Customer Reviews

Mass Effect 2 Collector's Edition

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I'm not going to spend time repeating what sooooooooo many others have already said about Mass Effect 2, I'm just going to lay it all out from my point of view.

Mass Effect 1: RPG, with shooter mechanics and gameplay.
***and some exploration that at times seemed boring but at least you got that feeling of exploration on uncharted worlds.


Mass Effect 2: Shooter with very little RPG elements. Streamlined and simplified casual gamer friendly skill tree's and gameplay. Disregard to lore and core elements set from Mass Effect 1. No. I repeat NO actual exploration, not as many sidequests, perks so to speak are not reflected as you would think or assume they would during gameplay.
and so on and so forth. again not going to waste time saying what soooooo many others have said about ME2. Go to bioware's social forums site, read what alot have said and what moderators have locked down because it's a clear representation of people that bought the game with at the very least expecting MASS EFFECT got gears of war in space.

Having played WAY too much of it when it came out yesterday, opinions are solidified. I want to say up front that it's still a great game, and worth every penny... because if I don't say it now, I may lead someone to believe otherwise, as I don't actually like ANY of the changes to the game--I just don't dislike them so heavily that anything is spoiled. It's also worth noting that virtually no critic seems to agree with me at all here, so your mileage may very well differ, especially toward the end of the critical portion of this post.

Combat saw the largest overhaul by far. Bioware wanted to enhance the shooter element of Mass Effect, saying that they wanted it to be on par with things like Modern Warfare, and attract some of those users. It's not on par with the Call of Duty series as a shooter, and trying to make it feel more like that was, in my opinion, detrimental.

Mass Effect 1 weaponry had unlimited ammo, and lore to back that up (despite the obvious logical disconnect with equipping ammo types on your weapon). That's been retconned in favor of standard ammunition dropped by enemies. Accordingly, attacks aren't limited by weapon overheat, but ammo and reloading. Gone is an element that was both unique to Mass Effect, and which made the game's weapons seem high tech and futuristic, while still feeling familiar as firearms, instead of high tech magic wands. It's also plenty inconvenient if you want to rely on sniping--there are more opportunities for it in ME2 than ME1, which is wonderful, but the sniper rifle (at least initially) has a maximum ammo capacity of ten. Ten? Really? I don't know the caliber of real world sniper rifles, but I could fit more than ten .45 cartridges in one pocket of my jeans.

Classes are now much more strictly defined. Abilities available to one class may very well not appear in another, even if they're the same "type" (tech, biotics, combat). The infiltrator, which I played in ME1, for example, is a tech/combat hybrid, specializing in sniping. All tech powers were also available to others with tech abilities, if they met the pre-requisites. This is no longer the case. I've got a tech/biotic party member who has a skill called overload. It's simply not available to me anymore, despite having had it in Mass Effect 1. While classes are more unique this way, the flavor of the skill sets is lost, or at least damaged. "Tech" isn't "tech," it's "tech that this character actually has." Even ammunition types are class specific. Infiltrators, for example, get cryo and disruptor ammo types. So... what, because I'm an infiltrator, incendiary rounds are too hot for my fingers or something? Am I afraid I'll prick my finger on a pointy AP round?

If I felt like my options replaced what was lost, that might annoy me less, but I don't. It's true that some of what was lost can be accomplished otherwise (for example, my missing overload ability is now partially covered by disruptor ammo), but I feel like my toolbox is smaller. During Mass Effect 1, in a pitched fight, I might overload one enemy, hit another with sabotage, use shield boost to get my armor's shields back online, and then medigel to quickly recover from hurt I took while they were down. Now... I could use incinerate. Medigel is not available for mid combat healing. You take cover, and you wait for your health to regen back up, the same as . I have no access to replacements for my offensive powers from ME1, and as far as I've seen, shield boost doesn't exist at all. If I play it more like a standard shooter, it's because 60% of my options to do otherwise are gone, and another 30% are diminished somehow.

