Love (and Guns) From Outta Space

OK, yes, this is a review of Mass Effect 2, which is already a year old, so 0/10 for timeliness. But I only just got round to buying it. Why? Well, for one thing, the first game never appeared on the PS3, so the idea of jumping into a universe I had no clue about didn't appeal too much. Plus being the tightarse I am, I elected to wait till the price dropped below the £20 barrier. With that all-important barrier passed and with nothing else catching my eye, I decided to give my sci-fi bone a tickle.

Somewhat mercifully, the PS3 package contains a code to allow access to the vast majority of downloadable content for free, with a couple of extra characters and missions thrown in. We also get a comic book of sorts that whizzes through the events of the first game, allowing you to decide which way you swayed on the big decisions, namely who lived or died and the all-important matter of whose kex you managed to get into.

Before we get to do this, there’s the small matter of our hero, Commander Shepard, being dead, which really puts a damper on their day. Or on their two years, as it turns out, as the corpse is subsequently grabbed by Cerebus, an extreme pro-humanity group who are kind of like a space age National Front. But it’s not all bad, as their big cheese has the same voice as, and looks like, President Bartlett.

Brought back to life by means explained with little more than a hand wave, we’re given the job of saving the galaxy. Again. And the odds of survival are pretty much nil. Again. But first we must assemble a team of disparate characters who must overcome their prejudices and rivalries against each other if they’re to stand any chance of survival. Again.

You get the idea. As a basic storyline, it’s clichéd beyond belief yet I still found myself hugely engaged with what was presented to me. It helps that it looks great, of course, and when you have a top notch acting cast including Martin Sheen, Seth Green and Keith David, you’re always going to pay attention to what’s being said to you. Not quite enough of Keith David for me, though, because you can never have enough of that guy in your video game.

Developers BioWare were also behind the Dragon Age games which found a lot favour with this gamer (a big factor in my finally buying ME2), and their skill at character development carries over here, though not quite to the same level. Characters tend to have little to say outside their own recruitment mission and a later episode where you can try to win their loyalty - or not, if you feel like being a bit of a bastard about matters. This is a bit of a shame, as I was really keen to find out more about Garrus, whose kick-arse manner made him a regular member of my team.

So, looks great, sounds great. Now the catch: a large part of playing Mass Effect 2 involves running around shooting things. Fair enough, but the way this happens (essentially, hiding behind a wall and jumping out to crack off a few rounds) gets very repetitive very quickly. It’s not helped by the battle intelligence of your comrades being a tad limited. While you may show some common sense by staying hidden while under fire from a group of robot killing machines, colleagues may instead decide a Charge Of The Light Brigade tactic is in order, resulting in them needing urgent medical attention soon after.

Regarding these parts of the game, it struck me that it didn't really matter who you took along. It would have been nice for certain situations to be approached differently depending on your squad. All the same, it was always satisfying to ventilate some unaware mook from distance with a sniper rifle.

There’s also the problem of tedious loading times, an issue that comes into play the most when you’re mooching around your spaceship. In principal, this is one of the best parts of game – you can wander round, banter with the crew, flirt with the ladies (or gents, if you play as a female Shepard) and feed the fish in your swanky cabin. All of this is offset with loading that seems to go on for ages as you travel between the four levels. Reminds me of being back on the ZX Spectrum.

Last, the basic "ethical" system of making decisions on being either a "Paragon" or "Renegade" is often too black and white – it works at times and the fact I was extremely annoyed at letting somebody go when it turned out they were a murderer backs this up, but a little more choice would have been nice. Many games use a variation of this these days, from Fallout’s karma meter and Dragon Age’s friend/rival gauges. None of them have really nailed that all-important morally ambiguous area yet.

Flaws aside, ME2 does a great job of creating a top notch atmosphere. As the story progresses towards the conclusion, I found myself wondering how my actions would effect the conclusion. By not gaining the loyalty of Zaeed, a ruthless Merc, was I creating trouble for myself down the line? When the final battle came, the desire to get everyone home made for excellent entertainment. Sadly, I didn't manage it but a casualty rate of one seems a decent return, especially as that person was terminally ill anyways.

To wrap up: the 44 hours I spent on Mass Effect 2 rarely dragged by, the storyline managing to keep me motivated through the combat sections and I’ll probably give it another play-through at some point to try things with a different back story. Doubtless I’ll download the Arrival add-on and I’ll be anticipating Mass Effect 3 to see how Shepard gets on with the consequences of my decisions.