Manifecto: Mass Effecto 2

Not long ago (less than a fortnight), I received a $25 gift card to Gamestop. I usually hate going to that store since they always try to make me feel like a fool for not getting their discount card and magazine subscription. I don't feel like a fool. I just don't like battling with my urge to help them see the despairity of their own situation, 25 years old, living in their parent's basement, and working for a job that pays them just enough to buy the games they hawk. I also hate being carded for a game rated M. I love that they card, but it's not like I'm buying beer. I look over 18, leave me alone.

Okay, that's off subject.

I decided that I could buy a copy of Mass Effect 2. I can handle that, right? I got out of class early and ran to Gamestop for my fix.

The real review.

I popped the game into the drive and installed it on the hard disk (clearing space by deleting the install of Mass Effect 1). The one thing I dreaded about ME2 more than anything was that it would suffer from the same load times as its predecessor. I immediately attempted to load my only completed game. It didn't work. I loaded up the original and, yup, there it was. Hmm... After switching discs a few times and checking online, you needed a save game that had completed the game. I had one, but it wasn't good enough. The save game I had was from a replay of the game, level 48 in the beginning of the game, just got on the citadel. Turns out you have to beat the game and leave the save as it is. I had to play the original for an hour just to import my character. Worth it!

Mass Effect 2 is great. It's much more polished than the original (which, in my opinion was great, but didn't look great). The load times are still there, but not nearly as bad. There aren't as many elevators and, FINALLY, you don't have to waste fifteen minutes any time you want to board your ship.

Okay, so load times are better, about half what they were. I do have it installed on the HDD, so that probably helps a lot. The loading screens are more interesting, they don't pose any real information, but they are interesting (cross sections of ships, drop ship movement, etc.)

ME2's graphics are more polished than the original, as you would rightly expect. People look more real than they did at first, but that isn't what I noticed. What I noticed was the environments weren't as blocky. The textures weren't all shine and no grit like in the first. I am impressed this time.

I have two graphical qualm. The first is that the text int the game is ridiculously small. I have a 32" 720p television, and I have a hard time reading the text from not even ten feet away on my couch. I have sharp eyes, so this is a genuine problem with the game. If you don't have a hi-def display, this game is plain unplayable. The second qualm isn't as major as the first. Everyone in this game with pupils has googly eyes. Something is wrong with the object tracking because one eye is always on target and the other is looking at something that is on the other side of the on-target eye. It is a miracle that you can hit anything beyond the broad side of a barn, and that would be pushing it.

The game is better at telling stories than the first. Dialogue is spewed and chosen in the same way as the first, however now there is much better cinematography and the writing is a bit better. However, every once in a while the choices in your conversation wheel aren't the same as the results you'd expect, or you just can't make certain decisions if you're not generally nice enough or mean enough. I love the second part of that, but the first part is hard to deal with sometimes (although generally in that situation all three choices have the same result).

In ME2 you don't spend points in charm and intimidation, you just do it. The more nice you are the more niceties you unlock and vice-versa. You can still be both, it isn't one or the other. This comes into play all the time. It's an awesome system. They've also added active time responses similar to Assassin's Creed II, however these are geared toward paragon/renegades paths specifically. You could be talking to a guy who pulls a gun on you and the renegade trigger pops up in the corner, pull the trigger and you break the guy's arm or something like that. You never know when to expect these, either, so look out.

Another aspect of the conversations that I enjoy is that they commit to it. The renegade, hard-assed, bust your ass for getting out of line guy would NEVER help you in a personal mission unless he had to. So the renegade answer to some requests is just, "No" (spoken more suitably to all audiences here than in the game).

ME2's story is entrancing. I'd love to talk about any specific aspect, but even dropping a name would give away too much. Every time you go anywhere there is either a rich conversation or something to investigate. It always keeps you on your toes and at the edge of your seat. Disappointingly, however, the game follows the same basic plot of the first with the same basic method. Gather your crew, fight the guys working for the reapers, go on a one way trip to fight them, all while being condemned for your actions by the people you're trying to save.

You'll be treated to a great deal of shock and awe from future teammates kicking everyone's ass they see, but then transforming into a normal, killable teammate. This is pretty frustrating since some of these guys look like gods of war until they work for you. The only one that (so far) doesn't power down after joining your team is Archangel.