The RPG element of equipment is largely gone. There are weapons in game to find and build, and you can outfit your party with those, but gone are the options for modifying them on the fly to fit your purposes. You can select your own armor, and paint it pretty colors (yay blue), but you can't adjust your party's armor at all. This is a bigger deal than it sounds, as it reduces your ability to tweak the game to your playstyle. In ME1, I'd give everyone the most shield-heavy armor I could find, ignoring damage reduction, and take pains not to let damage get through their shields in the first place. I'd equip them with medical systems, so if damage did get through, their health would regenerate without using up my medigel. Now, their armor is what it is. Their health regenerates if they take cover appropriately (which they don't, necessarily), but if someone is hurt, I have NO option to take care of them--I have to hope they'll get out of trouble and regen before they die. Medigel is now used to limit use of the Unity ability--a mid-combat resurrect for incapacitated members--and nothing else. I can't equip around situations to improve odds of survival, and it annoys me greatly.

Character development is also "streamlined" (read: dumbed down) to an aggravating extent. I'm not talking about a character's motivations, history, and so forth; the game's story elements are all still stellar. I mean the RPG aspect again. If you're familiar with Mass Effect 1's skill allotment screen, most characters had a healthy array of skills, and putting points into a skill unlocked several different abilities (or improvements to an ability) as you went. Now, you put points into skills directly. You get bigger numbers, and nothing else until the last level of a skill, where you "evolve" it into one of two variants. I had numerous occasions in Mass Effect 1 where I had to think seriously about where to spend my points. That's an indication that things were done right. This is missing from Mass Effect 2, and it's tragic to me.

Also gone are the low detail, "run around in the Mako on this planet and do stuff" missions. They were unpopular, so I understand why they were axed. The elevator rides in lieu of loading screens are in the same boat. Everyone complained about how long elevator rides were, but squad members would talk during many of them, or you'd hear news over the intercom. That kind of fluff was, to me, far preferable to a generic loading screen with a gameplay tip on it, and that's what we've got now. Squad members could also be talked to at any point in ME1. Face them, hit A, and they'd have a comment about the area. Gone. Sometimes an object or scenery can be activated to get a comment from them, but not always. It's something I miss. Certainly no deal breaker, but I mourn my fluff.

They replaced a lot of the removed stuff with more involved mini-games for hacking and electronics (but since there are no related skills, it's all on you now), mini-games for mining, the need to buy fuel for the ship (not every system has a mass relay, and faster than light travel from system to system without requires fuel), probes for that mining thing (and to do anything with "anomalies" detected on worlds), and so forth. While the resources gained from mining are used to upgrade the ship, characters themselves, weapons, and so on, and actually add play value, the process of mining itself is a waste of time. Hold down LT and wave a crosshair all over a planet until a sort of mass spectrometer wannabe goes off, then fire a probe. There's no thought or challenge or fun involved--you just wave your finger around. It's like putting a huge sheet of paper in front of a blind person, and saying "Rub this; eventually you'll find some braille." Screw that, put the braille in front of me, and let the enjoyable part (in this case, the upgrading) happen.

So far, I've found a lone positive change, but I don't like its implementation. The old paragon/renegade dialogue options are still there, but in addition, there are paragon/renegade interrupts. At points during certain conversations, a paragon or renegade icon will show in the bottom left or right corner of your screen for about one second. If you pull LT or RT (on the 360, not sure what the PC equivalent is), you'll do the paragon or renegade interrupt, accordingly. These range from shutting off a display that was terrifying someone to grabbing an electrical tool and killing an enemy in cold blood before he can make your life difficult. I applaud the addition, but the way it's handled leaves me missing them by a hair (since most conversations have no such options, you're lulled into not watching for them), cursing, and reloading a save out of a desire to know what would've happened. Having to replay like that isn't fun. I'd like a warning of some kind. It's an interruption in the heat of the moment, and I get that, but it could be timing based without being out of the blue. Warn somehow at the beginning of a dialogue, so I don't know WHEN it is, but I'm watching.

So... with all this, how can I still call it great? The most important part of a Bioware RPG for me is the dialogue, and that's intact and fantastic. Even characters I didn't even want to recruit are so well written I talk to them. I ask every question, I explore everything. The core gameplay is less fun, but it's not NO fun, and while I miss what's lost, I revel in what's still there. If you liked ME1, and the above details don't sound like dealbreakers, or you didn't play ME1 and want a great science fiction game that's more plot than pew pew, ME2 is most definitely worth your money and then some.

