Review: Mass Effect 2

Over the summer I was lucky enough to pick up Mass Effect 1 from my friend, after being told multiple times that this was one of those must play games, that I had missed when it launched due to lack of a Xbox 360. So I played it through, and while it was definitely a good game story wise, a few elements, namely the inventory system and planet exploration system needed a little retuning.

If it sounds like I didn't like the game, I bought the DLC for it, and I don't even own the game. It was definitely worth playing, if not solely for the chance to play the game through as the paragon hero saving lives or as a renegade vigilante punishing the wicked. Being able to determine if one of your character lives or dies is one of the highlights of this system, but also knowing that decisions I made in this game would have ramifications that would echo into the next game in the series was just one of those things that made making hard decisions that much harder.

I heard great things about Mass Effect 2, regarding the refined inventory system, the improved exploration system, and the epic-ness of the story. Great things indeed. Not 10 minutes in to this new game you can tell that the game has transcended its past life, into an entirely new game, leaving the bad, taking the good, and filling in all the missing spots with something akin to video game gold. The way they linked the story of the first to the second, as well as the new path that they lead the series down builds upon the what-I-thought-was galaxy exploring greatness and takes it to an entirely new level of galaxy exploring grandeur.

Importing my save game from the original, I was able to see the ramifications of each and every decision I made, whether it was in an email from someone I helped, doing a side mission for someone from the first game, or even just overhearing someone talking about my past actions. Knowing that every decision I made really made me think about a few choices I had to make, but with the introduction of the new paragon/renegade trigger actions during conversations, made me make a few decisions that I had to jump on. Some I regret, some I regret missing, but all in all I can't say the spot opportunities didn't make the game that much more enticing to play.(Hint: Because it did.)

To avoid any spoilers, I'll say in this game, the fate of the galaxy rests on your head, and whether you half ass it or go the distance to gain your team's loyalty is going to make all the difference in the world. Or galaxy. Whatever. You get what I'm saying. The game isn't perfect, and personally I'd like a few more changes to the inventory system; That being every teenage boy's problem, I want more guns. The new system is definitely an improvement from the inventory clutter and resource hunting tediousness of the first game, but now there's a lack of inventory, and a different kind of resource hunting tediousness.

The weapon selection is somewhat limited, gaining one or two types of gun in the game, the second gun being only marginally better than the first, with the main method of obtaining a better gun through finding different upgrade modules, and researching different upgrades. So while yes, by finding all these nameless, shapeless upgrades, and spending resources found through tedious planet hopping you can get a better weapon, but personally I like it that much better when you can just go out and buy a shiny new gun that looks all BA and new, with credits that you get from killing bad guys. The game has structure. A lot of it. One might argue too much, but it's not to the point where it detracts from the game. In fact seeing that Mission Complete screen is pretty great after a long mission.

If you remotely like 3rd Person Shooters with RPG and Sci-Fi Elements, and like the pressure of the fate of an entire galaxy on your shoulders, this game is your bread and butter, just like it was for me. Hell, it's even got re-playability not only being able to import your ME1 save game, but your completed ME2 save game as well! Sure, it's not perfect, but if you look at how much better they made ME2 than they made ME1, I'm scared for how good ME3 is going to be. I'm giving ME2 a 9.5/10. Definitely one of the contenders for Game of the Year 2010.