An ideal sequel which evolves ideas from the original while sending the series in exciting new directions
Mass Effect 2 begins with a blast.Literally.Speaking anything about it can be potentially spoiling for those who haven't played it yet. Needless to say, the opening sequence is like one cool breeze which makes the fans of the original not only feel at home but also find that very home falling apart into pieces. It's exhilarating, breath-taking and emotional to say the least. For the sequel, you step back into the shoes of Commander Shepard once again. It's been 2 years since you saved the Citadel from Saren and the Reaper's attack and things have changed. A lot.
This is a recurring theme that runs deep throughout ME2. From the very beginning, the player is given a feeling that though they had saved the Citadel from a huge catastrophe in the first game, things in the galaxy are far from alright. A lot of things have changed in the two years after that which not only changes allegiances of Shepard but also the players' notion of who were allies and who weren't.
Shepard is tasked by the charismatic and enigmatic leader of Cerberus, a pro-human organization, the Illusive Man wh is excellently voiced by Michael Sheen to investigate the recent disappearances of entire human colonies. The allegiance between Shepard and Illusive Man is clearly a situational one and the game does a great job in bringing out the tension and conflict in their conversations.
The plot in ME2 is wafer-thin. From the very beginning your final goal is laid out clear in front of you. Its simply upto you how you choose to approach that goal and in what manner. You'll be recruiting loyal and powerful members into your crew in the newly fashioned Normandy while earning their loyalty. That is basically ME2's story in a nutshell. But ME2 isn't merely that. Like Empire Strikes Back, it may not have a long story but what it lacks in plot content it makes up in it's effort in evolving the setting. ME2's story moulds the galaxy into something very different from what we knew in the original. A lot of races are excellently developed and their background is more fleshed out in ME2. A lot may not change on the surface by the time ME2 ends, but the intricacies of the galaxy and allegiances will be more fleshed out to the player. It's a finely nuanced and well-balanced narration that makes ME2 an engaging experience even when it comes to it's story even if the plot progression is hardly anything to talk about.
Another thing that ME2 takes from Empire Strikes Back is the general mood. ME2 is a more grim and grittier tale than the original. While the original was more brighter both in it's mood and tone, the sequel adopts a darker tone. It doesn't hesitate in delving into grim things clearly seen during some of the Collector base sequences. Insanity, paranoia, depression and hideous treachery are mere few themes that the sequel brushes across. In terms of art style, ME2 prefers the darker colours like black and red compared to significantly brighter ones in ME1.
But that isn't the only thing that's changed in the two years since the original. Combat in ME2 receives probably the biggest revamp with it essentially dropping all it's slow,clunky, RPG dice-roll shooting mechanics in favour of the faster, more exciting mechanics of a proper third-person shooter. BioWare has had no experience with shooters besides MDK2 but that was a decade back. Adopting Gears of War-esque cover mechanics while staying true to the squad-based and radial menu heavy combat of the original wasn't going to be any easy task. Surprisingly BioWare does almost a flawless job in transitioning the series into a full-fledged shooter. While this may come as a disappointment to some RPG fans, I think ME as a series was always designed to as a shooter, it's good to see ME2 finally living upto it's destiny.
Besides the change in the general shooting, the cover mechanics have become a lot sharper and better compared to the original's clumsy mechanics. That said, ME2 isn't a pure, full-fledged shooter. It has stayed true to the original's significant tactical side to it's combat and BioWare has cleverly designed the combat sequences such that proper amounts of shooting along with using the radial menu and commanding your two squadmates are essential in guiding your team to victory.
To complement the change in focus of ME2's combat, BioWare has also dumped the Overheating feature of guns from ME1. Instead using a clever Codex trick, ME2 introduces Heat Clips which are nothing but ammo in the system. These heat clips are universal and they work for all the weapons you have. All these changes significantly improve the combat making it easily one of the best all-round elements of the game and a huge improvement from the original. However not every change will draw a similar reaction from Mass Effect's fanbase. From the very first you get the feel that BioWare is intent on tackling the flaws of the original by making some changes. They did a great job with the combat, but not every change will draw a similar, unanimous reaction from Mass Effect's fanbase.
One of the more controversial changes in ME2 is the complete absence of a conventional inventory. The inventory in ME1 was a clunky messed up one and managing it was quite a chore. However BioWare instead of working on improving the inventory interface have completely removed it. This change has a sort of domino effect on it's subsequent systems. It not only has repercussions on general absence of inventory management but it also leads to removal of loot. ME2 has no loot or very little. What loot is essentially stripped down is mining minerals and weapon and armour upgrades. This also means that the Medi-Gel and Omni-Gel are made useless and the combat basically adopts the shooter-influenced regenerative health and shields. This may be shocking to some RPG purists but such a change purely boils down to a matter of opinion.
The Ability/Level-Up screen has seen some changes as well. Now each class has an Ability that is unique to it. But it also introduces ammo abilities which may not exactly please everyone. Weapon and Armour Upgrade system receive a slight revamp. Since inventory no longer exists, they have been stripped to basically two counters on the Normandy. Upgrades are more like a linear progression rather than "select the mods you want" method used in the first game. There are Normandy Upgrades this time around as well. While they may not have an immediate impact on your combat, they play a greater role in the story.There is also a restriction on the number of weapons you can carry at a time. You can basically carry three weapons – two basic and one heavy weapon. The heavy weapons have been newly introduced in ME2 serving as heavy punches to the enemy also adding a more flashier element into the combat.