I am an avid fan of the first Mass Effect, I played through the first game at least 7 times, and enjoyed every minute of it. I followed every tiny bit of news for the second installment of the series, clinging to the hope that it would live up to the insane hype surrounding it. Having just finished m 4th play through and starting my fifth, I think I can safely say that it has. This is a tremendous game that allows me to live out my fantasy of traveling the cosmos and fighting alien menaces come to life, and I love it. In fact, my only complaint is the planet scanning mini-game, it takes way to long and breaks up the action, but other than that, there is none stop action from start to finish, with some of the best written dialog and story out there, and some great game play. The combat system has been completely fixed from the first game, as well as the side quests, inventory management, and upgrade system, some may say that it is not enough of an RPG now, but that is just not true, it just makes the RPG elements less tedious and time consuming. Great job bioware, and every Xbox 360 owner owes it to themselves to try this game

Im going to begin this by saying, when I 1st heard EA had acquired Bioware, I cringed. Every EA game Ive played in recent memory has been a glitch filled mess. And sadly, this is the case with ME2. I played 100's of hours of ME1, and only had ONE glitch that required me to reload a prior save. ME2, Ive had to do it in EVERY SINGLE PLAYTHROUGH. The glitches I experienced, party members floating in the air, Shepherd floating to the ceiling unable to move or shoot. Characters falling through the floor, and being shot THROUGH cover. Maybe Bioware will patch this soon, but knowing EA they will probably say, NAH, its not broken, leave it as is.
ME2 is a very different beast from ME1. ME1 was an RPG 1st, and a shooter 2nd. ME2 is a 3rd person shooter, with some RPG elements thrown in. In ME1, you had the same 4 weapons, pistol, rifle, shotgun, and sniper rifle. You have more weapon variety in ME2, but the ammo system is broken now. You need 'cooling clips' to shoot, and if you run out, your weapon is useless. ME1, you could upgrade to heat sinks, which slowed down the overheat on your weapon. I, personally had 2 heat sinks in each weapon, which allowed me to fire indefinely. Helpful for spraying an area with lost of enemies. Now you have to pick your shots, as you only have so much ammo, I ran out of ammo on my fave weapon many times, yuck. Also, the difficulty has been ramped WAY up. You now have to shoot through enemy barriers, armor, and health to kill them. Some enemies now regenerate health, frustrating to get an enemy down to 1% HP, change clips, and they are back to 50% HP. UGH. Your mini map onscreen is gone, you can view only if you switch weapons, and/or use powers. Enemies can now flank you, and you have no idea where they are without constantly hitting RB/LB pausing the game. In ME1, you could bunker down behind cover, and plan strategies. Enemies flank you, charge you, and FORCE you to move out of cover. You cant use megigel to heal yourself anymore. You can revive you teammates with it, but thats it. And if your team dies, and you have no medigel, you're SOL, hope you can kill enemies alone at that point. You will die, ALOT. I didn't die in ME1 until I tried for the Insanity acheivement. Of course I could heal myself in ME1, no such luck here. Enemies are smart, they dont wander in the open to get shot up, they hide in cover, lay down heavy cover fire for their friends, YOUR team however, is stupid. They run out of cover, stand out in the open to get gunned down. ARG.
The story, is pretty good, its just filler for ME3, but it keeps you going and playing. Everything is very expensive now, but thankfully, ME2 is generous with the credits. The game is roughly about 25-30 hrs long, about 1/2 the length of ME1.
