Mass Effect 2 Hands-On Impressions

We catch up with Shepherd and the gang at Eurogamer Expo 2009

2007′s Mass Effect was a top notch space combat and role playing title all rolled in to one long, extensive elevator ride.  The game was well written and fairly well executed but it suffered from bouts of slow pacing, quirky graphic glitches, a loose and prey bland combat system and some of the longest elevator journeys you would ever of been on.  That said Mass Effect was such a compelling game that these issues were mostly overlooked.  EA have gone on record with the games producers at Bioware to state that they have addressed all these major gripes in the upcoming sequel.  Well shall we see if they are in deed as “fixed” as we have been lead to belive?

Taking the controls of the new Captain Shepherd you feel immediately at home.  Everything was as in the first game with the startling addition of a reload button.  This was an immediate notice by eagle eyed Keats as  a furious debate raged about if he was indeed reloading or just slapping his gun – look a bit loose animation wise.  The hands-on starts out with a standard enough Mass Effect cut-scene with Shepherd inbound to an alien planet.  His mission, to reach the top of a tower over run by an opposing force.  The cut scene shows just how far this graphics engine has come.  Gone were the awkward shadows and miss-matched textures of the first title.  The light film grain seems to be in evidence, but seems to have been toned down a little.  After a brief dialogue tree you are deposited at the base of the tower.  Immediately you notice that Shepherd moves a lot faster.  He darts forward and slips in to cover much more convincingly that before.  All the previous array of weapons were on show, Assault Rifle, Sniper Rifle, Pistol, Rocket Launcher etc.  One thing that struck me was that the enemy seemed to soak up a lot more bullets than they previously did.  Keats informed me that was because I sucked but I brushed that off as playful banter… mostly.

The demo ran very well for the 15 or so minutes of game play on show.  There was none of the embarrassing pop-up or pop-in of the first title.  The shooting has been refined and tight and seemed to prove a much better challenge than the first title.  That said we are pretty sure that this will change due to the fact that Shepherd was not leveled up in any way.

All in all the game is shaping up to be Mass Effect but with the annoying stuff fixed, and NO there were no elevators in the part we played (even though you do in fact ride up the tower in an elevator but this is side stepped in a cut scene).

So there you have it.  So far things appear to be on course for the game.  Bioware have a little over 2 months to get those last remaining issues ironed out and the polish thwacked on.  We look forward to taking this very promising sequel to one of 2007′s best titles out for a full spin when the game arrives on 26th January 2010.

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