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17.2.2012

Every fifty thousand years a race of sentient alien starships, the Reapers, scour the Milky Way of organic life for unknown reasons. The time of their return is at hand and the races of the Galaxy are not ready. It took the combined firepower of several entire fleets to destroy the first Reaper scout, Sovereign. In the process the Citadel - seat of the Galactic Council - was so badly damaged that repairs will take five years to complete.The Council believes the threat is over, and discounts reports that an entire fleet of hundreds of Reaper ships is lurking beyond the Galactic Rim. Their scepticism grows when Commander Shepard, the only human to know the true extent of the threat, is apparently KIA.But, two years later, Shepard resurfaces, now working for the Cerberus organisation outside the authority of Earth or the Council. Shepard now has the resources to carry the fight to the Reapers and starts by attacking one of their servant species, the Collectors, who have been raiding human colonies in the lawless Terminus Systems. But Shepard's allegiance with a borderline terrorist organisation threatens to alienate his former allies and undermines his attempts to expose the scale of the Reaper threat.Mass Effect 2, released in 2010, is the middle volume of a computer roleplaying trilogy. Unlike a lot of such series, which are normally developed ad hoc based on the sales of the previous game, the Mass Effect series was always envisaged as a trilogy with events building from one game to the next and culminating in an epic finale (to be seen in Mass Effect 3, released next month) which pits the entire Galaxy against the invading Reapers on a massive scale. Mass Effect 2 is therefore something of a bridging game, with a surprisingly small scope compared to the events of the first or third games (these things are relative, however, as ME2 still features ferocious firefights in alien starships dozens of miles long).The game's structure sees Shepard working for Cerberus and its shadowy founder, the Illusive Man (voiced with gravitas by Martin Sheen), an alliance of former foes (Cerberus is a side-enemy in the original Mass Effect) against the dual threat of the Collectors and the Reapers. The bulk of the game is set on the new starship Normandy SR-2, with Shepard choosing what assignment to undertake next. Early assignments revolve around building up a team of allies to help in the battle. The cast of the original Mass Effect has been scattered across the Galaxy and most are unavailable to help out in the new fight (though two of them do sign up and the rest show up in cameos), so Shepard is mostly reduced to forming a new team of dubious reliability and melding them into a cohesive unit. This is done by undertaking 'loyalty missions' for each character. Whilst optional, winning each character's loyalty pays dividends for the final mission - where unreliable or disloyal characters might die, or cause others' deaths - and hugely extends the playing time of the game (doing all of these missions results in Mass Effect 2 clocking in at about 25 hours, or twice the length of the original).This structure relies on the characters being compelling. Fortunately, Mass Effect 2 is the work of BioWare, who have created some of the most memorable characters in RPG history (and one of their most famous, Minsc from Baldur's Gate, gets a couple of hilarious shout-outs in ME2). There is a sense of early disgruntlement that most of the characters you got to know over the dozen or so hours of the original Mass Effect have been jettisoned, but this is soon overtaken by an interest in the new cast. BioWare have gone to some lengths to give each character their own motivation, personality and goals, backed up by strong voice acting and some excellent writing. There's some geek-friendly casting, with the likes of Yvonne Strahovski (Chuck), Michael Hogan (Battlestar Galactica), Robin Sachs (Babylon 5/Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Keith Szarabjka (Angel) and Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica) providing voices, but all do great work. Keythe Farley deserves a special mention for his exceptional voicing of Thane Krios, the spiritual assassin dying of a terminal wasting disease.Gameplay-wise, Mass Effect 2 is an evolution - critics might call it a devolution - of the mechanics in the original game. Just as the original game downplayed some traditional RPG elements (such as inventory management) in favour of shooting, Mass Effect 2 takes this even further. Character advancement through levelling is streamlined considerably, with the removal of the original game's extensive skill tree in favour of a smaller, more combat-focused levelling mechanic, whilst the inventory has simply been removed completely. Inventory-less RPGs have been made before (such as the splendid Freedom Force superhero games) but it's still disconcerting to see in action. However, more careful examination of the game reveals that many of the same tangible effects of the inventory management of the first game (upgrades to weapons, grenades, armour and abilities) still exist, but have been transferred to the new research/upgrade system.This system employs a research lab which has been installed on the Normandy. Once Shepard has recruited a scientist, he can start researching upgrades to existing weaponry, armour and abilities, or unlock new weapons altogether. He can also upgrade the Normandy's capabilities. Again, this seems optional but it plays a major role in the game's finale (extending to some characters dying if the ship hasn't reached its maximum potential). Researching doesn't come for free and resources must be gathered from planets to fund it. This leads to a side mini-game where the Normandy orbits planets and scans them for resources, launching mining probes to recover them. This system can be slightly annoying (spending significant amounts of time mining when there's Collectors to be killed can be frustrating) but it's a much more intelligent use of resources than the original game (where they existed solely as an optional mission objective to make you look good).To the meat of the game, which is the in-mission view. There are two types of mission, 'hub' missions set on planets or space stations mostly inhabited by friendlies where Shepard has to resolve issues, typically through roleplaying. The game's intelligent dialogue system (slightly refined from the original game, with the addition of Paragon/Renegade actions you can undertake in addition to the simple speaking of dialogue) comes into its own here, with Shepard using diplomacy, threats or a mixture of the two to get a favourable outcome. However, far more commonplace are combat missions where Shepard and two allies have to fight their way through various enemies to achieve a mission objective.Combat is similar to the first game, in that it emphasis cover and directly shooting enemies rather than any kind of turn-based or pause-based combat, though you can still pause the game and bring up a tactical command menu, giving orders to your troops or employing special abilities yourself. It's been refined, with a more intelligent cover system (less sticking to a wall you just happen to brush up against) and the addition of area-based damage, such as headshots. Those looking for a more RPG style of combat may be disappointed by the directness of the battles, but at the same time those used to pure shooters like the Gears of War series may find the addition of dialogue options and a great degree of player freedom and choice to be liberating. BioWare are conflating the two genres here and doing so well, but RPG fans may feel that the game is a little imbalanced towards the shooter genre. Those who like both genres (like myself) will feel more at home with the game.Overall, Mass Effect 2 is a very strong game which emphasises player choice in the fields of characterisation and story development. What you, as Shepard, say or do in the game has enormous consequences, potentially leading to most of your crew being wiped out. Decisions also have important ramifications in Mass Effect 3, which may give players pause (for example, deciding the fate of a cure to the krogan plague or whether to pit the geth and Quarians into full-scale war has little impact in Mass Effect 2 itself, but will be major plot points in the final game). Complaints that the game is a dumbed-down RPG due to a streamlining of the gameplay systems are understandable, but the game also makes great strides forward in characterisation and the impact of player choice on personal interrelationships. This is a fascinating development in the way games handle characters and how relationships between them work, and shows how games can handle these factors in a way that films and novels cannot, an important evolution in the medium.Of course, those less interested in the title's place in gaming history can ignore all of that and get on with saving the Galaxy by laying waste to everything in sight with overwhelming firepower.Mass Effect 2 (****½) is a very good game, with some excellent writing, memorable characters and strong combat sequences. The reducing of RPG elements in favour of shooter ones may offend RPG purists, but overall BioWare handle the merging of the two genres successfully. The game is available now in the UK (PC, X-Box 360, PlayStation 3) and USA (PC, X-Box 360, PlayStation 3). Mass Effect 3 is released on 6 March 2012 in the USA and three days later in the rest of the world.
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21.1.2011

