Two years later, Commander Shepard rejected Reapers invasion bent on the destruction of organic life, a mysterious new enemy has emerged. On the fringes of known space, something is quietly removing any human settlements. Shepard is now working with Cerberus, the ruthless organization dedicated to the survival of man at any price to end the most terrible threat that humanity has ever faced. Also tried this dangerous mission, Shepard should assemble a task force of the galaxy and command the most powerful ship ever built. Yet they say that would be suicide. Commander Shepard will prove them wrong. Collector's Edition includes: • The full version of Mass Effect 2 • 48-page Hardcover book art • Refund Mass Effect Limited Edition Exclusive Collector Comic # 1 • Game of the Arms and Armor bonus • edition DVD with behind the scenes • the creation of videos and Cerberus Edition network adapter that allows access to additional content.
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Mass Effect 2 is the sequel to BioWare's hit space-based role-playing game (RPG), Mass Effect. A single player adventure, Mass Effect 2 allows players to continue the adventures of the fully customizable series hero, Commander Shepard, as you take on a whole new adventure and cast of supporting characters. Features new to this latest release in the franchise include the ability to import game save files from the original Mass Effect game to continue the adventure in an unbroken fashion, a new damage system, a more flexible dialogue game mechanic and more. Extending players play experience even further, the Mass Effect 2 Collector's Edition contain additional digital and physical content including art and comic books, in-game items and more. See the full list of included content below.
Two years after Commander Shepard repelled invading Reapers bent on the destruction of organic life, a mysterious new danger 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, doubters say it would be suicide. Commander Shepard intends to prove them wrong. Gameplay An space-based action RPG like its predecessor, gameplay in Mass Effect 2 revolves around the player's particular version of Commander Shepard and continuing development of this character as the game proceeds. As the game opens a variety of character classes are made available to the player, with talents, both exclusive and general, associated with each. With experience these talents are leveled up, resulting in the unlocking of related abilities and/or entirely new talents. The player has the ability to customize their Commander Shepard in a number of ways including physical appearance, gender, and certain aspects of their personal history, with the rub being that these choices can influence things like available missions, dialogue choices with non-player characters (NPCs), and character background. Accompanying this main character are a number of preset supporting characters that the player can direct and develop relationships with, which again, will alter the outcome of the story. All the characters from the original game make an appearance in Mass Effect 2, but the immediate characters surrounding Commander Shepard are new. Additional new features that players can expect to experience include new alien races; a more realistic damage system; a new heavy weapons system allowing for maximum damage; a regenerative health system; a dramatic increase in the number of character animations available to Shepard; and updates to the dialogue mechanic used when conversing with NPCs. Integration with the Original Mass Effect Mass Effect 2 allows players of the original Mass Effect game to import save games to continue the story of their own Commander Shepard. In doing this, the decisions that were made in the first game will affect the events of the second game. In addition, characters from the first game will return, as long as they were not killed off by the player in the first game. On the other hand, new players coming to the series for the first time in Mass Effect 2 will start a brand-new character, discover the events of the previous games as they progress and embark on a thrilling stand-alone adventure that does not require the previous game for play. Key Features
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Customer Reviews
Not a fan of the changes, but still an incredible game.
Having played WAY too much of it when it came out yesterday, opinions are solidified. I want to say up front that it's still a great game, and worth every penny... because if I don't say it now, I may lead someone to believe otherwise, as I don't actually like ANY of the changes to the game--I just don't dislike them so heavily that anything is spoiled. It's also worth noting that virtually no critic seems to agree with me at all here, so your mileage may very well differ, especially toward the end of the critical portion of this post.
Combat saw the largest overhaul by far. Bioware wanted to enhance the shooter element of Mass Effect, saying that they wanted it to be on par with things like Modern Warfare, and attract some of those users. It's not on par with the Call of Duty series as a shooter, and trying to make it feel more like that was, in my opinion, detrimental.
Mass Effect 1 weaponry had unlimited ammo, and lore to back that up (despite the obvious logical disconnect with equipping ammo types on your weapon). That's been retconned in favor of standard ammunition dropped by enemies. Accordingly, attacks aren't limited by weapon overheat, but ammo and reloading. Gone is an element that was both unique to Mass Effect, and which made the game's weapons seem high tech and futuristic, while still feeling familiar as firearms, instead of high tech magic wands. It's also plenty inconvenient if you want to rely on sniping--there are more opportunities for it in ME2 than ME1, which is wonderful, but the sniper rifle (at least initially) has a maximum ammo capacity of ten. Ten? Really? I don't know the caliber of real world sniper rifles, but I could fit more than ten .45 cartridges in one pocket of my jeans.
