Mass Effect 2

[thelastmccabe]

I was playing the Mass Effect 2 demo on my PS3 the other day, and I was pretty disappointed. The intro was really cool, but after that it seemed pretty lame. Is there more in this game than just running down a corridor, crouching behind something, popping out and shooting a few things, and then repeating that over and over again? (With some cut scenes and dialogue thrown in obviously.) I was sort of expecting to be blown away by this game.

Now, granted I didn't play through the whole demo because I got bored / was afraid of spoilers, so maybe something awesome happens later in the second mission they included (I don't know precisely what mission it is, but it's something from later in the game on some planet with a plague). But I did start the second mission in the demo and it was more of the same thing. Super repetitive game play in surprisingly drab environments. Possibly even more boring than the first mission. Perhaps it would have been more fun on a higher difficulty level than normal? It didn't help that my regenerating health appeared to make me virtually immortal. I kind of hate regenerating health.

At any rate, I'd be interested to hear what people have to say about this game.

 

[sophie]

It's a lot of fun, and you should definitely play more of it before making a judgment.

 

[Maniacal]

We already have a thread on Mass Effect (its titled 3 but its for all of them).

The combat is average (I don't recall seeing anyone ever rave about it as a selling point) and there are multiple difficulty levels some of which only let you take a couple of hits before you die or have to wait for health to regen. The real good part of the that everyone raves game is the characters, dialogue, and interaction. Trust me, its worth it, its a great game and only like $19.99 on the PC. So is ME1 and I highly recommend playing that first (although the the gameplay is slightly worse but again the rest of the game more than makes up for it).

 

[Truronian]

Biotics add flavour; Vangaurds in particular involve less chillaxing in cover.

 

[SuperJay]

It is absolutely one of the best games I've ever played, and I don't say that lightly.

You have to accept the game on its own terms, though - it's not quite an RPG, and it's not your typical shooter.

I agree with Truronian, try a Biotic or maybe a Sentinel if the shooting is boring. A straight Soldier can be a beast in firefights, but it's a more generic gameplay experience. Playing a Biotic makes you a sci-fi wizard with an SMG - you throw people into walls, create black holes, detonate force fields and destroy everyone around. It's way fun.

If you can, maybe rent the full game and spend a few days or a week on it. I didn't find the demo too compelling either, but once I started playing the full game, I got hooked.

 

[thelastmccabe]

Ok thanks for the responses everyone. Sounds like I should give it another chance. Unfortunately for me, every place where you could rent games has closed down around where I live. Maybe I'll see about getting ME 1 for my computer once I get through some of the other (many) games I've bought but not yet played.

 

[LightSpectra]

ME1 wasn't that great of a game. I'd only play through it just to see the plot that leads up to ME2.

If you get ME2 for the PS3, though, I hear there's an interactive comic that sums up everything in ME1. So just do that.

 

[Dachs]

Genesis isn't great, doesn't give you all of the options that a full ME1 playthrough would, and kinda misrepresents the story. Apparently it's not even necessary (it's DLC separate from the game, although free) so not all PS3 players know to use it on their first run (looking at azale here).

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

I really enjoyed the game, but the constant 'recruit new crewmember, find out their one personal problem that must be resolved and fix it so they're totally 100% loyal to you' began to grate. I would have loved it if there were a crewmember recruited late in the game was all, "no, actually I'm doing pretty great, and we're fighting the end of the galaxy here so my personal problems can wait." Mass Effect 1 pretty much kept pushing you along with the central plot.

That being said, both it and the original were two of the best games I played last year, and I recommend it to anyone.

 

[Dachs]

Yeah, that's possibly the one thing I really had an issue with: too many teammates, and you more or less had to deal with all of their loyalty missions, some of which have good replay and some of which don't. It wasn't really an issue the first few times I played the game because I was overjoyed to be away from the Standard BioWare Story (finally!) but it's slowed down subsequent replays significantly.

 

[SuperJay]

I would have loved it if there were a crewmember recruited late in the game was all, "no, actually I'm doing pretty great, and we're fighting the end of the galaxy here so my personal problems can wait."

That'd be an awesome addition to ME3.

Or just change around the standard companion quest formula. Rather than having it be some deep emotional issue that is incredibly important to the NPC, have it be a companion quest that has nothing to do with their identity or past. Have them turn it around on you - "I'm actually doing really well but it seems like you could use a vacation, how about we go chill at my awesome floating beach cabana on planet Azibi?" Of course, en route you're waylaid by intergalactic ne'er-do-wells and must defend the cabana and booze supply from their nefarious plans!

 

[Dachs]

Well, in the third game, you won't have to deal with loyalty missions and such, since the whole thing is about you guys, you know, fighting a colossal galactic war against the Reapers, not about building a team - unless "building a team" means "creating a coalition of races to help kick the Reapers and their shiny ancient metal asses off Earth".

 

[Maniacal]

As I previously posted in the ME3 thread, you will be doing a lot more than one mission for each civilization. Hopefully they improve upon the loyalty mission style.

 

[SuperJay]

Well, in the third game, you won't have to deal with loyalty missions and such, since the whole thing is about you guys, you know, fighting a colossal galactic war against the Reapers, not about building a team

Dude, floating beach cabana okay? They'll work it in somehow.

unless "building a team" means "creating a coalition of races to help kick the Reapers and their shiny ancient metal asses off Earth".

So Shep is basically the galaxy's Gandalf this time around. Hmmm

 

[Dachs]

As I previously posted in the ME3 thread, you will be doing a lot more than one mission for each civilization. Hopefully they improve upon the loyalty mission style.

Well, yeah, but the definition of a "mission" makes that meaningless anyway.

So Shep is basically the galaxy's Gandalf this time around. Hmmm

Kind of a cross between Gandalf and the Gray Warden.

 

[Maniacal]

It seems Mass Effect modding has reached its peak.

EDIT: Scratch that, THIS is the epitome of Mass Effect modding, and dancing.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

I have the first Mass Effect on the Xbox 360, which I got the Christmas when it came out, but haven't played Mass Effect 2. I look at the price of the game and found it's cheaper to buy both the first and second game for the PC than it is to get the second game by itself on the Xbox. When I got the first game I had an older computer but now I think my current computer might be able to run the game. Would it be better if I got the first and second games for the PC instead of playing them on the Xbox?

 

[Maniacal]

If its cheaper than that seems like a good idea. Mass Effect 2 runs better than ME1 does on the PC too. Dunno how ME3 will be but probably not much more despite upgraded graphics. I don't know what your computer is like, if it can handle ME1 & 2 well then it should handle 3.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

My computer has a Core 2 Quad Q6600. 4GB DDR2 RAM, GeForce 9800 GT, and about 600 GB hard drive.

 

[Maniacal]

Should be perfectly fine then