Game Impressions: Mass Effect 2

Introduction

I remember the gaming Fall of 2007 very well.  Bioshock came out on August 21st.    Metroid Prime 3: Corruption came out on August 27th.   Halo 3 came out September 25th.  The Orange Box came out on October 7th.  Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare came out November 5th.  The first Assassin’s Creed came out November 16th.  Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune came out on November 19th.  Finally, on the same day as the original Rock Band came out, Bioware’s Mass Effect came out on November 20th.  In the span of exactly 3 months, 9 blockbuster titles came out.  It’s enough to make a gamer shout for joy and sob on his joystick all at the same time.

Of those titles, a few had a big effect on me.  I named Portal my Game of the Year, followed closely by Bioshock at #2.  Mass Effect was #7 in my Top 10.   While that might not seem high on my list, a quick look at my achievements shows that I started the game on November 21st, 2007 and completed it on December 5, 2007.  It doesn’t appear by the achievements that I played every day, but in that 15 day span I visited every planet, completed every side quest, and finished the game in just over 40 hours of gameplay.  Given the number of games I buy and never play, or start and never get far into, the fact that I spent 40 hours in 2 weeks on Mass Effect during that crowded Fall season says something about how much I enjoyed the game.

Still, I didn’t really wait with bated breath for Mass Effect 2.  In fact, as soon as it was announced that it would be coming in January, after the holiday release season, I sort of put it out of my mind.  When January came, I saw it on the list of upcoming titles, and it came back to the forefront of my consciousness.  I started reading Mass Effect: Ascension.  I played Mass Effect Galaxy.  I got the first issue of the Mass Effect: Redemption comic.  And I pre-ordered Mass Effect 2 from Gamestop.com, with free shipping.  As the date approached, my anticipation rose and rose, until I regretted that free shipping option I picked.

Thankfully, my game arrived the day after release, and I fired it up that evening.  So do I think Mass Effect 2 is a worthy successor to the original Mass Effect?  Was my heightened anticipation rewarded?

Story

Before I begin, let me state that I’m going to try not to throw out any major spoilers, and I’ll put a warning before any I think I need to discuss.  But the start of the game has some things that some people might consider spoiler-ish that I’m going to have to discuss.  I don’t think I’ll probably say anything that isn’t “generally accepted knowledge” here, but don’t get upset if I discuss the premise of the game, and you consider that spoiler-ish.

The story just about where Mass Effect left off.  You’ve stopped Saren and the Geth.  You know that Sovereign was a Reaper, a race that created the mass relays and prey on galactic civilization every few millennia.  You are tasked to take the Normandy and root out any last Geth.  While doing that, you are attacked by an unknown ship, and the Normandy is destroyed.  Most of the crew survive by jettisoning in escape pods, but Commander Shepard doesn’t make it.  Your suit is damaged and you suffocate as your body enters the atmosphere of the planet nearby.

Your body is retrieved by Cerberus, a extremist pro-human organization run by the mysterious Illusive Man.  Over the course of 2 years, Cerberus works to bring Shepard back to life in a project called Lazarus.  You awaken in the Cerberus space station where Lazarus was being conducted, nearly back to your old self again.  The station is being attacked by hacked security mechs, and you manage to escape with the help of two Cerberus operatives, Jacob Taylor and Miranda Lawson.  You are taken to meet your maker (or at least the one who funded your revival), the Illusive Man.  You’re told that you were brought back to help combat a huge threat to humanity, namely that of human colonies that have gone mysteriously missing.

Gameplay

Before getting to deep into gameplay mechanics, let me start by saying that Bioware has implemented one of the coolest ways to transfer an existing character from a previous game to the current one.  I read on Kotaku that there were over 700 game hooks that transferred from Mass Effect to Mass Effect 2 if you imported your original Mass Effect character.  Major and minor decisions affect everything in Mass Effect 2, from who’s alive and dead, to the jobs people do, to things you see in passing on holoscreens.  That’s very cool.

On top of that, the way that Bioware does it flows almost seamlessly with the story.  Because you are in essence “rebuilt” after the destruction of the Normandy, you get the option of creating a new Commander Shepard, importing your ME1 character but changing up your looks, or importing with the same looks as before.  The game reminds you of the major decisions you made in the first game, and you “wake up” with those selections.  You’ll reportedly be able to do the same in Mass Effect 3.  I can’t wait to see how Bioware implements it then, because it seems like such a perfect execution in Mass Effect 2.

Mass Effect 2 holds the distinction of being a near perfect combination of shooter and RPG.  The original Mass Effect suffered from trying to be both of those things simultaneously.  Bioware seems to have really worked to improve the things that were criticized in that game.  The original combat mechanic, for example, never made you feel as if you were really doing something.  In Mass Effect 2, shooting is body location based, so it feels much more tactical.  The aggravating weapon overheating is gone, replaced by reloading.  Character leveling is based on missions rather than kills, so leveling up your skills is much more fluid and well-paced.  Also, different weapons and biotics are more effective versus shields, barriers, and armor, resulting in a more dynamic and engaging combat experience.

On the RPG side of things, Bioware continues to improve on their conversation systems with each new RPG they release.  You can (and do!) spent hours just talking to NPCs in the game, from your own crew to random encounters.  You know when you’re going from point A to point B, and you stop along the way to listen to random conversations of non-plot characters, that Mass Effect 2 is all about immersion.  The voice acting is usually spot on, and Bioware has really worked on gestures and facial expressions to the point where you’re not distracted by them because they seem so natural.  The burdensome loot and inventory system from the first Mass Effect is gone, replaced with a system that allows for some control without dragging you down.  (Spending hours messing with inventory rather than getting on with the story is the sole reason I haven’t finished Dragon Age: Origins, which is also from Bioware.)

