Mass Effect 2 – Another Look

Hype: A Must Play Game

By now, many of you have either played or at least seen the promotions for Mass Effect 2. If not, rest assure, you can believe all the hype. Mass Effect 2 is a brilliant game, a landmark title that has raised the bar in terms of story, character development, and user interaction. It has also demonstrated how one can blend various game genres such as RPG, shooter, action, and adventure into a well balanced and uniformed product. In short, Mass Effect 2 deserves all the critical praise it has received. And to their credit, BioWare has also addressed pretty much every issue that was raised about its first Mass Effect game. But having taking another look at Mass Effect 2, I would like to offer the following gripes about this must play game:

Gripe: Predictable and Repetitive Gameplay

Let me be clear before I receive a ton of flaming comments. By predictable and repetitive gameplay, I mean just that – not story, not characters, not artwork or environment – no what I find predictable and repetitive is the gameplay. And by gameplay I am specifically referring to the shooting aspect of the game. In other words, when you see lots of cover and crates – you know you’re getting ready to shoot it out with the enemy. Of course, who or what you are going to shoot, and how many is far less predictable. But for me, the level of suspense was somewhat lost or lowered during missions because I knew I was going to have to: hide behind cover, shoot some enemies, move to the next area or room, shoot another wave of enemies, and repeat until the mission was completed. Of course, there is exploring and character interaction tossed in the mix of things, but this gameplay formula just got too predictable and repetitive for me.

Gripe: Poor Squad A.I.

Like so many other games featuring unplayable characters by your side in your quest to save the world – Mass Effect 2 is no stranger to dumb squadmates. Regardless of the two characters you choose to accompany you on missions, your A.I. squad will frequently: walk in front of you while you’re shooting; stay out in the open while continually being shot at until they need reviving; and stand on objects instead of taken cover. This is not to say that your squad is totally useless. On the contrary, despite their lame actions at times, they will fire on the enemy and make a huge difference in the outcome of the battle, especially if you use their powers correctly. The one exception to this that I experienced was when I went after the Reaper IFF. For some reason, my squad members had a hard time getting to me or staying with me on the narrow platforms during firefights – causing me to pretty much battle it alone most of the time, since they were either down or too far away to help. With that said, I am sure it didn’t help that I was running around like a madman trying to reload or recharge my shields with the overwhelming onslaught of enemies.

Gripe: Third-Person Action

Mass Effect 2 is essentially a third-person shooter in addition to being a RPG. But the character animations and controls feel a little stiff for my taste – almost robotic-like when playing.  This is okay while walking around the Normandy, but not ideal in heat of battle. And it also doesn’t help that the camera seems way too close to the character. Though the camera and controls of Mass Effect 2 are similar to Gears of War (something developers may have been aiming for minus the blind cover fire) it’s definitely not as technically sound as GOW during firefights. Players will at times struggle to either stick to cover or accidently leap over it. Don’t get me wrong – the third-person combat in Mass Effect 2 is a lot fun. It just gets frustrating sometimes to control your character and take in your immediate surroundings – making it easy for enemies to sneak up on you because again, the camera is too close to your character. Personally, when it comes to third-person action, I think Uncharted 2 has it right in terms of life-like animations, controls and camera placement. I know RPG purists are probably thinking that I should shut up and just be happy that the game has this much control over shooting, but oh well.

Gripe: Long Loadtimes

While I understand that Mass Effect 2 is, well massive, I was really annoyed by all the waiting around I did while playing this game. Perhaps I am just too impatient, but the long loadtimes affected my overall level of engagement. From waiting on the elevator to arrive on certain decks of the Normandy (except the captain’s cabin which loaded pretty quickly), to entering certain areas of the game, to reloading from a saved or auto-save point, and to waiting on missions to start – Mass Effect 2’s loadtimes can be incredible long. Actually, I can understand why there would be long loadtimes for the start of new missions, but not with resuming the game. I am sure from a technical standpoint – the loadtimes could have been affected by the limitations of the hardware itself. However, I think BioWare could have done more to speedup the loadtimes at least when a player is resuming the game just after being killed. I also personally think BioWare could have done more with the boring load screens featuring sci-fi graphics and sound effects. While I appreciate the hints at the bottom of the load screens, perhaps they could have taken that time to better educate the player by featuring information from the Mass Effect codex, character bios and powers, or some other pertinent help.

Gripe: Getting Around

The original Mass Effect had a drivable vehicle called the Mako that players either loved or hated. This ATV like vehicle was used on planet surfaces to find resources, which is now replaced with scanning a planet from the comfort of the Normandy. While the Mako’s driving physics had issues, the act of driving around seemed pretty boring. However, its replacement – the scanner – it not only boring but tedious as well, even with an upgrade. Add to this the galaxy map where players control a miniature Normandy like it was some corny arcade game. While I realize this was probably the easiest system to give players a way to navigate from location to location, I only wish BioWare had given the players a chance to truly pilot a vehicle during the game. Who knows, maybe it’s from my Star Wars: X-Wing or Wing Commander days, but I really missed being able to fly and battle it out in space. Yeah, yeah, I know – it’s an RPG and I am sure BioWare had to choose between Quality versus Quantity in terms of the features that made it into the final game, but I can still dream. Heck, they could have at least let us pilot the vehicles when travelling to different areas within the same mission. But having said that, unless it added another level of gameplay or interaction – this too would become boring. I guess the only way to have controllable vehicles in the game is to either offer random vehicle levels (like Modern Warfare 1 and 2) or offer true vehicle combat and control. Yet offering players controllable vehicles to get around in, may not only prove technically complicated, but also prove to be counter-conducive to the story, or the overall game itself.

So that’s my hype and my many gripes with Mass Effect 2 after taking another look at the game. There’s nothing here major enough to ruin the game. But sometimes when you get this close to perfection, it then becomes obvious as to what’s wrong or what’s potentially missing. Here’s hoping BioWare is listening and will address some of these gripes in their third Mass Effect game. In the end though, I am absolutely confident given their track record and dedication to this franchise, that Mass Effect 3 will be another must play game.

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