Don't misinterpret my score; I enjoyed playing through Mass Effect 2. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have been able to make it through the whole game. But by no means is this the same game as the first. The developer did an excellent job of streamlining the entire game, but Bioware may have gone a bit crazy with the pruning shears, and what they ended up with was an excellent shooter game that includes a few RPG elements and serves up a cold unfeeling experience that feels forced and far too frantic.
Its fair to say that sweeping changes were made to the gameplay aspects of Mass Effect, and many of them are for the better: the alteration of both the inventory and transportation aspects were definitely stand-out improvements. While I was sad to see the abundant variety of weapons and armor + mods that I could equip go out the window, I certainly wasn't very torn up about not having to sort through and sell or junk the equipment I didn't need anymore. One of my issues with the original game was how unfriendly the inventory system was, and Bioware's solution of eliminating the inventory entirely was certainly welcome. In addition, out the window are the long elevator rides that were prone to glitching, and the troublesome task of navigating the ATV from place to place on certain worlds; load screens have replaced these arduous passages, and this is most certainly for the best, as I would rather know the game is loading than have me thinking that the game is just being annoying. The elevator ride from the dock to the C-Sec station in the original game was probably the worst design decision in the entire game. In Mass Effect 2, however, I've not seen a load screen that lasts more than 15 seconds.
The included character import functionality was very impressive; all the player's choices and his custom made face from the first game could automatically be transported over to the new game, and would have a surprising amount of relevance throughout that game. It was a pleasant surprise to receive, at various points, e-mails or face to face contact from characters whose lives I had affected in the first game, for better or worse.
Unfortunately, this is where the nice things I have to say about this game come to an end. If you'll remember, what set Mass Effect apart was the vastness of the worlds, the relationships you could form, and how far-reaching the effects of your decision could be. It would have been really nice to have seen the depth of these impressive qualities increase, to make the world even more immersive, with realistic relationships and locales. Instead, I feel like Bioware lost ground in these areas, a sad effect of their desire to speed up the pace of the game.
My gripe with the maps and locations included in the game is this: it seems like, while there are more visitable locations, they are all predictably linear in design and most of them make me feel claustrophobic. In Mass Effect, wide open spaces were the norm, but in the sequel I almost feel like I'm dungeon crawling in a Zelda game.
The romance plot line feels like a routine. If not more predictable, it is at least identical to the process you had to go through in the original game in order to secure a night of passion with your chosen love interest. I would have preferred a more fleshed out, realistic romance, with more wooing involved, rather than whatever mate you choose falling for you if you complete their mission and just talk to them a few times. As for the decision engine and how that affects what happens throughout the game.... the inclusion of the heroic and renegade intervention options that allow you to affect the outcome of cutscenes is a cool addition, but i have yet to really feel the effects of choosing to perform renegade actions a few times.
In trying to draw a comparison between the artistic merits of the first and second games, the conclusion I came to is this: Mass Effect 2 is to the original game as Tropic Thunder is to Full Metal Jacket or Apocalypse Now. They took out the slow, plodding plot line for the ADD generation, but in doing so you removed the emotional attachment and the plot devices that lent symbolism and meaning to the first game. I think the Ars' reviewer missed the target: "Mass Effect 2...streamlines the experience for a much more action-oriented package, all while keeping the depth and heart of the first game". The depth of the first game was there, all right, presented in the exact same fashion, with no new content or meaning. The heart of the first game was removed and placed in the body of the second without the creators realizing that it had stopped beating somewhere alone the line.
(Mass Effect 2 is rated M for Mature. Offensive content: blood, a drug reference, sexual content, strong language, and violence. It is available for the Xbox 360 and PC. It currently holds a rating of 96/100 on metacritic.com)
