Mass Effect 2
*This post may have some spoilers about Mass Effect 2 (and ME1), so don't read if you plan on getting the game*
If there are two things I hate in video games it is bugs and lost potential. Mass Effect 2 has both of these in massive quantities.
The first Mass Effect was a real epic game. It was a great mix between action and rpg, something that hasn't been done well in ages, had a great story, lots of ways to customize your characters, good action, and your squad members had personality and good voices to go with it.
Mass Effect 2 fixed everything bad out of the first game but they also ripped out every good element in the game.
The tank is gone, replaced by a drop ship that puts you right in the action. The cover system is reworked for the better, works a lot like Gears of War now. The gunning over all is just done better in ME2.
You can no longer put armor on other characters in the game, you get what ever they start with.
You can now replace parts of your armor with pieces you buy or find threw out the game. I was really hyped up when I saw you could do this, very disappointed when I only found one/two other pieces to replace each part and none of them seemed to make much of a difference.
The weapon selection has been minimized to 2 or 3 weapons per type, and only one weapon in each type is worth using. I like having a large selection of weapons even if they are mostly the same with different stats.
The talents or powers in the game have been tuned down to almost nothing, you get seven powers in all. All of these but one are powers (used to fight with) and the other effects health, power cool down, shield power. Gone are the talents that help using weapons, equipping different armor, unlocking stuff. While this could be a good thing it also, again, limits the ways to customize your character.
And the story...Is really bad. Here is the abridged version of the story; Normandy destroyed. You die, get rebuild by evil corp called Cerberus. Find out Collectors are kidnapping humans. Build up team. Find out Collectors are working for Reapers, big bad robots from first game. Build team. Find out Collectors are really Protheans, a old extinct race that made tech that everything is based on. Build team. Find IFF; to get ship threw gate to fight Collectors. Build team. The whole team is sent on unknown mission to an unknown planet leaving ship defenseless (maybe to build team?). Collectors board ship and take everyone but Joker, the pilot. Go threw gate to rescue ship mates. Rescue shipmates. Kill human like reaper. Blow up Collector base. Game ends showing reapers surrounding a planet (earth?).
I say that is the abridged version but really that is the whole story. Threw out the story there are hints that someone or something may stab you in the back, but it never happens. Like foreshadowing that never happens. There are no real shocking moments threw the game, no twists or anything that make it interesting at all.
The Collectors are suppose to be the big bad guys in the game but you only fight them three times in the entire game. There is nothing there for me to hate them, if anything I felt pity for them after finding out they where slaves. They where just doing what they had to do. I really didn't hate the people telling them what to do because you are told nothing about them.
Many reviews have said the real story are the stories of your squad members, these are little side quests that each member has. And while these quests do flesh out your members almost all of them follow the same principal; Life sucks, and you can't trust anyone.
Five of the side quests have ether a family member or friend of the squad member's quest betraying them. The others are just quests about how shitty life can be. One, in a surprising turn, ends with a (some what) happy ending.
There are quite a few bugs in the game. I understand having some bugs slipping into a game, somethings are just hard to replicate and somethings just are not worth fixing if it doesn't effect game play a lot and are hard to fix. The bugs in ME2 are nether of these things.
First you got your "trapped on/in a object" bug, happens when you step on something or are pushed into something your not suppose to be able to go threw or step onto. Happens often while in a middle of a fight or just walking around. Only fix is to hope you get pushed away from the object or reload from another save.
Next is the "hiding behind cover even though there is no cover" bug, happens when you lean from cover to shoot and lean back in to cover and you don't move. This leaves you about a foot away from the cover you where hiding behind, and you are now hiding behind air.
And there is the "something caught my char's attention, and will not stop looking that way" bug. Happens when your char starts too look at something (maybe to the left or right of you) and will not stop looking in that direction even when the object is out of sight. Not a large bug or anything but a little strange when your looking down the sights of your gun and your guy is looking at the ground.
Last but most important bug that should have been fixed is the "Grunt's loyalty skill not unlocking even though he is loyal" bug. Any bug that prevents the user from using a skill correctly or at all should never make it to the end game...Ever! I really don't understand why this made it to the end game. I don't understand how the game was made or anything but every other members works fine, and I believe that it would just be "event happens unlock skill" sort of thing. How hard would it have been to fix.
Was going to say a few words about EA bullshit, but this is an already long post. I'll just say that DLC has replaced expansion packs for EA's favorite way to rip people off.
