Game or Interactive Encyclopaedia?
[I was going to play and review Wings of Prey but, surprise surprise, Mass Effect 2 actually finished downloading before WoP, so I decided to be reacquainted with my sniper rifle, haha.]
Unfathomable technology of dead, ancient civilisations should not be fully trusted.
For anyone who doesn't already know this, Mass Effect 2 is an action RPG by BioWare, the same company that made Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire and Dragon Age. The game is centered around an ancient technology called the Mass Effect, a physics phenomenon (and game equivalent for what real life physicists call "dark energy") that, among other things, allow interstellar travel using Mass Relay stations built all over the galaxy by an ancient, extinct race called the Protheans. At the end of the first Mass Effect game, Commander Shepard (the player character) and his/her motley crew of aliens and humans save the galaxy from invasion by the ancient predatory race of Reapers by shutting down the mass relay on Citadel Station and - depending on your actions in the game - either save the Galactic Council, thereby allowing humans to join the council, or allow it to be destroyed, thus opening the way for humans to step out as the new galactic leader. In ME1 my Shepard had gone after the Sovereign, flagship of the rogue Spectre Saren, which caused the Council to fall - a course of action that probably endeared Shepard to very few aliens!
Without giving too much away (never mind that this game has been available since January '10), the second game picks up where the first left off. Commander Shepard is killed in an ambush by a mysterious alien species called the Collectors, but, thanks to the same Cerberus black ops organisation that Shepard assaulted in the first game, is brought back to life, and spends two years under the knife/probe/whatever they use in operating theatres in the 22nd century, only to awaken on a Cerberus space station in the middle of an attack. After escaping the station with two Cerberus agents in tow, it is revealed to Shepard that he/she was resurrected to deal with a new enemy that was causing human colonies all over the galaxy to disappear. And who is believed to be behind all of this? Once again, Shepard's old friends, the Reapers.
Get your arse out of the burning Normandy, Joker!
Story
Mass Effect 2 manages story continuity by allowing players to transfer their saves from the first game (although first-time players have to create Shepard anew), thereby carrying over their original Shepard and key decisions, along with characters from the first game, assuming they didn't die then. The two-year restoration of Shepard is a neat trick incorporated in the story to allow players to redesign Shepard if they so choose. (The first game allowed players to customise their Shepard under pretense of extensively corrupted military data).
The story, once again, is as immersive and compelling as the first game, with well fleshed-out characters. In addition to Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah vas Neema and Jeff "Joker" Moreau from ME1 (the last of which is still flying your ship, and now also picking fights with the ship's Artificial Intelligence unit, EDI), the crew is once again made up of a diverse array of races/species: three human biotics (Miranda Lawson and Jacob Taylor from Cerberus, and the notorious criminal/murderer Jack); an asari Justicar (Samara); a dying, deeply spiritual, Drell assassin (Thane Krios), who is quite unlike any hitman you've ever met; a tank-bred Krogan named Grunt who - fortunately or unfortunately - goes through puberty while in your service; Mordin Solus, a Salarian scientist, who Yeoman Kelly Chambers describes as being like "a hamster on caffeine", talks like Chatty Cathy on speed, and ... sings Gilbert & Sullivan patter songs. (Talk to him enough, and you're treated to his hilarious performance of a space-fied version of "The Major-General's Song" from The Pirates of Penzance). And a final, secret party member you don't find out about until about three-quarters of the way into the game.
With the sort of people making up your crew, you wonder why they haven't already tried to kill each other. Oh wait, Jack and Miranda did.
Each character has a wealth of lines, be it comments during a mission or longer conversations with Shepard while on board the Normandy concerning their lives, work and thoughts; the voice acting is, of course, exemplary, particularly Tali's during her sidequest, which damn near made me cry (and I don't even do that in games. Or movies. Or books). There are also a bunch of crew members who aren't integral to the Mass Effect 2 story, but whom you can interact with, including Dr. Chakwas from the first game and an engineer (Kenneth Donnelly) with a strong Scottish accent, who brings to mind Scotty from Star Trek (even if the resemblance is claimed to be accidental).
