Tuesday, July 18, 2000

Mass Effect 2 PC review 9.5

Action
In the playable intro the spaceship Normandy by an evil alien race called the collectors is attacked. Thanks to Commander Shepard manages to mate Joker so just by board before the showpiece of the Alliance in flames and nearly destroyed a nearby ice planet crashes. Shepard, however, disappears in the vastness of the universe and dies. Game over, end sequence? Of course not. Rather, the end of the beginning. Two years later, awakening the hero or heroine - her once again have a gender choice in character creation - in a high-tech laboratory of the controversial conglomerate Cerberus, which has set itself the task of helping humanity interstellar into a leading position. And because Shepard with his exceptional skills and leadership qualities, fits very well into the scheme of the Group, has made him the nameless company boss - known only by all of the unknown - can simply resurrect.

Armed with outrageously expensive implants and surgical scars, Shepard will now be put in the service of Cerberus and defeat the collectors. Easier said than done, but the unknown is a very shady person, is difficult for the trust. Since it also does not help that the Group will reconstruct and expand the Normandy with modern technology allowed. Shepard must always remain vigilant and put words carefully on the scales of the unknown. And even with the mostly asked by Cerberus crew, he is initially not quite warm. This, however, is mutual. At least sitting in the cockpit of the ship a familiar face. Joker can not believe still not that Shepard back to life stands before him. And the new on-board AI EDI makes the young prankster create, because they constantly him in his work.

Who knows the predecessor or Dragon Age, BioWare's ambition knows a cinematic gaming experience. Mass Effect 2 can safely be described as a cinematic masterpiece. Incredibly lifelike, the characters act, inconceivably varied are once again succeeded in the various alien races. Expressive eyes, in which one can lose some, coupled with facial expressions and gestures that work really fits in any dialogue matched. Gone are the days of conversations in which the dialogue partners looked stiff and stressed spoken with more than a casual arm movements. Many a scene in Mass Effect 2 has almost photo realistic. That's great and will only be avoided by jerky movements, or sometimes a mismatched German speech. In particular, the mechanical Geth contribute their stuttering voice feedback before the destruction of almost unintentionally funny. And not always a serious dialogue is spoken emotionally fit.

Mission design
The dialogues in themselves again before you make moral decisions - and not too tight. You must not penetrate more deeply into topics, the mimic the service and thus recorded points on your model or personality. Often arise from new perspectives in your decisions sidequests. How can you as the owner of a forced laborer helping to relay the latter by its a group representative who would like because of the company ethics actually acquire slaves. Or you believe the owner thereof, scour your local laws for loopholes in order to give the worker the freedom while maintaining a satisfactory compensation from the state. On other planets you help a wrongly accused of theft of pocket Quarianerin by interviewing witnesses and carries her notes.
Unfortunately, there are these imaginative side quests not that many. Most of the time chasing after her in the shoulder perspective, very repetitive and the main tasks you must recruit more team members. The meaning of such a great crew remain long in obscurity, but it nevertheless Meet many old acquaintances from the first part and is expected to extend thanks to them later, the Normandy, with upgrades and explore better equipment. Loyalty missions also allow a deeper insight into the biographies of followers and lead you into interesting areas. Reward the effort: a loyalty bonus to skills, and new dialogue options, which promise a friendly relationship, and even the prospect of romance. Here, incidentally, let BioWare had to complain again homophobia, because a male Commander Shepard is denied to enter into a homosexual affair.

Battle System
BioWare has purified the fighting mechanics and relies on battles. In the predominantly very linear levels, you can take cover behind all kinds of objects and attack your enemies from afar via the zoom function. Pistol, machine gun, high-tech shotgun, precision rifle and various heavy like rocket launchers and cannons are blasting as you progress your arsenal. The first game-thirds of the shootings are still very modest. The two teammates who are always there with you, hardly necessary. On the contrary, even a little annoying when they for the fifth time before your gun running and blocking the line of sight to the enemy. Through simple and moving up her position commands, they can nevertheless grossly guidance. And once they obtain coverage beyond the assigned tasks, they are quite useful.

You have before you play the choice of six classes, including front-hog, kittyfoot and technicians. This provides you your five basic skills. So it slows down the time as a soldier, brings adversaries as an expert on floating or makes a Infiltrator from a Tarnsystem use. With the election of the Class replay value is actually not so exorbitant, contrary to expectations, as you can get through the team system direct access to all class skills. Chooses her as the soldier class of Shepard and have an expert and a guard in tow, you can take the skills of all three classes pack in the Alliance and use at your fingertips.

The skills are the driving factor in the otherwise very plain fighting. Here and there, there is a breakable crate, or explosive splintering glass vessels. But, influenced by physical objects is not a trace. Even chairs and monitors appear unimpressed by explosions and fire. In times of Crysis, FEAR, Half-Life 2 and Red Faction: Guerrilla shooters would certainly be a lot more, especially with regard to the linearity of the levels. Only from the second game, third of the battles are challenging and the skills effect rich enough that the static environments are excellent. Then accumulate boss encounters, tactical finesse come to the fore and skills will be effectively coordinated. Burn enemies, dissolve or be torn to pieces - some while they float through the air or be thrown through the half-space. And sometimes it will give you a good or nasty interventions a tactical advantage. For example by sabotaging her an enemy Mech, who thereupon is directed against its owner.
Apart from the straightforward shootings are the levels of a treasure trove for collectors and can be proud of mostly real. Whether rainy jungle area, sterile laboratory environments, rusty industrial sites, or creepy-crazy alien spaceships that could jump from an H. R. Giger nightmare come - there's something for every taste. New research subjects, Medigel and credits can be found in the venues. Often their systems, you must hack and bypass circuits, which empties into oblivion and memory games. Accurate exploration of the areas is also worthwhile, because you meet frequently at the side characters that give you valuable information or wish to be escorted. However, overall still a bland taste, because Mass Effect 2 in the nucleus, a third-person shooter is - and not even a superior genre representative, if you let the time cinematic action out of consideration.

RPG & Economy
As has been indicated, Mass Effect is powerful when it comes to leaving 2 RPG elements feathers. On weapons research and strengthens their skills improve Shepard and his followers. That is nevertheless greater role than in the STALKER series, but in the face of such heavyweights as Dragon Age, which also dates back to the home BioWare, one has to wonder something about the simplicity. A classic inventory now missing entirely, which is in view of the terrible implementation in the predecessor is a blessing. Therefore you must now awkward between character screen and arms locker switch to assess the impact of new pieces of armor to shield your life and energy. Furthermore, no apparent how much damage a weapon or skill, then, effectively doing. The fact that the shotgun after an upgrade makes up 30 percent damage, is much too vague indication. Role-playing and Statistics fans will certainly not be happy here.

The Normandy invites you to the free exploration. Insignificant lead discussions with the crew, a look at the ladies take a shower and be warned of EDI for conducting research that use garbage Press - between the missions is plenty to do. And convince places like the Citadel Refurbished and other commercial centers also with diversity. Galactic news, listen to her major contribution, intimidate or log up as an advertising icon dealer rebates rich, smoky visit strip bars or simply marvel at the impressive skyline of a futuristic metropolis, including air traffic. And of course, BioWare is not beyond the now-grown fashion awards, which you'll get around to a number of shots to the head or code comments. On the Normandy you have your own cabin, which you can embellish with decorative objects such as ship models. Bring a playful nothing, but somehow you have to bang out the pile of coal so that over time accumulate on your account.

What else? Well, the tour the universe is now slightly larger and designed is done through a 3D map. In the future, you have to keep an eye on your fuel consumption and use fee-based probes to explore resources. With a scanner is its crosshairs manually from the planet's surface and waits until refuses resource indicators. The higher the curve, the greater the yield. Platinum and other commodities are essential for the study of upgrades, but can be recovered during the missions, although not in large quantities. In order to travel longer distances, using their mass effect portals that instantly transport you from one galaxy to another.

Graphics 10
Gameplay 9.5
Sound 9.0
Overall 9.5

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