If there are two things I hate in video games it is bugs and lost potential. Mass Effect 2 has both of these in massive quantities.
The first Mass Effect was a real epic game. It was a great mix between action and rpg, something that hasn't been done well in ages, had a great story, lots of ways to customize your characters, good action, and your squad members had personality and good voices to go with it.
Mass Effect 2 fixed everything bad out of the first game but they also ripped out every good element in the game.
The tank is gone, replaced by a drop ship that puts you right in the action. The cover system is reworked for the better, works a lot like Gears of War now. The gunning over all is just done better in ME2.
You can no longer put armor on other characters in the game, you get what ever they start with.
You can now replace parts of your armor with pieces you buy or find threw out the game. I was really hyped up when I saw you could do this, very disappointed when I only found one/two other pieces to replace each part and none of them seemed to make much of a difference.
The weapon selection has been minimized to 2 or 3 weapons per type, and only one weapon in each type is worth using. I like having a large selection of weapons even if they are mostly the same with different stats.
The talents or powers in the game have been tuned down to almost nothing, you get seven powers in all. All of these but one are powers (used to fight with) and the other effects health, power cool down, shield power. Gone are the talents that help using weapons, equipping different armor, unlocking stuff. While this could be a good thing it also, again, limits the ways to customize your character.
And the story...Is really bad. Here is the abridged version of the story; Normandy destroyed. You die, get rebuild by evil corp called Cerberus. Find out Collectors are kidnapping humans. Build up team. Find out Collectors are working for Reapers, big bad robots from first game. Build team. Find out Collectors are really Protheans, a old extinct race that made tech that everything is based on. Build team. Find IFF; to get ship threw gate to fight Collectors. Build team. The whole team is sent on unknown mission to an unknown planet leaving ship defenseless (maybe to build team?). Collectors board ship and take everyone but Joker, the pilot. Go threw gate to rescue ship mates. Rescue shipmates. Kill human like reaper. Blow up Collector base. Game ends showing reapers surrounding a planet (earth?).
I say that is the abridged version but really that is the whole story. Threw out the story there are hints that someone or something may stab you in the back, but it never happens. Like foreshadowing that never happens. There are no real shocking moments threw the game, no twists or anything that make it interesting at all.
The Collectors are suppose to be the big bad guys in the game but you only fight them three times in the entire game. There is nothing there for me to hate them, if anything I felt pity for them after finding out they where slaves. They where just doing what they had to do. I really didn't hate the people telling them what to do because you are told nothing about them.
Many reviews have said the real story are the stories of your squad members, these are little side quests that each member has. And while these quests do flesh out your members almost all of them follow the same principal; Life sucks, and you can't trust anyone.
Five of the side quests have ether a family member or friend of the squad member's quest betraying them. The others are just quests about how shitty life can be. One, in a surprising turn, ends with a (some what) happy ending.
There are quite a few bugs in the game. I understand having some bugs slipping into a game, somethings are just hard to replicate and somethings just are not worth fixing if it doesn't effect game play a lot and are hard to fix. The bugs in ME2 are nether of these things.
First you got your "trapped on/in a object" bug, happens when you step on something or are pushed into something your not suppose to be able to go threw or step onto. Happens often while in a middle of a fight or just walking around. Only fix is to hope you get pushed away from the object or reload from another save.
Next is the "hiding behind cover even though there is no cover" bug, happens when you lean from cover to shoot and lean back in to cover and you don't move. This leaves you about a foot away from the cover you where hiding behind, and you are now hiding behind air.
And there is the "something caught my char's attention, and will not stop looking that way" bug. Happens when your char starts too look at something (maybe to the left or right of you) and will not stop looking in that direction even when the object is out of sight. Not a large bug or anything but a little strange when your looking down the sights of your gun and your guy is looking at the ground.
Last but most important bug that should have been fixed is the "Grunt's loyalty skill not unlocking even though he is loyal" bug. Any bug that prevents the user from using a skill correctly or at all should never make it to the end game...Ever! I really don't understand why this made it to the end game. I don't understand how the game was made or anything but every other members works fine, and I believe that it would just be "event happens unlock skill" sort of thing. How hard would it have been to fix.
Was going to say a few words about EA bullshit, but this is an already long post. I'll just say that DLC has replaced expansion packs for EA's favorite way to rip people off.