The Bad: No tutorial for Beast mode. Look familiar, that was the complaint about Gears 3. It was the stupidist thing I ever read when I was looking to pick it up. Guess what, thats basically the same complaint about StarHawks modes, but it didn't impact Gears' review because of the pedigree of the series (They did the same with ME3, and other games their staff wants to like)...
So... it looks like the reviewers at GameSpot are far from consistent and unbiased.
My suggestion is, stop using scores to criticize a game, go out rent it/buy it/ or play the trial and see for yourself. A reviewer can't tell you if you'll like a game, or get your money's worth. What they can do is try to placate you by giving games they like high scores, and even if you don't like the game, you feel good because it has a big number on it... This is the game we all play when we read these pointless reviews. Call me old fashioned, but I still rely more on the box art and friends, then these reviews, when picking a game. Plus, I do my best to ignore any number score; giving a game a score of 10 is like trying to score a priceless painting, you just can't.
@indzman If you looking for multi-player, it's more than worth it. 1) It actually has new ideas, and strays outside of the mold CoD has created (though it is third person).
2) Buying it now supports the developer more, leading to more and better games later.
As for single player, the campaign is good but short, so I'd wait if thats all you care for.
@Mr_Noddy Agreed. 7.5 isn't bad, though I find it silly that his main problem was the rough transition between Campaign and Multiplayer. The IGN review presented much better. While IGN gave it a 9, I suggest you look at IGN breakdown of the score and not the overall one.
@malezz It's new, fun, nothing like the cookie cutter shooters, and worth every penny. However, bare in mind the game is young, and the community is still fresh and building. The fact that this game requires more team work than Battlefield means those who normally play CoD/KZ style games will find the learning curve steep, and it can be even steeper if no one is talking.
@Vodoo You know, purchasing a game to support a publisher you love isn't dead. Despite some recent issues, CAPCOM is one of the few companies who still makes a real arcade like game with tonnes of replay, and none of this hand holding story crap. In all honesty, this hate towards hard working people trying to make a game that people will enjoy is ridiculous. I'm starting to side with developers on blocking used games. Resale has lead us to simply support online only games (or virtually so) like CoD and Battlefield, and has allowed players to scrutinize games that fall outside of a given mold.
@irockgold The thing is, as far as game mechanics go, Mass Effect 2 is a bad game. There was nothing new to the cover based shooter genre or to the ME series. Reviewers these days are caught up so much on the "Art of the Game" that good story telling, and a large sense of scope immediately make it a great game. In other words, reviewers are extremely biased. Take ME3 for example, that game had glaring issues, but the reviewers ignored them in favor of what they wanted to see. If they want to hate a game, they will give it low review, deserving or not, same goes if they want to love a game.
This all comes down to is a game a product or a service. Just because its digitized, does not mean it does not exist as a physical entity. Companies like EA argue because you can make an instant copy of it on any disk, the software is not technically a product, just the plastic of the disk. Ok..., now apply that logic to a die on a press, and any piece of sheet metal. Is the product the piece of metal, or what it was pressed into? I'm pretty sure its what it's pressed into. So how about the argument that you can send over the internet without a disk, and have it run on your machine. Well, I can send over milling instructions for a CNC machine over the internet, and it will run locally and print my part. In the end, the part is the product produced by the digital information, just like the game visuals are the product produced by the game code. The fact is, monitors, printers, mills, presses, etc are all transducers, they take some information and turn it into something else.
ElegantAccent's comments