Mass Effect 2

No, I am not dead. You can't get rid of me that easily. It was brought to my attention two days ago that I did not own Mass Effect 2, which I promptly decided to go forth and purchase. Right from the beginning I was floored. Bioware took the familiarity with characters and other plot devices from the first game, and threw it right back in the player's face. The main story line is easily one of the best that I have ever seen in any video game period. This was one of the few games that actually had me standing up out of my seat at certain key plot points, proclaiming "That is awesome!". Not only does it have it's thrilling moments (of which there are plenty of), but the character of Shepard is even fleshed out to a further extent. Now, before you say "How in hell do you flesh out a character whose nature entirely depends on the player's choices?", I shall say that it entirely depends on how much the character speaks. In the first Mass Effect game, Shepard's dialogue was always triggered by the alignment interface that came up in the middle of the screen whenever the conversational ball was thrown back in his or her side of the court, which in turn didn't come up quite as often as it could have, and gave the illusion that Shepard was the stoic type. In Mass Effect 2, Shepard is much more talkative. Not only does the ability to choose the sort of response that Shepard makes appear more often, but he or she speaks automatically every now and then, usually comprising of something based on a choice made at an earlier time, or something that is rather morally unremarkable. There is another element to the story that I find to be extremely remarkable about this game, the tangibility of the romance between Shepard and whichever other of the main characters that draws attention. This is one of the few games that I can name where the romance between the characters has actually made clear why these two are drawn to each other. It felt real. Well, at least the one with Tali Zorah did, I have yet to play through the other combinations.

Now, as for matters of gameplay, I am aware that there was a lot of controversy at first about the changes being made to the combat system, but I believe that they were made for the best. The addition of limited "ammunition" and thermal clips for the weapons made for an experience in combat that felt more visceral and gritty. The fact that you can affect your enemy's performance by shooting him in the limbs now was also a welcome tweak. What I did not like though, was how there was only three of each weapon type in the game. The fact that I wasn't constantly buying and selling equipment worried me. That however did not last. The lack of equipment variety is made up for by the fact that you through various means can be constantly improving your gear through acquirable upgrades and passive skills. One thing that I particularly enjoyed, and thought that was a much needed improvement was the hacking minigame, which now is much more fun to use, more challenging, and does not require the wasting of skill points in a separate skill. That however pales in comparison to the fact that there is no more damned rover! I could not be happier. Honestly though, I'm not certain if I just have not encountered the rover sequence, or if they actually got rid of it, but the practical lack of it is a good thing regardless of how you look at it. Well, I thank you for your time, your patience, and the six thousand dollars I have stolen from your bank account while you read this review. Next I shall be making a dissertation on Bioware's other recent hit RPG.