My impression of the new Normandy crew, some are cool, some ok, others I wanted throw out of the nearest airlock.
Miranda, personality is 5 of 10. After her personal quest, she's becomes boring and flat. Shes a romantic interest for a male character.
In battle she gets a 7 of 10. Shes fairly sturdy and her biotics are pretty good. Overall 6/10
Jacob, one of my favorite characters. Its so good to see a black man in a positive role. I get so sick of seeing black men portrayed as gangbangers, drug dealers, and just plain ghetto. Jacob is well spoken, intelligent, honorable, and an all around good guy. Personality, 7/10. Romantic interest for female Shepherd. Battle, he gets 8/10, especially after his personal quest, and he gets his biotic barrier. He can soak of lot of damage, and dish out damage with shotguns and biotics. Overall, 8/10.
Tali, is another of my favorites, she was so fragile in ME1, now she's useful in battle, her hacking, and battle drone are very useful. Personality, 7/10 and she's a romantic interest for a male Shepherd. Battle, 7/10, and overall 8/10, (9/10 if you're fighting mechs)
Grunt, I like the krogan, they are the klingons of mass effect. Sadly, Grunt is no Wrex, one of faves from ME1. Grunt lacks the 'charm' Wrex had. 5/10 personality. In battle, 8/10, Grunt is a beast, especially against husks, he takes down entire groups. And after his personal quest, he gets a sheild boost, allowing him to take more damage, but unfortunately, his krogam charge move lands him out in the open to get picked off by snipers. Overall 7/10
Garrus was another boring character from ME1, but he seems to have matured in ME2, personality, 7/10 romantic interest for a female Shepherd. Battle he gets 8/10, his weapon damage is great, and he can blast enemy sheilds. Overall 8/10.
Samara is interesting in a ninja monk type of way. Personality, 7/10. I don't know if Samara is a romantic interest, I wasnt able to seduce her with a male or female Shepherd. Shes good in battle, 8/10, her biotics are amazing. (I guess all asari biotics are) her weapon damage is great also. Overall 8/10.
Mordin, the hyper salarian, does this guy breathe? Talks non stop. But he is funny and interesting, personality, 8/10. Hes not a romantic interest. Battle wise, 7/10 his cryo blast and incinerate hobbles most enemies, gun damage pretty good, but hes also easy to kill, so keep him in cover at all times. Overall, 8/10.
Legion, a geth on the Normandy, wow. He is a robot, android, which ever the tech term, his personality is almost non existant, no rating here. Battle, 7/10, battle drone and hacking is useful against mechs, decent weapon damage. 7/10 overall. (BTW he has a hilarious 'idle' animation)
Thane, the drell assassin, another of my favorites. Interesting guy, seems to always have something to say, personality, 9/10, romantic interest, female Shepherd. In battle, 7/10, excellent weapon damage, and decent biotics, Thane seems to be one of the few people who realize getting shot is bad, as he stays well hidden behind cover. Overall, 8/10.
SubjectZero/Jack- UGH, perhaps one of the worst characters in video game history. I can get past the bald head, and body tats, but that attitude is just WAY TOO much. Constantly whines about being tortured, (when you do her personal quest, you find out she had it EASY compared to the other kids) she never really opens up, and stays hostile through out the entire game. Personality, 3/10. In battle, now Jack was portrayed as some super biotic, but I never saw where her biotics were any better than the other squad members. Granted Jack/SuZe is hard to kill, even when out in the open, so 8/10. 7/10 overall.
I hated 99% of the changes from ME1 to ME2, but as a ME fan, I did enjoy the game overall, despite its many short comings. Here's hoping EA stays out of the way and lets Bioware make the ME3 the fans want, and doesnt rush another glitch fest to market. Thanks for reading, did your eyes bleed? No? Good :)

