RETRO PLAY-THROUGH | ‘Mass Effect 2’ Part 1
With the release of 'Mass Effect: Andromeda' only weeks away, gamer David Nolan continues his journey through the preceding games with 'Mass Effect 2'.
After saving the galactic government at the end of the last game, it’s time to continue the adventures of Zoë Shepard - Paragon Spacer Sole Survivor.
This is probably the strongest game of the whole ‘Mass Effect’ trilogy, even though neither the gameplay nor the story are the best of the series. It’s an example of a whole being better than the sum of its parts.
The opening in particular is an effective example of how well designed this game is: after importing your character and confirming Shepard’s backstory, the game starts immediately - no designing your character. What cunning foreshadowing!
The opening scene is a conversation between two characters we have not seen before recounting the events of the last game and the state of Shepard’s career. If you’re an aware player, you might recognise the two actors; this showcases the game’s impressive cast, just like the first game’s opening aimed to do.
With the tempting fate of “let’s make sure we don’t lose them” as the closing line, we now see the Normandy out on patrol. Before long though, it’s ambushed by an unidentified ship, and suddenly all hands must abandon the vessel.
Next you see either the surviving human squad mate or Liara running through the ship as explosions go off around them to get to the commander. Before their face is shown however, Shepard puts on a helmet. Shepard makes sure all the crew get away before helping Joker, who refuses to leave his post. Shepard manages to get him into a lifeboat but is cut off by the attacking ship’s giant laser beam. Shepard is blown away from the ship and we see them struggling to breathe as their oxygen seals start to fail…
The first bit of criticism in the story is that Joker never seems to have any guilt over the fact that it’s because of his actions that Shepard died in the first place. It might have been something the developers needed to cut out, but it really does feel like a missed opportunity to enhance the character development.
Moving on from the digression, we hear the woman from the first scene talking about the ‘Lazarus Project’ (get it?!), and we are shown some very well-designed shots of Shepard being rebuilt. In a film, these would be the opening credits. Now it’s finally time to design Shepard’s face and abilities.
The classes are all pretty similar to the first game, except Bioware wisely just gave the classes access to certain weapons, and not the ones they can’t use. They also cut down on the number of powers each class holds, but considering the overhaul to the combat system, that may be a good thing. Zoë didn’t quite import properly from the last game, so after doing it over again, we can now begin ‘The Reapers Strike Back’.
Shepard apparently awoke earlier than expected because we see the doctors working on rebuilding her, and freaking out when they notice she’s awake. The second time you wake, it is to the sound of alarms going off and the woman from the first scene (who will be referred to as Miranda though she hasn’t been properly introduced yet) telling Shepard to get moving. Miranda will be taking the role of tutorial voice for the next few minutes as she explains the cover mechanics and weapons system. In an obvious separation between gameplay and story, nobody reacts to the wholesale change of ammunition in the two years - not even Shepard who shouldn’t even know how the system works yet. But that’s a necessary flaw to let go of for the sake of gameplay improvements.
The combat is significantly improved over the first game. The first few arenas fighting the humanoid mechs are well put together and give the player the opportunity to learn how to move through the combat zones and use the environment to win fire fights. Pretty soon, you meet up with your first new squad mate: the first and the worst, Jacob Taylor.
There are many reasons why Jacob is the one character that nobody seems to like, from the fact that he doesn’t seem to have any personality to his complete arse move in the third game, even if you romance him here. He even mimics some of the other characters’ dialogue - that’s how bland he is.
Jacob has the worst animation of any ‘Mass Effect’ character by far. His mouth seems to have only two motions, and it repeats them incessantly regardless of what he’s saying. The actor doesn’t even seem that interested to be playing a space mercenary with command over the physical elements. It’s a shame that the narrative most focussed on the characters is also the one with the weakest personalities.
Jacob takes you through the powers tutorial and you meet up with a wounded doctor who shows you the healing mechanic. A little different from the first game, though not necessarily better. Upon fighting through one final room, you meet up with Miranda who immediately shoots the doctor in the face. Miranda can get a bad wrap in reviews - criticism tends to focus on the fact that her sexual attributes are used too frequently and that she is a rather cruel and manipulative person. While this is true, it doesn’t make her a terrible character.
