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Game News Mass Effect 2: Comprehensive Review Extravaganza

VentilatorOfDoom

VentilatorOfDoom

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Tags: BioWare; Mass Effect 2

Here are four more reasons to trust in gaming journalisms.
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<a href="http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/106/1063149p1.html">IGN AU rates it 9.3/10.</a>
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<p style="margin-left:50px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-top-color:#ffffff;padding:5px;border-right-color:#bbbbbb;border-left-color:#ffffff;border-bottom-color:#bbbbbb;">Two games in, BioWare's Mass Effect 2 has just cemented the series as the RPG series to beat this generation. As the middle tale in a sci-fi epic, nods to 'The Empire Strikes Back' are inevitable – and in a very real way, the middle instalment in the Mass Effect series is equally dark and more involved; characters appear richer, the settings comfortably familiar yet foreign and fresh, and the gameplay now evolving, shifting and streamlining.</p>
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<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2010/jan/25/mass-effect-2-game-review">The Guardian gives it a perfect 5/5.</a>
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<p style="margin-left:50px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-top-color:#ffffff;padding:5px;border-right-color:#bbbbbb;border-left-color:#ffffff;border-bottom-color:#bbbbbb;">Continuing where the original left off, Mass Effect 2 sees you guiding your Commander through a twisting plot and some great set pieces. This is very much an RPG though, with plenty of stats and text. But action is key, with combat crucial to the game. The combat has been made more transparent and more reliant on skill than stats.</p>
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Relies more on (player) skill than stats? Can be filed under streamlining I presume.
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<a href="http://www.games2c.com/pc/reviews/review_item.asp?t=Mass+Effect+2+Review&gpid=3793&rid=1296&sec=pc">Games2c gives it a perfect 10/10!!</a>
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<p style="margin-left:50px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-top-color:#ffffff;padding:5px;border-right-color:#bbbbbb;border-left-color:#ffffff;border-bottom-color:#bbbbbb;">For many, the ultimate game is about freedom of choice and Mass Effect 2 goes a long way to fulfilling that aim. The first authentic 10/10 game of 2010 and a very early hot favourite for game of the year. A work of art and a breed apart, Mass Effect is in full effect.</p>
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A Brave New Gamer skates on thin ice <a href="http://www.bravenewgamer.com/2010/01/mass-effect-2-review-more-like-mass-effect-squared/">rating it only 9.0/10</a>.
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<p style="margin-left:50px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-top-color:#ffffff;padding:5px;border-right-color:#bbbbbb;border-left-color:#ffffff;border-bottom-color:#bbbbbb;">Mass Effect 2 is an RPG that’s pushing the boundaries of different genres, including within it a huge story, a vast number of characters, fast-paced and intense combat, and a ship to travel the galaxy with. Fans of the previous title shouldn’t be confused, this is not like its predecessor. BioWare’s touted the sequel to the award winning Mass Effect to be much darker, and as the game repeats far too often, a suicide mission.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/96567-mass-effect-2-reviews.html">banshee</A>
 
Chinese Jetpilot

Chinese Jetpilot

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The middle instalment in the Mass Effect series is equally dark and more involved; characters appear richer...
Click to expand...
This game reminds me so much of Blade Runner. Maybe these guys should try turning off the "Contrast" option under graphical settings?

BioWare’s touted the sequel to the award winning Mass Effect to be much darker
Click to expand...
Ok, this time try bumping up your TV's brightness.

and as the game repeats far too often, a suicide mission.
Click to expand...
This is not a suicide mission, they are martyrdom operations!

rc3ehi.jpg
 

Overweight Manatee

Scholar
Joined
Sep 4, 2009
Messages
3,520
The game is obviously shit if it can't get at least one 11/10 review. All the past good games have gotten them.
 
Dyspaire

Dyspaire

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It's hard to recall what the world was like before Mass Effect 2.

