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i'm sure you have missed me (those who remember me from the Bioware-forum) and my opinions. As always, i will not let you down, for i am about to bring you my unique perspective of the excellent game Mass Effect 2.And quite simply... Mass Effect 2... I adore it!
Here goes:
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OVERALL GRIP OF THE GAME (STORY AND DETAILS)
First of all, I love the way Bioware has focused more on the dialogue, giving the game a more cinematic experience. It feels as if this game is more centered on the emotion and story, which is pure genious, because that is exactly how a game like Mass Effect shold be played, rather than going through mundane generic runs over a planet's surface in the Mako. Interacting with your squad members has become more gratifying and delivers dialogues with very good emotional highs and lows. You really take an active interest in how everyone's doing, if they like you/are loyal to you or not, and the build-up for each character's persona before you meet them is brilliant.
It makes the game feel like one great long movie which you are a part of and can affect. I also like the larger size of the Normandy and EDI; something that gives the ship a more pure feel of sci-fi.
At a lot of places, the story got very emotional... and darker than the original... To hear a quarian mother scream her last words to her son in a recording, right before the geth kills her... it was very touching.
So..
STORYWISE: Positive change
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FIGHTING AND ACTION
That being said, one should also know that the action-sequences haven't been played down because of the more enhanced dialogue-perspective.
If anything, the action is AWESOME!! Battles aren't as easy as they used to be. Not by a long shot!
You actually have to think now, whereas in ME the enemies' AI wasn't all that developed. But now; you try to run up to the enemy in a "I can take care of everything as long as i am quick"-kind of attitude, he or his buddies will blow you away in an instant unless you can find cover fast; even if you're a Sentinel with the flashy technoarmour!
And the way you and your team fight has also been improved. Now; my squad members move like real fighters. They fight back like real fighters and they shout out enemy positions and report when they use their special ammo like real fighters. They react in real-time like nothing ever seen in the original game.
And the intensity, my god!... Firefights like the one where i'm fighting the geth on Haestrom gives me orgasms! I swear, when i throw a firegrenade just seconds before i leap over my cover and thunder away at the enemy with the upgraded submachine gun ... combined with the fierce music... its like eating chocolate or winning the lottery! Whatever Bioware did to make the fights in ME 2 differ from ME 1, they need to keep doing it! ^^ I haven't been this positively surprised since Gears of War 2. Just like in GoW2, it really feels as if i'm giving covering fire or flanking the enemy in tactical moves, while they have the numbers and coordinate with each other in complex maneuvres designed to flush us out.
Engaging the enemy in ME 2 is simply a work of art.
ACTIONWISE: Positive change
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MUSIC AND SOUND-EFFECTS
The music; especially in the fights, are awesome. High-paced music gives an adrenaline rush in battles and the creepy song you hear when you're at the Normandy crash-site/onboard the disabled Collector vessel gives me the shivers. And then there's the sound-effects. At first I was marginally surprised at the sound made by me firing my gun. And then i got a hold of the Tempest submachinegun.... oh yeah! ^^ (mind you, i haven't played as a Soldier yet, so i haven't experienced the upgraded assault rifle, but i imagine it's just as awesome)
SOUNDTRACK: Same Mass Effect-feel, but greatly improved.
SOUND-EFFECTS: To hear those shots again, I just wanna keep shooting; despite the danger of running low on ammo.
So, yeah.. all in all.. the best game this year! (and 2010 hasn't even left its trainingwheels behind yet ^^)
And then there's "Blasto; the Hanar Spectre" !! ^^ .. that cracked me up!!
How can you NOT love that? ^^"ENKINDLE THIS!!"
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NEGATIVE SIDES: Well, almost none.. except for three or four minor details...
Well, all games do have their downsides, as does ME 2, but i will admit that they are minor when considering the bigger picture.
* For the moment, my biggest issue are the mini-games. The "hacking" of datapads and wall-safes and such things. Playing those "memory"-like games where you must pair up symbols on a circuitboard or the cracking of code-segments.... agreed, they were fun and original at first, but later... they got so frequent that eventually, especially in battlezones; they just got soooo very annoying. Seeing as it was only a matter of seconds before you managed to crack them anyway, it was something that us gamers really didn't need.
* The fact that you can't resupply your ammo when you return to the ship when the armory is just sitting right there and staring you in the face on deck 2 is just stupid; not to mention unrealistic. No, you are forced to rely on on-site procurement of ammo and it just makes you very frustrated as your ammo is just as depleted when you begin a new mission as it was when you completed the previous one. It should have been an option; either automatic refills everytime you come aboard or AT LEAST the possibility to purchase new ammo in cities or on the ship.
