If all games were as good as the first Mass Effect, it’s likely that nobody would ever leave the house. It’s no surprise that the game spawned a sequel (shortly after its release, it was announced as the first game in a trilogy) and it’s even less of a surprise that Mass Effect 2 has left gamers giddy with excitement.
Picking up shortly after the first game, Mass Effect 2 is unique for a sequel in that it allows players to pick up shortly after the first game by importing significant amounts of their saved data, firmly rooting the game in the same epic sci-fi universe as players experienced the first time around. After the defeat of the invading geth and the reaper Sovereign, players once again take control of Commander Shepard when a mysterious attack on the Normandy results in the destruction of the ship and apparent death of Shepard. Two years later, Shepard is rescued by the mysterious Miranda Lawson and her employer, the Illusive Man, and informed of disappearing human colonies that have gone unreported by the Human Alliance. Tasked with solving the mystery of the disappearing humans, and with suspicions that the robotic reapers may be behind the attacks, Shepard sets about forming an elite squad to investigate, reporting to nobody but themselves.
Importing your save file from Mass Effect has multiple effects on the sequel: appearances, class and gender can be altered or kept the same, and limited amounts of experience points can be carried over to give a more experienced Shepard a slight advantage. The key changes, however, are to the universe of Mass Effect 2, where characters have died or survived based on player’s actions in the first game, and even characters that you haven’t met before will react to Shepard based on his or her actions.
While Mass Effect solidified Shepard’s command over his crew, the sequel assembles a team of agents born of necessity, including criminals, mercenaries and unscrupulous scientists and with the characters having such diverse ideologies, Shepard’s actions are no longer as simple as Paragon (good) versus Renegade (bad) but also whether companions will remain loyal to the mission or not.
The mechanics of Mass Effect 2 have remained mostly similar to its predecessor, although there have been some changes in the execution: Shepard’s command of the newly-rebuilt Normandy is tied to the galaxy map, allowing the ship to travel between solar systems and galaxies, but fuel is at a premium and must be topped up regularly, and scanning planets for resources (and missions) has been made more complex. There is a greater emphasis now on resources rather than items and inventory, with upgrades being researched or bought rather than found in the world at large. Similarly, the game now operates using thermal packs to prevent weapons from overheating, effecting giving the game an ammo system that proves somewhat frustrating but actually makes combat much more intense.
Shepard’s abilities (and those of the rest of the team) have been significantly streamlined: there are now less active “powers” to be used during gameplay, with each character only having access to two or three, and less passive abilities. It makes the game somewhat easier to play than Mass Effect, but leaves elements lacking to those who had gotten used to the complexities of that game.
Nevertheless, what Mass Effect 2 filters out in content, it replaces by increasing the stakes, along with the number of impressive set-pieces and cut-scenes that Shepard can take part in. Spread over two discs, the game provides a richer, deeper populated universe that may even be an improvement over the first game. It’s helped in no small part by the wealth of vocal talent (and motion capture) involved here, with Martin Sheen and Carrie-Anne Moss providing voices and Yvonne Strahovski (of TV’s Chuck) providing the voice and image for Miranda.
It isn’t necessary to play Mass Effect before playing the sequel, and at this stage, it’s unlikely that many people haven’t played the first game, but you can rest assured that anyone who picks up Mass Effect 2 will regret not playing the first game once they’ve experienced life in the shoes of Commander Shepard. It’s unusual enough for the middle part of a trilogy to be this good, so it leaves us with ridiculously (and perhaps unattainably) high hopes of the inevitable Mass Effect 3.
Zombie Rating: A+
Mass Effect 2 is out now for XBox 360 and PC.
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