Classes are now much more strictly defined. Abilities available to one class may very well not appear in another, even if they're the same "type" (tech, biotics, combat). The infiltrator, which I played in ME1, for example, is a tech/combat hybrid, specializing in sniping. All tech powers were also available to others with tech abilities, if they met the pre-requisites. This is no longer the case. I've got a tech/biotic party member who has a skill called overload. It's simply not available to me anymore, despite having had it in Mass Effect 1. While classes are more unique this way, the flavor of the skill sets is lost, or at least damaged. "Tech" isn't "tech," it's "tech that this character actually has." Even ammunition types are class specific. Infiltrators, for example, get cryo and disruptor ammo types. So... what, because I'm an infiltrator, incendiary rounds are too hot for my fingers or something? Am I afraid I'll prick my finger on a pointy AP round?
If I felt like my options replaced what was lost, that might annoy me less, but I don't. It's true that some of what was lost can be accomplished otherwise (for example, my missing overload ability is now partially covered by disruptor ammo), but I feel like my toolbox is smaller. During Mass Effect 1, in a pitched fight, I might overload one enemy, hit another with sabotage, use shield boost to get my armor's shields back online, and then medigel to quickly recover from hurt I took while they were down. Now... I could use incinerate. Medigel is not available for mid combat healing. You take cover, and you wait for your health to regen back up, the same as . I have no access to replacements for my offensive powers from ME1, and as far as I've seen, shield boost doesn't exist at all. If I play it more like a standard shooter, it's because 60% of my options to do otherwise are gone, and another 30% are diminished somehow.
The RPG element of equipment is largely gone. There are weapons in game to find and build, and you can outfit your party with those, but gone are the options for modifying them on the fly to fit your purposes. You can select your own armor, and paint it pretty colors (yay blue), but you can't adjust your party's armor at all. This is a bigger deal than it sounds, as it reduces your ability to tweak the game to your playstyle. In ME1, I'd give everyone the most shield-heavy armor I could find, ignoring damage reduction, and take pains not to let damage get through their shields in the first place. I'd equip them with medical systems, so if damage did get through, their health would regenerate without using up my medigel. Now, their armor is what it is. Their health regenerates if they take cover appropriately (which they don't, necessarily), but if someone is hurt, I have NO option to take care of them--I have to hope they'll get out of trouble and regen before they die. Medigel is now used to limit use of the Unity ability--a mid-combat resurrect for incapacitated members--and nothing else. I can't equip around situations to improve odds of survival, and it annoys me greatly.
Character development is also "streamlined" (read: dumbed down) to an aggravating extent. I'm not talking about a character's motivations, history, and so forth; the game's story elements are all still stellar. I mean the RPG aspect again. If you're familiar with Mass Effect 1's skill allotment screen, most characters had a healthy array of skills, and putting points into a skill unlocked several different abilities (or improvements to an ability) as you went. Now, you put points into skills directly. You get bigger numbers, and nothing else until the last level of a skill, where you "evolve" it into one of two variants. I had numerous occasions in Mass Effect 1 where I had to think seriously about where to spend my points. That's an indication that things were done right. This is missing from Mass Effect 2, and it's tragic to me.
Also gone are the low detail, "run around in the Mako on this planet and do stuff" missions. They were unpopular, so I understand why they were axed. The elevator rides in lieu of loading screens are in the same boat. Everyone complained about how long elevator rides were, but squad members would talk during many of them, or you'd hear news over the intercom. That kind of fluff was, to me, far preferable to a generic loading screen with a gameplay tip on it, and that's what we've got now. Squad members could also be talked to at any point in ME1. Face them, hit A, and they'd have a comment about the area. Gone. Sometimes an object or scenery can be activated to get a comment from them, but not always. It's something I miss. Certainly no deal breaker, but I mourn my fluff.
They replaced a lot of the removed stuff with more involved mini-games for hacking and electronics (but since there are no related skills, it's all on you now), mini-games for mining, the need to buy fuel for the ship (not every system has a mass relay, and faster than light travel from system to system without requires fuel), probes for that mining thing (and to do anything with "anomalies" detected on worlds), and so forth. While the resources gained from mining are used to upgrade the ship, characters themselves, weapons, and so on, and actually add play value, the process of mining itself is a waste of time. Hold down LT and wave a crosshair all over a planet until a sort of mass spectrometer wannabe goes off, then fire a probe. There's no thought or challenge or fun involved--you just wave your finger around. It's like putting a huge sheet of paper in front of a blind person, and saying "Rub this; eventually you'll find some braille." Screw that, put the braille in front of me, and let the enjoyable part (in this case, the upgrading) happen.