[I find it strangely endearing that, if your Shepard pursued a romantic involvement with a party member in the previous game, the character's photo gets displayed on his/her desk in the commander's quarters. I'm not going to go into the subject of romanceable party characters in this game since I haven't exactly tried to pursue any of them, but I hear that there are a couple of steamy scenes in the game, depending on who your Shepard winds up with. It's not bisexual like Jade Empire, but hey, xenophilia works too, right? ;-)]
Gameplay
A number of gameplay elements have been changed, most of which I approve: Instead of having to rely on markets and locker raids for new guns and equipment *and* manually customising your armour and weaponry with upgrades, you now have the option of researching new weapon, armour, biotics, and special equipment upgrades in the comfort of your ship (the new Normandy)'s tech lab, all of which are then applied to the equipment in question. Some of these upgrades are readily available, some through the members of your party, and some acquired by scanning equipment you find on your assignments/missions. The guns now also use "ammunition" - to be more accurate, heat sink-type clips that get rid of heat buildup in your guns - rather than take time to cool down as in ME1. Personal items aren't the only thing you can research either; the Normandy can also be upgraded in terms of shielding, weapons and facilities. Characters are automatically healed by medi-gel in their suits (instead of having to manually apply the kits, as in the first game), although, if your party members' health drop dangerously in the heat of battle, you still have the option of using kits to treat the entire party. Rather than being able to access your armour and weapons for customisation in the middle of a mission, you're now restricted to changing weapon selection only when you get to a weapons locker (either on-site or on board the Normandy), and clothing/armour customisation is only possible in the comfort of your quarters (and when I say design, I do also mean that you can change the material/pattern/tint/components on your gear). It may not be very traditional RPG-ish, but it makes sense: who the hell would have time to add heavy weave to their suits in the heat of battle?
Most planets can now only be scanned remotely, unless the scanner detects an anomaly on the surface - the change I approve of most, since it means that I no longer have to attempt to drive the goddamn Mako landing vehicle over ridiculously high mountains looking for crashed probes and ores AND shoot down Thresher Maws or enemy turrets. (Not to mention break down components to repair the bloody thing every time it sustained damage, which was, given my exemplary driving skills, fairly often). And speaking of ores, there are only four you need to worry about because you need them for your research: - platinum, palladium, iridium and Element Zero - and which you can send probes down for mining purposes.
In addition to the Paragon/Renegade dialogue options, players also have the chance to perform either Paragon or Renegade actions in the course of a dialogue (say, using physical violence during interrogation, or saving a gung-ho amateur mercenary's life by relieving him of his gun clips). Most of Shepard's old crew make an appearance in this game (depending on who lived or died in the first), although two are recruitable, along with a cast of new party members. These party members can not only be recruited, but their loyalties can also be secured by completing sidequests (assignments) associated with them, thereby also unlocking additional skills. And, speaking of skills, there aren't so many skills or skill points for spending per level (with a level cap of 30) - which is actually a nice change, since the first game had enough of them to cause your head to explode, and doesn't detract you from the gameplay so much - and increasing skill levels are increasingly costly as well. Judging by the way the game is progressing, though, I think it's entirely likely that I'll wind up finishing it without Shepard even reaching the big 30.
Controls are also a little simpler in this game. Instead of devoting different keys to taking cover, storming, jumping, and interacting with objects, there's now just the spacebar. Weapon, ammunition and power selection, as well as commands, are accessed on the tactical HUD by pressing shift, which also effectively pauses combat, although you can still map said different powers etc to the number keys or quickslots. Bypassing safes and hacking computers are no longer about navigating those bloody moving-block mazes, but are either in the form of matching pairs of symbols or circuit boards or identifying code fragments on a scrolling screen. Much less annoying. Space exploration is no longer a matter of clicking on the clusters and systems you wish to visit; in Mass Effect 2 you are required to manually manoeuvre the Normandy to different systems, or within range of planets and Mass Relays in order to enter orbit/plot jumps. And if you have to pilot your ship through the expanse of space, then there's also the expense to consider: the game makes you buy your own fuel (which can come up to thousands of credits) *and* probes to launch onto the surface of planets for prospecting/investigating. (In the event that you run out of fuel, the ship will use your iridium stores to get you to the nearest fuel depot).
