Gifting this to my University's president like Matpat giving Undertale to the pope in my crusade to expel Computer Science from upper academia
Square root of 906.01. "It all seemed to harmless"
You can't deploy a nuclear assault on the feels after 2 hours or mindless shooting. It ain't right
Half of this is just extremely bare bones platforming with the Hammerhead. Waste of my time.
Why did they have to repeatedly mention that david is autistic instead of him just having some non specific mental disorder. I'm sorry but it's so funny to me that this guy was so autistic he could literally talk to robots. And instead of figuring out how he can talk to robots they plug his autisitc ass into a bunch of wires and fuse him with an AI?
Aside from the bizzare autism plotline the expansion is pretty underwhelming. I've always found the geth really boring as enemies and as a part of the mass effect universe, they always just felt like generic enemies that only exist in the lore so the player has something to fight. And oh boy if you love fighting seemingly endless hordes of geth you'll love this expansion. Also it features even more of the replacement mako which I personally think handles much worse than the mako ever did, yeah it technically goes way faster and can jump 50 feet in the air but that means all the levels you use it in are longer and higher to compensate for it. And for some reason you only fight stationary turrets, missing out on some great opportunites to smash into geth at a thousand miles an hour
Mass Effect can actually be a pretty effective horror experience sometimes like the first encounter with sovereign and the bit with the throian, but this expansion really wasn't doing it for me. Mostly I blame the geth, i've killed literally thousands of these fuckers so don't expect me to be scared just becuse now there's a green glow effect around their head, my autism's much to powerful for any geth to kill me anyway
Aside from the bizzare autism plotline the expansion is pretty underwhelming. I've always found the geth really boring as enemies and as a part of the mass effect universe, they always just felt like generic enemies that only exist in the lore so the player has something to fight. And oh boy if you love fighting seemingly endless hordes of geth you'll love this expansion. Also it features even more of the replacement mako which I personally think handles much worse than the mako ever did, yeah it technically goes way faster and can jump 50 feet in the air but that means all the levels you use it in are longer and higher to compensate for it. And for some reason you only fight stationary turrets, missing out on some great opportunites to smash into geth at a thousand miles an hour
Mass Effect can actually be a pretty effective horror experience sometimes like the first encounter with sovereign and the bit with the throian, but this expansion really wasn't doing it for me. Mostly I blame the geth, i've killed literally thousands of these fuckers so don't expect me to be scared just becuse now there's a green glow effect around their head, my autism's much to powerful for any geth to kill me anyway
Playtime: 2 Hours
Score: 7/10
An okay DLC. Nothing amazing, but its fun little detour to take on your main adventure. The AI program though feels like a discount Shodan from System Shock.
Score: 7/10
An okay DLC. Nothing amazing, but its fun little detour to take on your main adventure. The AI program though feels like a discount Shodan from System Shock.
Boring gameplay, but a great story.
Enjoyed this DLC, it had a decent element of horror, and it was crushingly sad at its end point. Not much else to say.
The DLC does have some interesting moments and an emotional ending yet it also has some real shit. Most of its gameplay is boring in its short span as it resorts to much of Mass Effects worst issues. It is also certainly controversial in its subject matter which feels outdated by todays standards.
Pretty forgettable on the whole, although it does have an ending that generates a reaction worth exploring. You won't be missing out if you choose to skip this one since it's mostly combat-focused, but you might get something out of it if you dig deep enough.
It's pretty much just Lawnmower Man but somehow has a much worse portrait of autist people, also they brought back the fucking Mako; disgusting.
Honestly, I forgot how short this DLC was. I usually like to play the Mass Effect 2 DLC during the post game mainly for different dialogue and so I get main story over with. Overlord was a decent DLC, but my god I don't remember it being so short. It only took me around an hour to complete and I think that's just because I've gotten so good at the gameplay and I'm so leveled. There's really nothing interesting about this DLC when it comes to the level design and the highlight is by far the story which is actually really sad and kind of fucked up.
