I waited a while to get into the original Mass Effect. I was worried it would be a little too heavy on role-playing elements. I don't play a whole lot of RPGs these days. I think the mechanics and design are outdated and that the storytelling hasn't improved to help mitigate the pain of sitting through turn-based battles and fumbling through crummy menus. But I decided to give Mass Effect a chance when I heard it was more shooter oriented, with real-time combat. Unlike most RPGs, you don't stand around waiting for your turn to attack. The game played more like a third-person shooter with some behind-the-scenes role-playing mechanics that didn't get in the way and, if anything, made the experience a lot better. Mass Effect wasn't perfect (I reviewed it for Thunderbolt and gave it a very good 8, but definitely had some complaints).
If I were to review Mass Effect 2 (I won't be because Bart Robson and Richard Wakeling already have for our site), it's definitely up to a 9 for me. It's one of the first games in a while that I've wanted to start a new game of moments after playing through (update - didn't do this), though I think I'm going to stick around and finish up some sidequests and exploration missions first (update - did all of this). Everything has been improved this time around. When I spoke with Bioware founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk at E3 last year, they told me that they thought of Mass Effect 2 "as a shooter RPG, so [they were focusing on] amping up the intensity of the combat, focusing on the frame rate, making sure the precision of the controls is there, heavy weapons, AI on the enemies, really detailed animation systems, and trying to make it a really smooth experience."
On all accounts, they succeeded. The combat is much better this time around, playing more like a third-person shooter than the RPG that it allegedly is. Perhaps the most noticeable adjustment is the inventory, which was pretty difficult to manage before. Fortunately, the whole process has been streamlined: you keep the same guns throughout the game and just upgrade them over the course of your adventure, keeping you from the tedious inventory management that marred the first one.
The experience is definitely more linear than the first game, but probably for the better. While players are given less control, we're given a better story with much smoother development. The cutscenes are much less awkward and the cinematic touches - camera angels, lighting - those have all been substantially improved. This keeps the player much more engaged in the narrative, which was captivating without being overbearing. Though the player is given some choices, you're really given very little control over the direction of the plot, but you never, ever feel as boxed in as you do in JRPGs like Final Fantasy.
Probably the only area where they really failed was in "ramping up enemy AI," which didn't seem much better than in the first. I'd go as far as to say I felt the first game was actually harder, even if the AI has been updated for this installment. That said, I suffered few (what I interpret as) cheap deaths and didn't get particularly frustrated at any point, which are probably good things. I do wish the developers would have offered a little more exploration, beyond just scanning worlds, but I enjoyed hunting for particular resources for most of the game. Resource-hunting is a major part, requiring you to scan planets for mineral deposits that you can then probe to use for weapon upgrades. It does get a little boring after a while, particularly when you're looking for one particular rare resource, but it's manageable and I choose to view it as a representation of the more mundane aspects of space travel.
In the end, I'm really excited for Mass Effect 3, the final entry in this trilogy. It's always a positive sign if a player wants to play more of a game after spending at least 25 hours of my life in it (my Raptr account says 107 hours, but I definitely left the game running for a long time).
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