Mass Effect 2: What's the big deal?

[DaWaffledude]

My sincerest apologies if this comes off as a bit messy, or I posted it in the wrong place or anything like that. It's past midnight and I just wanted to vent about this somewhere.

(Contains spoilers for ME1 and about the first hour or so of ME2)

So a bit of context: Last week I finally got round to picking up the Mass Effect trilogy off the PSN. I'd heard great things about the games, and figured it was about time I played them.

The first game had me instantly hooked. The world-buiding, the characters, the gameplay, it was all top notch (Except for the slightly clunky cover system, but I never really needed to use cover anyway). It was a fun sci-fi adventure with some great darker moments to help keep the stakes high. (Virmire, anyone?). And most of all, I really felt that my choices mattered. I chose to save Kaidan instead of Ashley. I chose to have the Alliance fleet save the Citadel Council. Everything Shepard did felt like my decision.

Having heard great things of the second game, I couldn't wait to move on to it. After all, if I liked the first game so much, obviously the universally acclaimed second game would be even better, right?

After playing for a bit, I can't help but notice that the game is a bit... Darker. People are swearing more, there's more blood, that kind of thing. Bit of a major tone shift from the first game. And of course, there's Cerberus. What. The. Hell.

So... Why exactly is the game forcing me to side with the human-supremacist terrorist organisation? I mean, I kinda spent a fair portion of the last game fighting these guys. Sure, you brought me back to life and built a new Normandy. That's nice. I still don't like you, and I'd very much like to turn you over to the Council.

Speaking of the Council, what the hell happened to them? I mean, sure, they were never exactly as helpful as the could have been, but they were still reasonable. They didn't do anything about Saren until they had reasonable proof. They didn't send a fleet after him for good reasons Here, they just come off as idiots. For Christ's sake, I freaking saved your lives, the least you could do is believe me when I tell you who it was that almost killed you. I suppose this is supposed to make me sympathise with Cerberus, but honestly, it just feels cheap.

And of course, the crew members. Can I just toss them all out into the vacuum of space? Except for Jacob I suppose. Jacob's alright. Everyone else seems to be a psychopath of some variety. (So far I have Miranda, Jacob, the Salarian doctor guy, the thief woman and that guy who's name begins with a Z. Zaedd, I think? You pick him up on Omega.Which reminds me, why the hell am I having a nice, civil conversation with him while he's beating up that unarmed Batarian guy? Can I not at least ask him stop or something? Doesn't exactly help me feel very heroic.)

I could talk some more about it, like how the new level up system is too restrictive, how the new equipment selection manages to be even more clumsy than in the first game, how the combat seems to have turned into generic cover shooting, etc but I think you get the general idea.

TLDR: Why does everyone say this is the best Mass Effect game? I honestly want to know.

EDIT: Also, you know what's really starting to bug me? People going "Shepard! Why are you working with Cerberus? I thought you were a good guy!" and me having no option to agree with them in the slightest. I swear, I could make a drinking game out of this.

 

[tippy2k2]

Most everything you don't like everyone else did.

Mass Effect 2 has some huge choices for you to make, you just haven't gotten to them yet. The darker tone is something a lot of people liked since it feels more...deadly. Yeah, that's a good word here. You'll understand that a bit better later on...

As to the Cerberus thing, that's just how the story is going. It's either "Enemy of my enemy" (if you still disagree with them) or "Let's get shit done!" (if you agree with them) for why you're following Cerberus. Plus I don't think they'll let you keep the ship if you leave

As for the Council, they think you're loony for a relatively good reason. You've joined up with Cerberus, a terrorist organization (see my above paragraph) and you DIED and came back to life. You're now telling them that a super giant boogeymen is coming to kill everyone? I don't think I'd believe Shepard either.

As to the squad, that's just opinion. I freaking LOVED the squad members (Miranda is my lady! and my Escapist motto is based off of a Mordin quote). Same with the new fighting/level system. A lot of people like this one more because it's more streamlined (as much as "Ze Hardcore" hate that term, I think it's appropriate here). A lot of junk was removed to make it easier. Some hate that but based on the love the game got, I believe that most people loved it.

Hope that helps. Probably won't help you like the game more but it might help you understand people's love

 

[MysticSlayer]

Having heard great things of the second game, I couldn't wait to move on to it. After all, if I liked the first game so much, obviously the universally acclaimed second game would be even better, right?

