Mass Effect 2 (Legendary Edition) for PC Review

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Mass Effect is an action role-playing game with a great story, great worldbuilding, and great character development. I feel the combat is a bit stale and the Mako stuff is tedious but overall, Mass Effect is a great sci-fi adventure. From what I understand, it was actually envisioned as the first chapter in a trilogy and the developer aimed to rectify some issues and polish things up for the sequel, Mass Effect 2. Developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts, Mass Effect 2 was released for PC and Xbox 360 in January, 2010 and PlayStation 3 in January, 2011. It was also remastered and released as part of the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition in 2021 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. For this review, I played the PC version of the Legendary Edition.

Shortly after the events of Mass Effect, the Normandy is attacked, forcing the crew to abandon ship and Commander Shepard dies. The body is recovered by Cerberus and they bring Shepard back to life. Cerberus is a group that believes in the ascension of the human race in the galactic community and is led by the mysterious Illusive Man and of course their methods aren’t always let’s say ethical. After Shepard is revived, Cerberus tasks them with building a crew and stopping a race known as the Collectors from abducting humans. The player can create their own Shepard or import their Shepard from the previous game along with all the decisions they made and this will have an affect on the story and what characters are present.

Ultimately, I enjoyed the main story but I don’t think it’s quite as good as that of the previous game. It’s basically about building a crew and getting ready for a tough mission. It’s a somewhat straightforward tale and you’ll get a lot more out of it if you take your time and do the side stuff because I think the real strength of the narrative is the characters. Once again, the character development is phenomenal and I feel the side stories here are much better than those in the previous game. You will have to make decisions that affect the story and characters and it’s handled very well. I found some decisions tough to make and the game actually makes you think about your choices. Not everything is clearly black and white.

One thing I think really meshes well with the story and some of the decisions you have to make is Mass Effect 2’s darker (and I might even say grittier) tone. From the visual presentation to events that actually occur or can actually occur in the game, I would say Mass Effect 2 is a slightly darker game. I definitely recommend playing through the first game before jumping into Mass Effect 2 because it feels very much like a sequel. By that I mean knowledge of the characters and events of the first game will go a long way here and even make certain aspects feel more satisfying. There are multiple endings and after beating the main story you are given the option to start a new game with your current character which also means you can make different decisions.

Just like the first game, Morality plays a big role here. You are awarded Paragon or Renegade points for making certain decisions and I never felt like the game was encouraging me to be good or evil. Decisions are final, though. This system does increase the replay value and it can be interesting seeing the results of different decisions. New to Mass Effect 2 is a Loyalty system. Each crew or squad member you recruit comes with their own Loyalty mission. If you complete these missions, the squad members will become Loyal to Shepard and their Loyalty along with some of the decisions you must make will have an affect on the final mission. Not only that, completing Loyalty missions unlocks bonus powers and alternate outfits for the squad members.

Mass Effect 2 takes the good stuff from the first game and refines it. Everything feels more focused and polished. From the environments to the gameplay, everything just feels better. The Mako stuff is gone, the pacing is better, the gunplay has been significantly improved, and encounters feel less chaotic. However, firefights do feel more dangerous. You can still command your squad members to move to certain locations and follow you and I still never felt the need to actually do this as a strategic play at any point on the Normal difficulty. Foes no longer appear to run and jump around randomly and all over the place during battles, allowing you to better analyze the threats and battlefields. Foes will take cover and shoot to kill forcing you to stay behind cover and utilize powers to stay alive. Furthermore, health regenerates automatically and Medi-Gel is now only used to revive fallen squad members.

I’m happy to say the Mako stuff is gone. You will get to pilot an infantry fighting vehicle called the Hammerhead around certain worlds but it’s not as often as the Mako, I think it’s a lot more enjoyable to control, and the worlds, themselves, are more interesting. Most of the worlds you can land on can be explored on-foot and Mass Effect 2 features an excellent variety of environments. Other worlds can be scanned for resources which can actually be a tedious process. Resources can also be found in the environments you navigate and they are used to develop upgrades for different things including the Normandy and equipment.

Mass Effect 2 does feature several changes. The Normandy still acts as a hub of sorts and is where you can decide what world you want to visit next, upgrade your equipment, and equip your characters. Travelling between systems now consumes fuel, and the loot and inventory systems and Omni-Gel were removed. Bypassing and hacking things will require you to complete a minigame. What I’ll call character building and customization feels a bit lacking this time around and that’s probably my biggest complaint with the game. One positive thing about this change is that you’ll spend less time in menus managing your inventory. You can no longer equip your squad members with different armor. You can change their appearance or outfit which you could say is their armor but that’s it.

