Mass Effect 2: Why am I still surprised by the awesome?
OK, let’s just get it out of the way, shall we? Space hamster. I squeed.
Right then. Moving on.
Second point of order: a disclaimer. After 37 hours of playing, I can barely see a glimpse of endgame from where I’m at. If I had reviewed KotOR II at this stage, I would have said it was a perfect, complete, multi-layered storytelling experience. So….yeah…who can say?
But so far, the narrative is as strong as I’d hope for from BioWare, with unskippable missions that propel the momentum forward, and plenty of side quests to keep you from making a beeline to the finish. Which is why I may or may not have gotten a bit distracted for 37 hours worth of gaming. *cough*
Mass Effect 2 takes place two years after the end of the original game. Despite the ruling hub of the galaxy being attacked by a gigantic freaking sentient ship, the current council is trying to sweep the incident under the rug, and has relegated the first human Spectre to cleaning up small pockets of leftover geth.
Now, despite having a dozen or so playthroughs of the first Mass Effect to port over, I started up a brand-new Shepard. Interestingly, the default galaxy for a female Shepard has the Citadel Council now run by humans with the assumption that Shep allowed the first council to die, Kaidan survived Virmire, Wrex did not, *sob* and most of the Feros colonists were killed in the battle against the Thorian. With either a new Shep, or your imported one, you’ll run into familiar faces in familiar places. Some of it will give you a thrill, and some of it may break your heart a little.
Even if you’ve seen the trailers and know what happens, the first 15-20 minutes of Mass Effect 2 are a bit of a kick to the gut, and absolutely stunning visually. Oh, and by the way, you die. Mostly.
“It just so happens that your friend here is only mostly dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive.” - Miracle Max (The Princess Bride)
And that’s all I’m gonna say about the plot.
Gameplay
I had the opportunity to give ME2 a test-run on both the PC and Xbox. I expected to prefer the Xbox - as I had with the original ME - but pre-ordered the PC collector’s edition based on those few hours. The push to make the Mass Effect universe more appealing to shooter fans left me floundering to begin with. Ammo, I mean ‘heat sinks,’ cover - these are foreign elements to the stodgy RPG fan that I am. My stubborn streak refused to allow me to dial back the difficulty from normal, and it all started out kind of shaky for me. But around level 14 I started to feel like I was growing in power and skill. By level 21, the Badass!Shep-takes-on-all-comers feel I remembered from ME had fully returned, due jointly to my own mastering of the controls, and the accumulation of (for me) Vanguard powers.
While it was possible to take and use cover in ME1, utilizing your environment in ME2 is essential. From regaining health while cowering behind a corner to dropping exploding containers of doom on the heads of your enemies, being aware of your surroundings will make the difference in how many times your ass is handed to you.
Gone is the button-mashing (or, in the case of the PC, dizzyingly swirly) crate-hack minigame. It’s been replaced by two separate versions - a symbol matching bypass game, and a scrolling code-match hack game. The latter took me ages to figure out, but once mastered it actually makes a lot of sense. I enjoy them both more than their predecessor.
Also gone is the Mako vehicle. Now, I need to go on record with the admission that the Mako drove me to ragequit more than once. But I grew to love the little beast as I hurled it over sheer cliff faces and into the shadow of a thresher maw. The Mako is gone for Mass Effect 2, as are the long, quiet drives around featureless uncharted worlds.
One can still find UCW to cruise, however, and the individuality of each planet is breathtaking, from environment to story and quests. The downside to this is the new resource scanning minigame, which involves the slow rotation of a planet while you launch mining probes to the surface. Sure, you could just not do it, but then you wouldn’t be able to afford those modifications to your ship, armour and weapons that are going to make the difference between Shepard surviving this game or ending up as a smear somewhere in the far reaches of the galaxy. Seriously…this part can be downright painful.
The paragon/renegade meter is still present, with a significant addition. Sometimes during conversations, an icon will flash on the screen indicating that you have an opportunity for some drastic action. If you manage to catch it you can come up with some extraordinary options, from pushing the bad guy out a window, to talking down an over-eager soldier bent on sacrificing himself, to calming down a squad mate with a hug. That’s right. You heard me. A hug.
As an RPG fan, I do miss the power tweaking and equipment shuffling, which has been scaled back to be almost invisible in ME2. I do not, however, miss the inventory screen. Weapon upgrades are added automatically to your equipment, and your team is outfitted with the best pieces you’ve collected. Customizing your own armour is fun, and makes sure that Shepard is always outfitted to your taste. You cannot, however, choose outfits for your team. Which is sad. No more Krogan in pink and white Phoenix armour.
Visuals
I said this when I first saw the game months ago, and I’m saying it again now - Oooooooohhhhh…pretty!!!
Remember that feeling when you first fired up Mass Effect, and watched your Shepard’s face as the Normandy cruised past planet earth? Remember that? Yeah…that times a billion. At one point, I found myself dizzyingly mesmerized by the smooth motion of the room as seen over the perfectly rendered shoulder of a kick-ass space marine. And Shep’s looking hotter than ever. You’ll be given the opportunity to alter your ME1 Shep’s face if you’re feeling the need for change, but no matter what, the animation of face, features, and armour will make sure that your creation is who you want them to be.
Sound
My very first experience with ME2 was with the generic ‘John Shepard’ avatar, in a space-slum filled with unknown baddies, just so I (and a hoard of other videogame media types) could get a feel for the new shooter-style combat. But what I remember most from that initial contact, is the low, haunting cello note that hummed through the headphones sending shivers up my spine. The soundtrack stays with you throughout the game, reaching in with minor chords to pull at your heartstrings, or ramping up the adrenaline with electronic thumps.
With the line-up of fabulosity responsible for the voice acting in ME2, it’s no surprise that the characters and their motivations come through with stellar clarity and sometimes surprising depth. The performances make me wish that the mainstream entertainment industry gave more respect for this kind of work, because it deserves recognition.
Downers
They’re rare, but there are some issues with Mass Effect 2 that need fixing or improvement. (Yay! Something to ensure that ME3 will be even better!)
I’ve already mentioned the mining. It needs to go. Far away.
Playing on my Franken-computer, I’ve faced some issues with stuttering framerates, getting trapped in the environment and full game crashes. I’ve even seen the galaxy map flip upside down once. I bet that caused some bedspins for the inhabitants. Maybe I’ll see less of this on the Xbox.
And finally, and this pains me, some of the romance dialogues I’ve encountered have been utterly cringeworthy. Maybe it’s because I play (and always WILL play, please take note, BioWare) a female Shepard. The smarmy come-ons that might work for a John Shepard, accompanied by the leering smile, are just creepy coming from my paragon Fem!Shep. Again, however, I point out that I haven’t finished the game - or the romances. Maybe it gets better.
Please let it get better.
TL/DR
RPG elements are stripped out, or scaled back. The born-again shooter gameplay was frustrating to begin with for an old hack like me, but eventually left me rejoicing in my own biotic badassery.
Cinematic sound and scenery are breathtaking, and NPC animation will have you interested in learning more about the universe and the personalities that inhabit it.
Mass Effect 2 shines through with epic storytelling, Dialogue had me laughing out loud more than once, or left me open-mouthed in an Oh-no-she-didn’t state of awe. Characters I’d expected to hate and leave to their deaths on a suicide mission became squad favourites, with layers to them I didn’t expect to find. This made me invest in them, their stories, and their survival on this suicide mission.