Developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts, Mass Effect 2 is an extraordinarily fun and great-looking action role-playing game(RPG) for the Xbox 360 and PC.. The game continues the heroic space adventures of Commander Shepard in the 22nd century, but introduces many new characters, weapons and plotlines. Therefore, you don’t need to play the original Mass Effect to understand and appreciate this sequel, which takes place two years after its predecessor, though you might get more out of it as it’s part of a larger story arc. In fact, you can import your saved game into Mass Effect 2 to continue as your own Commander Shepard, retaining his customized look, attributes and personality.
Speaking of story, the fantastic tale in Mass Effect 2 revolves around a mysterious new threat to humankind and Shepard’s reluctance to work with Cerberus, a ruthless organization (bordering on terrorists, says Shepard), in order to stop “The Collectors” in their path of destruction. By previewing a huge 3-D map of the galaxy in his starship, Shepard can fly to various worlds to handpick an elite team of fighters to ensure a well-balanced squad (and you can preselect team members before each mission, too). As with the first game, there are also love interests, betrayals, mini-games and numerous side-missions that will also affect the story.
The 30+ hour single-player game has many tens of thousands of lines of dialogue, all of which are spoken by actors. In fact, the human characters look real, including faces that convey emotion during these exchanges. As Shepard, you’ll guide the conversation based on the questions you ask and responses you give from the list of options.
Just because Mass Effect 2 has a deep story with memorable characters and exotic environments, doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of action. More so than the first game, third-person combat plays a huge role, with many character classes to choose from (including a brute soldier, tech specialist or stealthy infiltrator), multiple futuristic weapons and powers to choose from (all of which are upgradeable), and different ways to fight based on your preference (real-time combat or pause the action to make weapon/power selections or assign squad commands). The enemy artificial intelligence (A.I.) is smart, quick and ready to peg you off as soon as you break cover.
As fun and polished Mass Effect 2 is, there are a couple of small issues. For one. The “Power Wheel” and “Weapon Wheel” interface used during combat to make selections is hard to see, with small font for the names of the weapons and powers. As a result, until you remember where a favorite selection is on the ring, or unless you can make out the silhouette, you might need to squint to read what you’re choosing (even on a 60-inch television, anecdotally). Another beef is some anticlimactic moments when the dialogue builds up to what you think will be an epic fight that ends before you know it. One of the early missions, for example, is joining a mercenary group to find the elusive “Archangel,” and despite 20-odd minutes of conversations about his motives and whereabouts, the actual fighting that led up to the meeting with him was only a minute or two.
Shortcomings notwithstanding, Mass Effect 2 is an extraordinarily fun and great-looking action RPG for the Xbox 360 and PC. As if there wasn’t enough game play here, a code in the box lets you download new missions and special items for free as part of an in-game channel for delivering new content and news on an ongoing basis. Sci-fi fans, rejoice —Mass Effect 2 is well worth the wait.
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