Game Review: Mass Effect 2

With the release of Mass Effect 2 (26-Jan-2010), BioWare created an outstanding mix of shooter and RPG. While Mass Effect 1 was a good game, this sequel improves in almost every way by featuring a great mix between action and storytelling, amazing visuals with fantastic camera views and a long and intrinsic game play.

Upon beginning the game, an enemy will attack your ship (the Normandy). Fast forwarding two years ahead, human colonies are abducted by an alien species known as “the Collectors“. A pro-human organization known as the Cerberus will hire you (Shepard) in order to investigate about the disappearance of human colonies and finally confront and eliminate once and for all the cause of it (the Collectors, a locust like alien race). In order to accomplish all that, you are sent to gather together a special team composed by heroes and/or villains characters that you can choose from the previous game and the sequel. This elite team will assist you in your missions, but first you will have to earn their trust by helping them out with their personal problems. For a better game experience, it is strongly recommended to first play Mass Effect 1 before starting to play the sequel. If not, you may still play Mass Effect 2 and create a new character.

If you played the first game, every decision you made will carry on into Mass Effect 2 as well as your character. If on the other hand, you never played the original Mass Effect game before, certain selections from the past game are decided for you, while other situations will not unfold.

The game’s storyline is intriguing and entertaining, there is a wide selection of characters to choose from and there are many worlds to explore . Every decision you take, even the smallest, could have a huge impact on how the story will end.

BioWare has also improved its side missions on Mass Effect 2: you will have to scan planets across the galaxy from your ship. Once minerals are found, you will have to launch a probe in order to collect them. You will use at this point the resources collected in order to upgrade your weapons, armor and your ship.

One of the biggest advantages of this game is that every player will experience a different storyline based on the different choices made.

Some weak points of the game are perhaps the fact that loading times are too long and the planet scanning process may be time consuming because the reticule moves slowly. Vehicle missions have also vanished in the new sequel, the weapon choices have diminished and there is no more infinite ammo (you will have to get your ammo from the battlefield), however, despite such weak points, the game experience remains incredibly intense for the player.

Ultimately, BioWare did an awesome job in the making of the sequel. It focused on listening to the criticism from the original game and used them to fix most of the problems in the production of Mass Effect 2. This resulted into an amazingly enjoyable game that leaves a lasting impression on the player, making it unforgettable.

Mass Effect 2 may be leading to a new path for future games, even though it may probably take a while before we see another game of this magnitude. At this point, I must go as I am eager to play the game once again, but this time it will be a totally different experience since I will make different choices. In this relies the beauty of Mass Effect 2.