Mass Effect 2 Article Round-up
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At least half of the total missions in the game revolve around either acquiring or gaining the loyalty of your different crew members. The other half are varied enough in terms of enemies and situations that, for the first time ever, I actually found myself using each of my crew members from time to time rather than just staying with my two favorites for the entire game. The squad-as-a-singular-entity levelling system, where all members of your squad have access to the same number of skill points regardless of when you recruit them or whether or not they helped you complete a mission, encourages you to spend time with each of the different members of the crew. As you begin to see their usefulness in combat, you often grow attached to them and subsequently, the final mission becomes that much more foreboding. I didn't personally like all of my companions, but I understood them. I found their individual biotic and tech powers useful. I sympathized with them. I did not want them to die.
Two of them did.
Followed by speculation about what a Mass Effect MMORPG might be like on MMORPG.com:
Now I know that nothing short of a cataclysmic event is going to stop Star Wars: The Old Republic seeing the light of day. But the gamer in me wonders what BioWare's first foray into the MMORPG space would be like if they chose one of their own intellectual properties instead. And if the title didn't give it away already, I am of course referring to Mass Effect and its already broadly painted universe to draw from. Not only would a Mass Effect MMO please me because I could really delve into the dozens of alien races BioWare has created, but judging by the first two games' enticing blend of shooting mechanics and traditional RPG conversation, I suspect than an MMO set in the same vein could be something quite evolutionary for the genre.
Moving on, Gamasutra has an editorial about Mass Effect 2's "genre experiment":
That fundamental approach, overlaid with the game's many streamlined mechanics, makes Mass Effect 2 move much more briskly. It's a macro pacing adjustment that's furthered by action game allusions like the new quick time event-inspired mid-conversation interjection of altruistic or aggressive actions. Ostensibly, that offers more opportunities for players to distinguish their experiences, but it's hard for me to imagine many people being able to resist punching it in when the prompt is flashing on screen.
There's also no need to comb through an overcrowded inventory, meticulously swapping weapons, armor, and upgrades around. Once a mission has begun, it tends to be a straight shot to the end, particularly since BioWare managed to eliminate most mid-mission loading times. Experience points aren't conferred until the mission is complete, so there's no sudden pause to browse through the squad screen.
And then InfoAddict has a piece on "The Many Failures of Mass Effect 2" with improvement suggestions for Mass Effect 3:
Awful Combat Stages
Bioware has a long and strong heritage in producing top-notch RPG games. What they don't have is much experience making action games, first-person-shooters specifically, and this lack of experience is in full display.
The principal problem is the design of the many combat stages the player will have to deal with. Any time you leave a hallway and enter a large room packed with crates and low walls you know one thing for sure: combat is coming. It's the same boring environment over and over; crates and low-walls, enemies beginning their rush in the distance and winding their way through a minor maze. No subtlety, no surprises. A shocking lack of design that weakens the entire game.
Just as you know combat is imminent based on nothing more than the layout of a room, you also know there will be zero combat if a room lacks low walls and crates, so the player can relax without fear, which completely ruins any sense of tension or foreboding.
Mass Effect 3 Improvement: Make your zones of combat seamless with the overall design of the map. A player should not be able to visually determine when combat is going to happen, where it's going to happen, and how it will play out. Avoid crates and low-walls as the only two objects within a combat zone and show me some original ideas.
