biotics (Biotics allow you to pick your enemies up, rip them apart or hurt them with shockwaves using Biotic powers).
Soldier - The Combat Specialist - The most effective at using weapons but is unable to use Biotics or Tech powers at all unless by gaining new powers later on in the game. The Soldier is tough and receives the best weapon training, but simple and lacks some useful additional abilities.
Engineer - The Tech Specialist - Not as effective at using weapons and has no Biotic powers either, but this is by no means a bad choice. The Engineer can dispatch Combat Drones to aid in the fight against the enemy and some other special powers.
Vanguard - Biotic/Combat - My first choice and my favourite class. The Vanguard is a mix of the Soldier and Adept. While they are more Combat oriented, they still gain a few very powerful Biotic powers.
Sentinel - Tech/Biotic - The Sentinel is a good choice, but can also prove to be a bad one. With this class, you gain many abilities (an Adept mixed with an Engineer) but you lack some important advanced combat training.
Infiltrator - Tech/Combat - My second favourite choice, the Infiltrator, being the most rogue-like class of ME2. With this class, you will be the most effective when using the Sniper Rifle and you can also turn on the "cloak" to become invisible to your enemies for a short period of time.
As you can see, Mass Effect 2 has the same classes as Mass Effect, but this is by no means a weakness. Also, the classes are not really the same, but they are based on the outlines of the old classes. These classes come with lots of new abilities and training. It's a lot more simple and easy to choose for people who played the first Mass Effect because they will be familiar with the same names, but also surprised to find lots of new and useful content like new powers and abilities.
Going back to the story, after you've finished creating your character, you will find yourself on an attacked space station. For all you know, you died during the attack on the Normandy and now you wake up here, attacked by robots on a space station which later is identified as a Cerberus research facility. By many, Cerberus is believed to be an evil, anti-alien company who are known for their ruthless methods of achieving success. Once you get off the station, all becomes clear. The Lazarus Project started by Cerberus was what brought Shepard (you) back to life for only one purpose… save humanity from a new threat, the Collectors. Can you trust Cerberus? Will you succeed?
The story of Mass Effect 2 is beautiful, un-expected and at times, even terrifying. While at first, it might seem a bit straight-forward, especially to the new fans of the series. But later on in the game, the story will get complicated, more interesting and will hook you in with incredible strength. If you have completed ME1, you will literally love Mass Effect 2, especially its story and the characters.
This brings up another topic, the characters. To complete, the "Suicide Mission", Shepard must gather a team of the meanest, the toughest and the greatest. The characters you will have to find and convince them to join you will be very interesting and some of them will be so deep and greatly designed that you will get attached to them. When you aren't continuing the work on the Collectors, scanning any planets for additional recourses or completing side missions, you will be able to talk to your crew on the Normandy SR2 (the new, rebuilt, better, faster and stronger Normandy). You can talk to them about their thoughts on the mission, if they could help in any way by giving you upgrades or just talk to them about personal stuff. With some of your team mates, you will be able to develop relationships and it's up to you how you will treat your crew.
Once you have talked to a member of your crew enough that they trust you, they will ask you for a favour and this will lead to a Loyalty Mission with them. These "Loyalty Missions" are a great addition to the game. The missions will vary depending on the companion and they can always end differently depending on your actions during the missions (sometimes it's as big as either stopping your team mate from shooting someone or convincing them to do it). They are well designed and they add on to the game's content, making it just better and allowing you to see what might have happened in your crew's past, whether its through conversations or cut-scenes. Most of those are quite big, last about an hour or two and are very interesting thanks to the well-designed character personalities.
There is also lots of other side missions not connected to the main story at all or some connected to it even more than you think. These are an improvement over the not as interesting side missions in ME1. They are a lot more unique and exciting. Not to forget that you have whole galaxies to explore, most of those containing at least one main planet/space station, connected to the main mission in some way and including a lot of side missions to complete. How you complete these side missions might change your "Alignment".