Well, the second game definitely took things in a different direction. It was far more gameplay focused than the first, and its story is arguably the weakest in the series. Sure, it has strong characters, and its final mission is arguably the best mission in the series, but outside of that, it has very little of what made the first game appealing. I would say that it can't do as much with world building on account of the first game covering so much, but it is a look into the darker side of the galaxy, so it is a bit of a letdown that they couldn't make that aspect of the world building that great. Still, if the world building and story is what got your attention in the first game, the second will be a bit of a letdown. Personally, I was able to overlook that because of how much better the gameplay was, but I wouldn't say I was entirely pleased with the story.

After playing for a bit, I can't help but notice that the game is a bit... Darker. People are swearing more, there's more blood, that kind of thing. Bit of a major tone shift from the first game. And of course, there's Cerberus. What. The. Hell.

So... Why exactly is the game forcing me to side with the human-supremacist terrorist organisation? I mean, I kinda spent a fair portion of the last game fighting these guys. Sure, you brought me back to life and built a new Normandy. That's nice. I still don't like you, and I'd very much like to turn you over to the Council.

The game is mostly a look at the darker side of the galaxy. I mean, if memory serves correctly, much of the game takes place in the Terminus System, which really doesn't have the best of reputation.

As for Cerberus, yeah, I was a little disappointed that you weren't really able to doubt them too much. You can express doubt, but they never really fleshed it out much. Towards the end you will be given some options to reject The Illusive Man's orders, but by that point, you're still doing most of what he wants just because your interests align. If anything, it is just a weak attempt of letting you tell Cerberus "Screw you!" after forcing you to work with them.

Speaking of the Council, what the hell happened to them? I mean, sure, they were never exactly as helpful as the could have been, but they were still reasonable. They didn't do anything about Saren until they had reasonable proof. They didn't send a fleet after him for good reasons Here, they just come off as idiots. For Christ's sake, I freaking saved your lives, the least you could do is believe me when I tell you who it was that almost killed you. I suppose this is supposed to make me sympathise with Cerberus, but honestly, it just feels cheap.

No clue. I mean, the reason for their attitude is explained, as they don't want to admit that the Reapers are real and have the whole galaxy go into a panic. However, what caused them to be so unreasonable is mostly a mystery. I think Garrus may make a comment about people being illogical when they're afraid...

And of course, the crew members. Can I just toss them all out into the vacuum of space? Except for Jacob I suppose. Jacob's alright. Everyone else seems to be a psychopath of some variety. (So far I have Miranda, Jacob, the Salarian doctor guy, the thief woman and that guy who's name begins with a Z. Zaedd, I think? You pick him up on Omega.Which reminds me, why the hell am I having a nice, civil conversation with him while he's beating up that unarmed Batarian guy? Can I not at least ask him stop or something? Doesn't exactly help me feel very heroic.)

Never picked up Z. Zaedd, as I didn't bother to download his DLC. However, Miranda and Mordin do get fleshed out a bit more. Mordin is still a bit crazy (more in a humorous sense, though), and Miranda is annoyingly duty bound to Cerberus the whole way through, but they are still really compelling characters if you stick with them, especially through ME3. In any case, you've only been exposed to arguably the weakest squad members. Both Garrus and Tali will be coming back, and their characters in ME2 and ME3 are much stronger than in the first game, which is saying a lot. You also are far from meeting my favorite squad member of the trilogy, so there is a lot to look forward to in the rest of the game, at least if the current squad members don't appeal to you.

TLDR: Why does everyone say this is the best Mass Effect game? I honestly want to know.

Well, for a lot of us, it was the first that had serviceable gameplay. It vastly improved the friendly AI, fixed the weapon wheel, added more quick slots, got rid of the clunky controls, and didn't use copy/paste environments ad nauseam. Also, at some point, it starts making the squad mates more important than they ever were in the series, and the final mission, as already stated, brought things to a fantastic conclusion. Granted, it takes until about 1/3 to 1/2 the way in to actually start getting to the good parts, but for all its problems in storytelling, stripped away RPG features, and weaker world, it still had a lot to enjoy.

