Just finished ME2. Just like in ME1, the story and the cinematic ending really, really made up for all the small, annoying little things. The final portion of the game on the Collector ship was just badass, I got everyone alive through to the end, had Garrus lead the fire team both times, had Legion hack the door, Samara put up the biotic field, and Grunt led the survivors back. I brought Miranda and Tali with me to the end.
I ended up destroying the Collector base since giving the IM anything that powerful... felt wrong. I imagine on any other playthroughs I do, I'll do the same. I only managed to get to level 26 and I don't think that there's anything left for me to do in the game so I imagine that I'd have to play a plus game to get up to 30.
My overall thoughts:
- Almost all of the characters were great. Tali, Garrus, Mordin, Miranda, Samara, and Thane all felt especially strong. Legion was also pretty cool. Jacob was just sort of there. Zaeed, Grunt, and Jack were my least favorite.
- Ending was pretty easy (played on Normal) but super epic. I don't mind if a game is easy but as long as it has a suitably awesome ending, I'm okay. It wasn't quite as good as ME1's ending (convincing Saren to kill himself, sacrificing the Council, cutting between the battle in space with the battle on the Citadel), but oh well.
- Story was good, but it seemed to be too much setup. I was also less than impressed with the giant Terminator at the end. Still, after seeing that last shot of the Reapers fleet... zomg I want ME3 now!!!
- Even though scanning planets was uber annoying, you don't have to scan that many to get enough minerals to research almost everything. Stick with just the Rich planets and it's not too bad, definitely a step up from the mako.
- OTOH, hacking and bypassing got to be incredibly annoying near the end of the game. It wasn't difficult at all, it was boring, and there was so much of it that it just started to feel like a chore. I really didn't mind the button minigame from ME1. It was repetitive, but at least it wasn't mindnumbingly boring and easy. Even at the end there was a bit of challenge to it.
- I was really hoping for a couple of instances in the game where you'd have to choose between performing a paragon action or renegade action in a cut scene (like maybe petting a puppy or kicking a puppy
). It was a great idea to introduce it, but I hope they utilize it a bit more in ME3.
- The streamlined inventory and powers ended up working out rather well. I was pretty dubious about its implementation at first, but I was proven wrong.
- As much as I liked the game, too many battles ended up feeling the same: Enter room full of crates, enemies show up, shoot them, move forward to next crate-filled room, repeat. They mix it up a little, but not enough.
Overall, great game with a few niggling issues. Can't wait for ME3.
And here's a funny Tali/Garrus moment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNVGFr06vJw&NR=1