Mass Effect on PS3...I never thought we'd see the day, but here we are. While I still dream that the first ME game would cross over to Sony's platform, the arrival of ME2 and the news ME3 will be on PS3 too makes up for it (as does a PS3 exclusive interactive short comic that helps you not only get to speed on the back story of the first game, but lets you make decisions to help shape your ME2 experience). You see, the beauty of ME is that your game plays out uniquely to you - if a character dies it ME1 he or she won't be there in ME2 and so forth (so for the uninitiated, keep your ME2 game saves!). It's not the same as playing the original (and if you get a chance to I fully recommend it),but it the interactive comic (created by Dark Horse no less) is the next best thing.If you've played the original on the 360, you'll know what Mass Effect will offer you. If you haven't played Mass Effect, essentially the game is part shooter, part RPG, with plenty of ways of creating 'your' story around the main linear storyline - everything from Shepard's gender, how he/she looks (the character create is amazing) to how he/she chooses to talk to other characters (passive, aggressive, or not at all) is up to you. You can also choose your powers (you can be a soldier who relies on shooting to get them through, or vanguards or engineers, which enables you to have special biotic powers for example. The game is dialogue heavy, so if you're someone who skips cut scenes to get straight to the action, you're probably best off elsewhere. However, Bioware are masters at this kind of thing and ME2 excells in almost every way over its already incredible predecessor. A nice touch in ME2s dialogue is the introduction of paragon and renegade actions - at certain points in the game, you will have the chance (via an on-screen indication) whether to choose to do a paragon action (for example, intervening if a teammate is about to shoot someone) or a renagade action (at one point I was talking to a particularly uncooperative alien who ended up being chucked out of a window courtesy of my renegade action). The joy in this is you can of course ignore the suggestion, so if you think that bad guy your teammate is about to shoot right through the head really does deserve to meet his maker, you can stand and do nothing.A difference beween ME and ME2 is that ME2 definately leans towards a shooter rather than an RPG - levelling up (to a max of level 30) and upgrading your character is much easier and automatic if you choose it to be. So while the RPG elements are perhaps a little watered down, the combat has been scaled up - cover simplified (for example being able to sprint to cover with the same button press) and the range of tactics that can be brought to the table to defeat enemies is exhaustive (including instructing what powers your team mates should use in battle on the fly). You also select what members of your team will be best at a particular mission, for example if you know that a certain type of enemy (let's say an enemy who have strong armour) will be involved in one mission you can choose a team member with the 'incinerate' skill to burn through armour quickly. So, if you have played ME on XBOX, it does move into more action territory, but that's not to say there's not a depth to the combat or the RPG elements of ME2.Another possible negative that I have seen discussed is that the size of the team is too large for you to feel connection to the characters. This is understandable (it is a big team), however I feel with the game structure being as it is, Bioware have taken steps to ensure that all team members get a run out with you. Without giving too much away (because I hate it when reviews do that), you have a main mission that you have to recruit a team for (I won't reveal specific mission details as again, I wish to spoil nothing). Each teammate you recruit then has a side mission for you to complete with them, thus meaning you spend time with them. One reason why this works is the strength of the characters - in most games like this, people will have their favourites, however picking your final squads is tricky in ME2, each character brings something special to the team and each character affects how the game pans out in subtle ways. Each member has their own strong back story and different reasons for you to relate to them. Another point to note with this mission structure is how it helps you mix side missions with main missions. For example, in the original ME, I did all the side missions first, then went to the main missions. In ME2 it feels like the side missions are linked to what you're doing at the time, making the experience seemless (for example, there are times where you have a primary mission to do, but a side mission will take place in the sane area, meaning that you will see to the side project also, rather than just skipping it.Another difference introduced in ME2 is planetary exploration - now you use a scanner to go over planets in search for minerals that can be used towards research projects (like weapon and armour upgrades). It's still not perfect, but it's more interesting than in ME where you would just click on a planet and get a bit of text explaining what happens there.I've read a couple of reviews that have said the ending is underwhelming. I'm honestly confused by this, the build up to the final mission is intense and you even get a boss fight that doesn't feel like a run-of-the-mill end-of-game tacked-on boss fight (I'm looking at you Bioshock!) The final mission is dramatic, whilst leaving it open for what may come in the third installment.As for PS3 to XBOX differences, you have the interactive comic as I've mentioned, and you also get a whole bundle of DLC thrown in (perhaps to ease the pain of not having had ME on Playstation before!) The DLC has had mixed reviews when released on XBOX (especially the Kasumi DLC). However, as PS3 owners get it from the off, it doesn't seem out of place or that it's an expensive add on. The Lair of the Shadow Broker is especially good. Looks wise I think the PS3 shades it, but whichever console you're on, ME2 is a good looking game, notably the characters themselves.Overall, if you liked Mass Effect, you'll love ME2. The Mass Effect series is an experience that any gamer should try, it's less a game and more a sci-fi epic that you control. In my review for InFamous on PS3, I said it was the kind of game that you thought about even when you weren't playing it. ME2 goes one better, it's the kind of gaming experience that stays with you after you've completed it, and as it clocks in at over 30 hours, it's incredible how Bioware have created a game that you immediately want to go back to, to see in what other ways the game could play out (on a side note, if you try and do every single mission and scan every planet to find every secret mission, you're looking at a good 42 hours or so!) Graphically, the game is excellent, the dialogue is top notch (as is the music score), the missions are varied and always interesting and replayability is strong (because you're going to want to do it all over again and be a total renegade!). There's no two ways about it, Mass Effect 2 is an essential purchase whether you've played the original (or, as I have, ME2 on XBOX as well). Now it's arrived on PS3, the best series of this console generation is available on two excellent gaming platforms and that can only be a good thing.***QUICK EDIT - there's been a lot of talk of the save game bug affecting some Mass Effect 2 players (for more details google Mass Effect 2 ps3 bug). I played through the game with no problems whatsoever and am currently playing through again, also a friend of mine has completed it with no trouble whatsoever. That's not to say it doesn't exist though, as there have been many reports of consoles freezing and corrupting the save data. A patch is apparently in the works to fix this problem - as I said though, my playthrough was absolutely fine (and the word from Bioware is that if you reset your console after every mission it helps any save issues).
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25.1.2011