Importing your character is great. You are given the opportunity to change your appearance and/or your class. Importing helps you plunge into the story even deeper by connecting the plot of the first with ME2 in ways you wouldn't expect. The major decisions are included but also many of the minor decisions that you'd never think to remember. So far I've met or heard about everyone who was left alive in the first game in some way. Also, a lot of the side quest people show up. Even the pretender that you scoffed at or encouraged in the first game makes a comeback.

You'll spend a lot of time running around your ship trying to get into the back stories of your teammates, just like in the first. In this way ME2 is very much like ME. Do a mission, check with everyone, repeat.

The combat in ME2 is very similar in feel to ME. However you get a few more hot keys (rather than swapping weapons and healing). Healing takes care of itself via the system introduced (or at least popularized) in gears of war. Here, however, it makes sense. You sit around for a minute, your suit heals you. I can live with that.

The powers in ME2 have been revamped with a few new powers and some of the old powers gone. The new powers are pretty nice, the Vangard getting "Charge", a power that lets you fly through objects at an enemy and send them reeling. All powers have the same cool down period so you can make a great deal more use of them. Unity is now the only thing that uses your medi-gel, and as in ME it is used to bring your teammates back into action. Ammunition types are now powers, but I'll get to that later.

As you probably know, the guns in ME2 now work with clips rather than infinite ammo. This is pretty annoying since not managing ammo was one of the charms of ME. Apparently the universe (in the two years since the first) has universally decided that waiting for guns to cool was too costly and decided to go with a very limited ammo supply. Also, I suppose the universe figures that you'd never stop firing since you started, since breaks in firing for snipers and whatnot are very frequent. The ammo system also causes a huge continuity error, but that's another issue and only if you do Jacob's loyalty mission.

Everything in ME2 is simplified. There are fewer powers and they only get upgraded four times, with the fourth upgrade adding a bit of specialization/customization to the specific power. There is also a 'loyalty' power that every character can attain by finishing their loyalty mission. Shepard can learn these if you want to spend the resources.

Speaking of resources. In ME2 resources matter. You have to find resources by scanning planets (and it's agonizingly slow until you upgrade the scanner) and finding them during missions. Missions, however, account for a very small percent of resource acquisition, so be prepared to scan planets until the cows come home... or something.

I should probably mention that you are no longer prowling around on the surface of each hospitable planet. Can't say I miss it, either.

Also gone are the cookie cutter caves, complexes, and ships. I couldn't be happier about this. I got very bored with boarding the same ship over and over and over with the only thing different being the placement of the boxes. Every mission is tailor made and even though generous cover is placed all over, it no longer feels like they are giving you content for the sake of something to do. Every ship is different, every cave and complex is different, too.

Now when you want to hack an interface or bust into a door you'll have to do a small bit of brain work rather than play Simon Says. Doors open by a game of memory where you match up sets of circuit connections. Hacking interfaces has you matching blocks of programming code in sets. It no longer matters how much skill you have in tech or engineering, but it's done in real time. Do you really want to open that safe when you're getting shot up? Really?

You get plans for upgrading and building weapons and spend one of your four types of resources building the upgrades. Upgrades pertain to your ship, weapons, armor, and abilities.

I should touch on the weapons and inventory. You don't have an inventory now. There are only about a dozen weapons in ME2. Grenades are replaced by "heavy weapons" such as a grenade launcher, missile launcher, and giant laser. Also new for ME2 is an SMG category that is open to all small arms classes.

When you find a weapon it is accessible by anyone who can use that type of weapon. When you upgrade it, everyone gets the upgrade. As far as armor upgrades go it works the same way. I haven't run into any new armors for any of the crew in my playing the game, just different costumes. So, inventory has been simplified by not being there.

Ammunition types are no longer assigned and swapped during your missions. Now each teammate devotes one or two of their powers to ammo types. There are four types of ammo now, disruption, flame, cryo, and high impact. Disruption goes through shields, flame burns away armor, cryo freezes unprotected targets and high impact knocks over enemies. I don't know how I feel about losing a power for an ammunition that has to be upgraded but they do work well.

Money in ME2 isn't as abundant since you can't actually sell anything, so you really have to keep an eye on it. You need to buy fuel and probes to get between systems and gather resources, as well as upgrades and other extras (hint: You get a fish tank in your quarters).

All in all ME2 is a wholly entrancing game that will consume a part of your soul, and you'll be pretty happy about it. The game is solid in every way if you can ignore googly-eyed people, continuity problems, and a few 'upgrades' to the weapons systems that make absolutely no sense.