I do remember that colors were less bright, and that food was never quite as flavorful as it is now. The winds seemed to chill more, and fires warmed the bones less. Chocolate tasted like carob, and kitten fur was less absorbent.

We live in a golden time.
 
Chinese Jetpilot

Chinese Jetpilot

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Messages
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Dyspaire said:
It's hard to recall what the world was like after Mass Effect 2.

I do remember that colors were less bright, and that food was never quite as flavorful as it is now. The winds seemed to chill more, and fires warmed the bones less.

We live in a darker time.
Click to expand...

Fixed.

I'm off to watch Blade Runner.
 

Volourn

Pretty Princess
Pretty Princess Glory to Ukraine
Joined
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Messages
24,986
Until someone dies after playing ME2 out of peaceful contentment alas Avatar, ME2 is insta failure.

THAT'S the REAL new shit!
 
Genma:TheDestroyer

Genma:TheDestroyer

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http://kotaku.com/5456089/mass-effect-2 ... the-breach

The biggest shift between Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 is the combat system. If you were to ignore the special skills and powers altogether, Mass Effect 2 is a third-person cover reliant shooter in the same vein as Gears of War.


Some might call it dumbed-down, but I like to think of the changes to Mass Effect 2's inventory and skill management system as more of a streamlining. I'm a sucker for micro-management of skills and inventory in more traditional role-playing games, but with Mass Effect 2's newfound focus on visceral combat, these elements would have been terribly out of place. Now, instead of worrying about armor and equipment for an entire squadron of companions, Shepard need only worry about the armor and items (s)he's wearing, and instead of comparing stats on the pile of weapons cluttering up your inventory, you have a set arsenal, upgradeable and expandable through research, but much easier to manage than your standard RPG fare. You never have to worry about the armor your teammates are wearing, only the guns they are carrying, and the selection is so slim that it shouldn't take you more than a few moments to get your ground crew ready for action.
 
Genma:TheDestroyer

Genma:TheDestroyer

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http://fidgit.com/archives/2010/01/ten_ ... _wrong.php

9) It's mostly a shooter

The core gameplay in Mass Effect 2 is a cover-based shooter, built around a narrow set of resistance/attack types. There are also exploding barrels. Oh, and ammo is called "thermal clips" for some reason. Bioware occasionally tries to vary the action by adding gimmicks, generally involving a timer bar or limitations on where you can stand. It's decent enough, I suppose. There's nothing inherently wrong with a cover-based shooter. But when you make the core gameplay so simple, it has a ripple effect through the rest of the game world. Everything in Mass Effect 2 has to be related to an anemic shooter.

5) Minigames

I've done the classes in Bully, the conversations in Oblivion, the guitar solos in Brutal Legend, the dancing in Sid Meier's Pirates, the Pipe Dream hacks in BioShock, and every minigame in every single Ratchet & Clank game. I have never seen minigames as sorely out of place as the three minigames in Mass Effect 2. The two types of hacking are bad enough, but then you get to the planetary scanning. Ye gods, what tedium! I hoped I would be delivered when I finally bought tech to speed up the cursor speed for scanning. No such luck. Slightly sped up tedium is still tedium.


4) Loot

Tedious minigames are the key to the economy in Mass Effect 2. You need to scan planets to earn minerals. You need the minerals to buy the weapons and tech upgrades you've found or purchased with good old fashioned space bucks. But all this loot chasing is funneled into nothing more than a list of minor global bonuses. There are also bits of armor that I kept forgetting to retire to my quarters to equip. So much for that +10% to an intimidation value that I never got to see anyway. The loot chase is an important part of an RPG. In Mass Effect 2, it is an afterthought locked behind tedium.
 
Genma:TheDestroyer

Genma:TheDestroyer

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"Flawless Victory"?

Oh Destructoid...even hilariously out-of-date gaming catch-phrases can't disguise the truth. 10/10 games do not have to be perfect, this is true...but still you should have a higher standard.
 

entertainer

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so skyway was right, this is the golden age of gaming it seems...

oh wait
 
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