One of the most hotly anticipated gaming titles of the year is Mass Effect 2, the second of a planned trilogy of games in Bioware’s real-time RPG world. I played Mass Effect three or four times through (using different skillsets and squad members, which gives quite different experiences), and I cannot wait to get my hands on this one. From the interviews I’ve seen, they’ve worked hard to fix most of the problems I had with the first game – notably the repetition of the side missions – while still keeping the epic scope and quality character development and voice acting that set the first game apart from its peers. (My capsule review is here.) Mass Effect 2 releases next Tuesday, January 26th, for Xbox360. The final launch trailer is below, but there have been many others highlighting different aspects of the game. Note that if you played the first game, you’ll be able to import your existing character, and the choices you made in the first game will affect the storyline in the second.
If you haven’t played before, the game will give you all the background you need to catch up with the story. Basically, you play Commander Shepherd, a human spaceship captain who, in the first game, ends up leading humanity through military and diplomatic relations with non-human species while also combatting an unknown threat from the far reaches of the universe. The thing that makes it really interesting is that humanity has only come in contact with non-human species within the last 50 years, while the other races have lived for a long while with an intergalactic senate and interrelations. It makes humanity the new kid on the block that has to prove its worth to the rest of the universe. Shepherd is the first human to become a Spectre, an elite member of an intergalactic task force. The threat that looms over the first game is revealed at the end, and the second game takes the fight into their space.
This discussion currently has 10 responses.
January 21, 2010
I don’t play these storyline video games mostly because they’re time consuming and I’m not very good at them but man, this looks fantastic. And the music in that trailer is spectacular. It’s like watching a trailer for a movie.
January 21, 2010
Marina, it plays like a movie, too. I mean, the gameplay is great, and most of it is gameplay (not cinematic cutscenes), but it’s really seamless and intuitive and it literally feels like you’re playing a movie. The first one, anyway, and this one is going to be an improvement, I can already tell.
They can be time-consuming, though – the first one took me 35 hours for one run-through. Not as long as some of Bioware’s other games, though – I spent 125 hours on the first Knights of the Old Republic!
January 22, 2010
The first game was epically awesome, although I only planned maybe 6-7 hours, since it was on my brother’s Xbox. I just can’t play games anymore, without feeling like it is a waste of time (and I spent a ridiculous amount of hours during my childhood and teenage years playing video games).
Since 2006, I’m pretty sure that the only video games that I have played through and beat: Halo 3, Elder Scrolls III: Oblibion, and Fallout 3. This is compared to my high school years when during the summer, I might fly through one video game every WEEK.
Watching this trailer, really, really makes me want to get this and play it though……….. argh.
January 23, 2010
I play video games very slowly in general, both due to lack of time and getting easily frustrated when I get stuck. Mass Effect and Oblivion are two of the few that I’ve finished completely in the past few years. I’m still working on Fallout 3, heh. But I just preordered Mass Effect 2, so I’m sure that will take up whatever gaming time I have for the next several weeks.
January 24, 2010
I’m really excited about this. It took me a while to get into the first Mass Effect, because I got it at a time I had some more easy going games and I don’t usually go for RPG’s these days. However once I realised how good it was I loved it, which in turn got me interested in Fallout 3 which I loved even more. So if Mass Effect 2 improves on the problems with the first game as promised I’m anticipating a game that will completely take over my life for a month or two. Expect a lack of Row Three reviews from me over February
January 24, 2010
Oh and on a side note, I only just found out about this sister site to Row Three. Nice one guys, I’m a big music and games lover too, so I’ll have to add this to my daily sites to visit.
January 24, 2010
I keep saying that MorePop isn’t advertised well enough on the main site! No one actually knows it’s here. It tends to lean heavily on music (and Lost, when that starts back up), but we try to throw a few gaming posts up now and again. Now that I know you’re into gaming, too, maybe I’ll try to be a little more proactive on it.
For me, Mass Effect is kind of the perfect game – in concept, I mean. Real-time combat, RPG storyline, relatively open world, sci-fi setting, emphasis on conversation with multiple ways of getting things done…all the things that I’d want if I were making a game. Fallout 3 and Oblivion are the only other two that have come close. Well, Borderlands is fairly close. But I love the way Mass Effect does conversation, and it sounds like they’re improving on that, too! I’m really excited.
January 25, 2010
Don’t hold back on the music though, I’ve got as many CD’s as I have DVD’s!
Yeah I feel pretty much the same about Mass Effect, it maintains a good balance. I sort of got bored with turn-based RPG games such as Final Fantasy and found their core stories a bit overlong. I prefer the mix of open world when you want to explore and solid, engaging story for when you want to get on with it. Plus the conversation wheel works like a charm. Just got to save up some money for when it comes out!
February 4, 2010
I bought this last weekend and yes, it’s really bloody good. They’ve toned down a lot of the RPG elements and streamlined the combat system which makes it a lot more fun and less fiddly. The conversations are still central to it all and work as effectively as ever too. So basically as promised it’s a better version of the first game with an engrossing new storyline (only just getting started though of course).
February 4, 2010
David, totally agree. I spent like three days doing nothing but playing this when it came out. Now I’m probably half-way through (if it’s roughly the same length as the first one, anyway), and am not playing quite as non-stop as I was, but still enjoying it immensely. I really wish there were more games in this style. I’d buy them all.
The voice acting’s really good, too, right? Way better than most games. Hopefully that’ll catch on as well.