Difficulty:

Easy

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"All flash, no substance"

I loved Mass Effect 1. the reason i really liked that game is probably what gives a unique perspective about why i was so disappointed when I played ME2. The reason I found ME fascinating is because it was a game about space, being a "space lover" through and through.. and those are pretty rare when it comes to mainstream. When I played it i didn't really know what an RPG was either so it's mechanics didn't bother me much. It eventually wore off since much of the game was linear, but one thing remained clear.. it had so much potential. So now we get to reason you're reading this which is ME2, the thing is.. it didn't use any of that potential. As expected from a game that gained popularity and from an EA title the game became 100% mass market oriented. So rather than improving on what they already had they came up with a story that was completely pointless and a bunch of bland characters. The thing the story must provide are reasons to motivate you on your mission yet it felt so cliche and forced that i never really got into it and it never motivated me at all. it's like "let's all go save the galaxy!! oh wait we first have to revive shepard and then give him everything he had on me1 (the ship, the girl and the and the bad guys) so he can now go exploring the galaxy and righting wrongs.." I was like waaait a minute!! So if the story sucks what about side missions?? well those are even worse.. it's true that in ME1 all of them happened in the same 4 places but in most missions I knew what I was doing... and there where a lot more missions, in ME2 i could get thruogh entire missions without even knowing what's going on.. because i'm either not interested or the game does a lousy job at making me know and care. Most of the crew are better than ME1 however they lack the necessary depth for them to be convincing RPG characters. (with a couple exceptions). As for the game play it's a solid third person shooter the addition of heavy weapons is nice but the whole ammo thing sucks.. ME1 used the infinite ammo system well and the most important thing is that it offered an explanation that had to do with the story and core elements of the game.. and what idiot would swap infinite ammo for limited just because of heating issues?? And boss fights are very linear "just keep shooting..." as for the RPG element of the game play.. well it's gone.. rather than make the skill tree more complex and give it more room for character customization it became simpler to the point that you can just auto level through the game and get the same results that you could have gotten if you chose what to spend your points on yourself no matter the class you choose. The soundtrack is just a modified ME1 soundtrack with a few additions. ME2 could have been a very interesting game but it seems everyone wanted to dumb it down. What's the point of having so many species if all of them speak english and feel the same?? there really wasn't enough effort to make it more creative and bizarre.. they had a chance to surpass most sci-fi movies and they missed completely, there is the same issue with tech.. in ME2 everything seems vague and not much is explained anymore and there isn't much enthusiasm in doing so like there was in ME1. The only thing they did to improve the atmosphere of the game was graphics i know that's important but how about making the controls be affected by the amount of gravity or give the worlds "weather" and unique ecosystems rather than the same crap on every world. I'm also sick of everyone's expressionless face.. it's like they all have the same expressions or have the stupid poker face. There are no weak voice actors (that's a complement) unfortunately they have boring and predictable stuff to say. It also sucks that half of the codec is recyled from ME1.
Unfortunately I really don't think ME3 will take a step forward in the direction I would like it to as long as it's made for people who want to see CGI t*ts.