Mass Effect 2: The Good, the Bad, and the Collectors
http://gryphonosiris.blogspot.com/2010/02/mass-effect-2-good-bad-and-collectors.htmlIt seems to be the time for sequels. We have Uncharted 2, Assassin’s Creed 2, Bioshock 2, and Mass Effect 2. Besides all being releases close to one another, and the first games being well worth the purchase, each of the original titles all set a standard in gaming for compelling narrative, visual style, and unique gameplay. Today we are doing Mass Effect 2, the sequel to the 2007 space opera from Bioware.
SYNOPSIS
You are Commander Shepard; Officer in the Earth Alliance, N7 commando, the first human SPECTRE, Captain of the SSV Normandy, the one who stopped Saren and his Geth fleet from capturing the Citadel. When your ship is attacked by an unknown alien vessel and you are spaced while trying to get your crew to the escape pods death seems like the only inevitable outcome. However when a shadowy pro-Earth splinter group called Cerberus brings you back from the folds of death you get a second chance at saving the universe, however, nothing is what is seems on this mission. Even if you and your team succeed survival is not assured. Even for a dead man this mission is certain suicide.
THE GOOD
Like with Assassin’s Creed 2, Bioware listened to what the players had to say and improved upon both gameplay and narrative in the game. This is rather refreshing in comparison to other developers who just shovel the same thing out year after year. Planets a have unique and lived in appearance to them with details ranging from advertisements signs that flicker from disrepair, audible conversations from characters around you, and most importantly no two worlds look even remotely similar. Bioware seemed to be very adamant about not reusing textures or styles between the different planets you visit; again keeping to the individuality of each place. Some of the updates range from the subtle, all the way to the practical. For example, the new Normandy frigate you command now has a mess hall, crew bunks, and even rest rooms. On some planets you go to you will see things like water dispensers or coffee makers among the many normal daily items that you might expect from a living world. It’s the attention to detail that sells something, and in this case they really sold it well.
Combat was changed up a bit from the last game. In ME2 cover mechanics are more stream-lined and are required in order for you to survive a firefight. In the first game you could stroll into combat like some Juggernaut with little fear of dying. In the new game if you pop your head up for too long you are going to have it turned into a smoldering stump. Your team mates can now be given individual orders to move positions or attack certain targets, allowing you to be able to effectively set up flanking positions or multi-angle cross fires. Removed from the game are the grenades that you had from the last game. Replacing those are your heavy weapons which can be anything from guided rockets, a flame thrower, particle beam cannon, to something that can only be described as a mini-nuke. One of the other changes is no longer do your weapons overheat, but rather you have a thermal clip that collects the heat from the weapon and is ejected after a certain number of shots. This means that you need to keep collecting these thermal clips like ammo magazines and can very possibly run out of ammo in a firefight if you aren’t careful. They also removed the Mako sections of the first game were you’d land on a planet and explore it in your ATV tank for resources and side missions. Instead resources are gathered by launching probes from orbit along with finding beans where you can land a squad for your mission. The hacking and over-ride mechanics in the game were changed from the match the button combination to something that felt much more suited, like you actually were over-riding a circuit. They also added a feature in what would normally being a cut-scene to have your character do either a Paragon or Renegade action which would change how that scene would play out.
Since this game is a much darker narrative, being a suicide mission for a shadowy organization that border of being domestic terrorists, your team is equally of colorful backgrounds. As you recruit each person you are given an optional loyalty mission that can be done for them which will get you a new usable ability for the character in combat, along with increasing your chances of surviving the mission. Where there first game had to paired up with idealists, soldiers and scientists who mostly stayed on the right side of the law, ME2 takes a whole new path. Your team now consists of mercenaries, criminals, assassins, zealots, and even a Geth synthetic organism. Two of them are characters from the last game, however in the time since you last saw them the galaxy has changed them, taking away their idealism and replacing it with cynicism. The rest are equally of the universe-weary and run the loner’s path following a potentially self-destructive course. Where Mass Effect was “Band of Brothers”, Mass Effect 2 is “The Dirty Dozen”.
One of what made me really appreciate this game was some of the epic set piece battles that were given to the player. These went from normal infantry combat with dozens on enemies on all sides, battles with large scale mechs whose firepower could take down a whole platoon, to boss battles with, well… I won’t give away the surprise, but let’s just say that you will want to boast after you take them down. In many ways the game feels more like an interactive film where you decide what happens. The voice talents of many big name actors include Martin Sheen, Tricia Helfer, Michael Dorn, Seth Green, Adam Baldwin, Carrie Anne-Moss, Michael Hogan, and Claudia Black. Martin Sheen is particularly excellent as the head of Cerberus, ‘The Illusive Man’. His portrayal is charming and chilling all at the same time as he pulls your strings like a master puppeteer in order to suit his goals.
THE BAD
There were a couple of things I didn’t care for that they did in the new game. The first one is that your squad members only get two abilities that they can use in combat, three if you do their loyalty mission. Secondly I did not like that you were stuck with only 3 choices per weapon class to use and give your squad. Tagged onto this you cannot sell weapons for extra cash as there are no ‘dropped’ equipment from enemies you encounter. While the Mako was rather frustrating to use sometimes in the first game it did given that large world feeling to some of the planets. In many of the worlds in ME2 it feels like there is more to look at, you actually have less space to do it in. Lastly, in order to travel to other planets away from the Mass Relays to explore for resources for upgrades you need to buy fuel and probes for your ship. This can quickly bleed you dry on money if you are not careful. Which brings me to another small complaint; the process to scan planets for the 4 minerals you need for upgrades can get tedious if you aren’t a patient person.
THE UGLY
Well, besides the prerequisite language issues that comes with having a squad made up of mercs, criminals and assassins, there is also the same romance option from the last game. Though the developers took it a little further this time and made your choices of who to woe be more than one person of the opposing sex of your own species and an Asari. Instead you are given a rather wider choice of potential romance interests that are not only just human, but of species that make me shudder at the thought. Lastly there is some disturbing imagery in the game related to the villains “The Collectors”, and with some of your potential team members, as they are hired guns after all.
CONCLUSION
A very well told story, improved on a lot of the technical issues the first game had (no more texture popping), and feels like a big budget block-buster film (and no, not a Michael Bay one, go to your room for that!). Characters interact with one another wonderfully. Combat is fast, visceral, challenging, and fun. The storyline keeps you wanting to know what will happen next, and the twists and turns in the plot will keep you guessing at what will happen next. Bioware has always been good at telling a story, but they are set a new standard I think for not only games but Sci-fi narratives as well in Mass Effect 2.
This game is most certainly a “Must Buy”.
