The Digest: Mass Effect 2 is nothing short of a masterpiece.  The days of Square Enix ruling this market are long gone as BioWare continues to set the standard for future RPG’s.  Improving upon all facets, while fixing many of the problems that plagued the first, the second chapter is leaps and bounds ahead.  Using a combat heavy focus with a plethora of new weapons and powers, I can safely move this into one of my all time favorite games.

THE FACT SHEET

RELEASE DATE: January 26th, 2010
PUBLISHER: Electronic Arts
DEVELOPER: BioWare
ESRB RATING: “M” for Mature
GENRE: Role Playing Game

PRODUCT OVERVIEW:
Two years after Commander Shepard repelled invading Reapers bent on the destruction of organic life, a mysterious new enemy has emerged. On the fringes of known space, something is silently abducting entire human colonies. Now Shepard must work with Cerberus, a ruthless organization devoted to human survival at any cost, to stop the most terrifying threat mankind has ever faced.

To even attempt this perilous mission, Shepard must assemble the galaxy’s most elite team and command the most powerful ship ever built. Even then, they say it would be suicide. Commander Shepard intends to prove them wrong.

PRODUCT FEATURES:

• Prepare for a suicide mission to save humanity
• Choose between 19 different weapons
• Devastating heavy weapons (that) can end a battle in seconds
• Recruit a team of the galaxy’s most dangerous operatives
• Explore the galaxy — scan planets to uncover unique secret missions
• Train and equip your team to survive insurmountable odds
• Control your conversation with physical moments of intense action

Finish the first Mass Effect.  For those who may not have played it, I stress this because many of the decisions you made greatly effect the way the story plays out in the sequel.  You’ll also run into characters from the first as you make your way around the galaxy.  Player saves imported from ME 1 with a high level will gain a monetary boost and/or additional research resources.  Plus, part of your Renegade/Paragon alignment will carry over. 

Taking on the role of Commander Shepard once again, your are tasked with assembling a fierce and loyal crew of fighters to undertake a suicide mission centering on the mysterious disappearance of humans across the galaxy.  The enigmatic human abductions takes a backseat for a large part of the game, while most of your time is spent on recruiting your squad.  There are still some pointless little side quests for you to complete, but these are usually relegated to quick simple investigations or deliveries.  Overall there is more than enough action throughout and various non-story related assignments for you to undertake.  While I was quite eager to discover the source of these veiled kidnappings, all the main and side quests were so engrossing, I set aside my curiosity to further explore and immerse myself into the Mass Effect universe.

BioWare goes the extra step in giving everything a highly polished cinematic finish.  Everything from the animation, pacing, camera work and the Hollywood cast used for the voice work helps to further realize this rich story and ensemble.  Even seemingly minor NPC’s are given detailed tendencies and personalities that make each of them very unique and memorable in their own right.  The Illusive Man, while limited in exposure (hence the name, a pretty corny one at that), has a major impact as the man behind the curtain pulling the strings.  His shadowy organization, Cerberus, and your rumored alliance to them will be a dividing force in the way others receive you.  As you trek around the galaxy, you’ll run into acquaintances and former allies that have undergone drastic changes since your last encounter.  Not all will give you  a warm reception, a product of your ties to Cerberus.

Concentrating on squad combat, BioWare revamped the battle system, bringing in a number of welcome new changes and additions.  Properly utilizing the cover system is paramount during firefights.  With smarter and more powerful AI enemies that come in larger waves, more often than not, you should take a patient and calculated approach to every fight.  However, if this is not your style, then the Vanguard class is made for you (the class I chose for my first play through and one that I highly recommend you try).  Heat sinks are a great improvement to the weapons system, which allows you to eject cartridges (similar to clips), instead of having to wait for cool down periods.  The hand off here is that it limits the ammo reserves of your stronger weapons, forcing you to be more conscientious of your use of weaponry.  Still, with heat sinks being universal in design, there are usually plenty enough ammo for you to fill back up on.  Heavy Weapons, while far more limited in ammo reserves, can be  game changers in the heat of battle.  Taking the place of grenades, they allow for greater accuracy and range, while also doling out some serious damage.  These come in handy when you’re facing off against “heavies” (i.e. Mechs, Gunships, etc.).

