Nearly two years ago I found myself pulled into Bioware’s incredible Sci Fi RPG Mass Effect. I first played it on the PC, and then because I loved the game so much a year ago when I finally broke down and bought an Xbox 360 I went ahead and bought the game again to experience the original console version. Since then I’ve played through the game twice more, giving me a grand total of four play throughs. And in all honesty I would have no problem playing it again. To say I enjoy the game is obviously an understatement. Thus to say I was eagerly looking forward to the sequel is as well.
I’ve had the game now for about two weeks, and though I haven’t had the time to finish it I’ve had plenty of time to get fairly deep into the game and put together my thoughts on it. It’s a very different game from its predecessor. In some areas much improved, in others I think it actually takes a bit of a back step.
First let’s start with the improvements. Graphically the game is a definite step up over the first outing. It almost looks like they used the same engine, but with a host of improvements. Character models look far more realistic and detailed, the many powers and explosions look incredible, and the general look and detail of the environments is amazing. It’s not the best looking game out there, but it is still a beautiful game with varied environments and its obvious how much effort was put into the game.
The voice acting and sound shares the same high level of quality as the first game. Though there are a few areas where the ambient sound seems to overwhelm things, particularly a few bar areas, its somewhat fitting but at the same time a bit annoying. The game brings back the many actors from the first game to reprise their roles and brings in a host of new ones to flesh out the many new companions you’ll pick up along your journey. Dialogue is again a huge part of the game and its all well written and voiced. The story is just as well written and told as the first time around. It’s also much darker and larger, two discs worth in fact, then the first game.
Side missions now have far more variety of both objectives and design, no more cookie cutter base layout showing up dozens of times. A bit more thought seems to have gone into them, though there also seems to be a few less than the first game as a result. However downloadable content seems like it’s going to be a bigger focus this time around to make up for that. The main missions are just as well designed as the first game, with lots of minor side quests contained in each and you can pretty much choose your own path through them as in the first game.
Your party of companions is significantly larger this time around. A few of your original companions will rejoin you but for the most part it’s a new cast of characters that are just as interesting, though I admit to missing a few favorites from the first time out. Also there has already been one character added via the DLC and I expect we may see more in the future. This time around your allies also have much more divergent desires and personalities as well, they don’t play quite as nice with each other this time around which leads to a bit more replay ability depending on who you decide to side with at times.
The game also improved the hacking mini games. Gone is the simple button matching quick time event from the first game. Now you have a memory match game for storage containers and another matching game involving finding select blocks of encrypted text when accessing databases and the like. Unfortunately the search for resources has ended up with its own mini game that isn’t quite as enjoyable. Mass Effect had you either scanning a planet with a click or landing and exploring it with the Mako, a six wheeled tank like vehicle. This time the Mako has been abandoned and the scanning has been turned into a rather annoying and boring affair involving using the rumble feature of the controller and a white spike on a bar graph to help you find things to collect.
The lack of the Mako was very disappointing for me, though I appear to be in the minority I really enjoyed driving the little tank around planets despite its sometimes awkward controls. It appears that rather than try to improve the experience Bioware simply decided to remove it. Another area that I though could be improved but was instead was gutted was the inventory system. The PC version had a much better version then the 360 version but was still a bit of a hassle to manage. This time around there is no inventory. When you find improved weapons or buy upgrades they simply replace your old weapons. Armor is setup in a dress up like system and really has very limited options, especially considering the limited selection available at release.
Another minor quibble is that where the last game felt like a continual journey, this time each mission ends with a little summary screen where your kills, credits earned, and anything you learned are listed out in the form of a report to the Elusive Man. This breaks up the games flow and for me at least destroys the immersion factor, it gives it more a shooter feel with each mission being a different level rather than a small part of the great whole. The way its presented at least ties it in a bit, but even with the flavor text and design it still feels out of place.
Combat has had some significant changes. They’ve streamlined the classes so they are all truly unique this time around rather then being three main and three hybrid. The change has however lowered the number of skills each class has which is somewhat disappointing. Another change is that they added an ammo requirement to the weapons. Now hte first game used an overheat mechanic which served a similar purpose but though you would lose the use of a weapon for a moment you never had to worry about losing it for more then a few seconds. With the new ammo requirement its actually possible to end up with a weapon being completely useless in the middle of a battle. This does force you to plan more carefully and think tactically, but it also limits you in some ways. Its not necessarily a bad change but it does change the way combat works in some dramatic ways.
Overall it’s a very enjoyable romp through the universe that I can see myself playing a second time at least. There is hope at least that DLC might give me back the Mako or something similar in the future, and the other issues I have with it are all fairly minor. I’m hoping the third game will be a balance between the current system and the first game. Regardless if you are a fan of the first game I highly recommend this one, and if you never played it I recommend you pick it up and then play this one as well. Now if you’ll excuse me I need to get back to saving the universe.