Bioware continue to surprise. The single best game on Xbox last year makes the jump to PS3 and not only have Bioware done a fantastic job with the conversion, but they've actually delivered a far better product from what we saw last year in a number of ways... even though many of the game's shortcomings still remain.I covered most of the game's finer details in my review of the Xbox version last year, but in brief: Mass Effect is a sci fi space opera that revolves around Commander Shepard(Either John or Jane, depending on your preference) and his/her efforts to uncover the secrets behind an ancient alien race known as the Reapers who are on the verge of returning to wipe out all life in the galaxy.So Shepard must recruit a team of sci fi archetypes to find a way to prevent the forthcoming invasion from happening. The story is pretty strong and well put together, with an impressively detailed universe to explore and a large cast of pretty distinct characters to interact with. This is easily the most polished game Bioware have ever produced.The gameplay takes the primary form of a third person shooter clearly trying to follow to 'Gears of War' model of design: basically spending most of the fights hiding in cover waiting for an opening to take a shot. The implementation of "Biotic powers"(Basically space magic) adds a much needed additional level of depth to the combat, which is for the most part fairly linear in lay out and does little beyond funnelling you into endless shooting galleries for much of the game. Saying that, the combat IS fun and well put together, so it isn't really the chore I may be making it sound. Outside of combat you're basically walking around looking for people/objects to interact with, usually leading into lengthy conversations where you choose responses and occasionally get to take actions which either make you come off as a decent person or a massive d-bag depending on how you're feeling. Don't like the back chat that mercenary you've caught is giving you? Either reason with him or throw him off the top of a skyscraper! The game is heavy on moral options, but seems to be light on presenting real consequences for showing a lack of morals in your actions from what I could see, which seems to render the good/evil element of the game largely pointless, whereas in Bioware's last game, Dragon Age, such elements actually affected the way you were viewed and treated by your companions and the world at large, which is the proper way to do it. That isn't to say the interaction element of Mass Effect 2 is bad in anyway... quite the contrary, it's nothing less than a masterclass on how to do character interaction in gaming, it just needed a bit more in the way of consequences and lasting effects of such interactions. Then of course, there is the addition in this PS3 of all the DLC that was released for the game(Aside from a couple of aesthetic 'character appearance' packs it seems if you care). Not only does this include the hefty paid DLC but also has all the free DLC either on disc or(With the included code) available to download from the off. This DLC not only adds a good 6 or so hours of gameplay at least, but also adds in some real variety to the gameplay that I previously complained was missing from much of ME2. In particular the 'Firewalker' and 'Overlord' quest lines prove a significant break from the rest of the game in that it adds actual vehicle exploration and combat to the game that I again complained was missing from the game with the removal of the original game's Mako sequences. These scenes see you piloting a kind of hovercraft across various landscapes(eg. Forests, volcanoes) and are a real breath of fresh air in the game that really adds something new to proceedings. Additionally there is a decent added in 'hover taxi' chase scene added in that again breaks from the regular game that sees you driving through rush hour hover car traffic between skyscrapers in a fairly impressive sequence. Much of this may not be new to everyone, but having it in the game from the start really does make a major difference for the better to the game's overall flow and variety.Visually, ME2 was already a great looking game, but on PS3 it is actually even prettier. It's not an enormous difference or anything, but the texture work(Especially on character faces) is notably better and the lighting is more dynamic, but otherwise most of the game is on par with the 360 version, including(Sadly) the somewhat grainy, lower resolution FMV sequences that infrequently occur and should really have been fully upscaled for HD output for this version. The soundwork is obviously identical to the other versions, and as I believe I said before, it is near faultless across the board on this score. Also worth noting is that, while the game advertises an unprecedented 5.3GB install size on it's box, the actual install size is closer to 4.2GB I noticed, but you'll still be waiting over ten minutes for it to finish, so good news bad news.There's no doubting this is a much improved version of an already great game, with a large amount of added content, improved visuals, no more swapping discs back and forth, and a number of more minor tweaks that help to smooth out the experience(eg. toned down hacking mini game frequency). This is the best way to experience Mass Effect 2 itself... HOWEVER... there's really no ignoring the elephant in the room in the form of the PS3 not getting any version of the first Mass Effect game. I reviewed ME1 back when it first came out and I found it to be a broken, unpolished, borderline unfinished mess of a game with a great story behind it. True, there is a rather nifty interactive comic in the PS3 version of ME2 that covers all the important plot points you need to know from ME1 and lets you make choices that carry over into your ME2 game, but there's no denying that being denied one of the best features the other versions of ME2 had (The ability to carry over a multitude of decisions and actions from your ME1 save game) is a serious downside, and is the only reason I'm marking this game down. It is a fantastic package in every way it can be, but if you're new to the Mass Effect series, you ARE going to feel like you're missing something going in cold with this title. I'd seriously recommend picking up the PC version of ME1 as it offers a number of improvements on the poor 360 version and can be had for pennies these days and thankfully most decent PCs can run it without a fortune in upgrades first. You won't get the save carry over, true, but at least you'll have the full story first. Not a perfect solution I know, but needs must sometimes.A highly recommended purchase, so long as you don't mind feeling a little bewildered on some points.
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11.2.2010