You can find and purchase armor pieces for Shepard on your travels, all of which come with different benefits. In general, Shepard is more customizable than any of your squad members. Characters have less power options than those in the previous game and each member can only carry specific weapons. The good thing about this is less time managing and equipping your squad. The bad thing about it is you can no longer build or customize these characters like you could in the first game. When you earn enough experience, you level up and can spend points to upgrade powers and your squad members still level up with you. Maxed out powers or abilities can be evolved into more powerful or efficient variants. One thing worth noting is that most powers here seem to be either offensive or defensive. Each character comes with a class power but you won’t be improving their efficiency with certain weapon types or hacking or decryption or things like that. Again, bypassing and hacking things simply requires you to complete minigames and squad members can only carry certain weapons.

Despite the lack of character building from the first game, you are given more squad members here and each one specializes in different things so choosing the right combination to bring with you on missions can be important. The actual missions, both story and side missions, are excellent. There are some simple objectives like visit a world and retrieve things or just do something and then leave but most missions feel more involved and all of them take you to well crafted environments. I’m happy to say navigating around never felt tedious and I never felt like I was visiting the same outpost or facility over and over again. The final mission is probably the biggest standout here. The whole game basically preps you for this mission and you get to bring your whole squad with you. It’s a multilayered mission where you’ll have to make numerous decisions and I only wish there were more missions in the game designed like this. It’s very well done.

One of my favorite things about the Mass Effect series as a whole is the idea that you’re travelling around space and visiting numerous worlds, interacting with all kinds of aliens, helping people out, resolving conflicts, and that all the decisions you make are important. What you do in this world affects things and it’s a cool sci-fi adventure. Mass Effect delivered on this concept but I do feel the Mako stuff held it back a little. Mass Effect 2 does it much better mainly because the worlds you land on and the missions are more interesting. I would even say this game includes the better DLC. You’ll get to help take down the Shadow Broker, prevent an invasion of Reapers, and help a squad member pull off a heist, among some other stuff. My favorite DLC is easily Lair of the Shadow Broker because the story is well told and the action is a lot of fun. My second favorite is probably Overlord just because the finale is kind of fucked up story-wise. The rest of the DLC isn’t terrible by any means but a lot of it does feel a bit short.

I do think Mass Effect 2 looks better than its predecessor and that includes the Legendary Edition. Some animations still appear a bit stiff but overall, this is a good looking game with a slick presentation. The environments are detailed and diverse, the visual effects look good, and each world conveys a different feel, a different atmosphere. Mass Effect 2 is another showcase for solid audio work and an excellent soundtrack behind the adventure. The music really helps give the game and series a unique identity and the songs mesh well with the cinematic presentation and theme. On the technical side, I can’t say I encountered many technical issues. During one mission I couldn’t interact with a switch to progress until after I loaded a previous save. But other than that, the game performed well in my experience.

I have to say Mass Effect 2 is probably one of the greatest sequels I’ve ever played. It’s that good. The refinements and improvements are impressive. I admit the lack of character building compared to the previous entry is disappointing and the frequent bypass and hacking minigames and planet scanning all became a bit tedious after a while. The decisions you have to make feel more important, the gunplay, encounters and missions are more enjoyable, and the locations are diverse and interesting. While the tedious Mako stuff made up a good chunk of Mass Effect’s experience, there’s nothing really like that here. Mass Effect 2 takes the good stuff and just rolls with it. I think the gunplay and encounters are one of the bigger highlights here. While these are story-driven action RPGs, I also consider them third-person shooters. It’s a big part of the gameplay and I really thought the combat in the first game just wasn’t anything to write home about. Well it has certainly been improved for the better in Mass Effect 2 and while I don’t think it comes close to some of the best third-person shooters of its generation, it is fun and feels satisfying.

I would absolutely recommend Mass Effect 2. It’s an amazing sequel that tells a pretty good tale and comes with well developed characters. But I do think you will get a lot more out of it if you’ve played through the first game. I just think many aspects will feel more satisfying and impactful to the player. Ultimately, it’s an excellent sci-fi adventure and solid third-person shooter. Definitely check it out.