PC Games magazine - Mass Effect 2 Review

9 pages review scanned from the february issue of german PC Games magazine.

+ Brilliant, credible characters
+ Dynamic, intelligent dialogues
+ Many moral decisions
+ Dense atmosphere
+ Fast-paced, well-made action
+ Mass Effect 1 character import feature
+ Atmospheric soundtrack
+ Fantastic English voice acting

- Main story is a bit too short
- Restricted class system
- Superficial upgrade system
- Three boring Mini Games
- Pretty useless map

Score: 88

[Endless_X]

I'm translating the final thoughts.I'll update when I finish.

Edit: done.

[Rampant]

zuperior verzion

[ShadowCK]

PC Games magazine.

Don't bother.

[mikepmcc]

lowest score for this game so far...too bad

[crazyturkey]

version the score probably won't go higher than this. The standards between consoles and PCs are not the same since PCs can do much more than consoles, so console versions of games tend to score higher because of their hardware capabilities.

[themafia]

this game is overrated imo. i give it a 7 at best. crysis and uncharted 2 i prefer...

[Pandamobile]

You prefer a whole different kind of game, buddy.

[Defiantmac]

whatttttttttttttttttt?

[kingdavid]

I guess you could consider it short..

If you skip every mission for everyone of your crew. Then again, Oblvions story was short (a 12 hour experience) but that was in the end a 150 hour game.

[qwertyuiopasdfghjkl]

I am enjoying this game immensely.

http://screenshot.xfire.com...

[SOAD]

Is that really in the game? I know, I'm gullible, but is it?

[KingKionic]

rofl !

That Volos was definitely high .

He even went up to the high level biotic and tried to kill her .

I was cracking up .

[Dmitry Orlov]

I lol'ed when I saw that one too :)
You see that pretty volus during the recruiting mission for Samara.

[DelbertGrady]

I think the reviewer would like Dragon Age: Origins better. I love both but if I had to pick one it would be ME2.

[damnightmare]

How is the main story too short?

If you just rush through and don't do any loyalty missions and what not then I guess it could be "kind of" short. In a world where games are only 4-6 hours, I don't see the complaint. I spent over 40 hours on my Veteran playthrough, it's the most immersive RPG I've played in awhile (minus Demon's Souls).

Still a good score at least

[Nihilism]

I'm pretty sure i'm about 39hrs in and I still have 3 more companions to get, some more loyalty mission ( + 3 more when I get my other companions ) then I have the rest of the main story, I wouldn't be suprised if I clocked 50 hours in this game.

I love the focus of the story, it is far from linear, but the side missions all seem purposeful, which is good for an rpg, i'm sick of pointless grinding missions.

It's a damn shame that they ruined the tech powers in this game, Tali used to be my favourite/most powerful ally, now she's useless...

[NoOoB101]

i wish i could pick ME2 up, i was going to the other day but my 360 rrod and its out of warranty =[
Very sad day.

[DelbertGrady]

Don't you have a PC gaming rig to play it on?

[kraze07]

Damn I wanna play this game so bad. Had the CE pre-ordered on amazon and it still hasn't arrived yet. Being overseas sucks hard sometimes.

I noticed they said the main story is short. I'm guessing this will end up being like Dragon Age in my case. It took a buddy of mines about 13 hours to finish that game, but I clocked in over 80 hours before finishing the main story. Different gamers play different ways.

[TheMailman]

As I predicted PC magazines do a mutch more reliable review of ME2. They don´t need to lick MS bal*s like consoles media...

[Campy da Camper]

the 3rd game I picked up since I finaly got a gamin rig. Crysis being the first and DA: O being the 2nd. I cannot believe how good this game looks and am stoked I can run it on high settings. On a laptop (ASUS) to boot!

I actualy haven't even turned on my playstation in 2 weeks but MAG showed up yesterday from GameFly so now I have to decide to either play that or keep on playing ME:2...or finish Crysis...or continue DA:O....

hmmm decisions.

[Charmers]

I would say this is a pretty fair review and score. The points the reviewer raised had merit.

Firstly if you discount recruiting your crew (which some would argue is a side quest) there are only 5 missions involving the main story. Recruiting the crew and gaining their loyalty naturally bulks that up a bit. My first play through lasted 30 hours and I did most of the side missions, crew loyalty missions and what nots. So it isn't short by other games standards, just short by other RPG standards I think.

The class system and upgrade system are pretty pointless to be honest. Mass Effect was always a bit "weak" on the RPG side but ME 2 just seems as if it ignores the RPG stuff altogether. It doesn't really bother me as I always play as a soldier.

The mini games, oh my god how can anyone like the mini games. Firstly there is the mine scanning who the hell thought that would be an "interesting" diversion and then they compound it by making you have to do it to research your upgrades. The match the symbols mini game is fun at first but gets incredibly tedious and the matching text code game, please give me a break. Why isn't it possible to develop a damn RPG with GOOD mini games for a change.

Finally the map .............. erm there is a map in this game ? the levels are so linear that a map just is not needed. In my first play through I didn't use the map once it is that linear.

Now having said that it is still a great game, I am on my third play through and I love it, but there are obviously areas that Bioware need to work on. So I would say this review is pretty much bang on the mark. They could have also commented on the PC controls which are somewhat less ideal than they should be.

[NoOoB101]

No, i have a 3 year old laptop that i don't think will play ME2 unfortunately, but even if i did id rather pick it up on 360. I'm more of a console player than PC.