This review is mainly intended for people who played the 1st Mass Effect but may want to know more about this second game in what is set to become a Mass Effect trilogy. I'll be focusing on the main changes in Mass Effect 2, and whether I believe they improve the game or not. And let me tell you right now, I think this game blows the 1st one out of the water (which was still great by itself), it's an amazing sci-fi epic game, and one of the most absorbing adventures i ever played. Sorry if the review seems kind of long, there was a lot i wanted to get in that people may not know about.The story picks off 2 years after the events of the previous game. Your goal here, without spoiling anything,is to assemble a team as Commander Shepard to face a new threat. The game's structure really focuses around this team, and as such, most of the time you'll actually be finding new allies, and exploring their personality and own stories. The main quest by itself, feels a bit short because of this, there are only a handful of missions dedicated to the main story. But the characters I thought were very interesting, they all have a lot more depth to them this time around and are the main focus of this game.Onto what i think is the biggest change in this game, the overall gameplay. And it is really so much better.There is no looting like in the old game, you still salvage things, such as resources, credits, ammo. But the weapons and armor system works very differently now. Weapons are basically shared among all your allies, some characters do have access to unique ones however. Instead of collecting a wide range of weapons, you simply find upgrades to them. You can still pick what upgraded weapon to use, for example, one sniper rifle has more ammo and fires faster but lacks power, rather another has far less ammo but can kill a lot of enemies with 1 headshot. You probably picked up that ammo part i mentioned, and that works a lot better too. Now, your guns use ammo, instead of having you fire unlimited ammo only to have your gun overheat. Guns still have special ammo available (like incendiary ammo), but these upgrades do not work the same way at all, you don't customize weapons like in the previous game, all special ammo are now skills, each character may have a set amount (or none) of them available.Armor works pretty much the same way as weapons, for Shepard. He can wear upgrades to his armor, which offer different effects, and you can now change the color and patterns at your own free will. Your allies however, always wear the same suits and don't have any special stats (you can unlock alternate attires though, same properties though).You cannot modify the weapons and armor at any time during missions though, you can choose before you get off your ship, and sometimes at key points in missions (such as, before a tough fight). At 1st i thought i'd miss not being able to customize my weapons and armor like in the 1st game, but i must say now i really prefer this system, it just works better, I don't miss having to go through my inventory everytime i looted enemies.Combat is also much better. You will really need to take cover this time around, as healing in the battlefield has changed. Now, you cannot heal at all using medi gel, you heal and restore your shields when you don't take damage for a few moments. Medi gel is now only used to revive fallen team mates in the midst of battle. Cover works way better now, you can often go over cover and find some more, and you'll need to figure out quickly sometimes what is the key spot to defeating your enemies. This makes battles more tactical and much more dynamic. You'll have a lot of powers too, and the recharge time of each has decreased drastically, making things more fast paced and much more fun. Still the same 6 classes to choose from at the start, though they all quite different now with the new skills. Personally, all these changes to combat just makes them so much more fun, more fast paced, more intense.Finally, there's the way you travel in the game and how you do sidequests. This is also a huge improvement over the 1st game. You travel aboard your ship like before, can explore star systems and check out different planets. Now you have a system where you scan planets instead of "surveying" or going on the planet and driving around in the Mako. Scanning planets is ok, nothing special, some people may find it a bit slow. But, i accepted this over going on planets on the Mako. Indeed, that aspect is now gone totally, if you can land on a random planet to do a sidequest, you don't have to drive around a random set of bumpy terrain with a different texture on a dodgy vehicle, only to get to the same old hangar like building where you'd fight off some enemies to complete a sidequest. That, was Mass Effect 1, this game has much better sidequests, less of them for sure though, but each one has their own unique place to go to. They are shorter too, though that probably has to do with the fact you don't drive around on the planet beforehand. You also get better rewards for doing these, such as upgrades rather than just credits.That's most of the new aspects of Mass Effect 2 that I feel are what makes this game stand out over the 1st. The game plays great, it looks better, from more detailed textures to character faces (everyone looks different, finally!) and overall graphics. Sound is still excellent, from music to the voicework, you'll really want to talk to people because it just sounds so good.There are few bugs to my knowledge, I encountered one where I would get stuck floating above ground and sometimes couldn't get out of this trap, so i had to load my previous save, this didn't happen too much though and it will hopefully be patched soon. I also saw my allies would sometimes lag behind when fighting, while i went on ahead to fight off a bunch of enemies, so just be careful your team mates still have your back.I hope you found this review helpful, I included the main changes to the game, things that others may want to know before buying this sequel. If you loved the 1st game, you'll most likely love this one too, it's really awesome and improves on the 1st game in so many ways, Props to Bioware.
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12.3.2011

I am a PS3 owner so this is the only Mass Effect game I have, but I think it's great. At its core its an action 3rd person shooter; you pilot a huge spaceship and you can visit numerous planets in the galaxy, which either contain friendly populations with shops and bars, or deserted places that are either crash sites, prisons, frozen wastelands, deserts, and so on. Any planet that does not have a town is typically a "mission", for example, you need to go to locations to free an enslaved community, or destroy a crazed robot that is guarding a mineshaft. The game does have a plot: you play as Commander Shepard (male or female, it's up to you),and you have been recruited to investigate why an alien race is stealing thousands of people from colonies and taking them away. To do this you need to recruit team members. so the first 75% of the game sees you travelling to far-flung locations and trying to meet these characters and carry out whatever task is required to get them to join you. These recruitment tasks are the story missions of the game, and while they vary in content, they usually involve a certain amount of similarity, because each mission is basically a journey from point A to point B, during which time you either have to kill any resistance you meet on the way, or sneak past, or unlock things, or help the new recruit to find something. Some of the most fun are the more unusual, for example in one you have to become bait for a predatory lover who always kills their victims after seducing them. Will you say all the right things...will you agree or decline to drink the spiked cocktail...I enjoyed this one. But for the most part is it about fighting. Action is in 3rd person, Shepard has an impressive arsenal of firepower and some telekenetic powers. You usually use the plentiful cover that the detailed environments provide to overcome onslaughts of enemies, which can at times be relentless! Each mission allows you to choose two of you crew to accompany you, and these AI controlled teammates usually do a pretty good job of helping out - you can pause the action and give them commands, although I found this quite tricky to do, so I usually ignored them and let them do what they liked, which is a shame really as I am sure there was supposed to be some strategy to be played with there.The game allows you to recruit up to 12 crew members to fight with, and you are bound to have favourites as they are all different - and not all human. One very clever thing about Mass Effect 2 is that you only have to be as nice as you want to. You have a "good" and "bad" rating which changes depending on whether you behave accordingly or say supportive or threatening things to your team in conversations. You can also do an optional 2nd mission for every single crew member which adds extra stats to them and (more importantly), makes them "loyal". This is hugely important for the game's climax, so I recommend doing all of them!Apart from the recruitment, there are loads of side-quests to do. Some just involve scanning planets for minerals, which I found very relaxing (a bit like fishing!), and some are vehicle driving, involving using a small launch craft which you drive around different terrains, and these were all great fun. There are even some tiny fetch quests when you happen to overhear a conversation in which a stranger has a problem, and you can choose to help out. All the completed missions and quests gain you experience points in return, because Mass Effect 2 has an RPG element in it too - the more missions you do, the more stat bonuses you can unlock such as more health, shields, skills and so on.Once you have completed all the missions you can find/endure, you move to the game's final chapter in which you warp into another galaxy to confront the alien menace. This is by far the best part of the game, because as the commander you now have to assign key roles to your recruits in the hope that they will play their part in the success of the final mission. I didn't realise until I read some FAQs, but if you are a poor leader you can end the game with over half of your team dead! And after all my efforts to win their trust this was not something I wanted to do, and I am not ashamed to say I loaded up the save prior to the final mission begins more than once to ensure I had made the right choices!I think most gamers will love this game, it has action, plot, story, great graphics and scenery, and some very realistic characters. There is A LOT of spoken conversation in this game - but please don't skip any of it, as it's nearly always relevent, plus you build your "good" and "bad" ratings with nearly every conversation, so choose carefully! My small niggles are that there were a couple of glitches, plus if you took away the (amazing, it's true) space age environments, you could play the exact same gameplay mechanics in any Wild West or 20th century war-simulation game. But the futuristic setting is a great addition and altogether this game is hugely enjoyable.
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23.3.2011

