Mass Effect 2‘s biggest problem is its plot. I’ve been through that a million times and it gives me no pleasure (except perhaps in the reinforcement of my own belief that I’ll be Doing It RightTM when it’s my turn).
So let’s harp on about combat and mechanics again.
After 30-odd hours of Mass Effect 2, I finally completed it. The suicide mission itself feels so small and emaciated next to… well, then entire rest of the game.
Anyway, quite a while before the ending, I ventured into the other two DLC packs, Lair of the Shadow Broker and Arrival…
After completing Mass Effect at the end of last week, I decided to buy all the bonus mission downloadable content packs for Mass Effect 2 before continuing my Shepard’s journey.
First up: Kasumi: Stolen Memory and Overlord.
a.ka. (Mostly) How Mass Effect 2 Should Have Been
It’s blatantly obvious from the outset that this game was heavily influenced by Mass Effect 2. The conversational style, the camerawork… But it is so much stronger in almost every way.
Especially after the terrible flop of The Club, Alpha Protocol veritably glowed. Mouselook worked and I could aim.
Spoilers are avoided — suffice to say, it’s a conspriacy thriller. A very fine one.
Mass Effect 2 is a conflicted soul; the game made so many advances in so many ways, and yet took astounding backward leaps in others. More like it took a jump to the left instead. It went diagonally, in the best case.
With the release of patch 1.02 (finally I can play offline and have all my DLC active — thanks lads, I thought that was a horrible DRM trick rather than a bug), I am finally returning to this game to try out bonus free DLC such as the Firewalker pack. No, I am not buying Kasumi (five minutes long, from all I’ve heard) nor Overlord (which just sounds a bit floppy — come back Pinnacle Station, all is forgiven).
Just how well does the game stand up to a second play? (And is the lateness of this second play indicative of the game’s ultimate mediocrity?)
Spoilers may ensue. Continue reading “Blog 402: The Greatest Miner in the Galaxy”
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