The person who designed this system obviously had a sense of humour.
There's plenty of combat in this game, and certainly enough to sate the appetite of the action gamer who might think that RPG is just all about button mashing or dice-rolling (since this is an action RPG, you are actually responsible for landing your shots, unlike in games like KotOR, where your shots hit or miss depending on how high a number you roll, or Jade Empire, where you wind up hitting your keys/mouse like a maniac. Well, I did, anyway), and your party members seem to be more intelligent than the ones in the first game when it comes to knowing when to hide and when to fight. Annoyingly, they still have a wretched tendency to get in my way at times, especially when taking cover - I've lot count of the number of times I've lined up a sweet shot on my sniper rifle only to have Grunt's huge bulk pop up and obscure the shot - but on the whole they know how to take care of themselves, and don't require much help. (As evidenced by the fact that I can bring Garrus and Thane - technically an imbalanced party selection, considering my Shepard's class is Infiltrator! - on a shooting frenzy of a mission, and still not have to heal either one).
There are also a number of other things that really don't need to be in the game, but add to the overall gameplay experience: pets and model spaceships can be bought from stores around the galaxy to decorate Shepard's quarters (though I managed to kill Shepard's pet fish by forgetting to feed them in between missions), alcoholic drinks may be purchased at kiosks and bars (complete with intoxication effects); you can select music on Shepard's sound system in his quarters, and Shepard's personal mailbox is deluged with an array of letters ranging from correspondences with survivors, family members or officers associated with missions to mail from old acquaintances to... spam. You heard me. There was a chain letter, the 22nd Mass Effect equivalent of the Nigerian scam, and a message that bore the subject header "YOUR 2 SMALL" and began with, "I am sorry, my mate, I leave you for a Krogan because you are not endowed as good for your species!" Do you fear these words? Nice to know that, even in the age of the galactic council and interstellar travel, many sapient species remain insecure about their organ size and function.
Shepard's model ship collection and aquarium. You wonder where he found the time to put those models together, in between running errands and prospecting unexplored planets.
Of course, this being a RPG, there's plenty of non-essential assignments or sidequests for Shepard, ranging from the heroic (saving space stations and storming mercenary bases) to the mundane (brokering a sale, even getting ingredients for your ship's cook so that your crewmen can eat better. Seriously), which sometimes leaves me wondering if Shepard is a military man with a critical mission, or if he's a combined space explorer/prospector and nursemaid for the whole damn galaxy, which would probably collapse in a sobbing heap without Shepard's help. You *could* technically skip these assignments, I suppose, but then you wouldn't be gaining additional experience points and levelling up, would you?
And, while we're on the subject of role-playing: the game contains enough text and references for several encyclopaedia volumes. In small print. Seriously, the amount of information presented to you is staggering: each planet you come across in your explorations comes with detailed specs and sometimes even detailed history; every single alien species has its own entry in the Codex (covering everything from politics to religion and culture); and there are entries for every single planet, location, equipment, technology, weapon, political organisation in the Mass Effect universe, if anyone's interested to plough their way through them. I'm thankful for the spacebar, which allows you to skip scenes and dialogue, because just about every character in the game will happily tell you his life story if given the chance - even in the heat of battle - and if I had to listen to every line of it, my Shepard would have died of old age long before he met the Reapers again. Of course, this is not only true of ME (both the first and second game), but conceivably every role-playing game in the market. (I hear Dragon Age's script would fill several large tomes).
The Sights and Sounds
There's no denying that Mass Effect 2 is gorgeous - even if the graphics are capable of slowing down the game during action sequences.
You mean this is Tuchanka, homeworld to the Krogans? What a dump!
Locations are nicely diverse and offer a variety of environments: from Omega, the seedy haven for underworld parties, to the typically glamourous sci-fi towering expanse of Illium; from pretty-pretty garden worlds where you can wander with your mask off, to barren planets with sandstorms coming your way, to even dense smog that restricts vision to a few metres. (It's nice to know that planets no longer fall into template volcanic/barren/frozen/grassland etc classes!). High class clubs and sizzling bars with pole dancers. Oh, and one derelict spaceship hanging on the edge of the precipice, and is falling apart even as you work your way through the maze that is all that's left of the vessel. If you never thought that you could get vertigo staring down from great heights in a game, think again.