Now, personally, I'd say the third game was the best in retrospect, regardless of its ending and checklist nature. However, I will say that the second was an excellent addition. It suffered a lot in its writing and tone compared to the first, but it still manage to give us characters compelling enough and gameplay enjoyable enough to be a well-above-average game.

 

[Raikas]

TLDR: Why does everyone say this is the best Mass Effect game? I honestly want to know.

Well, to start with it's not everyone - there have been dozens of threads and polls here about the series, and while ME2 tends to end up in front, it's not by nearly the landslide that you seem to be assuming (I preferred 3, myself).

That said, I think it is the most even of the three - the combat was smoother and progressed more naturally than in the first one (you couldn't be as absurdly overpowered in the final fight as you could in 1). And the story was somewhat more linear, but that also meant that it flowed more naturally. It sounds like you haven't finished yet, but the final level really is quite well constructed both in terms of gameplay and story, so regardless of how you felt about the rest of it, it does end on a high note. You mentioned not liking the equipment set-up, but since that was one of the major complaints about the first game, simplifying it was bound to make people happy.

And that's aside from things like tone - you noticed that it was darker, but that's something many people enjoy (myself included). Similarly, with characters it's always a matter of taste - mellow characters read as boring to a significant part of the audience.

 

[The Madman]

The Cerberus thing bugs me as well actually. I'm sorry, but within the context of Mass Effect's setting there is absolutely no way a solely human organization could become that powerful, and then in Mass Effect 3 Cerberus is blown to even more ridiculous proportions.

Humans have only been a part of the galaxy as a whole for, what, 60-70ish years if even? The Asari by contrast have been around for thousands of years, each one an incredibly powerful psyonic capable of crushing a regular human with ease with often over a dozen human lifetimes worth of experience each, and somehow they're outmatched by a bunch of human upstarts for no explicable reason beyond 'Cerberus has lots of money!'? You know who has even more money? The Volus. Why aren't they building giant murder armies capable of taking on the entire freakin' Citadel if apparently that's all it takes?

They make no sense and exist only as a plot device. It also makes no sense that Shepard would join with them, especially if you played Mass Effect 1.

Hell the entire overarching plot of 2 is also by far the weakest. In the overall narrative the entire plot with the Collectors could have been cut and it would have almost no effect on the overall story. In fact almost nothing you do in 2 matters at all in the context of the greater story. Mass Effect 2 is basically a giant side-quest that ends up leading nowhere, since many of the originally planned elements from 2 that were meant to lead into 3, such as the stars dying and whatnot, ended up being cut from Mass Effect 3.

STILL with all that said ME2 is great. Solid combat, fun characters, some amazing cinematic moments, and even if the overall story is shot to hell the small scale adventures were a ton of fun to pursue.

I'd say ME1 is still my favourite, but I can see why people love 2 so much.

 

[MysticSlayer]

The Cerberus thing bugs me as well actually. I'm sorry, but within the context of Mass Effect's setting there is absolutely no way a solely human organization could become that powerful, and then in Mass Effect 3 Cerberus is blown to even more ridiculous proportions.

Spoiler: To be fair to Mass Effect 3

Cerberus's power was mostly increased in ME3 because of their access to Reaper technology, and being puppets of the Reapers certainly helped their power. It's made abundantly clear towards the end that The Illusive Man and much of Cerberus were Indoctrinated, so I doubt that their money was the primary driver of their power in that game.

As a result, I really don't think we can criticize Mass Effect 3's portrayal of Cerberus. Sure, their top assassin was a little...cartoonish...but it was still rather believable given the context of who they had become.

Humans have only been a part of the galaxy as a whole for, what, 60-70ish years if even? The Asari by contrast have been around for thousands of years, each one an incredibly powerful psyonic capable of crushing a regular human with ease with often over a dozen human lifetimes worth of experience each, and somehow they're outmatched by a bunch of human upstarts for no explicable reason beyond 'Cerberus has lots of money!'? You know who has even more money? The Volus. Why aren't they building giant murder armies capable of taking on the entire freakin' Citadel if apparently that's all it takes?

The Asari, for the most part, were about cooperation and assimilation with other cultures. They were generally respected as "the top" in regard to political matters, but that was hardly due to their all-consuming desire to be on top and have the most power. Compare that to the humans, which, for the most part, were all about attaining power. Most of what Shepard did in Mass Effect was originally done with the intention of advancing human interests, not protecting the galaxy from a rogue Spectre, and there were even entire political parties dedicated to protecting humans from alien influence. Cerberus was just that drive brought to absolutely fanatical levels. Even if the Asari were, as a species, more powerful, they simply didn't have the fanatical drive of Cerberus to actually do what they did.

