Mass Effect 2 – Massively Effective

We’ve been looking forward to Mass Effect 2 for a while, since we were really impressed with the first one — it told a great Science Fiction story with great atmosphere and gameplay.  Mass Effect 2 improves upon the original, gameplay-wise, it takes out menial long elevator rides, driving sequences, managing items and equipments, juvenile hacking/unlocking mini-games, a bunch of things that didn’t really bother us that much the first time around — and made the game more like a shooter than an RPG, obviously appealing more to the casual crowd while not taking anything away from what the hardcore fans want. The voice cast and the script of Mass Effect 2 is impressive, but as the second act of a trilogy, we can’t really fault it for being weaker than the first one in the story department. There really aren’t many major plot revelations and twists to the story, and the feeling I get from it is kind of like watching the Two Towers from the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, that it propels the plot forward, but nothing much happens in it that you haven’t already guessed. I am surprised (and not so surprised) that none of the professional reviewers talk about how the plot is — the stuff that really matters. People say that games won’t ever be art, not until the last generation (aka our parents) dies off, but I say that games won’t be art if reviewers won’t even treat it as much — that the story and the atmosphere it builds is more important than the shooting mechanics and the loading time.

Mass Effect is Knights of the Old Republic inserted into the Star Trek universe. All alien races from Mass Effect will be oddly familiar, reminding you of your distant cousins, no kidding — more like something from various different seasons of Star Trek shows — the Krogans are Klingons (both beginning with a K, the irony), the Geth is obviously Borg, and the Asari are Betazoid — not that we are criticizing it or anything, we love it for what it is, that it would probably give trekkies a hard-on from playing the game, and fans of Battlestar Galactica will recognize some of the voice actors from the show. Weather Mass Effect has a believable universe is besides the point — we accept it for what it is, like watching Star Trek, that it isn’t simulating a realistic multiracial galaxy and first contact, but using that as allegory to reflect something that is within ourselves — that most of the aliens will act like what we expect them to act, that they are essential humans, from different stages of civilization and culture. And you can’t but help think that when you really meet an alien race for real — you won’t be prepared for what you are facing (which will be something that is more akin to the Ender’s Game).

What we are impressed with Mass Effect 2 is that there has never been a game in a series that has such complete continuity built in with the different choices you made from the previous game –  not in Xenosaga, for the lack of choices. Who you fell in love with, who you killed, major decisions you made in Mass Effect 1, will bleed into Mass Effect 2 and most likely the rest of the series, like syrup on french toast. And if you haven’t heard already, playing as the female Shepard gives the player a more superior experience (yeah go girl), because Jennifer Hale just does a better job than her male counterpart — she is simply a more experienced and diverse voice actor, no offense to him. And hearing your avatar’s voice while playing the game, it IS quite a different experience — that you feel more emotionally involved than silent protagonists like Dragon Age and Fallout 3.

And if we were allowed to have a few small complains — that I personally thought that the scanning and mining of planet resources could have been better — that it painfully reminds me of the awesome Star Control 2 (hunt down that game already if you haven’t played it), but the mining of Star Control 2 was infinitely superior, that it involved a top-down view 2D driving mechanics which we thought could have been perfectly integrated with Mass Effect 1’s driving. And funny the way that I already thought of Star Control 2 while I played that mediocre section in Mass Effect 1. But at the end, even mining in Mass Effect 2 was entirely optional, but you would want to do some of it, because if you didn’t upgrade the ship — some of your companions are not going to make it, and you don’t want that, do you?

A second minor complain I have is that, and I am pretty sure that I am not the only one — with subtitles turned on and lightning-fast speed reading skill and the mind to get to the end of the game as quick as possible, I tend to skip ahead of the verbal part of the conversation while having read it already. By meshing on the B button sometimes I would accidentally choose my exit topic (a disaster), which is defaulted if you didn’t have the analog stick pointed elsewhere, which I learned the hard way, and I am not sure the validity of the decision to having the B button also pick conversation topic just like the A button, while no other button will let you skip ahead of conversations. A minor complain really, but a game with such high production value, it feels like a major oversight.

Despite the weaker story of the 2nd installment, Mass Effect is still a very polished product; a game that makes you feel like it is created by people who love games with all their hearts and care about their audience ( EA, please don’t destroy Bioware like you did other companies).  We eagerly anticipate how the 3rd game will turn out. Let’s hope this mighty space opera will have a satisfying conclusion soon.

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