Neither of those RPGs are particularly great, but one of the series' defining traits is the fact that decisions made in the preceding games carry over and impact the second game. They dropped the ball rather badly with most of them, often relegating your choices to relatively insignificant side details in Mass Effect 2. But it strikes me that if you're going to play the series at all, you should probably play it in a way that exploits its advantages.

Barbariser

Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 are two of the greatest games of all time, easily up there with Half-Life, Half-Life 2, Deus Ex, System Shock 2, and Freespace 2, and anyone who says otherwise just doesn't know good games.

It addition to not having a character to import (in which case ME2 defaults to the worst choices you could have made in the first game), you'll have absolutely no idea what's going on in the story.

[QUOTE="SkyWard20"]

[QUOTE="KHAndAnime"] I wouldn't say that - but I would say they most of them aren't good at their jobs. It's interesting to see how far they can be off the mark sometimes. And hey - they review the products of the people that pay for their paychecks - Gee, I wonder why that explains the amount of popular overrated games floating around. Of course, as the balance goes, as some popular games become over rated by reviewers, other good games will get less attention. Of course reviewers will still examine the games to a degree, most of the reviews I've read on this site and others really serve no purpose other to inform you what you can expect from the game. An honest to god judgment of their quality? You'd have to be completely naive to believe that. KHAndAnime

*tin foil hat*

Critics have no incentive to trash a game unless it's really awful. They want to keep their jobs and not piss off the advertisers who provide their companies with revenue. That's why a game has to be truely terrible to get 5's and 6's across the board like Alpha Protocol.

[QUOTE="Avenger1324"][QUOTE="cmdrmonkey45"]I usually avoid games that score below an 8/10 like the plague.cabose38

Well if you compare it to School grades then it makes a bit more sense. An F(0-50) usually means it is not a good game. D no. C. OK. B.Great. 90 Awesome. 100 Perfect.

Exactly. In the American school system, anything below an 80 is considered shameful, and anything below a 70 is failing. This is also how games are rated.

Format and reinstall Windows.

I've literally never had a video card swap go smoothly for me. I've always had weird issues and ended up having to do a clean install.

It will ask you to import your save game from the first game. Buy ME2 now while it's cheap. But finish the first game. If you don't have a save file from ME1, it defaults to some of the worst choices you could have made in the first game.

Save your money. If you have a 5870, you're good to go for quite some time.

However bases there judgement on picking up a game is a complete moron. How can you expect to get the same experience out of games as the reviewers did.. I personally hated Mass Effect 2 soo much and Loved The first one to death based on the inventory, and how you upgraded your guns and what not. ME2 sucks so much compared to what it could of been if they kept that system which apparently everyone hated. And pretty much every AAA title that came out this year that I've played Ive hated.. red dead, me2, halo reach, id say black ops too but i haven't touched the single player. Reviews are suppose to give you an overlook on what the game has to offer, then they rate it based on there opinion on the game. I honnestly haven't looked into this game at all so i cant say whether its good or not but I usually look at reviews, quick looks, gameplay vids etc. to see if its something I would like. I might pick it up but i think ill get that patrion IV game or w/e its called over it just cause it sounds so awesome. lol but ill gotta look into AP first. SLUSHiNaToR

Unless you have some aversion to amazingly good games, I find it hard to believe that anyone could not like Mass Effect 2.

[QUOTE="cmdrmonkey45"]

[QUOTE="agpickle"] You're missing out on a lot then.

KillerJuan77

Like what?

Like pretty much every single game out there that isn't a over-hyped title -_-

More like Big Rigs and Stalin vs Martians. But I'm sure you'll probably find people on here who think those are underappreciated gems too.

[QUOTE="cmdrmonkey45"]I usually avoid games that score below an 8/10 like the plague.Avenger1324

Which is why something would have to be pretty horrible to score a 6/10.