It's all about the elemental scanning

[KwaggaDan]

Planet scanning. Possibly the most tedious mini-game ever. Essentially in Mass Effect 2 the player has to collect resources by scanning planets and launching probes to collect the wealth. It sounds like it could be fun, but it isn't really. At least not to me.

But how does the rest of the Escapist feel about the scanning? Was is fun? Can it be improved on? Does it beat the Mako? And have you ever wondered if Miranda Richardson ever stood next to Shephard and pointed out that there's a galaxy to save instead of mining?

 

[crudus]

I didn't have a problem with it. I preferred it to driving around every bloody planet. I actually always imagined Miranda encouraging it since it was vital to the success of the mission or it was a weird turn on of hers.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I didn't have a problem with it. I preferred it to driving around every bloody planet.

This. It was nowhere near as boring as driving the MAKO spaz tank all over 736 identical planets (with pallet swaps).

 

[Hippobatman]

I actually liked driving around on planets. It made me feel like a space cowboy.

It got tedious after a while, though. They should have implemented some variety to the planets and encounters. Seriously, the Geth ambushes got old after the second time.

 

[KwaggaDan]

Yeah, but after looking at the same planet for the 50th time just hoping to get enough Ezo you tend to miss the Geth ambushes and the Thresher Maws...

 

[crudus]

I didn't have a problem with it. I preferred it to driving around every bloody planet.

This. It was nowhere near as boring as driving the MAKO spaz tank all over 736 identical planets (with pallet swaps).

Lets not forget the inconsistent traction. "yeah this 90 degree cliff face is fine, but not this 7% grade incline!!"

 

[KwaggaDan]

I didn't have a problem with it. I preferred it to driving around every bloody planet.

This. It was nowhere near as boring as driving the MAKO spaz tank all over 736 identical planets (with pallet swaps).

I think the problem was that both versions got quite tedious at the end. But, in my opinion, I hated travelling back and forth to the outposts to buy new probes. At least in the Mako you had what you needed...

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I didn't have a problem with it. I preferred it to driving around every bloody planet.

This. It was nowhere near as boring as driving the MAKO spaz tank all over 736 identical planets (with pallet swaps).

Lets not forget the inconsistent traction. "yeah this 90 degree cliff face is fine, but not this 7% grade incline!!"

Lets not forget the fact that every planet seemed to have the exact same level of gravity.

 

[thenumberthirteen]

I've only played ME 1, but planet scanning led to the creation of this song:

<youtube=YFCZMEwl_K8>

It is, therefore, well worth any boredom.

 

[infohippie]

I loved the Mako, I just didn't like the smallness of the world areas you were given to roam in.
I liked planet scanning for the first planet or two. By the third, it was getting old. By the twentieth, I hated it.

 

[mikev7.0]

I've only played ME 1, but planet scanning led to the creation of this song:

<youtube=YFCZMEwl_K8>

It is, therefore, well worth any boredom.

That is strangely appropriate for a game where the NPCs can bust out with Gilbert and Sullivan. Just keepin' it surreal dog....

I was a big fan of the Mako, and kind of like Liara being more than a digital standee, I miss it and hope they bring it back.

 

[thenumberthirteen]

I've only played ME 1, but planet scanning led to the creation of this song:

<youtube=YFCZMEwl_K8>

It is, therefore, well worth any boredom.

That is strangely appropriate for a game where the NPCs can bust out with Gilbert and Sullivan. Just keepin' it surreal dog....

Well I've got to play it now. Is it something like this?

<youtube=DyyjCn1ML3k>

I've only played a bit of ME 1 so I need to finish that game first before ME2. Hopefully it'll be in a Steam sale, or something.

 

[Grey_Focks]

I really didn't have much problem with it. After the patch, it was a pretty quick process, even on console, and it really just didn't bother me. then again, I also kinda liked driving around the random planets in the mako....unfortunately, combat in the mako was just horrible. there was no skill involved, nothing to do with how you built your character or what equipment you have....it was just horribly tedious and annoying.

 

[Kiju]

It was a neat idea, and kind of interesting compared to the land rover elements...'cept I liked those in that you felt like the game-world was actually larger, instead of a game with several menu-based regions and major cities and trading hubs.

I think it could have been improved on if, say...you had to go down onto the planet, and in order to find anything, you had to set up triangulation towers on your rover, to pinpoint the location of valuable minerals, gasses, and random-generated dungeons.

 

[Kortney]

I really had no problem with it. A bit tedious, sure, but well worth it.

 

[Ladette]

I hated it, I hated it, I hated it. I would rather turn the game off than scan for those stupid freaking minerals. The Mako trips were boring, I never had problems driving it, but driving around an empty planet for 10 minutes was not fun for me. The mineral scanning is that times 10,000. After my first playthrough I flat out refuse to even do it. I play video games to enjoy myself, not as an alternative to sleeping pills.

Fortunatly if you import a save you'll have enough minerals to buy all the ship upgrades. The Cain is not worth the effort.

 

[plastic_window]

On one hand, you've got a mini-game that has virtually no challenge involved and is pretty much zero fun to play.

On the other hand, you've got open-world exploration in a vehicle that handles awfully in a world that, for the most part, is made up of inexplicably-unscallable mountains.

The mini-games are perhaps more bearable than exploring a planet's surface with the Mako, but when you look at it, they're more insidious.

If you just play Mass Effect 1 and 2's main quest lines, you'll find yourself in the Mako a few times, but you'll never be asked to try and traverse the difficult and infuriating parts of the landscape. In Mass Effect 2, you can skip the planet scanning altogether, but not doing so could seriously shift your perspective on Mass Effect 2, because it plays a large part in the last parts of the game.

I just wanted to raise this point. The Mako is annoying, but you only have to endure as much of it as you want to and the end result of Mass Effect will still be the same. It's not the same with Mass Effect 2. Planet scanning is boring, and you only have to endure it if you want the best ending. Which, obviously, you do.

Personally, though, I went through a lot with the Mako and I fucking hate that stupid thing. Planet scanning is a much better way to gather resources, but it still kinda sucks that the resources are so integral to the game's story.

 

[octafish]

I don't know why they didn't just improve the Mako and the inventory system instead of scrapping it altogether. I've played Mass Effect about eight times all the way through and I'm on my ninth, I've played ME2 just the once and I'm struggling to find the enthusiasm to continue on from my most recent ME play through.

 

[ThatLankyBastard]

I didn't like the Mako, but I despised the planet scanning! If it wasn't for EDI's "Probing Uranus" joke than I'd say "Screw the team, I'm doing the suicide mission without any upgrades"...

 

[kuyo]

the mako handled poorly, but at least we were on the planet like real space cowboys.