Mass Effect 2 - Gamekult Review

Here is the review of the french webzine Gamekult for the highly anticipated ME 2.
There's something that appears in this review, the webzine did not accord a special "selection" to the game.
What are the true forces of ME 2 ? Is is it a good game ? Worth the buy ? Here are some of the answers Gamekult gives you.

[NeoBasch]

Meh, to each their own, but still... Really? I'm left speechless. Kind of like GameReactor's reviews for Uncharted 2.

[lociefer]

lol a 7 ? this game at least deserves a 9 , been playing for 2 hours now and ive been really enjoyin it

[Aquanox]

The "Please click me, I'm a rebel!" articles wouldn't take long to appear.

[Myst]

Personally a 9 for me as well lociefer.

Though as the author mentioned the Role-play side took a bit of a dive and honestly I had to do a double take as I was leveling up to see how to use points, but honestly it still works fine. Inventory is miles better and the controls are more fluid ( love the way you can get behind cover and even hop over some ). Honestly ME2 and U2 got sequels done right ( in my book ) and both deserve at least 9s to me.

[edit]
@Disagree: What?

[ryuzu]

"And in our nominations for GOTY we have Mass Eff.... whoops, I'm afraid there's been a change to our published schedule....

Come back after these messages...."

[Aquanox]

No wonder why this doesn't qualify for metacritic.

[marinelife9]

I swear some sites just try to be controversial so they can get clicks.

[GrandDragon]

When they reviewed Final Fantasy 13 a little while ago and scored it a 7, N4G users did not raise any objections. Yet now when they rate Mass Effect 2 a 7 people are now ridiculing this sites integrity with fan boy fits.

It just shows how this site is dominated by juvenile Americans who are susceptible to media hype. Don't be so sensitive, just learn to appreciate and respect other peoples observations. The reviewer clearly expressed his opinions adequately enough.

Lets all be honest with our selves

[JokesOnYou]

I played the game 2hrs only but if it didn't get any better or worst for the rest of the game it would easily be a 9 or more for me.

Gamekult is welcome to their opinion, I just disagree....I won't even remember this score by the time I get home tonight. A beer and ME2 is all I'll be thinking about, or maybe....

JOY

[thewhoopimen]

We can't assume that they're necessarily trying to go for hits. For one they're playing a localized version of a title that is very dialogue heavy. Sometimes translations don't come out carrying the same intention. What may be gripping in English, might not carry over well in French... or their translation team sucked.

[baum]

Great HONEST Review :)

"No wonder why this doesn't qualify for metacritic. "

Butthurt much? It doesn't quality because it's french.

I love it how you can now sleep now because it's not included in Metacritic, as if Metacritic was the end all be all for making decisions about what games to buy. lmfao

Funny how you guys complain about crappy reviews for Mass Effect 2 on N4G, when you guys (the Xbox crew) were searching for obscure sites when Killzone 2 came out :)

[sack_boi]

I hope I get to enjoy the game more than they did.

[PrimordialSoupBase]

Very accurate review. While the story, world, and "roleplaying" are fantastic, the game is far too easy and diluted for the console crowd.

[andron]

Clearly a hobby of theirs. I think it was FFXIII that also got a 7? Or was that another site?

Edit: Yep it was them. Gamekult is like the French EDGE...

[Sangria]

A proper translation of the conclusion:

"With the elimination of a real inventory, its extremely simplified management of equipment and its truncated character evolution system, Mass Effect 2 lost or altered almost everything that made its predecessor a RPG to become a third person shooter barely glorified by dialogs and scenario choices limited in overall to the choice of the order of our objectives.

The disappointment is undeniable, even if we shouldn't put Bioware's game in the complete failure bin as it still proposes much better gunfights than in 2007, as much for the precision as the use of our special abilities. If the main story and its quests sometimes too much basic wont last much in the RPG universe, secondary N7 missions to complete on some unknown planets are relatively well done, thanks to original and interesting objectives.

High quality realisation and the mise en scène make Mass Effect 2 a very clean and fluid game, which takes us back to the fascinating universe created by Bioware in 2007. Nothing stops us however to hope a come back to the roots of the series for the third and ultimate episode of Shepard's adventures."

