Mass Effect 2 is a great game, as we discussed earlier today. But it's not perfect. In fact, it has some total sucktitude. Here are the five biggest nuisances in Mass Effect 2. And for good measure, we've included why they're not so bad!
Warning: Spoilers be ahead. You've been warned.
1) Reload
Yes, changing the no-ammo to a partial-ammo system does make combat more frantic. The downside to that is after every firefight, players are forced to go look around for heatsinks (aka ammo), or the next combat situation will force you to switch guns.
The bright side? You carry a ton of heatsinks.
2) A very slow, bad timed secretary
A new computer terminal and lots of characters means lots of traveling within the ship and computer. Checking up on these constantly is a hassle, so an on-board secretary has been placed beside the galactic map. The problem is she takes so damn long to tell you there’s a message or that someone wants to talk to you that you’re already half-way out of the room or already checked the message yourself. The sad thing is when you stand there and wait for her to speak, she won’t say anything. It’s like the bitch is waiting for you to leave to start talking. Worst. Timing. Ever.
The bright side? When it works right, it does save time.
3) If you’re smart, Normal difficulty is easy
On my first playthrough, I died twice and only made one game-critical mistake, which in the end didn’t change much. Normal difficulty doesn’t make combat all that hard, especially if you’re prepared. The end of the game, the “Suicide mission,” didn’t feel like a suicide mission at all. In fact, the last boss was nothing compared to Saren. Then again, I did put 20 hours into the game beforehand.
The bright side? Difficulty settings go way up, so try on normal then carry your character over for another run.
4) There’s no characters that stand out
Mass Effect 1 had Wrex, who was the go-to sidekick. Funny in a dark, sarcastic and often sadistic way, Wrex was always fun to have around. There’s no one like that in Mass Effect 2. Every character has a history, but none of them will grab your attention like Wrex did.
The bright side? No singular awesome character means switching characters constantly is easy.
5) Overall direction is weak
After the hour and a half introduction, players are given free reign over the Normandy to explore the galaxy. The end of the game is the suicide mission. This makes the entire middle mostly one thing: finding a team. Finding characters and making a team is a pretty weak plot device, not really worthy of Shepard’s credentials. Sure, they’re the best crew ever, but it lacks the ambition and drive to find Saren we saw in the past.
The bright side? The overall plot may be weak, but the smaller sub-plots and storytelling are very well done, giving players the chance to embark on interesting quests.
[Update] 6) Conversations mid-sentence get lost
Characters like to talk, and sometimes not in an active, controllable conversation. They often have important or funny things to say. Sadly, if you're moving fast or in a crowded area, these little pieces of gold disappear if another conversation starts elsewhere. Walking on the Citadel or in a bar on Omega? If Grunt starts talking, he'll stop mid-sentence because random people nearby started talking. This cutting off happens infrequently, but it's a horrible nuisance nonetheless.
The bright side? It doesn't happen too often, and if you take it slow or just stop when a conversation is going on, you won't miss it.
Also, we're giving away two copies of Mass Effect 2 over here. Don't forget to enter! When you're done doing that, make sure you read why Mass Effect 2 kicks ass.
Aw man! Spoilers!
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Wow. What the hell do you think your doing? The games not even out and you post a huge spoiler for everyone to unknowingly wander across?
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wambulance Reply:
February 3rd, 2010 at 3:22 AM
uh, actually its been out for over a month, you do know that they ship games WORLDWIDE, right? well, people in canade ussually get releases about a week before we do.
As for the article, I was mad at EA for bungling the instructions with the pre order content, then i beat the game with damn near everything(every character loyal, all n7 missions..)and it only took me 18 hours. the whole feel of the game was nothing like the first, which had a great exploratory aspect. This game feels like a Suikoden, forcing the players to recruit teammates instead of having a great in depth plotline. the story felt dumbed down and VERY predictable, especially the last recruit, LEGION. anyone with half a brain knows that him and Tali are going to have to broker peace to unite the races in the third one….