ME2 is a preview of the future. This is how video game story telling should be done. It's not so much as a game as it is an experience. The game is so detailed, it makes you appreciate the time and patience the developers put into the game. The replay value is solid as you can go through the game making good or evil decisions, not to mention as a different gender. The real moral choices don't come into play until towards the end of the game, but they are signifigant. The collectors edition offers decent content and some farily powerfull armor. All in all, Mass Effect 2 delivers!

Mass Effect 2, is an improvement primarily in some gameplay functions, but is a step back in a number of rpg elements. The biggest improvement is that the repetitive maps from the fist ME are gone and now each mission has a completely unique map. Also shooting and cover options are slightly improved and the ability to use tech or biotic abilities without pausing, was a worthwhile change, although that could have been expanded even more.
Voice acting remains top notch, and graphics are quite good. ME2 is an rpg story driven game that successfully blends the elements of a 3rd person shooter. This is a great game and worthy of multiple enjoyable playthroughs, but unfortunately the game takes a number of steps back as well. Music and sound effects are good, but there isn't anything new or noteworthy in that regard.
I really enjoyed the engaging main story and surprises of the original ME. ME2 has a decent story, but overall its far lacking compared to the original game. There are no great storylines, plot twists or surprises and the urgency of the mission just isn't there to the same extent. The smoking illusive man just seemed like a rip off from the x-files.
There are more party characters in this game, however the dialogue is more limited. I love the conversation tree/wheel and the uncertainty of what Sheppard is actually going to do or say. The addition of having to make a number of 2-5 seconds paragon/renegade choices was great, but could have been utilized more. The limited dialogue in the game was a major disappointment to me. There is enough to satisfy, but you don't really have too many engrossing conversations, the way you did in Bioware's other hit RPG Dragon Age.
The game also seemed too short to me, and the missions likewise also seemed brief. Missions ranged from short to medium in length, but no long ones, like in the original or like in DA.
The game attempts to streamline too much and in effect removes some of the great rpg elements I enjoyed from the original. It has essentially been dumbed down quite a bit for non rpg players. I really enjoy upgrading character through the levels, and allocating how to spends the upgrade points. Your choices are now much more limited as to what you can spend your level up points on. Armor and weapon selection is also extensively dumbed down. I had mixed feelings in the original about how you didn't have to go scrounging around bodies to pick stuff up, as it is a hassle sometimes, but I also enjoy finding new more powerfull weapons and armor to equip. In place of sorting through weapons and armor to choose the best ones for you and your crew you are strictly limited to researching and buying upgrades. You actually have a few more weapon type choices in the game, but gone is the rpg elements of comparing stats and choosing the best stuff for you and your people. I really enjoy doing this and while I enjoyed the upgrade feature, they could have added that ability and still kept the diversity of choosing weapons and armor. I also was impressed with the weapon overheat function in the original game, as opposed to ammo limitations. I was really disappointed to see they abandoned this unique feature and went to back to traditional ammo clips. A big step back IMO.
I personally enjoyed using the Mako and was sorry to see it scraped. Likewise despite being set in space there is still no user controlled space craft fights.
The galaxy exploring option is a little more refined, but not necessarily better. You need to purchase fuel now to travel around, and probes to use to search planets for resources. The planet searching is interesting at first, but quickly loses its luster and becomes the most boring part of the game. You need the resources to complete your upgrades so you must do it, but the process is tedious and I'm guessing it will be scrapped in the ME3
Maps are all unique but seem smaller in this game. Character loyalty can be gotten by completing each character's personal quest. However gaining the loyalty gives this a superfluous and subtle outfit color change and the use of an extra ability. Other then that, there seems to be no real purpose to have their loyalty. Actually most of the games missions are actually building your team. First the quest to get them, and then their personal quest. There isn't a good party influence system as in some rpgs like DA. It doesn't appear your people will turn on you or die, or have any real input in decisions and in fact they but in to conversation very little.
You have more romance choices, perhaps as many as four for each gender, but they are very formulated. The sex scenes in the original ME were well done albeit a bit short. ME2 and DA both backtracked as far as having any nudity. ME2 love scenes were very short and very pg-13 and over all quite disappointing. It's another area where there broke some ground with the original and then decided to backtrack. Its amazing that you can make adult life and death decisions all game, killing hundreds of people, but they don't think you are adult enough to handle a little nudity.
Overall ME2 may appeal slightly more to shooter gaming fans, but die hard rpg fans may be disappointed some. It lost or gave up a number of enjoyable rpg and game elements that made the original great.

The title says it all. I have been gaming for a long time. Since regular Mario on 8 bit NES. I can easily say that ME2 beats any game I have every played hands down. The only games that come close for me are ME1 and FF3(american). At first I was reluctant to the changes from ME1. After beating ME2 a few times I played ME1 through again and realized just how much better ME2 is. Give me more.

On a sidenote I will say that there is really no big reason to buy the collectors edition. The tin is pretty cool but I really did not even use the special armor. I don't really regret it though. If ME3 is as good as 2, and I am sure it will be, I'd gladly drop 100 bucks for it. Luckily I won't have to ;)

Awesome job Bioware

The Mass Effect series has an outstanding story, fueled by one helluva writer: Drew Karpyshyn. If you're new to the Mass Effect universe, I must strongly recommend that you go and buy Mass Effect 1, Mass Effect: Revelation, and Mass Effect: Ascension. Once you've got them all in your possession, play through Mass Effect. It's not mandatory that you do many of the side quests, if at all, ANY of them, since the vast majority of them have no real bearing on the story in Mass Effect 2 (that I've noticed). Once you've finished Mass Effect, read the books; Revelation first, then Ascension. Then, and only then, can you go on and play Mass Effect 2, milking it of the full experience.

That being said, Mass Effect 2 isn't gonna interest you at all if you're buying it for the combat system. It just isn't. I've heard so many people complaining about the various things that've gimped Mass Effect 2 over the original, and to them, they're valid complaints. To me, however, removing some of the more in-depth features like weapon and armor upgrades just made it that much easier to focus on the story at hand. And in the end, that's what Mass Effect is.

