Mass Effect 2 - Bioware - X360

[LK]

The game is a marked improvement over its predecessor.

The game starts you off with a slate-cleaning that is actually humorous to observe as someone who has any knowledge about game design. Shepard's back, and he/she is EXACTLY THE SAME AS MASS EFFECT 1 despite the fact you've been through an extremely traumatic event. They spend a great deal of time harping on the fact that you're you, don't worry about that, but everything around you has changed dramatically to allow for the decisions you made in the first game to have as little impact as possible on the second.

That said, the game's combat system is dramatically improved from the original, mainly in how it handles and feels. It plays more like a solid Gears clone than whatever the hell it was from the first game. Gunplay feels more solid and weighted; the pow of the guns as I fire them felt very satisfying to me. The cover system has a smoother implementation (though you can tell when you're about to fight based on environment design providing adequate cover). Power usage doesn't feel that much different from the first game; you can pause the game at any time to use a power, issue orders, or take stock of the battlefield. It allows for a nice mix between real time and turn-based combat. All powers are on a cooldown so no worries about using up mana or some such; use those powers and go to town on your enemies.

Hacking / Lockpicking mini-games are nicely implemented; you don't even need to train skills to utilize them. In fact all skills are combat-related and streamlined, along with weapon proficiencies. They have a research / upgrade system to applies bonuses, which I found to be a great way to go about upgrading characters while leaving character talent points for something useful and direct. Vehicle sections have been eliminated as far as I can tell; they only kept the best from the first game and added some new stuff to the second that keeps to that theme of streamlined goodness. Surveying on planets with the Normandy is a little dull though.

Enemies seem to be slightly improved from the first, with emphasis on Barrier, Shields, and Armor as a primary defense mechanism that require you to bring in a varied squad with different powers to deal with the different threats. Larger bosses have multiple defenses. I am still fighting mostly humanoid type creatures in my first 10 hours, and I'm hoping that changes, but so far if I was to play without the story I'd still be having a really good time, unlike the first.

Oh, right! Story. The initial characters you're given to interact with are much stronger than Kaiden / Ashley from the first game, though they follow the Bioware trope of Moral / Immoral companions. The new characters I've met have very interesting personalities and quirks, except Zaeed, the character you get for buying a new game instead of a trade-in. Voice-work can be slightly off at times, but the high quality of talent involved is solid through most of the game. There's volumes that could be said about this game's story and situations: it's a Bioware game. You won't be disappointed, but the same faults from previous titles exist (I didn't mean to say that / say it like that / I'm a lesbian why am I sounding interested in this man OMG maybe I'm not a lesbian but I just sexed up Yeoman Chambers SO CONFUSED).

Oh yeah; I wish this game allowed me to sex up far more characters then it gives me the option to. I want to play Captain Kirk, damn it.

Verdict: Buy it.

[bhodi]

This game is the be- [right hook]

[Reg]

I agree with pretty much everything you said but you neglected to mention the mining/scanning minigame. If you want to get all your upgrades you have to do it and it's every bit as much fun as aimlessly driving the mako around was in ME 1.

[Ratman_tf]

I'm one of those people who liked the Mako. I think the problem with it was the terrain that it had to drive over. Scripted Mako zones were great. Randomly generated planets were not so great. I really missed not having it in ME2. (Yet)

[kildorn]

You also forgot to note the inability to play through the game as a pure paragon because no human can resist the awesome new cutscene interrupt system's renegade options.

[Reg]

Actually, on my first ME1 playthrough I kind of liked the Mako missions as well. I got tired of them on my next character though.  The entertainment value of mining in ME2 died for me after about 10 minutes so I guess it's actually worse than mako driving really.

On my second ME 2 playthrough I used a save game editor mentioned up on the main ME 2 thread and gave myself a ton of resources so I wouldn't have to mine.

[LK]

I agree with pretty much everything you said but you neglected to mention the mining/scanning minigame.

Surveying on planets with the Normandy is a little dull though.

I noticed there are certain sections where the game tends to fall flat on its face. For instance, levels are, as expected, Bioware-linear. One end-cap of a mission had me trying to protect a computer while baddies swarmed in. The baddies focused 100% on me; the computer wasn't really an objective or focus for them. Implementation not agreeing with design. The area also wasn't setup very well for the type of "HOLD THE LINE" gameplay you expect for frenzied defense missions. So, level design is a bit fail for me.