This game is well in my top 5, only surpassed by Uncharted 2 and LittleBigPlanet.I've not played Mass Effect 1, so if that's what's making you hesitate, I barely even noticed. With this you get the free Cerberus pack (I think, I did, but don't take my word for it) which has an introduction interactive comic, which tells you the story of the first game. I played before downloading the comic, so I didn't know anything about the origins of the story and it still made very little difference, I just found out by asking the characters in the game and when it came round to my second play-through where I got the comic, I already knew it all.The graphics are stunning, very realistic texturing (well,as realistic as aliens can be). But, that's by no means the main reason you should buy this game. It's a third person shooter RPG that feels like neither, it just feels like a flowing experience. You don't even have to shoot that much if you'd prefer to be a biotic or a technician, so it's even great if you don't like shooters.The story is fantastic. It's mostly free roam in what you choose to do when (the missions themselves are scripted though, naturally), with plenty of sub-quests. I don't know about you, but I'm one of these gamers who doesn't like pursuing the story till I really have to, so I don't miss anything. The unique thing about these sub quests, however, is that they're entirely relevant. They're in context of the main mission, where you have to recruit a crew, so it doesn't feel as if you're wandering around picking dandelions while the world is balancing on the edge of doom, patiently waiting your arrival.I done everything my first play through (and I mean, everything, explored every planet, done every mission, done every mini-mission [that I could find]) and the amazing experience lasted 45 hours. So I imagine with a normal play-through, it'd be at least 30 hours.The great thing about the dialogue is the ability to choose how your character develops. You can either be the pacifist trying to keep everyone happy (paragon) or be a total bad-ass just to get the job done (renegade), or naturally, a bit of both. The things you choose to say in conversations influence whether you tend towards one or the other. In one case I managed to make my character spontaneously punch a camerawoman in the face from frustration, which not only shocked me, but was hilariously out-of-the-blue. This might be good and well, but what use is it if it's just there to look pretty? It's not. Quite often you'll be offered different speech options because of your paragon/renegade status, which makes conversations flow much more to your advantage. You can convince a shop owner to give you a discount out of kindness or you can threaten a discount out of them, your choice.The way you interact with dialogue is similar to Heavy Rain's (another must-play) style of speech. Instead of having the traditional no-talking RPG play with the options of responses laid out in front of you, you have angles you can direct your character talk towards. For instance one option may be "Gun down. Now." which would make your character say something more elaborate like "Drop your gun, and get down on your knees, NOW!".This adds a little bit of mystery to the conversation and makes you really think about what kind of thing to so, makes you feel much more in control. Surprise chunks of humour here and there too that always catch me out.The finale is just stunning, but depending on your choices (there are hundreds of ways it can vary) you may or may not survive, you may lose some crew members, you may straight up fail if you dive straight in without a good crew. Puts the pressure on you to actually prepare to your own desires.I should mention gameplay, you get to take 2 crew members of your choice on each mission, who have different abilities. It's good in the sense that you can either totally ignore them and play for yourself, or use them to help you get through the level (which they'll do by default anyway). Some are good against robots, some good against aliens, so it's important to decide which to go for, you can level up their abilities too along with your own. I tend to go down the shooter route, basing my level choices on ammo upgrades, but you can also go down the route of Biotics (think "The Force") or Tech (stealth attacks, sending out drones, etc), whichever suits you best. If you're unsure I recommend going down the shooter route first, that way you can look at all your team-mates abilities and see which of them you'd like yourself for the second play-through (because you will want to play through at least twice).If you've read all that and are still not sure whether to go for it, then shame on you, buy it now! It got a BAFTA for game of the year, and by my vote, it DEFINITELY deserved it, in every respect.Also, the 3rd one is coming out Summer 2011, so if you buy this one now, it'd lead you on nicely to the next (which looks just as amazing).
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16.6.2015

Firstly I want to point out that I am not usually into the whole Sci-Fi genre. Aliens, spaceships and laser guns are all a bit too far-fetched and, dare I say, geeky. You may wonder what prompted me to buy this game in the first place. I was looking for a good RPG and several game charts had this game either at top spot or at least in the top 3. Although a sci-fi game I was intrigued after reading all the glowing reviews. When I saw the price, that convinced me that I had little to lose by trying it out.The basic storyline is very simple – an Alien species called the Collectors have teamed up with another group called the Reapers and began to wipe the human race from the galaxy.Something along those lines anyway. I think it may help understand some of the background and terminology if you had played the first game. I hadn’t, therefore I found a lot of parts went over my head at first. All you need to know is your character Commander Shepard (male or female) is tasked with stopping the collectors and saving the galaxy.You need to recruit several members to form a team before you can go up against the enemy. You also need to ensure that these members are loyal to you and that they can carry out the mission without getting themselves, or anyone else killed in the process.The whole game builds up to this final mission known as the ‘Suicide Mission’ which involves crossing through the Omega 4 Relay to reach the Collectors’ base. A feat no human craft has ever completed and lived to tell the tale. I won’t give anything away regarding the Suicide Mission only that it is well worth the wait and build up. The beauty of this game is that your decisions during the whole process – whilst recruiting squad members and gaining their loyalty, will directly affect the outcome and how many people will survive. In a nutshell, if a member is not loyal to you it is unlikely they will survive unless you have carried out the most strategically effective battle plan.Onto the game itself. The gameplay, graphics, sound, atmosphere, cinematography, voice actors are nothing short of outstanding. In fact if I had one minor criticism I would say that the Male voice for Shepard is a bit wooden. However that in no way spoiled my experience of the game. I am told the male Shepard performs better when you make him a ‘bad guy.’ Something I never experienced as I was constantly trying to make the right choices.That leads me onto the role playing side of things. You genuinely care for the main characters in the story – i.e. your squad and crew members. You will strive to say the right things so that you keep them happy and don’t hurt their feelings. Crazy I know! After all it’s only a video game. That is the power of the role playing experience. The way it immerses you into the game and makes you want to succeed morally. As an experiment I have started the game again but this time as a female Shepard and tried to make her a tyrant. I still find myself wanting to press the ‘be nice’ option and struggle to be nasty to my squad and crew. I genuinely feel guilty when I talk down to somebody or refuse to do something for them. Even more so as I feel like I know them after playing the game the first time around.You can become close to certain squad/crew members too. So much so that a romance can also be pursued. I don’t know if this has any effect on the outcome of the final mission but it adds a bit of fun to an already engaging storyline.The game takes around 50-60 hours to finish, and depending on your level of exploration willingness, it could well be a lot more.I will summarise the good and bad points now.GoodEngrossing storylineMulti dimensional charactersRole playing aspects immerse you into the storySublime graphics with incredible detailGreat acting by some very well known movie stars.A large number of missions to complete as well as numerous side missions.Bad (I am being very picky)A little bit too linear overall. Would have preferred more of a sandbox (GTA or Fallout) feel to it.Character movement too restricted. For example you cannot crouch or jump unless an object is in the path.It is impossible to fall from height making negotiating precarious spots far too easy, especially during battle sequences.Some minor issue with frame rate but very few and far betweenBottom line, buy this game. At this price you cannot go wrong.
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29.1.2010