As for the Volus, again, there's no indication that they, on the whole, had any desire to advance their interests quite like the humans did. If anything, they were just angry that the humans seemed to get special treatment but still demand more.

Not to mention, even with all their power, including what they gained from what I mentioned above, they still...

Spoiler

had to rely on an insider with Udina, who had been a near fanatical pusher of human interests since the beginning, pull off taking their attack on the Citadel. So it still isn't like they could do it on their resources alone.

It also makes no sense that Shepard would join with them, especially if you played Mass Effect 1.

Like I mentioned above, I agree that they mishandled Shepard's relationship with Cerberus during Mass Effect 2. At the very least, though, Shepard doesn't automatically have to trust them and you can have him just view them as a means to an end. That pretty much comes up in discussions with most of your squad members. Not to mention...

Spoiler

It is revealed in Mass Effect 3 that Cerberus was playing mind games with Shepard to make him more comfortable with working for them temporarily.

It still isn't perfect, but at least they tried to give it some context.

 

[The Madman]

As a result, I really don't think we can criticize Mass Effect 3's portrayal of Cerberus. Sure, their top assassin was a little...cartoonish...but it was still rather believable given the context of who they had become.

Not really. Even with Reaper technology is still makes no sense that one human organization somehow becomes second of the biggest threats in the galaxy behind only the Reapers themselves, especially when it's implicitly stated in the Codex that there are numerous other similar shady organizations working for the various species throughout the galaxy. The DLC for ME3 even blows things further into ridiculousness with the Omega DLC which has Cerberus somehow overpowering the Citadel, Omega, running massive shadowy organizations across the whole of the galaxy, possessing technology beyond any other race in the galaxy, and throwing armies of seemingly limitless grunts into the grinder.

If it was that easy to do all of the above that one human organization could do it, even with Reaper tech, it makes no sense the other races of the galaxy couldn't have done it as well considering even without the advantage of reaper tech they're more established, better trained, probably better funded, and have better connections. Again humans haven't even been around for long.

The Asari, for the most part, were about cooperation and assimilation with other cultures. They were generally respected as "the top" in regard to political matters, but that was hardly due to their all-consuming desire to be on top and have the most power. Compare that to the humans, which, for the most part, were all about attaining power. Most of what Shepard did in Mass Effect was originally done with the intention of advancing human interests, not protecting the galaxy from a rogue Spectre, and there were even entire political parties dedicated to protecting humans from alien influence. Cerberus was just that drive brought to absolutely fanatical levels. Even if the Asari were, as a species, more powerful, they simply didn't have the fanatical drive of Cerberus to actually do what they did.

I don't buy it, there are just way too many examples of power-hungry and dangerous Asari throughout the Mass Effect series. Hell, just look at Aria for an example of that. And it's not like we're talking a few dozen people here, there are billions of Asari in the galaxy. If even a hundredth of that population are nearly as ambitious as Aria, a fair assumption, maybe their fathers were Krogan, then they should be far more terrifying than Cerberus could ever hope to be.

Nah, I think the entire Cerberus thing was rubbish on Bioware's part conjured up to make humans more important beyond Shepard. I don't mind them existing, secretive shadowy organizations are cool, but their level of nearly cartoonish villainy and power just strikes me as a massive plothole for the series. I would have liked to have them play a lesser more mysterious role in the series as a small but elite organization, not the number 2 threat to the entire galaxy they become where in order to destroy their main base you need to call in the entire combined forces of the galaxy. That's just silly.

They needed to be the skittering spider, fragile but deadly. Not a rampaging rhino with all the subtlety of a neon pink shotgun.

 

[white_wolf]

Siding with Cerberus was a huge no no for the pro-Alliance players you could see the railroading a mile away, I won't try to spoil things for you but save to say many hated it, we couldn't fight with TIM and of all the backgrounds that make it obvious of the shoehorning was Akuze background this guy kills your squad but hey its ok I'll work with you! Players wanted at least the option to go to Hackett and get a real reason beyond, " We said no," from him as to why you can't be with them.

