ME1: Amazing game. I haven't fully played the original so I'm not comparing the two. This was a fantastic experience. I loved the RPG elements: leveling, classes with unique skills, exploration, etc. You have multiple teammates you can get to know and have them fight with you. Loved the fact there's no bullet count.
The story was exciting to play. Missions with consequences are stressful AND fun to play. I even didn't mind the Mako; only wish there was less mountain climbing. Everything I enjoy in this game....is pretty much gone or reduced in the second.
There were a few bugs, like my keys not responding. A quick save and load would fix it but pretty annoying.
ME2: This was a far down grade from the first game. Yikes all the way. Let's not even discuss the amount of bugs.
I absolutely hate the combat. You can't use medi packs now unless a teammate is down. You have to hide to regenerate health. The majority of fights you have to be hiding constantly or you're dead. My class doesn't feel special in any way like the first game. Ripped that RPG element away.
Teammates are stupid. They will stand in the middle of the room instead of cover and continuously die. You will try to run but your character will instead cover every object in front of you. Sometimes you'll even randomly stand up from cover without hitting a button and get shredded with bullets. Hate the combat. Terrible experience.
The QTE of the Paragon choices was another terrible decision. When I am watching a cutscene, I want to be WATCHING the damn cutscene. Not worried I'll miss a quick button to make a choice. A lot of the times it isn't clear what you're doing. I made a "good" Paragon option in a conversation and kissed someone...like what? It was so random.
I was interested in the story in the first Mass Effect. This game was less story and Recruit the Video Game (tm). You spend the majority of the game meeting someone, doing their quest to make them happy, then rinse and repeat. That's it...when you're not scanning the 57th planet.
You're focused on a new danger here, that the danger from the previous game feels ignored. It was sloppy.
I do not have high hopes for the third game. If I bought this when it was first released, I think I would have skipped the last one. This game felt like it ripped every good thing from the first one and added poor mechanics. Bleh.
ME3: This third installment fixed many of my grievances from the second.
The combat is soooo good. I feel powerful as my picked class! There were still challenging fights and new enemies to keep it fresh. Mods to add to your weapons. The gameplay wasn't 60% scanning planets in this game. The story was still linear but the environments were improved. The world felt more "lived in" rather than a backdrop. They also threw out the stupid hacking minigame.
You actions still mattered, the universe and your companions were on the verge of destruction. I'm glad they included the DLCs in this collection because two of them absolutely belonged with the main story. The third one was a blast to play.
I still don't understand why they decided to go QTE in story decisions but not a deal breaker. One fight in particular was dreadful. The instruction wasn't clear and the pixel perfect aim made me die a handful of times, desensitizing my experience to that enemy. I have encountered a few bugs that required me to close the game and restart since I couldn't progress. But forgiving those negatives because the world, story, and characters were awesome.
I do think the bugs should be fixed at this point since this game isn't new, it's a collection. Thankfully they didn't stop me from continuing after I rebooted the game.
The story was exciting to play. Missions with consequences are stressful AND fun to play. I even didn't mind the Mako; only wish there was less mountain climbing. Everything I enjoy in this game....is pretty much gone or reduced in the second.
There were a few bugs, like my keys not responding. A quick save and load would fix it but pretty annoying.
ME2: This was a far down grade from the first game. Yikes all the way. Let's not even discuss the amount of bugs.
I absolutely hate the combat. You can't use medi packs now unless a teammate is down. You have to hide to regenerate health. The majority of fights you have to be hiding constantly or you're dead. My class doesn't feel special in any way like the first game. Ripped that RPG element away.
Teammates are stupid. They will stand in the middle of the room instead of cover and continuously die. You will try to run but your character will instead cover every object in front of you. Sometimes you'll even randomly stand up from cover without hitting a button and get shredded with bullets. Hate the combat. Terrible experience.
The QTE of the Paragon choices was another terrible decision. When I am watching a cutscene, I want to be WATCHING the damn cutscene. Not worried I'll miss a quick button to make a choice. A lot of the times it isn't clear what you're doing. I made a "good" Paragon option in a conversation and kissed someone...like what? It was so random.
I was interested in the story in the first Mass Effect. This game was less story and Recruit the Video Game (tm). You spend the majority of the game meeting someone, doing their quest to make them happy, then rinse and repeat. That's it...when you're not scanning the 57th planet.
You're focused on a new danger here, that the danger from the previous game feels ignored. It was sloppy.
I do not have high hopes for the third game. If I bought this when it was first released, I think I would have skipped the last one. This game felt like it ripped every good thing from the first one and added poor mechanics. Bleh.
ME3: This third installment fixed many of my grievances from the second.
The combat is soooo good. I feel powerful as my picked class! There were still challenging fights and new enemies to keep it fresh. Mods to add to your weapons. The gameplay wasn't 60% scanning planets in this game. The story was still linear but the environments were improved. The world felt more "lived in" rather than a backdrop. They also threw out the stupid hacking minigame.
You actions still mattered, the universe and your companions were on the verge of destruction. I'm glad they included the DLCs in this collection because two of them absolutely belonged with the main story. The third one was a blast to play.
I still don't understand why they decided to go QTE in story decisions but not a deal breaker. One fight in particular was dreadful. The instruction wasn't clear and the pixel perfect aim made me die a handful of times, desensitizing my experience to that enemy. I have encountered a few bugs that required me to close the game and restart since I couldn't progress. But forgiving those negatives because the world, story, and characters were awesome.
I do think the bugs should be fixed at this point since this game isn't new, it's a collection. Thankfully they didn't stop me from continuing after I rebooted the game.