Mass Effect 2 First Thoughts

Bioware has learned some important lessons from Mass Effect and those lessons make Mass Effect 2 a much better game. While Mass Effect had more role playing player upgrade options than Mass Effect 2, the original game suffered from several key flaws (that few reviews seem to mention).

The biggest of those flaws was at the helm of the ship, the Normandy. You could spend 15 minutes trying to reach a console, locking on to it while too far away and then failing to see it when you were in front of this. You interacted with this console frequently, every time you wanted to go from one planet to another. Now, Bioware allows you to interact with consoles from farther away and the problem has mostly disappeared (you still don't want to get too close to something you'd like to examine, but you should never have to).

The dialog is better, and the software (surprisingly) runs better on my PC, the noob build, which is now underpowered.

Your interactions with planets have changed completely. There's now a mini game for finding elements on planets, instead of just click and you're done, and you walk around planets instead of driving on them in a vehicle that, in Mass Effect 1, was virtually impervious to fire but which could get caught in a ravine, forcing you to reload the game.

The interaction with characters and between them is much, much smoother, and the stories are more believable. It is in the writing and the voice acting that the new game really shines. The old one had some excellent performances from very actors, such as Seth Green as the ship's pilot, but he's even better in Mass Effect 2, where he gets to play some light comedy in addition to serious moments. Mass Effect 2, as the article says, is full of stars.

It is also gorgeous -- without straining my PC -- which makes the game even more enjoyable. Part of the joy of a space romp is visiting strage alien lands that are beautiful. Too many science fiction games take place in dark and narrow spaces or monochromatic wastelands.