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Mass Effect 2
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: BioWare
Genre: RPG
Release Date: January 27, 2010
Platforms: Xbox 360, PC
ESRB: M - Mature
Reviewer: Eric
I never had any interest to play the first Mass Effect game after one play.
Everyone around me always praised the shit out of the game, calling it endless,
but I could careless. Most of the reasoning was I couldn’t play it online with
anybody and that point in my gaming career all I wanted to do was play games
either online or co-op play. So when it came time to one of the biggest titles
of 2010 being released in January I had to find out why so many people have been
waiting for this game since the end credits of the first game.
Mass Effect 2 grabs your arms and says “this is the best game out on the market,
don’t put the controller down.” I am in-love with this game and it makes me so
happy on so many counts. This is the game that sells systems!
The story is one of the biggest aspects of the game so I really do not want to
give anything away. Well I can give away just a small bit, enough to make those
cream in their pants since they don’t have the game yet. Let’s just say the shit
hits the fan from the very start and some of the games biggest decisions happen
within the first hour of the game. Mass Effect 2 plays like a major motion
picture and the best part is there is so much here that you can play this game a
handful of times.
For those of you who did play the first one I hope you saved your data. There
are major differences in the game (from what I’ve read/heard). With all of the
difference paths in the first game you can imagine how many ways Mass Effect 2
can turn out. This would be a good part in your life to either play the first
game again or find a copy of Mass Effect because the second title will have you
wanting to know everything!
I am all for developers adding in RPG elements to their games, mainly since I
love RPGs. With Mass Effect 2 I think BioWare has got it down right. The core
action of the game plays like a third-person shooter. You run around with a
massive assortment of guns and abilities and the enemies drop to the floor when
you destroy them. There are just so many weapons, sub-weapons, and abilities to
choose from. Then you can control your party to do certain actions.
The easy to pick up and real fun gameplay helps out a lot but the core to the
game, the RPG elements are what make Mass Effect 2 a blast. The skill tree
power-up system is a lot of fun and it is easy to figure out. By picking the
path you want to go down with your weapons will turn you into a fighting
machine, may it be with rifles or sniper guns. You will start to notice
differences real fast, no need to worry about waiting for hours to notice your
upgrades kicking in. This is by far a much better experience since the first
game had your weapons firing in this way and that way. Stick with two styles of
gameplay and the fans will love it, nice job BioWare.
Mass Effect 2 has beautiful graphics, some of the best I have seen since
Uncharted 2. When I played Uncharted 2 I didn’t think anyone could compete or
come close. Both of the cutscenes and gameplay look the same so you can not sit
there and say any sort of shit about this game because it is that good looking
all around. If I had to point out a problem with the graphics it would be the
characters hair. Nobody put SquareEnix can get hair right on characters.
It is real sad that space looks better in Mass Effect 2 than most sci-fi movies.
This goes to show you that BioWare took their time and nothing was rushed during
the making of Mass Effect 2. All of the little things add up.
The games music has the sound of an epic sci-fi movie. Along with the
outstanding soundtrack the voice acting is done with perfect performances. All
of the players from the first game return, along with some new voices that you
may notice from major motion pictures (did somebody say Martin Sheen?).
Final Verdict
I never got to experience the first Mass Effect properly but now I am ready to
go back and play it again and then play Mass Effect 2 all over again. This
sci-fi adventure will grab your attention from the very start and it will do its
best to never make you shut the game off. Mass Effect 2 is going to be a hard
game to beat in 2010 because this is one of the best titles, almost comparable
to Uncharted 2.
Rating Breakdown
Gameplay: 10 out of 10
+ Third-person shooting action that plays like the genre
should.
- Nothing.
Graphics: 9.50 out of 10
+ It looks like you are playing a sci-fi movie from the very
start.
- The tiny problem with the hair bothers me a lot (hair
clipping happens a lot in this game).
Audio: 10 out of 10
+ All good games have a good soundtrack and ME2’s goes above
and beyond.
- Nothing.
Replay Value: 9.50 out of 10
+ The game is almost never ending if you play through all the
different paths.
- Online and co-op play only hurt this slightly.
Overall
9.75 out of 10
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