Since it is a sequel, I can't pass up the opportunity to compare it to its predecessor. The first thing you notice when you load up the game after ME1 for the first time is the graphics. It is a huge improvement compared to it, even though it uses the same engine (UE3). And the hardware requirements on the PC are even less than that of ME1, it runs perfectly on my weak ass AMD "gaming" laptop. Whereas it was struggling badly with ME1. So points for that.

The second thing you notice are the small but very significant UI and control improvements. Every change they made is for the better, except one little hiccup. Which I'm sure is not intentional, but rather an oversight or a bug: When you change your weapon on the tactical screen, there's no way to alter that choice. So if you click on the sniper rifle by mistake when you wanted the assault rifle, you cannot revoke it. You have to close the tactical menu, when your character changes to the undesired weapon, and you have to wait for the weapon change to finish, and then go back to the tactical screen, and try to not make the same mistake again. This thing has forced me into uncomfortable situations during combat many times. But it's not a big deal, since combat is much easier in this game, compared to the first. The only difficulty that can give you a moderate amount of challenge is insanity. But after roughly a dozen playtroughs even that feels like a walk in the park. Yes I played this game that many times, it's so good. In fact I'm in the middle of a playtrough right now.

The story of the game focuses more on preparing for your big mission, rather than doing it. This means that you have to focus on recruiting your squad members, the characters don't want to tag along automatically like in ME1. You do side-missions roughly 80% of the time. But it's not a problem since these missions are designed just as well, if not better than main story missions. Not like in M1, where side missions were probably made during lunch break in the Bioware offices.

The focus is shifted towards combat, so there is much less searching for answers going on, and when there is, usually the first NPC that you bump into, has all the answers.

Many people probably applaud the fact that they've taken out the Mako from the equation. But I miss it, it greatly exaggerated, the freedom factor of the game, that you were able to roam planets with it. I know that the Firewalker DLC provides you with a replacement vehicle, but it gives no exploration. All the missions you do with it are linear, and constrained in movement. The only missions that gives you a bit of freedom with the Hammerhead is Overlord, and even that's restrictive compared to ME1's planet exploration. And I don't like the vehicle either. I'm more of a feet on the ground guy, so this quasi-hovercraft is not my style. And it has seriously weak armour, a few shots and it's destroyed. So combat feels like a cat & mouse game with it.

In the odd event that you never played ME2, you may ask the question: If there is no vehicle how can you explore planets? Well sadly you explore planets through a repetitive, and boring resource gathering planet scanning minigame, Which is just a chore only there to boost the time needed to finish the game. There is literally no challenge in it, you just have to do it, if you're a maximalist and want to gather enough resources to buy all upgrades.

But the same goes for hacking and lock picking as well. It's next to impossible to fail in them, and there are actually purchasable upgrades to make them even easier. They certainly fit the narrative better than the frog game in ME1, but that's all the praise I can say about them. When I first saw the lockpicking, I thought you'll actually have to trace the connections on the PCB, to be able to open the doors like in Cyberia, (I doubt anyone remembers that game), but sadly it only serves as window dressing here. It boils down to a simple find the pairs game that has 6 unique pairs at most. Hacking is done by finding specific code segments in a scrolling display. It's only an exercise for your eyes, no thinking or strategy needed at all. Sorry I'm a sucker for good minigames I was domesticated with System Shock 2.

The inventory system was completely scrapped (not the choice I'd have made) but at least, there are no more scimitar one, two, three, four, five, etc. and the like weapons. And you don't have to change weapons after every corner because you found one that does 299 instead of 297 damage. You can't even change your loadout during missions at all, only when you find so-called weapon lockers. Which is not a good thing, because if you take the wrong weapons on a mission you can screw up bigtime.

Without any paid downloadable content the game takes roughly 24-28 hours to finish. Which is OK. But really you want to play the game with the DLCs, which adds a few more hours to it. So you end up with 35 hours or more in total.

Unfortunately the game is not without bugs, the most awkward bug is when your character's head gets locked in after a conversation. So after you finish a dialogue with an NPC and start walking away, your head still tries to look at the NPC you talked with. It's right in the uncanny valley, which freaks me the fuck out.

The other problematic thing is the non-combat AI of your squad members. They're all over the place, running around like madmen. It's really pathetic. They keep dropping behind, they get stuck in objects all the time. And if they drop behind too much the game simply respawns them right in front of you. Unfortunately they like to lag behind even on combat missions. It happened more than once that they disappeared and I had to finish off waves of enemies all alone. The funniest part is when some dialogue is triggered during this time. Your hear them speaking but can't see them anywhere.

