Hands-on | Mass Effect 2

Format: Xbox360/PC | Genre: RPG | Publisher: EA | Developer: BioWare | ETA: January 2010

By Lewis Denby

“More of the same, but better.”

That’s the instinctive feeling I get from playing Mass Effect 2.  Though we only had the chance to go hands-on with a short sequence, it’s unmistakably Mass Effect.  It’s all cover-system tactical combat and astonishing facial animation.

Taking place two years after the events of the original game, Mass Effect 2 sees good old Commander Shepard teaming up with the human supremacist Cerberus organisation, and investigating the mysterious disappearence of entire planets, seemingly into the ether.  It’s all fought on an impressively grand scale, with twists and turns promised at regular intervals, and a splendid set of villainous characters to battle against.

In other words, it’s still the epic space opera it always was.  And that’s fine.  Mass Effect delivered a startlingly well paced adventure of truly epic proportions, and its sequel doesn’t look to change that.  The sense of scale is immediately apparent, with vast cityscapes surrounding the tightly designed levels, alien spacecraft darting through the air, mere specks in the distance.  The art design remains flashy and recognisable, but still bursting with detail.  Thankfully, the irritating texture pop-ins that plagued Bioware’s last space-age epic are nowhere to be seen.  It’s all seamless, and hugely vivid.

//Worlds in motion
Once again, the detail stems past the screenshot fare and right into the minutest of in-motion details.  The facial animation is frequently astounding, with characters conveying genuine emotion and humanity as they speak.  They’re not stiff, lifeless drones, either - they gesticulate perfectly, glance around convincingly, and behave perfectly within context.  Oddly, it’s only Shepard’s own animation that feels a little stilted, his face contorting in a slightly uncomfortable way.

It’s probably a case of Bioware’s work being so impressive that any small flaws stand out.  Such problems are easily in the minority, but they nag especially because of that fact.  There’s almost a tendency to stray into Uncanney Valley territory: the closer we get to convincing representations of human life, the more we’re in-tune with any minor discrepancies.  For whatever reason, though, it feels unfair to complain too much.  The vast majority of what’s here is hugely impressive indeed.

Much has been spoken of Mass Effect 2’s new combat system.  Watching from a distance earlier on, I wasn’t convinced.  It looked slow, sluggish and a little weak.  Having spent twenty minutes diving to and from cover, firing wildly and commanding my squad effortlessly, I’m far more impressed.

It’s true that battles seem slower and more drawn out.  Of the playable twenty minutes, a good fifteen consisted of a single fight against multiple, well-armed enemies.  But the tactics have been brought to the fore, the emphasis on cover more prominent than before.  Mass Effect’s health bar is gone, replaced with the ever-popular regeneration system.  Initially, it feels wrong, but it quickly makes sense.  This is a game that encourages slow, careful play during combat, and wants you to stay in cover as much as possible.  Being able to munch down health packs would undoubtedly soil that vibe.

Fighting itself is thoroughly brutal.  The controller shakes with immense force-feedback when shot at, and weapons recoil alarmingly, meaning you’ve to be on the ball at all times.  Humanoid foes dive from cover point to cover point, and crawl and clamber when hit, still trying to fire a shot in your direction with their dying movements.  Robotic enemies clunk along in a strangely ethereal way, absorbing astonishing streams of bullets to their metallic torsos.  But clip them in the head, and it explodes in a flurry of sparks and shrapnel.

There are hints at a twisting, surprising story, of course.  One event late on in the demonstration is one I really hope is not as big a spoiler as was suggested.  There’s a thick air of paranoia running throughout, conveyed beautifully in the cinematic cut-scenes.  The conversation system remains the same, but there’s an added sense of urgency, and interruptions now exist.  It’s all the good from the first game, streamlined, refined and beefed up.

So more of the same, but better, then.  There’s nothing that jumped out as unmissably brilliant from the little time we played, save from the improved visuals and sense of place.  But then, Mass Effect was something of a grower, too.  It’s difficult to get a sense of the wider scope of the game from just a short single mission.  Still, it seems Bioware know what they’re doing, if the mechanics alone are anything to go by.  Only a few months now until we find out for sure.