The only nitpick I have with the visuals of Mass Effect 2 is that, while the planetary systems are very beautifully done, some of them just don't make sense: you'd think that large planets should have no place so close to the stars they orbit (though of course you could argue that some of said stars might be brown stars that have already previously expanded into red giants and swallowed up the smaller, closet planets, leaving only the big ones further out), and that you shouldn't be able to fly the Normandy through said stars without it falling in and burning to a crisp. But eh, this is an action RPG, not a starfighter sim.
Endnote
All in all, this second installment in the Mass Effect series is a hell lot of fun, even if it has its annoyances and share of bugs (floating characters, anyone?),and it helps that it's very, very visually pleasing too. I'm currently three-quarters of the way in, and enjoying every minute of it. Looking forward to the next installment!
I leave you with a picture of my Commander Martin Shepard at a sizzling club with Asari pole dancers shaking their collective booty:
------------------------------------------------------------
IN OTHER NEWS
I never thought I'd see the day when I was unable to wear a nice branded shirt because size S was too goddamn big. But that's exactly what happened when I idly browsed the racks at Benetton yesterday and chanced upon a very nice shirt that I was quite taken with. M, which I normally wear, was big enough to hide several baby elephants; S was still enough to accommodate one baby elephant if it held its breath and was willing to be squashed a little. And of course the shirt didn't come in sizes smaller than that. Why must you make your shirts so ginormous, Benetton???
Also, I bought a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro joystick in preparation for my Wings of Prey gaming sessions. ^__^ I haven't been this excited since I played my first fighter sim as an adolescent. Did I ever mention that one of the things I wanted to do as a kid was join the Air Force and fly Tomcats and Flying Fortresses? (Never mind that our nation's Air Force didn't have F-14s, B-17s were long obsolete, and I was practically blind without glasses, among other things). I used to lament the fact that I was born in the wrong age for wars - an incredibly naive, childish thing to think, but I was young enough then that I only saw the glamour of doing loops and rolls and firing missiles at enemy fighters. Admittedly it was one of those things I never quite got over. I'll review the joystick alongside the game when I get around to it.
Unfathomable technology of dead, ancient civilisations should not be fully trusted.
For anyone who doesn't already know this, Mass Effect 2 is an action RPG by BioWare, the same company that made Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire and Dragon Age. The game is centered around an ancient technology called the Mass Effect, a physics phenomenon (and game equivalent for what real life physicists call "dark energy") that, among other things, allow interstellar travel using Mass Relay stations built all over the galaxy by an ancient, extinct race called the Protheans. At the end of the first Mass Effect game, Commander Shepard (the player character) and his/her motley crew of aliens and humans save the galaxy from invasion by the ancient predatory race of Reapers by shutting down the mass relay on Citadel Station and - depending on your actions in the game - either save the Galactic Council, thereby allowing humans to join the council, or allow it to be destroyed, thus opening the way for humans to step out as the new galactic leader. In ME1 my Shepard had gone after the Sovereign, flagship of the rogue Spectre Saren, which caused the Council to fall - a course of action that probably endeared Shepard to very few aliens!
Without giving too much away (never mind that this game has been available since January '10), the second game picks up where the first left off. Commander Shepard is killed in an ambush by a mysterious alien species called the Collectors, but, thanks to the same Cerberus black ops organisation that Shepard assaulted in the first game, is brought back to life, and spends two years under the knife/probe/whatever they use in operating theatres in the 22nd century, only to awaken on a Cerberus space station in the middle of an attack. After escaping the station with two Cerberus agents in tow, it is revealed to Shepard that he/she was resurrected to deal with a new enemy that was causing human colonies all over the galaxy to disappear. And who is believed to be behind all of this? Once again, Shepard's old friends, the Reapers.
Get your arse out of the burning Normandy, Joker!
Story
Mass Effect 2 manages story continuity by allowing players to transfer their saves from the first game (although first-time players have to create Shepard anew), thereby carrying over their original Shepard and key decisions, along with characters from the first game, assuming they didn't die then. The two-year restoration of Shepard is a neat trick incorporated in the story to allow players to redesign Shepard if they so choose. (The first game allowed players to customise their Shepard under pretense of extensively corrupted military data).
