Why Mass Effect 2 is one of the greatest games ever made

Eh, aside from the extremely inadequate ending of ME3, I think it is the best in the series. It had great moments through out the game that made me smile/laugh/tear and was just the better game all around, combat, leveling, and gear. ME2 did have one of the best DLC packs ever with the Shadow Broker DLC.

Someone shares my hatred for ashley FINALLY

I also shared said hatred. First time I talked to her on the Normandy I was like "Ahhh, space racist." and made sure she died at the lab lol

Why does everyone bash Ashley for her racism but everyone's all cool when Wrex hates the salarians and Tali hates the Geth? I guess human racism is a bit easier to identify with and to find uncomfortable. But it's still weird that everyone singles out one racist but loves all the other obvious racists.

Probably my least favorite actually. It was the first one I played, then went back and played 1. But 1 and 3 I thought had a great story that really made me feel important. And you fight the Reapers. While 2 did a great job exploring the settings, I felt that it was less focused on the enemy (Collectors). I spent more time fighting mercenaries than the actual bad guys, there were only 3 true story missions, and while fun, collecting characters and doing loyalty missions was more of a laundry list of collecting. Their stories did not seem to truly connect to the rest of the plot or help in directly stopping the collectors. Because of that, I actually believe that while a great game, the story in ME2 is actually the weakest one.

@Lazer: FINALLY! Someone who sees and understands the poison that has inected Bioware since EA took over. ME 2 Was a good game, and yes ME 1 had its problems (I can't think of a single good thing to say about the Mako), but it was an RPG! ME 2 can barely be called one. No looting, no classic attribute leveling, limited powers, virtually no customization of weapons or armor, and the list goes on. ME 1 had the greatest story ever written by Bioware. The story of ME 2 was like something out of a Michael Bay movie: assemble a team, blow up the bad guys before the blow us up. The best stories in that game were the secondary and the loyalty ones, not the main quest. And the seperation between exploration and action during the missions is so unlike ME 1 and Bioware in general that it's unforgivable. ME 2 was probably the first Bioware game I could call "linear". The elevators in ME 1 were a bold and worthy attempt at creating a seamless environment for each planet. You never knew when you would need to put down some bad guys (like KOTOR). I can't even express my disappointment at the loading screens and the "mission complete" screens in ME 2. What am I playing, 007? In Bioware games, you know the mission is complete because something epic happens every time. You don't need a list of accomplishments; the stats speak for themselves. Anyway, I could spend all day ranting about ME 2, but ultimately, the game doesn't deserve to be bashed. It's still very good, but it completely dropped the ball in regards to what it's predecessor tried to do for modern gaming. ME series could've been a landmark for next gen gaming. I hope Bioware will go back to its roots and make games for their real RPG-loving fans.

ME 1 was a classic RPG cleverly disguised as a tactical shooter. ME 2 was a shooter trying do fake it's way through the RPG genre fast enough so that most of us wouldn't notice, and mistake it for an action RPG. Nice Try.

That's probably what I loved most about the original Mass Effect: that it used the classic RPG elements to influence a tactical shooter, and it did it almost perfectly. Upgrading weapons changed them visibly and functionally, and skills/powers felt like they were really growing.

I agree, it was a great game. However, it fails as a sequel. It did not follow the "main" plot in the ME trilogy at all, instead it continued its course with a different issue. There's an article somewhere, I'm sure you could probably Google it and find it pretty quickly, explaining how it just doesn't fit as a sequel. It has very interesting points in it and I tend to agree with them. ME2 was good but not what should of been for something in a trilogy.

It's fairly easy to argue, though, that Empire Strikes Back does not follow the "main" plot in the Star Wars trilogy. There are no Death Stars, no big plan to completely wipe out the Rebel Alliance, no big space battles - instead our original party of heroes gets split up and put through great personal trials so that we can focus on relationships and character development. And that's exactly what ME2 was, and that's why it's great.

The USS Normandy??? USS it isnt a star trek ship its SSV Normandy.

I preferred the first but I can see the argument for 2. As much as I enjoyed 2 and 3 the first is so much more about being a part of the world which is what I like about the series. 2 and 3 force the world to take a back seat to the Reaper story which isn't as interesting to me. I would much rather have a less epic story that instead focuses on the characters (like the side missions did) and the smaller conflicts in it.

It was a great game, no doubt about it. But while the suicide mission was both fun and intuitive, I'm sorry but you kinda have to suck at common sense for anyone to get killed... Basically just do all the loyalty missions (why anyone would skip these is beyond me), and just think logically at assigning tasks. In other words, don't send Zaeed as your tech expert and Jack as your fire squad leader...because if you do, you shouldn't even be commanding your own video game Normandy! Not to mention, the game practically gives away who's good at what in the bio's on the selection screen.

Great article. These first two "greatest games" articles have been two of my favorite games as well. you should do chrono trigger or shadow of the colossus next.

I honestly just got around to ME2 about a month ago, and it's the first console game I've ever put more than 200 Hours into. I agree, Story wise, it's one of the best. I love all but a few characters. Gameplay though, I found to be rather standard. Fun, but standard. And some of the locations reminded me of KOTOR, but maybe that's just me.

I love absolutely ME1 and ME2,but i got to say,ME3 is by far my favorite.A lot of weapons and customization,great rpg elements,amazing story,characters and conversations,fantastic soundtrack.Its also my favorite game of the generation so far.

3rd worst game bioware has ever made 1st being m3 or swtor 2nd da2 did they pay you to say this buy any chance

O_o

I'm gonna go ahead and call this the BEST...COMMENT...EVER! It gets Commander Shepard's Seal of Approval!

I mean everyone has their opinions, but really?