Wednesday 31 March 2010

Review: Mass Effect 2



To say I am a Mass Effect Fan would probably be an understatement, so I was very much looking forward to this release. Sequels are very tricky to get right, as from a publisher/developer stand point you want to give the fans what they want as well as make it new and not feel like it’s just more of the same. So was I going to be disappointed by Mass Effect 2? The answer in short is not likely!
The story follows on directly from the first game and makes you feel like you've hardly been away, it's a strong story as well. The new characters are introduced well and while you may not feel as close to them as you did to Wrex, Garrus, Kaiden, Tali, Liara and Ashley you do still build up a relationship with them. I think that a lot of the reason you don't feel close to them is because there are more. In the first game there were 6 fellow crew mates that you could choose from, but in this game you have 10, 11 if you have the DLC, characters to choose from.
The level system, has been changed as well you no longer get experience from killing enemies but from completing the missions, and the weapons system now relies on upgrades. However the use of guns has also been changed, you now have ammo, in the form of heat clips, to consider. This is explained in a codex that you pick up, I personally think the idea works, but I don't like it as it's a distraction. You also have to upgrade the weapons using resources that you mine from a planet’s surface. Technically it's a little mini game but I found it tedious and boring after a while. It was the weakest part of the game for me, but I have thought of a way to make it better. A scan of the entire planet  could be done from orbit, much like the first one and a probe launched from the ship the mine would be self maintained with the player swinging by at a later time to pick up the resources collected in their absence. the amount collected would depend on how rich the supply is. Side missions could also call for the player to defend a mine.
I really enjoyed playing Mass Effect 2. The story is really strong and should lead well into Mass Effect 3, especially after the cliff-hanger at the end of the game. However I did have to stop playing I was trying to work on the Insanity achievement but I got stuck so before I ended up hating the game I moved on to something else.

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