* One more troubling thing i can add is that the game seems to suffer from considerable bug-problems. One example; i have seen Shepard have a dialogue with empty space where a character should be. Its rare, but it has happened more than once. For instance, I reloaded a save from where you help Tali on the Alarei and her father didn't show up in any of the recordings! Tried to reload many times, even turned off my 360 and reloaded the same save-file but alas, the poor guy simply had a bad case of stage-fright every time.
Also, as i started ME 2 at one time, the game reported my add-on "Normandy Crash Site" to be faulty and recommended that i donwload it again, but it has happened only once; never got that message again.
These things are, although disturbing, also somewhat insignificant in the greater whole, but in my opinion they do impede gaming-experience nonetheless. The following issues are even less than that.. minor annoyances, really; but still worth mentioning.
Other than what i have already stated, i really do not have a problem with ME 2 that doesn't involve the minor concept of desiring realism.
The rest of my issues are not very big ones. In fact, they are so small that many would call it "nit-picking". ^^ But it doesn't matter, I'm still going to bring'em up.
* Firstly ... The use of the helmet. It's a small detail, I know; but it still affects my experience of the gameplay and the sense of realism.
Let me explain:
I don't view the helmet as purely being a breathing-apparatus for missions in hostile atmospheres and the vacuum of space, and seeing as one of the options in ME 2 is to have Shepard equip a normal helmet that's opened to the atmosphere, gives me indications that it is supposed to be used for purposes other than maintaining a pressurized oxygen environment within. And the most prominent other purpose of a helmet would be... duuh! .. protection from incoming fire.
This is my main problem:
In the first ME, i would configure my squad along the lines of realism. For instance, if i knew that we were without a doubt heading into an area with fierce firefights and battles, i would make my squad wear helmets; a la marine-squad style. Even if the atmosphere was breathable, helmets still did play an important part in keeping your brains from being splattered in a thick grey paste all over the wall behind you. In more peaceful areas, like the citadel or any outpost, i would let Shepard and his companions interact with people in the more relaxed look of NOT wearing helmets. It added to the sense of realism and although I know it was purely for visual effect and that the helmet had no real protective value, still; it made my sense of immersion into the game easier.
In Mass Effect 2, you don't have that option anymore; and it kind of bugs me, even if the option to make your squad wear helmets or not was purely cosmetical in ME.
Now, in ME 2; while the use of a helmet has been given certain attribtue-bonuses, the only one who we can actively tell to wear a helmet or not, is Shepard; no one else.
And I ask you from the perspective of one who craves realism; what's the point of being able to wear protective headgear, if no one else in your team can see the value of having to use it?
It just looks ridiculous; going into battle wearing a helmet, while your companions apparently are fully willing to take their chances with stray rounds. Call me crazy, but I would think that the threat of gunshots to the head would motivate for a little more precaution.
Or maybe Shepard is more valuable and not as expendable as the others, and thus the only one allowed to choose to wear a helmet in battle?
I don't know... but i'll tell you one thing.. it ain't logical. Not a damn bit.
Now, I don't mind that we aren't able to configure the armour of the entire team anymore. If anything, it has made gameplay more focused and fun, instead of having to adjust every little detail for every single squadmember for every new upgrade procured. In the first game, that was the one thing that took the most time and energy. It was tedious, to say the least.
But the helmet-thing in ME 2 ... that bugs me.
* And its the same thing with the armoured suit. Whenever Shepard leaves the Normandy and goes off into a settlement or any other place that's basically friendly, why does he need to wear battlearmour at all? Always feels a little weird when you approach a store-owner or just any other civilian in a mean looking commando-outfit. Even more weird when there's no obvious reaction from the NPC you're talking with.
I understand the need to be cautious and always be prepared for danger; especially considering the nature of his mission, but couldn't they have come up with some sort of inconspicious compromise, where Shepard, for instance, wears something that resembles normal civilian clothing in the towns, which has some sort of reactive battlearmour underneath that folds out in situations where the armour reacts instinctively to danger, or something like that? (just throwing out ideas now ^^)
* And speaking about reactions and their impact on the sense of realism... two things seem not quite right. Firstly, i would expect more of a reaction from every civilian i meet when i have Legion in my party. I mean, showing up with a geth at my side is not something the people of the ME-universe should simply accept. Shock, outrage and fear should be an apropriate response on more than one occasion.
And secondly, after the collector-attack on Normandy and those bug-eyed freaks have abducted the crew, it is quite odd to hear Jacob talk about himself feeling "good" and "wanting to spill some drinks on the citadel" when asking him about how he feels. Seriously, having your ship boarded and all your crew-mates dragged away in som horrifying alien abduction should have affetced the morale of everyone left, at least a bit. Granted, no one experienced the event first-hand except Joker, but still... this is an event that should really be the talk of the ship (those who were left aboard it) and it feels like they should've adopted a little more sad mood or something when talked to again..
Of course, I love ME 2 anyway and i am already playing through another round
Now, if i can JUST figure out how to keep everyone alive....
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