Mass Effectin'

I finished up up Mass Effect 2 over the weekend, finally. I am an OCD completionist on these games, so I scoured every uninhabited rock in the galaxy in search of sidequests and loot.

I don't think I've ever seen such a frank, uncompromising self-assessment between sequels. The first game did very well, both critically and commercially, but Bioware looked deep and hard at the game they created, and they were not sparing of themselves. Mass Effect has emerged from its chrysalis leaner, smoother, and more streamlined than before.  The wretched, borderline torturous inventory system was completely scrapped, and replaced by a highly streamlined collection of hardware. And when I say streamlined, I mean there are only three or four entries each type of gun. That's a far cry from the 150+ (per gun category!!) that you had to juggle the first time around. Armor upgrades are now just permanent stat boosts, and ammo types have been relegated to powers rather than items. You even have a personal assistant to tell you when you have e-mail.

Mass Gears of Effect War

So, yeah. You pretty much just select your loadout when you leave the Normandy, and you're good to go-- no more mid-mission fumbling through menu options to switch out weapons. Even the skill system has been simplified to just a handful of linear skills. An RPG purist might call this a lack of depth, but as someone who is more of a shooter fan I found it liberating. I do not like fiddling with stats. I am going to play this game ONCE and be done with it, so I want my choices to be clear and simple. Combat mechanics in general feel a lot better. Ducking behind cover, switching weapons, activating powers, all just feels smoother. Environments tend to feel very purpose made-- you know when you're about to enter a firefight, because there are suddenly a lot of strategically placed boxes in the room-- but this is forgivable, since the combat itself is so engaging. Missions are satisfyingly varied between corridor crawls, large-scale battles, stealth and even a couple "social infiltration" missions.

The storytelling has also improved by leaps and bounds. By now Bioware has mastered the conversation mechanic they pioneered in the first game, and it is used to great effect here. The whole thing feels very sci-fi noir; there is a big central mystery, with plenty of intrigue and hidden agendas going on around the periphery. To this I say, Yes! Please! Like bacon, noir just makes everything better. Your party members feel much more complete and well-developed, which makes sense, considering the plot revolves around recruiting a crack team for a secret suicide mission. The first game had a few decent moments, but on the whole your party felt like the usual lineup of sci-fi stereotypes: military chick, scientist learning human ways, tough alien warrior, etc. This time around, they have much more complete personalities and back stories, and are just more interesting to interact with. Also, my main man (main turian?) Garrus takes a rocket to the face about an hour in, and acts like it's no big deal.

It's hardly noticeable.

There were a few things I didn't like. For one, you can only find cash and items during missions. This wouldn't be a problem, except that most locations are created specifically for missions and cannot be revisited once the mission is completed. So, if you missed that awesome assault rifle lying on the ground during Tali's loyalty mission, well, too bad, you can't go back for it. To make matters worse, you actually need to buy fuel for your starship. Since you can only earn cash in missions, there is a very finite amount of money you can earn. It's entirely possible to blow all of your money just tooling around the galaxy. That's a bad design choice, in my opinion, since the developers are effectively punishing players for exploring this vast, intricately detailed galaxy they've created. Games like this should encourage exploration, not hinder it. And the resource-finding minigame is tedious at best. I may be alone in this, but I actually miss driving the Mako across uninhabited planets. It just made the galaxy feel so much larger.

Also: Grunt < Wrex.

But on the whole, these are minor complaints. The first game, you put up with the gristle because the meat was so delicious. The sequel is a lean New York strip.