X180: Mass Effect 2

It’s sharp intake of breath time folks, as next up on X360′s roundabout of opinion is everyone’s favourite RPG (except Simon), Mass Effect 2.

As an industry, games journalism has been forever caught up in a kind of pseudo-science, boiling videogames down into constituent parts that, of themselves, don’t exist. From dog-eared old SNES magazines and their infuriating intangible ‘playability’, to more modern additional awards and the like. Trouble is, videogames constitute complete works in their own right – not an artsy point, just the inescapable truth. You don’t play a game’s graphics, nor can you see any of its sound.

And so we come to Mass Effect 2. All the ingredients show improvement – smoothed visuals, combat mere fractions from Gears Of War’s brilliance, simplified and more accessible leveling up. The reviewer might be forgiven for discussing each of these properties by rote and (quite correctly) coming to the conclusion that each offers more satisfaction than its competitor could muster. Trouble is, it’s the intangibles that really matter over the course of 30 hours or more.

A great deal of the original title’s charm, personally at least, came from wandering this new and exciting world, following the absolutely logical path that led humanity to BioWare’s fictional future. Taking the discovery of Prothean ruins on Mars as a single suspension of disbelief, each and every development from that point onwards pieces together a wondrous jigsaw narrative. Firstly, this process could never have been repeated by definition. Secondly, after employing its deus ex machina opening, the boundaries in which matters are constrained are stretched almost to breaking point.

Add to this a familiarity of overall structure, and the fact the Citadel is about seven or eight rooms, and you’ve somehow a videogame undeniably greater than its predecessor on every logical level, yet in enjoyment undoubtedly inferior. A curious phenomenon we’re sure you’ll agree, but sometimes you’ve just got to step back and view the bigger picture.

It’d still get a 9, though…