Daimon's Lair

My six-week old son gave me a nice long nap yesterday, which allowed me to finish the first Mass Effect. I like my character build (both being a soldier and the aesthetics of his appearance), so I wanted to re-use it in the sequel. Plus I want the whole 'personal' angle that BioWare's been selling up. It's ingenious, really, but we'll see just how deeply it affects gameplay.

On a side note, I know I reviewed the first game a while back. I of course lost that save data when my 360 was stolen last summer, so that (among other reasons) is why I've been replaying it. I'd forgotten just how much I loved the design of the Ilos ruins. What is it with me and ruins? I swear my wife is rubbing off on me. . . :P

• A cover system that might as well have not existed. Yes, by pressing Shepard up against an object, he would (occasionally) switch to cover mode. But it was glitchy and, to be honest, really didn't help much. More often than not I played the game Halo-style--strafe behind cover, occasionally crouch, and take advantage of generous shields (and powers that made those even stronger). Solution: In ME2, BioWare becomes yet another company to adopt a Gears of War style cover system, though (so far) without all of the expert moves like SWAT turns, etc.
• Weapon options that really weren't ever used. Non-soldiers were stuck with pistols (which could actually become pretty potent towards the end) and as a soldier I could use everything. But, except for an occasional (maybe five times in twenty-plus hours of gameplay) use of the sniper rifle, I stuck with the AR. Solution: So far, the addition of heavy weapons is already a huge tool. The other classes, from what I understand, also get sub-machine guns and other cool tricks. It remains to be seen if I'll ever need that sniper rifle, though.
• Optional worlds that were essentially cut-and-paste. How many times did BioWare use the same template for enemy bases? That galactic steel-building contractor must have one hell of a market share. . . . Solution: More inventive level-design. Reviews suggest that this is a lot better. So far, the Lazarus Project is decent evidence of more thought going into that--especially since it's clear that BioWare wanted to nail the shooter aspect of the sequel (the RPG elements of the original, after all, were what everyone raved about). The second environment (a human colony) also looks more inventive. I only just landed, but from the cut-scene it looks like the designers are trying to give each place a more unique architectural feel.
• Creepy subplots that were never really fleshed out. Most of the side quests in the original game involved going after two corporations-- Cerberus and ExoGeni. However, they essentially become a shooter-RPG equivalent of the classic fetch quest: land on X planet, go into cookie-cutter base, kill all enemies, and get a text message on-screen. That's it--no story, no cut-scenes, nothing. Now, cut-scenes can be over-done, but a text message isn't a great way to reveal plot. The only real reason to do side quests was to level up and get weapons that were usually a lot more powerful than those available in stores. Solution: It remains to be seen, but since you're now working for Cerberus, I have a feeling the creepy subplots are going to be well-done in the sequel.

I decided to play through on Veteran (now actually the second-hardest difficulty level). It seems challenging, but I'm still getting used to the new HUD, so I can't honestly say if I've gotten close to dying yet. One thing I wish they had done was allow you to toggle the radial menus open-closed rather than always holding down the bumpers. I just discovered when perusing the menu, though, that powers can be given hotkeys.

Two things I just have to mention: