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Content Summary
We will examine Mass Effect 2, the second game of Bioware’s Mass Effect series released in 2010, which expands and enlarges the story.
Bioware is a company famous for making good RPG games. The Mass Effect series, on the other hand, is a unique production that Bioware puts not only humans but other civilizations as well, unlike all space-themed science fiction.
The Story of the Mass Effect Series
The Mass Effect series begins with humanity realizing in the year 2157 that it is not alone in the universe. It seems that there is a politically balanced order in the universe that many alien races have established as a result of long efforts. It is not welcome for people to come and disrupt this order in a way. However, as a result of conflicts and political frictions with some alien races, humanity takes its place in the council, the central authority in the universe. But it should be noted that this place is not yet on par with other alien races.
The Story of Mass Effect 1
It should be noted that this place of humanity in the council is not yet equal to other alien races. However, this situation does not last long. When a semi-synthetic, semi-organic danger appears that threatens the future of the universe, our character Shepard save the whole universe and thus the popularity and power of people in the universe increases. We get the place we deserve in the council.
While Shepard is saving the universe, he becomes aware of the ancient beings called the Reaper, who come to the universe every 50,000 years and end all life. But he fails to convince neither the council nor humanity that this threat is real. Populist politicians do not believe Shepard, stating that the real threat has been destroyed and such a thing can only be a myth.
Here is Commander Shepard in the first game.
Shepard, on the other hand, is killed by these creatures, which he discovered while on patrol.
The Story of Mass Effect 2
This is where an illegal organization called Cerberus comes into play, which takes what Shepard tells seriously and prioritizes people rather than the universe.
The organization brings Shepard back to life with high-tech equipment. He gathers his team and persuades him to eliminate the Reaper threat. Shepard actually wants to do this with the council, but the council doesn’t believe him in any way, so he has to act with Cerberus.
Gathering his team in line with Cerberus’ suggestions, Shepard encounters Joker, a pilot we know from the previous game and is now working within Cerberus, and other friends we know from the first game, and rejoins some of them to his group.
Garrus in Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 2 is very important in that it deepens the historical reality of the story, focuses on the characters we add to our team, expands the story without major breaks, and slowly prepares us for the third game.
Mass Effect 2 gameplay footage
Mass Effecf 2 concludes with Shepard, who took a first step towards defeating the Reapers, parting ways with Cerberus.
General Evaluation of Mass Effect 2
Our choices in this game affect the story more than the first game. The story may not be as gripping as the first game, but it fills this gap with more fluid mechanics and a slightly modernized hit feel. Mass Effect 2 does a good job in expanding the universe of the series and enlarging its atmosphere, even though there are still places in some episode designs that we say were built for taking cover and here for the enemy to come, and the enemy always comes from the expected place.
Human reaper mix reaper
A large part of the game is spent adding new members to our team in order to fight the Reapers. I thought that this would interrupt the progress of the main story, but let’s point out that the main story is already shaped and expanded by the story of these team members, so the story is not interrupted. It is possible to say that each character we add to our team has specific weights and stories. If you wish, you can also participate in the personal cases of each team member and increase their loyalty.
Crew members
In line with the decisions you make, you can inflict losses on your team members. Also, I think you encounter Ashley based on the statistics of the choices made in the first game (for example, 60% of the players saved Ashley in the first game).
The hacker girl I’m talking about is Kasumi Goto
Apart from the problem that I mentioned above, where it is very clear where the enemy will come from, the design of the sections has progressed compared to the first game. I had a pleasant time playing the episode where we stole data from a rich person with the hacker girl we recruited the most.
CEO of Cerberus İllusive Man
And in Mass Effect 1 Well, where do we go now? We were wandering around the same corridors. We were going crazy when we opened the map and looked at it, we were going crazy because we would find our way to where the downstairs, where the top floor was, and which way we turned. In Mass Effect 2, they have done well on this map and the GPS orientation that comes out when the assigned key is pressed in some parts. At least I found my direction easier.
Can We Start Playing Mass Effect Series Directly With Mass Effect 2?
Mass Effect 1, 2 and 3 is a grand narrative that runs chronologically. So there is a situation where you have to play Last of Us to enjoy the same Last of Us Part 2, or you have to play the previous three games to enjoy Uncharted 4. That’s why the story needs to start from the beginning.
Despite Electronic Arts’ Remastered release in 2021, playing Mass Effect 1 is a bit of a challenge today, but Mass Effect 2 is better than the first game. The story is good, it makes you say that I put up with playing the first game.
As I have stated over and over, the obsolescence problem of video games, which I see as the new way of storytelling of the new century and which I think we encounter with the first works of art in this field, is a big problem.
For now, they are trying to overcome these problems with remastered or remake versions that they have updated the graphics and gameplay to overcome this problem, but if you ask me, this is not sustainable in terms of market or gaming experience.
It can be said that for us to still enjoy the gaming experience, it is necessary to draw a line ten years before today’s date. I think that we can play the games that we go back that far with a fluid experience, knowing today’s habits.
a Teaser Image of Mass Effect 2
The technologies in the gaming world will also get cheaper and the game world will reach the minimum technology level in the next thirty or forty years, just like the cinema. Game production will increase and we will enjoy playing old games as we enjoy watching an old movie.
Of course, this point of view can be falsified for the game industry, which moves around the borders of technology. Especially as explained in the book Blood, Sweat and Pixels written by James Schreier, this work includes many more parameters than a movie, but that’s my interpretation for now.
References
Mass Effect 2 Review
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Story
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Fiction
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Atmosphere
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Fluency
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Gameplay
Briefly My Opinion
The Mass Effect universe is a must-experience for classic gamers who love story games. Despite its old age, the rest feels good after joining the first game.
