How Mass Effect 2 Taught Me To Love Again

Where do I start? What do I say that hasn't already been said?

games(TM)

"Despite all of the ways Mass Effect 2 is more engaging to play and explore, after 35 remarkable hours it was the characters that stayed with us… Game of the year in January? Oh, go on then." [Feb 2010, p.112]

Okay I'm excited.

GameDaily

"Mass Effect 2 far exceeded our expectations and is without question one of the best games we've played. Use whatever positive description you'd like. System seller, potential game of the year, landmark achievement; just make sure you buy it immediately."

Absolutely spot on.

GamePro

"An improvement on just about every aspect of the original game, with the exception of one tiny aspect; the very final battle. Mass Effect 2 sees BioWare's approach to the role playing genre evolve beyond anything they've worked on previously, and gives us a glimpse of how both RPGs and shooters will begin to merge in the years ahead."

Thank you John Davison.

I have invested more time into Mass Effect 2 than I care to admit. Oh who the hell am I kidding? I have completed the game three times, I have a level 30 soldier, a Level 12 Infiltrator, played every side quest, had sex with an alien, and you know what? I want to do it all over again. This game is the future, the benchmark, blah blah blah, insert cliche here-it is unapologetic about the fact that it is the shit.

Bioware was bold enough to make the necessary changes to make the game play better, feel better, and look better. It is undoubtedly better, faster, and stronger. All that is fine and dandy, but the real charm behind Mass Effect 2 is its narrative. This is one of the few games available that has both a solid script and stellar voice acting. In short, Mass Effect 2 is perfect.

It is a perfect marriage of RPG and Shooter. I rejoiced when all the tedious micro-management aspects of the first game were eliminated. Now you simply allocate points to which powers you want, and voila! Instant Billy Bad Ass. On the shooter side of things, the mechanics are far more polished. No more clunky shooter for you, no sir. It plays like Gears of War 2, except with all these awesome biotic super powers added for good measure.

For those of you who are moaning about the lack of stat crunching, I'm sorry, but piss off. This is the evolution of the western RPG (isn't that the only kind now? Pppssshhhh, turn based RPG's are for chumps.). Others have tried to blend these two genres to no avail, and have got one part right, but failed horribly on the other. Bioware nailed it hook, line, and effin' sinker. 

These fine folks created a world I wanted to get lost in, characters I cared about, and women I wanted to sleep with. It's mature, ballsy, and a step in the right direction.

I applaud the team at Bioware, who knows the hell they had to go through, but God bless you people. It's because of you that I'm no longer the jaded negative nancy douchebag troll who laments about how games just aren't what they used to be. I was going through one of my dry spells, I had grown tired of games, and so I decided to take a break. My cousin was borrowing my 360, until every notable game site was verbally masturbating to this game. That's when I promptly stole my system back and went to town on ME2 for four days. Best. Sex. Ever. Bottom line, ME2 is responsible for making me fall in love with games again, I'm no longer the jaded prick who thinks he knows more about this than everyone. I've been humbled, slapped in the face, and redeemed.

My name is Jonathan Ortiz, and I'm a recovering douche. My sponsor? Bioware. We meet once a day, and I'm reminded of the man I once was. I love games again. I don't over-analyze games, talk about games as art, talk about games being taken seriously, and I simply get lost in the experience. That's what its about people. So shut your mouths, play the damn game, and be glad that there are people as creative as the team at Bioware. This certainly isn't their first rodeo.