Mass Effect 2 Review: Is the Action RPG as good as expected?
Review of Mass Effect 2: For the second part of the Sci-Fi trilogy Bioware had announced a lot of improvements. Are the developers able to keep their promise? PC Games Hardware checks it.
Mass Effect 2 screenshots (5)
Quelle: PC Games Hardware
Mass Effect 2 meets all the criteria that already made the first part a recommendable Action RPG: The characters are rendered in detail by the upgraded Unreal Engine 3 and due to the dynamic, intelligent dialogues they appear quite realistic. The atmosphere is dense and the enthralling story is well set.
But it doesn't reach the high class of the first part since it gets a raw deal and the connections to the dramatic events of the predecessor are only halfhearted. Nevertheless the new game delivers good and fast action (the enhanced combat system helps a lot) as well as an impressive sound backdrop. You also have to make several morally difficult decisions. Importing the data from the first part is a nice idea, but the ‘big' decisions you may have made don't affect the story of Mass Effect 2 a lot though. The new class system isn't perfect either since many classes can't use the cool new weapons. Another point for high-level criticism: The new upgrade system is too sketchy and the three mini games are boring.
Mass Effect 2: Unreal Engine 3
The first part was already based on Epic's popular engine and Mass Effect 2 is also build around the UE3. But only little information has been released about the changes Bioware made to the structure, nevertheless there are some really obvious aspects: The lighting system has been overhauled and in the graphics options you can now activate Spherical Harmonic Lighting or Cinematic Lights for example. Besides that Illuminated Labs' Beast lighting tool is implemented again.
Furthermore the level of detail of the textures has been increased and thus especially the characters look very realistic. Other problems of Mass Effect 1 that have successfully been dealt with by Bioware are the streaming system and the loading times. With the example below we want to demonstrate the visual differences between the two parts of the Mass Effect trilogy. Ore comparisons can be found in our article Mass Effect 1 vs. Mass Effect 2: PC graphics compared.
Mass Effect 2: Conclusion
With Mass effect 2 Bioware presents a brilliant sequel, which isn't perfect though. There is a lot of action and the dialogues, the setting and the atmosphere are impressive. Gamers who know and like Mass Effect 1 will not be disappointed - for them Mass Effect 2 is a must-have.
Mass Effect 2: Cerberus Network
The Cerberus Network, a platform integrated in Mass Effect 2, supplies the gamers of the Mass Effect universe with downloadable content. Everyone who bought Mass Effect 2 can activate Cerberus for free. In order to do so all versions of the game come with an activation code that can be used once - no extra charges required. People who bought Mass Effect 2 second-hand, can acquire a new activation code to unlock the Cerberus Network in the game.
Mass Effect 2: System Requirements
Minimal:
• Windows XP SP3 / Windows Vista SP1 / Windows 7
• 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or equivalent AMD CPU
• 1 GB RAM for Windows XP / 2 GB RAM for Windows Vista and Windows 7
• 15 GB disc space
• DirectX 9.0c sound card
• Keyboard / Mouse
• 256 MB (with Pixel Shader 3.0 support). Supported Chipsets: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 or greater; ATI Radeon X1600 Pro or greater.
Please note that NVIDIA GeForce 7300, 8100, 8200, 8300, 8400, and 9300; ATI Radeon HD3200, and HD4350 are below minimum system requirements. Updates to your video and sound card drivers may be required. Intel and S3 video cards are not officially supported in Mass Effect 2.
Recommended:
• Windows XP SP3 / Windows Vista SP1 / Windows 7
• 2.6+ GHz Core 2 Duo Intel or equivalent AMD CPU
• 2 GB RAM
• ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT, or better recommended
• 100% DirectX compatible sound card and drivers (DirectX August 2008)
NOTES: For the best results, make sure you have the latest drivers for your video and audio cards. Laptop or mobile versions of the above supported video cards have not had extensive testing and may have driver or other performance issues. As such, they are not officially supported.
PC Games Hardware of course dealt with the performance of Mass Effect 2 and ran benchmarks in the game. The results can be found in the article Mass Effect 2: Galactic battle Geforce versus Radeon.
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