Mass Effect 2 : A new frontier

wow, that is all i can say with Bioware's follow up to their smash hit Mass Effect from a few years back. It is plainly obvious that Bioware took a long hard look at the design of the game and listened to their fan base, because every aspect of the game except for a few minor details have been either improved or eliminated all together.

A few major details have really elevated Mass Effect from good to great

1. Exploration - By exploration i mean the complete elimination of the monotonous mako mission's on unrealized planets from ME 1. With mass effect 2, every system you land foot on is fully realized with numerous characters, side quests, and gorgeous scenery to go with it. Every location is unique, unlike every buliding from ME 1 looking like it came from a cookie cutter.

2. Good/Evil mechanic - Me 1 definitely gave you options to go renegade or paragon as they like to call it. However, the depth that the system now shows is impressive. To numerous dialog options to the ingenious quick time evil/good quick time events, really make you feel like this is your game. odds are, every person you talk to that has played Mass effect 2 will probably have had a different experience either huge or small. For that Bioware deserves praise, because the replayability here is scary.

3. Combat- wow what a difference a cover system makes. Going from what felt like a third person action game on the Ps1 in ME 1. To what felt like gears of war on the 360 does wonders for the game. The combat is definitely not perfect, but the game succeeds in providing fun sequences while getting you to the next story development.

Mass Effect 2 is an absolute success. They have shown how a sequel should be produced. I just wonder how they will add to this in ME 3. I can't wait to find out.