Widely considered one of the best games ever made... Mass Effect 2! Another very difficult game to review, as I have now beaten it between 5-10 times. What draws me back? The very things that gives this game its nigh universal praise - the characters.
Mass Effect 2 leans back on the overarching plot of the Reapers from the first game to tell a somewhat more focused story - the Collectors are grabbing up human colonists, and Shepard needs to work for an old enemy to get to the bottom of it. You assemble a crew of misfits to hit the collectors in their home base, then take em out. Along the way you have to earn their loyalty as well - each of the 12 characters has a specific mission about their past that they need to resolve, and these are the meat of the game. Each character is superbly acted and written, I would gladly take all of them out with me on each mission. I've romanced almost every option before but this time I chose my original - Tali. In my 'main' playthrough my trilogy never quite got finished due to immense tragedy in ME3, so now I'm going back through as myself again to do it right this time.
I also installed a bunch of mods to add weapons, powers and update the graphics which make the graphics look excellent. The cinematography in the game is leaps above ME1 - each conversation and mission has beautiful shots and excellent perspective. Plenty of visual gags or just world building come from how things are shot and lit.
Comparing ME1 and 2 is often difficult for me but playing them back to back makes it more clear. The shooting in 2 is far improved in substance, it plays more like a polished shooter rather than the RPG/Shooter hybrid of the first, this is more a direct TPS with RPG levels attached to it. The missing abilities are deeply missed from my ME1 playthrough but at least things are a bit more balanced now, haha. The first game you could spam 30 abilities by endgame/ng+ whereas this one you need to be on your toes. While the first game emphasised world building and plot, this one is firing on all cylinders with the characters.
Mass Effect 2 is a superb game to play no matter what is going on. Each conversation is interesting and/or enthralling, the choices you make are impactful and moving, and each firefight is a delight of sci-fi powers and weaponry. It is a beautiful game and a compelling experience I couldn't stop thinking about this past week, and remains one of the my favorite games ever.
Mass Effect 2 leans back on the overarching plot of the Reapers from the first game to tell a somewhat more focused story - the Collectors are grabbing up human colonists, and Shepard needs to work for an old enemy to get to the bottom of it. You assemble a crew of misfits to hit the collectors in their home base, then take em out. Along the way you have to earn their loyalty as well - each of the 12 characters has a specific mission about their past that they need to resolve, and these are the meat of the game. Each character is superbly acted and written, I would gladly take all of them out with me on each mission. I've romanced almost every option before but this time I chose my original - Tali. In my 'main' playthrough my trilogy never quite got finished due to immense tragedy in ME3, so now I'm going back through as myself again to do it right this time.
I also installed a bunch of mods to add weapons, powers and update the graphics which make the graphics look excellent. The cinematography in the game is leaps above ME1 - each conversation and mission has beautiful shots and excellent perspective. Plenty of visual gags or just world building come from how things are shot and lit.
Comparing ME1 and 2 is often difficult for me but playing them back to back makes it more clear. The shooting in 2 is far improved in substance, it plays more like a polished shooter rather than the RPG/Shooter hybrid of the first, this is more a direct TPS with RPG levels attached to it. The missing abilities are deeply missed from my ME1 playthrough but at least things are a bit more balanced now, haha. The first game you could spam 30 abilities by endgame/ng+ whereas this one you need to be on your toes. While the first game emphasised world building and plot, this one is firing on all cylinders with the characters.
Mass Effect 2 is a superb game to play no matter what is going on. Each conversation is interesting and/or enthralling, the choices you make are impactful and moving, and each firefight is a delight of sci-fi powers and weaponry. It is a beautiful game and a compelling experience I couldn't stop thinking about this past week, and remains one of the my favorite games ever.