MASS EFFECT 2 REVIEW Posted by with_teeth26 on Feb 6, 2010 17:36 (173 days ago) |
In Mass Effect 1, all the classes felt fairly similar, and most of the time you would end up using 1 weapon for most of the game and maybe one or two powers. ME 2’s classes are more clearly defined, and depending on your choice you will have to change the way you play. While ME 1 allowed you to use all weapons in all classes but only let you train for 1 or two types of weapons, ME 2 only lets you use the weapons your class specializes in – although there are no longer ways to train in weapon proficiency.
 Only Shepard had the foresight to wear a helmet that day Instead of training to become better with armour or weapons, you will find upgrades for them lying about, or you can buy them at various places throughout the game. Once you find the upgrade, you can’t immediately use it. You first need to return to the Normandy, which again is your ‘base’ in ME 2, and research the upgrade. It doesn’t end there – to research the upgrade, you need to have enough of 1 of 5 kinds of ore, which you obtain in two ways. Small amounts of ore are scattered throughout the game, but if you want to get all the upgrades you find, or at least the majority of them, you will need to spend a substantial amount of time in a rather dull but compulsively addicting mining mini game, where you scan a planet for ore and launch probes to extract it. This mini game replaces the planet exploration bits in Mass Effect 1, which is a welcome change because of how poor the Mako handling was, although you will occasionally find ‘anomalies’ in your scanning, at which point you can land and check things out.
Also gone is the inventory system which caused so much grief and frustration. In its place is a more shooter-like pre-mission squad load out screen, where you choose which weapons which squad members will use. Unlike Mass Effect 1, where there were a lot of different guns that all had the same basic model and feel but different stats, you will only find two or three different guns in each category, they are fairly different from each other, especially the new heavy weapons, but the stats have also been removed, so you don’t know the specific advantages of each weapon. It would seem that weapon stats could have easily been integrated into the new weapon-locker system, since when you get upgrades such as damage upgrades it will give you a percent increase, but you don’t know what that increase is on top of. Still, the new weapon locker system is a lot more intuitive than the awkward inventory management of ME 1, and serves to help the game rather than hinder it. The new armour system is similar to the new weapon system – gone are the stats, instead you can upgrade specific parts of it, and even customize the appearance of your armour. This ‘streamlined’ approach to your equipment may disappoint those in search of more traditional looting, but it does serve to simplify the experience and keep you focused on the combat and the dialogue.
 Armour: Check. Guns: Check. Umbrella - oh dear Once you complete the introductory quests, which are very cinematic and pull you into the game from the start, the structure of the campaign becomes fairly formulaic. You have to recruit a number of squad members, and if you wish to gain their loyalty you must complete one quest for each of them. These loyalty quests are optional, but should be completed because they are just as well done as the main story missions, and will unlock the most powerful abilities of your squad members. Mass Effect had fewer but much longer missions, while ME 2 will take you to a great variety of locations in shorter but faster paced missions, almost all of which are very well done. This time around it is very easy to go off and do side quests, and unlike those in the original they are, for the most part, well worth doing. While the first game could be completed in 12-15 hours due to the lack of side quests that were worth doing, an average play through of Mass Effect 2 should take 20-30 hours, with more thorough playthroughs pushing 40 hours, thanks to the great side quests that are seamlessly integrated into the experience.
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Feb 9, 2010 18:20:00 (170 days ago)