One more issue is dialogue with crew members. If you don't speak to everyone after each significant mission, some conversations can be triggered after they long lost their meaning. The most extreme example of this was when someone reflected on a mission I did 20 hours earlier. But the opposite happens as well. You do a mission for someone, and in 10 seconds after informing them they're already telling you about how they're reaping the benefits of your actions.

So to sum it up there are six types of missions in the game.

  1. The ones relating to the main storyline. These are few and far between. And you have to be very careful about choosing when to do these missions. Because there are consequences for doing them too soon and unprepared, and also for too late as well.  
  2. Recruiting missions where you have to convince the people to work for you, this means fighting trough waves of enemies to get to said characters (except for the characters you get automatically) and after convincing them to join you, fight trough a few more waves to escape from whatever situation you're in.
  3. Loyalty missions. These are similar to the Family armor, and doctor Saleon missions from ME1, only here they have more of a significance, and much better designed and complex. By doing the loyalty mission of a squad member, not only you unlock some new talent for them, but make their survival more likely in the endgame.  
  4. The fourth type are side missions acquired by scanning planets. These are usually very short distractions. Still much better than the side missions in ME1, and they all have their own unique maps where they take place, no CTRL-C CTRL-V going on here.  
  5. Missions given by NPC's in person, usually very short talk to someone because I'm too lazy to walk 10 feet to talk to them myself missions.
  6. Missions given trough messages or email (basically all the DLC missions)  

+

  • Atmosphere  
  • Gameplay  
  • Graphics  
  • Story  
  • Music  
  • Sound  
  • Characters  
  • Actual Character development happening in front of you  
  • One of the best final missions ever created, where your prior actions and choices all matters in the sense of how well can you pull trough.  


-

  • Too few main story missions
  • AI  
  • Dialogues triggered too late or too soon.  
  • Recruiting missions all have the same scheme. First you have to talk to someone who tells you where to find the guy, but most of the time the first person coming your way can point you in the right direction. Then you have to fight through a bunch of enemies to get to the guy you're looking for. Then usually you have to fight your way trough another battalion of enemies to convince the guy to join your cause.  
  • Missions acquired from NPCs are very simple, they usually done by picking up something and delivering it to another NPC. Or talking to someone who is standing not five feet away from the one giving the mission.  
  • Complete lack of inventory It's one way of fixing the mess that was in ME1.  
  • Almost all RPG elements are cut. You only can upgrade the characters four basic skills, which are already given. There is no way to acquire new skills, or for any meaningful way to do a different character based on distributing skill points differently. The only meaningful choice is when you choose your class and bonus skill at the beginning of the game. But that choice is super important. Make sure the class you choose fits your intended playing style otherwise you won't be happy during the action.  

This is a great game no doubt about it. It's certainly up there in my Top5 of all times. Or possibly even Top3. I want to give it a 10/10, but I can't due to the lack of inventory and meaningful leveling.

Scoring card:

Graphics/Realization: 9/10
Story/Atmosphere: 10/10
Gameplay/Controls: 9/10

Overall impression: 9/10



Finally some words about the DLCs:

The shortest and least significant of all is Zaeed: The Price of Revenge. It's just another loyalty mission, you fight your way through a bunch of Blue Suns and voile it's done in about half an hour. About the only redeeming quality is that you get a pretty good squad member with it. 5/10

Kasumi: Stolen Memory, is the most interesting DLC, here you have a non-combat part, which is a much needed break from the constant fighting in the game. Unfortunately it is very short, and much simpler than the premise would initially suggest. However Kasumi is a pretty annoying squadmate, I rarely used her outside this mission. 7/10

Overlord: I liked this one the most, it's the most complex DLC, and the most varied. it gives the best value for the money. Basically you have to thwart a Cerberus AI experiment gone bad. 9/10

Lair of the Shadowbroker: I felt that the price bump for this DLC is unjustified, it doesn't give you more content than Overlord, but costs more. But it tells a very integral part of the story. So it feels like it was cut from the main game to cut development time, and also bank in on selling for an additional fee. 8/10

The Arrival: The biggest disappointment to me. None of the squad members get new dialogue. You can't even take them on the mission. Which is a bummer. But the mission itself is not bad, and it explains the beginning of ME3. 7/10

All taken into account I can say that all of the DLCs are worth owning for one reason or another*, and the game wouldn't feel complete without them. Too bad you still have to fork out the same kind of money for them as when they were new.

*Except for Firewalker Pack, which is not really a proper DLC anyway. It adds next to nothing to the story. Guess if you like the vehicle in Overlord, then you might want to get it, otherwise it's not worth it.