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This is coming from a person that has invested nearly 500 hours in the first Mass Effect. Call me a Mass Effect fanboy if you want. I’m definitely a BioWare fanboy without a doubt.
I’m not a fan of articles of this type because a game CANNOT be perfect. They simply don’t exist. But accentuating a game’s flaws is in poor taste in my opinion because you are telling people ‘this game sucks because of these reasons’ when you just said (in another article) that the game was great.
Just my $0.02.
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Before you bash James’ article, I would advise you read his review of the game, which actually praises the game.
http://www.bravenewgamer.com/2010/01/mass-effect-2-review-more-like-mass-effect-squared/
You’re absolutely right, no game is flawless. We also don’t have the time to write an article pointing out the flaws of every game, which is why it’s only done for the big ones that people care about.
If you want to hear about the good things in ME2, by all means, read the review.
Also, apologies for no spoiler warning (it’s there now). I blame James.
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Dude, if you invested 500 hours in Mass Effect then you’re a douche. Like, the game’s not even very good, decent at best.
And before you start calling me a fanboy or whatever, I have a 360 and the original Mass Effect, I just thought it sucked hard.
And seriously, the game was completely passable in like 100 hours, I don’t really get you.
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gingerbreadbum Reply:
January 25th, 2010 at 5:20 PM
just because it didn’t exactly fit your taste doesn’t mean someone else didn’t like it, i personally have put in 100’s of hours over multiple playthroughs, and i’m still not done.
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Not only did you write this article for extra hits, you couldn’t even spell “dammit” correctly. Good job.
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lolol Reply:
January 25th, 2010 at 4:35 PM
LOL.
It’s damnit. not dammit. idiot.
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Oursacrifice Reply:
January 25th, 2010 at 4:38 PM
Incorrect. Get yourself a dictionary.
Are you people forgetting that the game has multiple endings, and I mean a lot. the 3rd Mass Effect will have tons of endings, especially since there is the potential of Shepard actually DYING in the campaign of ME2. That whole “OMG! 2 CHARRIES DEAD?” may not apply to me as I may make different choices in the game, have more loyal companions, and have different morals. Fail spoilers.
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Ok, I’m done with BNG for awhile. I mean if you just want hits hold a contest or something. You are killing brain cells with this nonsense and spoiling the game in the process. The review I read earlier was not very well put together, and this article is poor to very poor as well.
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Tyler Treat Reply:
January 25th, 2010 at 4:41 PM
You evidently missed that there was a spoiler warning.
And for the record, we are holding a giveaway for ME2.
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yo ****! if i ever run into you, your’e getting punched in the teeth
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Jonathan sux Reply:
January 28th, 2010 at 11:10 AM
You are a total nerd for wanting to punch someone for the spoilers i presume? (which have been notified). What’s that gonna look like: ‘ Yo, are you the one who spoiled my precious mass effect 2 game??! ‘ PUNCH ‘
Get a life, fruitcake.
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ok, so the game is not perfect. I still don’t think these problems ruin the whole ME2 experience. I’m sure even your favorite game in the world has its downsides. Also don’t hate on Bioware fanboys!
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Tyler Treat Reply:
January 25th, 2010 at 4:51 PM
Since it’s seemingly become my duty to put out the fires James started, I would like to point this out:
James is not saying ME2 is bad. He gave it 9/10 in his review, which is an excellent score. The game is fantastic. BioWare is an extremely talented developer.
This, as with any other game, is not perfect. Since it’s a game that people obviously care about, James took it upon himself to note some of the flaws. That doesn’t mean he thinks it’s a band game. Don’t read too far into this article.
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Ty Reply:
January 25th, 2010 at 4:55 PM
it honestly sounds like he is just nitpicking the game
You dumb ****, you don’t write spoilers before the game comes out.
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Lohengrin Reply:
July 16th, 2010 at 6:57 AM
You moron he DID have a spoiler warning!
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@Ty
He has a series of articles planned for ME2, including tips for the game. But I can see where you’re coming from.