The short of it is that if you have played Mass Effect irrespective of whether you like the minor changes or not, this is largely a continuation of the same game and you know what to expect. For the same reason, if you haven't played Mass Effect it is a bargain and worth playing first.The long of it is that I wasn't very impressed for the first few hours of play. The intro screen kept telling me new content was available even though I had all the new content. The controls mapped perfectly in the main game to an Xbox controller, so I could lie back on the sofa for this cinematic shooter. So why did it have no native controller support?One simple side game was easier with a mouse and one with the keyboard due to the out of main game scroll speed on the controller needing different settings. It would have taken next to no effort for proper native support. I chose my controls for the buggy which didn't appear once in the game. That seemed a bit sloppy. Graphically some of the areas looked flat. Item wise most pickups have gone. You pick up credits and infrequently an upgrade. Each weapon has around 3 variations which tell you that they are an upgrade to the previous, but you have no stats to tell if any are better or worse than the bonus weapons. You no longer have an inventory. You no longer upgrade stats to improve lock picking and conversation skills. The level up is now very simple. The soldier basically has a choice of improving bullets that are good against synthetics, bullets that are good against organics and a bullet time. There is little to it. Upgrade whatever. Where are all my RPG style inventory, item and statistics systems? The story kept bringing up Mass Effect 1. Importing an old save so your previous choices carried through is a good idea but in some areas it was overdone. At one point I met three people in a row that wanted to talk about the old times. It felt awkward and it didn't help the story at all. The three mini games are rubbish. One is a copy of the memory card game; one was a bit like snap and then the worst of them all, the metal detector sweep over a planets surface for materials. I guessed the number of planets to sweep and thought "what am I doing with my life?" On that note I wasted part of my life sweeping about half of the planets which cost me allot of in game credits and I had massively more materials than needed. The action areas felt too predictable. Look ahead and see an area filled with crates? Yes! Must be another fight then, I had better run behind the closest crate as the bullets start to fly. I was close to scoring it 3 stars.Things got allot better though. I switched off my brain, put the levelling on auto, forgot about the weapons and just accepted whatever upgrades came along. I then chose to play a mainly goody goody paragon who was quick to give anyone a good slap if they took advantage of my good nature. I then relied on my gut to quickly pick my conversation options. The game slowly came to life and became a thoroughly engrossing experience. There are no large empty areas to explore like the citadel in the original. The areas are smaller and sectioned off into manageable quest areas/levels. Your companions generally do a good job of looking after themselves and you. The simplifications and tweaks allowed the story and action to keep at an engrossing pace. The cinematic cut scenes, fast paced action sequences, interesting well animated and voiced companions, varied atmospheric environments, and perfect accompanying musical score make for a brilliant 35-40 hours. I found myself playing till 3 am just because I kept wanting to find out what I'd experience next. I found myself laughing at the odd comment, stopping to listen to a chat between companions another, and being wowed when the music hits a crescendo during a compelling scene. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. I wanted an action RPG and it turned out Mass Effect 2 has only a few more tradition RPG elements than the likes of Tomb Raider, but after the initial disappointment I am very happy with this cinematic shooter. The only minor negative after getting swept up in playing is that I would have liked to have seen more mid bosses. Now I've finished it I think I will play it again.
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2.3.2010

I can understand that it may seem like alot of the features of the first game have been removed (like the inventory, Charcter customisation etc.) but a couple of hours in I found that, in my opinion, none of the changes diminished the game enough to warrant a one star review.I have invested 40 hours in this game, importing my ME1 character, completing every side mission, finding every upgrade, saving the galaxy and visiting every planet in the game so I believe that I have probably got a well formed view on this game.Let's start with the good:+ Excellent Characters+ Plot, whilst not as epic as the first,is still brilliant+ Good Armor Customisation+ Improved Gameplay+ Excellent Graphics+ Import your Shepard+ Music and Sound+ No more trawling through your inventoryThe characters are, as expected from a Bioware game, very well thought out. Each has their own personality, fears and motivations. Some stand out more than others, Mordin Solus, Arhcangel and Jack for me, but even the ones who are less gripping are still brilliant creations.Well there's not much I can say about the plot without giving away twists or repeating what can already be found in other reviews or the ME2 website so I'll just say that it is incredibly gripping.The Armor customisation is alot different from ME1. Instead of finding loads of different full suits of armor you find seperate pieces for your shoulders, legs, chest and head. Each has unique bonuses and all the different parts can be mixed to allow you to make an armor which works with your style of play, or just how you want to look. You can also customise the colour, material and pattern of your armor. These can all be changed by accessing a computer in your quarters on the Normandy, in between missions.The gameplay has been vastly improved over the original. If you want to play it as a third person shooter, you can. If you want to play it as an RPG, you can. If you want to play it as a hybrid of the two, guess what? You can.The number of talents each character has access to has been cut back. Instead of limiting your abilities it has instead made you have to think about what talents you need and picking a well balanced team, able to handle different enemies and situations. Some new talents have also been added, including unique ones for each squad member which must be unlocked.The powers themselves have been refined, meaning that more tactical use is required.This game looks good. It looks brilliant. It has some sections which look absolutely amazing (Black hole and debris field). It looked great on my laptop, which was running it at medium textures.Imprting a Shepard from ME1 is one of the really good features. What happened to your old squad? Where is Wrex now? What's Tali been doing? How has Garrus been? Is Conrad Verner still your biggest fan? And does that reporter want another punch to the face? All these questions and more are answered if you import your ME1 save.The Soundtrack is great, at times stirring, at others mournful, yet always enhancing the tone of the game. Weapons sound like they pack a punch, voice acting is great, especially Martin Sheen.The loss of the inventory is something which is quite divisive. Some hate it, others love it. I love it. In the original Mass Effect I hated having to search through loads of different armor upgrades and ammo upgrades and weapons and armors. It was frustrating when halfway through a mission you discovered that your inventory was full, so you couldn't pick up that Crossfire IX Assault Rifle and instead had to turn it into Omni-gel, before finding out your inventory was full of useless first grade ammunition upgrades which were hidden at the bottom of the menu when you were selling your equipment. So now ammo upgrades are abilities, armor upgrades get researched on the normandy and are permanently applied to your team and the world is a happier place.So, we've reached the bad:- It ends- Mass Effect 3 isn't out yetYes people, as much as I or you may wish otherwise, the story eventually comes to a close.*Until Mass Effect 3 comes out, that is. And judging by this game, it's going to be something spectacular.
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14.6.2011