The story, once again, is as immersive and compelling as the first game, with well fleshed-out characters. In addition to Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah vas Neema and Jeff "Joker" Moreau from ME1 (the last of which is still flying your ship, and now also picking fights with the ship's Artificial Intelligence unit, EDI), the crew is once again made up of a diverse array of races/species: three human biotics (Miranda Lawson and Jacob Taylor from Cerberus, and the notorious criminal/murderer Jack); an asari Justicar (Samara); a dying, deeply spiritual, Drell assassin (Thane Krios), who is quite unlike any hitman you've ever met; a tank-bred Krogan named Grunt who - fortunately or unfortunately - goes through puberty while in your service; Mordin Solus, a Salarian scientist, who Yeoman Kelly Chambers describes as being like "a hamster on caffeine", talks like Chatty Cathy on speed, and ... sings Gilbert & Sullivan patter songs. (Talk to him enough, and you're treated to his hilarious performance of a space-fied version of "The Major-General's Song" from The Pirates of Penzance). And a final, secret party member you don't find out about until about three-quarters of the way into the game.
With the sort of people making up your crew, you wonder why they haven't already tried to kill each other. Oh wait, Jack and Miranda did.
Each character has a wealth of lines, be it comments during a mission or longer conversations with Shepard while on board the Normandy concerning their lives, work and thoughts; the voice acting is, of course, exemplary, particularly Tali's during her sidequest, which damn near made me cry (and I don't even do that in games. Or movies. Or books). There are also a bunch of crew members who aren't integral to the Mass Effect 2 story, but whom you can interact with, including Dr. Chakwas from the first game and an engineer (Kenneth Donnelly) with a strong Scottish accent, who brings to mind Scotty from Star Trek (even if the resemblance is claimed to be accidental).
[I find it strangely endearing that, if your Shepard pursued a romantic involvement with a party member in the previous game, the character's photo gets displayed on his/her desk in the commander's quarters. I'm not going to go into the subject of romanceable party characters in this game since I haven't exactly tried to pursue any of them, but I hear that there are a couple of steamy scenes in the game, depending on who your Shepard winds up with. It's not bisexual like Jade Empire, but hey, xenophilia works too, right? ;-)]
Gameplay
A number of gameplay elements have been changed, most of which I approve: Instead of having to rely on markets and locker raids for new guns and equipment *and* manually customising your armour and weaponry with upgrades, you now have the option of researching new weapon, armour, biotics, and special equipment upgrades in the comfort of your ship (the new Normandy)'s tech lab, all of which are then applied to the equipment in question. Some of these upgrades are readily available, some through the members of your party, and some acquired by scanning equipment you find on your assignments/missions. The guns now also use "ammunition" - to be more accurate, heat sink-type clips that get rid of heat buildup in your guns - rather than take time to cool down as in ME1. Personal items aren't the only thing you can research either; the Normandy can also be upgraded in terms of shielding, weapons and facilities. Characters are automatically healed by medi-gel in their suits (instead of having to manually apply the kits, as in the first game), although, if your party members' health drop dangerously in the heat of battle, you still have the option of using kits to treat the entire party. Rather than being able to access your armour and weapons for customisation in the middle of a mission, you're now restricted to changing weapon selection only when you get to a weapons locker (either on-site or on board the Normandy), and clothing/armour customisation is only possible in the comfort of your quarters (and when I say design, I do also mean that you can change the material/pattern/tint/components on your gear). It may not be very traditional RPG-ish, but it makes sense: who the hell would have time to add heavy weave to their suits in the heat of battle?
Most planets can now only be scanned remotely, unless the scanner detects an anomaly on the surface - the change I approve of most, since it means that I no longer have to attempt to drive the goddamn Mako landing vehicle over ridiculously high mountains looking for crashed probes and ores AND shoot down Thresher Maws or enemy turrets. (Not to mention break down components to repair the bloody thing every time it sustained damage, which was, given my exemplary driving skills, fairly often). And speaking of ores, there are only four you need to worry about because you need them for your research: - platinum, palladium, iridium and Element Zero - and which you can send probes down for mining purposes.
