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Computer Times
Editors' Choice Game Mass Effect 2 Reviewed by Angie Kibiloski
I love it when every aspect of a game comes together to impress me, when it is equally exciting to watch the story unfold as it is to man the controls and play. Mass Effect 2 (Retail $49.95 for PC, $59.95 for Xbox 360), from EA Games and BioWare is one such game. I got so caught up in the storyline and the thoroughly complex characters that I didn’t want to stop playing, even as the wee hours of the morning drew near, and any game that tempts me to lose sleep is well worth the money in my book. As the title would suggest, this game is a continuation of the previous release, but you do not need to have played the last, or even know anything about it to enjoy this one. You get enough back story through conversation in the first 10 minutes that you won’t feel lost at all.
You play as Commander Shepard, killed when your spaceship was destroyed 2 years ago, and brought back to life through the Lazarus project. The project was created for you and funded by a human survivalist group called Cerberus, which some alien species would prefer to call a terrorist group. They need you to help defeat the Reapers, the species you were fighting when you were killed. who are currently abducting humans for unknown purposes. After taking control of your new spaceship, the Normandy 2, you must assemble a top-notch team of fighters to carry out the mission Cerberus has assigned you: to eliminate the Reaper threat. Not everyone will be eager to help you, some for the simple reason that you are working with Cerberus, but you’ll also find other very willing allies, even a few from your life before your death. You will explore many rich and varied worlds, meeting the strangest species, collecting awesome weapons, and navigating the intricacies of interpersonal relationships in your new life. Your decisions matter and can influence the way characters interact with you as well as the outcome of the game. You can steam ahead on your main objective, keeping your eye on the Reapers only, and getting right to the point in conversations, or you can accept smaller missions from characters, building a more in-depth and meandering pathway through the plot, delving deeper into discussions for the maximum amount of information. I like to get all I can out of a game, and hate to think I missed out on something, so I tend to ask every question presented to me and take every little errand that someone asks of me, but if this isn’t your style, then you are allowed to ignore the little things and focus on the ultimate point. Or you can do a little bit of both; it’s nice to have options.
When you first start playing, you get to design your character. You will still be Commander Shepard, and if you like, there is a default avatar who matches the character on the box. But, you can also customize your own Commander Shepard, changing gender, race, facial features, etc. You even get to choose your own first name. And, thank goodness, you also have multiple levels of difficulty to choose from, so you can be allowed to either follow the plot with minor risk, be thwarted at every corner by very skilled killers, or some combination of the 2. Later on, once you discover the areas in which to change, you can customize your armor and civilian clothing. Like in most action RPGs, you also customize your talents, by using points earned when you level up. Similarly, the members of your recruited team can be upgraded as well, as they earn experience points. Your team members’ skills can come in very handy during battles, so don’t neglect their upgrades.
Battle works pretty much like in any 3rd person shooter, targeting an enemy in your crosshairs and gunning them down, but there is also a pause/command feature. You can bring up a menu during a gun fight that will pause the action and allow you to give orders to your teammates, using their special abilities against specific enemies, or employing a talent of your own, like healing an injured ally. This is a really helpful feature, as sometimes the fighting can get a little intense, and you need a second to regroup and issue commands. You have an arsenal of different weapons at your disposal, provided you have ammo to fire for each, and some are better suited against one or another type of species or armor/barrier. Make sure to read their descriptions to determine which you should use for various scenarios. Reading can occupy much of your time at various times during the game, not just for making weapon choices. You will uncover information about all manner of things, from technology and alien species, to planets and government agencies. All this info will be accumulated in your Codex, which can be accessed through the menu screen. If you care to go in-depth into the world you are fighting in, the Codex is there for you to browse through and gain all sorts of insight.
Mass Effect 2 is a really fun game to play, with a great system of fighting and lots of environments to explore. But it is equally as much fun to just watch, to hang on each conversation and see the plot slowly develop, revealing hidden agendas, surprise alliances, and interesting twists. I like to blast away enemies with super cool weapons as much as the next gamer, but when I can get really involved in the storyline and lost in the world I’ve stepped into, a game becomes doubly rewarding. Play this game for a half an hour and you’ll be telling all your friends to go get it too. PC System Requirements:
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