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Yeah, Tyler does seem to be putting out a lot of fires that James starts. Maybe James should start less fires…
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i don’t see any big spoilers, if it’s about the dead characters, you can save all characters if you’re careful and if you play a certain way (but it’s said that it’s hard to do), likewise, you can kill all your characters… nothing’s written here that you couldn’t find out in a trailer, besides the nitpicky errors in the game, of course.
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The internet really is amazing for it’s ability to provide an onslaught of hyper-emotional crybabies in response to a relatively harmless article.
Personally thought it was a good read. When a game is as good as Mass Effect 2, you will very seldom have reviewers dwell on these sorts of flaws because they aren’t worth focusing on. This article does not say they’re worth focusing on either – in fact the opposite, it just says that they’re there. It’s informative.
No need to go being so overbearingly defensive.
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Tyler Treat Reply:
January 25th, 2010 at 6:16 PM
Thank you for taking it the way it’s meant to be taken. Some are reading way too far into this I think.
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HAHA. This is what 360 owners get for having outdated technology. Look who’s talking **** now. Real talk , just add a Blu-Ray drive to the ****ing system so games like this can be bigger and stuff like FFXIII doesn’t get downgraded so bad. Call me a ****ing fanboy but my system’s still better than yours. **** you and have a nice (or terrible one in case you get your 100th RRoD) day.
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Jonathan Older Reply:
January 25th, 2010 at 8:37 PM
WTF? why does “OMG CONSOLE WARS” always pop up?
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Oh my hell, I respect the fact that you’re calling out a game. I’m not just defending Mass Effect 2 cause I’m whooped over it. I understand that no game is perfect. I’m not going to sit here and attack you for your own beliefs. But on a general scale, this article is absolutely unneccessary. Not only is it untrue, it’s full of spoilers (or was, not sure if you fixed it), and it’s just bad timing. You don’t write something like this on the night a game releases unless you want hits. Particularly from N4G. You know N4G has a massive PS3 following. About 75% of users there support the PS3. They don’t want Uncharted 2 to feel threatened so an article like this is appealing to them. Shame on you for giving in man. Thank God Planet Xbox 360 just PWND your ass.
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oh man, you got to be the only guy in the world who thinks me2 has bad characters. so far all the pro journelists have said the characters are the best part!!!
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PS3 fanboy detected??
You got that right!
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Tyler Treat Reply:
January 26th, 2010 at 12:41 AM
Oh please, did you even read his review, or for that matter, his 5 reasons the game kick ass?
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Reload: No problem. Quit whining.
Secretary: Sure, she’s not a wealth of info but why talk to her anyway? She’s your secretary, stupid.
Difficulty: “If you’re smart” you’ll up the difficulty because you can . Duh.
Characters: I haven’t even beaten the game yet, but Thane is awesome, Jack insane, Grunt ( and Wrex for that matter ) kick ass, Miranda sexy, etc.
Overall Direction: I will say that i sometimes feel like the game is kind of a gromd, but all the missions rock this time. Plus I like the idea that I live with the choices in the story. It’s cool even if what I choose isn’t always quite what I meant.
Conversations Get Lost: Yeah, I have to agree on that one.
ME2 is awesome.
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I laugh at this artical, completelty stupid… who ever played the game must completely suck, your moaning about the characters but you never even recuited legion…. EPIC FAIL
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Marie Reply:
January 26th, 2010 at 9:38 AM
Learn to spell you illiterate git. I think you will find in the dictionary that ‘artical’ is actually spelled ‘ARTICLE’.
What a moron everyone has their own opinion to this game and right to that opinion. I have friends who got this game early and said ‘it is a shadow of its former self’.
If your are a pervert with loose morals this game is perfect for you. This is like ‘Gear of Wars’ versus the sleaze and of ‘Grand Theft Auto’ in space.
Perfect for who can’t spell basic words
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wambulance Reply:
February 3rd, 2010 at 3:36 AM
thanks for the ultra relegious, im better than you rant, you uptight ****.
(and by the way, you post should have read:
“What a moron, everyone…”)
theres this little thing called a comma, so before you go off on someone elses grammar, check yours.
you sir are a ****ing retard
thanks for the spoilers asshole
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Lohengrin Reply:
July 16th, 2010 at 6:59 AM
Yet another jackass who didn’t read the spoiler warning!
