I love Mass Effect 2. I love Mass Effect 2 more than most things. It's one of my favourite video games, and if you look around, a lot of people hold it in the same esteem. The press loved it. Gamers adored it, excepting some RPG nuts. It improved on everything from the first one and is arguably BioWare's crowning achievement.
(DLC owned: Zaeed - The Price of Revenge, Kasumi - Stolen Memory, Overlord, Lair of the Shadow Broker)
First of all, the combat. The first game tried to blend heavy RPG elements with a third person shooter, and was a bit unsuccessful because of some rough edges with the combat, an annoying overheat system, and compromises made to account for the levelling system and the horrible inventory. Mass Effect 2 plays much, much better than that, boasting fast and fun combat that at some points rivals established shooters like Gears of War. Clips have been introduced to replace overheating, meaning that pauses in combat are much less frequent, making it much more fluid. In the first game, it took forever to level up an ability, whereas this sequel streamlines the level up screen to account primarily for skills, with damage being rolled up into the class level. There's also less levels per skill, meaning that you won't find yourself forced to specialize in certain weapons. Indeed, certain types of enemies are more susceptible to different weapons, meaning that a more varied approach is rewarded in this game.
In the first game, there was the controversial Mako tank. This game's main campaign removes it, though the Overlord and Firewalker DLCs introduce a replacement called the Hammerhead, which controls wonderfully but is incredibly weak. Another thing replaced from the first game is the mini-games. Omni-gel is removed, and as such hacking minigames can be repeated until success, though the overall improved minigames mean that failure will happen far less often. Some of the levels removed means that much less of the game will be blocked off because of decisions in stat distribution. For example, you won't be forced to take the worst option for opening a door just because you didn't put enough points into decryption. This might be because many areas have become more linear, which lends itself better to firefights and is easier to navigate.
And then there's the story. Mass Effect had a great story filled with excellent dialogue, and this sequel ups the ante in that regard. Mass Effect 2 has a darker tone than the first, and often deals with deeper themes. Missions are enthralling, even on the third playthrough, and the characters are improved from the first game. While interaction between squadmates has been overlooked, the squadmates themselves are more interesting characters. All but the DLC characters can be talked to between missions, and they reveal a bit about themselves, their cultures, their jobs, and, most interestingly, their pasts. Each character has a loyalty mission that Shepard can take them on to moralise them for the eventual suicide mission. These missions all tie in some way to the character's past, and often reveal more about the character, allowing the player to know them more and grow closer to them.
Like the first game, dialogue choices are often tough decisions, especially if you don't have enough Paragon or Renegade points. Having played Paragon in Mass Effect, loading my file from the sequel allotted me a decent head start of Paragon points, which made some choices easier, but there were still some difficult dialogue options, even if I usually knew which would give me which points. Loading a character from the previous game also allows your choices from that game to carry over. Certain characters will be alive or dead depending on your actions, and will also act fittingly. Lesser characters you interacted with will send you emails or even appear around the few town planets. The way all of this carries over is absolutely wonderful.
There's still a fair amount of side quests, though the second game focuses a lot more on the main story than on secondary missions. There's only a few mandatory missions, and these come up after a certain amount of missions are completed, meaning that not all of your squad may be loyal, or even recruited. Like in the first game, there are a few towns where you can simply run around doing errands. Some errands can't be completed if certain items are overlooked on missions, though. This all leads up to the eventual final mission, the suicide mission itself. This is widely recognized as one of the greatest set pieces in video game history, with a lot of variable outcomes based on your choices during and leading up to it. Accompanied by some truly outstanding music, this is a brilliant ending to a brilliant game. Enough has been said about it already that I don't need to add to it.
The DLC I played was of a fairly high quality for the most part. Zaeed and Kasumi are great squad members, and Kasumi's loyalty mission in particular is worth the price. Meanwhile, the Shadow Broker DLC is perhaps the second best mission in the game, second only to the Suicide Mission itself. The Overlord DLC is a bit weaker, especially if you haven't played the Firewalker pack, like I didn't. The Hammerhead handles very well, but moving over the rugged terrain without much in the way of a user interface gets frustrating, and the story isn't as interesting as the main game or the Shadow Broker DLC. Still, the ending to it is particularly intense, and sheds new light on Cerberus, a core organization in the series.
This game is outstanding. A contender for my favourite of all time, it's a joy to play over and over again. It's such a high point for the series that it ending on a cliffhanger was almost a disservice to the sequel, as Mass Effect 3 could never have hoped to live up to this masterpiece. Still, wasn't for lack of trying. It's time to save the galaxy. I'm off to play Mass Effect 3.
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