InsaneBear

Review: Mass Effect 2

Score: Great
Difficulty played on: Veteran (step above normal, with Hardcore and Insanity outranking it)
Time to beat: About 40 hours including all side-quests
Loved the most: The epic scope of the story provided by the ability to import your Mass Effect 1 save.
Hated the most: Tedious and pointless mini-games that only serve to kill the great pace of the game.

With full-scale advertisement carpet-bombing and a critically acclaimed predecessor, Mass Effect 2 is probably the most anticipated BioWare title ever. And with the developer’s last game (Dragon Age: Origins) taking InsaneBear Game of the Year honors for 2009, all that hype certainly seemed justified. But as things usually turn out, Mass Effect 2 doesn’t quite live up to expectations. That doesn’t stop it from being a really entertaining game, though. Commander Shepard’s second adventure is a fast paced action-RPG with interesting characters and tight combat. It is however, heavier on the action than the RPG, which could throw some people off it they aren’t expecting it. But it does what it does well and will have you eagerly awaiting Mass Effect 3.

The way the game handles the save import is actually quite ingenious. The core plot of Mass Effect 2 is set into motion when Shepard and the crew of the Normandy, fresh off saving the galaxy from Saren and the Geth, are attacked by a mysterious enemy ship deep in space. The survivors of the Normandy frantically scramble to escape pods that blast them their separate ways (both literally and metaphorically). The thing is, Shepard isn’t among those survivors. You watch your character die in that opening sequence.

From there, the radical pro-human Cerberus organization recovers your body and spends two years reconstructing you. This allows the player to change his or her appearance and class even if they’re importing. A memory test that serves as a simple reminder for importers allows new comers to make all the major decisions of the first game in the confines of a dialogue tree. This way, everybody can have the Shepard they want.

One thing you’ll notice as the Normandy tears apart and pieces float into space is just how great this game looks. Brilliant use of shadows and bold colors give the universe a very dark and seedy vibe that permeates the story. The character models are some of the most realistic looking in video games, although robotically stiff animations hold them back from sparring with the likes of Unchared 2 or MGS4. Every single environment in the game has a very hand-crafted aesthetic that was absent in the first game. This helps each mission to feel a little more unique, even if the polygon counts don’t quite match up to other third-person-shooters like Gears of War 2. And most importantly, the frame-rate is rock solid this time around, even in the most hectic fire-fights.

If that weren’t good enough, the audio’s even better. Mass Effect 2 features a spot-on musical score that captures the synthetic feel of classic sci-fi films and pairs it with that Blade Runner-esque visual direction. Guns have an appropriately high-tech sound to them without losing believability, and the biotic powers whoosh and boom with just the right magnitude. And of course, Shepard and friends’ voices return to breathe life into this atmospheric world. Nearly every single character in the game, no matter how small a role they play, is fantastically voiced as an individual.

As for the lines all of those characters speak, most of them are well written and flow with the cinematic presentation of dialogue. It does seem a bit strange that the Mass Effect universe is so devoid of humor, though. I mean, I understand that all life in the galaxy could end at any moment, but it just seems like there’d be more than half a dozen funny lines to be heard. It’s also really jarring when an NPC repeatedly shifts between sitting and standing for every separate question you ask them (or any other strange, artificial behavior). Awkward pauses in the flow of conversation also serve to occasionally remind you that you’re playing a video game. Taken as a whole, dialogue in this game is really great, especially given the fact that it’s dynamically reacting to your choices. But if you were to compare it to a game like Uncharted 2, then Mass Effect 2’s conversations would still seem unnatural and formulaic.

But the meat of Mass Effect 2’s gameplay comes in the form of highly-refined, third-person cover-based shooting. That shooting feels just as good as almost any third-person-shooter out there, falling short only to standard setters like Gears of War 2. Where this shooter-RPG hybrid gains an advantage is with the extra strategic layer that biotic powers provide in combat. The easily manageable radial power-wheel triumphantly returns from the first game and throws ammo-centric powers in for even more simplicity. And if you don’t feel like pausing the action to plan out your attacks, you can easily map three of your character’s powers to the face buttons and the D-pad handles one power a piece for your two allies. It all comes together terrifically well and allows you to control your entire team seamlessly in the midst of the most intense combat. My personal preference is to pause the action and utilize every possible power, but for those of you who want to stay in the action, real-time combat is as smooth as glass.

