Normandy’s new talking vagina
February 4th, 2010This is a review on Mass Effect 2 from the notes I took live blogging it while I was playing the game - proudly stating for 50 hours straight…
Remember trying to get relatives excited about video games only to get frustrated that they couldn’t see beyond the bleak graphics? Well, this game sets the record straight - even your grandma can gaze over it like any other space opera
So you start off this game fresh or with an imported character from the first game (on the now so-called trilogy). To be honest I can’t see how you can play this game straight away. The references to the first game are too many - name dropping, events, relationships - basically if you haven’t played the first game you’re screwed. Remember the big revelation with the Prothean? Who are the Protheans you ask?! Exactly!!
Most notable new aspects of the story are the Illusive man, technically your boss, whose voice reminded me Charlie (the boss of Charlie’s Angels). The ship has an AI called EDI - which doesn’t seem to do much more than participating in the cinematic dialogues. Don’t know how much thought when into the shape of the AI, and I’m considering maybe it’s all intentional, but the first thing I though was “it’s like talking to a vagina” (yes that’s what the title refers to - you’re welcome). But even that fun fact becomes old when in-game all it does is tell you which part of the ship you are in, over and over again. And you have no rover(!) this time around. You always land on a shuttle. I’m surprised no one is feeling the loss. I for one missed the free rides on the planet surface. Although admittedly that did have it’s own set of issues…
General observation on the gameplay - you should really treat the game as a cinematic experience so you can appreciate it for what it is. It’s not one of those games that you have to click on everything to find all the secrets - if you play it that way you will just get annoyed from all the things you can’t do. So, talking people in the background are just background, objects are only there as props. The things you can do are usually highlighted and that’s straight forward enough not to mess around with stuff.
On the game mechanics, navigating through the galaxy is just FUNNY. Your spaceship is like a micro machine and it’s hilarious how you can loose your landing spot due to inertia!! But mining planets was boring - period. The battling system makes you feel capable without doing much - dare I say, it’s like Call of Duty without the migraine? It was interesting how facing the different alien races truly changed the combat experience as you had a uniquely different environment to use/navigate through and the use of a different weapon load to achieve maximum damage. To break the tension, there are only two types of hacking games, which is good and bad, familiar yet repetitive. The spacebar seems to be the magic button - you can do all sorts of things depending where you’re standing. That’s (surprisingly) elegant, like the one button logic of Apple.
There is also the upgrade and skill improvement portion of the game. For me personally all this is yawning so I just left it to auto level up. Not to be cynical but I’m under the impression there is not much difference in playing the game , whatever class you choose or skills you advance - a few different forces or weapons don’t make that much of a difference and in the end you could land with the same weapon set whatever path you choose. That’s just my perception though.
I wouldn’t dare to badmouth the game on it’s dialogues, but I feel they are (still) glitchy to me - the “conversation” follows a certain path, which means in some cases you might need to repeat dialogue just to get the options you want and in others you are forbidden to ask something if you choose something else - seems like old school Lucasarts adventure logic - dunno why they advertise it as a high point for the cinematic experience - guess it’s one of those “brand new you’re retro” moments.
There is significant dialogue with underlying messages, the screenplay is truly up to par. “Illium is a wonderful world, for those who can afford it”. And fine humor as well. Most memorable funny line: “Does living in a higher altitude make you feel more intelligent??”. As well known, romance is a main aspect of the game - flirting with a bunch of women was fun but I’m sure the sexual frustration was a common side-effect. Above all, the breakthrough here is that the 3D models expressed convincing emotions! For those who know, that scene with Miranda and her sister was a true soap opera moment.
Visually the game is stunning. I am a sci-fi buff but this can be considered the epitome of how current virtual reality simulates life in space. On a side-note, I noticed a dark fade around the edges of the screen - is that meant to make the game look more “realistic”, like mimicking eyesight? I REALLY enjoyed the atmosphere - I didn’t want to stop the game cause I didn’t want to leave the world. And there is much more to see in the sequel. You don’t get to free roam the Citadel again but there are many other space stations and surface cities.I’m overall impressed by the art of the game although I must say I noticed some of the less treated level design was put as hidden missions you may or may not discover through planet surface scanning - well played Bioware
Oh, and a real world entrepreneur should create the Aftetlife club EXACTLY as it is - with those ugly faced aliens serving the place - it would be perfect…
My strategy in the game was simple: try to be nice to everyone and take all the side missions you are offered - like a proper boyscout
My theory is that there are in fact only two versions of the game, the really good and the really bad outcome and all the other variations of the story are simply cutdowns from one or the other side due to your shortcomings. I chose the boyscout way to see all the good content even if I missed on some badass content - I just couldn’t stand the negative energy to get there… IMO the outline of the game is too simple - you are set with a spaceship off to build your team and to face the enemy you need resources which you gather from different planets. And when you do all the necessary upgrades you face the bad guys and that’s it.
Other notables on the con side - there seems to be little to no renewable content. Visit a place after a dosen missions and the same people are still standing there, with nothing new to say, the merchant lists of available items to buy are still the same. There are also real software glitches to consider. Basically, you will have to turn autosaving on - it is indeed a lifesaver as the game crashes too often (at least my pc version). To add to that, I had more than one incidents where I would just get stuck on top of objects as I swept beside them.
But all those can be easily overlooked. I had short breaks during my game (for food and whatnot) and honestly I couldn’t wait to return back to my crew. Admittedly this hasn’t happened to me for a long time and it can only be a positive indication that I was playing a pretty damn good game.
In short, Mass Effect 2 is bigger, better and more badass - a well done sequel. When the end credits rolled I wanted to stand up and clap like you do in a public viewing to show my appreciation - that’s how engaging it was.



Socialize