Mass Effect 2 (2010) by BioWare

Mass Effect 2 reunites old friends and introduces new enemies

I have a hard time speaking in a balanced manner about Mass Effect 2 because it's one of my single favorite video games of all-time. There are so many good things to gush over, but the bad pieces are really, truly bad and do a lot to ruin the experience of actually playing the game. The most concise way I can describe it is 'flawed masterpiece'. It's a game propped up by fantastic art and sound design and far better overall writing than the much maligned Mass Effect 3, but at the same time, the gameplay is nowhere near as tight and the overall design is way rougher -- To the point where I'd criticize the combat as being unfinished.

To start, the graphics and the engine run pretty smoothly on the PC. It runs easily enough -- I see around 110-120 FPS on my 120hz 1440p monitor, but the textures are often muddy and low-res, a curse of the title being designed with far outdated consoles in mind... Even back in 2010. I had a similar experience with the first Mass Effect, though that game is even rougher-looking than this one is. The textures here are, on average, higher res. It helps that the lighting is far better designed than the first game (goodbye, ham-fisted lens flare!). There are a great many visual bugs, though. Far more than the console version. Glitches with the eyes, characters model inexplicably spinning, etc. But it's saved mostly by the beautiful art design. The use of colored lighting really adds a great touch, and the environments are unbelievably vibrant. There's a lot to 'feel' here just by looking at skyboxes. It's indicative of good art design and adequate design on the technical side to support it. The art team is the MVP here.

The sound! Where to start? Jack Wall is absolutely fantastic, almost up to the level he was in the first game. He's at his best when he's laying down eerie music for the tense missions (see right), but he does a great job with handling the huge change in tone from the first game. Mass Effect 1 was carried by a super-techno, futuristic style soundtrack, whereas this one has touches of futurism but mostly just feels brooding and dirty. It fits the art direction of the game perfectly, and even a minimalist track like the droning that plays during the loading screen really does a fantastic job to impart and augment the overall 'feel' of this game, which is a big part of what I find so enticing about Mass Effect 2.

The writing is probably the games single strongest aspect. I don't mean to exaggerate, or to gush too much here, but there are some of the most well-written characters in any video game I've ever played. It's clear that Walters, Karpyshyn, and the rest of the writing staff were going for a Dirty Dozen, Wild West type feel with the characters and settings here, and they've succeeded in spades. There are a lot of characters that might even fit into a cliche, but the dialogue is so well-written and the voice acting is so superb that the game manages to skip that pothole and cruise along. Thane Krios, the spiritual, regretful assassin, is a stand-out among a cast of solid personalities. His discussions with Shepard and his dealings with his son Kolyat are excellent. Garrus is far more fleshed out here than he was in the first game (in which I found his character to be disappointingly underdeveloped), and the writing here creates a bridge to his being so likable in the third game. Legion, a character who arrives unfortunately late in the game, is another stellar twist and an amazingly well-written and impresses in unexpected ways. It's hard to go into detail without spoiling anything, but suffice it to say that his obsessive 'complex' is wholly unexpected and goes on to completely destroy any expectation I had when I initially learned of the characters presence in the game.

There are some pitfalls here, unfortunately, mostly in the form of Jacob Taylor. He always came off as completely unlikable to me, though that's more a personal feeling and not a general criticism. I think he's a poor character simply because there's not really much there to dig into. He's got some father issues to deal with that feel crammed in mid-game and seem to hover around the outside of his character rather than fleshing out his core, like so many of the other characters side missions are intended to do.

Now that I've gushed over the good things, let's talk about some of the bad.

The game plays as if its half finished, particularly during combat. There's a nice idea and an adequate core design here, but it seems like it could have used far longer in the QA process than it actually had. The core mechanics of taking down the enemies shields/barriers, armor, and then health are really excellent. Each is weak to a different type of weapon, ammo, and power, so each encounter becomes a sort of puzzle where you're evaluating which enemy is the most threatening and thus must be dealt with first, and by using which power or weapon to do so. It's incredibly complex but relatively simple to learn, and getting through some of the more difficult encounters on hardcore or insanity difficulty is amazingly satisfying.

Sounds great, right? Unfortunately, while the game is at its best on the two hardest difficulty modes, it also suffers the most on those modes due to extremely buggy cover mechanics and unbelievably poor friendly AI. The AI is absolutely abysmal, and if you want that Insanity trophy you better be ready for some frustration. It's necessary to completely micromanage your allies by controlling where they're taking cover at all times. The problem with cover also manifests itself here, as there are many times when allies simply refuse to listen to you and wade out into enemy fire only to die immediately. It's so frustratingly idiotic that I find myself wondering how the game ever shipped in this fashion. It's a mess, and having to babysit your idiotic, suicidal squadmates really destroys what would have been an otherwise fantastic gameplay system. The general design is there, but the technical execution is utterly terrible and enough to make you bash your head against a wall. It's much more passable on Normal and Casual, but if you're gunning for Hardcore or Insanity, get ready for a headache.

