Mass Effect 2

4/5 Stars

The continuing story of Shepherd and co.- does it have mass appeal or little effect?

In Mass Effect, exploring the universe as either the default or a player created Commander Shepherd was great fun, with a myriad of people to meet and shoot at, and planets to explore. The second game allows you to continue your adventure with your choices from the first game affecting your path in the second. Bringing across your character from the first game adds to the sense of continuity, with choices you made affecting which characters you meet and how they react to you. You do start back at level one though - with this being explained away by your character helpfully dying and being rebuilt in the game's intro sequence. This also brings you into contact with the shadowy Cerberus organisation, who sponsor your mission. New to this game is a clearer focus on downloadable add ons via the Cerberus Network, with several pieces available already free to anyone with a first hand copy of the game.

The second game builds on the strength of the first by simplifying a few aspects, for example weapon collecting now only requires you to find or research a weapon once for everyone on your team to be able to use it, and the exloration aspect, in which there is less actual wandering around planets and more long distance scanning. The scanning is an interesting idea, which allows you to research upgrades through collecting resources, although the scanning 'minigame' gets dull quickly. The combat has been tightened up also, with more emphasis on clever use of your team's skills and a more traditional shooter feel than the first game. Long, branching conversations are back though, and although some are interesting, and have an affect on the way people react to your character and your path through the game, there is also plenty of waffle. Missions and 'towns' have also been considerably tightened up, with less aimless wandering and fewer superfluous items to buy. Overall though, there is not a considerable departure from the first game in many ways.

The game plays very well, and manages to build a cohesive and interesting game universe, populated with a variety of interesting characters. New characters, races and places to go expand the Mass Effect Universe from the first game, a particular favourite of mine being the assassin Thane, but old characters return too, ensuring continuity and a feeling if your character's real involvement in the events of the wider universe. The characters are all well written and acted, and your teammates all have side missions which serve to flesh out their backstories and gain their loyalty for the mission. You also get a better range of team members to choose from, each with unique skills and upgrades. The story works well, allowing you time to explore and the game universe is well defined, even if it does seem to favour aliens who are distinctly humanoid and English speaking.

The plot is generally good, and the gameplay works well, although the mission based structure often obstructs you from following the story easily. The combat too, is enjoyable, but too often relies on contant ducking behind cover, and any tactical ideas are occasionally stopped by teammates disappearring or running into the line of fire. Also, some of the depth of the first one has been lost, ensuring this game appeals to a broader fanbase but sometimes leaving you wanting more, and the number of side missions sometimes causes you to lose the big picture. Throughout, the flow of the game can be sluggish, both in combat and storyline, and I felt there were some pacing issues which could have been helped by making sure the main storyline was better kept fresh in the players mind. By contrast, the last few sequences of the game are magnificent, forcing you to choose team members for particular jobs and keeping up the pressure for a brilliant finale. More sequences like this would be very welcome in the next game.

Overall then, this is a great game which should appeal to newcomers and fans of the original game. Whilst not exactly rewriting the rule book, it sensibly but safely expands on the first game, providing a solid and entertaining game.


Thanks for reading! Andrew