Mass Effect 2
Review
BioWare Strikes Back
by Chris Scott
reviewed on X360
Improvements all around
Aside from the combat and character progression, a lot of other things have changed since the last time we played in BioWare's sci-fi world. The near universal hate for the planet-side driving missions resulted in the development team completely rethinking how the away missions should be handled, ultimately deciding to drop you into completely original areas with a story driven focus. Also changed is the annoying Simon Says hacking from the first one. Replacing it are two different timed hacking mini games, neither of which are very difficult but I personally found them to be quite enjoyable.
One of the biggest complaints about the original game was the unintuitive inventory management system that BioWare used. That system is gone in Mass Effect 2. Replacing it is an inventory management system that makes sense. Instead of carrying around a magic backpack that contains an armoury some small armies would envy, Shepard and his team equip themselves before going on a mission. As a result, Mass Effect 2 does not really have loot for players to pick up. Instead, weapon upgrades need to be researched and bought via resources that can be found on missions or by participating in a scanning mini game from the Normandy's bridge.
I could go on and on about the changes, improvements and overall upgrades that BioWare has made for Mass Effect 2 but I feel that some of them should just be experienced for yourself. Suffice it to say that if there was something that seemed broken or not quite as polished as it should be in the first game, BioWare has taken the criticisms to heart and rectified the issues.
A few remaining bugs
What does need to be talked about though is the technical side of things, specifically how BioWare answered the critique about Mass Effect's technical issues. Mass Effect 2 runs at a crisp framerate, even with the film grain turned on, with hardly any slowdown, a huge improvement over how Mass Effect ran. It also looks amazing, not quite as good as recent hits Assassin's Creed 2 and Uncharted 2 but still one of the best looking games on the market and certainly the best looking BioWare game to ever be released.
However, as much as Mass Effect 2 is improved upon on the technical side it still has some rogue bugs that can hinder the overall experience a tiny bit. I ran into a few bugs that required a load of a previous save because my Shepard was either floating above the gaming field, stuck in a wall or seemingly trapped in wet cement. However, considering I spent over 30 hours playing the game and only ran into a small handful of bugs that required me to back track to a previous save, I would say that BioWare has done quite the acceptable job with making sure Mass Effect 2 delivers a solid gaming experience.
One of the rare sequels that surpass the original
Making promises is far easier than actually following through on them but BioWare delivered and Mass Effect 2 is a tighter, better looking, better playing, more stable gaming experience than its predecessor. In addition to its improvements it adds onto an already well thought out universe with a stunning adventure that requires us to once again save humanity from a terrible otherworldly threat, all the while making tough decisions that impact the game world around us, as well as emotionally tying us, the gamers, to our on-screen avatar, Commander Shepard in a new and unique way. Mass Effect 2 can rightfully take its place amongst the other great games on the XBOX 360. Now, when can I get my hands on Mass Effect 3?
9.3
fun score
Pros
Improved in nearly every way.
Cons
Less of an RPG than the first one.
