kingofnovember.com

I've had some whiskey, and I've been thinkin'.

Mass Effect 2

Wherein I review a game about a space opera.

The other day I finished my second playthrough of Mass Effect 2, an “action rpg” in space. It’s a Bioware game, made by their “sci-fi” team, so it smells a lot like Knights of the Old Republic. Call it KotOR’s “spiritual successor.”

Overall, I loved the fuck out of this game. I played it through once, went out of town for a weekend, and started a second play-through upon my return. That is not to say it isn’t without flaws – no, no. But those flaws were far outweighed by the sheer fun of it.

The Good:

The Story and Backstory
The “universe” is well-built and interesting. The history of the universe is revealed to you in the actual dialog and story; you never actually have to read the pages of “codex entries.” I love that, not having to read.
Galaxy Exploration
The system of flying around between areas and planetary systems is well done. It is intuitive and fast.
Lots of Dudes
The squad members you recruit are many and varied. They all have rich back-stories to explore fun dialog to listen to. The voice acting is above-average and they all feel realized. (The number of dudes is also a negative; see below.)
Microgames
I love the way hacking is done. There are really only two basic hacking minigames, but they’re fast, “realistic,” and don’t get in the way.
The Climax
You’ll get it when you see it. It’s a “Fuck YEAH” moment.

The Bad:

Planet Mining
In theory, this might be a fun little mini-game. In practice, it’s hellish tedium. I’m not sure how to make this better except by making it entirely automatic. Also, am I the only person who found it odd that I can just fly up to a planet with a couple billion people on it and then strip-mine them from orbit? “Yeah, I’m sure you guys need that Palladium, too, but I’ve got a medical bay to build.”
Romancing the Stones
There are a series of “romance” sub-plots you can trigger. Basically, you pick a member of the crew and then say the flirty stuff end eventually you get “rewarded” with an awkward, stilted, censored sex scene. I skipped this stuff the first time through because it was agonizing to do; I did it the second time just for the achievement and cringed the entire time.
Lots of Dudes
This may sound strange, but there are too many characters you can recruit. There are eleven squad members (plus a slot for what looks like another coming via DLC). While this may seem like a good thing, it means that 90% of the game’s missions are either a) recruiting someone or b) ensuring their loyalty. They’re all fun missions, but since I kept switching up people, I never got to really care about any one or two characters specifically.
Excessive Combat in Places
You know, sometimes I just want to explore a creepy space ship and not be swarmed by wave upon wave of zombie thugs. There are a few side missions that are “puzzle” based but they are difficult to find. All storyline missions are gun-and-run.

The Excellent:

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