Meditations on Mass Effect 2

A quick and unpolished blog post because, well, I wrote most of this out on Facebook, and then I remembered that I hadn't posted anything here in a while!

OK, thoughts on Mass Effect 2;

It's better. A lot better. A LOT better. Almost every aspect has improved - the storyline, characterisation and voice acting, and level design, in particular, show a MARKED improvement.

One thing that feels worse, however, (and I seem to be in the minority in feeling this) is the combat. Finding cover is hit-and-miss, with Shepherd regularly diving into cover and then standing straight back up again, or outright refusing to duck behind/out of an area that is obviously intended as such. Add to that the fact that a number of enemy weapons appear to ignore cover, to the point of even knocking you OUT of cover, and it rapidly becomes frustrating. When you can find a safe place to fire from, the scatter radius is so large that I'm essentially spraying bullets in the approximate direction of the enemy (admittedly, this may be due to the fact that Vanguard appears to have been nerfed between games, but the rest still stands - though, on that topic, where'd all my skill customisation options go!?  And Lift!?  Lift was AWESOME!  Don't give me this "Charge" bullshit, that's crap and you know it.).

That's all the more frustrating since the combat difficulty has ramped up MASSIVELY between games. I think I died maybe ten times, if that, in the whole of Mass Effect, so I thought I'd try this game on Veteran. Even after I gave up and switched back to Normal after trying the same mission twenty times, I'm still dying two or three times on each non-mook fight. I'm switching weapons to prioritise barrier/amour/health etc., and making extensive use of biotics, but the deciding factor in most fights seems to be the suicidally depressed (or otherwise) impulses of the AI. If they break cover to flank me, I haven't got a hope (whereas if I try to do the same, I'm gunned down inside two seconds), but if they stay put I can whittle their health down inch by inch.  Maybe I haven't got the hang of the combat system, but I'm definitely finding the regular restarting is interrupting my enjoyment of an otherwise excellent story.

That said, the story *is* excellent, and I'm sure once I've had the chance to do a few side missions (which seem a lot thinner on the ground this time round) Shepherd will be more effective than a disable Chihuahua trying to hump the Collectors' collective legs and I'll enjoy combat a bit more.  I just hope it comes around sooner!