To begin with, recently I have been a console-only gamer. I have not played a PC game in the past two years, so I must give it credit for that alone. However, after beating Mass Effect 2, I felt satisfied yet could not see the huge hype. While this is not technically a review, I will be speaking about a few aspects of the game and what it means for RPGs.
First of all, the game's story is quite brilliant, even though it did take a while for things to heat up; however, my first issue is with the pacing. Probably my unreal expectations got the better of me, but I was expecting an epic story on epic proportions, yet I got a game that 80% of it involved gaining squad members. The majority of the game felt like side quest after side quest. Some may appreciate getting to know your squad mates' back stories, but this could have been decreased to have more story development. I know some people like it this way, but I did not. The game's main story consists of approximately three or four missions at the end, with many revelations in a few missions and no story progression in the start of the game. I felt the game's pacing to be a bit off. However, I finished my first play through in 13 hours while doing a fair amount of loyalty missions.
For me, the best part of the game was the choices you can make. You can find out what information you want to know and develop relationships according to your choices made. This is the future of RPGs -- shaping the story how you want it to be. I was very impressed with the depth of the system, so kudos to Bioware on this aspect alone.
Another thing worth mentioning is the dialog and voice acting. Quite a star studded cast, which most have delivered fine jobs doing their roles. The dialog also proves that it has one of the most well-written scripts in the industry. This helps the immersion factor, and I found this extra effort great to see. Speaking of immersion, they have created a beautiful world in great detail, down to the way each species walks and talks. I would have liked to see more variety in each species, most characters of the same race looked very similar and I could not help think about Star Wars while playing the game, perhaps it got too much inspiration from it.
Another thing worth mentioning is the lack of RPG elements. I was very surprised at how the game turned out, while the shooting mechanics were greatly improved, RPG elements were removed making it feel a lot less like an RPG. This isn't particularly bad as traditionally Western RPGs have been more action oriented, but its something to take on board while playing. I did not like how EXP was gained only at the end of missions and the lack of inventory. While the shooting and cover system feels a lot more solid, I think it still has its issues, getting into cover while being attacked seemed to be troublesome at times, same goes for moving out of cover. I found Uncharted's and Gears of War's cover system a bit more solid.
All in all, the game is very satisfying, a very solid hybrid combing two genres together. Sadly, after beating the game, I could not help feel that the game could have been more and was slightly let down. This was mostly due to unreal expectations set by the media, an average of 96 on Metacritic and many calling it the "Best RPG of all time". This aside, I found the game hugely enjoyable and a fantastic sequel to the Mass Effect series. Those who have not played, I hope you can learn from my mistakes and ignore the media to ensure that you will enjoy the game as much as possible.