My only issue with the superb combat of Mass Effect 2 is that guns seem slightly over-powered in comparison to biotic powers. Many of the powers you gain are utterly useless until you’ve managed to shoot down an enemy’s shields or armor, and at that point, you may as well just fire off three more rounds and finish the job. I don’t mean to imply that all powers are useless, as there are a few that are tactically useful against shields, armor, and barriers, but it does feel as though combat was designed as a shooter first and foremost. I was especially disappointed in the special power granted to my Vanguard class, as it seemed to get me killed more often than not. See, cover is so emphasized in this game that having a power that launches you directly into an enemy is a bad idea–it just leaves you exposed to incoming fire. Perhaps other powers are more fun to use, but at the rate your recharging shield (now you know it’s a shooter!) depletes, I wouldn’t suggest using anything that takes Shepard out of cover.

For better or worse, the streamlined simplicity of combat carries over to the menus and RPG elements as well. It is nice to not have to navigate poorly designed armor interfaces, but at the cost of having no armor to outfit, one has to question whether the price is too high. I should probably clarify that last part. You can buy many armor upgrades and apply them to Shepard as you see fit. You can even color his armor the way you want, so you never sacrifice style for stats. But my issue with this is that I think a lot of player’s Shepards will look the same at the end of the game–the uniqueness we’ve come to expect in RPGs is gone. If not for Shepard, then definitely for his comrades. Unfortunately, you can’t apply any armor at all to your many party members. Sure, this streamlines the interface and makes the action easier to get into, but how is my party any different from everybody else’s? The dozen or so guns offered certainly don’t present much opportunity for distinction.

The actual level-building is simplified as well, with significantly fewer powers available to each character. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though, as it allows you to focus on a few good powers for each character in your party. And when you upgrade a particular power to the highest level, the game gives you a choice on how you want to evolve said power. The leveling’s actually pretty satisfying and its easy to manage. You can even buy an upgrade to redistribute your skill points if you ever feel like you went down the wrong path. I just wish it would have allowed me to change my class so I could have accessed the one with the Singularity power…man, is that thing awesome or what?

With all the simplification of the RPG elements, it seems strangely surprising that BioWare complicated activities like scanning uncharted planets for missions or resources. I do think it’s cool that they introduced fuel into the equation, because now it actually feels like you’re flying your ship around the galaxy and risking something as you push towards the outer reaches of space. But if you ever run out of gas you just burn up the resources you collect until you find another fueling station…missed opportunity there! Would have loved a Firefly inspired “Out of Gas” quest.

But I digress. Planet scanning is no longer the simple affair it was in Shepard’s first adventure. Instead of just clicking A and collecting whatever resources a planet has to offer, we’re now forced into a tedious and time-consuming mini game. You use some sort of instrument to scan the planet as it orbits and gather readings on mineral deposits. If you see a deposit worth mining, you can launch a probe to collect the resources. This mind-numbingly boring process can continue for as long as you see fit or until the planet is depleted of resources. The thing is, if you want to properly upgrade your ship, you’ll have to mine quite a few planets to gather the necessary resources. You certainly don’t need to scan them all (although the game doesn’t tell you this), but you will be forced to collect a rather large amount of resources if the Normandy is to be properly outfitted. This tedium absolutely kills the pace of an otherwise action-packed game.

You’ll also come across several side-quests in your scanning ventures. They all manage to feel pretty organic and unforced, even if they’re out of the main quest’s path. Several of them even branch in to two or three quest arcs that take you from system to system while playing out a simple story. But unfortunately, none of these irrelevant quests are memorable in any way. They’re certainly designed better than the side-quests of Mass Effect 1, but the stories are just such thin excuses to shoot guys that they’re not worth remembering.

And to round out the list of mediocracy, needless hacking and security-bypass mini-games are scattered amid the linear level design. The hacking one actually isn’t so bad and makes sense in the context of stealing credits or research from computer terminals, but the bypass one is just utterly senseless. Why bother putting this tedious mini-game on the only door I can progress through? It’s not like my bypass efforts grant me access to some special room–they just allow me to continue the mission. I don’t even know what happens if you fail the bypass at one of those doors. I don’t know if I want to know.

