Reviews and Thoughts - By Aaron Waller

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Mass Effect 2: X-Box 360

Reviewed by Aaron Waller

Purchase Mass Effect 2 Here: http://www.amazon.com/Mass-Effect-2-Xbox-360/dp/B001TORSII/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292750418&sr=8-1

Summary:

Mass Effect 2 is by far a superb storyline in a video game setting. I remember when I was growing up, and up until recently sequels were worse than maggot food. However this new century has brought a flood of talent in the sequels genre. Such as Toy Story 2 & 3. Like the first game, you play endearing Commander Shepard. However unlike the first the beginning is a blast! Never and I mean never, have I ever bore witness to such a mind blowing intro. You, Commander Shepard are on the USS Normandy as its commanding officer. Your mission? To continue saving every ones butt that resides in the Milky Way Galaxy. I wont spoil anything for you, but the game ends just as it began, with a bang. Mass Effect 2 relies heavily on a deep storyline enriched from your continued save from the original. If you have not had the chance to play the original I would advise you do so. If not that's OK too, you just end up missing a 1/3 of the plot, question Shepard's previous companions and are stuck with a background Bio Ware gives you. Other than the story the action is pretty much the same. I would say its redundant and unoriginal, but they've managed to blend the story with the action better this time. The armor and gear setup is different, and on this I was a bit upset with the new change. I again appreciate the motive of doing something new, but the first game was spot on with its gear menu. It was nice to have the powers that change your ammo, but I thought being able to switch and mix match upgrades allowed me more involvement and uniqueness in the genre.

Overall game score:

4 1/2 stars out of 5

*One of my personal favorites, among 1 out of 10.

Game play & graphics:

One big aspect of the Mass Effect saga I've forgotten to mention is the gathering of minerals, gasses, & well that's it... No Alien artifact collecting here. In the sequel, since you cant really explore the planet to find mineral deposits. Your ship Normandy 2 is outfitted with a scanner. Personally I loved this idea. It honestly makes more logistical sense than trying to find it by foot. That and I'm a Trekkie so any sort of planet scanning comes up and I'm game. *Word of advice* very important, it helps to upgrade your scanners as soon as you're able.

The graphics themselves are slightly better than the last game. However the graphics take a step back to the game play itself and the mind blowing storyline.

Overall:

5 stars out of 5 stars

Down loadable Content:

Bio Ware is well known to us d/l'ers in the gaming scene as being ahead of the game with download content. Some people may have problems with keeping up with the frequency of game content. Others, like myself thrive on it. Mass Effect 2 is no exception. With adding more characters, weapons & story lines it keeps the gamer enthused and immersed in an ever deeper plot. My personal favorite d/l content is the shadow broker level. I highly recommend it especially since ME3 will probably incorporate it into the game. I was however upset personally by the long delay of each episode & content pack. I usually try to have everything possible before finishing the game. Which in this case meant I beat ME2 about 6 months after its release. Meh...

Overall:

4 1/2 to 5 stars out of 5