Mass Effect was one of the best western Role Playing Games on the Xbox 360 when it came out in (year it came out). Then Bioware released the PC version and fixed a number of issues. Mass Effect 2 is a revamped experience. Everything that was wrong with Mass Effect has been tweaked and Bioware has created an adventure in the inner most depths of space, and it all starts with a bang.
Mass Effect 2 is the third-person action role playing game that Bioware was trying to achieve with Mass Effect. Bioware has tweaked the controls to fit that of a standard third-person shooter. They are more responsive and quick. Taking cover, switching from a pistol to grenade launcher, killing a group of enemies, and vaulting to more cover is almost seamless and natural. You will be finally taking a more commander-like role as Shepard as you command your party to certain positions for them to take the enemies out. Action has become more bloody and brutal as you lead your squad into bigger battles and more diverse enemies. The Drell, Batarians, and Collectors are just a few of the new races that will join the roster of species in the Mass Effect universe and pile of enemies Shepard will be facing.
The team Shepard scrounges up in Mass Effect 2 has not only gotten smarter, but has more depth. They are ruthless, immensely powerful, and you will need to gain their trust throughout the game in order to finish your mission. Shepard will also run into a few old friends and learn the fate of old ones.
Mass Effect 2 is the third-person action role playing game that Bioware was trying to achieve with Mass Effect. Bioware has tweaked the controls to fit that of a standard third-person shooter. They are more responsive and quick. Taking cover, switching from a pistol to grenade launcher, killing a group of enemies, and vaulting to more cover is almost seamless and natural. You will be finally taking a more commander-like role as Shepard as you command your party to certain positions for them to take the enemies out. Action has become more bloody and brutal as you lead your squad into bigger battles and more diverse enemies. The Drell, Batarians, and Collectors are just a few of the new races that will join the roster of species in the Mass Effect universe and pile of enemies Shepard will be facing.
The way players explore the galaxy has been changed as well. Instead of just selecting a world and hoping there is something there to land on, players will ride their ship across the universe, exploring and harvesting resources in order to upgrade the Normandy and Weapons. Gaining these resources involves scanning a planet and sending out probes to find points of interest for you, no more landing and exploring on the Mako.
The inventory system has been totally wiped clean. You don’t pick up different variations of the same weapons. Instead, there is a small amount of weapons available in the game, but they will be upgradable with a number of different kinds of tweaks and fixes to make them more deadly than the last.
The conversations have not changed, but advanced. They kept the speech wheel that made Mass Effect such a success and added an interruption feature that allows the conversations to end a little more quickly and add depth to an event.
Mass Effect 2 is a great sequel because it not only tells a story players can dive into, but because it realizes and fixes all the issues the last installment. The combat is a great improvement on what it had been, the characters are just as great or even greater than the past ones and there is enough innovation, but still more room to grow in the third title in the growing franchise.
