Though this game’s already been reviewed at length by many other outlets, I felt, having recently beaten it, that it was time I threw in my two cents. Disclosure: I think Mass Effect 2 may well be among the best video games I’ve ever played. Its entire presentation – from Martin Sheen to its stunning graphics to its vast improvements over the first – is just phenomenal. ME2 is very often entertaining in a way that seems ridiculous. It is a thirty-plus hour game that I beat in just over two weeks. It is also tantalizingly flawed. I say ‘tantalizingly’ because given the vast improvement between ME1 and ME2, one can expect that all kinks will be ironed out by the time ME3 is released. To wit: ME2 is for the most part very, very engrossing, except when it isn’t. Furious action scenes are strung together by eyeball-achingly-dull galactic exploration (think leveling up ad infinitum in any Final Fantasy game), which is problematic for two reasons: 1. because boring sections are boring; & 2. because much of ME2’s strength lies in the fact that it’s highly immersive and cinematic. Flying a tiny, Asteroids-looking ship around the galaxy scanning uncharted planets for minerals isn’t my idea of fun, and doing so breaks the fourth wall of immersion that ME2’s action set-pieces go to such great lengths to set up. But the game is tantalizingly flawed mainly because of one key scene towards its end. In it, you abruptly switch away from your heroic main character and assume the role of your ship’s disabled pilot. There is no shooting. In the midst of a terrifying attack, you limp slowly around the ship, pressing buttons. And this is the best scene in the entire game. Video games need more like it. Let’s hope that happens, somehow.
[...] call your attention to our own Kevin O’Rourke’s review of tantalization and boredom in Mass Effect 2, which is now available on ANOTHER 300 [...]