Humans have reached out beyond the solar system and discovered a vast galactic community of several different alien races all far in advance of ours- they have a ruling body (the Galactic Council) a capital (The space station 'Citadel') and a means of hyperspace travel between star clusters called Mass Relays (think Stargates big enough to fly a spaceship through, floating in space). In the first game you were a human called Shepard working for the council and investigating a threat that turned out to be from beyond our Galaxy- an incredibly old race of sentient machines called the Reapers. They like to play with life on a grand scale and every 50,000 years cleanse the Milky Way of all advanced beings- they're not very nice.Turns out they built all the Mass Relays and the Citadel (which is a giant mass relay itself) in order to invade the milky way quickly and efficiently- they send a herald called Sovereign ahead of the main attack fleet to re-activate the main Relay in the Citadel and 'open the front door'. You stop it.So game 2 starts with the general population of the galaxy thinking the threat is over but human colonies are being attacked by these weird creatures called Collectors who appear to travel in and out of the galaxy through an unusable Relay (unusable because everyone who's followed them back through has never been seen again). So that's where Shepard comes in- Build a team of Mercs, gain their loyalty- travel through the Relay and find out what's going on.The gameplay is one of the most varied I have ever enjoyed- missions mostly involve third-person, over-the-shoulder shooter style running and gunning, but they are heavily interspersed with basic puzzle solving, fallout style conversation choices, flying a hovership, flying a floating car through a vast planet/city (think Corussant), exploration, collectables and much, much more. There are also four hub-world marketplaces for upgrades, purchaces and side missions. The galaxy is completely traversable from the bridge of your starship which you can wander round at will to interact with the crew and speak with your new recruits.The story is rewarding- you have a mission to find and enlist each of nine mercenaries and then a seperate mission to gain the loyalty of each one and some of these are some of the greatest moments in gaming I have ever played- Jacob searching for his father in the wreckage of a crashed ship on the beach of a tropical planet, Jack returning to the rain-soaked facility where she was drugged and tortured, Samara hunting for her violent and psychotic daughter through a seedy nightclub on an asteroid, classic gaming.The graphics are fantastic when they need to be (looking out of windows, on planet surfaces, cut-scenes) and smooth and clean for everything else.In terms of scope, I clocked in my first full playthrough at 47 hours! I did every single side mission and spent a lot of time managing inventories (which I don't think pauses the clock, wierdly), but I honestly didn't get bored and miss not playing it now that it's all over...In summary- Story is fantastic, Graphics are good, Gameplay is satisfying and the variety of it all is the icing on the cake. An amazing game!one extra note- I've never played the first game and didn't have the intro comic (its a DLC) when I started and I followed the story fine so don't worry!
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27.3.2012

Mass Effect 2 launches mid-action, with a breath-catchingly dramatic disaster on the SSV Normandy. It looks terrific - there's a noticeble step up in the quality of the graphics from Xbox to PS3 - and the game almost immediately gives you a perfect sci-fi moment. As Shepard heads to the bridge to rescue the pilot, Joker, you enter an area where the hull has been breached and the Normandy is open to space. Stars shine hard through the vacuum, the sound drops back to Shepard's ragged breathing, and there's no doubt at all that this is about you facing off against the vastness and emptiness of space.Actually, it's not quite true that ME2 starts mid-action: to help out newcomers to the series,there's a DLC section that lets you make some of the choices that would have formed your character in the first Mass Effect. PC and Xbox players had the option to import the Shepard they made and nurtured in the first game (ME is big on customisation and permanence), so the DLC is some compensation for that.But even if you choose to skip it and head straight to the main story, you'll still get to fiddle around with your Shepard's abilities and appearance until you make something you're happy with (or, possibly, something that looks so unsettlingly like yourself that you have to go back and start all over again). Shep can be male or female, a crack soldier or a biotics (that's psychic powers) expert, a war hero or a fractured sole survivor of a previous campaign - it's all up to you, and as you proceed through the story, you'll make more choices that contribute to your "Paragon" or "Renegade" status and influence the way other characters react to you.The DLC also gives you the chance to bone up on the story, so newcomers don't need to spend all their in-game conversations for the first two hours flicking the dialogue options to "investigate" and getting the other characters to give you some exposition. (Short story: all organic life in the universe is under threat from something called the Reapers, and Shepard has been resurrected by human supremacist group Cerberus to lead the world-saving effort. How much faith you put in a group that's official considered a terrorist outfit, and its sinister leader the Illusive Man, is entirely your decision.)Not that you'll ever regret stopping to chat. Mass Effect 2 is populated with some of the most engaging, well-acted space people you could hope to meet, and the script has been carefully designed to make clunking non-sequiturs a vanishingly rare occurrence. As you tour planets and space stations, assembling a crack team of galaxy saviours and meeting all manner of strange and sometimes sexy aliens, you'll also find endless sidequests and subplots to get drawn into. Even if you don't choose to take most of them on, their very existence helps to bolster the idea of the Mass Effect world as a functioning universe.Because that's what makes Mass Effect 2 great. Not the outstanding action, the compelling story, the huge depth of interaction, or any of the other ways in which the game demonstrates its outrageous surfeit of quality. It's because this is a game so coherent, you start to believe that you could actually live in it. Which is a good thing, because you'll almost certainly end up doing so.
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21.2.2010

Firstly, I have never played Mass Effect 1. (However I'm certainly going to get it now!)Simply put, this is the best game I have played in a long, long time (hence the title :P). The story is probably the pick of the bunch - it's really hard to stop playing because that all-important immersion comes into play. All of the stories are really interesting and towards the end you really care about what happens to each member on the team.The gameplay, in my opinion, is very good. There are enough powers, ammos, enemy types and backdrops to keep you interested - despite the mechanics of each fight being similar, you don't get bored. The 3rd person view works really well and is certainly not a reason not to get this.Unlike many other games, there is a good sense of a reason for fighting. All too often in other games it's "here's a gun kill everyone". The action is well split up with updates to the story, but no so much so that you spend all of your time talking. The difficulty settings should be ableto cater for everyone - I played through on "normal" first time through and found it to be a fair balance - for those of you that like a challenge there are several harder difficulties (there is an easier one as well), and "insanity" does what it says on the tin!For those of you that have played Mass Effect 1, don't be put off. (From what I've heard) it's not got the same RPG element, but to be honest I think that works in it's favour. I've played a lot of RPGs and find it tiresome having to loot every chest and corpse along the way and dump it all onto the nearest shop once the initial novelty of the game has worn off. This means you can get on with playing the game. The levels themselves are actually quite linear, but again this is a good thing as it keeps the game moving along at a good pace.So, onto the "bad". Like many others, I think that the scanning minigame is a real pain. Luckily you don't have to scan that many planets to get all the upgrades you need, but it's the one part of the game where you're not immersed in every second. There isn't any controller functionality, and mapping programs don't really work well with this game - using a controller makes the game much harder, although I personally don't think that this is a big deal - there's no doubt that the PC version was designed to use a keyboard and mouse rather than being a console port, and it works well. The side-quests are pretty poor if you exclude all of the recruitment and loyalty quests (which are good). The others are too short and have no sense of purpose, making them dull to play. Once I had finished the game, there wasn't any point in exploring further like you would in other RPGs, although another playthrough with a different character reaps it's own rewards.In short, I guess that this game probably isn't for the hardcore RPG fans - and the game's better off for it. If you can't decide whether to get this or not, I suggest thinking about it like this: don't compare it to Mass Effect 1 - judge it on it's own merits, it's a different game. It's when you expect it to be "more of the same" that people get disappionted and miss out on a really good game.DON'T MISS OUT!
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21.12.2011

