Currently Playing: Mass Effect 2 (PS3)

So I'm a little late jumping onto the Mass Effect band wagon, and I have to say that I'm sorry that it took this long for it to happen.

Mass Effect 2 is quite possibly one of the best games I have ever played ever.

 I will be the first to say that if a game involves guns, I am going to suck at it.  Period.

I went into this game right around the same time I went and saw Chronicle with my friends, and figured that for $20 it was worth a shot. (Lame pun unintended.)

It really kind of has everything going for it: a really involved storyline that keeps you interested, a cast of really interesting characters, and a dynamic sense of gameplay that really keeps things moving along very effectively.

When you start the game you have the option of playing either a male or female Commander Shepard, and after going through a very brief and very "...did that really just happen?" opening sequence you are able to customize their looks.  And by customize their looks I don't mean "oh well this color is nice..." I mean legit warping the bone structure, skin tone/complexion as well as hair and eye color.  You then get the choice of what your base "class" is going to be.

Again, given my history with games with guns, I opted for the "Adept" class, meaning it was very heavily focused on biotics (what this game calls psionic powers) as opposed to heavy gun training.

Right from the start you're thrown into a demo level that helps you come to grips with your Shepard's unique talents against fairly inept enemies as you go charging through a space station filled with malfunctioning protection drones.

It's also right around that point that you realize that Martin Sheen, Seth Green and Steve Blum have all lent their voices to this game.  (Fun Fact: if you chose to play a female Shepard, the voice actress is the same voice actress as Avatar Kyoshi, among other fun roles).

Anyway, without divulging too much of the plot, stuff progresses, you round up your crew, and you go about trying to save the galaxy from ancient life destroying machines.

No Galactus...not you...

  On top of that the NPC crewsmen that kind of mill about doing stuff have full on conversations with one another from time to time, which gives the game a much more cinematic feel for it. The crew each have their own personalities and abilities, which make them all sorts of unique.  Take for instance Mordin Solus:

Not only is he a hyper-active doctor with a Ph.D. in Kicking Your Ass, he has a complicated back story involving biological warfare and questionable experimentation.  And just to round it out, he used to perform with an acting troupe.




Yeah. That just happened. (Love the little "...kaff" at the end).

So anyway, once you start unlocking character special abilities for your cohorts you can then add their abilities to your own, or if you so choose to start a new character you can pick one at character creation.

Go buy this game dear readers.  As much as I suck at shooting games I loved playing it.  Best of all, since I jumped in so late in the game Mass Effect 3 comes out this coming Tuesday so I don't have to wait at all very long before having to go out and spend more money I don't have to complete the epic saga.

Oh, and Shepard is a man whore, which I'm pretty sure you all already knew.