The biggest thing that Mass Effect 2 does, in my opinion, is make you care about your character.  I play a red-haired female Commander Shepard (below), same look and gender as I did the first game.  To me, that is Commander Shepard.  When I look at YouTube videos or screenshots that feature male Shepards, it doesn’t even feel like the same game.  To me that means that Bioware has made me care about my character and connect to it in some way that some games utterly fail at.  At the same time, they never shy from trying to make me laugh.  I smile every time I walk into a store and hear “I’m Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite store on the Citadel.”  Morden’s commentaries on alien species mating and his take on Gilbert and Sullivan are hilarious.  Bioware is definitely not afraid to be funny.

Not everything is rosy in Mass Effect 2.  It’s been well documented that the planet probing system is slow and tedious.  The first game had you landing on planets with the M35 Mako vehicle and driving to anomalous points on the surface, which worked but was fairly tedious in and of itself.  Vehicle driving was one of those areas that seemed to have been included because that’s what you include in shooters in this generation, but it only just worked, and didn’t work well.  Bioware just removed that completely, and replaced it with a planet scanning system you do from orbit, and send probes out to collect minerals.  (For a fun easter egg, try doing that to planets in the local system.) The problem is, it’s just not very fun.  On the Xbox 360, the planet rotation is very slow, and you could send over 20 probes into a planet before the minerals are all deleted.  Bioware’s Lead Gameplay Designer acknowledged that it’s a misstep on a recent CAGcast podcast, and saying that she watches a movie or something as she scans planets.  You wouldn’t see that in game development specs!

(Note: The  just released DLC “Firewalker” brings vehicles back to Mass Effect in the form of a hover tank known as Hammerhead.  Advance word is that it’s a a big improvement over vehicle play in the original Mass Effect, but I haven’t had a chance to try it out yet.)

Extras

The regular, collector’s and digital deluxe editions of Mass Effect 2 give you the game and free access to the Cerberus network (which I’ll discuss shortly).  The collector’s edition that I purchased came in a tin case with a small 48-page hardcover art book, a miniature version of issue #1 of the Mass Effect Redemption comic book, and a bonus DVD with “Making of” videos and desktop wallpapers.  It also came with a DLC code for a special Collector’s Armor and Rifle, which I redeemed but never wore in-game.  There were many armor and weapon DLC freebies depending on who you pre-ordered the game from, through a promotion with Dr. Pepper, and through Bioware if you purchased and registered both Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins (which I did, and it recognizes on their website, but doesn’t give me the DLC in-game).  I wasn’t too crazy for the special armor because some of it came with a non-removable headpiece, and I liked the gear that didn’t cover my head.

The Cerberus network is Bioware’s free DLC portal, as well as their attempt to entice people to buy the game new rather than used.  It’s free if you buy the game new, but if you buy it used without a code, it’ll cost you $15 to access the free DLC offered by Bioware.  Paid DLC does not require the Cerberus network.  I’m not a huge fan of the Gamestops of the world that will buy a used game from you for peanuts and try to sell it to you for just $5 below the new game price, so this move is very intriguing.  It’ll be interesting to see if Bioware adopts it in future games or if other people pick up on the idea.

There is also a small extra related to the iPhone / iPod Touch game Mass Effect Galaxy.  Crew members Jacob and Miranda from Mass Effect 2 are the main characters in Mass Effect Galaxy, and if you complete that game and tie it to your Xbox Live account, you get a screen that mentions a reward awaits you in Mass Effect 2.  Unfortunately, it only amounts to some added dialog in Mass Effect 2.  It’s nice to see the tie in, but the “payoff” isn’t worth the added effort.

There are also links with the novels and comic.  Several references are made to events in the second novel, which as I’ve discussed before is set between the two Mass Effect games.  For instance, the first time you meet Tali in Mass Effect 2, she mentions that she is angry with humans after the attack on the Migrant Fleet, which is a direct reference to events in the novel.  Small details like that are perfect in that they don’t make people who haven’t read the novels feel like they are missing out, but flesh out the universe for those who have sought out other Mass Effect tie-ins like the novels or comic or other media.

Conclusion

I played Mass Effect 2 in its entirety in Hardcore mode in less than 2 weeks.  I played as a Paragon, and it took me roughly 52 hours to complete.  I did all the side quests.  I played through the last part of the game a few times to see different romance possibilities and different endings.  I got 50 of 51 possible achievements for 940/1015 possible points.  The only one I didn’t get was the one for playing through the game again on Insanity difficulty, which I tried a little of and it truly is insane.  I’m looking forward to the DLC missions because I was enjoying myself so much that I didn’t want the game to end.

Mass Effect 2 surprised me and exceeded my expectations in almost every way.  It is huge and ambitious and epic, while at the same time being personal, engaging and just downright fun.  The compelling, character-driven story, combined with tight, refined combat make Mass Effect 2 a deeply immersive and memorable experience.

If you’ve never been exposed to the Mass Effect universe, I’d recommend playing the first Mass Effect before playing Mass Effect 2, not because you’ll be totally lost, but because you’ll miss out on some of the immersion that Bioware has crafted to show that your decisions have consequences.  Mass Effect 2 not only sets a high bar for Bioware in developing the next game, but for everyone else this year to try to beat it for Game of the Year.

Wanna see my thoughts on other games?  Check out my other Game Impressions.