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locker_monsterMass Effect 2 is officially finished. Three weeks. Not my all time best. That would be Jade Empire, which I completed, twice, in a week or so. But I would consider that extenuating circumstances since I was on my Reading Week at the time and had plenty of time to burn. So, all in all, for a massive game like ME2, that’s pretty good. I’m sure I could have done it sooner if I had put in more late nights, but I did plenty of those and I can tell you it’s not fun going to work when you’re groggy.
The short of it: Awesome game. I’d totally play this over again, which I plan to do, once I finish up some things. I can’t wait for Mass Effect 3.
The long of it:
I was apprehensive about some of the changes going in, but they’re not so bad once you get used to them. I found I relied a lot more on my squad mates than in the first game and that made combat more exciting. Nothing like levitating an enemy off the ground and then slamming them off the edge of a platform with biotics. With the thermal clip addition you couldn’t go in guns blazing, probably another reason I relied on my teammates. You actually have to have a strategy when going into a fight. I still miss being able to fire as many shots as I want without having to reload though.
But let’s start from the beginning. To facilitate all of these changes – new ship, new combat system, new teammates, etc. – John/Jane Shepard dies right off the bat. Gets sucked out into space after the Normandy gets destroyed. A weird way to start off a game, but smart. Shepard is brought back to life, but she’s been gone for two years, so things have changed. You have to get caught up so it’s not strange you’re asking all of these questions, which is a given for any RPG. I mean, how else are you supposed to get side quests if not by asking questions? A neat side effect of your resurrection is these glowy scars on your face. If you choose a Paragon path (think the good side of the Force), the scars eventually disappear, but if you choose a Renegade path (think the Dark Side), the scars get worse and you get glowy red eyes. My sister was saying it got so bad she couldn’t stand it anymore and she had to fix Shepard’s face.
I think you basically spend most of the game recruiting team members and gaining their loyalty, which makes a big difference at the end of the game. While it slows down the action of the game, it was fun getting to know these people better. Very important if you want to woo someone. Practically everyone on your squad is a romantic interest now, including a couple from the previous game. I found the paramour subplot to be less organic this time around. In the first game, the relationship developed slowly, while here you sort of just barrel into a romantic encounter. Or maybe it only seemed like that because of who I chose. See, that’s the best thing about Mass Effect. You need to play the game multiple times to experience all the options available.
In a game all about making choices, the ending was a doozy. There are so many choices to make and a lot of them could end up being the wrong one. I have to admit that I probably would have made some poor choices if not for some help from my brother-in-law who works for BioWare. So I managed to save everyone, but on the flip side, it's possible to lose just about everyone and Shepard can die, too. I don't know how the game would handle that in the next sequel.
Oh, and the game has a better memory than I do. It remembered all the choices I made from the first game and dropped in little rewards here and there based on the outcomes. Mostly it was just background chatter heard over the news network, but there was a quest here or there that came about because of something I did before. Every action has a consequence in Mass Effect and I appreciate that.
Whoo, I can get back to doing other things now that I'm not spending every waking hour trying to finish this game.
The short of it: Awesome game. I’d totally play this over again, which I plan to do, once I finish up some things. I can’t wait for Mass Effect 3.
The long of it:
I was apprehensive about some of the changes going in, but they’re not so bad once you get used to them. I found I relied a lot more on my squad mates than in the first game and that made combat more exciting. Nothing like levitating an enemy off the ground and then slamming them off the edge of a platform with biotics. With the thermal clip addition you couldn’t go in guns blazing, probably another reason I relied on my teammates. You actually have to have a strategy when going into a fight. I still miss being able to fire as many shots as I want without having to reload though.
But let’s start from the beginning. To facilitate all of these changes – new ship, new combat system, new teammates, etc. – John/Jane Shepard dies right off the bat. Gets sucked out into space after the Normandy gets destroyed. A weird way to start off a game, but smart. Shepard is brought back to life, but she’s been gone for two years, so things have changed. You have to get caught up so it’s not strange you’re asking all of these questions, which is a given for any RPG. I mean, how else are you supposed to get side quests if not by asking questions? A neat side effect of your resurrection is these glowy scars on your face. If you choose a Paragon path (think the good side of the Force), the scars eventually disappear, but if you choose a Renegade path (think the Dark Side), the scars get worse and you get glowy red eyes. My sister was saying it got so bad she couldn’t stand it anymore and she had to fix Shepard’s face.
I think you basically spend most of the game recruiting team members and gaining their loyalty, which makes a big difference at the end of the game. While it slows down the action of the game, it was fun getting to know these people better. Very important if you want to woo someone. Practically everyone on your squad is a romantic interest now, including a couple from the previous game. I found the paramour subplot to be less organic this time around. In the first game, the relationship developed slowly, while here you sort of just barrel into a romantic encounter. Or maybe it only seemed like that because of who I chose. See, that’s the best thing about Mass Effect. You need to play the game multiple times to experience all the options available.
In a game all about making choices, the ending was a doozy. There are so many choices to make and a lot of them could end up being the wrong one. I have to admit that I probably would have made some poor choices if not for some help from my brother-in-law who works for BioWare. So I managed to save everyone, but on the flip side, it's possible to lose just about everyone and Shepard can die, too. I don't know how the game would handle that in the next sequel.
Oh, and the game has a better memory than I do. It remembered all the choices I made from the first game and dropped in little rewards here and there based on the outcomes. Mostly it was just background chatter heard over the news network, but there was a quest here or there that came about because of something I did before. Every action has a consequence in Mass Effect and I appreciate that.
Whoo, I can get back to doing other things now that I'm not spending every waking hour trying to finish this game.
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