I will give credit where credit is due though. Outside of the shooting that I've gotten way too used to, they brought back vehicle exploration like from Mass Effect 1 and it's far much better. Mass Effect 1's vehicle sections were so bad that they're hilarious. The new vehicle, the hammerhead, was really fun and a lot easier to drive.
Overall, this DLC was okay. It's by far the weakest from what I remember out of the main story DLC, but it's worth a play. It can be decently fun, but the main draw is the story and your decision at the end of the DLC does return in Mass Effect 3 which is always nice for the sake of immersion and making it feel like your choices matter.
7/10
I will give credit where credit is due though. Outside of the shooting that I've gotten way too used to, they brought back vehicle exploration like from Mass Effect 1 and it's far much better. Mass Effect 1's vehicle sections were so bad that they're hilarious. The new vehicle, the hammerhead, was really fun and a lot easier to drive.
Overall, this DLC was okay. It's by far the weakest from what I remember out of the main story DLC, but it's worth a play. It can be decently fun, but the main draw is the story and your decision at the end of the DLC does return in Mass Effect 3 which is always nice for the sake of immersion and making it feel like your choices matter.
7/10
System Shock referencia đź‘Ť
Gameplay of the hammerhead was bad at best, but the autistic representation was downright awful, especially the “Autistic Mind” lines.
At least Mass Effect 3 would give David a happier conclusion to his story.
At least Mass Effect 3 would give David a happier conclusion to his story.
it's kinda funny how they literally said "David's autistic mind" like three times but aside of the bad representation, it's a very cool story and I really enjoyed the body horror aspect near the end
it started out as the scary one and ended as the sad one
It’s deep
Mass Effect 2 Project Overlord. Brought to you by Autism Speaks.
Hoo man, this DLC was worse than I remembered. The line "His autistic mind is as alien to me as actual aliens" spoken by one of the doctors convinced me that the writers had extremely outdated viewpoints of neurodivergent people. David was dehumanized to speak in very simple sentences and was characterized by only his autistic traits.
Apart from that, you're fighting geth and robots and that's the crux of the DLC. So bring Tali, Legion, or Kasumi with you and it'll be a smooth ride. You also control the hovercraft called the Hammerhead in between the stations, and it controls way better than the Mako in a lot of regards. However, because of its lack of shields, I feel it was designed to run away from conflict than to address it head on. Apart from one instance, the speed of the hammerhead was enough to speed away from any turret that may pose as a threat, and the platforming portions were fun to pull off. Kind of lame that they put invisible walls over locations that the hammerhead can easily clear over though.
Overall, I remember liking the dlc for the story, but retrospectively it's very dated now. The outcome of this mission doesn't really affect the story of ME3 aside from getting bonus upgrades, so you could probably feel safe to skip out on this one. No new lines from your squadmates during the cutscenes either, so it feels a bit empty with your mates being silent aside from their standard combat banter.
Hoo man, this DLC was worse than I remembered. The line "His autistic mind is as alien to me as actual aliens" spoken by one of the doctors convinced me that the writers had extremely outdated viewpoints of neurodivergent people. David was dehumanized to speak in very simple sentences and was characterized by only his autistic traits.
Apart from that, you're fighting geth and robots and that's the crux of the DLC. So bring Tali, Legion, or Kasumi with you and it'll be a smooth ride. You also control the hovercraft called the Hammerhead in between the stations, and it controls way better than the Mako in a lot of regards. However, because of its lack of shields, I feel it was designed to run away from conflict than to address it head on. Apart from one instance, the speed of the hammerhead was enough to speed away from any turret that may pose as a threat, and the platforming portions were fun to pull off. Kind of lame that they put invisible walls over locations that the hammerhead can easily clear over though.
Overall, I remember liking the dlc for the story, but retrospectively it's very dated now. The outcome of this mission doesn't really affect the story of ME3 aside from getting bonus upgrades, so you could probably feel safe to skip out on this one. No new lines from your squadmates during the cutscenes either, so it feels a bit empty with your mates being silent aside from their standard combat banter.