The overall design of the game, despite these poorer aspects, is excellent. The episodic style of gameplay in which you're recruiting allies just feels right, and the game feels far more organized and direct than the first game ever did. On the harder difficulties you really get a sense of it being a race against time. You've got to plan out what missions you're doing at what time, because upgrades are incredibly important and if you find yourself trying to take on Horizon or the Collector Ship without the good ones, you can actually get completely stuck and be forced to start over. While this sounds frustrating, it actually does a good job to suck you into the situation that Shepard and the crew find themselves in. They've got to get all of this done, and quickly, because the Collectors are on the move and they aren't waiting for you. This episodic style is paced perfectly, and you never seem to experience any of the drag that you see in the first game when you get dropped onto the Citadel after Eden Prime only to find yourself immediately bogged down with a huge area to explore and dozens of sidequests to tackle. It does a far better job with making sure you never feel overwhelmed than the first game. It's open-ended enough without stranding you in a sea of objectives; you've always got a handful of options of what to do next, and it's up to you to decide which seems to be most important.

All of the gameplay here comes to a head in a fantastic final act that sees everything you've done so far in the game build up to one massive conclusion. The suicide mission is truly excellent, and caps off a must-play game for everyone interested in RPGs.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Mass Effect (2007) by Bioware

One of the many beautiful vistas found within the first episode of BioWare's magnum opus

Mass Effect is classic storytelling surrounded by a relatively raw game. This is BioWare at its absolute best, their pinnacle in developing a new IP after hitting unbelievable highs with the Baldur's Gate series and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Shortly after the release of Mass Effect, they'd sell to EA, and their games would take a markedly different tone. Not necessarily worse, just different.

Nearly every time I read somebody make a comment about the original Mass Effect, it's that the story is worth experiencing to set up later games, but the game itself is not very fun and has aged poorly. I really disagree with this. While the combat has severe flaws in that its weapons lack impact and it's hard to tell when you're being hit without actively watching your health and shields (both of which were fixed in later games), this game has a style of combat which I've never seen the likes of before or since. It's a blend of Knights of the Old Republic with newer shooters, and it's thoroughly enjoyable once you know how to build your characters properly. I have a special affinity for games which start out incredibly punishing and have you soloing the hardest enemies in the game one the hardest difficulty, and that's Mass Effect to a tee. Even on Normal difficulty, the game can be punishingly hard if you're starting from level 1. But when you're importing an unkillable Level 60 veteran, with a bonus power, and all of the best gear, you can get out of your tank and solo the most giant enemies in the game; remaining invulnerable with Immunity while pounding away with your rifle, or keeping the huge thing levitated constantly with biotic abilities. It's amazing to experience, and it kept me replaying this game over and over on the Xbox 360 when it originally released in the winter of 2007.

I do have some negatives to point out, though. Some of the level design is really bare-bones, with uninteresting building layouts re-used ad nauseam throughout the campaign, though this is somewhat remedied by the astonishing vistas depicted on some of the planets you'll visit. Looking up into the sky and seeing a war-scarred moon, or two glowing suns, or sunlight and rain in the distance never gets old. There's usually a dead silence, and a strong wind, accompanied by a superb soundtrack by Jack Wall and Sam Hulick (right) that sets the mood perfectly. This game is an absolute masterclass in ambiance and atmosphere, and I love it for that as much as I love it for its combat system and character building.

However exploring some of those uncharted planets is where the game is at its worst, even considering how beautiful they can be. Traversal in the Mako is an absolute chore. I've heard more Mako apologists recently than when the game released and I just can't get behind them. The Mako is a disaster. It bounces to and fro like it weighs nothing, it's constantly changing direction so you have to micromanage it even when going straight on reasonably flat ground, and it's incapable of climbing mountains when you need it to. The thing is crap, and it's the only reason I don't replay this game more than I do.

The game is also somewhat raw in terms of stability; bugs that keep you moving in the environment while on the hacking screen, broken dialogue trees, and a poor stick-to cover system plague the experience. The way persuasion options need to have skill points dumped into them if you're not going strictly Paragon or Renegade is a bother, too. When replaying from level 1 I often end up just resorting to console commands to add the maximum number of persuasion points so that I'm allowed to roleplay the way I want to without being hamstrung into selecting one option.

In the end, this game is an atmospheric wonder, with strong storytelling, and perhaps the best worldbuilding ever achieved in video games. I'm always surprised by just how good the writing is in this game. While the characters are relatively bland (but hugely improved upon in Mass Effect 2), the worldbuilding, scenario writing, and quest design are absolutely top-notch.

I love Mass Effect 2 and 3, but this game is special in a unique way from those two. And now, 10 years after its release, it remains just as playable (and replayable) as on day one. Truly one of the greatest and most ambitious gaming experiences in history, Mass Effect is not to be missed by any fan of RPG or science fiction.

⭐⭐⭐⭐