Mass Effect 2 mini review

So I just recently finished Mass Effect 2 on the PC, want to write a short review earlier but thought I should complete the game first before being bias. My final review stay the same when I was half way through the game.

It has been consolized meaning that everything made simpler. Mass effect is a multiplatform game so I can't really say consolized, but I'm PC gamer myself. I'm sure mass effect could have been a better game's if it were designed around PC. Its not ported by any means, you still get controls that are unique to pc that you'll appreciate.

I never played the first mass effect before so I can't judge the different, but from what I heard the rpg elements in the game have been toned down. You can still talk to certain NPC (nothing interesting) and key characters with various choices. From time to time there's fast decision making requires you to either left or right clicking mouse button to perform action. Successfully triggered action will give you points on either paragon or renegade side. My character was more on the paragon side near the end of the game, though I don't see any different on which side you take, but it could have certain effect on Mass Effect 3 when importing your save. Yes, I keep seeing the word Mass Effect 3 on the loading screen and the ending cinematic apparently hints on sequel.

Other rpg elements including planet scanning for minerals which gets really boring and annoying after a while like others reviewer says. There's no secret place or items you can find on these planet beside hunting for minerals by shooting probe on it. Minerals are important, because it is use to upgrades your weapons, armor, powers, ship and even research for new technology.

Most missions are tedious and forgettable. Developers don't spend much time on mission design apparently. You have to recruit around 10? people's to join your mission in destroying the collectors, and each of your members have a personal request mission you can do. Beside that, there's some small side missions around the planets. The problem here is there's basically nothing interesting happened in the process of the missions, you just go from one point to another, cover and shoot until you reach your goal. Most are the same cover and shoot, reach the goal types of mission.

The gameplay itself is okay. Covering and shooting is nothing new in the fps genre, beside guns you can use your biotic powers to attack enemies. You can also give orders to your members by pressing shift button which will temporarily pause the game to give out order or change your weapons. Weapons can be changed by pressing shortcut keys number or switch by x key. You can carry up to 4 weapons at a time, 2 light and 2 heavy weapons. There's also 2 shortcut key q & e to order your team members to move to certain area. Otherwise, you can just focus on shooting and let the AI do the job itself. The biotic powers is a very good added feature for the rpg element, unfortunately it doesn't feel as satisfy & powerful as in star wars game which end up to be just another thing to shoot.

The world of mass effect is very star wars like, futuristic with lots of alien races. Though I found mass effect world to be less appealing, it could be the design issues. The scene just doesn't look just as good or breathtaking, it looks blur and feel far away from you. There's no place in mass effect 2 would make you want to stop and just look around, you'll focus more on running to destination and shooting. The graphic in game is no bad at all, but the design could need some improvement.

Despite of all the downside I point out, Mass effect 2 is still an enjoyable game with interesting enough story backing up. It wouldn't be so successful without a good reason even though I think its overly hyped. Its a decent game, just not as good as I would expected from a game that get such high review score. Honestly ,I enjoyed the old republic and other star wars games much more. Still, I would give this game a score of 8.5 out of 10.

How long was the game? The game feels long enough, I guess I finished it in around 25+ hours. I completed all recruiting & personal request mission, plus some side missions from npc, I think I left around 2 or 3 undone. I also do a lot of mining minerals, I upgraded a lot including most if not all ship upgrades which requires most of your minerals. In the end, I still left with many unused minerals with well over 30,000 zero element. You'll know what I'm saying if you've played the game.