Mass Effect: What I find special about it - Part 2

The second part of this three part series will be covering what I find great about Mass Effect 2. The second game in the franchise which has one of the best introductions in gaming, starts harmlessly enough with Shepard and the crew of the Normandy being assigned a routine assignment to root out and destroy Geth remnants after the events of the first game. This is both as a measure to suppress the Reaper narrative and to calm the galactic community that the most recent troubles are being handled by the Hero of the Citadel.

All goes according to schedule until an unknown vessel locks on and attacks the Normandy, this is a shock as the top of the line Normandy being piecemeal destroyed gives off a strong message that the enemy means business. In the confusion, Shepard attempts to determine the evacuation status and discovers that Joker is still refusing to evacuate and makes a break for the cockpit. What follows is a series of events where Shepard barely gets Joker to the life pod and then something quite unbelievable happens. 

Shepard, in the chaos of the destruction of the Normandy gets spaced, the continued attack causes Shepard to be shot out of the ship and have their suit rupture, in the ensuing struggle of their suit losing pressure,they pass out and proceed to enter the atmosphere of the planet the Normandy was orbiting before the attack.

It leaves one with a sinking feeling of "Shepard, did they really just kill... Shepard!?" 

As the camera pans out, the title drops and sets the expectation for the game, that anyone can die and not even the protagonist is safe.

The next scene brings hope but also a lot of controversy, if "magic is just science that is not understood" ,as quoted by Arthur C. Clarke, then by the power of  the"magic" Shepard is reconstructed and revived. The execution is a bit sloppy, but the intent is not, as it shows that the once broken body of Shepard is made whole again and what was once dead breathes new life.

This opens up one of the biggest changes from Mass Effect 1, the classes are completely overhauled and condensed with each one having something that makes it stand out. Another thing is an improvement in the character creator which received a upgrade in graphic fidelity.

The new environment you are thrown into leaves one asking a lot of questions and once the cat is out of the bag that Cerberus are the ones that revived you, one can feel very apprehensive, especially so if one brings personal knowledge of what the organisation was responsible for in Mass Effect 1 - doubly so with the choice of the notable feat in Shepard's Origin.

The writing although not without fault does a great job of putting the player in an uncomfortable middle ground between knowing you owe a branded terrorist organisation and distrusting it and at the same time you are given all the means and support to investigate and stop whatever is threatening humanity and trying to figure out how this is somehow related to the Reapers which is more support than what your character was getting and will be getting from both Alliance and Council as you are now associated with Cerberus. The best that they can do is reinstate your status as a courtesy - but feels as a hollow gesture, as they cannot publicly support you either.

In spire of that Shepard is given a task considered to be a suicide mission and to even stand a chance they must first assemble a crew of some of the most exceptional individuals in the galaxy, study the enemies, that caused the destruction of the first Normandy, that is now threatening humanity and develop a means to reach there base of operations safely, or at least safe enough to be able to achieve the objective of stopping it.

Over the course of the game, you do meet up and find members of your old squad with understandably mixed reactions with some having settled and found new responsibilities while the rest require assistance before they are able to join up on your mission.

This continuity with already established characters really helps ease Shepard into this "new world" as familiar faces acknowledging Shepard does help towards building that attachment to said crew members and makes it easier to be engaged in the world. These familiar faces are a great way to feel more comfortable in the role you play as you have friends that you can rely on and trust.

That is not to say the new cast is not enduring. The new members each have their own quirks and mannerisms and before long they also bring something to the table that makes then stand out and memorable. Each member has their own place on the ship and through that helps develop a sense of familiarity that the original Normandy had, but it is expanded upon here and over the course of the game and by completing missions they open up and talk about themselves more.

What really helps solidify your companion's personality is the completion of their personal quest. These really drive home a core aspect of a character and help provide insight into what type of character they are. These personal quests even extended to members of the SR-2 with them asking for things as well.

This collection of personal narratives are important as Mass Effect 2 is a character driven story and when it is looked at through the lens of the golden path the game is,well, it is a very simplistic story of getting a group together, figure out how to go through a dodgy mass relay and hopefully not die horribly.

It says a lot about how well written the characters are to be able to elevate such a simple story structure, yet still makes playing with characters engaging with the content that is provided. 

Mass effect 1 might have endured one to the universe, Mass Effect is when one falls in love with it.

One can argue that Mass Effect 2 does not push the greater narrative very far and that is true, it feels like the game was shaped down and focused towards what it is good at. The game's mission structure feels improved on as it is less roam and explore and more search or destroy with each mission having a defined goal in mind and as every mission feels like is was custom-made and has a purpose even when it is a quick 5 minute mission. 

Although the Citadel did get cut back in scope it is somewhat remedied by having three additional hub worlds in the form of Omega, Illium and Tuchanka that takes an approach of smaller in scope but richer in environments. 

The storied DLCs content incorporated into the Legendary Edition are also great even when there might be some misses, but overall experience is a net positive and do great things for world and character building.

Through everything the game fells short on, these negatives fall away to the overwhelming positives this game delivers on and even though it streamlines the experience it does not sacrifice on the entertainment quality and from start to end it hooks you in and doesn't let go until the end.

What I find special about Mass Effect 2 is that characters are enduring, both companions and random NPCs. It takes the high stakes from the first game and evens it out and lets the narrative breath and gives one an insight to the general Mass Effect universe. It might not push the overarching main plot very far but the player is exposed more to how the galaxy at large operates. It is an expansion of sorts to the first game with better gameplay elements and environments that hit a lot of buttons giving the illusion of a "living world". Your character is established and unfortunately is roped into events they cannot directly control, but decide to make the most of it and try get answers to where questions are ignored. 

Cerberus backing you when the galaxy at large feels like it forgot you can be a bit of a whiplash working for them, but they do give Shepard immediate access to resources to solve a problem which is a lot more than the Council which at best sanctions your actions while being associated with a known terrorist group, which one can argue is a fair show of restraint and consistency on their part in line with how they defended Saren in the first game.

In the end, you are Commander Shepard and while human colonies burn, you cannot sit and wait for bureaucracy to decide that you are not compromised and as such you take things in your own hands by using Cerberus' resources to make your own crew to stop a threat that is not being taken seriously and get your revenge.

Continue to part 3:
Mass Effect: What I find special about it - Part 3

 

Go back to part 1:  
Mass Effect: What I find special about it - Part 1

Images Sources:

IGDB Mass Effect Legendary Edition

IGDB Mass Effect 2