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Reasons why reveiwers suck.
1 there mostly paid. Meaning they get paid per article. so you wanna pump as many reveiws out as possible.
2 Reveiwers due to 1 has to blaze threw games so they write it ASP. Money and prestige of haveing the early reveiw.
3 Due to the above. Reveiwers tend to miss alot of the game. Some miss the entire point of the game. So unless the reveiwer is a lover of the game they arnt gonna do too well.
4 Some are so pressed for time hey dont even complete the game. ala Hilary Goldstein on gamespot. A guy that never seems to like any game dosnt complete them, then paid for it!.
this isnt an attack on James, just a flaw with most reveiwers. and why I read a review I can acknowledge or ignore it.
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Marie Reply:
January 26th, 2010 at 9:46 AM
I write game reviews for another site and no reviewers do play the game the whole way through them. Game revewiers are very careful, the look at the story, gameplay, characters, graphics etc. They understand the game because they are looking at both the positives and negatives so they can write an accurate review.
So are you one of Bioware’s Royal Butt Kisser, how much are you getting paid $10 per cheek.
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Man, I was starting to like this site. You just lost big cred in my book. Flame bait post for the trolls at N4G. You should have learned by now N4G is bad for business stupids.
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retards: people who spoil one of the best games ever
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Tyler Treat Reply:
January 26th, 2010 at 11:01 AM
Even though he has a spoiler warning, there aren’t actually any real spoilers in this.
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Lohengrin Reply:
July 16th, 2010 at 7:00 AM
Agreed.
Ive been playing ME2 for around 20 hours and Ive got to say that I agree, the game sucks. More sucking aspects of the game:
-Planet surveying is VEEEERY BORING
-There is NO ARMOR FOR COMPANIONS (There was in ME1 and it was great) and the “modular” main character’s armor idea sucks.
-Very FEW POWERS to choose from for each character
-VERY unbalanced classes
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Also, its too short on plot, feels rushed 90% pf the time your scanning planets(LAME)or recruiting. nowhere near the storytelling of the first one. remember how the first one had like hundreds of missions? well i can count t all the missions in this game with fingers and toes. Even though the same writers are attached to it, it seems like the devil that is EA got their claws in it somehow.
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ONE MORE RANT,
if the reviewer of this game did finish it, wheres LEGION at in his picture? I know he is optional, but youd have to be braindead not to get him.
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The only people who said Mass Effect is a “bad” game are the people who simply can’t handle what options it gives you.
Don’t say Mass Effect, 1 or 2, are bad games as if it’s a fact when it oh so clearly is NOT fact.
It does many things other games fail to do; although I’ve always thought having a branching story does hurt the overall Plot of games (where Linear games tend to have a stronger focus), Mass Effect (And Dragon Age: Origins) shoved my words back in my face as both of those games were incredible.
It may not be a pick up and twitch type of game, but that’s the GOOD part. You pay $60 to invest hundreds of hours into the game, which most games don’t offer you more than 10-20. That’s money well spent, and that’s a damn good game.
More of what I typed here wasn’t aimed at the article, per say. It was aimed at some of the comments saying it was a terrible game. Mass Effect isn’t perfect, but it’s A LOT better than any other RPG/wRPG/jRPG out on the market currently. That is a fact.
Some may not enjoy it more than, say, Final Fantasy games, but that’s personal preference. Whereas good game design, good learning curve (not steep), and tons of replay value normally makes a game a good game.
I’ve always called a game good if any person can pick up the controller and enjoy it. If you have to struggle with ridiculous controls or super combos just to do a simple action, the game fails to be “good” in my eyes.
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Personally I LOVED “Mass Effect 1″ I finished it like 3 or 4 times. But “Mass Effect 2″ just plain SUCK! If “ME1″ was a solid 9 then “ME2″ would be a 4! The story is pretty weak, and they screwed up a lot of things that made “ME1″ great.
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