Pros:
- The universe
- Excellent realisation
- High quality mise en scène
- Great casting
- Better combats
- Good French dubs

Cons:
- Forgetable scenario
- Truncated character evolution
- Amputated invetory
- Limited weapon management
- Linear and closed
- Too much fighting kills fighting
- Long loadings

And for people information, like I already said weeks ago somewhere else, Gamekult are the only unbiased website in France. They are not hype sensitive, they are not corrupted, nothing. They are independent and when they feel a game is a crap, they say it.

Gamekult gave MGS4 a 8, Killzone 2 a 8, Halo 3 a 7, Halo ODST a 6, Halo Wars a 5, Uncharted a 7, Uncharted 2 a 9, Kane & Lynch a 5, New Super Mario Bros Wii a 7, etc...
They are the only French site I trust because their reviews are always fair and justified.

[Nagazi]

doesn't seem fair to me if Gamekult gave uncharted 2 a 9. That game is good for the most part, but the dialogue is so poorly written. So many cliches and garbage scenarios. Plus, Drake is an extrememly annoying character.

[ktchong]

They couldn't tell a good ENGLISH dialogue from a lousy one.

[StanLee]

"Too much fighting kills fighting" O_o A better translation anyone?

[Myst]

It's what it is: "Too much fighting kills fighting" meaning the game has too much fighting in it and therefore would be deemed as becoming boring after a while ( for the author ). At least I think that's what they are insinuating.

So it would be stated as: Too much fighting kills ( The will to continue ) fighting. Or something like that

[AL Faris]

...but this would be probably the first time i agree with your sentiments. Previous reviews i've read all seem overly zealous in attempting to justify their inevitable 10 score for the game i.e. it reads as if the game is an 11 or 12 out of 10 (including the eurogamer review which was/is full of spoilers).

This review appears far more balanced in that the writer actually appears to have approached the game pragmatically and played it in the interest of the reader/interested future player

The question i ask is is any game a 10? Surely a 10 means perfection. A bug free, glitch free non-stop rollercoaster ride that would alter your life or something to that effect. Is ME2 a 7? I dont know having not played it as yet and while a 7 does seem harsh the reviewer doesnt go out of his way to justify it as do those who attempt to justify their 10s

[baum]

"Plus, Drake is an extrememly annoying character. "

lol only an Xbox fanboy would debate anything about Uncharted 2 being bad or "annoying". Drake is a very carismatic character and is fun even in hard times, so you'd have to be bitter (surprise surprise) to not like him.

[Arnon]

Do you have anything better to do with your time? School? Work?

Not only do your comments never contribute to anything relating to the articles, but they're flamebait in general.

[badz149]

I'm not defending Uncharted 2's score or trying to justifying ME2's 7 from this site but Nathan Drake in annoying?? that's your opinion of course and I'll give you that but...really? which part of the game does he being annoying to you? I just can't understand because I'm loving every bit of him!

although I've not played as much games as the others on here, Nathan Drake is by far the best game character I've ever played! it's true that he's just a game character like every others out there but in terms of personality throughout a game, not even Snake comes close! ND went to the extent of giving Drake a sense of a 'real' person with the excellent voice acting, realistic animation and detailed face expression! he's "him" for the whole game unlike other characters out there only being 'themselves' during cutscenes!

[green]

Well, everyone is entitled to their own opinion so Gamekults score should be respected.Anyway, it does not seem like Metacritic tracks gamekult so ME2's high score won't be affected by this.

[Lehman Brothers]

rofl 7...

i will take the words from the droids;)! : "Paid by sony, thats for sure"

Medicore 9.6

The next game which will be in a MAG league will be Heavy rain- mark my words!

The droids have only 1 good exclusive this year.. God of War 3 which they can rent for 2 USD (8 hours gameplay)

I dont even mention the boring simulator.

[Robearboy]

This review comes from the "hey fanboy look at me" school, i actually surprised it took who ever found it to take so long.

I think i will stick with my ign, edge, 1UP opinions

[The EDGE]

all in all there wil alway be sites that knock games no matter how good the game is

[polow got sol]

cons:'too much fighting kills fighting'....wtft

[Liquid Ocelot]

Here come the Sony fan boys with they're fake reviews.

