Combat doesn't feel as clunky and awkward as the first did. A matter of preference perhaps, but coming to it with little knowledge of the games or even the genre I still found it easier to play through this game than I would Mass Effect 1 years later.
The majority of the main characters are interesting and have time spent to give them depth and development. Your interactions with characters is greatly expanded, with Loyalty missions available for all and the number of team mates available has been doubled from the first.
The new powers available to several classes are welcome and do a good job of making you want to play as them.
The new Interrupts make scenes a bit more interesting and give some much needed opportunities to gain Renegade or Paragon points.
The music and visuals are excellent for setting the mood of the mission, ranging from tense music from a horror game to triumphal and uplifting.
The story is, in general, fascinating and manages to avoid being weighed down by its grimness.
The Cons:
The story in general might be great, but it doesn't take long to find some new idiocy that led to my saying "ME authority figures are idiots" with them lacking even basic competence. Stories should not resort to lapses of logic to create drama.
The Paragon and Renegade system often lacks logic, forcing me to wonder if even the writers knew what it was. How is a choice to murder a team mate and recruit their serial killer daughter be both Paragon and Renegade? More similarly ridiculous ones can be found throughout the game.
The hacking and mining mini-games are fun for one playthrough, after that they lose their appeal and are just something to pad the game.
Team mates are occasionally idiots and have more than once forced me out of cover, also getting me killed.
The fact that choices from the first game seemed to have little impact on on either gameplay or story should have been a warning about what was in store.
Several characters were just bland and some costume choices (and blatant ass shots) completely ruined what were supposed to be emotional scenes.
However even with all the flaws mentioned I still found this to be a very enjoyable experience. As this was my first ME game there may be bias may be present, but I would always recommend this as long as you can show some patience.
Flaws Are To Be Found, But A Good Game All Around
The Pros:
The Cons:
However even with all the flaws mentioned I still found this to be a very enjoyable experience. As this was my first ME game there may be bias may be present, but I would always recommend this as long as you can show some patience.