Reviews

Mass Effect 2

mass-effect-2

Mass Effect 2 would once again first be released on the Xbox 360. Playstation 3 owners would have to wait a year to get Mass Effect 2. In an odd turn of events Mass Effect 2 was actually released on the Playstation 3 before the first game was.

Story & Presentation

The story of Mass Effect 2 carries on from the first game and one really cool thing about it is that if you have a Mass Effect save file on your Xbox 360 them you can import your Commander Sheppard from that game. Of course you can create a new one from scratch, but it is very cool how Bioware put this in the game. All the decisions you made in the first game no matter how small you may think they are can have a effect on the events in Mass Effect 2.

The game has a great story and I think Bioware did a great job in following on from the first game, but if you skipped the first game they fill you in very well. Still playing as Commander Sheppard you have to stop the “terrorist” organization called Cerberus who believe that humanity should be in charge of the galaxy. They have pretty extreme methods in how they go about this and you need to put a stop to it. The game though also has The Reapers looming over your shoulder. The Reapers are a race that gets rid of all life every 50,000 years and that threat always kind of hangs over many parts of the galaxy. Now without spoiling it let me just say that the ending of Mass Effect 2 literally gave me Goosebumps.

The game looks amazing I will not go as far to say that is a 100 percent improvement over the original Mass Effect, but everything does look a little smoother. One thing in particular that has improved is the characters facial animations. This may not sound like a big deal, but it makes the story have much more of an emotional impact on you as the characters do look more lifelike.

Gameplay

In terms of the game play its fair to say that Mass Effect 2 improves over its predecessor in pretty much every way you can imagine. Mow Mass Effect 1 was great, but once you have played Mass Effect 2 there is simply no going back at all. The game just streamlines the whole game play experience and everything in general juts feels less cluttered and easy to navigate. So may say that they took away a great deal of the choices that the first game offered, but I think the more streamlined approach Mass Effect 2 offers makes for a much better game.

The game has a huge and I mean huge story to play through and the story gets going right away. It’s pretty much full on action right from the start and as a result it makes for a much better game. Side quests are much more interesting this time around and the rewards you get for completing them do actually make playing them feel worthwhile. The controls are nice and tight and in general I really do not have a single bad thing to say in regards to how the game plays.

Final Thoughts

Many gamers will say that this is the best entry in the Mass Effect trilogy and truth be told I can really see why. This is just a great game from beginning to end and it is a game that should be in everyone’s collection. The great thing about it is that you really do not have to have played the first game to really appreciate how amazing the game is. For how cheap you can pick this up there is no excuse not to try Mass Effect 2 out.

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