[MisterNoisy]

I agree with pretty much everything you said but you neglected to mention the mining/scanning minigame. If you want to get all your upgrades you have to do it and it's every bit as much fun as aimlessly driving the mako around was in ME 1.

Make sure you survey
It's the only highlight of the surveying minigame.

[Reg]

There's no question that it's a great game and worth every dollar I spent on it.  For Mass Effect 3 though, I want them to lose the mining and add Dragon Age style party banter.

[LK]

Can someone tell me how they plan to play the game with so many additional party members? I think it's a replayability tactic or something, but the first game taught me to keep the same two party members for the bulk of the game and to ignore everyone else. So I have been using Miranda and Jacob the whole time and haven't even touched anyone else on a mission, though I still talk to them.

I'm a bit paralyzed when it comes to deciding which squad to take to a planet. If it came down to pure variation, that's one thing (Biotic / Tech / Soldier). But I'm worried about tricks, like I'll miss out on sexing Miranda if I don't have her on every mission or sometihng. Hah.

[Rasix]

Can someone tell me how they plan to play the game with so many additional party members? I think it's a replayability tactic or something, but the first game taught me to keep the same two party members for the bulk of the game and to ignore everyone else. So I have been using Miranda and Jacob the whole time and haven't even touched anyone else on a mission, though I still talk to them.

I'm a bit paralyzed when it comes to deciding which squad to take to a planet. If it came down to pure variation, that's one thing (Biotic / Tech / Soldier). But I'm worried about tricks, like I'll miss out on sexing Miranda if I don't have her on every mission or sometihng. Hah.

Won't matter one bit.  Just do their loyalty missions and talk to them between major plot missions.  There's no real inventory so you don't have to worry about drops and everyone auto levels.  Also, there are no follower related completion achievements this time around.

[Ingmar]

Also, there are no follower related completion achievements this time around.

That may be my favorite change in the sequel, that was so annoying.

[Comstar]

I just swapped them out for different characters nearly every mission, but some characters are better than others fighting different mooks. Having 2 sniper's is pretty useless vs the end game zombies, 2 biotics are better (you REALLY need 2 biotics when you get the IFF device).

In effect though, take a gun/tough guy and a biotic (Mordin works like a biotic with his tech powers). If you know you're going up vs Geth or Robots, take 2 people with anti-sythetic powers.

Also take Archangel and Tali to the Citadel for an amusing conversation about elevators.

Take your romance interest on the final mission (not for the combat as such, the role playing).

[Koyasha]

Also, there are no follower related completion achievements this time around.

That may be my favorite change in the sequel, that was so annoying.

I actually liked the follower-related completion achievements.  It made me see how awesome Wrex was, for instance, because I doubt I would really have used him if not for that.

I also liked the achievement-related bonus ability unlocks.  Not just the extra power selection on creating a new character (which was better done in ME2 since you didn't have to start a new character to obtain your bonus power) but the little bonuses like 10% cooldown reduction for X skills, or 10% health increase, or 5% damage increase.  As far as I know, the only such bonus ME2 has is 25% exp increase after completing one playthrough.

[Ingmar]

It also actively discouraged you from trying different combinations of characters out in a single game to see how they reacted to things, and the hoops you had to jump through to make sure you got the Asari companion achievement completed were pretty irritating.

[Bunk]

Yea, I foolishly assumed that doin Liara's mission first and then using her everytime from there on would get me the acheivment. It didn't. Only companion one I ever got was Tali, which was partially an accident - I needed someone with electronic/decrypt on my first playthrough.

[LK]

The game is actually making me scared that the order and priority I put on decisions will affect the ending of the game. Like doing some person's loyalty over another results in badness.

Also, Liara's expanded role is hot. From nerdy scientist to ... well... I can retire happy!

[eldaec]

I've always thought they should mix in a whole bunch of can/can't/must/bonus-for-use-of companion X on mission Y restrictions just to encourage variety, need to make the companions even more integral to the plot lines as well.

Freedom Force did all that pretty well and Bioware games could use more of ir.

[Bunk]

I do think ME2 did a far better job than the first one of giving you tactical reasons to pick party members based on the mission. Tali and Zaeed would tear up Geth missions, but I'd much rather have say Mordin and the Cheerleader against Collectors.

I think I intentionally used every member of the crew other than Jacob at least once.

[LK]

I stuck with Miranda and Jacob for all of the game when possible. Miranda's outfits are great, to say the least. A merc even makes fun of her for wearing it in combat situations.