Rate top gamesSurprisingly lame. Tries so hard to escape the role-playing side of the first Mass Effect but doesn't make it up with good action combat. Switching to ammo was a bad decision and glaringly so, but so much else of the role-playing side was stripped away. Skills are bare bones, equipment is gone, weapons are boring, team building is non-existent, the overworld is a joke, mining is tedious. Even quest design, particularly the loyalty missions, are painfully linear. Maybe that valance is better found in Mass Effect 3 but it's a slog to get there.
Mass effect 2 to me personally is the peak of video games as an interactive artistic medium. The story,characters,setting and general ambiance of this experience is something I still am waiting for another game to replicate. All these narrative tools suck the player in and invites them to fully emotional connect to this masterpiece.
Beyond its incredible narrative, its game play is extremely tight and well polished, heavily reinforcing the idea of you the player as a leader with the use and command of your squad being essential to every encounter. Missions are diverse and engaging with little filler. This all topped off with the most satisfying end mission in any video game in which your engagement with both the narrative and gameplay his game is rewarded.
Mass Effect is of course not perfect no game truly is, what it is, is special and a shinning example of the potential of video games to connect with its player.
Beyond its incredible narrative, its game play is extremely tight and well polished, heavily reinforcing the idea of you the player as a leader with the use and command of your squad being essential to every encounter. Missions are diverse and engaging with little filler. This all topped off with the most satisfying end mission in any video game in which your engagement with both the narrative and gameplay his game is rewarded.
Mass Effect is of course not perfect no game truly is, what it is, is special and a shinning example of the potential of video games to connect with its player.
«Time-tested»
Mass Effect 2 is one of the pieces of evidence that can be submitted to claim and prove that the sequel is usually (if not always) better than the first entry of a franchise. Set sometime after the events of the first game, Mass Effect 2 picks up with most of the same characters that were introduced in the first game with more newcomers added along the way. Commander Shepard and the SSV Normandy are attacked. After recovering from this mysterious assault, Shepard finds himself among some unlikely and concerning allies. But a new threat has emerged. Shepard must assemble a team to combat this new, or perhaps old…., encroaching threat and operate outside of the normal rules, laws and boundaries as he tries to save the galaxy once again, but without the Alliance and his usual resources. The game builds on what came before in Mass Effect and further expands and improves almost everything. The interactive story, the gameplay, the visuals, the writing, all of these things are drastically updated and rejuvenated for this entry. I really enjoy the gunplay and overall gameplay mechanics. The voice acting is top notch. The design of the game and overall art direction is so wonderful and beautiful. Very few games really bring me into the world and get me to empathize with characters as much as this game does. This is one of my favorite games and to be honest I like Mass Effect 3 as well. At the end of the day I would recommend the whole series. Such amazing talent and effort was put into this trilogy.
Rating: 5/5
Rating: 5/5
i don't like that you can always tell when combat is coming because every combat area contains between 5 and 50 waist-high walls, the resource-gathering mini-game is necessary but repetitive and boring, i don't like that the design of the renegade and paragon strongly recommends the player lean extremely one-sided for an entire playthrough, and some of the animations are stilted.
that said, the writing is wonderful, the environments and characters are interesting, and the combat is fun
that said, the writing is wonderful, the environments and characters are interesting, and the combat is fun