BEST of 2010: Non-Sports Video Game

MASS EFFECT 2

Hands down it is not even debatable, Mass Effect 2 is the best game of the year.  When it is all said and done it will also be the greatest Gaming Epic series ever.

Bioware took an amazing game in Mass Effect and made it better.  Lots better if you can improve on perfect.  While the suspense and mystery was not as prevalent in Mass Effect 2 because you already knew what you were dealing with and more so pushing the story along with the Collectors as a temporary pawn in the Reapers quest for domination.  And let me tell you the adition of LEGION to the series is immeasurable.   The Geth are a original creation (with the exception of the Saturn 3 resemblance) with a very original concept.  A bio mechanical species that live as individuals but think as a collective.  Created in a lab, but living on as a species independent of their creator.  So cool.

The gameplay is greatly expanded with more original content, if you played the original you know there are alot of “cookie cutter” areas.  in ME2 it seems much more original.  Granted they had known success in the first and I am sure more money was greenlighted to address this issue.  Your team is much more diverse and useful this time around, and with the edition on Miranda many men found themselves fantasizing about pixels and not real flesh of a movie/tv star the Yvonne actually is in real life.

I could go on and on about the improvements of ME2 and it would sound like the first game is inferior which is so far from the truth.  Besides this is not a game review this is a nod to greatness.

Bioware has done for video games what Star Wars did for movies, this franchise is so deep and gripping that the thought of ending at 3 games is heart-wrenching.  If they do call a split on Mass Effect after a trilogy maybe it can hopefully be an end to the “Shepard Story.”  With an engine so great as they have built and such material available with a wide open univese it would be a shame to shelf it after just three games.

Mass Effect Strikes Back

So many of our great epics have shined brightest during their second installment: Star Wars, Aliens, Superman, Terminator and some would say the Godfather, but personally I didn’t care for any of them.

This month Bioware released the follow-up to what I consider the greatest game ever, will this be a superior sequel like Aliens?  I don’t know.  Will this be a flop like Major League 2?  Highly unlikely.  Or will it be a sequel equal to the first, much like Rocky & Rocky 2?  I would put my odds there, but I won’t know for another 100 or so gaming hours.

Up till now what I can tell you is that the storyline is not as gripping, they are basically branching off the Reaper storyline, then again, the story is still young and has time to branch off at what I think will pit Shepard against Cerubus or the Normandy’s AI… or both, while pushing the already beaten Reapers as a subplot.  Not that fighting the Reapers again will make the game less fun, but there is little mystery, which is what made the original title so griping.

As for gameplay, the sequel is far superior, they moved a little off the RPG character customization and made rank upgrades less about exp points and made it more about the elements you can find and research your upgrading via the weapons you improve.  Communication is a little improved with the implimentation of dropping an instant renegade or paragon option into the dialogue without having to choose an option.  What really improved was combat, gone is the general aiming reticule and added is a cross hair which implements a more precision type aiming that you would see in a FPS much like we are seeing a crossover from RPG to having killer storylines.  The line between the two genres is really beginning to blend and it only benefits the gamers.

The addition of importing more than just a character and allowing for all your decisions of the past to reward you or haunt you is just awesome.  Almost every action in Mass Effect has a reaction in ME2, starting from as little as a referenced report on the new briefs to how a character associates with you based on your treatment of an character or species from the first chapter.

Suit up N7.