A beautiful, well-told story that evolves and changes depending on choices--even the "small ones"--that you make throughout your playthrough.

Before going on to anything else, I want to make it perfectly clear that those decisions you made earlier on in Mass Effect (small or otherwise) do show up to great you in one form or another here in the second episode. What's more, even though it'd been a year or so since I last actually picked up Mass Effect, I remembered these characters and situations. For example...

* * * SPOILER ALERT * * *

* Depending on whether or not you kill Fist in the first game, he'll show up to berate you in the Bar on Omega. My first playthrough (and consequently, my first playthrough in Mass Effect 2), I let him live. He didn't see it as such a kind gesture, and I immediately started wondering why I actually let him go. Prolly due to the fact that the only reason he was killed in my second playthrough was due to having Wrex in my group.

* On Virmire, once you've handled Benezia, you can kill or set free the Rachni Queen. In all my playthroughs of Mass Effect, I could never bring myself to kill her. She didn't seem like the threat that Wrex made her out to be, and... 's just not in me. So I set her free, and ever since then, I'd been looking forward to seeing how they fit into Mass Effect 2. Sadly, the only time the Rachni even surface in Mass Effect 2 is on Ilium, in the form of a memory embedded in a random Asari. You were told that when your encounter with the Collectors came to a close, the Rachni's song would be... I dunno, something or other. Needless to say, I didn't see any evidence of further Rachni interaction through the rest of the game. Left me feeling a bit... empty.

* By default (for me at least), a new character made from scratch with no imported save (which I was forced to do, as I had no saves compatible for import) will have the following choices applied: you focused your attacks on Sovereign at the cost of the Council being eliminated, you sacrificed Kaidan Alenko to save Ashley Williams, and Udina was chosen to be the human representative to the Citadel. Interestingly enough, these were the exact OPPOSITES of what I'd chosen on every playthrough I ever made. I was always pro-alien, anti-Ashley, and anti-Udina. So to have the game go and make the exact opposite choices was... amusing, at best.

* * * SPOILER ALERT * * *

There are various other changes that BioWare's made to the game, for better or for worse. They've removed random planet scouting with the Mako (and OH MY GOD I'M GLAD THEY DITCHED THE MAKO), replacing that with a mini-game of sorts, in the way of planet-scanning for minerals. Scanning for these minerals is the sole way to upgrade your ship, as well as personnel upgrades, so it's necessary (later becoming a necessary EVIL, once it's lost its novelty).

The introduction of Renegade/Paragon maneuvers during certain cutscenes have introduced yet another level of dynamic storytelling into the mix. Though you're usually given a good few seconds to intervene, if you're not quick enough, you could end up having to live with some painful consequences.

Interestingly enough, a coworker made a remark to me that actually makes a lot of sense: "Mass Effect 2 teaches me more about ethics than [this book] ever will."

And that's true.

Whereas the original Mass Effect was peppered with various decisions that you had to make, difficult or otherwise, Mass Effect 2 is designed in such a way that those decisions are significantly more difficult to make. In general, I had made my selection on the dialog wheel well before the subtitles appeared on screen, making for a more fluid dialog exchange. By the end of ME2, I was taking longer and longer to make the decisions that affected my team, because they were becoming... well, IMPORTANT to me. Familial, perhaps.

That being said, the superficial stuff also matches the story.

Graphics are 5/5. Texture popping isn't nearly as prevalent (if at all visible) as it was in the first.

Audio is 5/5. Love the score for this game as much as I did for the original. Gonna buy the soundtrack eventually; only been putting it off because I was convincing myself that they were gonna release an actual hard copy on disc eventually.

Gameplay is 5/5. There was one instance where I managed to get myself stuck in the ceiling on the Citadel somehow, but I was unable to recreate it, so that's not really an issue. As has been said, the long elevator rides have been replaced with loading screens. In a humorous nod to that, very early on in the story, you're specifically told to, and I quote, "Take an elevator down one level." And sure enough, the one-level trip takes the time you'd think it would. Armor types have been eliminated: any class can wear all armor. Specific slotted upgrades have been eliminated. Traditional health readouts have been eliminated. Again: MAKO HAS BEEN ELIMINATED (huzzah!). I'm sure there are other changes that've been made that I'm forgetting, but... these are the major ones, I think.