Another issue was the death and rebirth many players hate how the game doesn't care, shep doesn't care, and its turned into a joke for the rest of the series huge issues in character development, significance of death, life, and our hero's sole being, so many many things BW just failed on here.

Project Lazarus is another one for a niche base of fans we went on the boards and all but hand delivered everything they could've used in the project based on the games and all the info held within on how the magic could go about BW ignored us and pretty much shrugs off the entire reason our hero is alive in ME2

The huge plot diversion from stop reapers to get their lackies + Ocean's 11 that ME2 was all about ME2 is so bad plot wise it erasable you learn nothing in the beginning and have nothing to show by the end and even if you do have something to show its gone for ME3 so no worries!

Decisions in this game how they're handled for 3 and what decision you couldn't make were a problem.

Openly mocking and dissing mako fans yes there are alot of them

How the council is handled is illogical you have evidence not just your word you have cameras and recordings in your suit the whole ME game why doesn't shep turn this over to them? Cuz plot says so. BW shows they had no plans for how to make ME2 they just went with what sounded good and what looked cool. The council not believing you was because BW says so.

VS huge issues so much contrivances its started flame wars!

Characters that don't need to be there and take up space Kasumi, Jack, Jacob, Thane, and others have this rep. Either their back stories make them not just odd choices but realistically dumb ones or their jobs they're hired for are already filled by 2 - 4 other people already on staff.

I think the only ones who say ME2 is the best is because they're shooter fans who love all the skin the women show on your ship and they're pro Cerberus. The ones who hate it the most love ME, RPGs, and at least find the Alliance more agreeable in their goals.

For me ME is the road the plot is the mako and in ME its riding smooth and fine, ME2 is the ditch the mako fell into, and ME3 is the mako struggling to get out of said ditch but not quite making it up to the fine road.

 

[Auberon]

Team-building was definitely one of the best parts of ME2. In retrospect, ME1 was the baby tumbling around - copypasted environments, less fleshed-out squad roster and, depending on your point of view, graphics.

Kill-based experience and user interface were things I missed, but it does allow Bioware to regulate ending levels in line with streamlined skills (ME1 admittedly had redundant ones, and gear was overabundant). But the final mission is awesome.

ME3, from what I saw in Let's Plays, went too streamlined with removal of hacking/bypassing minigames, not to mention the "your choices matter" blatant lie.

All in all, ME2 was a nice middleground between somewhat rough nature of first and too streamlined third.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Yes, Mass Effect 2 is darker. But most of it's plot is set in a darker side of the galaxy, the Terminus systems. Omega station is the opposite of The Citadel. Lawless place full of criminals. And since you're working for Cerberus, you get to encounter some darker characters and go to some darker places. If you imagine that all of those things existed in Mass Effect 1, you'll get at least a glimpse of the bigger picture of what that whole universe is like. One of the reasons I didn't like ME3 so much (aside from the ending) is the fact that it didn't expand the universe as much as ME2 did. The biggest addition to Mass Effect universe in ME3 was The Citadel DLC.

 

[AD-Stu]

I'd say just give it some time - in gameplay terms I'd probably say it's the least of the trilogy (most streamlined / restrictive RPG elements, and while the shooter mechanics are better than ME1 they're nowhere near as good as ME3).

ME2 is all about the characters. Of the ones you've got so far, Zaeed and Kasumi don't really offer much (they're DLC, so they're nowhere near as interactive as your other squadmates) and Miranda is very polarising (I'm a fan personally, but it's hard for me to separate out how much of that is me just loving having an Aussie voice to listen to). Give Mordin some time though, he's a lot of fun AND has a lot of interesting stuff to contribute to the game world. Later in the game you'll meet plenty of other great characters too - some paragon, some renegade, but it was the same with your squad in the first game too.

 

[DaWaffledude]

Come on, man! I liked Mass Effect 2, most especially its main premise of gathering a team and building friendships with its members. It was like Pokemon, which also featured a similar premise of building a team and developing a strong bond of friendship with that team. Yes, most of them were violent; Jack is a psycho who curses too often; Grunt was bred to kill by the warlord, Okeer; Samara kills criminals with ruthless efficiency without bothering to hear their sides of the story; Zaeed would destroy a refinery and kill all the workers in it, just to exact vengeance on Vido Santiago. I could go on, but you should get the gist of it.