I first got drawn to Mass Effect 2 by the mountain of hype coming out about ME3 and I thought a would give it a go. I bought it about a month ago and I must say that it was a steal at the lowly £14.99 figure that amazon has given it. When I played the demo - which came out roughly a year(ish) ago - I wasn't really impressed - but that was because I didn't have any idea what was going on or how to play the game (controls)! The interactive comic does a good job at filling in the blanks from ME1, but even without it you don't need much brains to figure out what was going on/ who was who/ past characters etc.The opening sequence was exciting and firmly grasps your attention and sets up the storyline nicely.When you awake, you have the choice of changing your character model. Unfotunately I felt that you couldn't mold a very good character from the presents given and they all looked slightly odd - so I ended up playing as the original Commander Shepard (the main character). There are also a number of different classes you can choose which influences what powers you have and what weapons you use. This does give some replay value as you can try out different styles of play.The game eases you into the controls within the first hour or so - by then you should have mastered most of them. As this is a third person action game, looking down your sights just makes the screen zoom in. There were only a few TINY issues - sometimes Shepard it slow to turn around in the heat of battle, to switch cover you have to first come out of cover and move to the other location which can lead to you getting killed and finally when you zoom down the sniper scopes it can be confusing at first as it is one of the only times you actually come out of the 3rd person view. But overall the controls are fantastic - I just thought there were a few minor isues. If the controls are poor then that ruins the entire experience, but they actually make the experience brilliant fun, and it's easy to command team mates to unleash their powers on enemies too. The 'word-wheel' is also incredibly easy to use. However if you don't like long periods of talking and investigating maybe this game isn't the perfect match for you...The story line is brilliant. Without any spoilers, Shepard has been revived from death (in the opening sequence) to defend humanity from a threat that is making whole colonies disappear without a trace - its your job to find out what is going on. On the way you will have to travel across the galaxy to recruit members to your team and earn their loyalty (and the perks that come with each of them). After you hav completed a mission you will return to your ship and can wonder around it - talking to, and getting to know your team (with some surprises in store) or customizing your armour with things your have bought from the shops your have visited.It is hard to explain how alive and wonderful the world of ME2 is. I can only recommend the game to you. If you don't get it, you will be missing out on a scorcher of a game - 9.8/10 (check out machinima and ign reviews (on youtube) of ME2 to actually SEE it in action) - ENJOY!
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9.7.2011

Most reviews, quite naturally, are from fans of ME1 and RPG experts. I thought I would add my two-pennyworth, as a player who had never experienced the original and who normally avoided RPG games and 3rd person shooters.I was tempted to buy it after a surprisingly good experience with Avatar. I knew ME2 was going to be good from the moment the first load screens appeared. It had quality written all over it.Fans of FPS are rather limited to Call of Duty and its clones these days. I love them but miss the depth offered by tactical shooters like Hidden & Dangerous and Raven Shield. This is a superb alternative.It plays more like an interactive epic film than a game. I found myself absorbed in the conversations.Gone are the stilted text conversations of old RPGs. These are cinematic affairs and your choices of questions and answers blend seamlessly into the "script". You have an abbreviated choice of what your character will say, which makes it even more interesting and sometimes quite surprising! Funnily enough, I became so wrapped up in the story, the combat became almost secondary!The combat is good, if not revolutionary. It's not on the epic scale of CoD but it's none the less challenging. Choosing your class of warrior makes a big difference to the experience. As a soldier, you rely totally on weapons. However, other classes offer the chance to use "Biotic" powers where you can blast opponents of their feet or lift them in the air and slam them against walls. It sounds daft but it saved my bacon a few times!The voice acting is very good indeed. Some well known actors and actresses are behind the characters. Funnily enough, I thought the weakest actor was the male voice of Shepard (the main character). He sounded a bit monotone. I preferred playing Shepard as a female character. She has a much more animated voice.Of course with 3rd person shooters, you see the characters much more than in FPS. I doubt many of us gamers have the muscular torsos of the male characters or the impossibly trim figures of the females!My message to FPS players is to give this a try. I love it and have put it among my best games of all time. It would have been worth buying at full price. Now it's a budget price it offers fantastic value. Compare the hours of gameplay it offers to the mere 6-8 hours you get on a CoD game.Incidentally, I now have bought the original Mass Effect. It has the same epic film feel but the interface feels a bit clunky in comparison. Knowing where to go is less obvious than in ME2, so I found myself wandering about hoping for the best a few times. As an FPS fan, I would not have been hooked on the series, if I had tried it first. Of course, now I have to play it through, so I can import a character into Mass Effect 2! It's a tough job but somebody has to do it...Edit.I have now played though the original Mass Effect. After the initial boring missions, it suddenly came alive. I was sucked in. It's actually a better story than Mass Effect 2. The end was stunning. I almost forgot that I wanted to create different circumstances for the beginning of ME2!
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26.10.2011

When I first started the game I was a little unsure; the graphics are amazing but having played the first one through several times, I felt it had a lot to live up to. To begin with I was a little underwhelmed. The gameplay seemed almost as if it was a school play with the voice acting and things, but after an hour or so I really started getting into it more, to the point where now, I can't put the controller down.The story sort of picks up where the first left off. An imminent Reaper invasion, human colonies going missing and the galaxy at large (especially the humans) doing their best to ignore it. Once the mandatory linear introduction is completed and you get free range of the galaxy again,the story kicks into overdrive, with plenty of missions to keep you amused for a very long time, as well as character interaction between you and your new team, an AI interface with a great sense of humour, and a few twists and unexpected turns to throw you off. There is also a few familiar faces in it from the first one, giving you a slight sense of nostalgia (and giving me the urge to buy an XBox just so I can play it again).It is let down in a few ways though. As mentioned, the first linear part of the story is a little jilted almost as if it was added at the last minute. One of the features I loved the most of the first one (being able to equip almost any weapon or armour on any character) is gone now too which for me takes a little bit of the variation away from it, though I guess it forces you to adapt tactically to your surroundings. There are plenty of missions revolving around putting your team together and then gaining their loyalty which gave me a feeling tat I was getting to know them almost as people, but the other random "land on a planet and do this" missions were almost non-existent. Gone, too, is the ability to land on almost any planet and have a look around. It makes play somewhat more fluid but causes a loss of some of the "sandbox" feel it previously had.DLC: This particular copy of the game came with access to the "Cerberus Network" (also available separately via the PlayStation Network) which consists of a new team member, several new missions, a new ground vehicle and 2 new weapons. The missions themselves are quite fun, giving you a slightly better insight into the thoughts and reasoning of 3 major species, the Geth, Protheans and the Reapers. The weapons are fun, though by no means are they must-haves, and the team member and vehicle is also a great addition to the game, though again hardly necessary. It is worth noting that there also several other packages you can download which give you other armours, allows you to change team appearance (something very limited in the game) and gives you many new types of weapons.In short this game is really great, something worth the money by a long shot. If you do buy it, make sure you get the Cerberus Network one, as that alone costs the same on PSN as the whole game does here.
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