So far, I've found a lone positive change, but I don't like its implementation. The old paragon/renegade dialogue options are still there, but in addition, there are paragon/renegade interrupts. At points during certain conversations, a paragon or renegade icon will show in the bottom left or right corner of your screen for about one second. If you pull LT or RT (on the 360, not sure what the PC equivalent is), you'll do the paragon or renegade interrupt, accordingly. These range from shutting off a display that was terrifying someone to grabbing an electrical tool and killing an enemy in cold blood before he can make your life difficult. I applaud the addition, but the way it's handled leaves me missing them by a hair (since most conversations have no such options, you're lulled into not watching for them), cursing, and reloading a save out of a desire to know what would've happened. Having to replay like that isn't fun. I'd like a warning of some kind. It's an interruption in the heat of the moment, and I get that, but it could be timing based without being out of the blue. Warn somehow at the beginning of a dialogue, so I don't know WHEN it is, but I'm watching.
So... with all this, how can I still call it great? The most important part of a Bioware RPG for me is the dialogue, and that's intact and fantastic. Even characters I didn't even want to recruit are so well written I talk to them. I ask every question, I explore everything. The core gameplay is less fun, but it's not NO fun, and while I miss what's lost, I revel in what's still there. If you liked ME1, and the above details don't sound like dealbreakers, or you didn't play ME1 and want a great science fiction game that's more plot than pew pew, ME2 is most definitely worth your money and then some.
Simply put, this is a great game
The best way to describe Mass Effect 2 is as a refinement. Bioware took what worked with the original, enhanced it, and either streamlined or removed what didn't fit. The end result is a game which smartly improves on the original - both technically and in terms of plot - and turns what were weaknesses in the first game into strengths.
Graphically, this game is a tour de force. It retains the overall vibe of the first game and enhances it with better lighting and more varied locales. The sunset vistas of Illium are just as thrilling as the Blade Runner inspired Omega Station. The character models range from nearly lifelike (see: Miranda, who was modeled by real life actress Yvonne Strahovski) to intelligently subtle (Mordin, whose face and expressions showcase his age) to interesting (Thane, whose species, the Drell, are a new addition to the franchise).
The audio is much improved. The voice acting is even better than the original. Old favorites shine, and the new additions more than hold their own. Mark Meer, the voice of male Shepard, in particular, has improved. The weapons all sound different, and have a much more forceful sound than the generic dull thump they all shared in the original Mass Effect. The music is solid, even if most of it seems to hide just beyond notice.
The biggest changes are in the gameplay. Mass Effect 2 plays a lot more like a 3rd person shooter than the original game did. There's a reloading mechanism and limited ammo. While the in-game explanation for the move is tacked on, it makes battles a bit more tense as you will run out of ammo if you don't manage your resources correctly. Cover also matters more in the sequel. It's far easier for enemies to chew through your armor and health, so it pays to fight smart and use cover to your advantage. Above all else, combat finally has a semi-frantic, visceral feel to it. Geth are dangerous here. The weapons all pack a different kind, yet immensely satisfying, punch. Squad powers and abilities are almost all useful and fun to use. Combat is no longer a chore to slog through. Instead, its rewarding in its own right.
The maligned inventory of the original game is gone. The changes one can make to their Shepard and squad are much more granular here. It's an okay system, but I feel it goes a bit too far. A happy medium can exist between the clutter of the first game and the minimalistic approach this one took. YMMV, of course.
The uncharted world system of the first game has been completely revamped. There are far fewer planets with sidequests, but those that exist are far more rewarding and involved than the repetitious nature of the missions of the original. Even better, there are no Mako segments anywhere to be seen.
I'd speak about the plot, but it's hard to mention anything without spoiling it. I will just say that many things mentioned in the first game are explored in much more detail here. While not everything is answered, there's a lot of meat here for those that enjoyed the setting in the original to sink their teeth into. The galaxy feels even larger here, despite the narrow focus of the plot.
All in all, Mass Effect 2 improves on just about everything the first game had to offer. It's more than just a worthy sequel - it's an incredible game in its own right, and one of the best ever created for the genre. Despite its early in the year release, it should be considered a Game of the Year candidate. Maybe 'refinement' isn't the best word to describe Mass Effect 2. No, 'satisfying' is far more accurate. In just about all aspects, Mass Effect 2 satisfies. You can't ask for much more than that.
Beautiful
The Mass Effect series has an outstanding story, fueled by one helluva writer: Drew Karpyshyn. If you're new to the Mass Effect universe, I must strongly recommend that you go and buy Mass Effect 1, Mass Effect: Revelation, and Mass Effect: Ascension. Once you've got them all in your possession, play through Mass Effect. It's not mandatory that you do many of the side quests, if at all, ANY of them, since the vast majority of them have no real bearing on the story in Mass Effect 2 (that I've noticed). Once you've finished Mass Effect, read the books; Revelation first, then Ascension. Then, and only then, can you go on and play Mass Effect 2, milking it of the full experience.
