Hoo boy. Well, if you've been looking at this blog much, you probably already know where things are going for these FINAL JUDGEMENTS. So, let's not dally. On to THE BAD.Advertising Not really a part of the game proper, but what I feel to be the worst thing about the game was any enjoyment the advertising up to it's release denied me. Obviously, aspects of the game are, inevitably, going to have to be shown off to get people excited about it's release, but these days it's getting ridiculous how much gets spoiled in the name of that. Personally, I tried quite hard to avoid news about ME2 in an attempt to have my first playthrough be untainted. Even in doing that, advertising spoiled a couple of reveals for me. For Mass Effect 3, I'd really like to see more care paid to holding back story reveals. I feel like the brand has built up enough cred that it doesn't need to pander to news sites.
Scanning... Improved though it may have been, ME2's resource collection mechanics were still more of a tedious grind than I'd have liked it to have been. Unfortunately, I'm something of an obsessive when it comes to something like this in a game, and I quickly became uncomfortable with how much time I was spending scanning planets for just a little more, rather than enjoying the game "properly". What I did not know, unfortunately, was that there are WAY more resources available to be scanned than you'll ever need in the game. I probably could have cut a few hours off of my overall game time if I'd only known I didn't need so damned much Palladium!
Redundancies On the subject of resources, they're what you'll need to research the various upgrades in the game that you collect by either buying licences for them, or finding them during combat scenarios. One thing I wasn't fond of was that, in a couple of instances, I purchased licences late in the game with the in-game money (which is far rarer than the overkill of resources) only to find out that I'd already found and researched that upgrade somewhere else in the game. I felt a sort of bamboozled in this regard, and would have rather seen the game prompt me when purchasing something I'd already researched, rather than have me waste money in ignorance.
THE CONUNDRUM!!! As I'd posted last week, it felt at times that I was able to get too much out of the game without sacrifice. I think my experience would have been a smidgen better if I had, occasionally been forced to either compromise my morals, or sacrifice something beneficial.
Simplification ME2 goes a long way toward simplifying things like armor, planetary exploration, hub worlds, inventory, and level-up min-maxing. Occasionally, though, I miss that complication... Just a little bit.
Honestly, though, these are small potatoes. By and large, I feel like I was forcing THE BAD a little bit, in order to feel more legitimate when I gush, unabashedly during THE GOOD.
Story and Characters Mass Effect 2 takes everything from the original and makes it that much better. It could have been the rough treatment of some of your original teammates, but I found myself being embarrassed for caring about characters like Kaidan Alenko or Ashley Williams. Hell, the characters you actually get to use from the first game are 10 times more interesting than they were in the first game.
Tunnel Vision Mass Effect 2's more guided path through a series of short burst missions was a breath of fresh air from Dragon Age's never ending dungeons. One of ME2's greatest feats is that sense that you can pick it up and do at least one mission, even if you don't have much time to game.
Suicidal Tendencies The final mission is epic, and that's coming from the perspective of someone who's only seen it done one way. As I'm to understand it, the Suicide Mission can play out several ways based upon how you've played the game overall. I've heard it poo-pooed in other venues, but I personally found the "What a tweest!", to be surprising and casting interesting concepts into the already rich ME2 lore.
Simplification Okay, I know I spoke earlier about how I missed some of the complication, right? Well, not nearly as much as I enjoyed not worrying all the time about whether yon armor is 3 points better than another, or if I needed to get rid of other armors in my inventory just to hold it till I got back to the Citadel to see if the armor I was saving for was better than it. Or, if putting points into personality, so I could get better options when trying to bang the hot alien chick, was a waste of time when I could put the points into a useful combat attribute instead. Or, how I could spend a couple of hours probing planets for ore, rather than driving the sci-fi equivalent of Heavy Rain's control scheme that was THE MAKO. Or, any number of other things. Point is, I got to enjoy the action, and the drama. Not so much with the worrying about the ones and twos behind the scenes.
Normandy II Much more of a living, breathing "camp", than other games I've played. The addition of Yeoman Kelly, who will tell you if you have new messages or if any of your crew members have pressing business they need to talk to you about.
All My Rowdy Friends I was really happy when I ran into so many minor characters from the first game, and ACTUALLY REMEMBERED MOST OF THEM. It was interesting to see how their lives had mov... Aw, what the hell, CONRAD FREAKIN' WERNER AND THA MOTHAF(whut, whut?!) WREX?! Do I really need to explain how good it is to see my old homies? Do I?!
Really, I could go on, but do I need to? Mass Effect 2 will is a really good game. Really good. So good that I feel sorry for the rest of 2K10's lineup having to be constantly ranked against it. The most telling thing I think that I can say about the game is that, after 56hrs of gameplay, I was sad that there wasn't any more to play. In many arenas, it would sound like hyperbole, but when I look back, I honestly think that ME2 is going to rank up there with my favorite games of all time. I cannot wait to see how they top themselves in the final chapter.
FINAL JUDGEMENT: OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!!
Up next: Gonna make the big push on No More Heroes. Will I take it all the way? Stay tuned!
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