First of all, the full title of this should read: "Mass Effect 2 - First impressions of someone frantically running to catch up!".
Speaking as someone with a relatively recently-renewed interest in gaming, I'm usually a year behind at least. To many, Fallout 3 might have been a case of "shame-shit, different wallpaper" in that it was just the usual RPG-fodder wrapped in a nicely-rendered post-apocalyptic shell. To me though, it contained so many things I never imagined existed in games and I was hooked to the point I felt compelled to rebuild my PC and join in the fun.
After many hours of obsessive playing, I began to wonder what else I would like. If Yahtzee was to be believed, finding something good would be like trying to find any sense in an American church. Surely not every game was bad? I used to play games a lot when I was younger and although I sucked at most of them, they were fun. Ghostbusters, Chase HQ, Batman (was I the only one who though swinging Batman into the wall in the first level was rather amusing?) and the Dizzy games on my humble Spectrum +2 provided hours of fun when it was raining outside and then came Sonic the Hedgehog on the MegaDrive.
When I was at school, Sonic was the man (well...hedgehog!) and when Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic 3 were made to be mated to produce an absolute belter of a game, me and my old mate Briggo nearly wet ourselves with excitement. I also had my first PC, a mighty 286, which shipped with the hideously-grueseome-for-the-time Prince of Persia and the iconic Lemmings. Despite this, my favourite childhood game was Flashback for the MegaDrive. The rotoscoped movements of Conrad Hart and attention to detail were so lush I thought this was nirvana.
As time moved on I got a PS1 but by then I was starting to lose interest in games. Sure I played a few "groundbreaking" titles like Metal Gear Solid and was impressed at how games were progressing but I had more pressing matters at hand.
However, after that fateful day when I watched a friend playing Fallout 3 (a year after it had been released) my interest was re-kindled and so I thought I should extend my rather meagre games library. After Fallout 3 came GTA 4 and despite a rocky start, we had a long and fulfilling relationship, which left me hungry for more. I always liked Star Wars so the idea of a space-shooter / RPG was appealing and this leads me, after much huffing and puffing, to the subject at hand: Mass Effect.
Of course I had heard the controversy (it was a bit difficult to ignore), seen the Zero Punctuation review and heard from people who might as well have been discussing Marmite because they either loved it or hated it with equal levels of fervour. Whatever, it intrigued me enough to source a copy and head out into the black. After a false start, I eventually came back to the game and this time it captured my interest. Despite thinking that the dialogue was a little too "sanitised" and always chucking grenades when I didn't mean to because I was used to whacking the "R" key to reload, which ironically, you didn't have to do in this game. I even managed to get to grips with the Mako eventually.
So after I had recovered from the eye-poppingly epic finale, I just had to get hold of Mass Effect 2 - an event that happened a mere week ago. Rejoice ye multitudes, I am finally starting to catch up!
Anyway it arrived in the post yesterday and my ME1 Shepard (First name, Lion) was duly imported. Not wishing to spoil it for those who want to play it but haven't got around to it yet, I will restrain my comments to things that don't include major plot elements or at least avoid too much detail.
After the introduction scene left me as shocked as someone who had just been cock-slapped by the Pope, I began on the obligatory tutorial mission and so what better place to begin my first impressions than the combat?
It seems that my view that the combat in ME1 was pretty good (compared to what I was used to) was also shared by many others. Aside from a bit of polishing and tweaking, it's pretty much the same. Thankfully BioWare have done away with the major bugbear of having about 8-million guns, upgrades and armour types in your inventory after every mission because all that piddling around with omni-gel and offloading your unwanted surplus at various merchants was a massive ball-ache.
As happy as I was that the comabt was up to snuff, it wasn't until I started talking to a few folk that I realised, while the combat system got a few flicks of a feather duster, the dialogue has had a massive spring-clean as well as a visit from the Personality Police. In the original Mass Effect, aside from Joker, Williams and Wrex, there seemed to be a steady procession of near-robotic NPCs with the emotion of a loaf of stale bread. In my short time playing ME2 I have encountered several distinctive accents, personalities and even had a few laughs too. These changes, which range from subtle to stark, massively improve the general atmosphere of the game and it's not just NPCs who had a shake-down either; Commander Shepard seems to have taken the stick out of his arse and lightened up a little too.
When reading the reviews and listening to the feedback, I was glad that the inventory-issues of ME1 had been consigned to the trash-compactor but I think I was alone in that I had little issue with actual weapon and upgrade management mechanism; I just thought it was bogged down with too many choices. I also had no problem with the level-up system but again I am the voice in the wilderness as they've all been massively condensed. While I am not going to argue that removing some of the bloat has really helped, I think that the levelling up system has been compacted just a little bit too far. That said it's nice to see the few ammo upgrades I do have having more of an impact.
Although I've only spent a day playing ME2, I have to say I applaud BioWare for generally going about things in the right way and I honestly think they have been listening to us. ME1 was a good and innovative game in places with many plus points but, as with many new ideas, while the foundations were solid, they needed to be built upon and build upon it they have. Hacking and Decryption have been improved and even the little touches like being able to buy decorative items for your quarters and being able to socialise more add to the immersion.
I'm sure that when I am done with ME2 I will write up a proper review with more on the game and less personal history but that is then and this is now so if you will excuse me; a nearby Krogan has mentioned he'd fancy a spot of fish and that sounds like just the job for Lion Shepard!