But, even with all their problems, they're still like a family to Commander Shepard, like the old Mass Effect 1 team. And that's what the entire Mass Effect trilogy, or Hell, almost any BioWare game is like: Developing a team and treating it like family.

They sure don't feel like a family. They feel like a band of murderous psychos who are just in it for themselves and who'll turn on me given the first oppurtunity. Or at least kick a puppy while I'm not looking. Is it too much to ask for one crew member I can actually like without reservation? Just the one? Jacob would be alright if it weren't for the Cerberus thing and I feel I should like Kasumi, but she doesn't exactly scream "trustworthy", you know?

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

Basically they had no idea what they were doing and made it up as they went along.

Spoilers for ME1 and the start of ME2:

Spoiler

I mean think about the Collector ship that destroys the SR1. Why did Sovereign go to all the hassle of tricking the Geth/Saren into doing his bidding when one single Collector ship could've done much the same thing in stopping Shepard.

Multitudes of retcons and silly contrivances make the plot of ME2 and ME3 work.

Saying that though, the gameplay is mostly better in the sequels which is the main thing for a lot of people.

 

[suitepee7]

couple of points you should know

1) as others pointed out, your working with cerberus is a mutual agreement, you don't have to like each other to share a common goal. this plotline develops further through the game, and builds even more in ME3. for now, trust me, it does go somewhere
2) with careful planning, you CAN kill your squadmates, but not until the final mission, and it's so they don't appear in ME3. i know i did it to miranda because i hate her, but the rest of the squad are pretty awesome IMO
3) the council cannot be affiliated with cerberus, and are shocked that you are. the fact that they reinstate you as a spectre is as much as they can do. i'm pretty sure they say something along the lines of they trust you, but cannot get involved themselves.

personally, i can't pin down a favourite ME game, i love each of them for different reasons (although i consider the final ME2 mission to be my favourite section of the series), but 2 has some pretty clear weaknesses. just stick through them, it's so worth it

 

[SmallHatLogan]

I'll preface this by saying that I played the series on the PS3 so I actually started with ME2 and all of my criticism comes from that point of view.

For me ME2 excels in everything except the main plot. The recruitment missions and loyalty mission made me feel far more invested in my team mates compared to ME1 when it was just some chit chat between missions. What's more is that a lot of the character stuff was optional but still important for the final mission. So you have side missions which actually feel like they matter. In ME1 when I was doing side missions it felt like I was just killing time and grinding out a few extra experience points. Not to mention I found them to just be plain unpleasant. Cruising around in that Godforsaken Mako and clearing out the same 3 or 4 copy/pasted environments got old really quickly.

Gameplay in ME2 was far more fun. While I actually play a lot more RPGs than shooters I wasn't a fan of ME1 trying to shoehorn a shooter into an RPG mould. ME2 embraces the shooter gameplay and I think it's better for it.

I also feel like the plot of ME2 is actually decent as a standalone story but when you view it in the context of the entire trilogy it doesn't even need to exist.

In conclusion: ME1 - great plot, ME2 - great everything else.

 

[T3hSource]

ME2 Cerberus was shoehorned in like some kind of fan fiction. Shepherd was killed for no reason. Collectors are a dumb plot device. The game is much, much edgier than before, the plot in general is a swirling mess. See smudboy's videos for plot analysis. And mass Effect 3 is just on homage to the characters they developed over the previous two characters, and ofc slapping the "must have final encounter with Reapers" plotline which becomes even worse as it goes on.

Anyhow the gameplay was surely improved, but also watered down further I feel, it just become another third person shooter. I guess it was for the best, it SOLD A LOT after all. And the reason to replay ME2 is to enjoy your squadmates and helping them solve their daddy issues.

 

[Blunderboy]

Holy shit...someone liked Jacob?

Wow.

Dude, you've got Garrus and Grunt. That's all you need.

Plus,Mordin is bitching.

 

[Pariah Dog]

Mass Effect 2 underwent a lot of changes to appeal to the Dudebro fanbase that dominates the Xbox community. Why it went from being more like KOTOR to Gears of Bro. Most noticably the way the game justifies the infinite ammo/heat system in ME1 then somehow in the span of 2 years every gun switches to a standard bullet system in ME2. And the chest high walls EVERYWHERE come ME2.