That being said, Mass Effect 2 isn't gonna interest you at all if you're buying it for the combat system. It just isn't. I've heard so many people complaining about the various things that've gimped Mass Effect 2 over the original, and to them, they're valid complaints. To me, however, removing some of the more in-depth features like weapon and armor upgrades just made it that much easier to focus on the story at hand. And in the end, that's what Mass Effect is.
A beautiful, well-told story that evolves and changes depending on choices--even the "small ones"--that you make throughout your playthrough.
Before going on to anything else, I want to make it perfectly clear that those decisions you made earlier on in Mass Effect (small or otherwise) do show up to great you in one form or another here in the second episode. What's more, even though it'd been a year or so since I last actually picked up Mass Effect, I remembered these characters and situations. For example...
* * * SPOILER ALERT * * *
* Depending on whether or not you kill Fist in the first game, he'll show up to berate you in the Bar on Omega. My first playthrough (and consequently, my first playthrough in Mass Effect 2), I let him live. He didn't see it as such a kind gesture, and I immediately started wondering why I actually let him go. Prolly due to the fact that the only reason he was killed in my second playthrough was due to having Wrex in my group.
* On Virmire, once you've handled Benezia, you can kill or set free the Rachni Queen. In all my playthroughs of Mass Effect, I could never bring myself to kill her. She didn't seem like the threat that Wrex made her out to be, and... 's just not in me. So I set her free, and ever since then, I'd been looking forward to seeing how they fit into Mass Effect 2. Sadly, the only time the Rachni even surface in Mass Effect 2 is on Ilium, in the form of a memory embedded in a random Asari. You were told that when your encounter with the Collectors came to a close, the Rachni's song would be... I dunno, something or other. Needless to say, I didn't see any evidence of further Rachni interaction through the rest of the game. Left me feeling a bit... empty.
* By default (for me at least), a new character made from scratch with no imported save (which I was forced to do, as I had no saves compatible for import) will have the following choices applied: you focused your attacks on Sovereign at the cost of the Council being eliminated, you sacrificed Kaidan Alenko to save Ashley Williams, and Udina was chosen to be the human representative to the Citadel. Interestingly enough, these were the exact OPPOSITES of what I'd chosen on every playthrough I ever made. I was always pro-alien, anti-Ashley, and anti-Udina. So to have the game go and make the exact opposite choices was... amusing, at best.
* * * SPOILER ALERT * * *
There are various other changes that BioWare's made to the game, for better or for worse. They've removed random planet scouting with the Mako (and OH MY GOD I'M GLAD THEY DITCHED THE MAKO), replacing that with a mini-game of sorts, in the way of planet-scanning for minerals. Scanning for these minerals is the sole way to upgrade your ship, as well as personnel upgrades, so it's necessary (later becoming a necessary EVIL, once it's lost its novelty).
The introduction of Renegade/Paragon maneuvers during certain cutscenes have introduced yet another level of dynamic storytelling into the mix. Though you're usually given a good few seconds to intervene, if you're not quick enough, you could end up having to live with some painful consequences.
Interestingly enough, a coworker made a remark to me that actually makes a lot of sense: "Mass Effect 2 teaches me more about ethics than [this book] ever will."
And that's true.
Whereas the original Mass Effect was peppered with various decisions that you had to make, difficult or otherwise, Mass Effect 2 is designed in such a way that those decisions are significantly more difficult to make. In general, I had made my selection on the dialog wheel well before the subtitles appeared on screen, making for a more fluid dialog exchange. By the end of ME2, I was taking longer and longer to make the decisions that affected my team, because they were becoming... well, IMPORTANT to me. Familial, perhaps.
That being said, the superficial stuff also matches the story.
Graphics are 5/5. Texture popping isn't nearly as prevalent (if at all visible) as it was in the first.
Audio is 5/5. Love the score for this game as much as I did for the original. Gonna buy the soundtrack eventually; only been putting it off because I was convincing myself that they were gonna release an actual hard copy on disc eventually.
Gameplay is 5/5. There was one instance where I managed to get myself stuck in the ceiling on the Citadel somehow, but I was unable to recreate it, so that's not really an issue. As has been said, the long elevator rides have been replaced with loading screens. In a humorous nod to that, very early on in the story, you're specifically told to, and I quote, "Take an elevator down one level." And sure enough, the one-level trip takes the time you'd think it would. Armor types have been eliminated: any class can wear all armor. Specific slotted upgrades have been eliminated. Traditional health readouts have been eliminated. Again: MAKO HAS BEEN ELIMINATED (huzzah!). I'm sure there are other changes that've been made that I'm forgetting, but... these are the major ones, I think.
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