SciTech

Sci-Fi at its best

Mass Effect 2 continues where the first one left off, delivering a killer story just as the first one did, making this game one of the first big game hits of 2010

Lou Kesten

Posted On Tuesday, February 02, 2010 at 12:57:27 AM

Fans of Avatar rave about how immersive it is, but it has a problem: The film lasts 161 minutes. If you really want immersive, travel to the universe of sci-fi epic Mass Effect 2. I’ve spent about 50 hours there, and can’t wait to return.

And no need for 3D glasses.Mass Effect introduced a menacing alien race called Reapers, an ornery bunch that wakes up every few millenniums and destroys all organic life.

The main character, Shepard, managed to repel such an attack, but as the dust settled, it was clear it was only beginning. ME2 begins with Shepard’s death, although she’s quickly resurrected by a shadowy group called Cerberus and its cryptic leader, the Illusive Man. (Shepard can be either male or female.)

Cerberus awakens Shepard with news that entire human colonies are vanishing, and provides her with a new spaceship to investigate the mystery. Since most of Shepard’s old crew don’t know she’s alive, she needs to assemble a new gang from a file of dubious resumes gathered by the Illusive Man.

Most aren’t the kind you’d want to be stuck with on a spaceship: a tattooed human psychopath; a stoic, fish-faced assassin; a bloodthirsty giant lizard. Even the most incorrigible of them has a compelling back story, something developer BioWare has mastered since its 1998’s Baldur’s Gate.

Most of ME2 is spent recruiting crewmates and earning loyalty by helping them resolve issues from the past. Shepard herself evolves over the course. Throughout, you are asked to make moral choices. Act heroically and characters will respect you; act like a jerk and they’ll be more fearful.

The choices aren’t always cut and dried and options that feel right emotionally may not have expected results. Much of the tale is told through interactive dialogue sequences, which may frustrate those with an itchy trigger finger. But conversations never get boring.

The voice cast, including Martin Sheen, Shohreh Aghdashloo and Seth Green, is first-rate.On-planet exploration can be nerve-racking, with sudden firefights breaking out. But the sometimes confusing violence of the original has given way to tighter, more suspenseful scenarios, and it’s easier to control exotic powers — like hacking enemy robots so they attack each other — Shepard and her squad mates have developed.

BioWare has answered other complaints that gamers had about 2007’s Mass Effect, jettisoning its bewildering inventory system and repetitious planetary missions. If you played that adventure, you’ll be delighted by the return of some familiar faces — and you can load your stats into the new game, so decisions you made earlier affect the plot of ME2.

Overall, the game is sophisticated, thought-provoking sci-fi and after last year’s Dragon Age: Origins, it confirms the status of BioWare as the best storytellers in video games.

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