But those quips are relatively small parts of the game. The vast majority of your time will be spent either on the main-story quest or on the party-member specific quests. The party-member quests feature some of the most interesting narratives and serve to really humanize your alien compatriots. They also give you the chance to gain your allies’ dying loyalty, which grants them access to their most powerful abilities. All and all, the many allies you can gain throughout your quest are all intriguing and personal. I don’t think they’re quite as charismatic as your allies in Dragon Age, but they’re definitely some of the better NPCs in modern RPGs.

The core story-line outlines your dramatic “suicide” mission to save humanity from the mysterious collectors who have been kidnapping entire human colonies. It definitely has a darker tone than the first game and will have you questioning what’s really going on at some points. There are some great twists and the action pulls you along at a brisk pace. There’s still a morality meter in Mass Effect 2, but there are no achievements or any such nonsense attached to it, so the many drastic choices you’re presented with are less tainted by outside influences. Still, most of the morality in this game is pretty contrived and sticks to the “black and white” presentation, which is a little disappointing after Dragon Age. And the much-hyped “bold” moments, where you can pull the left or right trigger to have Shepard cut a conversation short with a paragon or renegade action, respectively, further this idealized vision of morality…although, most of the renegade actions are pretty bad ass!

What’s also disappointing is the simplistic, mainstreamed mission design. Virtually every mission boils down to shooting a bunch of bad guys (of which there is a fantastic variety) and saving the day. I honestly can’t think of one dialogue or puzzle-centric mission in the entire game. It also sucks that all of the awesome space-battles are purely cut-scenes. After spending all of those resources on upgrades for my ship, I was really hoping I’d get to participate in some ship-to-ship combat. Mass Effect 2 is very clearly designed to appeal to the mainstream shooter audiences who only feel comfortable killing things on foot, with guns.

Those upgrades I mentioned are one of the game’s biggest draws. You can collect resources and credits to spend at your research terminal or local stores in the search of the best equipment for Shepard, his crew, and their ship. I suppose generic squad upgrades are the trade-off for unique character outfitting, but they’re addictive nonetheless. They also have a direct effect on the outcome of your mission.

And this is perhaps the most daring, exciting aspect of BioWare’s latest title. Depending on how good your party’s gear is, how loyal your allies are, and how state-of-the-art your ship is, the epic conclusion of this game can turn out very different for different players. I made sure everything was in top condition and managed to get my team and I through everything alive and well. But had I not fully prepared I could have lost any number of squad-mates. I could have even lost the Normandy and died myself. I just wish BioWare had forced some sacrifice on me. It’s too easy to come out of everything unscathed for completionist players. As fantastic as the final mission is, which forces you to utilize all of your squad members in different roles, I wish the story had intervened and forced a tough choice on me, like the Kaiden/Ashley deal in the first game.

Speaking of the first game, all of the choices you make in that title creep their heads up in one way or another for Mass Effect 2. Many of the cross-over moments deal with smaller decisions that you probably won’t remember that well, but it’s really great to see how the big stuff affects not only this sequel, but Mass Effect 3 as well. Seeing the far-reaching consequences of your actions in the first game gives every decision in this one a greater sense of importance. This gargantuan scope is something I’ve never encountered in video games before. By the time the trilogy’s finished and all our choices have been made, Shepard’s story will have likely spanned six years of video gamey goodness. It’s rather epic.

So with all that said, is the game worth $60? Absolutely. 40 hours might be a little on the short side for an RPG, but the scope of the story will have you wanting to replay through Mass Effect 1 and 2 just so you can have the perfect character set up for 3. And if you look at it as a shooter, then it’s considerably longer than most.

At the end of the day, Mass Effect 2 is the most polished game BioWare has ever put out. It looks and sounds absolutely fantastic, with long load times being a small price to pay. The gameplay is highly refined and always fun, even if the missions could use more variety. The simplified RPG elements allow for streamlined interfaces that you’ll never get lost in, and sense of progression is adequately replaced with purchasable upgrades. Most importantly, the story is really entertaining and possesses a rare aura of magnitude in addition to humanized NPCs. BioWare’s second installment in their space-opera trilogy might not be a great RPG, but it is a great video game.

Author: Cody

Tags: bioware, ea, mass effect 2, review