Bioware also imbued Miranda with a fair amount of pathos and backstory that explains her personality and ego, while also showcasing elements of introspection and regret. However, if a player doesn’t seeks out this information, it might never present itself, and this is a major problem with ‘Mass Effect 2’ in particular: character development is treated as an after-thought and must be sought out rather than being weaved into the narrative. Finally, finishing the tutorial level, Shepard heads off to meet Martin Sheen’s Illusive Man - the leader of the human supremacist group Cerberus.
The actual conversation between Shepard and the Illusive Man is done via holographic communicator, giving the Cerberus leader an aloof and distant nature. He tells Shepard of the reason she was resurrected - the disappearance of human colonies across the galaxy, and gives you a briefing for your first proper mission: the recently attacked human colony of Freedom’s Progress.
Miranda and Jacob will have to be your teammates for this first mission so Bioware is trying to get you to sympathise with the minor villains of the first game already. Considering Cerberus is the reason why Shepard lost their squad in the Sole Survivor backstory, this creates an extra level of tension for Zoë.
Upon arriving in Freedom’s Progress, the whole area is eerily quiet. It’s quite tense moving through a series of empty rooms that people clearly lived in just a few hours earlier. When the squad enters one of the buildings, they come across a squad of Quarian marines led by none other than Tali’Zorah, your Quarian squad mate from the first game. How convenient! Or contrived. Anyway, Tali orders her marines to stand down, and Zoë agrees to aid her in finding a Quarian lost in the colony who has had a panic attack and activated the security mechs.
Moving through the colony, you come across many humanoid and canine mechs, while also discovering several more scenes of abandoned dinners or coffee meetings. Shepard also encounters flying rocket robots – which will quickly become one of the most annoying enemies of the game. Towards the end of the level, the Quarians are under serious fire and need assistance. Then another new enemy is encountered: the YMIR mech. With three different health bars, a heavy machine gun and rockets, it’s a potent threat at this stage of the game, but power creep eventually turns it into a moderately sized enemy. Once it’s taken down utilising the grenade launcher Cerberus were so nice to equip Shepard with, the squad moves to help the Quarian.
Veetor the Quarian is mumbling to himself when Shepard walks in and doesn’t respond to any of the questions until Zoë turns off the screens he’s become obsessed with. He reveals that the colonists were taken by the Collectors, a reclusive alien species that live where no other can reach. After some further questioning, Miranda wants to take him to Cerberus for an interrogation while Tali bursts in demanding that she be allowed to take him to the Quarian Fleet. There’s no reason for Cerberus to want him besides the need for two choices so Zoë hands Veetor to Tali. Now it’s back to the Illusive Man for a debrief.
The Illusive Man isn’t surprised by the information that the Collectors were behind the attacks. As seen in the trailer, Shepard states that if they’re going to take them on, “I’ll need an army, or a really good team.” The Illusive Man says that he has some dossiers on good candidates already and despite Shepard’s probing on their old squad, which does give a chance to learn what they’re up to, you’re forced to recruit these people instead.
The Illusive Man has one last thing to give out before they leave though: Joker! The reason Shepard died in the first place... Fortunately, he has something else to show you.
Cerberus has built a brand-new Normandy! It’s shiny, new and even somewhat bigger than the old ship. When you’re aboard, it looks like it’s based on the same design but built by different people. Very nicely done, Bioware.
Miranda and Jacob come aboard to aid you in your missions and you’re free to explore your ship, meet your crew and explore the galaxy.
And that’s where we’ll leave it for now. ‘Mass Effect 2’ will be covered a little differently than when we revisited the first game in the series.
For this play through, we’ll explore most of the main campaign in its original order, and discuss the loyalty missions before the endgame.
The DLC will be covered once the main story is completed, seeing as some of it aims to bridge the gap between the two games.
Thanks for reading! Until next time…
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