The best way to describe Mass Effect 2 is as a refinement. Bioware took what worked with the original, enhanced it, and either streamlined or removed what didn't fit. The end result is a game which smartly improves on the original - both technically and in terms of plot - and turns what were weaknesses in the first game into strengths.

Graphically, this game is a tour de force. It retains the overall vibe of the first game and enhances it with better lighting and more varied locales. The sunset vistas of Illium are just as thrilling as the Blade Runner inspired Omega Station. The character models range from nearly lifelike (see: Miranda, who was modeled by real life actress Yvonne Strahovski) to intelligently subtle (Mordin, whose face and expressions showcase his age) to interesting (Thane, whose species, the Drell, are a new addition to the franchise).

The audio is much improved. The voice acting is even better than the original. Old favorites shine, and the new additions more than hold their own. Mark Meer, the voice of male Shepard, in particular, has improved. The weapons all sound different, and have a much more forceful sound than the generic dull thump they all shared in the original Mass Effect. The music is solid, even if most of it seems to hide just beyond notice.

The biggest changes are in the gameplay. Mass Effect 2 plays a lot more like a 3rd person shooter than the original game did. There's a reloading mechanism and limited ammo. While the in-game explanation for the move is tacked on, it makes battles a bit more tense as you will run out of ammo if you don't manage your resources correctly. Cover also matters more in the sequel. It's far easier for enemies to chew through your armor and health, so it pays to fight smart and use cover to your advantage. Above all else, combat finally has a semi-frantic, visceral feel to it. Geth are dangerous here. The weapons all pack a different kind, yet immensely satisfying, punch. Squad powers and abilities are almost all useful and fun to use. Combat is no longer a chore to slog through. Instead, its rewarding in its own right.

The maligned inventory of the original game is gone. The changes one can make to their Shepard and squad are much more granular here. It's an okay system, but I feel it goes a bit too far. A happy medium can exist between the clutter of the first game and the minimalistic approach this one took. YMMV, of course.

The uncharted world system of the first game has been completely revamped. There are far fewer planets with sidequests, but those that exist are far more rewarding and involved than the repetitious nature of the missions of the original. Even better, there are no Mako segments anywhere to be seen.

I'd speak about the plot, but it's hard to mention anything without spoiling it. I will just say that many things mentioned in the first game are explored in much more detail here. While not everything is answered, there's a lot of meat here for those that enjoyed the setting in the original to sink their teeth into. The galaxy feels even larger here, despite the narrow focus of the plot.

All in all, Mass Effect 2 improves on just about everything the first game had to offer. It's more than just a worthy sequel - it's an incredible game in its own right, and one of the best ever created for the genre. Despite its early in the year release, it should be considered a Game of the Year candidate. Maybe 'refinement' isn't the best word to describe Mass Effect 2. No, 'satisfying' is far more accurate. In just about all aspects, Mass Effect 2 satisfies. You can't ask for much more than that.

I knew Mass Effect 2 would deliver but I never expected it would shake the very foundation of my Mass Effect fandom. Every possible area in need of improvement was addressed the second time around. And every area that defined the brilliance of the original was maintained and perfected. This was a great relief for me (considering the large number of improvements); I was worried that perhaps Bioware would not only changes the negative aspects of the game, but also the positive. Rest assured, this could not be further from the truth. The entire game is like a single defining emotion... I call it "Mass Effection". I don't want to spoil anything for anyone, which is why I'm going to cut this short, but just keep in mind that your choices from the first game will have an even greater impact on the game than you think. In conclusion, the Story, Writing, Combat, Music, Characters, Dialogue, Sidequests, Controls, and Visuals (oh God, the graphics!) have been slowly crafted to perfection. I have no doubts that this game will be successful both critically and commercially. If it were possible to give this game 6 stars, I would it. Unfortunately, such an option would defy Amazon's very existance, causing an unbalance in the force. Or... the universe. Which is exactly what Mass Effect 2 did to my freaking mind. I kneel before this stellar title in awe. Blessed be the name of Bioware. Don't stop what ya got guys. Don't stop 'til ya find the sweet spot. Thanks again for the game!

Update: The Collector's Edition has some awesome collectables. The artbook was fascinating, the comic book interesting, the Cerberus Network card was well worth the DLC (and future DLC to come), the boxart is just straight dope, and the bonus DVD was incredible. Not to mention the tin case was badass. If possible, purchase over the standard (but do not hesitate to purchase the standard edition if this is out. Mass Effect 2 will blow you away).