Playtime: 36 Hours
Score: 9/10
My personal favorite game in the Mass Effect trllogy!
To start with what I liked, I loved the vibe and atmosphere of this game. While the first game was very bright and hopeful, kind of like Mass Effect's New Hope, this game is more Empire Strikes Back, with its darker color palete and you having to operate in the shadows with the shadey corporation known as Cerebrus. This is especially apparent when you go to places like Omega that just give off that cool sinister vibe.
Gameplay wise, this title overhauls much of what was in the first game. Gone is the more open map exploration in favor of more linear mission based gameplay. You now gather resources by shooting probes down at planets, which can be boring at times but its definitely better then driving around in the mako on very empty feeling planets. Classes are also a lot more specialised this time around as you no longer will be carrying the same 4 weapon types around. I personally opted for the infiltrator class which let me have sniper rifles, pistols, SMGs and a heavy weapon. Shooting is also much more improved from the first game and the cover mechanics feel a lot better this time around. You also get twice the amount of companions, with two of them being DLC but if you have the legendary edition, then its all just included. Overall I liked the line up a lot more this time around with way more new interesting companions plus Garrus and Tali returning. Miranda and Jacob can feel a little bit like Ashley and Kaidan 2.0, but there still infinitely more interesting then those other two. All of them come with very cool loyality missions that I loved going on. Some were better then others, but its a good way to give an interesting character arc for each of them and not make them feel like souless bodyguards. And Garrus will always be my #1!
The storytelling is much improved with better writing as well as cooler choices for you to make. I liked the updated Paragon and Renegade system, with you being able to do certain actions while a character is talking to you via QTE prompts. While I went mostly paragon in my playthrough, I still loved doing the renegade actions like punching the reporter (again) or shooting a bad guy during their evil monologue. My only complaint is that I feel like they don't give you enough time during those QTE prompts, as I missed out on a few chances.
As for negatives, there aren't that many for me. I wish exploration was a bit better, as you can run into a lot of invisible walls during missions that can be very immersion breaking. Also whenever you need to climb up a ledge or a step, Shepard always has to duck behind cover and then vault over it. I get that they would want you to do that during combat but when there's no action going on, I should just be able to climb up a ledge normally. Doing a stylish vault over each time is like so extra lol
Overall though, this is a near perfect game for me and truly is Bioware at their peak. Looking forward to finishing all of this off with Mass Effect 3!
All Games I have Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
Score: 9/10
My personal favorite game in the Mass Effect trllogy!
To start with what I liked, I loved the vibe and atmosphere of this game. While the first game was very bright and hopeful, kind of like Mass Effect's New Hope, this game is more Empire Strikes Back, with its darker color palete and you having to operate in the shadows with the shadey corporation known as Cerebrus. This is especially apparent when you go to places like Omega that just give off that cool sinister vibe.
Gameplay wise, this title overhauls much of what was in the first game. Gone is the more open map exploration in favor of more linear mission based gameplay. You now gather resources by shooting probes down at planets, which can be boring at times but its definitely better then driving around in the mako on very empty feeling planets. Classes are also a lot more specialised this time around as you no longer will be carrying the same 4 weapon types around. I personally opted for the infiltrator class which let me have sniper rifles, pistols, SMGs and a heavy weapon. Shooting is also much more improved from the first game and the cover mechanics feel a lot better this time around. You also get twice the amount of companions, with two of them being DLC but if you have the legendary edition, then its all just included. Overall I liked the line up a lot more this time around with way more new interesting companions plus Garrus and Tali returning. Miranda and Jacob can feel a little bit like Ashley and Kaidan 2.0, but there still infinitely more interesting then those other two. All of them come with very cool loyality missions that I loved going on. Some were better then others, but its a good way to give an interesting character arc for each of them and not make them feel like souless bodyguards. And Garrus will always be my #1!
The storytelling is much improved with better writing as well as cooler choices for you to make. I liked the updated Paragon and Renegade system, with you being able to do certain actions while a character is talking to you via QTE prompts. While I went mostly paragon in my playthrough, I still loved doing the renegade actions like punching the reporter (again) or shooting a bad guy during their evil monologue. My only complaint is that I feel like they don't give you enough time during those QTE prompts, as I missed out on a few chances.
As for negatives, there aren't that many for me. I wish exploration was a bit better, as you can run into a lot of invisible walls during missions that can be very immersion breaking. Also whenever you need to climb up a ledge or a step, Shepard always has to duck behind cover and then vault over it. I get that they would want you to do that during combat but when there's no action going on, I should just be able to climb up a ledge normally. Doing a stylish vault over each time is like so extra lol
Overall though, this is a near perfect game for me and truly is Bioware at their peak. Looking forward to finishing all of this off with Mass Effect 3!
All Games I have Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
2 Comments
@Foolie Thank you! Its a very good game!
Foolie
10 months ago