Commander Shepard returns in the sequel to one of the best selling games of 2007, Mass Effect. When you first start you are on the Normandy and you are wiping out the rest of the Geth resistance which continued from ME. Joker (The Pilot) then notices an unknown ship coming in on an intercept course for the Normandy; he tries to shake them off but the unknown enemy ship charges weapons and strikes the Normandy multiple times. You then have a confrontation with Ashley Williams from ME1 and how she wants to help but Shepard makes her leave with the rest of the crew.
You now take control of Shepard and must reach the cockpit to speak to Joker and get him off the ship. Just before you reach Joker, you walk through part of the deck where the hull has been breached and you can see into space and it’s absolutely breathtaking. I wanted to stand there forever just looking at the stars but I had to save Joker. Once you reach Joker, you have to convince him that the Normandy is a lost cause and he must get in the escape pod. He agrees, and you put him in the pod and just as you are about to enter it yourself the enemy ship attacks again making Shepard lose his footing and flying out of the hull breach in the ship. He clings onto a control panel and manages to launch the escape pod with Joker inside and then Shepard flies out of the cockpit hitting debris on the way out damaging his oxygen supply and the last show Shepard flying through space towards a planet, trying not to suffocate.
The gameplay in Mass Effect 2 has been greatly improved since Mass Effect. In the first Mass Effect, I didn’t like how it played at all and I am surprised I gave ME2 a chance but I did and I wasn’t disappointed. Bioware have introduced a whole new combat system and I found it easier to use my biotics/talents (I chose Adept Class). Now instead of just having one biotic being mapped to Y, you can now have 3 biotics/talents mapped for easy use. You can level the power of your biotics/talents by using squad points, you can each one up to Level 4 and I managed to get my Push Talent up to level 4 and when I did I got a choice of what kind of Super Biotic I want it to be like (E.g, Push multiple enemies or a superman push move) I went with the Superman Push move which means, if an enemy gets hit with it, he will go flying!
This goes the same for your squad, you are still allowed to take 2 with you on missions and there has been an introduction of new characters and the main ones being Miranda and Jacob. We see the return of Garrus, Ashley and Tali. When choosing a squad I normally like a mix of strength and biotics, I normally go for Garrus and Miranda. New characters appear all around the galaxy and you might even see some old faces.
ME2 has beautiful visuals, I was really impressed and you can tell the differences from ME. There are lots of new planets to visit and even though some parts of the Mass Effect universe are dark and evil, it’s still nice to look at. You can now customise your armour, with new patterns and colours. I went for a sort of Red Tiger style from Call of Duty. The artists and level designers have put a lot of thought and passion into ME2 and they have not let us down, I can’t wait to give it another play through just to look at the stars and planets.
Due to the game being set in 2185, the music can be different depending which planet you are on. Example, Omega has a club called Afterlife there which plays dark club music. I loved the music there and I often just travel there just to listen to the music and have a dance but the music hasn’t evolved that much considering the time period. The voice acting is as good as ever, including Commander Shepard (Mark Seer) and Miranda Lawson (Yvonne Strzechowski). All the voice acting is good throughout the game, even for minor characters throughout the story. Voice acting plays a big part in todays modern games and storylines, without good voice actors most games wouldn’t be played. The music is composed by Jack Wall and he has done a brilliant job with it, I hope he continues to work with Bioware for ME3.
Overall, ME2 is a great story and I would truly recommend this game to anyone, even if you didn’t like the first one. I didn’t like ME but I gave it’s sequel a go and I love it, it’s my Game of the Year at the moment. With so many different choices and paths in this game, you can give it more than one play through and get a total different story. Be good, be evil, be Shepard.
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