While there is no good or bad in Mass Effect 2, there are two meters: a Paragon meter and a Renegade meter. The Paragon meter fills up every time you do a heroic/good action - the Renegade meter fills up every time you do an evil/bad action. Some cut-scenes/conversations (in this game, conversations are like cut scenes) might be interactive. Whether it's pressing the right-mouse-button to push someone through a window or pressing the left-mouse-button to stop one of your crew members from shooting someone in cold blood. These actions will also fill up your Paragon and Renegade meters.
The visuals in ME2 are fantastic. During your missions, you will travel all around the galaxy, visiting harsh and beautiful environments. These locations vary from calm, small, colonized planets to gigantic cities with tall sky-scrapers reaching the sky, transport shuttles flying above you and the noise of music coming from nightclubs filled with thugs and thieves, waiting for you to make a bad move. I loved the environments in Mass Effect 2 so much that I would call them artistic.
In Mass Effect, there was quite an annoying inventory system. Could have been improved a lot, but it worked. In Mass Effect 2, BioWare decided to get rid of the inventory. Instead, you can now access your armour and weapons before every mission and choose the ones you wish to take. There are more weapon types, including SMG's and Heavy Weapons, but there is less weapons themselves. Also, there is only one armour in the game (DLC, pre-ordered versions and special versions add a few more unique ones). This sounds horrible, but it's actually better. You can now customize your armour, the patterns on it, the material and also totally change its looks by buying different parts which also give you some special effects, like better shields, damage etc. This is another improvement over ME1.
Mass Effect 2 is an action-packed game. The combat feels a lot more fresh and is a lot more challenging than the way it used to be in Mass Effect. There are some calm moments, like talking to your companions, but these are interesting thanks to the fact that the characters have interesting stories and are great themselves. You can also scan every planet you fly by. While scanning and sending probes, you will gain the things required for upgrades. These upgrades can help you on your mission, strengthen your ship and also some of them, give you additional damage, health, shields or modify your weapons. You can also gain credits by completing missions, hacking terminals or scanning equipment found during your missions. Hacking terminals to gain the credits requires you to complete short hacking mini-games which are better than the ones in ME1 but take a bit longer to complete. The credits are basically money - you can spend them on more upgrades, new pieces of armour or maybe even a space hamster for your Cabin on the Normandy! Other things you might find during missions can be completely new weapons.
The sound in this game is fabulous. The voice acting is mostly great, with only a few odd lines here and there, most of the characters sound fantastic, can be heard clearly and the voice actors did a great job. I heard that some people complained that Mike Meer (the voice actor of the male Shepard) wasn't emotional enough while saying his lines and always sounds like this tough guy - I actually think he's done a good job, he makes Shepard sound like I imagined him - mission before everything type of guy. The music in the game is incredible, it suits the mood and during the last mission, it makes your hair stand up and feels epic because it just fits the mood so well.
Conclusion:
Mass Effect 2 is an incredible and amazing Role-Playing Action Shooter. It is the best shooter and role-playing game ever released by BioWare. It is a fantastic sequel, an improvement over Mass Effect in every way. Mass Effect 2 is full of action, it's a very cinematic game. At times, it will be so cinematic, you will feel like watching a movie! There is nearly no bad things about this game at all (overlooking the scanning of planets, which is a nice addition but gets boring after an hour of scanning through worlds). If you still haven't played Mass Effect, go to your nearest game store and pick up a copy. Beat ME1, then buy this game. If you have completed Mass Effect, then buy this game, order it right now if you can. But trust me, whatever you do, it will always be better if you completed the first Mass Effect.
Pros:
+ Engrossing story with amazing characters
+ Great shooting action with abilities and a great cover system
+ Squad members that you can easily get attached to
+ Streamlined armour and weapons selection
+ Many improvements made over Mass Effect
+ Awesome conversations with cool choices
+ Beautiful soundtracks and environments
Cons:
- Scanning mini game gets tedious fast
- Customization options of the cabin on your ship weren't taken further
- Story, while better presented, lacks depth compared to its predecessor
OVERALL RATING – 9.5/10 (Incredible)
NEW GS RATING – 9/10