Mass Effect 2: Now with 50% more Krogan Genophage

Ouch, too soon? I hope I didn’t massively affect any Krogan self esteem with that one…

All puns and jokes of poor taste aside, Mass Effect 2 is everything it was hyped up to be: An epic science fiction space opera that seamlessly blends the combat of the best third person shooters on the market with Bioware’s classic dialog and party system RPG game play.

Mass Effect 2 begins right where you left off, and it takes no time thrusting you right back into the action. Once again you lead the valiant (or evil, depending on your choices within the game) Commander Shepard through one of the most explosive game openings I’ve ever experienced. Humanity is being targeted by a race of aliens known only as the Collectors, who are systematically harvesting entire Human colonies, and it’s up to you to stop them.

You’re back in the shoes of Commander Shepard and you’re ready to take your one way trip into the swirling vortex of alien conspiracies and warfare. So what do you do now? Why, it’s time to choose a character class that’s what! The game allows you to choose one of several character classes, including: Soldier, Vanguard, Adept, Engineer, Sentinel, and Infiltrator. Soldier is exactly as it sounds, revolving mostly around physical weapon usage and biotic abilities that enhance your weaponry. The Vanguard is a cool new class, giving you a mixture of biotic powers and weapon usage. The primary strategy for a Vanguard is to use Charge, a biotic that allows you to phase through your surroundings and slam into your opponent followed by a swift shotgun blast. Never fails. Engineers are cool because they have the ability to send out a combat drone that is simply downright annoying for your foes, Infiltrators have the ability to go invisible for a short period, Adepts are beasts of the biotic, and Sentinels have skills that fall in between Engineers and Adepts focusing on tech and biotic.

Don’t be afraid to dedicate yourself to one single class for an entire play through, though, as there is more than enough variety within your selectable party to cover all bases.

As always, there are a multitude of choices you make all throughout the game. Some are as simple as choosing the right dialog option, and others more critical. One of the coolest new game-play elements concerning the dialog system is the interruption feature. On occasion, either a “Left Trigger” or “Right Trigger” option will appear in the bottom corners of your screen during a conversation. For instance, imagine you are in a room interrogating someone who just won’t speak. You take a gander down at the bottom right corner of your screen, and up appears the “Right Trigger” interrupt option for the “Renegade” (or evil) alignment. Choosing this prompt, as the name implies, interrupts what’s going on in favor of a Renegade alternative. Let’s just say, he talks.

The supporting cast has also seen a substantial upgrade in both diversity and numbers, with of course a few returning favorites. There’s definitely no shortage in terms of your party combinations and side quests. You should always make it a point to visit each crew member before and after each mission, as they generally have a whole barrel of new stories, inspirational tangents, or just down right hilarious conversations for you to take part in. The ship’s NPC crew has also been fleshed out more, including a cook and your very own personal secretary. The sheer attention to detail concerning the characters around you truly creates an immersive experience that you will literally lose yourself in for hours.

But make no mistake, there is plenty of combat beneath all of the talking you will be doing. The combat is much more streamlined than the first game’s, with a smoother cover system and the ability to map biotic powers to your bumper buttons for ease of use. Of course the biotic wheel, which temporarily pauses combat, is a more effective way of selecting biotic abilities and dictating your party members’ next move, it’s nice to be able to simply tap the Right Bumper if I want to, say, activate incendiary rounds for my soldier. It’s a small feature, but absolutely a welcome one.

The health system has also seen a degree of simplification. Gaining better defense from armor upgrades, you have a standard shield and set of health that will recharge after battle or when taking sufficient cover. Medi-gel are still around, though, and are especially useful for reviving a downed party member during combat. While I personally really liked the health and shield system of the first Mass Effect, I can really appreciate the fact that the simplification really allows for the player to focus more on the combat rather than healing themselves in the middle of a fire fight.

Another simplification found its way through the inventory system. There is no readily accessible inventory for you during combat or out in the field, but rather dedicated crates placed in various places either in cities or on the Normandy. This threw me for a loop at first, as I was looking everywhere for an “inventory” menu in my first few minutes of free roaming. Weapons and armor have also been stripped of statistics. Instead you will systematically buy or find new sets of armor and new weapons along your space faring adventures that you will be able to upgrade within the Normandy’s Armory and Tech Lab. Even so, it would be nice to have an accessible inventory in the field.

The amount of customization involved with your armor in terms of aesthetics has seen it’s very own overhaul as well. You can dictate armor features such as pattern design and even the material that the plating is made out of. You can choose to wear a full helmet, partially exposed helmet, ear piece, and even no helmet at all. There’s even a set of “casual wear” choices for you, which you don upon your return to the Normandy after each excursion. Unfortunately you cannot edit the colors or styles of your party members’ armor and outfits, outside of the alternate costumes unlocked through their “loyalty” side quests.

The world…er….universe of Mass Effect has also decided to adopt the use of energy clips for ammunition rather than simply allowing the gun to overheat as a penalty for being overly trigger happy. You will probably find that you run out of ammunition for your favorite weapon more often than you wish you did, but welcome this with open arms as it basically forces you to use every weapon at your disposal as effectively as possible. Essentially, you can’t just run around mowing everyone down with the assault rifle anymore. This gameplay change actually makes combat more fun, and I’ve found that the sniper rifle (a weapon I hardly used in ME1) quickly became one of my favorite weapons simply because I was forced to use it when my AR wore out. Don’t worry yourself too much, though.

Enemies drop energy clips when they die, and are generously laid out upon the ground at key areas during a mission. You’ll hardly ever find yourself without ammo for long.

But perhaps the coolest new gameplay element is the data transfer feature, allowing you to transfer your Shepard from Mass Effect 1 directly into your Mass Effect 2 game. Key moments from the first game will rear their heads in the form of conversations or accusations, and particular characters may not even appear in the game at all depending on what happened in your first game. It proves to create a very personal experience with very rewarding gameplay.

The texture pop ins that plagued the first game have been laid to rest, popping in only rarely to say hello in the sequel. You also needn’t worry about ridiculously long elevator rides either, which has also come and gone like a bad cold. The character animations for the various alien species within the game are, again, top notch. Though sometimes I wish the same level of quality translated into the human facial models, which aren’t bad at all but really don’t convey the same level of realism that some of the other species’ do (ironic, I know). Not to mention the human female hairstyles are a tad questionable…

Outside of the occasional texture pop ins and lengthy loading times, I would really have to be a nitpicker to find a whole lot wrong with Mass Effect 2. The sheer scale of the universe that Bioware started with the first game and continued with the new is simply outstanding. It truly feels as if the Asari, Salarians, Krogans, Quarians, and even the disgusting Vorcha are out there right now waiting for humanity to step up to the plate and find ourselves standing within the Citadel.