Mass Effect 2 Review

I knew before I even played Mass Effect 2 that it would be great. I suppose it’s just one of those games. The last time I knew a game would be just downright top-notch before soiling the box with my dirty paws was Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. So, was I right in presuming this was going to be a great game?

The short answer is no, this game didn’t match my expectations. It delivered to my expectations and was a whole lot better than I ever could have imagined. Before I go any further, I should mention that Mass Effect 2 is a bloody good game that no other Xbox 360 game can rival and the majority of this review can easily be mistaken as a praise-fest where I just compliment the game on all it’s positives and look down with a disgusting look on the ohM-so-rare negatives.

The Mass Effect trilogy is being set up to be one of those epic series’ that everyone needs to play. I always regard the second game in a trilogy to be the utmost importance for the simple fact that it has the hard task of not losing the gamers attention between the start and end of the plot. This, my friend, is where Mass Effect 2 is most effective (see what I did there?).

The story of Mass Effect 2 is gloriously put together. Being part of a trilogy, the most important part of the game is the story. The story gets off to an explosive start. Normandy, the very humble and homely ship is destroyed in a very cinematic attack. It becomes unclear if Shepard is to survive or not, but one thing is for sure: Normandy is history. Say what you like about this next comment, but I experienced the utmost disgust at the fact that Normandy, the greatest piece of machinery to appear in gaming ever is destroyed.

Enter The Illusive Man, head of the organisation called Cerberus, a pro human colony who is out to fight against the Collectors. The Collectors are your biggest enemy and what this game is all about. Encompassed in this intertwining story is the simple fact that your job is to destroy the collectors.

To do this, the idea is to collect up your team of macho monsters and wage war on the Collectors. These tasks will occupy you with your first batch of missions – find the Illustrative Man’s recommendations, and recruit them. In most games, this will probably seem boring, but not in Mass Effect 2. BioWare once again have put their genius minds on a pedestal again by making the most boring and repetitive tasks seem enjoyable.

How, you curiously ask? Because each level is unique, designed to beautiful perfection in the utmost of care from BioWare. I imagine the BioWare team have treated this game like a baby because no stone is left unturned and this is where it’s most expressed.

Telling this epic and legendary tale isn’t a problem either. The cut scenes are beautiful and BioWare’s unique take on enemies are ingeniously interesting. Not only are the cut scenes well paced, to the point and self-explanatory but the voice acting to accompany such masterpieces is also polished quite thorough. These are just some of the RPG elements that BioWare are celebrated for and it’s nice to see the show their face in ME2.

Your recruits are quite dispersed, ranging from galaxy to galaxy so it’ll definitely be hard to travel, especially when the eventual battle commences. At this point, it’s quite clear that Cerberus isn’t some cheap and shabby company. They were quite kind to Shepard, by rebuilding a new ship for all his travel needs – an exact model of the original Normandy. If that wasn’t good enough, Joker, the original Normandy captain makes an appearance and Shepard and Joker decide to fittingly name the new ship Normandy. As though we didn’t see that coming.

The rest of the story will be revealed by a simple search on Google but right now I want to praise some other things (what did I tell ya? Praise fest, I know).

Jacob and Miranda quickly join Shepard and Joker. Jacob is quite negative at the start, but as his dedication grows more and more to the story, he begins to really have faith in the mission. Miranda on the other hand is quite feisty from the get-go. You’ll quickly be joined by a host of other interesting and diverse characters to make up a great, well designed and close nit cast of characters.

They’re not all good though. The enemies are unique and diverse, and you won’t get tired of blasting those pesky mechs. If mechs aren’t your thing though, you’ll be pleased to know that a host of different enemies are all readily available to implant bullets into.

One thing that RPG games need is a good, interactive environment. Mass Effect 2 executes these perfectly. The beautiful and big-number spanning environments really need a standing ovation here. Not only are the gorgeous in a unique sense, but also it’s not the generic theme of destroyed game worlds we see way too often.

You’ll probably ask what my favourite environment is (or maybe not) and I’ll tell you hands down, it’s Normandy. I never really undertake the role-playing aspect of the role-playing game genre. I don’t find adapting the life of a videogame character appealing, especially when my real life is quite busy. I would however, spend countless hours walking around Normandy, as the commander and pretending to boss people around by initiating conversation and then respond with a snotty remark such as “Do you think I have time to be talking?” – how enjoyable.

But in all honesty, the Normandy is slick, advanced and very homely. I just love wandering around, directing my view to all the complicated buttons in the cockpit. That probably sounds strange and that’s maybe because if it was any other game I’d also think it was strange but Mass Effect 2 has an environmental attachment I can’t quite put my finger on.

Not only does Mass Effect 2 do all of the ME2-exclusive stuff right, but the general gameplay standard has risen tremendously with this release.

The cover system is by far my favourite of any game. Some things are left out, such as the ability to tumble but sliding to cover or just popping up for a quick fire of your gun before retreating to safety is easy and effective. You can engage in cover from mostly any part of the environment for those quick enemies that come out of nowhere – the nice and easy gameplay is evident right here.

Shooting is as easy as it is effective. Dropping enemies is quite satisfying and the guns you get to play with are also nice. Everything from grenade launchers to pistols make an appearance, each one bringing something new to the table.

So, what do you buy the man that has everything? What downfall does this seemingly perfect game have? It has to have one at least right?

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Well technically yes, I did notice a few graphical glitches, and sometimes the menu interface can get annoying to some extend due to the loosely based selection tool but other than that, no. The game, in a gameplay sense at least is simply perfect. The environments are beautiful and attaching and the same can be said for the dedicated, quirky and close-nit cast of characters who fights the impressive list of enemies. This game is one tiny distance from video game perfection.