In addition to the Paragon/Renegade dialogue options, players also have the chance to perform either Paragon or Renegade actions in the course of a dialogue (say, using physical violence during interrogation, or saving a gung-ho amateur mercenary's life by relieving him of his gun clips). Most of Shepard's old crew make an appearance in this game (depending on who lived or died in the first), although two are recruitable, along with a cast of new party members. These party members can not only be recruited, but their loyalties can also be secured by completing sidequests (assignments) associated with them, thereby also unlocking additional skills. And, speaking of skills, there aren't so many skills or skill points for spending per level (with a level cap of 30) - which is actually a nice change, since the first game had enough of them to cause your head to explode, and doesn't detract you from the gameplay so much - and increasing skill levels are increasingly costly as well. Judging by the way the game is progressing, though, I think it's entirely likely that I'll wind up finishing it without Shepard even reaching the big 30.
Controls are also a little simpler in this game. Instead of devoting different keys to taking cover, storming, jumping, and interacting with objects, there's now just the spacebar. Weapon, ammunition and power selection, as well as commands, are accessed on the tactical HUD by pressing shift, which also effectively pauses combat, although you can still map said different powers etc to the number keys or quickslots. Bypassing safes and hacking computers are no longer about navigating those bloody moving-block mazes, but are either in the form of matching pairs of symbols or circuit boards or identifying code fragments on a scrolling screen. Much less annoying. Space exploration is no longer a matter of clicking on the clusters and systems you wish to visit; in Mass Effect 2 you are required to manually manoeuvre the Normandy to different systems, or within range of planets and Mass Relays in order to enter orbit/plot jumps. And if you have to pilot your ship through the expanse of space, then there's also the expense to consider: the game makes you buy your own fuel (which can come up to thousands of credits) *and* probes to launch onto the surface of planets for prospecting/investigating. (In the event that you run out of fuel, the ship will use your iridium stores to get you to the nearest fuel depot).
The person who designed this system obviously had a sense of humour.
There's plenty of combat in this game, and certainly enough to sate the appetite of the action gamer who might think that RPG is just all about button mashing or dice-rolling (since this is an action RPG, you are actually responsible for landing your shots, unlike in games like KotOR, where your shots hit or miss depending on how high a number you roll, or Jade Empire, where you wind up hitting your keys/mouse like a maniac. Well, I did, anyway), and your party members seem to be more intelligent than the ones in the first game when it comes to knowing when to hide and when to fight. Annoyingly, they still have a wretched tendency to get in my way at times, especially when taking cover - I've lot count of the number of times I've lined up a sweet shot on my sniper rifle only to have Grunt's huge bulk pop up and obscure the shot - but on the whole they know how to take care of themselves, and don't require much help. (As evidenced by the fact that I can bring Garrus and Thane - technically an imbalanced party selection, considering my Shepard's class is Infiltrator! - on a shooting frenzy of a mission, and still not have to heal either one).
There are also a number of other things that really don't need to be in the game, but add to the overall gameplay experience: pets and model spaceships can be bought from stores around the galaxy to decorate Shepard's quarters (though I managed to kill Shepard's pet fish by forgetting to feed them in between missions), alcoholic drinks may be purchased at kiosks and bars (complete with intoxication effects); you can select music on Shepard's sound system in his quarters, and Shepard's personal mailbox is deluged with an array of letters ranging from correspondences with survivors, family members or officers associated with missions to mail from old acquaintances to... spam. You heard me. There was a chain letter, the 22nd Mass Effect equivalent of the Nigerian scam, and a message that bore the subject header "YOUR 2 SMALL" and began with, "I am sorry, my mate, I leave you for a Krogan because you are not endowed as good for your species!" Do you fear these words? Nice to know that, even in the age of the galactic council and interstellar travel, many sapient species remain insecure about their organ size and function.
Shepard's model ship collection and aquarium. You wonder where he found the time to put those models together, in between running errands and prospecting unexplored planets.
