by Austin Mittman

Created on: March 24, 2010

     Mass Effect 2 was one of the most anticipated games of Spring 2010, and for good reason.  The first Mass Effect was a smash hit, enticing millions of players to play it's epic and engaging storyline, complete with action worthy of any great action/shooting game.  This second game in the series was poised to destroy the first game's hype, with the improved shooting, storyline, and traveling through the galaxy.  Although Mass Effect 2 might not have blown the first game out of the water, it is a worthy sequel that is praise worthy and sure to be liked by many of the rpgers out there.

     First off, this game has a back story like no other.  Not only does it have the first game's story, but it also has the franchise's great back story that could have you reading for hours.  The back story is told through codexes, which are like journal entries, but much more informative than a journal entry.  They have information from an alien species, to a planet, and even some plant species.  These codexes can be very addicting if you let them.  For example, I once spent the better part of 2 hours reading through most of the codexes, before i finally had to stop reading them.  They really help you to become immersed in the game's many worlds, that you now know just everything about from reading all of the codexes.  Compared to the last game, Mass Effect 2's codexes are much more detailed, but most of the codexes are borrowed from the first game, making them rather stale if you have read through the first game's codexes.  But, if you forgot a lot about the first game (like I did), reading the codexes again helps you to refresh your memory about much of the franchise's back story.

     The first Mass Effect had the morality choices in it that felt good when you did something good and made you feel bad when you did something bad.  Now in this game, you feel mighty heroic when you do good, and feel despicable when you do something bad.  These feelings increase if you played through most of the first Mass Effect.  For example, I personally felt myself torn into a decision within the first hour of gameplay, and I was very distraught as I tried to think up of the right solution, since I wanted to be evil, but I was feeling more towards the heroic side.  I was finally able to pick evil, but I felt so dirty as I watched the fruits of my decision. 

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