Mass Effect 2 Review

Ahoy, Space Captain!

As well as putting players in a slightly new setting (one with inter-species racism, swearing and even a little raunch), Mass Effect 2 also introduces a whole bunch of new ideas on the functional end of the game experience. It adds in plenty of new features and ways to interact with the world.

The biggest and most satisfying change that’s been implemented is the way that Shepherd’s ship, the new Normandy, has been made into much more than just a room you stop to chat to NPCs in.

The new Normandy, which Cerberus has kindly outfitted with all the latest technology and toys, is now a multi-level area for players to explore as they progress through the game. Like the Ebon Hawk in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, the Normandy has quests of its own that are gradually unlocked as you move through the game. There are enhancements you can make to your vessel and errands to run for the crew, either to unlock specific features or just to get a few extra lines of dialogue and a deeper sense of character.


Taking care of the crew is one of the things we loved most about Mass Effect 2 and, even though it’s a very small addition to the game when compared to the new combat system and ship navigation segments (which we’ll get to shortly), it’s probably the thing that has the most lasting impact. As with many of Bioware’s games it’s not the consistency or balancing of the RPG rulesets that prove memorable; it’s the roster of characters and the way you can interact and shape them over the course of the adventure.

The crew members you get a chance to interact with, from the pair of bickering engineers that monitor the ship from deep within it’s bowels to the surly chef who occasionally yells at anyone who complains about his food, don’t have the extensive screentime as the main characters admittedly. They are utterly superfluous when you examine them, but the sidequests and snippets of dialogues they offer go a long way to building the Normandy up as a living, breath world. They represent both the strength and fragility of the ship as they talk about their mission and their lack of resources with something that occasionally sounds like real passion.

Other areas of the game aren’t as well judged though, such as giving players the opton to tweak their costumes. Shepherd can alter the colour and pattern of his armour, as well as adding new helmets and bits to the possibilities as the game continues, but that means little for the game other than the chance to charge about, fully encased in a lurid pink battlesuit. Even space men have style.


Likewise, the starting selection of casual attire that’s open to Shepherd is enough to raise an eyebrow. There are four basic options for Shepherd to wear in areas where he won’t be fighting and the first three are variations of military scrubs; khakis and t-shirt, an ambassador’s gown and an approximate half-way between the two. The fourth option on the other hand just screams ‘wanna-be space pirate’ though and, let me tell you, if there’s one thing that I’m sure about when it comes to the Commander I carried over into Mass Effect 2 it’s that he wouldn’t be caught dead in an bicep-bracelet. He’s happy with Hello Kitty body armour, thank you.

As with the original game, Mass Effect 2 allows players to roam the Normandy at will too, though some areas are locked off until you’ve recruited the relevant ally to stand in them constantly. In between missions and when you’re docked at stations you can move about the Normandy chatting with the new AI that helps run the ship, flirting with your AI and trying to further romance your allies. Pretty much everyone can be wooed in one way or another, further proving that games are better than real life.

Unlike the original though, the Normandy is useful for a lot more than just chatting with allies though. Not only does Shepherd have a ready-room of his own to personalise, but he can also use the ship’s facilities to help increase his combat prowess by funnelling scavenged resources into weapon research.