mass effect 2
Mass Effect 2 (PS3)
Some games are just so damn popular and beloved that you can't ignore them, no matter how hard you try.
When Mass Effect invaded my world in 2007, I couldn't have cared less. Sure, it was from the same BioWare that produced the excellent Knights of the Old Republic, and seducing blue women sounded like a pretty good time, but it definitely wasn't enough to put a 360 in my life. I'd grown weary of shooters of all kinds since burning out on Halo 2, and with RPG elements mashed in, it only seemed less enticing. I even gave the game a try last year on a friend's machine and didn't make it off the Citadel before losing interest.
The hype hasn't fallen on deaf ears, though. The rave reviews, rave first hour reviews, GOTY awards, and FOX News scare tactic hilarity all kept me up at night, wondering if I was missing out. EA was intent on making me give the series another shot, as they recently completed a PS3 port of Mass Effect 2. Because one of the series' bullet points is importing player-dictated narrative choices from the first game into the second, Dark Horse Comics was called in to help create a short interactive comic that fills in PS3 owners on some of the events that they missed out on from Commander Shepard's first adventure, even allowing the player to make some of the more important decisions to impact their experience with the full sequel.
As it turns out, that comic is DLC, unlockable either by a code included in the game's box or for $15. I rented the game and didn't plan on shelling out fifteen bucks for a fifteen minute comic, so I ended up going into the sequel without much knowledge from the first game. From that starting point aboard the exploding Normandy to the final trip through the Omega 4 relay, I've experienced just about everything included on the PS3 disc of Mass Effect 2 -- as much as you can in one playthrough, anyway -- as Elmer Shepard, a Vanguard of equal parts paragon and renegade, lover and fighter, savior and failure. And sometimes he forgets to feed his fish, and they die.
Greg has already written about the Mass Effect series extensively, having played both games and plenty of extra content on the 360. With that in mind, I'll try (but likely fail) to keep this brief. If you need a primer or refresher for the series, check out one of his excellent writeups. An avid fan of the series, he does a much better job of explaining the core elements of Mass Effect than I could.
2010 Game of the Year Awards *updated*
Announcing the 2010 Game of the Year Awards from the First Hour! We published over 60 full reviews
this year, tripling our output from last year. Of course, our writing
staff has grown quite a bit also. I personally beat 30 games,
undoubtedly making 2010 my most productive video gaming year ever. We
also played over 55 first hours, keeping up a steady pace of one a week. We have not been lacking for great games or content this year.
This isn't your normal Game of the Year awards, we cover everything from older game of the year to worst first hour, so keep scrolling all the way to the bottom! If anything, our game of the year picks are the least interesting decisions. The writers here also don't vote on the categories, instead, everyone is welcome to submit their picks as their own definitive decision.
2010 Prediction Results
On the first of the year, the writers here presented their predictions for 2010 in the video game industry. It was our first attempt at anything like this, and since we're primarily gamers first, writers second, and industry experts in a distant last, this was definitely more of an exercise in fun forecasting than put-your-money-down-now predictions.
Well, we can't let bad predictions go forgotten and made fun of, so here we are again. We'll quickly cover what went randomly right and what went horribly wrong, but then we'll be back again on Friday for our fourth annual Game of the Year Awards.
Mass Effect 2: Kasumi's Stolen Memory
Kasumi's Stolen Memory is the first major paid downloadable content
available for Mass Effect 2. It was released earlier this month after
a slew of "free" content for those who bought the game new (I'll
eventually go back and review each of the major DLC's including Zaeed
and the Firewalker pack). For 560 Microsoft Points ($7 USD) you can
recruit a new crew member, play a new loyalty mission, get a new SMG
and casual outfit, and satisfy your curiosity of what happened to a
bunch of famous relics on Earth.
This is almost less of a
review, and more of a walkthrough of the actual content, but it's a fun
way to describe all the new stuff packed into the DLC. My
recommendation is that Stolen Memory is a really great piece of content
and is worth its purchase price for big fans of the series, but
probably not worth it if you've already moved on completely. Here's my
review of Kasumi's Stolen Memory, played as a renegade female Shepard.
Mass Effect 2
I've been delaying writing my review for Mass Effect 2
for a while now. It was my most anticipated game in years, and I
bought it the day it came out and finished it a few long nights later.
I pored over 40 hours into my first playthrough of the game, longer
than even my first run of the original. This was going to be my
defining game of 2010, my Game of the Year.
It's two months later now and I've played it more since I beat it, but
I still haven't compiled all my thoughts on it. Half of me wants to
write the best review possible for one of the best games ever, and the
other half of me wants to make sure it really was one of the best games
ever.
I'll start with my conclusion though: I loved it. It's a
beyond excellent game that takes the series and the genre into new
territories. Mass Effect 2 tries something new at every bend and
seemingly succeeds at them all. I had built up an incredible amount of
hype for the game, and I can honestly say it surpassed my
expectations. BioWare, my hat goes off to you.
A little more
introduction though: Mass Effect 2 was released in late January of 2010
for the Xbox 360 and Windows. It's the direct sequel to Mass Effect
which was released in late 2007. The game was published by EA and is
its flagship product for its downloadable content scheme. The
free-with-a-new-purchase Cerberus Network has provided us with plenty
of free and paid for DLC since the game was released, and more is on
the way. It's BioWare's second big AAA title in about as many months
with Dragon Age: Origins coming last November. Everything seems to be going right for them.
So you can tell I enjoyed the game already, but read on to see exactly why. Here's my full review of Mass Effect 2.
The First Hour Podcast - Episode 3
First Hour Podcast - Episode 2
Welcome to the second episode of the First Hour podcast! In this episode, Paul, Greg, and Mike T. discuss Mass Effect 2, Tatsunoko v. Capcom, ESRB ratings, and more!
Download the podcast here. We hope to provide iTunes and general RSS support very soon.
Please leave us your feedback!
Theme Music
First Hour Podcast - Episode 1
Welcome to the first episode of the First Hour podcast! In this premier episode, Paul and Greg discuss the site's origins, discuss The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, and argue about the Nintendo 64's library of games.
Please leave us your feedback! We've been listening to podcasts for years but this is our first time actually producing one.
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Plok Title Jam - Mazedude
Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 2. It is only the sequel to one of my favorite games of all time. It is only the biggest release so far in 2010, and might be for the entire year. It is only... Mass Effect 2.
All right, I'll come back down to earth for a bit. I will admit, I am very excited for this game. I haven't been this hyped for a game since Majora's Mask. But I will try not to let it interfere with my duty as an amateur video game reviewer to answer the burning question: Would I keep playing? (spoilers: YES!)
Mass Effect 2 is the latest science fiction action/shooter/RPG hybrid from BioWare. The game picks up a few years after the first Mass Effect closed with Commander Shepard still in the starring role. The original galaxy threat is still at large, but is taking a backseat to a much more pressing and immediate menace. One of the game's big features is the ability to import your Shepard from save files from the first game. This is one of the reasons I beat the original six different times with four different Shepards. Maybe a bit excessive, but I was just preparing myself for the full experience come January 26, 2010.
So here we go, the first hour of Mass Effect 2. I will be creating a brand new character for the experience. If you're interested in checking out all of our other Mass Effect series content, we've got a ton of it.
2010 Predictions
Going to try something new this year, we're going to make some completely wild predictions that may have little base in reality. I think they're pretty self-explanatory, and hopefully at the end of the year I'll remember we did this and we can have a good laugh at how wrong we were (or be shocked at how right).
So while these are guaranteed to be wrong, they are my current feelings about the industry from hopefully a non-biased gamer's point of view. Well, non-biased until it comes to BioWare games that is.