I like the DLC, it has some interesting stuff, but overall could have been done better
The only DLC worth logging, this was one of the most incredible and emotional stories I ever experienced in gaming, the visuals are harrowing and haunting to this day, exceptional work by everyone on the team.
Mass Effect series Review + Retrospective #2.4: Project Overlord
ME2’s second (or third if you count The Price of Revenge) story-based expansion brings together all of ME2’s worst parts in the form of Project Overlord. In this completely dull and bloated 2-hour-long slog, you’ll fight the same mech and geth enemies you’ve been fighting all game in the same giant hallways and rooms you’ve been fighting in all game.
You’ll visit one of the four stations around Aite and battle either mechs or geths in several waves as you work your way around the facility. Once that’s finished, you’ll do the same thing three more times. There’s a couple of cool meta moments where the rogue VI plays around with the environment, but oftentimes it’s just there to make the most grating sound effects you’ve ever heard.
Bafflingly, they’ve made the decision to also bring back the M-44 Hammerhead, and the sections featuring it show no improvement over the Firewalker pack. The thing still hits like a flea bite and has the armor of wet tissue paper. However, I’ll say the section where you need to navigate the Hammerhead around to get the geth turret to demolish its own shield generators is decently designed and a good way of mixing things up a bit.
As for the elephant in the room, yeah, the crux of the story here is the cringy and outdated “autism gives you superpowers” trope. For a game that I think has the peak of the franchise’s writing, it’s very disappointing to see them go for such a stupid and harmful trope. David is presented in a dehumanizing and humiliating way as he spouts off one-liners like he’s Rain Man. The line “His autistic mind is as alien to me as actual aliens” is said without a shred of irony. It was dated in 2010 and it’s aged even worse.
In short, Overlord is really just yet another undercooked and half-baked ME2 DLC. I would say skip this one as well. Brings absolutely nothing new or interesting to the table and feels like a filler episode in a game already full of filler episodes. A low point for ME2, I’d say.
ME2’s second (or third if you count The Price of Revenge) story-based expansion brings together all of ME2’s worst parts in the form of Project Overlord. In this completely dull and bloated 2-hour-long slog, you’ll fight the same mech and geth enemies you’ve been fighting all game in the same giant hallways and rooms you’ve been fighting in all game.
You’ll visit one of the four stations around Aite and battle either mechs or geths in several waves as you work your way around the facility. Once that’s finished, you’ll do the same thing three more times. There’s a couple of cool meta moments where the rogue VI plays around with the environment, but oftentimes it’s just there to make the most grating sound effects you’ve ever heard.
Bafflingly, they’ve made the decision to also bring back the M-44 Hammerhead, and the sections featuring it show no improvement over the Firewalker pack. The thing still hits like a flea bite and has the armor of wet tissue paper. However, I’ll say the section where you need to navigate the Hammerhead around to get the geth turret to demolish its own shield generators is decently designed and a good way of mixing things up a bit.
As for the elephant in the room, yeah, the crux of the story here is the cringy and outdated “autism gives you superpowers” trope. For a game that I think has the peak of the franchise’s writing, it’s very disappointing to see them go for such a stupid and harmful trope. David is presented in a dehumanizing and humiliating way as he spouts off one-liners like he’s Rain Man. The line “His autistic mind is as alien to me as actual aliens” is said without a shred of irony. It was dated in 2010 and it’s aged even worse.
In short, Overlord is really just yet another undercooked and half-baked ME2 DLC. I would say skip this one as well. Brings absolutely nothing new or interesting to the table and feels like a filler episode in a game already full of filler episodes. A low point for ME2, I’d say.
Really sad story, one of the best in the trilogy.
A ton of Mass Effect's worst impulses congealed into an unholy mess. The choice you make in this is just completely vile. Quite bad!