Mass Effect 2 (XBOX 360)

I’m glad that I just recently finished the first Mass Effect, because had I not, I might not realize how much better Mass Effect 2 is in just about every imaginable game. It’s as if they took my review of the last game point by point and fixed every little thing.

Story:
The best feature about Mass Effect 2 is how the decisions you made in the original game have carried over to your current situation, as well as how the decisions you’re now faced with will carry over into the end of the trilogy. Often, the choices you have to make aren’t good or bad on the surface and force you to play a gray area with consequences that aren’t yet known. One minor spoiler as an example: There is a segment where you are attempting to disarm missiles aimed at colony and a scientific center that provides resources for the colony to exist. You’re only in time to disarm one missile – if you choose to save the colony, you’ll save more lives, but they’ll be displaced and their planet will be uninhabitable. If you save the structure, lives will be lost, but the groundwork will be there for future generations. It’s unclear at this point what the result of those decisions will be, but I’m excited to find out. It’s possible to play Mass Effect 2 without having played the first. It will give you the opportunity to select some of the larger decisions, but I feel that this leaves out one of the more enjoyable aspects of the game. It’s not only major choices that are carried over, but I was constantly running into minor characters in reference to my Mass Effect 1 playthrough.

The plot of this game is more compact and straightforward than the first, ditching the political strife from the first. You’re brought back into the mix by Cerberus, an organization that caused you some problems in the first game. Since you’re now working for a private organization instead of a government military one, your motivations might change. It’s also unclear whether Cerberus are the good guys or the bad guys. This sets a great stage for you to role play your character however you’d like, and have it still make sense within the story.

Cerberus signs you up for a suicide mission, asking you to form a team and take them through a relay where no ship has ever returned, to fight the Collectors. The game is spent finding some or all of those teammates, going on favor missions to earn their loyalty, and then freelancing to earn enough cash and resources to spruce up your ship and inventory, so that you’ll have a shot of getting you and your team out of there alive. Not only are more of the missions integral to the main storyline, even the “side-missions” that do exist still relate back to the main quest, since you need to enhance your ship however possible. Also, the game pushes the pace by having certain missions start automatically, and not letting you meander aimlessly in space for the entire game. It’s a great way of giving a sense of urgency to the narrative.

The relationships between you are your crew, as good as they were in the first game, have come a long way. There’s reason to talk to everyone on your ship multiple times. It’s not only interesting because your team is full of rich characters, but it leads to new missions, suggestions for improvements, possible love interests, friendships, and even conflicts.

Graphics:
Pretty much all of the technical graphical problems are gone. There’s no longer a framerate problem or texture pop-in, as with the first game. …but as this is a big budget sequel, that polish is expected. What really stands out is all new art direction for the expanses of space. Every place you travel feels unique. The atmospheres are different, the plant life is different, and most importantly, the maps and buildings are different. Mass Effect 2 ditches the large, empty areas that require a rover vehicle, and instead drops you right into the action. It makes these colonies that you’re landing on feel much more dense and populated, rather than having everything in space be an isolated outpost.

Sound/Dialogue:
This was already great, and continues on this path, with several new voices that you’ll recognize, like Martin Sheen. The music is still perfect. The conversation trees are largely the same, but the game handles them a bit differently. Because certain missions require you to bring along specific team members, often they partake in the dialogue, making the interactions feel much more genuine. It’s a small change, but one that made a noticeable difference. The off-world chatter is very well done, as well, coming from aliens hanging around bars, news updates, and your tagalong crew. There are very funny moments to by had be taking a minute to listen to the locals.