Wardy
Speaking as someone with a relatively recently-renewed interest in gaming, I'm usually a year behind at least. To many, Fallout 3 might have been a case of "shame-shit, different wallpaper" in that it was just the usual RPG-fodder wrapped in a nicely-rendered post-apocalyptic shell. To me though, it contained so many things I never imagined existed in games and I was hooked to the point I felt compelled to rebuild my PC and join in the fun.
After many hours of obsessive playing, I began to wonder what else I would like. If Yahtzee was to be believed, finding something good would be like trying to find any sense in an American church. Surely not every game was bad? I used to play games a lot when I was younger and although I sucked at most of them, they were fun. Ghostbusters, Chase HQ, Batman (was I the only one who though swinging Batman into the wall in the first level was rather amusing?) and the Dizzy games on my humble Spectrum +2 provided hours of fun when it was raining outside and then came Sonic the Hedgehog on the MegaDrive.
When I was at school, Sonic was the man (well...hedgehog!) and when Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic 3 were made to be mated to produce an absolute belter of a game, me and my old mate Briggo nearly wet ourselves with excitement. I also had my first PC, a mighty 286, which shipped with the hideously-grueseome-for-the-time Prince of Persia and the iconic Lemmings. Despite this, my favourite childhood game was Flashback for the MegaDrive. The rotoscoped movements of Conrad Hart and attention to detail were so lush I thought this was nirvana.
As time moved on I got a PS1 but by then I was starting to lose interest in games. Sure I played a few "groundbreaking" titles like Metal Gear Solid and was impressed at how games were progressing but I had more pressing matters at hand.
However, after that fateful day when I watched a friend playing Fallout 3 (a year after it had been released) my interest was re-kindled and so I thought I should extend my rather meagre games library. After Fallout 3 came GTA 4 and despite a rocky start, we had a long and fulfilling relationship, which left me hungry for more. I always liked Star Wars so the idea of a space-shooter / RPG was appealing and this leads me, after much huffing and puffing, to the subject at hand: Mass Effect.
Of course I had heard the controversy (it was a bit difficult to ignore), seen the Zero Punctuation review and heard from people who might as well have been discussing Marmite because they either loved it or hated it with equal levels of fervour. Whatever, it intrigued me enough to source a copy and head out into the black. After a false start, I eventually came back to the game and this time it captured my interest. Despite thinking that the dialogue was a little too "sanitised" and always chucking grenades when I didn't mean to because I was used to whacking the "R" key to reload, which ironically, you didn't have to do in this game. I even managed to get to grips with the Mako eventually.
So after I had recovered from the eye-poppingly epic finale, I just had to get hold of Mass Effect 2 - an event that happened a mere week ago. Rejoice ye multitudes, I am finally starting to catch up!
Anyway it arrived in the post yesterday and my ME1 Shepard (First name, Lion) was duly imported. Not wishing to spoil it for those who want to play it but haven't got around to it yet, I will restrain my comments to things that don't include major plot elements or at least avoid too much detail.
After the introduction scene left me as shocked as someone who had just been cock-slapped by the Pope, I began on the obligatory tutorial mission and so what better place to begin my first impressions than the combat?
It seems that my view that the combat in ME1 was pretty good (compared to what I was used to) was also shared by many others. Aside from a bit of polishing and tweaking, it's pretty much the same. Thankfully BioWare have done away with the major bugbear of having about 8-million guns, upgrades and armour types in your inventory after every mission because all that piddling around with omni-gel and offloading your unwanted surplus at various merchants was a massive ball-ache.
As happy as I was that the comabt was up to snuff, it wasn't until I started talking to a few folk that I realised, while the combat system got a few flicks of a feather duster, the dialogue has had a massive spring-clean as well as a visit from the Personality Police. In the original Mass Effect, aside from Joker, Williams and Wrex, there seemed to be a steady procession of near-robotic NPCs with the emotion of a loaf of stale bread. In my short time playing ME2 I have encountered several distinctive accents, personalities and even had a few laughs too. These changes, which range from subtle to stark, massively improve the general atmosphere of the game and it's not just NPCs who had a shake-down either; Commander Shepard seems to have taken the stick out of his arse and lightened up a little too.
When reading the reviews and listening to the feedback, I was glad that the inventory-issues of ME1 had been consigned to the trash-compactor but I think I was alone in that I had little issue with actual weapon and upgrade management mechanism; I just thought it was bogged down with too many choices. I also had no problem with the level-up system but again I am the voice in the wilderness as they've all been massively condensed. While I am not going to argue that removing some of the bloat has really helped, I think that the levelling up system has been compacted just a little bit too far. That said it's nice to see the few ammo upgrades I do have having more of an impact.
Although I've only spent a day playing ME2, I have to say I applaud BioWare for generally going about things in the right way and I honestly think they have been listening to us. ME1 was a good and innovative game in places with many plus points but, as with many new ideas, while the foundations were solid, they needed to be built upon and build upon it they have. Hacking and Decryption have been improved and even the little touches like being able to buy decorative items for your quarters and being able to socialise more add to the immersion.
I'm sure that when I am done with ME2 I will write up a proper review with more on the game and less personal history but that is then and this is now so if you will excuse me; a nearby Krogan has mentioned he'd fancy a spot of fish and that sounds like just the job for Lion Shepard!
Wardy
