Cmdr. Shepard delivers memorable gaming experience
Joseph Starkloff
Finding time to relax and indulge in a good video game can be difficult with the hectic schedule many college students live, but those that have played “Mass Effect 2” will attest that you simply make time.It’s just one of those games that unless you inherently dislike the shooter, RPG, action, or Sci-Fi genre, which “Mass Effect” stylishly mixes together, then you will worship every pixel of the game. Simply put, it’s just that good.
Sony recently spent the money to bring “Mass Effect 2” to PS3. A move that may surprise some, as Sony has not invested much in bringing XBOX 360 hits over to their side.
There are a lot of extras in the PS3 version compared the initial release on the XBOX 360. All the major downloadable mission come free on the PS3 version, and players still have access to other online content.
“Mass Effect” is a game of choices. The decisions you make through Cmdr. Shepard, the games main character, in one installment of the “Mass Effect” series carries over to the other. Since only the second installment is currently made available on PS3, BioWare, the game’s developer, created a comic book like intro where you make the decisions you would have if you played the first one.
This is a nice edition but it simply falls flat. You don’t get attached to the loveable characters of the original “Mass Effect,” and the choices you make in the comic hold just a shadow of their initial impact if you made them in the first installment.
The graphical transfer is seamless, but BioWare promised improvements in this area. Being it’s hard to imagine “Mass Effect’s” trademark character close-ups looking that much better; it’s not a huge disappointment that this promise is extremely difficult to notice. It still does leave a sour taste being that it feels like a broken pledge.
All other mechanisms of the game are exactly the same. Every alien looks just as realistic, each weapon makes its own original noise and visual, and each environment has vibrant detail that range from dull metal space station walls to lush topical planets.
It’s a solid purchase even with some of the pitfalls created by the first installment not being available to play on PS3. Once you play a game of this caliber you change how you view your existence. It becomes what my life was like before “Mass Effect,” and what my life was like after. The after is always better.
** 4 1/2 out of five stars where given to this game **