The monetary system has seen some changes in ME2 as well. Credits are no longer necessary for Weapon Upgrades. Instead minerals have taken a greater precedence over credits with them serving as the chief requirement in upgrading weapons, armour and Normandy's technology. This basically demotes credits to buying fuel and probes.
Perhaps the biggest change besides the combat in ME2 is the planetary exploration – or rather lack of it. Shockingly so, BioWare have removed one of the core elements of exploration in the first game which was often criticized mainly for the horrible controls of the buggy-like vehicle Mako and the rather bland planet surfaces. The removal of planetary exploration is a disappointing thing since BioWare only needed to work on Mako's controls instead of completely chucking the whole integral element out of the game.
This becomes even more unforgivable when planetary exploration is instead substituted by one of the most boring mini-games which require you to scan and mine the planets for minerals. So you basically move your reticle until the scanner detects the high concentration of any of the four minerals. It's so mind-numbingly boring that it easily stands out as a singular sore point in the entire game. Plus it's something you can't avoid and hence a mini-game that is already boring is forced down your throat.
Occasionally when scanning planets you'll discover an anomaly. This is nothing but an indicator that there's a "hideout" or a sidequest on this planet surface. The game automatically transports you to the entrance of the hideout and exploration goes completely out of the window. Long story short, exploration is something you will not find in ME2 and is probably one of the biggest and most visible flaws in the game.
The sidequest design is much more varied this time. It's a more varied from the standard – infiltrate the hideout and kill the baddies that was overused in the first game. This time around there are missions which take place in wildly different outdoor environments –ranging from a foggy swamp where the only visibility is from the light of a beacon to missions where almost no combat is involved. It adds in a lot of variety compared to the rather repetitive sidequests of the first. However, ME2's sidequests are disjointed and often have no relation at all to the main quest. This gives you more of a feeling of an errand boy than anything else. ME1's sidequests while repetitive atleast had a lot more content and background with them related to the main story. So basically ME2's sidequests have gained and lost different things in equal proportions.
It might also annoy few RPG purists that ME2's missions end on a "Mission Report" screen rather than you witnessing the outcomes of the mission yourself.
This finally brings us to the characters. Since ME2's plot structure is basically laid down right at the beginning and involves mostly hiring mercenaries and gaining their loyalty, the characters play a key role in how interesting the game is. Luckily, ME2's characters are decent enough to hold your attention. Some of them will returning from the original game will immensely please the fans of the original. These are also the characters who are easily the strongest from the cast. From the newer ones, some of my personal favourites were Thane,Mordin and Legion. Besides hiring them, the game also tells you that earning their loyalty through personal sidequests is also important.
The cast is a mixed bag. Most of them are characters you'll think good of but not someone you'll really connect or care about. Besides the ones mentioned above I thought all the other characters in ME2 were pretty mediocre or at times even horrible. For a developer whose pedigree in character-development is as solid as BioWare, the cast of ME2 is pretty lightweight and probably one of the weaker ones amongst all the games developed by BioWare.
For the purpose of eye-candy, armour is customizable down to the colour, the armour accessories and helmet. This doesn't add any special attributes nor does help you in combat. The game still follows the Paragon-Renegade system which is similar of a stark good-bad system leaving little room in between for the grey. Many familiar faces will also return in ME2 and the game constantly keeps referencing to the events and the subseqent events in the first game. Even decisions made in the original are imported to the sequel.ME2 like a true sequel, follows-up faithfully from the original and to completely enjoy the sequel, you need to play through the original atleast once. It's not entirely necessary but it's highly recommended that you play ME1.
Conversation was one of the original's biggest strengths and it has been further refined in the sequel. Now the conversations are a lot more dynamic often shot from stylish cinematic angles and NPCs interacting with the environment. Triggers are a new feature to conversations in the sequel. During certain events, you'll be given an indication that you're able to perform Conversation Triggers. If it's a Paragon, then pressing Left Trigger or if it's Renegade pressing Right Trigger initiates an immediate response from Shepard to the person he's conversing with that goes along with the nature of the trigger. Paragon Triggers may be something like helping an injured civilian while Renegade Triggers may be something brash like punching someone in the face. You may also choose to outrightly ignore these triggers which will continue the conversation but on a slightly different path. This adds a whole new layer of interactivity in conversations and it's good to see BioWare introducing such an element in the game.
The entire game and its surrounding hype builds up to the suicide mission in the end and regardless of what may happen it is something that does not disappoint. If one thing can be said for sure, if ME2 begins with an exciting opening, it sure closes in an equally exciting manner leaving you thirsting for more Mass Effect-goodness.
Mass Effect 2 is in many ways is almost an ideal sequel. It builds up the raw ideas of the original and builds upon it in interesting manner with varying degrees of success. The combat has definitely changed for the better making it a lot more exciting part of the game rather than the slow chore it had become in the original. There are changes –lack of inventory and planetary exploration in particular, which don't go well and feel more like BioWare trying to avoid the issues rather than trying to tackle them. The story may not have progressed the series by much, but ME2 certainly changes a lot of elements in the universe and fleshes them out a lot more. It plays its role as the middle part of the trilogy admirably.Mass Effect 2 is an ideal sequel in many ways evolving and developing ideas from the original, while progressing the series in exciting new directions.