Just face it ladies Mass Effect 2 is one of the greatest games this generation right up there with Halo 3 and not on the bottom of the crap pile like all Ps3 Exclusives.

[DARK WITNESS]

I don't agree with their score, even if ME was just a shooter, its a much better shooter then most TPS or FPS I can think of, but I do agree with them on a lot the the reasons why it disappointed them.

as some have said to each his own, it's great but for me personally I would have liked more of the rpg elements to stay in the game. thats just me though.

[Akagi]

Not everyone liked the Godfather, you know, nothing is perfect and reviews like this are to be expected.

[BeaArthur]

Agreed, it was bound to receive a lower review at some point but the bulk of the reviews tell the tale. It's a great game and I can't wait to get home and play it.

[Halochampian]

Great Example

Not everyone has to like what everyone else does...

[Chucky2003]

Agree with the score and review,this game its not an RPG anymore its just a 3rd person shooter,the first game i played it 6 times,after finishing this game i don't feel like playing it again because its nothing new,its just a shooter

[AllroundGamer]

gotta have to agree with you, there are not so many RPG elements, tho i will replay the game one more time just to see what happens when i make only the Renegade actions :)

[Kakihara]

Zeese game is a feelthy bourgeois lie. Zare eez no point playing zeez game as we are all going to die someday and life eez nossing but pain ah? So we try to numb zee pain wiz decadent bourgeois playsingz. I speet on your feelthy worthless so call, 'video gaarmz' and I speet on God and ziss feelthy no good planet he stuck me on. All eez pain. All eez sorrow. I curse you God, you feelthy rat bastarde. 7/10

[Hakimy]

while I do read ign,gamespot,1up,gamepro and other sites, I always wait for edge and gamekult reviews.I guess europeans are harsh when they review a game.so if a game gets a good score from both sites,you know it will be something (at least to me) but you can pick the site you prefer at the end of the day ;)

[drzmvp554]

my mouth dropped when i saw that they gave mass effect 2 a 7, im never going on their site for reviews or anything

[Demons Souls]

I knew the game would be a flop. The first one wasn't any good either.

[Sackdude]

Metacritics has 19 Official 360 websites

and 6 PS3 websites.

so much for reliable MetaCritics.

[JokesOnYou]

There are alot of ps fan sites on metacritic who reviewed UC2, I might have missed a few since I only look at the obvious ones, but it really doesn't matter whether thay are official or not their score still counts the same and none of them scored it below a 9.5:

Playstation: The Official Magazine 10
Playstation Official Magazine UK 10
PS3bloggen.se 10
Playstation Official Magazine Australia 10
Playstation Universe 10
PSX Extreme 9.8
PSFocus 9.7
Play UK 9.6
PSM3 Magazine UK 9.5
TotalPlayStation 9.5

-It goes both ways, and many 360 sites like teamxbox have rate past 360 games lower than its meta average.

-Should we subtract these ps3 fan sites from the avg too?

JOY

[yog-sothot]

I haven't played the game yet, I'm sure I will love it even if the RPG side has decreased, but people should stop saying thinfs like

"they want hits"

"no wonder why this is not on metacritic"

Gamekult is a pretty decent website and the second biggest french videogame site, they're not the kind of site that want to look "rebel".

Besides a 7 is quite a good note on this side (a bit disappointing for a big game such as ME2 indeed)

[ZombieRollz]

This game doesn't deserve a 7, but it doesn't deserve the 9.5s it's been getting. It's a solid 8.5 game, nothing more.

[baum]

Only on 360

[Demons Souls]

Just look at all of the butthurt fanboys crying because their favorite game got a real review rather than a biased one from reviewers who get paid off in swag and/or cash. Sorry kids but Mass Effect 2 is nowhere near perfect and neither was the first game. I think a 7 is being generous.

[Defiantmac]

Thats why you have 2 bars :]

[The Maxx]

There is always going to be 1 or 2 sites that go against the grain. Happens to all great titles. ME2, Uncharted 2, KZ2...Everyone is entitled to their opinion, however these guys are clearly just looking for hits.