Mass Effect 2 review (PS3)

Formats: Xbox 360, PS 3, PC
Format Reviewed: PS3
Publisher: EA
Developer: Bioware
Made2Game Mass Effect 2 PS3 review score: 9 out of 10

There is always a problem with writing a review of a game that has been previously released on another platform getting a re-release. That is especially true of such a massive title like Mass Effect 2. So should the review treat the reader like they have never played the game and explain the setting (something that all the reviews from the previous release have already done) or should the review focus on the differences between the two platforms? In this review I will be doing a little bit of both, I will summarise the story very quickly to give a bit of a background and move on the to the differences.

In Mass Effect 2, you die! Now that sounds like a massive ending spoiler to start off with but actually it's the beginning (well, about 10 minutes in). Your ship is attacked and you are killed saving your crew from almost certain death. This (while in the original XBox version) forms the explanation of Mass Effect 1's story, through the means of an interactive comic.

The comic sets up the events of the first game in a fashion that let's you pick out pivotal points in the storyline which then affect some of the events of the following adventure. While this comic is told by your floating in space dying character, it doesn't have the same impact as playing the original game.

You have some (supposed) hard choices to make about the fate of certain characters but with the lack of inaction that actually playing the game brought this feels somewhat pointless and has no gravity to the situations. Which is, needless to say, a massive failure from the start as the beauty of the Mass Effect series is creating ties and relationships with the characters involved.

This is echoed in a hauntingly amazing mission in which your character finds the remains of your crashed ship, the SSV Normandy, having to explore the wreaked vessel as you search out the dog tags of missing comrades is truly a emotional experience for anyone who played the first game but for new comers the connection is missing making this trip down memory lane just a collection mission.

After setting the world up to your satisfaction, the second story proceeds. Your dead corpse is pulled from the depths of space and is reanimated, this process allows you to redesign your character and set up a back history for him or her. The designer is pretty generic now but the name creation, is one point I liked from the first game, it allows you to add in a first name of your choosing but the game has a surname set (Shepherd) meaning that while you get the feeling of having your own character it doesn't affect the game as all NPC's call you Shepherd.

It is here that the adventure gets started and you are thrust into the action with the facility that has housed you over the last two years is attacked for reasons unknown to you. This tidily leads you into the tutorial for what is the mainstay of the game, the combat system. It seems fair to say that the combat system is one of the most accomplished out there, you are given four main buttons for combat. Trigger, covered by the R1 button, aim, which is covered by the L1 shoulder, cover, hitting X near a wall or pillar, and finally melee, which is a swift tap of O. There are other commands such as L2 for on the fly weapon select and R2 for squad commands and biotic powers.

From here, the game links you into the reason Shepherd has been brought back, all across the galaxy human colonist have been disappearing and no-one knows why. Literally the fate of humanity lays in your hands. As I mentioned earlier, like any good sci-fi story we have beings with power or extra abilities. In Mass Effect, the powers are called biotics and these powers have various points to them. Some help you to solve puzzles like a explosive case blocking your path you can either shoot it or use the Overload power to cause it to explode on it's own, without wasting your ammo and adding an extra bit to the explosion killing or damaging any enemies that may lay behind. Or said the biotic power to pull enemies towards you, think Scorpion from Mortal Kombat without the stabby bits.

There isn't only biotic powers, other more normal abilities are also featured such as changing the type of ammo that your weapon uses (disruptive ammo takes down enemy shields quicker than normal fire, for example). The way that Mass Effect 2 plays out is very much like a enclosed sandbox game.

You have a ship to fly around the galaxy in and numerous worlds and solar systems to investigate, but each main story world you visit houses a mission to complete and while you can still move around the order in which you complete the missions (with the exception of a few) but the mainstay are very much a linear movement between missions. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, in fact, the way in which the story moves along you never feel like your just linking between levels.

That is the real genius behind Mass Effect that nothing feels like it is driven towards you, even if you know that you are moving on a linear path it all feels free even with the side-quests that make up the majority of the rest of the game feel like you have elected to do them to help your cause. The principle point of Mass Effect is a third person shooter with an overlay of RPG elements on top.

It seems unfair to pure RPGs or even Action RPGs to said otherwise. The reason i say this is that there isn't the standard character development that you see in RPGs, while you do increase your life or get better abilities you don't evolve like you do with say Bioware's fantasy game Dragon Age or in any of the Final Fantasies.

But that isn't to say that the game didn't stand up well in either area. The shooting sections (which do make up the core of the game) are as solid as you can get. The targeting feels light but tough enough to make every shot count. There is a great satisfaction with pumping out a few shots from one of the heavier assault rifles and scoring a direct headshot before spinning around and slugging another enemy in the chest. When enacting missions you are given the choice of which member of a large cast you would like to take with you. These characters are not controlled by you but via AI and for once I can safely say that they are not a hindrance at all.

The AI seems to be spatially aware, they can tell when they are in your line of fire and when a fire fight ensues they will take cover and attack logically. No, running suicide style into the enemy. They also use their powers and other abilities in a logical fashion without wasting them, in fact the only time a power was wasted was when I directed the attack at the wrong attacker and hit a wall instead of the target. Squad members can be directed with the use of the L2 wheel to select powered attacks or directed to move to certain positions via the directional buttons mapped left and right for each character. This addition allows for more tactical movement through gunfights and to set up ambushes for enemies.

One thing that seems to be a constant fight between the two platforms on which this game features on is about the graphics and the power of the console.

While I've not played the XBox version of the game to it's completion I have played enough to see the graphic standard of the console and cop an compare it to what you experience on the PS3. It seems that the lead console (as it is with all modern developed games) wins best here. While there’s no doubting that the PS3 version looks stunning and the characters look amazing but there are small things that let it game down. Things like on one planet, featured in the DLC pack Project Overlord, while travelling using the land vehicle the vista in the background looked amazing and also photographic in quality whereas the foreground underneath the vehicle seemed to take on a completely pixelized sheen to it. Which I'm not sure whether it is down to the new engine not rendering properly or with the development team could not get the best out of the PS3 engine.

Still for the most part things look great and miles better than the scale of graphics that PS3 users got with Dragon Age. It is great to see Mass Effect 2 on PS3 and offering so much to the customer with all the DLC except for some weapon and appearance packs in one box.

Also it seem like the game is a great test for the new Mass Effect 3 engine, even if it is let down a little in parts. The game plays well and makes a bit of a laughing stock of PS3 users last experience of Bioware.

The story is engaging as anything that you would have experienced in Final Fantasy, moreover the characters grow and as you play you will start to feel a connection with them. It is a shame that the comic doesn't do the first game justice but at least you’re set up for the story to come. If you like a massive space opera, or if you want to see what Bioware really can do with a console then this game is for you.

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