Both Biotic and Tech abilities have also seen a major overhaul with an expanded list.  While not always the case, you have control over your abilities curving around objects in its way to hit your targets.  Like an extension of your own abilities, you need to learn to use squad powers in conjunction with  your own skill set for a more tactical and efficient approach to taking down enemies.  For instance, using pull to bring someone out of cover and then hitting them with warp to detonate it or picking him apart with your guns.  Being able to map your own and squad abilities to buttons also allows for a more organic flow to battle as you won’t have to constantly pause the game to bring up the power wheel.

Leveling up, while similar in essence, takes on a different structure.  Instead of using individual points to level up abilities incrementally, they’re broken into brackets: one squad point for level 1, two for the second and so on until you reach level 4 of that particular ability.  When you max out one of your abilities, they can evolve into one of two different forms.  For instance, the shockwave power can evolve for long range or a wide burst.  Your choices on evolution will largely cater to your combat style.  Each of your squad mates will also have a unique, individual ability that can be attained after you gain their loyalty.  At some point, you will have the option of researching an upgrade that will add one of your squad mates exclusive powers to your own list of abilities.

With the Mako finally done away with, exploration takes on a more practical approach.  You now travel to various planets scanning them and sending probes to mine the resources for you.  Using a combination of feedback on the controller and a seismograph like chart, it indicates the strength of whichever particular resource is available.  For doing this exploration, you are rewarded in the form of upgrades from each element, with the classes being broken down into weapon, armor, prototype and ship enhancements (I recommend upgrading the scanner first, it makes scans noticeably faster).  These upgrades effect the entire squad as opposed to just individual members, so choose the upgrades to fit the squad members you typically like to bring along with you on missions.  Occasionally, there will be an anomaly detected on a planets surface, but those pointless long winded drives are taken out as you are instantly dropped off at your target.  Fuel is also spent as you travel to different systems giving you a more realistic feel to space travel.  Buying probes and fuel are pretty cheap, so it’s never really much of a concern.

Like most everything else, the hacking and bypass mechanics have been rebuilt.  They each take on the form of a simple matching system.  Hacking requires you to navigate through a grid of code segments to match a string of them together.  For bypassing, you are given a circuit board in which you must match pairs of symbols.  While both are simple enough to accomplish, I found the circuit board bypass to be easier and more enjoyable than the hacking.

Inventory, both in number and management, has been streamlined on a far greater scale.  Every weapon class is limited to no more than 5 guns for each type.  This plays into the upgrade system and lets you focus on leveling up each weapon type instead of cycling through dozens of guns.  Every time you receive or research a new gun, any squadmate capable of wielding that particular weapon type will have it available on missions.  Just for your reference, about halfway through the game you will be given the option to research a free weapon class type.  This will come in handy if you’re not a soldier and want the ever reliable assault rifle as a part of your arsenal.

While the graphics from the first were amazing, even by today’s standards, the framerate and texture pop in held it back.  Not only do the visuals look even better, those pesky load issues have been fixed, allowing for a smoother experience.  Speaking of load issues, taking the place of those seemingly endless elevator rides, is a more practical load screen that shows where you’re traveling from and to.  Yes, load screens are annoying, but they’re also shorter in length this time and let’s face it, any game on this scale is going to have them.

The Cerberus Network is an in game system for downloading extra content.  It is also BioWare’s way of saying please buy this game new, as used copies will have to pay extra for a separate key.  The DLC support for the first Mass Effect was very poor, but BioWare promises to give this area extra attention.  EA implemented the DLC content very poorly, leading to a number of complaints on launch day.  While I did not have any problems, this was a widely reported issue that is hopefully resolved quickly.

Conclusion:  The second chapter in this epic tale is a memorable one that will garner plenty of attention come awards time.  While there are a number of high profile releases that are set to come out this year, I can’t imagine any of them coming even remotely close to topping Mass Effect 2.  I’m not sure I’ve ever had one all time favorite game, until now.  Truly a crowning achievement.

Single Player: 10/10 | Multi-Player: N/A