Despite much procrastination, I managed to more or less keep
my resolution to finish Mass Effect 2 before Mass Effect 3 came out. I’m going to say that I’m happy that I didn’t spend a whole lot on
ME2
(thank you, Steam Christmas sales!) because the game was really, really short. It was a filler. If I had
not obsessively spent the time making sure every star system was 100% scanned and loading up on
Element Zero, I would not have had quite so many hours of game play. I was surprised to learn that the
trip through the Omega 4 Relay really was the end. But, having only spent a minimal amount of dollars, I
won’t complain about the brevity. The game did what it had to do by presenting a further chapter in the
war against the Reapers and (re)introducing many characters to build your team and giving you a chance
to really get to know them through more than just on-ship conversation options.
The object of this installment is to work for Cerberus (which my Molly Shepard does with as much
love as she did for the Council – who cares if Cerberus spent billions to resurrect both Shepard and the
Normandy!) to collect a team, make them loyal and then take them on a suicide mission to stop the
Collectors. One would think it difficult to get people to join you on a “suicide” mission, especially when
they don’t know you. But join they do, and this is where the fun is. Bioware put a whole lot of thought
into the characters, their history and motivations and their relationships (and potential relationships). A
good chunk of my time was just running around the Normandy chatting with everyone, with particular
focus on Mordin and Joker who were so awesome that they earned themselves their
own album in my
screenshot collection.
It was lovely to see familiar faces all over the place. I genuinely came to love the characters from ME1,
and Bioware knew this and was tugging on my heartstrings.
I fell in love with Garrus in this game
(hands off, Kelly), and I refer to Jack and Grunt as my kids. Unfortunately, while all my old team were
all “Shepard!
! I don’t like this Cerberus business, but boy am I glad to see you!” Ashley was
all “Cerebus? Really Shepard? I thought I knew you! <flounce> ” I did not appreciate the dialogue options
for me here because (A) there was no opportunity to punch her and (B) there was no opportunity for me
to ask why the hell she was hiding behind a crate while I was busy trying to save the colonists from the
Collectors.
I don't let colonists die if I can help it. Fish, on the other hand... As with my reality, my fish died. The hamster is okay, but I am really pissed that I was not able to take my new puppy home. I'm sure Kelly could have fed Urz for me!
The amount of characters and combinations was a bit overwhelming. There is good reason for this,
which you find out at the end, but it was hard to choose who to take with me on various missions. I
finally settled on Jack and Garrus, but, having chosen a Soldier class this time, I lost out on my tech
abilities. I still had my blessed sniper rifle though. Headshot. Oh yes.
Special love for all the drinking and punching I got to do. I spent a lot of time unconscious in toilets. But
the punching was definitely a highlight. I only punched people that deserved it though. And monkeys.
So back to this loyalty business. I messed up Thane’s loyalty mission and I purposely ‘failed’ Zaeed’s
because Molly Shepard does not let colonists die (‘cept a couple of those ones on Feros, but, you know,
their own fault for getting possessed). I understood that this might result in their deaths on the suicide
mission. Imagine my disappointment when they didn’t die. In fact, I didn’t lose anyone on the suicide
mission (and earned the achievement). What’s the point of a suicide mission if no one actually dies?
Death makes for the drama! Even though I knew Kaiden would die on Virmire and I wanted him to die, I
got a little teary-eyed when all was said and done.
So for this reason (and because I did not successfully express my new found love of Garrus because he
was too busy with his calibrations), I decided to start a second play through before I can start ME3 with
a clear conscience.
