Mass Effect 2 is billed as the dark second act of a sci-fi epic, the Empire Strikes Back of this space trilogy. It’s that, and so much more. Where the original game was clean and bright – all iPod whites and colourful locales – Mass Effect 2 is dark and gritty. The shadowy, neon-lit landscapes bring to mind Blade Runner.
It’s all sensory overload for a sci-fi geek; a brilliantly conceived world.
The original Mass Effect was one of my favourite games, and it’s gripping narrative, dragged me along relentlessly. However, it was also a game with many flaws, which became even more apparent to me on my second play through. The frame rate was atrocious, the texture load time was horrible, and the general feel of movement and combat simply lacked something.
Mass Effect 2 fixes all of that. In this game, not only are the graphical hitches ironed out, the graphics actually look a lot better. Some of this is due to the much improved art-direction, and some of it is simply down to technical prowess. Biotic powers shimmer delightfully and certain vistas are breathtaking. I found myself stopping to stare on a number of occasions, sometimes at glowing cityscapes, and sometimes at desolate landscapes. I haven’t done that in a game since the days of LucasArts adventures like The Dig.
Mass Effect 2’s mechanics are honed to perfection too. The combat is much closer to a Gears of War style cover-shooter now, and guns and powers have a satisfying weight to them. The wide variety of powers and ammunition make combat incredibly tactical.
As a whole, Mass Effect 2 has been streamlined a great deal. Levels are less open now, and it’s very clear when you are going from a “talky bit” to a “shooting bit”, because suddenly your path becomes a lot more linear. Loot-gathering (not to mention a personal inventory) has been all but done away with. Instead, you find various upgrade schematics while you are on missions, which can then be researched back on your ship, the Normandy. This was the one developer decision I wasn’t completely convinced about. Perhaps a happy medium can be found between the overly finicky inventory system of the first game, and the non-existent system of the second, when Mass Effect 3 rolls out. It wasn’t a major sticking point though, and to be honest, I hardly thought about it during the game. There are still plenty of ways to customise your character, of course.
I would hate for all this talk about technical proficiency to obscure Mass Effect 2’s greatest strength, however. Because all of these things – art design, gameplay mechanics – simply serve to make this game one of the most emotionally engaging stories in videogame history.
As you traverse the galaxy fulfilling missions and recruiting squad members, you can take the time to get to know your crew. You can help them out on special missions which will gain their loyalty, something which is essential to surviving the suicide mission at the end of the game. The characters you meet are masterfully designed and written. Many of their stories are unbelievably dark, and almost all of them involved moral quandaries with no easy solution. On one occasion, as my wife watched me play, we actually disagreed on the ethical solution to a problem. It’s that deep.
It’s also easier this time to play as a renegade (a bad guy) as opposed to a paragon (a good guy). Whereas in the first game, some of the renegade choices seemed petulant, or just plain out of character, here they make sense. You are working for a terrorist organisation in Mass Effect 2, after all. You can make some downright badass calls as a renegade, and it was more than once that I was tempted away from my paragon path, just to enjoy watching Shepard shut someone up.
All of the above adds up to something often sorely lacking in videogames: emotional resonance. I found myself caring about the characters I met in this game in the same way I would in a novel I was reading. I don’t think I skipped a single line of dialogue throughout the whole game.
So sure, Mass Effect 2 has great gameplay, it has great graphics, it’s cinematic. It’s also great value. A fairly story-focused play though took me close to 40 hours, and I’m itching to play it through again.
But the real reason to play this game is because of the sense of immersion its world, and the sense of emotional connection to its characters.
Other reviewers have been wondering if this could be the game of the year, as early as January. My opinion? Mass Effect 2 is the best videogame of the last ten years.
Reviewed on: Xbox 360
Available on: XBox 360, PC
Reviewed by:
