I've been playing Mass Effect 2 and I'm about 20 hours in at this point, so I feel comfortable saying that I have a good handle on what the game is and has attempted to do, despite my lack of completion. How does it compare to the first one? It seems strange for Bioware to get away from the RPG elements that I loved about the first Mass Effect. Creating each character allowed for lots of detail in many categories, but here, it just seems too basic. Basically, you're investing in your "I want to kill things with my gun" stat or "I want to kill things with my biotics" stats. The inventory system wasn't so great in ME1, but I loved the greater variety in weapons, all of which had their own statistics. Instead of trying to improve on it, they just got rid of it all together.
I'm hoping Mass Effect 3 reaches a better balance between the RPG elements of ME1 and the stripped down shooter feel of ME2. Honestly, the combat isn't quite good enough for such a lack of RPG elements. Either way, the story, dialogue, characters, and gorgeous worlds left for exploration compensate. I'm somewhat surprised and disappointed by the way it turned out because Bioware has put out some of my favorite RPGs ever and I feel like this iteration of Mass Effect is too much of an attempt to go mainstream.
Rest assured, however, that Mass Effect 2 is a wonderful experience. It just finds new ways to captivate you.
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