On board with Shepherd, I shall not want

Ok so I’m back to reviewing after a bit of a hiatus. Changing jobs, beginning a degree course, Christmas, all that good stuff got in the way. I now have a bit of a commute into work so I am taking that opportunity to tippy tap up reviews on a lil netbook (until the iPad comes out, this is my excuse to get one)

You may have noticed a couple of changes to the blog, one of which being I now have banner ads. Sure it’s annoying but if you click them I get paid, so then I can buy more games to review. So if ya like what you read, click on... Also there are now going to be links to buy the reviewed game on Amazon, so If you were thinking about getting it I encourage you strongly to buy it through that system as, once again, I get paid.. Kaching! Shameless.

Anyhows, as my first review of my new improved super sparkly blog (with ads, click em!) I decided to check out Mass Effect 2.

I was a big fan of the first game, but I put that down to the fact that I am a total space RPG nerd. The plot seemed to have holes it than a lump of Alterac Swiss, the combat controls were… twitchy, but it was still a fantastic game. I am sad to say that I couldn’t bring myself to complete a second play through of the game, but I put that more down to my miniscule attention span than the games quality.

So here comes mass effect 2. After racking up a few hours in the game now I have come to a conclusion that it is akin to, I imagine, buying a Ferrari. You buy it, get it home, look at it and think “Ooooh, it’s really good looking”. Then you jump in and take it for a spin and you think “this is an amazing ride”. After a few hours play time, a day of work, a commute you’re back in the driving seat. This time you take it out and “oh my god it IS as good as it was yesterday”. It keeps looking prettier and getting better.




Something I notice with this game is similar to what I noticed with Assassins Creed II (possible review some time). They really seem to have taken the “If it ain’t broke” approach. The core play style is much the same, the conversation options are a similar style, the combats less twitchy but the same idea and so on. But they have put in things that make your life a little bit more comfortable. You now have an assistant on the Normandy (Penny arcade did a hilarious strip referencing her this week). She tells you when you have new messages, gives you some extra lore about the crew members, lets you know when they want to talk (i.e. start special missions) and flirts outrageously. The perfect PA.

What I DON’T like (c’mon, you saw it coming) is the new planetary scanning system. In the first game you turned up at a planet, scanned that bad boy, and got a bunch of resources. In the new game you get a scanner reticule and wave it around the planet, looking out for spikes on the meter showing what minerals are around. When you find a spike you launch a probe and get the discovered minerals. While it is very good and you can get a huge haul out of a single planet, it takes a lot of time.

I do like the way the upgrades work now, needing to be discovered and researched. And we can now easily change the color and style of our armor, meaning no more lurid green and pink combo’s (unless that’s your bag).

One last thing that really makes the game for me is the useless crap, I love useless crap in games, I horde it but I am never sure why. I always bought the house in FF7, I spent billions of credits in star wars galaxies pimping my house out with rare xwing toys or rebel flags. And in Mass Effect 2? There’s loads of it, even fish for your cabin fish tank. And to make life even sweeter for the random crap collector in me, I bought a space hamster! Oh yes! It’s like any normal hamster, but in space! (Sadly in doing so I also ended up about 2k short of the armor upgrade I needed but, YEAH, space hamster!)

So more of the same, but with more good and less bad. If you liked the first game you will love this. If you’re thinking of buying it, there’s links below…. (I feel dirty)

Click the ads! (AGH! Farewell Dignity…)

“Coming soon to Wii, Maths Defect! The educational game based on the popular Bioware RPG. Only on the Wii…. Please like us!”