Of course, this being a RPG, there's plenty of non-essential assignments or sidequests for Shepard, ranging from the heroic (saving space stations and storming mercenary bases) to the mundane (brokering a sale, even getting ingredients for your ship's cook so that your crewmen can eat better. Seriously), which sometimes leaves me wondering if Shepard is a military man with a critical mission, or if he's a combined space explorer/prospector and nursemaid for the whole damn galaxy, which would probably collapse in a sobbing heap without Shepard's help. You *could* technically skip these assignments, I suppose, but then you wouldn't be gaining additional experience points and levelling up, would you?
And, while we're on the subject of role-playing: the game contains enough text and references for several encyclopaedia volumes. In small print. Seriously, the amount of information presented to you is staggering: each planet you come across in your explorations comes with detailed specs and sometimes even detailed history; every single alien species has its own entry in the Codex (covering everything from politics to religion and culture); and there are entries for every single planet, location, equipment, technology, weapon, political organisation in the Mass Effect universe, if anyone's interested to plough their way through them. I'm thankful for the spacebar, which allows you to skip scenes and dialogue, because just about every character in the game will happily tell you his life story if given the chance - even in the heat of battle - and if I had to listen to every line of it, my Shepard would have died of old age long before he met the Reapers again. Of course, this is not only true of ME (both the first and second game), but conceivably every role-playing game in the market. (I hear Dragon Age's script would fill several large tomes).
The Sights and Sounds
There's no denying that Mass Effect 2 is gorgeous - even if the graphics are capable of slowing down the game during action sequences.
You mean this is Tuchanka, homeworld to the Krogans? What a dump!
Locations are nicely diverse and offer a variety of environments: from Omega, the seedy haven for underworld parties, to the typically glamourous sci-fi towering expanse of Illium; from pretty-pretty garden worlds where you can wander with your mask off, to barren planets with sandstorms coming your way, to even dense smog that restricts vision to a few metres. (It's nice to know that planets no longer fall into template volcanic/barren/frozen/grassland etc classes!). High class clubs and sizzling bars with pole dancers. Oh, and one derelict spaceship hanging on the edge of the precipice, and is falling apart even as you work your way through the maze that is all that's left of the vessel. If you never thought that you could get vertigo staring down from great heights in a game, think again.
The only nitpick I have with the visuals of Mass Effect 2 is that, while the planetary systems are very beautifully done, some of them just don't make sense: you'd think that large planets should have no place so close to the stars they orbit (though of course you could argue that some of said stars might be brown stars that have already previously expanded into red giants and swallowed up the smaller, closet planets, leaving only the big ones further out), and that you shouldn't be able to fly the Normandy through said stars without it falling in and burning to a crisp. But eh, this is an action RPG, not a starfighter sim.
Endnote
All in all, this second installment in the Mass Effect series is a hell lot of fun, even if it has its annoyances and share of bugs (floating characters, anyone?),and it helps that it's very, very visually pleasing too. I'm currently three-quarters of the way in, and enjoying every minute of it. Looking forward to the next installment!
I leave you with a picture of my Commander Martin Shepard at a sizzling club with Asari pole dancers shaking their collective booty:
------------------------------------------------------------
IN OTHER NEWS
I never thought I'd see the day when I was unable to wear a nice branded shirt because size S was too goddamn big. But that's exactly what happened when I idly browsed the racks at Benetton yesterday and chanced upon a very nice shirt that I was quite taken with. M, which I normally wear, was big enough to hide several baby elephants; S was still enough to accommodate one baby elephant if it held its breath and was willing to be squashed a little. And of course the shirt didn't come in sizes smaller than that. Why must you make your shirts so ginormous, Benetton???
Also, I bought a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro joystick in preparation for my Wings of Prey gaming sessions. ^__^ I haven't been this excited since I played my first fighter sim as an adolescent. Did I ever mention that one of the things I wanted to do as a kid was join the Air Force and fly Tomcats and Flying Fortresses? (Never mind that our nation's Air Force didn't have F-14s, B-17s were long obsolete, and I was practically blind without glasses, among other things). I used to lament the fact that I was born in the wrong age for wars - an incredibly naive, childish thing to think, but I was young enough then that I only saw the glamour of doing loops and rolls and firing missiles at enemy fighters. Admittedly it was one of those things I never quite got over. I'll review the joystick alongside the game when I get around to it.