Mass Effect 2 Retrospective

Eurogamer’s Rick Lane has penned a retrospective for Mass Effect 2, BioWare’s sci-fi action-RPG sequel, whose outstanding critical reception was, in retrospect, probably the highest point of BioWare’s recent career, though it proved to be divisive among long-time fans. There’s no doubt Lane enjoyed the title, though:

The Illusive Man describes your team as “the brightest, the toughest, the deadliest allies we can find”, and they are. But they’re also astonishingly broken, a motley crew of outcasts, mercenaries, murderers, and genetic freaks. Take Mordin Solus, the witty and brilliant Salarian geneticist with a soft spot for human Operetta, who is eventually revealed as responsible for an unspeakable atrocity. Mordin’s loyalty mission is about his coming to terms with that action, about ceasing hiding behind his logical arguments and accepting that he is both hero and villain, saviour and monster.

New characters such as Jack and Thane harbour similarly troubled pasts, while returning ones have been given a personality tune-up, a grittier edge or a layer of vulnerability. Garrus and Tali have both become leaders in their own rights after Shepard’s initial demise, and both struggle with the consequences. Periphery characters like Liara have changed in Shepard’s absence, their exteriors hardened in response to deeper stresses and internal conflicts. It is in many ways a more human game. Darker, warmer, more ambiguous.

As you explore the galaxy, the Normandy SR2 slowly becomes a microcosm of Mass Effect’s carefully crafted interstellar society. You deal with your crewmates’ problems, and in the process deal with the problems of the universe. You intervene when conflicts spark between them. They accompany you on side missions you stumble upon when playing the monotonous and yet annoyingly compulsive planet-scanning mini-game.