Control/Game Management:
Mass Effect 2 is a true sequel, like the kind we used to see back in the NES days. This isn’t simply a new story with updated maps and polish. This game overhauls many of the mechanics of the first game. It plays much more like a shooter now, similar to a control scheme like Gears of War. The leveling system and character customization is still there, but it’s simplified and very accessible to normally non-RPGers. There is also no loot, which is addition by subtraction. The way that you obtain new weapons or upgrade existing ones comes through finding an occasional schematic and using mined resources to make the upgrade for any eligible members of your squad. Rather than having a slew of weapons on your person, you have the most recent version of several types of guns you’ve collected, and are able to select one of each class to bring to battle with you. Best of all, you don’t have to do any management, and the game will choose for you, if you don’t want to micromanage.

Med Packs and grenades are used differently and are now “cast” like spells, with grenades requiring no specific inventory. Health regenerates and med-packs don’t boost health, but revive fallen teammates. In their lieu, we’re given a heavy weapon category, which consists of some pretty bad-ass stuff, including a gun that creates what looks like a small a-bomb blast. To balance out the power of the weapons, ammo is introduced. I loved that the first Mass Effect had no ammunition, and I don’t see a need for it here (other than with the heavy weapons), but it does promote varied weapon use, so I’ll allow it. The galaxy map looks the same, but requires you to actually fly from planet to planet, using fuel as you go. It’s a small change that doesn’t amount to much once you get moving, since you have ample funds to buy as much fuel as you need, but it does keep you on track at the beginning of the game, since you’re too broke to afford fuel to go too far out of your way.

Also different are the mini-games for hacking and overriding. It’s a bit more fun and feels more like the act that the character is actually doing, rather than simple button presses. They’re also done in real time, so expediency matters, if in battle. Despite being a good change, I hope they continue to evolve for Mass Effect 3, just to keep things fresh.

The worst new addition to Mass Effect 2 is the way that you mine for resources. It sucked in the first game. It sucks much less in the 2nd game, and to their credit, the reason for mining is important and not just a side quest. This is done by scanning planets in the galaxy and then moving a reticule across the surface until the controller vibrates. Once it does, you can fire a probe to retrieve the resources. This isn’t a bad system, but you have to do it a ridiculous amount of times and it becomes incredibly tedious and mindless after a while. It also feels strange that makes a point to push the pace also asks you to stop everything for long sessions of boring scanning.

Presentation/Features:
The presentation is another improved part of Mass Effect, most notably the much-improved autosave system. I wouldn’t normally note that in a review, but the first game’s system sucked incredible amounts of ass and this one just works. If you die, you’re never too far from where you should be. It’s great. Also a gripe of mine from the first game, you’re now able to return to your side quests after the main storyline has ended. It’s a bit choppy, in that characters still reference the upcoming mission that you’ve already completed, but it gives you an opportunity to see the last remaining areas without having to replay.

New info is still given to codex entries, which I never read. Instead, I found most of my information through scanning planets and reading their descriptions. Each world has a thought-out history and makes the universe feel real and expansive. I’m sure that the codex entries are just as interesting, but I didn’t want to stop the action long enough to go into the menus and find them. I’d still like to see the developers find a better way to inject all that info into the story, without asking you to pause to see it. …perhaps something for loading screens?

The game is on two-discs, the only game I’ve ever played on the 360 that is. In a genius move, however, I played the entire game and only had to switch discs twice. The beginning of the game, where you setup your character and escape an area that you can’t return to, as well as the end of the game are both featured on the first disc. All of the free-roaming stuff is on the 2nd. The map and your ship are on both. So, you have to switch to disc 2 once things get going, then back to disc 1 once you’re ready for the final showdown. If you were concerned about this, don’t be.

Overall:
Mass Effect 2 is a godsend (Thanks, Dad!). It is a much improved continuation of the series and a front-runner for game of the year. Even non-RPG fans will enjoy this game, as it has fixed so many of the confusing issues that plagued the first game. It is top notch in story, characters, production values, and technical merit. I can’t recommend it enough. That said, I don’t want the quality of this game to stunt the growth of the series. I feel that it’s so good, that Bioware may not want to screw with what’s not broken and not continue to evolve. I really appreciate Mass Effect 2 for how far it’s come. It’s the first true video game sequel that I feel I’ve seen this generation.